The Sabbath — A Day or State
Exodus 20:8, Mark: 2:23-23, 3:1-6
I rest in the consciousness of the true Sabbath and my heart is filled with joy and satisfaction.
The Sabbath was a day set aside for rest and worship to give man an unhurried time in worship and rest each week. The Sabbath is a symbol of God’s great concern for humanity to have a wonderful moment of rest and refreshment for our spirit.
The true Sabbath is the state of spiritual attainment where man ceases from all personal effort and all belief in his own works and then rests in the consciousness that the “Father abiding in me doeth His works.”
In the original text of the Sabbath law in Exodus 20:8 there was no attachment but later various laws was enacted to stiffen the law. Also Exodus 20:15 said “thou shall not steal” while Leviticus 19:9-10 stipulates that there should be left over in the farm for poor and strangers. When the Sabbath law said that crops should not be harvested on the Sabbath day it was to prevent farmers from becoming greedy and ignoring God on the Sabbath day. He also protected laborers from being overworked.
The Pharisees in Mark 2:3 interpreted the action of Jesus and His disciples — picking the corn and eating it as they walked through the fields — as harvesting and they judged Jesus to be “a law breaker”. Jesus and His disciples clearly were not picking the corn for personal gain; they were simply looking for something to eat. God provided the Sabbath as a day of rest and worship but He didn’t mean that concern for rest should keep us from lifting a finger to help others. We should not allow the Sabbath law to become a time of selfish indulgence. The Jewish leaders had turned against Jesus because they were jealous of His popularity, His miracles and authority in speaking the word of God.
In truth the Sabbath is an intuition of man as Sunday through Saturday is the creation of man. There is no cessation in the activity of God. God is to be worshiped in Spirit and in Truth. We do not quarrel with our brother and sisters who chose to worship any other day other then the prescribed Sabbath day.
Not only do we do God’s service on the first day or the seventh day but every day in praise, songs and thanksgiving. In our daily works we are expected to give our best and when such is achieved we have kept the Sabbath day. In the true Sabbath our mind is turned to God every moment, and we are ever ready to acknowledge His Holy presence in our heart and life. The Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath.
