This is the only commandment we are asked to ‘remember’, as if we would forget it!
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exo 20:8
Of course we have forgotten it, most of us think that the Sabbath is Sunday, or somehow it is not important and is only for the Jewish nation.
And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath…Mark 2:27
That was Jesus speaking! To make something Holy in Bible talk is to set it apart from other things. The Sabbath day is set apart from other the days in the week and therefore becomes a Holy day, a Holy day of such great significance that we have forgotten it or are trained to think in a different way about it. Sounds like our adversary has been to work on this one. What do some books say about the Sabbath?
And He gave us a great sign, the Sabbath day, that we should work six days, but keep Sabbath on the seventh day from all work.
And all the angels of the presence, and all the angels of sanctification, these two great classes -He hath bidden us to keep the Sabbath with Him in heaven and on earth.
And He said unto us: ‘Behold, I will separate unto Myself a people from among all the peoples, and these shall keep the Sabbath day, and I will sanctify them unto Myself as My people, and will bless them; as I have sanctified the Sabbath day and do sanctify (it) unto Myself, even so will I bless them, and they shall be My people and I will be their God. Jubilees 2:17-19
Not only is The Sabbath a great sign of our obedience to Him, but we will be called ‘His people’ if we rest from work on the Sabbath. And He will bless us! Did you note that all the angels having been doing this since creation? Sounds to be a pretty important day, it is!
Therefore you are to keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it must be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Exo 31:14
Will I be put to death for not keeping the Sabbath? If you know that keeping the Sabbath is expected of you to remain in the love of God but choose through defiance not to keep it, then I say of course as you refused to keep the Sabbath and were not interested in keeping your covenant with God then death on the second resurrection will happen to you. If on the other hand you never knew how important the Sabbath was or that you have been deceived into thinking a different way, then of course you cannot be judged in the same way. You are only put to death if you profane (go against) Gods instructions with sincere intentions of doing so.
Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city Rev 22:14
The world has hidden God and His ways, the way to everlasting life, hidden living on His calendar, making us think that – that was the old testament not the new, we are ok God knows our heart, etc. Let me leave you with some new testament quotes and see what you think?
Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? Matt 15:3
When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. John 15:10
Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. 1John 5:3
Time to take the Sabbath a little more seriously?
We keep the Sabbath this way. We do not go to work or go to places where others are working (we understand that for some this is not always possible in this day and age). We do not spend money or encourage others to spend money on the Sabbath. We spend family time together, we cook a special meal, we study the Bible, listen to worship songs, we blow the shofar, we generally have a fun time. For us the Sabbath is a picture of our everlasting life to come, and guess what? We are commanded to be happy…and we are when we treat this day as special as it is. Shabbat Shalom!