Is there any day of the week you would choose not to be healed and made whole? Likewise, is there any day of the week that you would refuse a blessing of health and wholeness to anyone?
“And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John 5:16-17 KJV).
This healing of wholeness Christ did abundantly, especially on His Holy Sabbath—the seventh day of the week. Especially on the Sabbath, Jesus taught the Word. He taught all His Father’s commands. He taught the Old Testament prophecies, which spoke of Himself. He taught of the Holy Spirit. He introduced the Holy Spirit as the One who would comfort us and teach us the Word of God, guiding us into all truth and giving us divine knowledge and understanding.
In His teaching, Christ fed and gave drink to those who hungered and thirsted for Life: The written Word of God, Christ—the Word made flesh, and the power of the Holy Spirit. They ate of Christ and hungered no more; they drank water of Him and thirsted no more. They were healed spiritually and physically by the faith of Jesus, and in the power of the Holy Spirit they left to sin no more.
Christ healed, saying, ”Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee” (John 5:14, KJV).
“When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:10-12, KJV).
“When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee” (Mark 2:5, KJV).
“And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house” (Mark 2:8-11, KJV).
The good that is lawful to do on God’s holy Sabbath (in His very presence and on holy ground) is that which by faith is for saving souls, saving life, relieving pain and suffering (including applying treatments for the same). It involves feeding them spiritually and physically that God might heal them and make them whole.
“Nature must continue her work, or man would die. And man also has a work to do on this day. The necessities of life must be attended to, the sick must be cared for, the wants of the needy must be supplied. God does not desire His creatures to suffer an hour’s pain that may be relieved on the Sabbath or any other day.” SJ 74.1
Any day there is breath within us, we are privileged to go to God and ask Him—in the name of Jesus—for His Holy Spirit’s guidance as we read and study His Word. Therefore, go; read through the Gospels in the Old and New Testament and see what His good works are. See what is good to do on God’s Holy Sabbath, the seventh day.
“Heaven’s work never ceases, and we should never rest from doing good. Our own work the law forbids us to do on the rest day of the Lord. The toil for a livelihood must cease; no labor for worldly pleasure or profit is lawful upon that day. But the Sabbath is not to be spent in useless inactivity. As God ceased from His labor of creating, and rested upon the Sabbath, so we are to rest. He bids us lay aside our daily occupations, and devote those sacred hours to healthful rest, to worship, and to holy deeds.” SJ 74.2
The Sabbath is not just a day. The seventh day is the Lord’s day. He blessed it. He sanctified it. He set apart His Sabbath day for holy use. The other six days in which He created all things, He created and proclaimed them good, very good. But after He ended His labor, He rested from all the cares and labors of the previous six days. The seventh day of Creation Week, He rested. His work ended, and all was done. The seventh day is God’s memorial of Him as Creator. And it points forth to Him as our Redeemer. The Sabbath (the seventh day) is holy; for in it is filled the very presence of the holy God, the God of our salvation.
Choose God’s work. Choose to be blessed by His work. Of course you want to be healed and made whole today—any day! Run to God today. If you read this and it is not the seventh day (the Sabbath), do not wait for the Sabbath to run to God! Go. Run to Him right now in prayer. In prayer, give up; surrender yourself. Surrender your life to Him. Give up your all to Him.
God will not cast you away any day. He will feed you. He will give you drink. He will clean you up and clothe you. And He will give you His Spirit, that you will have a clear and sound mind. Daily choose by faith to die to yourself that Christ’s mind might be in you. Christ, the hope of glory, will live in you through the work and power of the Holy Spirit of God.
This Sabbath message is threefold: Your sins are forgiven. Go forward and sin no more. And do that which is good.
Will you be healed and made whole? Be healed. Be made whole.
Then, go and sin no more. Do that which is good on God’s holy day: healing other souls by feeding them the breath of life, giving them water from the well that never runs dry. Heal other souls by clothing them with truth that they might have Light, that they might have the Spirit and have a clear and sound mind. Heal them by giving them freedom from the prison of sin and disease and sickness and demon possession. Keep, observe and do the Commandments of God, bearing within you the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (which is self-control). (See Galatians 5:22, 23.)
The work we work throughout the six days is also that which brings us to God’s rest. In our living and working throughout the six days; we also are to incorporate Isaiah 58. Christ labored for souls.
Will you follow Jesus wherever He goes? Will you work as He worked? Will you do that good work He left for us to do?
I pray your answer is “Yes. As Christ worked, so I work.”