Benefits of Keeping the Sabath
Hello Eve,
I agree with you that sometimes it is not always possible to rest as much but i think there is a reason why God gave us that extra day to rest.We should try as much as possible to have rest.and the ideal day is the day he created for us. the sabath. The Lord God rested .Hope this can be useful to you
Is the keeping of the Sabbath optional or a command?
It is one of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:8-11 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it."
We are to remember the Sabbath.
It is the only one of the Ten Commands that God says that we are specifically to remember. Exodus 20:8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." Maybe God said to remember the Sabbath because He knew how easy it would be for us to forget it.
We are to do no work on the Sabbath or have others work for us.
Exodus 20:10 "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates."
We are to make the Sabbath a day of rest.
Exodus 31:15 "... but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest ...." This may be the hardest for you to do. This can be major battle for me, just to stop to rest.
We are to make the Sabbath holy to the LORD.
This means that we are to set our attention on the Lord that day. Exodus 31:15 "...but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD...."
We are to commemorate God as the Creator by keeping the Sabbath.
Exodus 20:11 "For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it."
It is to be a sign between God and the Children of Israel.
Exodus 31:17 "It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." Although God's focus has turned away with the natural Israel during this church age, He has created a spiritual Israel. Romans 11:17 "And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree." Galatians 3:29 "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Observing the Sabbath for Believers can be an open door to witnessing to the rest that we find in Jesus.
We are to delight ourselves in the Sabbath.
Isaiah 58:13 "... and call the Sabbath a delight ...." In other words, we are to look forward to the Sabbath and purpose to enjoy it. Once we start it, we will look forward to the rest and time with the Lord.
We may meet basic necessities on the Sabbath.
Matthew 12:1-5 "At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?"
When we observe the Sabbath, we are to commemorate the rest which we receive through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 4:4 "For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works." Hebrews 4:8-10 "For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his." The Old Testament saints were unable to enter the rest from the works of the law; however, Jesus fulfilled the works of the law that through faith we might enter into his rest. Hebrews 4:11 "Let us labour [be diligent] therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." We don't do good works to be saved (in the spirit-man) in order to go to heaven. We don't even do good works to keep the salvation of the spirit-man.
We may also celebrate the second coming of Christ by keeping the Sabbath.
(1) God created the heavens and earth and everything in them in six days and rested on the seventh.
(2) Looking at God's time table, Peter said, "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (II Peter 3:8). From Biblical record, it has been almost 6,000 years since creation. At the end of the 6,000 years Jesus is to come again and set up a thousand years reign. Satan will be bound during the millennium.
Revelation 20:2-3 "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season." This will complete a week of years (6,000 + 1,000 = 7,000).
(3) Therefore, by keeping the Sabbath we are reminded of the second coming of Christ.
