Why does God even care about it, anyway? Why does He want us to REST?
What's the big deal with resting? I mean, you can't get much done when you're resting can you? And it is a busy, busy world. Isn't the idea of "sabbath," rest -- antiquated, passed away, nailed to the cross in our busy, busy world?Funny thing, but the Bible doesn't teach this, doesn't even hint this. Sure, some can point to a verse which talks about "laws that were against us" being nailed to the cross, but then they don't want you to examine the corresponding Old Testament verse and the "laws" this verse is talking about (hint, Moses wrote it in a book, unlike the Ten Commandments that God wrote with His own finger upon stone -- does man change? Yes. Does God change? No.).Think about the people clamoring for Ten Commandments statues being placed in public places -- shouldn't they be also requesting that the Fourth Commandment be stricken from the statue, since they don't keep it, don't want it, and are angered if someone mentions it? These people are worshipping idols -- they make the Ten Commandments to be false gods, false gods that cannot speak,or see, or hear -- while they ignore the True God Who does hear, Who does speak, Who does see everything, the God Who said "Remember."The Creator creates, and people worship His creation instead of worshipping Him! Are we supposed to worship a statue of something God declared? Is there anything holy about a slab of marble that people have carved words upon, when they don't even KEEP those words?God said "Remember." People haven't.Why do people want these statues when they only keep nine out of ten? If God says that the Seventh day is holy, can man then take a vote and elect the first day, Sunday, in its place? Can people make things holy, by trying, really, really hard? God speaks and makes things holy, can man do the same thing?There is a whole movement, right now operating, teaching that people ARE gods, that they are "little gods," that they can create by speaking! It's going on, right now, all around you -- every time you turn on the television, they are jumping and hopping -- and those that feel that they can change one of God's laws, they are as guilty as the bewigged hoppers, the fanciful "little gods." And think about it, if we change Sunday into the seventh day, and make Monday the first day -- then what do we DO with the verses in the Bible that say that Jesus was resurrected on the first day? If Sunday becomes the seventh day, the Sabbath, then aren't we changing Monday to the first day of the week, the day that Jesus rose from the dead, and then shouldn't we start going to church on Monday and celebrating THAT day as the Lord's day? The logic here is that there is no real logic, because you can't change the day that God declared holy, the Sabbath day, which is Saturday the seventh day of the week, the last day of the week, and Sunday, the day that Jesus rose from the dead, IS the first day and will always be the first day, the first day of the working week. Why complicate it?Am I keeping the Ten Commandments if I go to church on Sunday and claim I am keeping the Sabbath, while I do my own pleasure on the Seventh day? If I drive around town shopping and going to movies, am I keeping Sabbath holy? If I think Sunday is special (one man considers one day more special than the rest) then is Sunday football a holy rite? Is THAT Sabbath keeping?What IS resting, anyway? Does God expect me to remain motionless, each and every Saturday, from sunset Friday until sunset Saturday? Can I pick up a glass of water for a drink? Is this work?The spirit of the law is that man comes into agreement with God. The Sabbath is not a big list of to-Don'ts -- you don't keep the Sabbath with a frown. Yahweh wants you to set aside your daily thought, your daily spirit, your daily grind -- He wants you, weekly, to come into agreement with Him, to soak Him in, to worship Him and not stress out on the things of the world, for a whole day -- think of it? Wouldn't that do you good, to set aside a whole day in His honor?You can worship God all week long, 24/7 -- but you shouldn't WORK all week long. God wants you to take a break from WORK, your daily routine, one day in seven. People convert this into being God wants you to WORSHIP one day in seven. People tell me, all the time, that they feel they can worship Jesus ANY day, and I agree with them.But take off Saturday, from sunset Friday night, until the sunset the following day, on Saturday night. Rest in Jesus, Yahshua the Messiah, rest in Him. Come to Him, all you that are weary. He gives rest. The Sabbath is a symbol of that rest.Think about it! God has already given this to you -- this is a gift, not a hardship. Certainly, maybe at first, it WILL be hard to unplug from the Matrix -- we get caught up in our illusions of this world, we need our music, our comforts, our temptations, our worries, our frets and stresses and fears, don't we? But if you give God's plan a chance, to rest in Him, you will soon find that the Matrix is not real, it is an illusion. And the more you come into agreement with God, the more and the more you will hunger for Him, thirst for Him, ache for Him, and the more and the more the illusion of this world will fade -- YOU WILL DESIRE THE REALITY, NOT THE ILLUSION!This is what the Sabbath is all about. Resting in Christ, resting in Jesus, Yahshua the Messiah. At the end of the week, beginning Friday evening as the sun sets, God will supercharge you. You will rest from the rat race, you will disengage from the world that we MUST participate in (God does not want us to remove ourselves completely from the world, because the world is a huge field, and the harvest is taking place, right now, and God expects us to participate in that harvest) -- six days shall we work, six days shall we engage in the world, but the SEVENTH DAY is about God, immersing ourself in God, allowing Him to baptize us with His Holy Spirit, it is a day when we are commanded to free ourselves from our bills, from that impending doom, from that angry person, and connect ourself completely to God (God is our refuge, our strong tower)......obviously, this world that we must work in, it is a dark and sinful place. And we are marooned here, for a short time. We MUST work, for six days, get our stuff done, rush about, we are surrounded by worries, creditors are knocking at the door, the telephone is ringing, the e-mail needs to be answered. We are selfish. We try to get more, get better, have fun, compete against the next guy......but the Seventh day is about spirituality, it is about fellowship with other followers of Yahshua, it is about spreading the Good News, it is about a whole other world, it is about absorbing spiritual food, every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God! Man shall not live by the 6 days of daily bread, but by every Word from God. YES, we must do those six days of work (it's actually part of the commandment, work six days), and in those six days we cannot completely focus our spiritual life upon the Creator, yes, we can grab a minute here, an hour there, but the Seventh day is twenty-four hours of communion with God.Praise Him, know Him, search for Him! He is there, and He has given you this gift of the Sabbath so that you may achieve a special blessing with Him, every week, you can be supercharged for the coming week, to serve HIm better than you ever have before, to shine Jesus out of every pore of your being, you can rest from all the heavy labors you had to complete last week, and you can rest content and secure in the Creator of the universe, the Father of Lights, the Savior of the world.Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
James 1:16-18
The New Covenant:
For this is the
covenant that I
will make with
the house of
Israel after
those days,
saith the Lord;
I will put my
Laws into their
mind, and write
them in their
hearts:
and I will be to
them a God,
and they shall be
to me a people:
Hebrews 8:10
Are you a part of
the New Covenant?
Has God written
His laws, including
the Fourth Commandment,
in your heart? DId
He put His Sabbath
in your mind?
If ye then,
being evil,
know how
to give
good gifts
unto your
children,
how much
more shall
your Father
which is in
heaven give
good things
to them that
ask him?
Matthew 7:11
God gives us good gifts, He gave us the Sabbath, do you believe Him? Or is the Sabbath a day of dread, instead?
The Sabbath is our gift from God, the first gift in the Garden of Eden!
Do not err,
my beloved
brethren.
Every good
gift and
every
perfect gift
is from above,
and cometh
down from
the Father
of lights, with
whom is no
variableness,
neither shadow
of turning. Of
His own will
begat he us
with the Word
of Truth, that
we should be
a kind of
firstfruits
of His
creatures.
James 1:16-18
Make no mistake about it, God's Sabbath day, a gift to us, is a perfect gift, from the Father of lights, Who does not change, doesn't even hint at turning or changing!
Sabbath Resources
For the
Son of
man is
Lord
even
of the
Sabbath
day.
Matthew 12:8
Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. Do you believe it? It is His own holy day, it is the Lord's day, the Seventh Day, blessed by God at the creation of the world!
And He said
unto them,
"The Sabbath
was made
for man, and
not man for
the Sabbath:
Therefore the
Son of man
is Lord also
of the Sabbath."
Mark 2:27-28
This is Jesus speaking about Himself. Do you believe Him? Did He really make His own holy day a gift for all mankind? Or do you prefer the "traditions of the elders?"
Sabbath Resources
#2
Is Resting Bad?
Is Resting Bad?
