When we hear this word in religious circles, it can sure get the discussions going....
Sabbath.
And as a Seventh Day Adventist Christian, I really REALLY love my Sabbaths. And I keep my Sabbaths holy, not to be saved but because I am saved. I remember the first time I learned about resting on the seventh day and escaping the madness of world, I fought it.
My wife would beg me to prayerfully read the 4th commandment (you know, the one that begins with the word remember...) and I would fight her over it. I would argue, I work for myself and I don't 'labor' so why should I rest on Saturdays. This wasn't work for me, this was enjoyable.
She kept praying for me :)
And I'm grateful....
To learn about the Sabbath we have to go all the way back to creation, Genesis chapter 2 to be specific. We see it first after God created the world in six days...
God rested. He blessed the Sabbath. And sanctified it (made it holy).
One thing people love to bring up is that Sabbath was made for the Jews only. Well, the only question I have to that is...How many Jews existed on day number 6?
And if you want to show people what our Lord and Savior had to say about the Sabbath:
The verse does not say....The sabbath was made for Jews. It says it was made for man. That means everyone. But just in case you may think that Christ is being unclear with that statement...
He's claiming that the Lord's Day is in fact....Sabbath. But that's a whole other topic....
The point I wanted to talk about tonight was that I saw something online that absolutely blew me away today.
As I mentioned, most Christians when you bring up the Sabbath they'll say things like it's done away with, we're not bound to it, and....It was made for the Jews.
If you ever want to do a deep dive into why I keep the Seventh day holy, as God commanded us to, pop by our Discord :)
What I want to address is that last point....It was made for the Jews.
Check this out....
I did a quick Google search and asked 'How many Jews are on earth?'
Let's round up and say 16 million around the globe. And I'm not sure all 16 million are sabbath keepers, but we'll go with 16 million.
Now I go over to Google again and type in....How many Seventh Day Adventists is there?
That blows me away!
And yeah, not every SDA is a sabbath keeper, but if they are a member of the church, they 'agreed' to our doctrines and one of them is...We keep the Sabbath holy, like God commanded us to.
So can you see where I'm going with this?
The largest group of Sabbath keepers is not the Jews. It's in fact a Christian denomination.
And I get it, this is a touchy subject. I personally love studying it. The more I've prayerfully looked into it, the more I trust God's word. And the more I fall in love with my day of rest with my God.
But it does cause some passion on both sides of the coin...
If you do not keep the Sabbath holy, I urge you to give it a try.
This Saturday, shut it all down. Turn the phone off. Get off the computer and open up your bible. Spend those holy hours with your Lord in prayer and in His pages of Scripture and you'll see what a blessing the Sabbath can be.
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And also, in reference to the whole "it's only for Jewish people," then why bother following any of the other Commandments? 😅 MURDER was only meant for Jews as well?!
It's why I just try to focus solely on GOD'S WORD. Man and church can distort or misinterpret to align with a different agenda. I know that there is some leeway for Old Testament rules through the covenant with Christ, but I feel the major rules are ones everyone should follow without delay.
As for the Sabbath, how do you personally keep it holy? I know God says to rest/not work, a lot of people think it means attending church, etc. I don't enjoy attending church as much because again, how many people are unfaithful to the Word. Maybe taking an hour for some solid Bible passages...
Yeah most have no issue with the other 9...Do not murder is obviously something we should keep lol It's biblical gymnastics to me, picking and choosing what is the word of God and what's man's tradition.
Amen to that!!!
For me, it starts with family worship on Friday night. We have 'home church' per se. Saturday morning we do go to church but not all the time. If I don't attend service, I'm studying the bible. I'm praying. I'm reading.
But honestly, a big chunk of my Sabbath is in nature. Going for walks with my family, spending it in God's creation. It's so awesome. The last thing I worry about is...The stress of the world :)
Resting is not just a break; it is an opportunity for renewal of ourself.
100%!