The gospel of Jesus Christ is like a brilliant gem revealing more depth of beauty as it is turned from side to side in the light. Let’s do this together and consider a tremendous promise of God:
“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” John 6:37
Jesus was answering a question from the crowd who followed Him: “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” (John 6:28). It was a question I also asked of myself for so many years as a self-sufficient believer hiding my ever-present guilt and anxiety from the view of others. Jesus then turned the crowd’s attention to Himself, and in time, also lifted my own head to come to the cross of Jesus to hear these words: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” (John 6:35).
For some listening to these words, it was of no value to them as they placed no faith in Jesus’ message. But for those who saw and believed, they found that they had reached the end of their long search for heart satisfaction. When we look and believe in the cry of Jesus “It is finished!” on Calvary’s hill as the decisive end of unforgiven sin, what contentment this gives us in times of anxiety. Jesus is waiting to receive us, feed us, and assure us that we are truly home as we abide in Him.
Seeing the gospel in scripture
The biblical story of the healing of the man with a shriveled hand (Matthew 12:9-13, Mark 3:1-6, and Luke 6:6-11) follows other miraculous healings by the authority of Jesus. Each demonstration of His divine love fuelled the rage of the law keepers of His day in Jerusalem, whose difficult task was to interpret the written Mosaic law of the Ten Commandments, their regulations, and worship system. The Pharisees and scribes increasingly interpreted the law unbendingly with human wisdom, placing additional legalistic rules and burdens on the people, resembling balancing a rising tower of fragile glasses, with the threat of severe punishment for failure. We can no doubt think of similar struggles we have faced when legalism has dominated.
The Law, given to the Israelites at Mount Sinai to foster their holiness and intimate relationship with God, is good and holy (Romans 7:12). Yet the law could never provide a solution or transform the inclinations of the heart. A commandment such as ‘do not steal’ gives us a moral standard of behavior but it does not give us the ability to be impeccably honest. The law is a giant billboard that reveals the sinfulness of sin, but which we can never measure up to: “We know that the law’s commands are for those who have the law. This stops all excuses and brings the whole world under God’s judgment, 20 because no one can be made right with God by following the law. The law only shows us our sin.” (Romans 3:20 NCV). We see a gap as wide and as deep as the ocean between the conduct of our lives and the law’s commands for perfection. The law says loudly and clearly that we desperately need a way of deliverance from sin’s condemnation. The bible points through every page that the only way was by the coming of grace through the death and resurrection of Christ (John 1:17):
In the gospels, we read of a confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees who cruelly accused His disciples of working by reaping wheat on the Sabbath, when they had only plucked a few handfuls of grain to eat (Mark 2:22-24). This was punishable by death (Exodus 35:2; Numbers 15:32) according to their interpretation of the specific law:
“Keep the Sabbath as a holy day, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 You may work and get everything done during six days each week, 14 but the seventh day is a day of rest to honor the Lord your God. On that day no one may do any work:” Deuteronomy 5:12-14a NCV
In response to the charge that they had broken the law on the Sabbath (Mark 2:24), Jesus reminded them that even King David when he was hungry ate the high priests’ holy bread in God’s temple (Mark 2:26). Then He said:
“The Sabbath was made for the sake of the people, and not people for the Sabbath. For this reason the Son of Man exercises his lordship over the Sabbath” Mark 2: 27-28 TPT
Jesus showed them that He was the Lord even of the Sabbath. Adherence to the Sabbath commandment (Exodus 20:8-11) was not an end in itself, which would be idolatry, but was the outworking of a God-worshipping heart wanting to obey out of love.
The law demands perfect performance but grace provides rest in Christ.
“Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there.2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.” Mark 3:1-2 NIV
Jesus, the Teacher, returned to the synagogue and encountered a man who was present apparently to hear teaching from the scriptures. Of far more importance than matters of faith for the agenda of the Pharisees and scribes, was the man’s severe disability of an atrophied and paralysed right hand (Luke 6:6).
One could well imagine that this man had suffered greatly from the anxiety of managing a life with only one functioning hand, and from comments of those who responded only to his deformity rather than to the person and his faithful heart.
What nervousness and panic he must have experienced when he found himself being watched by the leaders of the synagogue, as he tried to avoid the minefield of possible disobedience to the law bearing down on him. He would not have known why he was being kept under observation when probably all his life he had tried to disappear from public view. What had he done wrong to deserve this suffering? How could he escape this fearful scrutiny? Would hiding his hand from sight help him to be accepted by others?
The Pharisees displayed hearts of stone, as cold and unyielding as Moses’ rock tablets outlining the law (Exodus 34:1) by their suspicion: “Some of them were looking for a reason”, by their inflexible condemnation: “to accuse Jesus”, by their lack of compassion in using the man as a pawn in their plans: “so they watched him [the man] closely”, and by their stubbornness and evil readiness to pass judgment: “to see if he [Jesus] would heal him on the Sabbath” (Mark 3:2 NIV; [word added]).
The teachings of Jesus went far beyond man’s physical behaviors on a specific day of the week and we once again look to the cross of Jesus to see His works to understand this further. Only Jesus, who was entirely innocent of any sin, could be our sin offering, die our death, be buried as our substitute, and rise for our justification. At 3 pm at the conclusion of His suffering on the cross, the crucifixion stakes were removed from Jesus’ limbs in order to lower Him from the beams and place Him in a borrowed tomb cut out of rock. Jesus’ body was anointed by His women followers with spices and perfumes.
Our Lord was buried on the Sabbath and He rested in death from all His work of salvation in accordance to the commandment of keeping the Sabbath holy (Luke 23:54-55). We in our ‘old man’ died and were buried in Christ and we received this same rest from our self-righteous works and sin.
The arrows of enslaving sinful fear with its piercings of dread and darts of panic cannot affect a dead person laid at rest in Jesus’ grave cut from rock. Can you stay a while now and ask for grace to see the freedom that is yours in Christ as these arrows of fearfulness drop away, unable to penetrate the tomb nor cause any effect to your crucified old heart?
Now we too are viewed as true Sabbath-keepers in Christ for He is our Sabbath rest. Jesus is our Sabbath! He is our rest! He is our holy bread of life on which we feast!
Jesus rested from His courageous work of receiving God’s thunderous wrath to give us His perfect rest and release from works based on our merit. Whose work justifies? Only Jesus’! “For whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works, as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:10).
Jesus rested from the suffering of being pierced in His body by our sin to give us His deep rest from guilt for our sin. There are no more wages of sin for believers! “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God” Hebrews 4:9.
Jesus rested from being devoured by the blood-curdling roars of Satan to give us His peaceful rest from the fearful lies of condemnation. Who can condemn us now? No one! “All who believe enter that rest” (Hebrews 4:3).
Question 2: As believers of the message of the cross, how does this truth that we have entered God’s rest and that we are now true Sabbath keepers affect your fearful heart?
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The law reveals sin but grace in Christ restores.
“Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
… 5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.” Mark 3:3,5 NIV
Jesus directed the man with a deformed hand to come to Him, to stand up in front of everyone at the synagogue, and then to stretch out his hand in full view. Before the man were two choices: either to surrender to the condemning stares of the “law keepers” who amplified his wretchedness and opposed works of grace, or to place his trust in Jesus.