The Big Sur
The Sabbath Is A Symbol That We Have Ceased From Trying To Save Ourselves! Jesus Is Our Savior!!
Luke 2:10-11, Ezekiel 20:12,20;36:26-27, 1Thessalonians 5:23-24, 2Corinthians 3:18, Hebrews 3:12,19;4:1-4,10-12,15-16
The Sabbath is a true gift of God to humanity (Mark 2:27). It was the first complete day that Adam and Eve spent as children of God and their first day as a married couple (Gen. 2:1-3). On Sabbath we stop worrying about our daily struggles (Ex. 20:8-11). We do not just rest: any day of the week would do as a day of rest. The difference between this day and any other day is that the Sabbath offers a rest not for inactivity but rather to undertake different activities similar to the first Sabbath in Eden. Sabbath is the moment to catch our breath (Ex. 31:17) as we change activities.
Interestingly, Jesus criticizes the inactivity that the religious leaders of His time tried to impose on the Sabbath and affirmed: “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working” (John 5:17). He, of course, refers to Sabbath work as being redemptive and not the type of daily labor we normally engage in during the week (Matt. 12:7). God’s idea of rest for us frees us from ourselves and our worries so that we can have time and space for different activities. According to Jesus, Sabbath is the ideal day for blessing others (verses 9-14). It’s a day of a change in activities centered on God meeting humanity – those He formed out of dust. It is a celebration of the relationship between God and humanity, the members of the family and our ties to all of creation. Sabbath is an echo back to Eden. Sabbath is God’s way of telling us that He wants to have an intimate relationship with us; that we are more important to Him than all the other things He made.
Sabbath is a necessity, not only an obligation. Just as we need air, light, water, and food in order to survive, we need the Sabbath to truly live. It is also a day of worship when we kneel before God and recognize that He is Lord. “It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves” (Ps. 100:3). Sabbath puts us back in our proper place. In the six other days of the week there is time for personal goals. As we manage our time and activities, there is always the danger that we could begin to consider ourselves equal or even superior to God. We need the Sabbath for this weekly reminder that everything we do, can do, and even all our ability to plan comes from our Creator.
Sabbath is also a day of re-creation. When everything in life seems to be disintegrating, Sabbath calls us back to Eden. And once again the Lord turns and creates everything from nothing. Where we are weak, we can become strong. Chaos turns into order; fear becomes joy; uncertainty is replaced by certainty and trust; God’s justice puts injustice and oppression into their corner; guilt is transformed into pardon. This moment of redemption is reflected in Israel’s experience when God’s strong arm brought them out of Egypt (Deut. 5:12-15), and we recognize the Sabbath as our delight (Isa. 58:13). We not only receive the blessings of this special day, but every Sabbath we renew our covenant with Him and publicly confirm that we want to be God’s children.
Truly understanding the Sabbath changed my life many decades ago – and millions all around the world experience this delight every Sabbath. Can you imagine the incredible Sabbath celebrations in our new heavenly home – face to face with our Creator and Savior?
The beneficent Creator, after the six days of Creation, rested on the seventh day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a memorial of Creation. The fourth commandment of God’s unchangeable law requires the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of delightful communion with God and one another. It is a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in God’s kingdom. The Sabbath is God’s perpetual sign of His eternal covenant between Him and His people. Joyful observance of this holy time from evening to evening, sunset to sunset, is a celebration of God’s creative and redemptive acts. (Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:8-11; Luke 4:16; Isa. 56:5, 6; 58:13, 14; Matt. 12:1-12; Ex. 31:13-17; Eze. 20:12, 20; Deut. 5:12-15; Heb. 4:1-11; Lev. 23:32, Mark 1:32)
Thanks Professor Raul Quiroga
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