Have you ever asked why YHWH would place such importance on the Sabbath? It must be important; he announced it at creation and repeated this requirement many times.
- Luke 13:10-13 Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. (11) And behold, there was a woman who had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. (12) When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your disability." (13) And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.
At a first glance this crippled woman's healing appears to be another miraculous account of Jesus power and authority over sickness and death.
- However when reading this story a second time in context, this woman who was bent over for 18 years and was called "a daughter of Abraham” when she was healed by Jesus on the 7th day Sabbath (Luke 13:16),
- is a hidden prophecy for a remnant of unrighteous Israel who will be forgiven of their sins and called "the promised sons and daughters of Abraham” by faith in Christ at the end of the tribulation, when they will enter the Lord's 7th millennium Sabbath rest.
- 2 Peter 3:8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one (Sabbath) day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The 1,000 year Sabbath rest of the Lord in the 7th millennium, is foreshadowed by the 7th day when God rested from his work of 6 days in creation; that's symbolic for 6,000 years of God's redemptive work to save sinful mankind by faith, followed by the 7th millennium when one third of Israel will call upon Jesus in the 7th year of the tribulation, so they may enter
God's eternal Sabbath rest by faith,
Ex 20:8-11,
Heb 4:1-11.
Gen 2:3 So God
blessed the
seventh day and
made it holy, because on it
God rested from all his work that he had done in creation (for six days).
Unrighteous Israel calls on Jesus for salvation and the forgiveness of their sins in the tribulation
- Isaiah 4:1-4 And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day (of the 7 year tribulation), saying, "We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name (Jesus); take away our (sin and) disgrace." (2) In that (7th millennium Sabbath) day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the (tribulation) survivors of Israel. (3) And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for (eternal) life in Jerusalem, (4) when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning, (Zec 13:8-9).
- Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years (in the 7th millennium Sabbath day of the Lord).
- Col 2:16-17 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. (17) These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
The 7th day Sabbath
is a shadow of God's 1,000 year
Sabbath rest in the 7th millennium when the earth will be
blessed with the knowledge of the Lord, while the resurrected saints will be united as one
in holiness, when the nations will come to Jerusalem to worship and
seek God's rest in the
glorious presence of Jesus, who will rule in righteousness and truth under the authority of his heavenly Father,
Mat 11:27,
28:18-20.
- Isa 11:8-10 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. (9) They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. (10) In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples--of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
When using
scripture to interpret scripture,
the number 18 (or 6+6+6) that represents
bondage and slavery as a result of sin (
Judges 3:12-15), implies this woman who was
bent over for 18 years by
a disabling spirit, represents Israel who is
spiritually bent over by their sins and are in
bondage Satan, due to their lack of faith in Jesus,
Rom 11:5-10.
- Judges 3:12, 14 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the LORD....... (14) And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
- Rom 11:5-10 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. (6) But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works (of the law); otherwise grace would no longer be grace. (7) What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking (by works). The elect obtained it (by faith), but the rest (of Israel) were hardened (in unbelief, Rom 11:25), (8) as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day." (9) And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; (10) let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever."
Why is the Sabbath mentioned 5 times when this woman was healed?
The Sabbath that's mentioned
5 times in this story is a number that's
symbolic for grace (5). And God's
7th day Sabbath of grace when this crippled woman was healed by Jesus, speaks of the
7th year of the tribulation in the 7th millennium when
a spirit of grace will be poured out on Israel who is enslaved by their sin, when they will look upon their Messiah whom they have pierced and shall mourn for him,
Luke 13:10,
14,
15,
16.
- Zec 12:9-10 And on that day (of the Lord) I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. (10) "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
The 7th day Sabbath rest
is a shadow of God's 7th millennium Sabbath rest for a remnant of Israel and mankind by faith in Christ, when Jesus will rule from Jerusalem for 1,000 years.