The Holy
Sabbath Day
The Fourth Commandment
of Almighty God and one perhaps most overlooked is the commandment to keep
the sabbath day to sanctify it, Six days shall we labour, and do all our
work but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD our God.
Deuteronomy 5:12-15
(KJV)
Keep the sabbath
day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou
shalt 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,
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant,
nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that
is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as
well as thou.
And remember that
thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought
thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore
the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
To begin let's clear
up a common misconception, the sabbath day is not sunday. The sabbath day
is the seventh day of the week which is saturday and begins from friday
evening sunset to saturday evening sunset. To keep the sabbath day is a
commandment from God and this commandment is no less important than any
of his other commandments, by not obeying it you are not only disobeying
God but you are robbing yourself of something very special. It is when
we begin to obey God that we begin to understand the great gift his commandments
are to us, and the truths hidden behind them begin to show themselves.
The sabbath day should
be something to yearn for, to await with excitement! It is a special day
between us and God, it is a day of rest, it is a time where we are to forget
the burdens of this world and focus on our Lord , to draw close to God
and by doing so feel him draw close to us. The sabbath day is an expression
of Love between us and God.
I have felt God many
times, each time very special to me, wonderous in fact, but the strongest
times I have ever felt Jesus was while honouring the sabbath day,by strong
I don't mean just feelings of his presence but I mean literal manifestations
of himself to me, here's a scripture I came across shortly before I first
began to follow the fourth commandment,
John 14:21 (King
James Version)
He that hath my
commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth
me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest
myself to him
Now it was AFTER I
seriously focused on obeying ALL of Gods commandments including the fourth
one to keep the sabbath day that this particular scripture became a reality
to me. Let's take a look at some scriptures in regards to the sabbath day.
Isaiah 58:13-14
(KJV)
If thou turn away
thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and
call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt
honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor
speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD;
and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed
thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath
spoken it.
Isaiah 56:1-2(NIV)
This is what the
LORD says: Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close
at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed. Blessed is the man
who does this, the man who holds it fast,who keeps the Sabbath without
desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil."
Ezekiel 20:10-15
Therefore I led
them out of Egypt and brought them into the desert. I gave them my decrees
and made known to them my laws, for the man who obeys them will live by
them. Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would
know that I the LORD made them holy
From my research the
Sabbath is apparantly mentioned in the New Testament fifty-nine times,
I have not confirmed the accuracy of this, but it is clear to me that the
sabbath is a sign- a very special sign between our father and his children,
There are some who hold that the sabbath day was abolished, and I won't
get into a long legalistic debate on this issue, To keep the sabbath day
is a commandment of God and it will always be my position that ALL of God's
commands are to be obeyed.
Matthew 5:17-20
(NIV)
Do not think that
I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish
them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth
disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will
by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished
Anyone who breaks
one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same
will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and
teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For
I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees
and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of
heaven.
It is so easy to be
weighed down by laws and regulations,so easy to fall into the trap of attempting
to earn by works what has allready been given to us by grace, Let's not
lose sight that the real goal of christianity is to TRULY KNOW GOD To be
transformed by the gift of the holy spirit into the likeness of his son,
to grow in love and to recieve what Jesus died for us to have, the opportunity
to have a relationship with God our father.To manifest the fruits of the
spirit and by doing so bring Glory to his holy name.
When you disobey God
you literally drive a wedge between yourself and that goal. The ten commandments
are not a burden or a chore to be avoided and shunned, the ten commandments
of God are a gift of Love from our father to us, and it is by obeying them
that the promises of God begin to materialize in our lives, Don't
allow anything to steal from you something that such a high price has been
paid for you to have.
So how are we to follow
the sabbath day? Go back to Isaiah 58:13-14 I will paste the NIV
version of the scripture this time
Isaiah 58:13-14
(NIV)
If you keep your
feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy
day,if you call the Sabbath a delightand the LORD's holy day honorable
and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please
or speaking idle words,
then you will find
your joy in the LORD,and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the
land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."The mouth of
the LORD has spoken.
Use this day for what
it was meant for to Honour God, to be a day of Rest a day to worship our
Lord and to grow close to him in prayer and by study of his word. Come
near to God and he will come near to you.
If you haven't allready
made Jesus Lord of your life and accepted his death on the cross at calvary
for your sins than I implore you to do so right now.. Take this very very
seriously, as dying without Jesus will mean eternal seperation from God
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