Chalis Butler
God’s Heart For His Beloved Entering the Sabbath-Rest of God - Chalis Butler
A few months ago, after visiting several different doctors, I was given a diagnosis of eczema in my body, something I had never previously dealt with. I soon learned that eczema can be related to stress. Since I had learned that it was most likely stress-related, I looked at this first… What is my stress about? This answer to this question, I soon learned, had many layers to it. It would not be answered with a weekend get-away or a life-style ‘makeover.’ Of course these can be helpful, and are sometimes a part of the solution, but as in most things, there are deeper things going on inside.
A few weeks later, He said to me, It’s not that you have too much on your plate, it’s that you don’t know how to rest. Ahhh. Ok. Teach me, Lord.
Sabbath Rest of God
And on the seventh day God ended HIs work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made (Genesis 2:2-3 NKJV).
The Sabbath was about God’s completed work. He finished His work, and then He rested, He blessed, and He sanctified the 7th day, calling it holy.
The Fourth Commandment
He commanded the children of Israel, then, to do as He had done:
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it (Exodus 20: 8-11 NKJV).
The command to remember the Sabbath day was in the top four commandments, after three commands that were about putting God first, worshipping Him only, and considering His name sacred.
1. Put God first —have no other gods
2. Worship and serve God alone
3. Consider God’s Name Sacred
4. Consider the Sabbath Sacred
God commanded His people to cease from their work on the 7th day each week in order that they would remember and keep holy God’s Sabbath. The Sabbath was a special day to God. and rest must also be important to God. He blessed and sanctified the seventh day and rested on that day because on it He had completed His work.
Besides their weekly observance of the Sabbath, there was one extra day each year when the children of Israel were commanded to observe a Sabbath day of rest.
The Day of Atonement
This shall be a statute forever for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all…For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. It is a sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls [fast]. It is a statute forever’ (Leviticus 16:29-31).
On the Day of Atonement, once every year, a ceremony was performed by the priests and observed by all of Israel. The high priest would put on special linen clothes, holy garments to make atonement for the people and the priests and well as for the Holy Sanctuary (Most Holy Place), the tabernacle of meeting, and the alter. They would bring a bull, two young goats, and two rams. The high priest would first sacrifice a bull as a sin offering, and sprinkle the blood to make atonement for himself and his family. He would sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat, and in front of the mercy seat, in the tabernacle of meeting and on the alter. They would cast lots to determine which goat would be sacrificed as the sin offering for the people, and which would become the scapegoat. The high priest would kill the goat chosen for God, and sprinkle its blood in the same way as with the bull, to atone for the sins of the people, and to purify them as well as the temple, because it remained in the midst of the ‘uncleanness’ of the children of Israel. Upon the second goat, the scapegoat, the high priest would lay both hands on its head, and ‘confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat’. The scapegoat would then be lead out to an uninhabited place to be released in the wilderness. Afterwards, the priest would change out of the special garments and return to sacrifice the rams as a burnt offering.
On this most holy day, the people of Israel were to fast and observe a Sabbath rest. In this way, they took time to recognize their need for atonement. In their fasting, they identified themselves with the sacrificial goat, which was killed so that its blood could make atonement for their sins.
Two Sacred Things
And so there is a connection between God’s Sabbath-rest and the Day of Atonement (which we know as Yom Kippur), the most holy day of the year for Israel.
Through this ceremony on the Day of Atonement, God reveals:
God’s Holiness
The people’s need of atonement for their sin
A picture of God’s divine plan to purify humanity through Jesus’ blood
God’s Heart —His desire to dwell in their midst
There is much significance to the Day of Atonement, and the symbolism is laid out for us in Hebrews 10.
From The Passion Translation of Hebrews 10: The old system of living under the law presented us with only a faint shadow, a crude outline of the reality of the wonderful blessings to come. Even with its steady stream of sacrifices offered year after year, there still was nothing that could make our hearts perfect before God…For what power does the blood of bulls and goats have to remove sin’s guilt? So when Jesus the Messiah came into the world he said, ‘Since Your ultimate desire was not another animal sacrifice, You have clothed me with a body that I might offer Myself instead!… So by being the sacrifice that removes sin, He abolishes animal sacrifices and replaces that entire system with the new covenant. By God’s will we have been purified and made holy once and for all through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, the Messiah (Hebrews 10:1ff).
And since we now have a magnificent High Priest to welcome us into God’s house we come closer to God and approach Him with an open heart, fully convinced that nothing will keep us at a distance from Him. For our hearts have been sprinkled with blood to remove impurity, and we have been freed from an accusing conscience. Now we are clean, unstained, and presentable to God inside and out (Hebrews 10:21,22).
Why was the Sabbath Day so important to God?
God’s Heart is to abide within us and with us, and that we would abide in Him. His ultimate promise of Sabbath Rest is made possible through the blood of His beloved Son, Jesus, making a way for His beloved creation — all of us — to abide together with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for eternity. Entering His Sabbath-Rest is based on the covenant exchange of His death for my life— my need for atonement is satisfied by the blood of Jesus. I can enter into and live in God’s promised rest because of His finished work. I can abide with Him, and He can abide with me.
God’s Heart
God’s heart for me as His Beloved is that I enter His Sabbath-Rest today. In other words, He wants me to fully believe and receive the atonement offered to me through Jesus’ blood. His Heart for me is that I know and live like I am ‘clean, unstained, and presentable to God,’ I already have His approval. I am the Beloved. Now, because of Jesus, I have full access to the Father. His Spirit abides within me and He is always with me, and He invites me to abide continually in Him… I have full access to Him at all times.
In Hebrews 4, Paul writes: There is still a full and complete Sabbath-rest waiting for believers to experience. As we enter into God’s faith-rest life we cease from our own works just as God celebrates His finished works and rests in them…For we have the living Word of God, which is full of energy like a two mouthed sword. It will even penetrate to the very core of our being where soul and spirit, bone and morrow meet! It interprets and reveals the true thoughts and secret motives of our hearts. Hebrews 4:9-12
Entering into the Sabbath Rest of God then, must require that the true thoughts and secret motives of our hearts be laid bare, as Holy Spirit addresses the heart-issues that may be preventing us from fully entering into God’s Sabbath-Rest, where we can truly ‘cease from our own works’ and instead, live knowing in the deep places of our heart that we are loved; living in full assurance of our acceptance because of Jesus’ sacrifice that makes us pure and clean before the Father.
What Are My Burdens?
Matthew 11:28-30: Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn [of] Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
When I first began to pray and meditate on the scripture, the Lord gave me a question to ask Him: What are my burdens? I began to write… Worry. Fear. Anxious thoughts. Disappointments. Offenses. Guilt. Shame. Racing thoughts. Trying to figure things out. Struggling with Health issues.
Next, he gave me pictures for each word. For example, for the word ‘worry,’ I saw an open umbrella, but without any rain. For fear, I saw an hour glass. For Anxious thoughts, I saw a lamp that was not bright enough, and so forth.
After this, I began to process each picture with the Lord and in this process, he was helping me understand my burdens, how they were preventing me from being present with my family, how it was effecting me as well as others, what I needed to let go of, and where I was not trusting or believing Him.
He also showed me what He wanted to give me in exchange for my burdens, because in covenant, we make an exchange: My anxious thoughts for His peace, my guilt for His perfection, my sorrow for his Joy.
A Listening Exercise
This a way to answer and process with Holy Spirit the question: What are my burdens?
Word: What word or words do I hear? Write them down.
Symbol or picture: Begin in stillness and wait. What do I see? This could be an impression, a picture of an object or a scene, a word, etc.
Interpretation/ Notes on Symbol or Picture: Holy Spirit, what does this picture mean? Wait and listen. Begin to write down thoughts about what the picture might represent. Are there any connections between the picture and a current situation in my life, or how I have been feeling about something, someone, or even about God?
False Belief: In my heart, have I harbored any unbelief in the completed work of Jesus, knowingly or unknowingly?
Exchange: Holy Spirit, what do You want me to release to You, and what do You want to give me in exchange?
Prayer: Write out a prayer, renouncing any false beliefs or sin of unbelief; release the burden of control, fear, worry, or anxiety etc., that needs to go; receive His gifts and grace for outworking of this exchange; revisit and renew this prayer as often as needed.
Chalis
Chalis Butler writes from her favorite overstuffed chair in sunny, Central Florida. In the throws of parenting two children, she and her husband vacillate between intentional living and survival mode. This is why her house can look immaculate or appalling on any given day. She has a rocky relationship with coffee. She wears graphic T’s and yoga shorts whenever possible. She loves finding awesome books for a dollar, watching her kids sleep, and pie crust.
Chalis has spent time working with mission teams and teaching English in Haiti; she lived and worked in Australia for three years before returning home to the United States; she spent 16 years teaching music before switching gears to become a stay-at home mom. She recently published “Return to Real: An intimate Look at One Woman’s Journey of Redemption now available through Amazon and The Covenant Center Bookstore. She and her husband Shane are licensed ministers with counseling endorsements through The Covenant Center; while also facilitating one of the worship teams. You can find her online at LoveDweller.com. or contact: info@thecovenantcenter.com.
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