“A Palace In Time”

1. “A Palace In Time” “If you...call the Sabbath a delight...then you shall delight yourself in the Lord” Isaiah 58:13-14

4. A Misdirected Lack of Purpose “Most middle-class Americans tend to worship their work, work at their play, and play at their worship.” Gordon Dahl

5. A Misdirected Lack of Purpose • Our lives become uneasy, rushed, shallow; we carry no steadying, calming purpose. • Drifting away from God due to three factors: money, amusements, and time.

7. “I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” Psalms 139:14

8. Origin of the Locust

9. Origin of the Locust • For centuries nobody knew where locusts came from. As Annie Dillard recounts in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, though locusts plagues are well –documented—they can blacken a sky for nine hours as they pass—no one understood how or where they originated. • The millions of ravenous, rasping creatures could denude entire countries.

10. Origin of the Locust Entomologists would see them laying eggs, would label specimens, but find none the next year. Then mysteriously, years later, they appeared again. The mystery was solved in 1921 by a Russian naturalist named Uvarov. He determined that locusts are ordinary grasshoppers “gone berserk.” Placed in crowded glass jars, grasshoppers become locusts.

11. Origin of the Locust “They literally and physically change from Jekyll to Hyde before your eyes. They will even change, all alone in the jars, if you stimulate them by a rapid succession of artificial touches. Imperceptibly at first, their wings and wing-covers elongate. Their drab color heightens, then saturates more and more, until it locks at the hysterical locust yellows and pinks. Stripes and dots appear on the wing-covers; these deepen to a glittering black. They lay more egg pods than grasshoppers. They are restless, excitable, voracious. You now have jars full of plague.”

12. “Many shall run to and fro.”Daniel 12:4 • Over-stimulated, harried, stressed... • Constantly moving on, consuming all the earth has to offer, leaving destruction in our path. • Transmuting into something very different than the creature God created.

13. “It is an old and ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way.” Rollo May

14. Have We Lost Our Way? • “Undoubtedly we have improved means”, said Peter Marshall, “but unfortunately, we have not improved ends. We have better ways of getting there, but no better places to go. We can save more time, but we are not making any better use of the time we save.” • Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “I wouldn’t give a fig for the kind of simplicity which exists on this side of complexity, but I would give the whole world for the simplicity that exists on the other side of complexity.”

15. The False Trinity “The sacred trinity of feeling good, looking good, and making good are very good goods, but they make very bad gods.” -Lewis Smedes

16. “COME UNTO ME”, Jesus said. “Learn of Me” & you will find REST for your souls”

17. “Rest For Your Souls” “For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” Isaiah 30:15

19. Revelation 14:7 …and worship Him that made Heaven and earth, the sea and the fountain of waters.

20. Sabbath = Rest & Much More “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 2:3

21. Psalms 111:2-4 The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honorable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.

22. Sabbath = Rest & Much More • Exodus 20 uses a different word for rest, which means not only cessation from toil but “tranquility, serenity, peace, and repose.” • “A peace that passes understanding, not like the world gives”

23. Palaces of Royalty • Psalm 92:1-4 The first word of the psalm in Hebrew perhaps summarizes the essence of the day: it is tov, which not only means “good”; it denotes the quintessence of wholesomeness, pleasure, happiness, and beauty. • In Isaiah 58:13,14 we find the answering chord to the keynote of joy introduced in Psalm 92. God promises that “if you call the Sabbath a delight (oneg) ...then you will find your joy (anog) in the Lord.”

24. The Palaces of Royalty • “The Hebrew root behind this special word in Isaiah 58, delight, occurs as a noun only one other time, where it describes the palaces of royalty. • As a verb it appears in the Bible only 10 times. This rich Hebrew word denotes not just that which brings delight, but in particular that which delights because of its surpassing quality, that which satisfies and pleases because it has a delicate beauty or regal charm. In short, “exquisite delight”. A SONG FOR THE SABBATH, p. 16

25. “A Palace In Time” “God’s crowning act in the creation week was not to “construct an elaborate shrine in some location as a memorial of His created work. That would give those worshipers living closer an advantage over those dwelling farther away. For the royal pair who are to rule in Eden He doesn’t build a spacious palace that soon could not contain the increasing population.

26. “A Palace In Time” Rather, God chooses to erect an everlasting edifice available to all humanity--a “palace” in time. And He calls that special palace Shabbat, the Sabbath.” A SONG FOR THE SABBATH, p. 27

27. “Being” the Children of God • The Sabbath is “a realm of time where the goal is not to have but to be, not to own but to give, not to control but to share, not to subdue but to be in accord. Life goes wrong when the control of space, the acquisition of things of space, becomes our sole concern.” • Once we are calmed, God can fill us.As Mother Theresa says, “We must free ourselves to be filled with God. Even God cannot fill what is full.”

28. “Be diligent to enter that rest” Hebrews 4:11 “Sabbath rest involves two stages. The first is simply letting go, renouncing our normal routines and work…. The second stage moves beyond this negative freedom to a positive internal response. It involves letting ourselves be in that fresh space in such a way that we realize appreciatively and joyfully our holy connectedness.” Edwards

29. “Be diligent to enter that rest” Hebrews 4:11 • At the end of a consuming week, the Sabbath disengages us from the belittling belief that we are worth what we earn and produce and look like. We’re reminded again that God loves us and appreciates us because we are His children. • God assures us that the way to achieve holiness--wholeness—is to celebrate not our creations, but His creations.

30. “Remember” • Remembering the Sabbath day means remember God’s GRACE & REST, being CONFIDENT in His ability to save you. • The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world • The work is done! • You can rest in what He has done for you. • When you truly rest in His care your life will change.

31. Genesis 2:1-3 • Rested • Blessed • Sanctified

32. God’s Purpose: Genesis 2:2-3 • He rested from all His work, not because He was tired, but as an example, preparing in time a palace for all humanity, whom He made in His image • He blessed the seventh day. When God blesses, He imbues that which is blessed with power of fruitfulness and vitality to fulfill the function for which He intended it. It is a day full of the power of purpose, designed to revitalize--to exhilarate--those who participate in its blessing. • He sanctified. He set it aside for a special purpose. The Sabbath is holy because it is a Divine Date with God.

33. God’s Promise • “the Lord your God has chosen you” • “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people...but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers” Deuteronomy 7:6-8