In Christian circles, even among those who do believe in keeping the ten commandments, there has still been confusion over the fourth commandment and whether we should be keeping the Sabbath on the seventh day that was ordained, sanctified and made Holy by God at the time of creation.
To be able to develop a close relationship with God, we need to spend quality time with Him. He set aside this day as a special time of communion with Him. It is a time where we can study His Word, and let His Holy Spirit speak to us through it. A time that we can spend in earnest prayer, talking to Him, praising and worshiping Him.
It is also a time that we can look at nature and reflect on all the wonderful creations that He has made. And finally, it is a time that we can spend with fellow believers, to worship together in song and have fellowship with each other, encouraging one another and building up each other’s faith by our testimonies.
God also gave us this special day as a day of rest. In this hectic world with our busy lifestyles it is so easy to get so engrossed in other things that we never have time for God and never have time to just stop all our work and let our bodies recuperate.
Some Christians spend a couple of hours of a Sunday morning attending church, but then the hum drum of every day life catches up with them and they start doing household chores like mowing lawns. Others go to the footy, or do other secular activities where God is just not a part of it. Sunday keeping Christians often claim that Sunday is the Sabbath, but if they genuinely believed this, then it follows that they would demonstrate it by keeping the entire day Holy and devoted to God, without doing secular activities.
With stress related diseases like cancer and heart attacks on the increase every year, the necessity to take a days break, and bask in the presence of our all mighty father in Heaven, has never been so important. We need to spend time with Him to be replenished and rested.
God gave us His Sabbath day as a blessing to all mankind. A day on which we could spend time with Him to get to truly know Him and fellowship with Him. A day on which we do not have to do any work or labour. A day to rest, away from the worries and cares of this world.
God also ordained the seventh day Sabbath as a day in remembrance that He is the Creator of Heaven and Earth. The Bible says, Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work…”.
The scriptures also show us the true spirit of the Sabbath. Isaiah 58:13-14 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight..”
This shows that the Sabbath is a delight and a blessing. It is a wonderful day and something to look forward to each week.
All Bible references are from the King James Version.
