Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 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, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Oh my …how this commandment has had so many requirements added to it by Man.
What did Jesus say about this commandment?
And he said to them, “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
What was the reason God put this commandment into His instructions for His family? Honestly? Only the Holy Spirit can give an answer to you that will satisfy your heart and soul. We certainly can read books and books of other men’s conjectures about the reasoning for the sabbath. So many divisions and arguments have begun over this issue. Think about it, even at the time of Jesus the issue was there. Certainly Mankind has a hard time understanding this one.
There is information in the commandment that we can ponder and ask the Holy Spirit about. We were once ‘slaves’, but we’ve been ‘freed’, by the hand of God. Slaves weren’t allowed to rest but had to do as their master ordered. Freed slaves should KNOW and remember how they were made free. And we should not be like our former captors but extend our rest and freedom to everyone in our community, including our working animals. Why is remembering our redemption and the Person who provided it so important? Why is the seventh day a needed day for rest? Do we remember the creation week? How would the creation week enter into our understanding of why a day of rest important?
I think the main issue here is ..rest. Real rest. And a day of remembering our Redeemer and what He has done for us. So many religious types right away begin making ‘rules’ and regulations on how to keep this day of rest correctly. When it really should be about enjoying our Lord and spending some quality time with Him. So how does this ritual play into this time and culture? Does ritual bring you into a place of better relationship with Him? It may only happen if your heart focus is correct AND you can converse with Him. But if the rituals are only one-way then the purpose becomes cloudy and machine-like. If their is no conversational relationship with our Lord how will the day of remembering and rest really have the effect He was attempting to give us? Having a time of celebration and fellowship with His Family could be a good thing IF everyone is allowed to participate and share what the Lord has done in their lives in the past week. But to file in, sit silently forward, and watch and listen to a preplanned ‘service’ / entertainment hour, and file out — without any real connection or conversation with Him OR His family isn’t any better than empty ritual.
Here’s a wild suggestion… why don’t you ask Him what He wants you to do on your ‘day of rest’? Where does He want you to go and what does He want you to bring? What testimony of what He has done in your life in the last week does He want you to share with others? What truths has He been teaching you? All of these things actually require to receive very specific answers from Him. It would require sitting long enough in His Presence to actually listen to Him. Listening to Him SHOULD be a daily thing, not just a feeble attempt during a ritual once a week.