Honoring the Sabbath, and Pronouncing Blessings.—Luke 6:1-26

Notes

1. The Sabbath is a memorial of God's power, and consequently of his mercy and goodness, for none of his attributes can be separated. It is evident that God's love to his creatures is shown in creation. This would ever have been manifested if there had been no sin. Since the fall, God's love is still shown by the things that are made, for they manifest God's power to redeem. In the same place where we are told of the greatness of God's works, and that he has made them to be remembered (literally, "He hath made a memorial for his wonderful works"), we are told that "the Lord is gracious and full of compassion." Ps. 111:3, 4. The measure of God's power is the measure of his mercy. The Sabbath was made for man, in his innocence, but it is no less an institution of mercy to him in his fallen condition. By it we know God's power to sanctify us to himself. Eze. 20:12. Since, therefore, the Sabbath is the memorial of the merciful God, it is evident that acts of mercy are always proper on it. Therefore the Jews, who would even endanger life rather than do anything that looked like work on the Sabbath, did not keep the Sabbath at all. They violated the very essence of the commandment.

2. "And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." What does this mean? Simply that the Sabbath is the Lord's day. Let it be borne in mind that the day here called the Sabbath was the seventh day of the week, the day which the Jews professed to keep. The Holy Spirit inspired this writing, therefore "Sabbath" is the inspired name of the seventh day of the week. Christians know no religion except that of the Bible, and they know nothing of the Christian religion except what the Bible tells them; therefore they must call the seventh day, and it only, the Sabbath. But how did it become the Lord's day?—He made it. It was Jesus that created all things. See John 1:1-3; Col. 1:13-17. Now the One who created the heavens and the earth in six days, must necessarily have been the One who rested on the seventh day, and who blessed and sanctified it. Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:8-11. Therefore Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, by virtue of his power as Creator. The Sabbath—the memorial of his wonderful works—is the mark of his power, and consequently it is the mark of his right and power to redeem. Notice in Col. 1:13-17 that we have redemption through his blood, because by him were all things created. Redemption is creation (see Ps. 51:10; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:10); therefore as long as redemption is a thing to be remembered and rejoiced in, so long must the Sabbath be kept and delighted in.

3. "Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life or to destroy it?" They did not answer, because they could not without convicting themselves. For of course they could not say that it was lawful to destroy life; and if they said that it was lawful to save life, they would acknowledge that Jesus was keeping the Sabbath, and that they were not obeying the law of the Sabbath.

4. The law of God is his righteousness. Isa. 51:6, 7. But Christ is the righteousness of God. God's righteousness is inseparable from his life, for his life itself is righteousness. His life is the standard of right, and whatever is out of harmony with the life of God is wrong. Paul says of the heathen that they are "alienated from the life of God." Eph. 4:18. So then God's life is the law for man. But God was in Christ. Christ came to this earth simply to reveal God to men, to show them how God lives. Therefore the life of Christ, being the life of God, is the law for man. This the Father showed when he said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17), and again, on the mount of transfiguration, "Hear ye him." And yet the Pharisees were presuming to measure Christ's life by the law, and to condemn him. He, the Author of life, the Giver of the law, and the living embodiment of it, was condemned by men, because he did not live according to their perverted ideas of it. What presumption! There are lessons in this that may be studied a long time with profit.

5. "He said unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he did so; and his hand was restored whole as the other." In the very act of stretching it forth, it was healed. Faith is shown in acting before the thing is done as though it was done, and the faith which so acts makes it a reality. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for." Heb. 11:1.

6. The mercy of God, which leads to repentance, only hardens some people. The Pharisees, although they would not answer Jesus when he asked them if it was lawful to save or to destroy on the Sabbath day, showed what they actually thought of the matter, by exhibiting anger when they saw the man healed. When men's hearts are set to pursue an evil course, they invariably hate those whose correct conduct contrasts with theirs.

7. "There went virtue out of him, and healed them all." It was actual power and vitality that went out from Christ to heal the people. No one can explain it, yet the fact remains. What those people lacked was vitality—life. What he gave them was life,—just what they needed. But his life is our only hope of life. All men have sinned (Rom. 3:23), and therefore are counted as dead, because they have forfeited their lives. See 1 John 5:12; John 3:36; Eph. 2:1; Rom. 8:6. Therefore our only hope of righteousness and life is to have the life of Christ. See John 6:51, 53, 57; 3:36; Rom. 5:10. Christ is our righteousness and our life. 1 Cor. 1:30; Col. 3:4. We cannot know how he gives us this life of righteousness, any more than we can know how he could give of his life for the restoration of life to the poor afflicted ones whom he healed when he was on the earth. Those miracles of healing were recorded so that we might be able to grasp the fact that we have life through him. John 20:30, 31. He is as really present with us as if we could see him. Matt. 28:20. Therefore we can as really take of his life now as could those who were healed by him. Christ is not a myth. Belief in Christ is not a mere sentiment; it is the grasping of a fact. His life is a reality, which may be proved by all who will accept it by simple faith.