Introduction: Imagine a terrible divorce involving children. The
mother hates the father, feels like she is in competition with him,
and wants to erase his memory from the minds of the children. What
diabolical things could the mother do to hurt the father? The first
thing would be to try to keep the father from seeing his children.
Second, she could tell the children the father did not love them or
even care about them. Third, she could suggest that he is not their
father. The father’s goals are just the reverse: to reinforce the
fact that he is the father, that he loves and cares for his
children, and that he regularly wants to see his children. Now
consider the conflict between God and Satan. Isn’t it logical that
Satan would have the same goals as this mother? Satan wants us to
believe that God does not love or care for us, God is not our
Father, and we should not be concerned about meeting with God. Let’s
dive into our study of the Bible learn more about the specifics!
- Creation Sabbath
- Read Genesis 1:26-27. What does this teach us about our
relationship to God? (To some degree we are created to be
like God.) - What is our relationship to the rest of the
creation? (We are created to rule the rest of the
creation.) - Why do you think God decided that humans should rule
the rest of the creation? (This reinforces the idea
that we are created like God. From this hierarchy of
relationships, we begin to see part of how we are
like our Father in Heaven.) - Read Genesis 2:1-3. What is God’s reason for creating the
Sabbath? (He finished His Creation. God’s mighty work was
done.) - What did God declare about the Sabbath? (It was
blessed and it was holy.) - What does it mean to make a day “holy?” (God
sanctified the day.) - Let’s put this together. What is the relationship between
God’s creation of humans and the Sabbath? (Saturday is a
special day, a sacred day, on which we are reminded that
God is our Creator.) - Read Exodus 20:8-11. When God says “Remember the Sabbath
day,” to what is He referring? (This is an obvious
reference to the creation story in Genesis.) - Why does God tell us to work six days? (This again
is an illusion to God’s six days of creation.) - Why are we told not to work our animals on Sabbath?
(Not only is God telling us that all deserve a
Sabbath rest, but He is reinforcing the idea that we
are to rule the creation.) - The Sabbath Link to Worship
- Read Genesis 1:1. How does God introduce Himself to us?
(As our Creator.) - Why do you think this is the very first thing God
says to us from His Bible? - Read Revelation 14:7. What is God’s basis for claiming
our worship? (That He is our Creator.) - Nave’s Topical Bible catalogs 104 Bible texts (under
“Creator”) ranging from Genesis to Revelation where God
either directly, or through humans, stakes His claim to
authority over us on the fact of His Creation. What do
you conclude about God’s thinking from this? (We learn
that God’s consistent, simple and primary claim to
authority over humans is His creation work. God is
telling humans: “I created you, therefore you should obey
Me.”) - Recall our introduction about the divorced woman who
wanted to erase the children’s memory of their father?
Why is it important for Satan to attack Sabbath worship?
(It fulfills two of Satan’s logical goals that even we
were able to figure out. First, since the Sabbath is the
weekly reminder of God’s six-day Creation, it removes
this weekly reminder that God created us and therefore
has authority over us. Second, since the Sabbath is an
important time to study, praise and worship God,
disregard for the Sabbath limits our time to meet with
our Heavenly Father.) - How is Satan doing in his quest to have humans forget
that God is their Creator? (Huge numbers no longer
believe that a six-day creation is the correct account of
the origin of humans. Many believe that we came into
existence by chance and natural selection. Many believe
that humans have no claim of superiority to animals, and
that we have no authority to rule them. Most Christians,
even devout Christians, disregard the seventh day
Sabbath.) - Sabbath Importance
- Many say, “So what? What you just said about the
importance of the Sabbath is not good enough. I can
believe in God even if I do not believe the creation
story or observe the Sabbath.” If you think believing the
Genesis account about the Creation and the Sabbath makes
a difference, explain why? (First, if the account is not
true, it means that God did not tell us the truth about
the origin of humans. If that is so, then God is not
telling the truth about His authority over us. Finally,
if God is not telling the truth about our origin (because
He is overstating His power), that suggests that our God
lacks power.) - Are we sure this raises a question about God’s
honesty? Could God simply be telling us an
allegory, giving us some sort of grand parable?
(When we read Revelation, we know we are reading
about symbols. Genesis is extremely specific about
the details. It is illogical to consider it to be an
allegory -especially an allegory about evolution!) - Read Colossians 1:15-18. Did the Apostle Paul believe in
the Creation? (Yes.) - Who is Paul referring to in this text? (Jesus.)
- What is your most important hope as a Christian?
(Heaven. You hope that Jesus will take you and those
you love to Heaven.) - What link do these verses make between the Creation
and our hope of Heaven? (Jesus has “the supremacy”
over Creation and death. If Jesus is not powerful
enough to create the earth and its inhabitants, why
should we believe that He is powerful enough to
defeat death? Paul shows that these beliefs are
logically linked.) - Let’s consider where we are now. The Sabbath is linked to
the Creation, the authority of God, and the power of God
to resurrect us to eternal life! - Freedom From Slavery
- Read Deuteronomy 5:15. Why would the Bible give two
different reasons for the Sabbath? - Read Romans 6:15-18. What has set us free from the
slavery of sin? (Jesus set us free from the slavery of
sin through His life and death on our behalf. We obey God
because of what He has done for us.) - Can you see a link between a memorial to the Creation and
a memorial to our salvation? (God gave us life, and then
He gave us eternal life.) - Has this anything to do with the power and authority
of God? - Sabbath and the Resurrection of Jesus
- Read Matthew 28:1 and Matthew 27:50-53. Jesus rested in
the grave on Sabbath, but these others apparently were
resurrected on Friday. If you were God the Father, and
your Son had been brutally killed while winning the Super
Bowl of the universe, would you want to take Him into
your arms immediately? (Of course! No parent would want
to wait even a second to comfort and congratulate a son.) - Why did God wait to raise Jesus back to life?
(Consider our discussion so far. The Sabbath is at
the center of what Jesus was and is doing for us.
The logical conclusion is that Jesus rested on the
Sabbath! Just as Jesus rested after His great work
of Creation, so He rested after His great work of
salvation. It is the only reasonable explanation
for the delay.) - Friend, if you believe there is a battle going on over
God’s power and authority, why not decide today to show
your allegiance to God by accepting His Creation account
and remembering and memorializing His authority by
keeping the Sabbath? - Next week: Rejoicing Before the Lord: The Sanctuary and
Worship.