The True Sabbath
Read Leviticus 23:3
Today’s Truth
The weekly sabbath had begun at Creation. God worked six days and then he rested on the seventh day. God did no work on the sabbath. This was reinstated and renewed in the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai when God reminded his people that the sabbath was at the heart of all his work.
What is that rest? Again Hebrews 4 tells us. In Verse 10 it says, for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his... (Heb 4:10). That is, on the seventh day of creation, God ceased from all work. He who enters into rest has stopped his own work and is resting on the work of another. So if you learn the principle of operating out of dependence upon God at work in you, and if you don't try to do it all yourself — but instead learn to rest on what God is ready to do in you and through you and around you, and expect him to do it — then you are observing the sabbath as God intended it to be observed.
Discussion Questions
- What role does the Sabbath play in the lives of the Israelites according to this passage?
- Why does God emphasize the importance of rest?
- What practical steps can we take today to remember and celebrate God's deliverance as demonstrated during the Exodus?
Application
High energy performance is standard in our everyday world where rest is considered a luxury. How does this compute in God's economy? Are we learning the true Sabbath principle, of work out of rest?
