“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8-11
God blessed and hallowed the Sabbath day. What does that mean?
The Sabbath day is a blessing from God for all people, but especially for His people who follow His example by observing the Sabbath day. As Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). By these words we should understand that the Sabbath day is a blessed gift from God not a burdensome day. If you think of the Sabbath day (the Lord’s Day) as a religious burden to be endured rather than a blessing to be enjoyed, I pray that the Lord will turn your thinking around on that. (1)
The blessed gift is having a day to rest from our regular labors, which are very often, laborious. The blessed gift is having a day to give special and intentional attention to worship. While being created in God’s image means we are to work (being creative and industrious), our even higher calling is to worship God. The Sabbath is a day of rest and a day of worship—I pray you understand these as God’s blessings.
The Sabbath day is hallowed, meaning, “holy,” set apart from something for something. The Sabbath (Lord’s Day) is not to be viewed like all others. While every day is a day to worship and glorify God, honesty demands us to admit that our regular labors distract us from more intentional worship. So God sets aside one day in seven from what is common for what is holy. It is a day to set our minds on what is holy above what is common. Hearts that desire more of God are grateful for a day each week that is hallowed for precisely that.
Next time: Why the Christian Sabbath is not the seventh day, but the first day of the week.
A footnote: (1) Those who view observing the Lord’s Day as an intrusion into what they would rather be doing are worshiping other things (including their own desires) above God. Additionally, few things are as burdensome as living to satisfy the flesh.