Remember the sabbath
day, to keep it holy
Holy- 'to
consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified,
be separate'
To keep it holy.
To keep it
consecrated.
To keep it
sanctified.
To keep it prepared.
To keep it
dedicated.
To keep it hallowed.
To keep it separate.
We reveal the
IMPORTANCE of a day by various means.
For someone's birthday we treat them extra special with perhaps
breakfast in bed, a nice lunch at a favorite restaurant, a yummy birthday cake,
presents. We do the same for
anniversaries and various days we label holidays. The day is special and often
times people are allowed the day off school and work when there are days we
label extra special. Because we allow
days off we are saying this day is so special we don't want you to have to work
or go to school on this day. For those professions where people work 24/7 year
round they are more often than not given compensation for having to work on
that special day of the year.
Man has deemed
several days every year to be this special, but God has deemed the SABBATH DAY
to be this special and the SABBATH DAY occurs on the seventh day of every week,
the day HE chose to rest upon, the day HE chose to sanctify to make holy, the
day HE made for US.
We are to keep this
day HOLY. He tells us too, Jesus did
throughout His entire life even resting in the grave on the Sabbath before
rising on the first day of the week.
That Sabbath rest in His grave is something that is overlooked. People tend to just gloss over it real
quickly as if it wasn't important at all and only the first day of the week is
significant because Jesus rose that day.
Jesus could have been crucified on any day, and Jesus could have risen
on any day- but one.
Our Savior would NOT
be put to death on the SABBATH.
Our Savior would NOT
be called to rise from the dead on the SABBATH.
In fact, the Sabbath
was drawing near after He'd died and HIS followers, HIS disciples, HIS loved
ones wanted His body quickly put in the tomb BEFORE the Sabbath arrived. Why?
Living in a world
such as we live in today when the majority of people do all sorts of things
regardless of the day, it's almost too hard for people to fathom such
restrictions.
They eagerly wanted
the dead Jesus quickly taken care of. In fact, they KNEW they didn't have time
to properly prepare Him for His burial, but they still wanted Him laid to rest
before the Sabbath.
Mar 15:42 And now when the even was come, because it
was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,
Mar 15:43 Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable
counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly
unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.
Mar 15:44 And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead:
and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while
dead.
Mar 15:45 And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave
the body to Joseph.
Mar 15:46 And he bought fine linen, and took him down,
and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of
a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.
Mar 15:47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of
Joses beheld where he was laid.
Mar 16:1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary
Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices,
that they might come and anoint him.
This was the DEATH,
the VERY REAL DEATH of the SAVIOR, the SON OF GOD and HE remained UN-ANOINTED
for a FULL DAY.
Jesus' body, His
lifeless body void of the breath of life, lay in the dark tomb not anointed on
the Sabbath day and then until the next morning hours into the first day of the
week which began at sundown. He rested in
death's sleep, laid in the tomb.
If Jesus had died on
a Wednesday- the middle of the week- His body would have been anointed, there
would have been time to anoint His body before the Sabbath. His body would NOT
have rested before they anointed Him with the oils and spices they prepared.
IF our Savior had
ended the weekly Sabbath observance there would have been no need for anyone,
especially His followers who understood Him more than any others, to have kept
from anointing His body.
Our Savior did NOT
abolish the weekly Sabbath and HIS laying in the tomb without being anointed is
one proof of this.
The Sabbath
importance was the FIRST amazing reaffirmation made by our Savior after His
death.
That Sabbath was
KEPT HOLY, that very first Sabbath after Jesus' death was kept holy by all of
Jesus' followers.
We are to keep the
Sabbath day holy.
Why?
Because our GOD, our
HEAVENLY FATHER, our SAVIOR asks us to do so.
Keep it holy. Set it
aside. This day will be different from all the others of the week. It's NOT the same as those days. It was made
special for us. Yet because in our sin
warped world we tend to think of special days as something containing ribbons,
balloons, streamers, posters, cakes, cookies, and a ton of self-indulgence, we
don't quite want to understand how this day is to be Holy and to be Special
without all the trappings. A weekly day,
a whole day, special? Why don't we make
this day special as we are told to do? And not through the concept of
self-indulgence, but in self-sacrifice.
Seriously. To set aside self for one day, just one day
in every seven, and do that on God's holy Sabbath day, the seventh day, Friday
sundown to Saturday sundown, a whole Biblical day.
Set aside self.
Why set aside self?
Because in truth it is self we must set aside in accepting Jesus, isn't it?
I did not read the
commandment to love self.
I did read the
commandments to love God and to love my neighbors (all others).
I read this too-
Luk 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come
after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Let him DENY
HIMSELF.
Let him TAKE UP HIS
CROSS DAILY.
Let Him FOLLOW ME.
2Ti 3:1 This know also, that in the last days
perilous times shall come.
2Ti 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves,
covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy,
2Ti 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers,
false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
2Ti 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of
pleasures more than lovers of God;
2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the
power thereof: from such turn away.
It is PERILOUS
(DANGEROUS) to be among the 'MEN SHALL BE LOVERS OF THEIR OWN SELVES'!
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for
me.
WE - that self we
tend to indulge - is CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST.
CHRIST lives in US when we are saved by HIM, choosing to follow
HIM. We have to continue to live in our
flesh, but daily we pick up our crosses.
Daily we are allowing ourselves, our selfishness, our self-indulgence,
our self-absorption be CRUCIFIED with
CHRIST. CHRIST must LIVE IN US through
FAITH. We must allow CHRIST TO LIVE IN
US. And if we ALLOW CHRIST to live in us
then we are allowing Him to save us from all that is in us that would destroy
us.
WE MUST let CHRIST
LIVE IN US! In a real way, not in a
seconds thought of Him as our Savior, but in a daily, hourly, minutely way
where HE is with us in ALL we do, not just a few chosen moments we allow Him in
our lives.
The SABBATH is to be
kept Holy, set aside, sanctified, DIFFERENT from every other day of our week!
On this day more than any other we are to be renewed by the Holy Spirit so that
we can get through six days every week that have NOT been set aside for us, but given to us to work,
work, work, work, work, and work.
If we indulge in our
SELF LOVE by giving into Satan's temptations that will draw us as far from God
as possible on this day set aside, then we are missing out on a blessing, and
we are SINNING.
Yes, SINNING.
This is a
COMMANDMENT from our SAVIOR, from our GOD the FATHER!
We sin when we do
NOT keep the commandment MADE for us.
We throw away this
amazing gift to us, and in doing so we proclaim that we have no need of this
Sabbath, and no need of the God who commands us to keep the Sabbath.
LORD please, help
us. The self inside of us, the flesh that would corrupt us fully and leave us
without hope is fighting against us, making it so that we find it all but
impossible to set aside a SINGLE day for YOU, a day YOU made FOR US, for our
GOOD, our SPIRITUAL, PHYSICAL, and MENTAL GOOD.
Please SAVIOR GOD,
please save us! FORGIVE us our sins! Forgive us for believing that we can do as
we please, indulge self endlessly day after day, after day without any
consequence.
Please keep us from
Sabbath sinning!
Help us LORD! Save
US!
All in YOUR LOVE, by
YOUR GRACE!