What we term happiness depends on circumstances for most of us. It comes easier for those who practice faith in God, live simply, and enjoy a personal support system. A simple faith differs from superstition in that superstition seeks to control circumstances causing people to think they can save themselves (often through religion) by some action. It’s difficult to tell the difference at times, but superstition brings fear instead of peace.
Physical and mental health issues also hamper happiness. Some people are born or raised with a strong inner core and this can be good or bad for faith. Personal strength may cause one to believe they don’t need God. But one who feels the need for the Divine can move forward with purpose to find strength in God and be doubly blessed.
By all indications Jesus believed and practiced as a Jew as did His contemporaries and the early Christians coming after Him. One reason we know this is they held a committee meeting over the necessity for circumcision. If there had been any question about Sabbath, there would have been a much larger backlash and discussion in the NT. Christ was Lord of the Sabbath and His believers came together then as noted in Scripture. It was their day for rest from physical work and concern.
The days in Col. 2:16, Jewish festivals and holy days, were called sabbaths regardless of the day of the week. My Cruden's unabridged concordance bears this out as well as history. The term Sabbath is also used for the millennial rest. Now how can a theology of rest bring us peace today?
Hebrews 4 says many did not enter the rest because they depended on their works for salvation. Christian believers enter this rest in Jesus because of faith in Him for salvation and not their works or they would be in a position of “bribing” God. It would also be self-centered. But the rest day was ever changed--Sunday came about in an effort to please the authorities and separate Christians from the Jews--it was a political move.
In doing so, Christians lost their understanding of the true rest that it symbolized and depended on church rulers to absolve their sins and depended on “being good” for salvation; at least this was their understanding for centuries. Of course, ”being good” never works for long, and its attempts brought about persecution of those with purer motives.
Sabbath is only a symbol of Jesus' sacrifice for us, and there is no salvation in the day itself. All of God's people (known and unknown) are saved by His shed blood “from the foundation of the world” the Bible says. They are written in the Book of Life (term used in the Bible) unless they reject His love. This is my personal belief from my study, prayer, and input from others. And it does take study and a certain attitude about who God is to find these "gems" in the Bible--they don't just lay on the top of the Treasure Chest.
Probably only Christians can follow the terminology here; it needs a more comprehensive study of biblical symbolism and metaphor for those not familiar with the Bible narrative written over thousands of years. I plan to write about this in future blogs.
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