“Thus saith Yahweh…blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it: that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it…” (Isa. 52:1-2)
If we understand the command to “remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy”, and who made the Sabbath in the first place we need to turn to an account of the very beginning of Yahweh’s creation
In John 1:1-3-“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with “Yahweh and the Word was Yahweh. The same was in the beginning, with Yahweh. All things were made by Hing and without Him was not anything mode that was made” Here we find Yahshua described as the WORD. This passage reveals that Yahshua has been with the Father from the beginning, and that all things were made by Him Yahshua. Yahweh used Yahshua as the instrument through whom the creation was brought into being. Apostle Paul was inspired to write In Eph.3.9, that Yahweh created all things by Yahshua the Messiah
In Heb 1:2, Yahshua was described as the Son of Yahweh, whom Yahweh had appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds”
These and many other Scriptures show that He was the person in the throne of Yahweh in heaven, who later became Yahshua the Messiah who actually carried out the job of creation! He was the one who said: “Let there be light, and there was light. He was the one who created Adam and placed him on this earth in the garden of Eden. Gen 2:2-3 states: “And on the seventh day Yahweh ended his work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made and Yahweh blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it because that in it, He had rested from all His work which Yahweh created and made
Yahshua said that “the Sabbath was made for man,” here we see that the Sabbath was made when man was made. And it was made by the very person who later became Yahshua the Messiah. Notice that Yahweh blessed the seventh day and sanctified it”. Such an honor, was not conferred on any of the preceding six days. When Yahweh blesses something He bestows His Divine favour upon and His divine presence on that thing. The very word ‘sanctity” means to set apart for holy use or purpose. Thus, we see that in the very act of creation, the Almighty Yahweh put His divine favour upon, and set apart for holy use and purpose, a certain space of time, the most enduring thing there is.
THE SABBATH IS A BLESSING
The Sabbath then is a holy time, yet it was made for man-as a great blessing “to all mankind”.
Yahweh our Creator knew that we would need a period of rest and worship every seventh day, and this is the basic purpose for which the Sabbath was created. Each of us tends to become overly absorbed in our daily cares, work and pleasures during the week. Our Creator foresaw this, and set apart His Sabbath day as a consecrated time when we can completely forget our daily routine and draw closer to the Creator for study, worship, meditation and prayer. Mankind desperately needs this period of time in which to have real communication with his Maker Yahweh
The Sabbath is one of the greatest blessing that has ever been bestowed upon mankind
THE SABBATH IS A SPECIAL COVENANT
The command to keep the Sabbath is the only one in which He enjoined “remember” yet it is the one command which many ministers of Christianity and religious people seem most anxious to forget. Many in Christianity have reasoned that the Sabbath is part of what is called the “Book of the covenant” in Exodus 20 through 24 therefore it is no longer binding on men today who are under the New covenant.
Such people are in error because Yahweh made the Sabbath day holy day back at creation long before there were the nation of Israel and before the Old Covenant was made with Israel. They also forget that Yahweh doubly commanded the Sabbath by making a special and separate covenant with His people to keep it.
This special covenant is spoken of in Exodus 31:13- Yahweh told Moses, speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am Yahweh that doth sanctify you”. Here the Sabbath is spoken of as a sign that identified Yahweh as the Mighty One, the Creator of the heavens and earth. How is it a sign? Verse 17 “It is a sign, between me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed”. The Sabbath day is a sign because it identifies Yahweh as the One who created all things.
Yahweh commands: Ext. 31:16 “wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generation for a perpetual covenant”. Here is an everlasting covenant to identity Yahweh as the Mighty One. The Creator Yahweh Himself rested on the seventh day, and made it holy in memorial of His work of creation, and as an everlasting “sign” that He is the Creator.
This Sabbath covenant was to last “throughout your generation”, which meant as long as they and their descendants were still having children. It was perpetual. It was to last forever. This covenant is commonly assumed to have lasted only about 1400 years, until the death of Yahshua But even today, Israel is still begetting children. “Perpetual” has not ceased, and forever has not ended.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SABBATH
Throughout the Old Testament, the history of the nation of Israel and Judah show that they were blessed in every way when they worshiped Yahweh and kept this Sabbath holy. But when they neglected this command to “remember His Sabbath, and began to worship the created beings instead of Yahweh, they went off into pagan idolatry human sacrifice, bloodshed and were punished by Yahweh through the stripes of men of neighboring nations.
Approximately 721-718 BCE, the nation of Israel went into the greatest national captivity and punishment that has ever befallen any nation in all the history of man upon this earth. The reason for that punishment is described in Ezekiel 20.
After describing how He brought Israel out of Egypt and gave them His statutes and judgments, Yahweh states: Ezek 20:12-13 “Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am Yahweh that sanctify them. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: They walked not in my statues, and they despised my judgment, which if a man do, he shall even live in them, and my Sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them”
Throughout this chapter, Yahweh indicts the nation of Israel for rebelling against Him and specifically condemns them for breaking His Sabbaths. “His” not Jewish Sabbath, as so many like to say with contempt today but the Almighty speaks of “my Sabbath and condemns Israel for neglecting this command which He obviously regarded.
It is important to reiterate that Yahweh Himself rested on the seventh day and sanctified that day as a time of rest and worship pointing to Yahweh as the Creator of all.
Yahweh made the Sabbath a special and everlasting covenant between Him and Israel. The inspired example of Yahshua the Messiah and His Apostles certainly indicates that this identifying sign of Yahweh ought to be observed by the true worshipers of Yahweh today (Roms 2:28-29, Gal 3:20; 6: 15-16) in the New Testament.
The Sabbath is a day of delight, a day in which man found in cessation from toil and labour the full understanding of his purposes and spiritual capacity Isa 58:13-14 “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of Yahweh honorable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words:
Then shalt thou delight thyself in Yahweh and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with heritage of Jacob thy father for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it”. What Yahweh is saying in this Scripture is that we are to delight in His Sabbath day. We are not to seek our own human pleasure but rather to increase our spiritual joy through honoring and worshiping our heavenly Father Yahweh.
We are not even to speak our own words. Rather we should spend the time during this holy day in praying to Yahweh and in studying, discussing, and meditating upon Yahweh’s Word or related things and events. Such observance of the true Sabbath brings deep happiness and joy because we are able to completely rest from worldly work and care to worship our Maker with peace of mind and unhurried freedom, and because we have the time to think on and exercise our spiritual capacities and thus strengthen ourselves for the days and weeks ahead.
Thus saith Yahweh…blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it: that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it…” (Isa. 56:1-2),
