“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11).
Father in heaven, we consider ourselves privileged to be able to enter into Your Presence with thanksgiving! You have been so good to us! You have been better to us than we are to ourselves! In the midst of panic You have given us peace! You have replaced our fear with faith, and our anxiety with hope! You gave us rest even before we knew we would need it! For this, and so much more, we give You thanks in the name of Jesus Christ! Amen.
Today we continue our conversation on the Sabbath. So far we have seen that God gave human beings the Sabbath at the end of creation week. He rested, blessed, and gave the Sabbath a holy nature (sanctified it). Then said: Just cease from all your activity, you and everyone under your roof – family, those who work for you – visitors – even your beasts of burden!
Now, let us take a look at the definition of one of the verbs I shared with you at the beginning of our conversation, to discover the nature and purpose of the Sabbath.
“Rested: Hebrew shabath; a primitive root: to repose, as in, desist from exertion. used in many implication relations, (cause to) cease, celebrate. (make) to rest.”
It is a day of fellowship. A day when we celebrate and share with others the goodness of the Lord that we enjoyed during the first six days of the week! We share our testimony of the goodness of the Lord. In good times we visit those who need a visit, and in times like these, we find creative ways to keep in touch, and share God’s blessings!
Note that God not only gave this first couple the Sabbath. He ENJOYED IT WITH THEM! And He encourages us to look at it as a delight. Something enjoyable, something to look forward to. A day when we put away the things that tire our body, mind, and spirit, and we simply rest, in the Lord of the Sabbath!
“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight” (Isaiah 58:13b, emphasis provided). Remember, it is God’s day (we will talk some more about this), but He made it for us (Mark 2:27).
The Sabbath was given to us, as a gift. It is a day for us to “take the time to smell the roses.” And share the sweet smell of love and joy, while studying the word together, agreeing in prayer together, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together . . . but exhorting one another, and so much the more as [we] see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25)!
This time in history, is no longer referred to as the time of the end, but rather as, the end of time. For we do see the Day of Redemption approaching!
All I can say after a hard week of toil and tension, is, “Thank You God for thinking of us, even before we were, and for providing us with this amazing gift of Your love, the holy Sabbath day!