THE SABBATH DAY

Some Believers expend a lot of energy looking for loopholes to break the Sabbath and then do the same in justifying their breaking of the Sabbath. The purpose of this lesson is to examine the Scriptures in order to understand the purpose of the Lord's Day.

We begin our study in Exodus 20:8-11 where clear instructions were given by God to His people on how to observe the Sabbath.

In verse 8 we are told three things concerning the Sabbath. Remember it since we are prone to forget. "The Sabbath" means "day of rest" and "festival keeper." To keep it holy which means the day is consecrated and dedicated to God.

Verse 9 we are told "Six days your shall labor and do all your work. This means all types of work are to be carried out in six days.

Verse 10 reminds us that "The seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God." One day out of six belongs to God and not to us.

We are instructed in verse 11 why we are to keep the Sabbath Day. The first reason is that God blessed the day. The verb form is strong therefore we should take this very seriously. Blessing the day meant God intended for His people to fellowship with Him and to be spiritually refreshed and renewed, Ephesians 1:3. The second reason is that "He made it holy." To make holy means to consecrate and to dedicate something to God. In Mark 2:27 Jesus made it clear that, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."

In our finite wisdom we have a tendency to take what is good for us as Believers in Jesus Christ and abuse it. That is, some Believers take the Lord's Day and consecrate it and dedicate it to themselves. We are guilty of robbing God of His Day when we take that view of the Sabbath.

May all who are Believers take a serious look at the passages of Scripture in this lesson and evaluate our view of The Sabbath. As we do this please keep in mind what Jesus said in John 14:15. This truth must be the foundation of Sabbath observance.