O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The word Sabbath means a day set apart for God and for rest, a day of spiritual refreshment and reverent worship. The Sabbath points us forward to our eternal rest with God.
Q: What does the Fourth Commandment say?
A: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.
This can be one of the hardest commandments to keep. Except for "necessary works or acts of mercy" we are supposed to devote our Sundays to worshipping God both publicly and privately. But no one seems to have informed the sports teams or the shopping malls about this! God allows us six days of the week to take care of our own affairs. He claims the seventh day as His own. He set the example for us and blesses the Sabbath.
Exodus 31:13-17-"You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, 'Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.
Isaiah 58:13-14-"If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the LORD,and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
Mark 2:27-28-And Jesus 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."
If the Sabbath was truly made for our physical and spiritual good, then Jesus, who calls himself the Lord of the Sabbath, can interpret what it is for. Our rest is in Him because he did the work of new creation for us.
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Devotional Questions:
How do you keep the Sabbath and why do you keep it the way you do?
If you pay attention to Jesus' healing miracles, you will notice how many are done on the Sabbath and how upset the Pharisees get. Why do you think Jesus chose to heal on the Sabbath?
Does the answer to the previous question help you understand why the Christian Sabbath is now on the first day of the week and not on the last?
