There are many precious things hidden in the book of Isaiah, and two of these things are the keeping of the Sabbath and fasting.
Many people don’t really want to talk about the Sabbath or fasting since these matters have been spoiled by God’s enemy, Satan.
Even such precious things as the keeping of the Sabbath and the fasting have been used by Satan to divide the Body of Christ and to bring about arguments and division.
This really shows that Satan hates these two matters – Satan hates us keeping the Sabbath, and Satan hates us fast. What is the real meaning of keeping the Sabbath? What is the real meaning of fasting?
The real meaning of keeping the Sabbath is to be “fired” and replaced by Christ so that we may get into Him and rest in Him for eternity. To keep the Sabbath is not a religious duty imposed on the people who believe in God, in which there is a particular day during the week when they do certain rituals or ceremonies. NO!
To keep the Sabbath, as we have previously seen, is to come to the Lord and fellowship with Him so that we may be replaced by Him – and we would rest in Him! Man’s first day after his creation was God’s rest day – God intends man to rest with Him and then work with Him!
We first need to enjoy the Lord and rest in Him, and THEN we can work together with Him! In order for us to keep the Sabbath we need to stop our work, we cease from our intentions and struggles, and we are “fired and replaced” by Christ.
This is what Paul meant in Gal. 2:20 when he said that we are crucified with Christ and it is no longer us who lives but it is Christ who lives in us! This is our daily Christian life – we daily come to the Lord to be one with Him in His rest; we enjoy Him and we are replaced by Him – and it is no longer I, but Christ who lives in me!
The real meaning of fasting is to cease from the taste for anything other than Christ – and have an appetite only for Christ, eating nothing else but Christ! To fast does not simply mean that you deny yourself the privilege of eating and drinking for an extended amount of time, you restrict yourself and your lusts for an amount of time… – there is a spiritual significance that God meant for the matter of Fasting!
Yes, there is the meaning of physical fasting, but it is not a ritual or a religious duty…. To fast is between you and the Lord – and it is you learning to have a taste ONLY for Christ and no longer taste other things than Him!
God desires to change our constitution – our worldly-things-thirsty-and-desiring-constitution – by changing our diet – He wants us to eat Christ! God is more concerned with our eating than with our behaviour – God wanted Adam to eat of the tree of life!
Eating determines our constitution and what we eat this is what we become! God is more concerned with our eating, desiring us to eat Christ only and be constituted with Christ, than with our outward problems and situations! He wants to change our diet – and this is to fast: to have a taste only for Christ while at the same time you lose the taste for anything else that is apart from Him!
This is our Christian life today and our destiny in eternity – we are coming to Christ daily to rest with Him and then work with Him, and we are eating and enjoying only Christ!
For eternity we will keep the Sabbath (fired by God and replaced with Christ, now resting in Him) and we will fast (eat only Christ and have an appetite just for Him). By resting and fasting we can partake of all that the processed Christ has accomplished for us.
In totality, what He is and has accomplished is just the divine water, which is the consummated Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God for us to drink and enjoy.
Praise the Lord, today we can stop ourselves and rest in the Lord, and we can eat and taste Him as our only food supply!
[sharing from the Life-Study of Isaiah, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization-Study of Isaiah(2); this article is a continuation of, Keeping the Sabbath and Fasting – two precious things in the book of Isaiah – are our experience today!]
Lord Jesus, grant us to see these two matters! May we learn to keep the Sabbath today! Every day, Lord, keep us turning to You and allowing You to replace us! You are our rest, Lord – we come to You! We want to FIRST enjoy You and then do things in oneness with You! Amen, Lord, change our diet! May we desire, thirst, and hunger only for Christ! Be our only food supply, Lord! Remove any taste for other things in us! May the taste for Christ replace the taste for anything else in us! We want to lose our taste for anything else but You!
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