Are You Resting?
What are you doing on Fridays from sundown to Saturdays at sunset? Are you grocery shopping, cutting the grass, washing your car, getting your hair or nails done, partying or pursuing whatever interest you? If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of the LORD has spoken, as according to Isaiah 58:13-14. Well, it looks as though it is to your advantage to keep your appointment with God because you will be blessed. Are you a Christian keeping your Sabbath appointment?
No if's, and's, or but's about it, every seventh day is a Sabbath and should be set aside for God. Deut 5:13, 14 further expounds on this fact. It states, "Six days you shall labor 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 ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do." As recorded in Genesis 2:2, "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work." God isn't asking you to do something that He has not already done. Remember, God was the first to honor the Sabbath. In fact, God thought keeping the Sabbath was so important that He made it a law for you, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy (Exodus 20:8), which is the fourth Commandments of the ten He gave to Moses.
Many people question which day to celebrate the Sabbath. When Moses and Jesus walked the earth, Sabbath was celebrated at sundown on Fridays until sunset on Saturdays.This same day is the day that Sabbath keeping Christians honor today. In 132 A.D., the Christian movement disassociated itself from the Jewish nation and started a Sunday observance. Every day should be holy to God, but only one day per week is the Sabbath and should be honored by you. Don't judge which day is right or wrong or judge the law that requires you to celebrate the Sabbath. Instead, take it to God in prayer; however, be obedient. James 4:11-12 states, "Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But youwho are you to judge your neighbor?"
Now, imagine God in the beginning, what do you think He did when He rested? There were no flea markets, shopping centers, cars, etc. What should happen during your Sabbath appointment? Your appointment should be a time of rest, eating, enjoying Scriptures, and fellowship, but no work. It should be a day of joy and not a punishment!