- The Lord Sanctifies You
Exodus 31:13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.
The Lord promises to sanctify us. He fulfills the promise of making us holy through the death and resurrection of Christ and the in working of the Holy Spirit. We receive sanctification by the hearing of the Gospel mixed with faith.
The keeping of the Sabbath is a sign between God and me. It is a sign for us to know that it is the Lord who sanctifies. God will make us holy; God must make us holy so that He can be with us and we with Him. Each Sabbath was a sign of the coming of the Lord of the Sabbath, the Savior, who is the Eternal Rest for us. By faith we enter into that rest.
Since the New Testament fulfillment of the “sign,” there is no longer a need to keep the Sabbath. “Keeping the Sabbath Day” is actually a sign of unbelief, that we do not believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise. “Keeping the Sabbath” before Christ came was a sign that we believed in the Promise. But now that the Sabbath (Jesus) has come we look to Him, the real thing; we do not look at the sign or the shadow cast by the future Messiah. He is here; we see the Real Thing. Jesus is the sign that Sabbath points to; Jesus is the Person that casts the shadow. We no longer believe in the sign or the shadow, but we believe in the Word become flesh, the Savior God become human, the promise become fulfilled in our history.
Luther changed the Commandment to be in agreement with the NT Gospel. He made the command “Remember the Sabbath Day” to mean “Sanctify the Holy Day.” It is a good idea to set apart one day a week to go to a church that preaches the Gospel. By the hearing and receiving the gospel by faith we receive the Lord, who promises to sanctify us. 1 Corinthians 1:30: “God made Jesus our wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” Jesus, with the Spirit, has made you holy (a finished declaration), is making you holy (a lifelong process), and will make you holy (in reality forever).
The bottom line: Go to church, hear the gospel, be sanctified.