What a Day a Difference Makes
Have you longed for a day free from work pressure, study assignments or even catching up around your home? There is such a day; it’s called the Sabbath. And in spite what you may think—that it’s a religious anachronism, that it belongs only to Judaism; it’s time you can’t afford to give up—it nevertheless continues to enrich the lives of people today just as it has for thousands of years. And not just by releasing them from workaday stresses, but also by providing a weekly dose of life-giving rest and joy. It’s an oasis in our lives that is a God-gift to all humankind, one you can read about in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.
origins
According to Genesis, after completing the creation of our world in six days, God celebrated with a sabbath—the Sabbath— which He separated from the others as a holy day commemorating Creation, and one designed for humans to build their relationship with Him.
He pronounced his creative work as “very good.” All week He’d built a wonderful world for human occupation and when it was ready, He created a happy couple to enjoy it. He then provided them with the special day to share with Him. It was to be an opportunity to reflect on the significance of what He’d done and to bond with Him in worship so they might understand the truth about His character and His purposes in our existence.
Jesus said that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27, 28). It follows, then, that the Creator who made us and knows what is best for us, in establishing the Sabbath saw it as just as important as the oxygen in the air and the fruit on the trees. He didn’t intend it to be onerous to observe or a burden; rather, it should be a time when we delight to meet and celebrate with God.
a new dimension
Unfortunately, when sin spoiled the idyll on earth, people forgot the Creator and started behaviour that excluded worship of God, although they continued to worship something. In fact things got so bad, He gave the Ten Commandments to what was at that time an almost godless nation of slaves—Israel—after He’d miraculously delivered them from bondage in Egypt.
When giving them His commandments, God reminded Israel it was His care and concern that motivated Him to free them and that He already had their future in hand. His purpose in giving them the law was so that through its guidance, they could live freely and happily.
When Moses repeats the Sabbath commandment in Deuteronomy 5:15, he links the blessing of the Sabbath to their freedom from slavery rather than the Creation. Their freedom was another gracious gift from a loving God who wanted to have a close relationship with them.
In James 2:12, God’s law is described as “the law that gives freedom.” This indicates that we have a choice as to whether we will or will not follow God’s ways. It also implies that when we do, we’re free from the oppression and guilt of sin.
In the book of Revelation, we learn that those who follow God’s ways will be happy—“blessed are they that do his commandments” (22:14, NKJV), God says. But the Sabbath commandment begins with the word “remember.” None of the others do so, implying that as humans, we’re likely to neglect—even forget—this special time.
a new relationship
I’m impressed by God’s desire that everyone should enjoy this set-aside day. It’s a time when your family and their friends, and those who work for them too, have time off from work and stress, to rest and enjoy time that God blessed as an anniversary of the creation of our planet. It’s a time of freedom from slavery to work and sin.
God wants to enjoy this time with us and specially makes Himself available to bond with us on the Sabbath. The fourth commandments as recorded in Exodus 20 is often linked with Ezekiel 20:20, which states that we should “keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.”
Just as a married woman wears a wedding ring to symbolise her relationship with her husband, so those who keep the Sabbath take it as a sign of their relationship with God. God’s desire for us is that we understand His message of love, freedom and restoration in our lives and respond to Him with loving faith. That’s not legalism, its love. As a woman, my wedding ring doesn’t motivate me to be faithful to my husband; rather, it’s a symbol to others of my very real love for him.
Ironically, Jesus, who created our world, was put to death on Friday afternoon, a time when in the creation week He’d looked at His handiwork and declared it “very good.” Just about the time He finished His Creation and was ready to institute the Sabbath, so, thousands of years later, late one Friday afternoon, He said, “It is finished.” He gave up His life to forgive men and women their sins so they could be re-created through His death and have a new life.
now for the steak knives . . .
But there’s more! The Sabbath will be ours to enjoy with our loving Lord for eternity. In Isaiah 65 God says, “‘Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth” (v 17), then ‘From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come to worship before me and bow down,’ says the Lord” (v 23). Having had a taste of the blessings of Sabbath-keeping in my life on this earth, I want more.
A colleague once said to me, “My husband and I have watched you. We believe we’ve discovered your secret for coping with our hectic schedules and staying positive. (We were teachers.) It’s that you keep the Sabbath as a day of rest. We’ve decided to do the same.”
And they were exactly right. It’s as if the world with its cares doesn’t exist on the Sabbath. Obviously, it’s not really my secret; if it were, you wouldn’t know about it! But what a difference that day makes in my life. And what a day its difference makes!
what GOD said:
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them,
but he rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
—(Exodus 20:8-12).
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Articles of interest:
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This is an extract from October 2003
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