“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).
Heavenly Father, as we enter Your Throne Room today, we do it fully aware that it is only because of Your great goodness and mercy that we are still alive enjoying another day of life. Please help us not to take Your blessings for granted. Teach us instead to live every day with an attitude of gratitude. These mercies we ask, believing that we will receive what we have asked, because we ask it in the only name whereby we can be saved; the name of Jesus, the Son of God. Amen.
As we continue our conversation about the Sabbath we will be looking at two phrases in particular,
Remember the Sabbath day
To keep it holy
It was obvious that God had a reason why He asked human beings to remember the day. After all, it was given at the very beginning of human existence. It was a gift of love for the first couple, and the entire human race, forever! It was given at the end of the creation of a beautiful new and perfect world!
God who sees and knows everything even before things come to pass, knew that the world would not remain beautiful and perfect forever, and that with the onslaught of all that would take place after the entrance of the deadly virus of sin, His special day, and its purpose, would be forgotten.
Therefore, in the very first sentence of the fourth commandment He reminds us not to forget; put another way, He reminds us to remember! And He tells us why it is so important that we remember. If we did, we would keep it holy! Why? because it would remind us that the Lord is the Creator of heaven and earth, and all that is in them, and that in the very beginning He set it aside for holy use (Genesis 2:2, 3)!
Someone has said, that if everyone was keeping God’s seventh day Sabbath, there would be no atheists. The Sabbath would be the constant reminder, that there is a God, and that He is the author of all that exists. I believe it!
He also modeled the way it should be kept holy. While He was here on earth, Sacred Scripture says of Him:
“So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read” (Luke 4:16, emphasis supplied). This is what He did on Sabbaths. He went to church, and took part in the service. This was His custom.
But that was not the only thing Jesus did on the Sabbath. On the Sabbath day He did what He loved doing the most. He healed and restored people, as the following examples will prove:
- Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God” (Luke 13:10-13).
- Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him. Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other” (Matthew 12:9-13).
Yes, one of the things Jesus enjoyed doing on the Sabbath day was making people whole again. He had created human beings in His image and likeness, to have an abundant life (Genesis 1: 26-28; John 10:10). It was never His intention for people to be sick and in pain and suffering. An enemy [Satan] had done that. And while He was here on earth He did everything in His power to eradicate the works of the evil one, and restore wholeness in humanity.
We should do the same! The Sabbath is a day for doing all the good we can!
I made some adjustments to this devotional a few minutes ago. This will be done from time to time. A review of the posts can be helpful.
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