So what is the purpose of the Sabbath anyway? It is one of the 10 Commandments, but many just view it as incidental. I don't agree. I think God established it for a very specific purpose. One of those reasons is that we really need it. So on this post, I will explain some of the reasoning behind why I think it is necessary.
First I am going to mention a few Scriptures that talk about the Sabbath:
Genesis 2: 1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
Even God took a Sabbath's rest. He started the set apart day.
Exodus 20: 8-11 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle, or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day, therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
God put it in the 10 Commandments. There has to be a reason. It has the longest explanation in the 10 Commandments, taking 4 verses. Probably an important Commandment.
Exodus 16 : 23-30 Then he said to the, "This is what the Lord meant: Tomorrow is a Sabbath observance, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning." So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered and it did not become foul, nor was there any worm in it. And Moses said, "Eat it today for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. "Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none." And it came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. Then the Lord said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions? See the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." So the people rested on the seventh day.
God even made His provision Sabbath dependent.
Leviticus 25: 1-22 The Lord then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, 'When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a Sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, but during the seventh year the land shall have a Sabbath rest, a Sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. Your harvest's aftergrowth of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year. And all of you shall have the Sabbath products of the land for food; yourself, and your male and female slaves, and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who live as aliens with you. Even your cattle and the animals that are in your land shall have all its crops to eat."
'You are also to count of seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven Sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. You shall then sound a ram's horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land. You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field. On this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his own property. If you make a sale, moreover, to your friend, or buy from your friend's hand, you shall not wrong one another. Corresponding to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your friend, he is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops. In proportion to the extent of the years you shall increase its price, and in proportion to the the fewness of the years, you shall diminish its price; for it is a number of crops he is selling to you. So you shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.'
'You shall thus observe My statutes, and keep My judgments, so as to carry them out, that you may live securely on the land. Then the land will yield its produce, so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it. But if you say, "What are we going to eat on the seventh year if we do not sow or gather in our crops?" then I will so order My blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the crop for three years. ' When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat old things from the crop, eating the old until the ninth year when its crop comes in.'
God promised to provide for them when they kept the Sabbath and the Jubilee years. He wasn't going to leave them in want, but was going to bless and build their faith. Do we trust God enough to rest and trust?
Jeremiah 17: 19 - 27
Thus the Lord said to me, "Go and stand in the public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, as well as in all the gates of Jerusalem; and say to them, 'Listen to the word of the Lord, kings of Judah and all Judah, and all inhabitants of Jerusalem, who come in through theses gates: 'Thus say the Lord, " Take heed for yourselves, and do not carry any load on the Sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem. And you shall not bring a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your forefathers. Yet they did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their necks in order not to listen or take correction But it will come about, if you listen attentively to Me," declares the Lord, "to bring no load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to keep the Sabbath day holy by doing no work on it, then there will come in through the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city will be inhabited forever. They will come in from the cities of Judah and from the environs of Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of the Lord. But if you do not listen to me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I shall kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not be quenched."'"
Jeremiah was the prophet who warned Judah and the Jews of God's coming judgment. He is known as the weeping prophet. The leaders of Judah in Jerusalem did not heed him and then God sent them and the people into exile for 70 years. 10 * 7 years.
God clearly had a point of emphasis in the Old Testament Law for the Sabbath. In part two I will examine New Testament Scriptures and how Jesus and the Apostles interpreted and reapplied the Sabbath principles for the followers of Jesus.
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