Sabbath in the Kingdom
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We live busy lives. We live in a culture of now. I grew up in a time without access to amazon. I remember my first computer class was in 7th grade. That means I did not touch a computer until 7th grade. We played the Oregon trail and Sim farm.
If you did not know something then you at to get out an encyclopedia and look it up(the google of books) or find someone who would know and ask them.
The only way we knew what toy was coming out was to watch commercials. We then had to go to the store and look for said toy until it hit the shelves. If it was not on the shelves, then you could not look it up and see what store it was in stock at. You went home and came back the next time to see if it was there.
Based on self-reported data, the average person touches their phone 2,617 times per day. The average smartphone user gets between 65 and 80 notifications per day.
Teen texters ages 12-13 typically send and receive 20 texts a day. 14-17 year-old texters typically send and receive 60 text messages a day. Older girls who text are the most active, with 14-17 year-old girls typically sending 100 or more messages a day or more than 3,000 texts a month.
We are consumers. The system of society as consumers often demands that we have more, own more, buy more, drink more, and do more.
This causes competition with our friends and neighbors. Tim Elmore in his book Generation Z Unfiltered describes that in my era of growing up parents did what he labels community parenting.
Community parenting is where everyone in the community works to parent all the children. Everyone is pulling for everyone. In sports, arts, school, and you name it, the community works to improve every child. The community took on the responsibility to raise children.
The shift of today is that of competition parenting.
Competition parenting, as Elmore describes it, is parents no longer seek the best for all the children in the community instead they are competing against other parents to ensure their children have the best life available to them. Social media compounds this problem because parents have to post pics and status updates that show their child is getting the best life in comparison to their friends and classmates.
What is Sabbath?
What is Sabbath?
In the Old Testament it was a time from Sundown on Friday till Sundown on Saturday. Exodus 20:9 says you are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work.
In our culture, we have reduced this down to go to church. I would say some have even further broken this down to you don’t go to church you just do something that brings you rest or something you enjoy.
I remember growing up there was a time in my childhood that restaurants, gas stations, and grocery stores were closed on Sunday. If you needed gas then you needed to plan ahead before Sunday.
Over 3,000 years Jews in Jerusalem have been striving to keep the Sabbath. What does this mean for a Jew to keep the Sabbath
So the first day of the week was??? Sunday. So labor for six days and then rest on the Sabbath. Again, this would begin at Sundown on Friday night and continue till sundown on Saturday night.
Here is a picture of the market in Jerusalem. You can go to the market and get fresh fruits, vegetables, honey, and produce. Amy and I got the opportunity to go to Israel and the food was amazing. It is so hard to describe but it was just amazing and when scripture speaks of the promise land it was wonderful.
If you live near the market you have to do all your shopping before Sundown on Friday night. People get off work on Friday and they rush to the market to get what they need. They will prepare all of Saturdays meals in advance before Friday Sundown.
Here is the market on Sabbath or Saturday. Some Jews don’t drive, that would be considered work, Some will walk the neighborhoods but they don’t walk to far because if they do then that would be considered work, they have meals prepared in advance, and at Sundown Friday night they share a meal together as a family eat, sing, and read scripture. Saturday they would then go to the temple and hear the reading of scripture.
This is a little more involved then go to church. Can you imagine what this would look like for you? As I teach this series on the Sabbath, my goal is not to give you a how to guide (the Bible does not really offer this) but to share the meaning in scripture behind the Sabbath. My hope is that you will start to implement some Sabbath practices.
Example: What if for 6 days a week you social media it up then one day a week you intentionally rest from it and replaced that time with worship. What if you intentionally thought more about a day of rest.
I enjoy working out and so I like to read articles about working out. In all my reading and research, I don’t hardly ever come across an article that says you need to workout 7 days a week. Sure there are some blitz programs for a couple of months that will say this but not many suggest that we should work our bodies for 7 days 365 days a year. The workout articles call for us to rest our bodies.
You can also find this concept of stopping work in mental health articles and doctors suggest it for your overall physical health.
There is something beautiful when we stop the work.
When we stop the hustle and bustle of life.
We stop acting like we are the center of the universe
or
That my work is the center of the universe
My striving in work is keeping everything glued together
Everything will fall apart if I don’t XYZ...
The word Sabbath means...
Sabbath (שַׁבָּת, shabbath):
It means that you STOP or to cease from
A day of complete rest from secular work following six days of labor.
Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Sabbath
Derivation of a Hebrew word which means “cease” or “desist.” The sabbath was a day (from Friday evening until Saturday evening in Jesus’ time) when all ordinary work stopped. The Scriptures relate that God gave his people the sabbath as an opportunity to serve him, and as a reminder of two great truths in the Bible—creation and redemption.
1 So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed.
2 By the seventh day God completed His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done.
3 God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it He rested from His work of creation.
Notice what is not here on the 7th day. Every other day it concludes with
5 God called the light “day,” and He called the darkness “night.” Evening came and then morning: the first day.
8 God called the expanse “sky.” Evening came and then morning: the second day.
12 The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
13 Evening came and then morning: the third day.
18 to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 Evening came and then morning: the fourth day.
23 Evening came and then morning: the fifth day.
31 God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.
It is interesting that on the 7th day God rest and we don’t see this evening came and then morning.
3 God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it He rested from His work of creation.
As we see a theme develop that is consistent with the rest of scripture, Shabbath points us to ultimate rest. We see this in Jesus. It also prepares us for eternity in Heaven and points to this eternal rest.
If you remember, we concluded that if God worked and God is good, then we recognize that work is good.
In the same manner, if God rested from his work and God is good, then rest is good.
I trust that less people would argue this fact about rest being good than some might would about work being good.
I would also say that while less would argue about rest being good that many of you struggle more with the concept of rest than the concept of work. That is you struggle to stop or cease work. Again if you stop then the world might fall apart. If you stop working it might reveal some other problems that you simply don’t want to address.
God is good. God rested and so rest is good.
Two different places in scripture we see the 10 Commandments and two reasons for the Sabbath in both of these.
This is what God did and because God did this you should also do this because that is what God did.
8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy:
9 You are to labor six days and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates.
11 For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.
The reason here in Exodus 20 is the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested
This links us back to Genesis. In Exodus 20, he says God rested on the 7th day and because God rested, then you too should remember the Sabbath and in so doing keep it holy.
Liberation from Slavery
12 Be careful to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy as the Lord your God has commanded you.
13 You are to labor six days and do all your work,
14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey, any of your livestock, or the foreigner who lives within your gates, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do.
15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
The word for rest here is Nuakh
Nuakh [noo’akh]: to rest
It means that you have stopped but now you are settling in to the place where you stopped so that you can be refreshed.
You must stop and after you stop you are to enjoy the place where you stopped.
The reason you are to keep the Sabbath here in Deuteronomy is because you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt. Because the Lord rescued you from slavery you are stop and rest so that your slaves may also rest.
Once you go into the promise land, you are to remember the Sabbath and give everyone in the land a day of rest.
The 7th day is a celebration of liberation from being enslaved to our labor.
This is liberation from Slavery and celebrating liberation from Slavery every 7th day. This is anticipation from a full restoration from slavery or a full liberation.
In Closing Exodus 5.
1 Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Let My people go, so that they may hold a festival for Me in the wilderness.”
2 But Pharaoh responded, “Who is Yahweh that I should obey Him by letting Israel go? I do not know anything about Yahweh, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”
3 Then they answered, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God, or else He may strike us with plague or sword.”
4 The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you causing the people to neglect their work? Get to your work!”
5 Pharaoh also said, “Look, the people of the land are so numerous, and you would stop them from working.”
6 That day Pharaoh commanded the overseers of the people as well as their foremen:
7 “Don’t continue to supply the people with straw for making bricks, as before. They must go and gather straw for themselves.
8 But require the same quota of bricks from them as they were making before; do not reduce it. For they are slackers—that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’
9 Impose heavier work on the men. Then they will be occupied with it and not pay attention to deceptive words.”
10 So the overseers and foremen of the people went out and said to them, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I am not giving you straw.
11 Go get straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but there will be no reduction at all in your workload.’ ”
12 So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.
13 The overseers insisted, “Finish your assigned work each day, just as you did when straw was provided.”
14 Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s slave drivers had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why haven’t you finished making your prescribed number of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”
15 So the Israelite foremen went in and cried for help to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way?
16 No straw has been given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but it is your own people who are at fault.”
17 But he said, “You are slackers. Slackers! That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to the Lord.’
18 Now get to work. No straw will be given to you, but you must produce the same quantity of bricks.”
19 The Israelite foremen saw that they were in trouble when they were told, “You cannot reduce your daily quota of bricks.”
20 When they left Pharaoh, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who stood waiting to meet them.
21 “May the Lord take note of you and judge,” they said to them, “because you have made us reek in front of Pharaoh and his officials—putting a sword in their hand to kill us!”
22 So Moses went back to the Lord and asked, “Lord, why have You caused trouble for this people? And why did You ever send me?
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Matitiahu Tsevat Israeli Scholar
He cues in on the phrase that is repeated in both Sabbath commands, “the seventh day is a sabbath to Yaweh. In Hebrew it is a Sabbath of Yaweh.” One day out of 7 the Israelite is to renounce dominion over time and recognize God’s dominion over it.
Every 7th day the Israelite renounces his autonomy over time (I own myself) and recognizes God’s dominion over time and himself or herself.
Keeping the Sabbath is an acceptance of the Kingdom and Sovereignty of God.