Sabbath Meditation #4 – Eternal Pleasures At His Right Hand

by Kelly McDonald, Jr.

“Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none” (Ex. 16:26).

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalms 16:11).

“And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full” (Psalm 78:24-25).

Meditate for a moment on the following: God gave the Israelites manna for six days. They were given one portion to gather the first five days of the week and twice as much to gather on the sixth day of the week. He did not give them any physical manna on the Sabbath. They had manna leftover from Friday morning to meet their physical needs during the Sabbath. This was the food of angels; this bread came from heaven! Apparently, Heaven does not pour out manna on Sabbath. Why?

Trying to gather manna on the Sabbath would prevent the Israelites from receiving something greater. God has something greater than manna to offer humanity on the seventh day. It is still available to us today. In other words, there is a deep spiritual need satisfied on the Sabbath; physical matter cannot meet our deepest needs on this day. It is holy and something set apart must be available to fulfill us and meet our deepest needs.

When Jesus came to earth, He said: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (John 6:32-35, KJV).

Jesus promised the church of Pergamum: “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it” (Rev. 2:17b, KJV).

Jesus Christ is Lord of the Sabbath; He is greater than the manna from Heaven because He meets our deepest spiritual longings. The cure for human unrest is to connect with Jesus on the day He blessed. It is a blessing that cannot be seen with the human eye; it is hidden spiritual manna. He has something special for us every Sabbath that quenches our deepest longings.

The rest we dedicate to God on the Sabbath by not working and laboring (physically, mentally, and emotionally) enables us to make that special connection to Christ that is only available on the Sabbath. Through the Holy Spirit within you, focus upward to Christ and receive eternal pleasures from His right hand.  The physical eye cannot see it, but the Spirit within us longs for it.

When we engage the earthly realm through work and labor on the Sabbath, then our inner man cannot receive the full effect of rest. What God has made available to us cannot be seen by the natural eye – it is not quantifiable by the natural realm.

“12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” (I Cor. 2:12-13).

Lastly, consider this thought: the physical Tabernacle in the Old Testament was created as a representation of heavenly things (Hebrews 8:1-5). Among the special items created for the Tabernacle was the Table of Shewbread. It was overlaid with gold. Special bread was heated and placed on this table every Sabbath.

“And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway” (Exodus 25:30, KJV).

“And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant” (Lev. 24:7-8, KJV).

The Hebrew word translated as “shew” is paniym; it means the face or presence (by extension, the face of a person is in his/her presence). On the Sabbath, we have the bread of God’s presence. His face is turned towards us.

On the Sabbath, we graduate from physical manna to the hidden manna – the bread of His presence. In His presence is fullness of joy.

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2, ESV).

We will continue this thought in our next Sabbath meditation.

Selah.

Kelly McDonald, Jr

BSA President, www.biblesabbath.org