Tag: Sabbath Studies

We are commanded to remember that God created on the seventh day. (Exodus 20:11) We celebrate God’s ability to make things out of things that do not appear. (Hebrews 11:3). In revelation we are reminded that there will be a movement and a message that celebrates God’s creative power when it has the everlasting Gospel. (Revelation 14:7).

God Creates Out of Nothing

God creates out of nothing. When we celebrate this idea we celebrate that God needs nothing to make something. Such an idea implies that God has a way out of or through all of our situations because God doesn’t need something that “appears” to create. When we find ourselves in need of rent money. We know that God can take care of it in God’s own time and in God’s own way. Even though we may not be able to see how God is going to do it, we can know that God will do it, because God specializes in making “something” out of things that do not “appear.” It may not be money that God provides. I don’t know what God will do, but how God does it is up to God, we just trust in the power and ability of God. In other words we trust God’s creative power.

The Lord Will Make A Way Somehow

Our ancestors were right when they said, God will make a way out of no way. They were simply saying that God has the creative power to change any situation into a better situation. And even though we may not be able to see it, we can know it.

But how can we know it? God has commanded us to remember the Sabbath that we may have time to think about God’s creative power. We can know it, because God has given us time to internalize the fact that God creates things out of things that do not appear. God has given us the Sabbath to remind us that when our back is against the wall, God is not surprised and that God can see you through the situation.

The Sabbath Helps Us Know It

If it weren’t for the Sabbath, many of us would spend our lives in the constant worry of trying to take care of our needs and planning for our future needs. However, the Sabbath gives us time to sit back and think about how Jesus has been with us in our past, and anticipate God’s continued presence with us.

Wayne Muller writes in the book Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest:

If we forget to rest we will work too hard and forget our more tender mercies, forget those we love, forget our children and our natural wonder. God says: Please don’t. It is a waste of a tremendous gift I have given you. If you knew the value of your life, you would not waste a single breath. So I give you this commandment: Remember to rest. This is not a life-style suggestion, but a commandment — as important as not stealing, not murdering, or not lying.”

Remember the Sabbath, remember to rest, and I would add remember to rest on the day that God created especially for that purpose. Don’t get so caught up in work that you lose. Don’t “waste a single breath.” God has given us a commandment that we might be better spouses, community members, parents, church members, and human beings.

I heard a Sabbathkeeper argue for a “deeper” understanding of the Sabbath. This is fine and I have argued for the same thing, however a growing number of people are saying that public worship was not a part of Sabbath observance. They argue that the Sabbath was primarily meant to be a one on one “date” between the individual and God and that there was no worship or communal component to the Sabbath.

The idea is that the Sabbath was a day for “individual rest” and not one of “corporate worship.” One individual told me in an email, “Adventists took the Sabbath which was meant for individual communion with God and rest and made it a day of corporate worship.” Then the person sought to defend this assertion by saying that “the fourth commandment says nothing about worship.”

Independent Celebration

While it is true that the fourth commandment does not say anything about worship, one must recognize first of all that the commandment does not imply that it is a totally independent endeavor. The Sabbath commandment speaks of a rest that includes ones workers and others. It includes a manservent, maidservent, and even cattle. All of these are to be participants in the benefits of the Sabbath rest. In addition, the commandment was meant to “do good” to others rather than in an independent “me and God” experience.

Sabbath Include Worship?

Just as the Sabbath was not meant as an individualistic endeavor, it also includes a worship. The Bible says, in Leviticus 23:3, that the Sabbath was meant to be a Holy Convocation. A convocation is a gathering. The Sabbath was to include a holy religious gathering.

Thus the Sabbath was not meant to be a individualistic “rest” from others, but a corporate “rest” with others as we do good to others and we worship the Creator God.