Heb 4:9-10
There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.For he who has entered His rest has Himself ceased also ceased from His
works as God did from His.
In the old testament,God told the Israelites, work in six days and on the seventh day,rest.This seventh day was to be set aside to be a holy day in which no-one would work and they would gather to worship God.The seventh day was Saturday as it were.He gave them this ordinance and He said dont work mainly for 2 reasons;the first being that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, and secondly so that they would understand that their prosperity as a nation wasnt dependent upon their sweat.Understand that this wasnt a suggestion but a command; meaning they were supposed to do it.In fact God even stressed it further by giving them a sabbath year.The instruction for that period was thus'work in 5 years and in the 6th year God will give a triple harvest.Why a triple harvest? Well its very simple ;harvest 1 would be for the sixth year,harvest 2 for the seventh year and harvest 3 for the eight year so that the Israelites would have what to eat while they plant and wait for the harvest of the ninth year.But as it was with all the other laws,They never kept it.Infact one of the reasons that the Israelites were exiled for 70 years was because they never kept the sabbath year.God sent them away so the land could be healed during that period.This was their judgement for not obeying Gods command that instructed them to rest;exile for 70 years.Do you know what 70 represents?70 means a generation/lifetime.So for one whole generation,the Israelites wouldnt be in their land.Some children will be born and others will die during that period.What does this mean for us in the new testament?Mind you, a testament means a will and the bible says a will is of no power without the death of a testator;of whom is Jesus in our case.For your information the difference between the new testament and the old testament isnt that white leaflet in your bible that seperates Malachi from Matthew as some people wrongly percieive nor is it the lenght of time of about 450 years between the time of Malachi and Matthew.No.No.No.A thousand times no.The new testament started with the ressurection of Jesus Christ.Let me go beyond the boundary and bring a point to your mind which will enable me to effectively communicate my standpoint on this topic.Jesus said "greater works than these shall you do because I go unto my Father".His decision to make this statement of His through Himself than through His prophets is a very significant point to be noted.I am aware that He meant greater miracles,signs and wonders.But there is one miracle that Jesus didnt do.During His 33 years on earth,no man could be born again.He only had people who followed Him,but none had The life of Jesus in Him.
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2
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