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7/26/2004 Disoriented by the whirlwind of the stresses of life the Sabbath is a peaceful pause of opportunity to rediscover yourself and the reason for living. It's like a compass that gives my identity needle time to find its true north. You and I are special treasures to God, a treasure He wants to preserve and protect. One of the first gifts God gave to His special people was a day of Rest, called the Sabbath. It was a pause for peace in which they could get to know each other and their God. Genesis 2:1-3 says, And on the seventh day God ended 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 created and made.
The Sabbath was made for man, Jesus says in Mark 2:27. It is God's gift of rest to all mankind. God says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day Is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your Son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. Exodus 20:8-10. In short, a loving God gives His treasured people a seven-tiered dimension of rest that embraces, yourself, your family, your employees, your animals, and even your guests! It is a 24 hour window of freedom from the slavery to the panting pace of life and making a living.
Furthermore, it is a Reminder of who I am-a special treasure! Disoriented by the whirlwind of the stresses of life the Sabbath is a peaceful pause of opportunity to rediscover yourself and the reason for living. It's like a compass that gives my identity needle time to find its true north. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that in them is and rested the seventh day, therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Exodus 20:11. This reminds us that God is our Creator who treasures us and will provide for all our needs as we rest in Him.
It is a sign, God says, between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed. Exodus 31:17. The Sabbath, therefore, represents Refeshment and Relaxation. It is a time out for the soul to stretch and take a deep refreshing breath. God intends it to be a time to stop and be recreated.
The Sabbath is a symbol of Rescue and Release from the burdens of life. God said, Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Deuteronomy 5:15. The Sabbath is a sign of God's power to save us from the bondage and drudgery of sin. Moreover, also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.Ezekiel 20:12
In harmony with this principle, Jesus Christ, while on earth, kept the Sabbath (Luke 4:16 and Mark 2:28) He carried on the gift of the Sabbath by bringing release to those who were suffering from bondage to sin and its results. In the gospel stories there are seven healings recorded on the seventh day. One of these is recorded in Luke 13:10 where He healed a woman who had a serious illness that had burdened her for 18 years! When Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, Woman, be loosed from your infirmity...and immediately she was made straight. As new life and vitality surged through her knotted limbs this woman experienced the fulfillment of Sabbath rest. It was rest from the guilt and pain that sin has brought.
Coupled with release from disease and drudgery the Sabbath God even provided food for His people in the desert on this special day of rest! See, the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in His place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day. Exodus 16:29,30.
For he who has entered His rest has himself ceased from his works as God did from His. Hebrews 4:10. So the Sabbath is the symbol of resting in perfect peace and trust In what God has accomplished. For He has spoken in a certian place of the seventh Day, in this way, And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.Hebrews 4:4 For we who have believed do enter that rest. Hebrews 4:3 and Matthew 11:28. The rest of salvation is very sweet!
Rest is eternally relevant. The Sabbath is a promise of a forever rest in God's presence where the celebration of life and creation will go on throughout eternity. God's people will worship together in the brand new recreated world. And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the Lord. Isaiah 66:23.
By: Pastor Stan Beerman
Roseburg Seventh-day Adventist Church
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