THE MEMORIAL DAY

HEBREWS 4:1–11

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God

(Hebrews 4:9).

Today is Memorial Day in the United States. In the Bible there is a different sort of memorial day which figures prominently in Hebrews 4—the Sabbath.

The Bible is full of memorials. Memorials are semipermanent things or rituals that God establishes as reminders of the covenant between Himself and man. Some memorials are primarily for God to see, so that He is always reminded of His covenant. This is the case regarding the rainbow in Genesis 9:14–16. When we see the rainbow, we realize that God is reminding Himself never again to destroy the world with a flood. Not that God needs reminding, but that He chooses to remind Himself as an object-lesson for us.

Other memorials are rituals that God has set up for us to do. To an extent, these rituals, like the Lord’s Supper, remind us of the covenant. But the fact is that we would not even do these rituals if we had not already been reminded by the Word, so the main person being reminded is again God Himself. God wants us to remind Him, because when we remind Him, it shows that we are trusting Him and leaning on Him.

The written Scriptures are reminders for us. God has given them in permanent form and has appointed them to be read aloud in the church, so that we are reminded.

All of these are memorials. So is the Sabbath day. God rested on the seventh day as a permanent sign that His work was completed and that He had entered into rest, a rest involving enthronement. Similarly, Jesus has entered Sabbath-rest because His work is completed and He is enthroned. The weekly Sabbath day is God’s abiding memorial day to remind us that God rules as Creator and that Christ rules as Redeemer.

The Sabbath is also prophetic. It is a memorial sign to us that the church is definitely going to finish her work also, and she will someday sit enthroned next to her divine Husband. True Christians, says Hebrews, have that goal set before them and persevere in good works because they want to enjoy the ultimate, never-ending memorial day.

CORAM DEO

Isaiah 1–4

Did you enjoy a foretaste of Sabbath-rest in worship yesterday? Are you looking forward to such an experience next Lord’s Day? Since God’s memorials are ultimately unified, how do the various memorials discussed in today’s lesson fit together on the Christian’s weekly memorial day?

For further study: Genesis 2:1–3 • Exodus 20:8–11 • Isaiah 58:10–14