Keeping the Sabbath?

In considering this topic, two words which can surface quickly are “condemnation” or “judgment”, so I’d like to bring a few verses which commence consideration of the topic on a non-judgmental foundation: We’re told in John 3:17 that Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn but to save, and we who are His children are instructed in particular (but not exclusively) within our Christian to Christian relationships to love as He loves us, see 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

God doesn’t condemn people for having God honouring personal convictions such as are written of in the following verses of Romans 14, so when a person believes that the Sabbath (Saturday) is a day of rest because of their personal reasoning in honour of God, and another person doesn’t regard it above other days because of their personal reasoning in honour of God, each one should respect the other person in love and should not try to change the others personal reasoning if each one is doing it in honour of God:

One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself.

Romans 14:5-7

1. Why was there a commandment to keep the Sabbath (Saturday)?

2. Who was the commandment to?

The biblical answer to both of these questions is another aspect to be considered and is found in Deuteronomy 5:15, but before reading the verse, keep in mind that the instruction in Deuteronomy to “keep the Sabbath” was to Israelites, since they had been slaves to the Egyptians and were delivered by God’s hand through Moses.

And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt,
and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

We’re told in Luke 4:16 that it was Jesus’ custom (a traditional and widely accepted way of behaving or doing something that is specific to a particular society, place, or time.) to go to the temple to worship on the sabbath, note that a custom isn’t necessarily a law: “So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.“,
This custom was not mentioned as being according to the law, compared with circumcision which was a custom according to the law as mentioned in Luke 2:27 “So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law,“.
The commandment to “keep the Sabbath” was not predominately concerned with coming together to worship, but as the word means ‘intermission’ or ‘cease’, the Israelites were to rest on that day just as God did on the seventh day of the creation week and on that day the priests were also to make sacrifice for the sins of the people. Present day law practising Jews have various perceptions of the extent to which the Sabbath law is to be applied, even to the point of some stating that pressing a button to turn on a light is “work”.
The “Mosaic Law” was accompanied with a range of penalties and sacrifices, but before it was instituted, there was still God’s law, which was the basis of determining right and wrong, this law has been written in the heart of mankind since Adam’s fall, where we’re told in Genesis 2:16-17 “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eatest thereof you shall surely die. ” and 3:5 “For God knows that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”. The act of taking the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, etched the law into mankinds heart, at which point sin entered the world and man was from that time onward, constituted a sinner, it’s first acknowledgment is by Cain:

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”

Genesis 4:9

If Cain had thought murdering his brother was not a sin, I believe he would have acknowledge the murder to God when he was questioned, but he claimed to be ignorant of his brothers whereabouts. He lied. Cain was no different in constitution to any other man, people around the world have always had knowledge of right and wrong and in this basis we have condemned or taken revenge when wronged or seen wrong, as well as honoured or celebrated right words and actions. These law’s are maintained or corrupted by all of mankind.

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Romans 2:14-16

“Keeping the Sabbath” was part of the Mosaic law to Israel for a specific purpose during a period of time in history from the writing on the stone tablets, until no later than the temple curtain being torn, when Jesus gave up His Spirit. The Mosaic law had substantial penalties which operated as both a deterrent and discipline for sin. Jesus ministry was inclusive of teaching the cessation of the period of living under the Mosaic law in the terms of it’s application in legal requirements, sacrifices & penalties, which were a means of sanctifying (making one suitable for God’s service) and restoring to fellowship or removing them from the earthly congregation of God’s people. But all Christians are sanctified and restored to fellowship through repentance granted by God through Jesus Christ, not by the Mosaic law which was required of Israel:

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!

Romans 6:14-15

So for the Gentile or non-Israelite, we either sin against the law written in our hearts, or we obey God and live in the freedom Jesus has purchased for us through His blood. And for the Israelite Christian, he has been set free from the Mosaic law by the blood of Jesus.

Christ has set us free in freedom; stand fast therefore, and do not be held again in a yoke of bondage.

Galatians 5:1

The numerous Mosaic laws including sacrifices and subsequent Jewish customs including going to the temple to worship on the Sabbath, were requirements established by God which Jesus brought to an end through His incarnation, death and resurrection by which He made full eternal payment for the sin of those the Father has given to Him.
God established a new covenant with Christian Israelites through Jesus who taught the new way of life by His Words and actions, the transition from the old covenant of Mosaic law to the new covenant in Christ was visibly actioned by ending temple worship with the temple curtain being torn from the top to the bottom when He gave up His Spirit to the Father. ref. Matt 27:50-51

He sets aside the first to establish the second. 
And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Hebrews 10:9-10

Likewise also He took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

Luke 22:20

Jesus referred to the change in custom of sabbath worship in John 4 when He spoke to the woman at the well, telling her that God would soon be worshipped by all His true followers in Spirit and truth, not through a system of men’s management, but by directly praying to Him as Jesus taught us to: “Our Father in heaven…” in the freedom of doing this anywhere at any time.

²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him”.

In applying one part of the law to gain righteousness, there’s often subsequent further selective application of the law, but if any Christian attempts to keep the law in the hope of being acceptable to God by the law, we’re told in scripture they would have to live by all of it, and as well as the fact that this isn’t humanly possible, God doesn’t accept man’s “righteousness” in keeping the law as a means of being justified:

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written,
Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. ¹¹ But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. ¹² And the law is not of faith: but, The man that does them shall live in them.
¹³ Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree: ¹⁴ That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Galatians 3:10-14

In the above verse, we’re told “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”, so those who teach and claim to live obedient to even one law, such as keeping the Sabbath with all it’s regulations, then they should keep all the laws otherwise they’re cursed.
The law was inclusive of both penalty and promise, for example as penalty; If someone collected fire sticks on the Sabbath (Saturday) they were required to be stoned because the work was an act of disobedience and dishonour to God, so for those who teach that we must keep the law, do they apply the whole law which includes penalties of the law applied such as stoning of those of their own belief who don’t keep the whole law?

While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day.
Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly,
and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.”
So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Numbers 15:32-36

Jesus again revealed the end of this system of law when He responded to the Scribes and Pharisees:

… the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, ⁴ they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. ⁵ Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” ⁶ This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.⁷ So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”

John 8:3-7

The whole of the law was only able to fulfilled by Jesus, and so because we are members of HIs body (Remember Jesus’ words to Saul when he was persecuting the church “I am Jesus, who you are persecuting,“), He who completely fulfilled the law has enabled us to rest in Him who did what the Father required, which we could not do ourselves. We have entered His rest, resting in His work, not trying to please God through our own works, as the Word tells us in Hebrews 4:1-8

Let us therefore fear, lest, although a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
For we who have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For he spoke in a certain place of the seventh day in this way, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
And in this place again, They shall not enter into my rest.
Seeing therefore it remains that some must enter into it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter in because of unbelief:
Again, he limits a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time; as it is said,
Today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.
For if Joshua had given them rest, then he would not afterward have spoken of another day.
There remains therefore a rest to the people of God.
For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works,
as God did from his.
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall after the same example of unbelief.

The person who lives by the law on the basis of hoping it will be the means of attaining righteousness before God, hasn’t “ceased from his own works“. There are many who teach that we have to live by various commandments and customs of the law, as we’ve read, people have done this since the days of Christ’s ministry, and some of these teachers state that unless you submit to their perspective of obeying these particular elements of the law you are either not saved eternally, or otherwise you will be judged with earthly penalty by God until you live under the law. In Mark 2:27-28 we read of Jesus’ response to the Pharisees when they questioned Him about why He allowed His disciples to pick corn on the sabbath, because their perspective was that the disciples were sinning through their “work” on the Sabbath:

And He said to them, Have you never read (ref. 1 Samuel 21:1-6) what David did when he had need and hungered, he and those with him, ²⁶ how he entered into the house of God, in [the section of] Abiathar [the] high priest, and ate the shew-bread, which it is not lawful unless for the priests to eat, and gave even to those that were with him? And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

There was no sabbath commandment before Moses, because man wasn’t made to live by the sabbath, the sabbath was made to teach man to honour God and as part of the system of law that showed the sin in man that was previously disregarded by men, man wasn’t made for the sabbath, the sabbath was made for man to trust and rest in God’s provisions, which points to the rest we have in Christ fulfilling the fathers requirement of righteousness in His people, and in doing this they were to acknowledge God’s infinite holiness. But even when the Mosaic law was first given, man didn’t rest in God’s provision, as many got up on the Sabbath and looked for manna to collect, despite God providing additional on the day before Sabbath, this additional supply of manna was to be cooked before the Sabbath to make it ready to eat the following day without having to work to prepare it on the Sabbath. ref. Exodus 16:14-31, They were instructed to rest in His provision but they didn’t, we are instructed to rest in God’s provision through Jesus.

Jesus made all things including the Sabbath and the other Mosaic laws, He is Lord and ruler of all, so because He says His people are free on that day just as His disciples were, then through faith in Jesus work no one can condemn God’s people for being free on that day, just as Abraham was also free through faith before the sabbath law was made, we are free through faith today.

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Matthew 5:17

Jesus has fulfilled the law that we can’t, so we now rest in His fulfilment of it.

The law teaches us many things including God’s Holiness and what sin is, Matthew 22 tells us that the law clearly reveals what is acceptable to God in our relationship to Him and to our neighbour:

Mat 22:37-40  Jesus said unto him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

By God’s transforming work in us, in giving us faith to believe in Jesus, we are able to be obedient to these two commandments and so we fulfil all the law and the prophets instruction while we fulfil these two. We don’t live in fear of breaking the law or custom, but instead Christians follow Jesus teaching and through this we fulfil the law in His strength. Similarly we’re told in Romans 13:3 “For rulers are not a terror to a good work, but to an evil one. Do you desire then not to be afraid of the authority? practise good, and you shall have praise from it;“. We don’t live in fear of the power of the law, and we don’t need to focus our thoughts on what the law says, such as by thinking: “I must not steal, I must not steal…” but instead we focus our thoughts on the teachings of Jesus, on loving God and loving our neighbour, on God’s Word, on whatever is good, honourable, just and pure, we are to see other people with eyes of love as described in 1 Timothy 5 ” Don’t rebuke an elder, but exhort him as a father; and the younger men as brothers; The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.”, so having after the work of God bring us to repentance and faith in Jesus, this new way of living is enabled through Holy Spirit living in us and we fulfil the law.

Galatians 2 speaks of persons who were trying to make the Gentile Christians (from Nations other than Israel) live under the Mosaic laws as the Jews did:

But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? ¹⁵ We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, ¹⁶ knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

Then in Acts 15 we read of how the believing Pharisees tried to get the Christian Gentiles to live by Mosaic law and custom of it:

1  Then some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2  And after engaging these men in sharp debate, Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3  Sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, recounting the conversion of the Gentiles and bringing great joy to all the brothers. 4  On their arrival in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and apostles and elders, to whom they reported all that God had done through them. 5  But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and declared, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.” 6  So the apostles and elders met to look into this matter. 7  After much discussion, Peter got up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you that the Gentiles would hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8  And God, who knows the heart, showed His approval by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us. 9  He made no distinction between us and them, for He cleansed their hearts by faith. 10  Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11  On the contrary, we believe it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” 12  The whole assembly fell silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul describing the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13  When they had finished speaking, James declared, “Brothers, listen to me! 14  Simon has told us how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to be His own. 15  The words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written: 16  ‘After this I will return and rebuild the fallen tent of David. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, 17  so that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the Lord who does these things 18  that have been known for ages.’ 19 It is my judgment, therefore, that
we should not cause trouble for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
20  Instead,
we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood. 
21  For Moses has been proclaimed in every city from ancient times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.” 22  Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to select men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, two leaders among the brothers, 23  and sent them with this letter: The apostles and the elders, your brothers, To the brothers among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings. 24  It has come to our attention that some went out from us without our authorization and unsettled you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25  So we all agreed to choose men to send to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26  men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to tell you in person the same things we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond these essential requirements:
29 You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols,
from blood,
from the meat of strangled animals,
and from sexual immorality.
You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell. 
30  So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they assembled the congregation and delivered the letter. 
31  When the people read it, they rejoiced at its encouraging message. 
32  Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers.

We see here that Christian’s are not bound by the law but have been made free in Christ Jesus, verse 21 speaks of the fact that they had already heard the law preached since ancient times in every city, so they didn’t need to be told any further about what sin was, and neither do we, because through Holy Spirit revealing our sin to us and God granting us repentance through Jesus, we are now instructed by God through the Apostle Paul for our good that having been made free from the condemnation of the law, we are to “abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.“, so that we are maintained in righteousness and fellowship with God inclusive of these matters which were apparently commonly or occasionally practised among some of the Gentiles then and are also practiced by some today. The reasons for each of these instructions are given in the following verses:

• Abstain from food sacrificed to idols:
  • 1 Cor 8:4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” ⁵ For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), ⁶ yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.⁷ But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. ⁸ But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.⁹ Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
    
  • 1 Cor 10:18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? ¹⁹ Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? ²⁰ No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. ²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. ²² Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
    
• Abstain from blood, and from the meat of strangled animals
  • Blood is very specifically spoken of in the Bible as being related to life, it is ultimately seen in this way when we read of Jesus’ blood being shed for our sin, this is recalled at each time of taking communion, and blood was historically used by priests in the process of atoning for people’s sins, so we are to have our thoughts clear on it’s importance relating to Jesus paying the price of our sin with His blood. The recognition of blood in the terms just considered, is also relevant to it coming out of the meat we eat, so that we are not eating an animal with it’s blood, so we are told not to eat strangled animals because they still have all their blood in them, it hasn’t passed out of their bodies at all in this case, it’s not possible or at least practical to remove all the blood from any creature, but we’re instructed to only eat meat that has had blood pass out of it and this doesn’t happen when the animal is strangled.
  • Gen 9:4 But flesh with its life, which is its blood, you shall not eat.
    
  • Lev 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.
    
  • Deut 12:23-24 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood: for the blood is the life; and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out upon the earth as water.
    • (Note the relationship to John 19:34 “but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water.” The life had left the body, not that the blood was Jesus’ Spirit, or that all His blood left His body,  but the blood and water which left His body were evidence of His death so it was clear that His Spirit had departed from the body so we know that Jesus wasn’t in the tomb, only His body was, He had delivered up His Spirit from His body and gone to paradise just as He told the thief, John 19:30 “When therefore Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished; and having bowed his head, he delivered up his spirit.“).
      
• Abstain from sexual immorality.
  • This point is already clearly stated throughout the New Testament teaching as being a common sin among non-believers which should never be found among Jesus disciples, and when the instruction to keep from it is disregarded, it is historically recorded as being a substantial point of corruption in mankind that has influenced many people away from God, Solomon was one of the many who were led away by their own fleshly desires through sexual immorality to depart further again from God’s way.

But now we follow Christ and rest in His righteousness by faith, being acceptable to The Father through Him, not by the Mosaic law, but by the law of the Spirit who gives life as He works in us who believe.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:2-4

Hebrews 3:18 “And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? “, Just as Abraham lived by faith, so we also don’t trust in our works of obedience of the law to save us but we walk in His ways, we live by faith in belief that Jesus is the Son (Christ) of God and in doing this we fulfil the law through Jesus Christ’s righteousness in us by Holy Spirit.

Christians are not instructed to meet on the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) and we’re not held to its law of “no work” or its penalties for breaking those laws, but since the time of the Church founders, Christians meet in freedom through Jesus on Sunday (the first day of the week), as a principle based on the events which are precedent (a pattern) for Christians:

• Christ was resurrected and appeared to the disciples on the first day of the week.
  Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20
• The disciples met to break bread on the first day of the week.
  Acts 20:7
• Money and goods given for the work of God were to be set aside for collection on the first day of the week.
  1 Corinthians 16:2
• John had his mind and heart occupied in God’s work on “the Lord’s day”, Revelation 1:9-10 “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day,..”

We start the week following in the tradition of the apostles and the disciples, by committing the first day of the week to God through Christ Jesus, this is what many refer to as “the Lord’s day”: 2 Thessalonians 2:15  “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”. When we live each day in the freedom that Jesus has gained for us, we have entered His rest, so as often as two or more gather in His name on any day, Holy Spirit is with us to reveal the glory of God through Jesus.

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Romans 5:1

For we enter into the rest who have believed;…

Hebrews 4:3a

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