Loving the Sabbath Day
Our eternal heavenly Father granted us the Sabbath day out of His love for us. He knew we would need a day of rest following six days of labor, just as He rested after six days of “working” to refurbish and repopulate the earth. Let us briefly look at the Sabbath commands and see just how they express love. Look at Isaiah 58:13-14.
* Do not do your own pleasure on it. pleasure = chephets, “what your own mind desires.”
* Call the Sabbath a delight. delight = oneg, “luxury”; from anag, “to be soft, luxurious.”
* Observe it as a holy day that is honorable to God. holy = qodesh, “sacred, to make clean, consecrated.”
* Desist from doing your own ways and pleasures. pleasure = chephets,”pleasure, desire”; from chaphets, “to incline to, be pleased with.”
God calls the Sabbath “My holy day.” As stated above, holy [qodesh] means “sacred or consecrated.” It must not be taken lightly. We must do what He tells us to do on the day, and we should above all want to, for He promises great blessings to those who keep the day. THIS SHOWS THE GREAT LOVE THE ETERNAL EXPRESSES TO US WHEN WE FOLLOW HIS COMMANDS; HE WANTS TO BLESS US!
“Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Isaiah 58:14).
When we delight ourselves in the Eternal by keeping the Sabbath day — and by implication all of the commandments — He in His endless love for us promises to shower us with blessings unimaginable, both individually and nationally. We will be looked upon by other nations with great admiration, and individually we will be blessed, not just materially but spiritually. What has been promised to Jacob will fall upon us. It is a promise that is so clearly elucidated in Leviticus 26:1-13. These blessings related in Leviticus 26 are contingent on keeping “My Sabbaths” and reverencing “My sanctuary” [miqdash, a consecrated place”] (verse 2), … which is referring to the dwelling place of God in the Tabernacle or Temple. Today, since there is no temple, that dwelling place is within our very beings (Romans 8:9-11; I John 4:13; I Corinthians 6:19).
Our Creator’s agape love is shown so profoundly by His giving us the Sabbath day. We “prefer Him above others” who might wish to argue that Sunday observance is acceptable, or Christmas and Easter are as good as the Holy Days. We obey His commandments — including the Sabbath — because we love Him who first loved us. Let us observe the seventh day each week with joy and delight as we strive to serve Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength — and love our neighbor as ourselves — for by doing so we are fulfilling the meaning of the Law and the Prophets. That is our calling. There is no other way!
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