Verse 19 of Jeremiah 17, "Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and stand in the gate of the
children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go
out in all the gates of Jerusalem, and say unto them, Hear ye the word of the LORD, ye
kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by
these gates?
Thus saith the LORD, Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor
bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on
the Sabbath day; neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath day, as I commanded
your fathers.
But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their necks stiff, that they
might not hear nor receive instruction.
And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the LORD, to bring
in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath
day, to do no work therein.
Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes, sitting upon the throne
of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah,
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the city shall remain forever.
Now, we're out of time tonight, so I have to just give this to you briefly.
But what you have to understand about the Sabbath is that the Sabbath is a picture of
salvation.
Why?
On the Sabbath you are not to do any work, which pictures the fact that we don't do any
work to be saved, in order to enter into what God calls rest, and God refers to being saved
as rest.
God says that we must cease from our own works, as God did from His, and enter into His rest.
Meaning that we cannot work our way into heaven.
We have to completely rest on the finished work of Jesus Christ.
That's why when Jesus died on the cross, if you study the biblical calendar, He was in
the grave, or in the heart of the earth, for three days and three nights.
And during that time, no work was to be performed.
Why?
The first day that He was dead was a Passover.
The second day that He was dead was the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The third day that He was dead was a Saturday Sabbath.
All three were days that no one should be working.
Why?
Because the message that Christ is sending is that He's doing the work for salvation.
He's covering it with His death, burial, and resurrection.
Man rests on that.
Hebrews 4 makes that crystal clear.
And I don't have time to teach that from Hebrews 4.
I've done it in other sermons.
But what the Bible is saying here, physically speaking to the children of Judah, in the
Old Testament, He's saying to them, "Look, if you'll observe the Sabbath, you will remain
in Jerusalem as opposed to what?
Being carried away captive.
If you keep the Sabbath and follow My word, you will remain in Jerusalem and descendants
of David will sit upon the throne judging you."
Who's on the throne at this time?
Josiah, Jeconiah, Jehoiakim, right?
These are sons of David that are ruling the children of Judah at this time.
When they go into captivity, that's not the case.
But when they come back from captivity, guess who God raises up?
The son of David, Zerubbabel, and he sits upon that throne, Shealtiel, and he sits
upon that throne.
He's a prince and a ruler and a governor in the land of Judah.
So what the Bible is teaching symbolically, so that's the literal interpretation, "Hey,
obey my law, obey my word, and you won't go to captivity, and God's promise to David
will be kept, and he'll have a man sitting on that throne at the center of David."
The symbolism, though, is that if we will rest on the finished work of Jesus Christ,
the finished work of the Gospel, and not try to do our own works to be saved, but if we'll
enter into that Sabbath of rest that is Jesus, then Jesus Christ, the son of David, will
come and reign and rule in our hearts, and He will be there forever, and He will never
leave us nor forsake us.
The Bible says, "Christ in you the hope of glory," and Christ is truly the son of David.