«　WEEK 20　DAY 1　»

　　Lev. 23:2-3 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, As to the appointed feasts of Jehovah, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, these are My appointed feasts. Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work; it is a Sabbath to Jehovah in all your dwelling places.

　　According to the sequence of Leviticus, by the end of chapter 22 we have been brought from our uncleanness to the priesthood with its enjoyment. The next item is the festivals, which are for rest and enjoyment, both of which are types of Christ as our rest and enjoyment. This indicates that in Leviticus, a book of God's priesthood for God's service in the fellowship of God, our service results, issues, in Christ as the rest and enjoyment we have with God and with one another. In other words, the issue of this service is the festivals.

　　These festivals did not take place occasionally at certain times. On the contrary, they were appointed by God, ordained by Him. God ordained the festivals that His people might rest with Him and be joyful with Him, that they might enjoy all that He has provided for His redeemed people. They were to enjoy all these things with God and with one another. (Life-study of Leviticus, p. 465)

　　The word convocation [in Leviticus 23:2] denotes something larger and more serious than a meeting. A convocation is a special assembly called for a special and particular purpose. The seasons appointed by Jehovah as holy convocations signify the gathering of God's redeemed people to have a festival with God for His joy and enjoyment that the redeemed may participate in it with Him and with one another. A festival, therefore, was for nothing except rest and enjoyment. This rest and enjoyment were not individual but corporate. (Life-study of Leviticus, pp. 465-466)

　　The feasts...signify the gathering of the believers as the church (see footnote 4 on Eph. 1:22) to have a corporate rest and enjoyment of Christ before God, with God, and with one another. (Lev. 23:2, footnote 2)

　　The weekly season—the Sabbath—signifies rest for God's redeemed people to enjoy with God and with one another. Every seven days [cf. Lev. 23:3] there was to be a day for rest and enjoyment. On that day there was to be an assembly, a holy convocation. This indicates that on the Sabbath God's redeemed people were to gather together. If they did not come together, they would have been able to enjoy rest with God, but they could not have enjoyed rest with God and with one another in a corporate way. (Life-study of Leviticus, p. 466)

　　The principle of the Sabbath is not a matter of the day on which it is observed. The principle of the Sabbath is that working with the Lord requires that we learn how to rest with Him.

　　Some may think that the significance of the Sabbath is merely to cease from work. This is not the real meaning of the Sabbath in the Bible. The Bible emphasizes the fact that God rested on the seventh day. Genesis 2:2 says, "And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done."

　　According to the book of Genesis, to God the Sabbath is the seventh day, but to man it is the first day. In six days God created the heavens, the earth, and everything necessary for man to exist for the fulfillment of God's purpose. After all things were made, man was created on the sixth day. This means that as soon as man came forth from the creating hand of God, his first day, which was God's seventh day, was about to begin. Thus, what was the seventh day to God was the first day to man. The significance of this is that to God the Sabbath was rest after work, but to man it was rest first and then work. God first worked for six days and then He rested on the seventh day. But man rested on his first day and then began to work. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 1822)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Leviticus, msg. 52; Life-study of Exodus, msg. 172