I read Isaiah 30 just this morning, but my attention is always drawn to Isaiah 30:21 - this is the way, walk in it. Thank you for calling out Isaiah 30:15 - "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. What an important reminder.
Excellent article and very valuable. Two points to consider: 1) God could have created the universe and everything in it in less than an instant, but He deliberately stretched it to 6 days with the 7th allocated to rest, not because He needed it but for the sake of humanity. As Jesus said, Man was not created for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man." Mark 2:27. God cares for slaves and animals and decries that they be allowed a day of rest. Also the utility workers keeping water flowing to our taps, and electricity join with the medical personnel in working on Sundays; 2) In Heb. 4:9, commonly translated as "There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God," the term Sabbath-rest is Sabbatism--a form of Sabbath keeping, which reflects the (freedom) and custom of the early church to meet on Sunday rather than the Jewish Sabbath--since the recorded appearances of Jesus to his disciples after his resurrection were on Sundays.
I like that you equate sabbath with freedom, because that’s what it seems like to me. In a practical sense I’m freed from whatever worldly forces that seem to think they are important, but also they demonstrate a God who rests, thus gives us space to choose our lives and makes freedom possible.
Life is a series of constant choices, and if we claim to live by faith and not by sight, one of those choices must be a day of sabbath rest. Since pastors have jobs to do on Sunday, I greatly appreciate my pastor's stance to make Saturday his sabbath in order to be with his family all day. He puts his phone away and does what he needs to do that day as he trusts the Lord to use this for his and our benefit on Sunday. And I tell you, he is spot on every Sunday, and he receives 100% support from all our church.
That's very wise of him, and it's awesome that the church supports him in it. That isn't always the case. Most pastors don't get or take that kind of downtime, and it wears them down quickly.
As one who was in fill-time ministry for 20 years, I can factually attest to your statement. There one period where I was out 24 nights in a row, and n one stepped in to slow me down, it was just expected.
Many churches and ministers still work this way. But burnout is real. And it’s a real problem. Pastors especially need opportunities to decompress. Pastoring a church is a stressful job at times. But all ministries can be draining simply because it requires all of you–mind, body, spirit.
Wow that’s very cool. My brother was raised in the SDA faith but found more profound fellowship amongst the Baptists here in town and observes both. Your pastor sounds right up his alley!
I read to my husband about the SUNday. He asked, "does that mean Monday is MOON day?" Yes!
Nice study! I enjoyed a deeper study of the Sabbath. It is so beautiful because every aspect turns us to our covenant relationship with Jesus Christ. As I grow closer to the Lord, I find that since he gave me everything, I can't simply dedicate a "mini" ritual as a nod to my Savior. One day a week doesn't even seem an appropriate pause in gratitude for the gift of eternity.
Interesting article. As a Seventh Day Adventist I was aware of this, we get taught in grade school, but have a slightly different understanding of “changing times and laws” from the Day God established originally- Saturday, and carved into stone tablets with His own finger
Thank you for sharing your perspective! You raise an interesting theological point. I'm curious - do you think it makes a difference whether rest is taken on Saturday or Sunday, especially considering our modern calendar and day naming conventions are relatively recent human constructs?
The seven-day week structure has existed in various forms across different cultures, but our current day names come primarily from Anglo-Saxon adaptations of Roman planetary gods (Sunday from 'Sun's day,' Saturday from Saturn, etc.).
Since time measurement itself has evolved throughout history (we lost 10 days completely when we switched to the Gregorian calendar), I wonder if the spiritual principle of regular rest and worship might be more fundamental than the specific day designation? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this.
One other important point, to me anyway, from a philosophical standpoint the 7th day rest stop of the Creator is tremendously significant. For one it demonstrates how free will is incorporated with the creation. Yes God made all and knows all. But God rests also, that is, abjures from work and control. And man honoring and following the Creator’s sign, holds back from domination of all creation. Abjures power.
This is also religiously significant because long before the fall , or the law at Sinai, the Sabbath was part of Creation.
I do think it makes a difference, but it’s something experiential rather than rational. For instance, when the SDA church split off from the rest of Protestant communities in their chosen day of rest, Sunday keepers were quite religious in their observance. But over time they decided it wasn’t a big deal, law was done away at the cross, etc. so Sunday became mostly secular and casual. Family day rather than God’s day, I’d say. Not so with Adventists. And my experience is even when I left the church, I kept Sabbath because there’s just a spiritual connection there that’s real. Heck even Walter in The Big Lebowski’s testimony!
Another example is A J Jacob’s, The Year of Living Biblically offered a great example. A secular Jew decides to try out the teachings of the Bible for a year. A very entertaining read. The one thing he held onto after the year was over was the Sabbath.
As to your point about calendars and modern times… all I gotta say is God imprinted the day with 40 years in the wilderness, no manna on Sabbath, and ever since they’ve kept pretty good track. Pretty much their main assignment, heh.
I read Isaiah 30 just this morning, but my attention is always drawn to Isaiah 30:21 - this is the way, walk in it. Thank you for calling out Isaiah 30:15 - "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. What an important reminder.
Excellent article and very valuable. Two points to consider: 1) God could have created the universe and everything in it in less than an instant, but He deliberately stretched it to 6 days with the 7th allocated to rest, not because He needed it but for the sake of humanity. As Jesus said, Man was not created for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man." Mark 2:27. God cares for slaves and animals and decries that they be allowed a day of rest. Also the utility workers keeping water flowing to our taps, and electricity join with the medical personnel in working on Sundays; 2) In Heb. 4:9, commonly translated as "There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God," the term Sabbath-rest is Sabbatism--a form of Sabbath keeping, which reflects the (freedom) and custom of the early church to meet on Sunday rather than the Jewish Sabbath--since the recorded appearances of Jesus to his disciples after his resurrection were on Sundays.
Great points!
I like that you equate sabbath with freedom, because that’s what it seems like to me. In a practical sense I’m freed from whatever worldly forces that seem to think they are important, but also they demonstrate a God who rests, thus gives us space to choose our lives and makes freedom possible.
Life is a series of constant choices, and if we claim to live by faith and not by sight, one of those choices must be a day of sabbath rest. Since pastors have jobs to do on Sunday, I greatly appreciate my pastor's stance to make Saturday his sabbath in order to be with his family all day. He puts his phone away and does what he needs to do that day as he trusts the Lord to use this for his and our benefit on Sunday. And I tell you, he is spot on every Sunday, and he receives 100% support from all our church.
That's very wise of him, and it's awesome that the church supports him in it. That isn't always the case. Most pastors don't get or take that kind of downtime, and it wears them down quickly.
As one who was in fill-time ministry for 20 years, I can factually attest to your statement. There one period where I was out 24 nights in a row, and n one stepped in to slow me down, it was just expected.
Many churches and ministers still work this way. But burnout is real. And it’s a real problem. Pastors especially need opportunities to decompress. Pastoring a church is a stressful job at times. But all ministries can be draining simply because it requires all of you–mind, body, spirit.
Wow that’s very cool. My brother was raised in the SDA faith but found more profound fellowship amongst the Baptists here in town and observes both. Your pastor sounds right up his alley!
I read to my husband about the SUNday. He asked, "does that mean Monday is MOON day?" Yes!
Nice study! I enjoyed a deeper study of the Sabbath. It is so beautiful because every aspect turns us to our covenant relationship with Jesus Christ. As I grow closer to the Lord, I find that since he gave me everything, I can't simply dedicate a "mini" ritual as a nod to my Savior. One day a week doesn't even seem an appropriate pause in gratitude for the gift of eternity.
I agree! I wonder how many years of eternity will be spent praising God before we get around to doing anything else?
Maybe we should change it to SONday?
I LOVE THAT!
Thank you, sir.
Interesting article. As a Seventh Day Adventist I was aware of this, we get taught in grade school, but have a slightly different understanding of “changing times and laws” from the Day God established originally- Saturday, and carved into stone tablets with His own finger
Thank you for sharing your perspective! You raise an interesting theological point. I'm curious - do you think it makes a difference whether rest is taken on Saturday or Sunday, especially considering our modern calendar and day naming conventions are relatively recent human constructs?
The seven-day week structure has existed in various forms across different cultures, but our current day names come primarily from Anglo-Saxon adaptations of Roman planetary gods (Sunday from 'Sun's day,' Saturday from Saturn, etc.).
Since time measurement itself has evolved throughout history (we lost 10 days completely when we switched to the Gregorian calendar), I wonder if the spiritual principle of regular rest and worship might be more fundamental than the specific day designation? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this.
https://christiandevotionals.substack.com/p/february-24-gregorian-calendar-introduced
One other important point, to me anyway, from a philosophical standpoint the 7th day rest stop of the Creator is tremendously significant. For one it demonstrates how free will is incorporated with the creation. Yes God made all and knows all. But God rests also, that is, abjures from work and control. And man honoring and following the Creator’s sign, holds back from domination of all creation. Abjures power.
This is also religiously significant because long before the fall , or the law at Sinai, the Sabbath was part of Creation.
I do think it makes a difference, but it’s something experiential rather than rational. For instance, when the SDA church split off from the rest of Protestant communities in their chosen day of rest, Sunday keepers were quite religious in their observance. But over time they decided it wasn’t a big deal, law was done away at the cross, etc. so Sunday became mostly secular and casual. Family day rather than God’s day, I’d say. Not so with Adventists. And my experience is even when I left the church, I kept Sabbath because there’s just a spiritual connection there that’s real. Heck even Walter in The Big Lebowski’s testimony!
Another example is A J Jacob’s, The Year of Living Biblically offered a great example. A secular Jew decides to try out the teachings of the Bible for a year. A very entertaining read. The one thing he held onto after the year was over was the Sabbath.
As to your point about calendars and modern times… all I gotta say is God imprinted the day with 40 years in the wilderness, no manna on Sabbath, and ever since they’ve kept pretty good track. Pretty much their main assignment, heh.
👑 ✍🏼⏳ Great History, Sunday, the ⛪ First Day of the week, the 🌄 Eternal Eighth Day.....
....grace and peace to you Amigo! 📿🕯️🌹
"GOOD STRENGTH" 🌐 ☦️ 🕊️
⚜️ SAINTS Constantine and Helen, pray for us!