Shabbat Shalom

 “Shabbat Shalom”!   This is a greeting and salutation that one hears echoing all over Israel every Friday and Saturday.  Is there a prophetic proclamation herein?  This greeting obviously announces the coming day of rest, the Shabbat rest that YHVH established after He completed His work.  “And on the seventh day YHVH ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And YHVH blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it He had rested from all His work which He created and made,” (Gen 2:2-3).  Inherent in the seventh day is a blessing.  Thus, upon entering this seventh day rest we are blessed, and might I add, sanctified too. Halleluyah!

When our forefathers “passed over”(of the root “avor”, which also serves the word “Hebrew”) and came out of the Land of Egypt and into the wilderness (Ex. 16:22-28), YHVH established this ordinance of a seventh day rest.  Why? “And you shall remember all the way which YHVH your Elohim led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in you heart, whether you would keep His commandments, or not,” (Deut. 8:2).

The seventh day rest was one of the first commandments that YHVH asked the nation of Israel to obey.  Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, said it was a shadow of that which has yet to be revealed.  The weekly Shabbat is therefore prophetic, but as mentioned above, is also a blessing. The author to the Hebrews shed light upon the “shadow”, when he explained why our forefathers in the wilderness never entered the rest.  They hardened their hearts through disobedience, “wherefore (as the Holy Spirit says), ‘Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness. When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years…’  And to whom did he swear that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief,” (Heb 3:7-9; 18-19). 

YHVH told Moses to say to the nation of Jacob: “Now therefore, if you will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel… But if you shall indeed obey My voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy to you enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries,” (Ex. 19:5-6; 23:22).

As His redeemed nation in this generation, have these conditions changed for us?  Does YHVH still require us to obey/listen, or does He just turn His back on our unbelief and says: “Well done rebellious and unfaithful servant”?  

Our forefathers, who were an example to us, had to learn to listen from their first test of obedience.  The word in Hebrew is “sh’ma”, which has a double meaning. It means both to listen and to obey. When they wandered in the desert, they had to trust YHVH for their daily provision - one day at a time.  If they tried to store manna for a second day, it spoiled.  However, on the sixth day they were to take a double portion, enough for the seventh day too. Amazingly it did not spoil.  However, if anyone went in search of manna on the seventh day, none was to be found. Here again we see that the Shabbat contains a double portion of blessing, but it is also YHVH’s  first test of obedience in our walk with Him toward the  promised place of rest and of total provision. Please note, obedience to the voice, or word of YHVH is not legalism, it is all part of the relationship. “If you love me you will keep my commands” (1 John 5:3).

  

“You shall bring them in and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, in the place, O YHVH, which You have made for Yourself to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O YHVH, which your hands have established,” (Ex. 15:17). The Hebrews were on their way from slavery to a place of rest, but they had to cross, or pass through, the wilderness which was a place of no natural provision. YHVH promised He would bring them out of Egypt and plant them in the mountain of His inheritance, the place which is made for His dwelling, the sanctuary which His hands have established as His resting place. 

Where and what is Elohim’s mountain dwelling, or sanctuary? “For YHVH has chosen Zion; He has desired it for his habitation. This is My resting place forever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it,“ (Ps 132:13-14). Coming into the place of God’s dwelling is coming into rest - into His rest and His peace.  A place of  “Shabbat Shalom”, a place of total trust in “He who is my life” (Col. 3:4).

We, as the body of the redeemed Ephraimite nation, the second stick or tree of YHVH, are to call out: “Arise, let us go up to Zion to YHVH our Elohim!” (Jer. 31:6). On our way up we can proclaim “Shabbat Shalom”. To come into His presence on Mount Zion is to enter into His rest, which is an eternal blessing. How do we get there? “Those who love His name [that is, who He is] will dwell in it,” (Ps. 69:36b).  Here we see that when Moses and Yeshua laid down the first of all the commandments, “to love YHVH our Elohim with all our heart and with all soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength,” they were in essence saying, “come abide in the dwelling place, in the true Shabbat Shalom”.  This eternal rest can be seen in the second of the two commandments, “love your neighbor as yourself”.  Loving our neighbor-brother as our own self makes us doubly blessed, as we enter into a peaceful relationship with our Elohim and with one another.

Come out of the desert; Let us arise,

Come gather at the river where the Lamb is the Life.

Come to the river that flows from His throne,

To His Mountain of Blessing - to His Shabbat Shalom.

The next time we say “Shabbat Shalom” may we be prophetically declaring: “Come let us love Him and let us go up together to worship YHVH our Elohim in His holy mountain of rest.” Shabbat Shalom!

Ephraim                                                                                                          29/08/03