The Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word shabbat which means ‘to stop’. In other words, the Sabbath is the day when you stop working, stop desiring and stop worrying. God created the heavens and the earth and rested on the seventh day. Was this because God was tired? No. It was for us. God set apart the Sabbath as a day for us to rest in God and receive His grace and blessings.
After the Exodus, God commanded his people to keep the Sabbath. The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt. Egypt had an economic system that had been built on the blood of slaves. For his extreme greed, Pharaoh needed slaves to work to death. God commanded the Israelites who left Egypt to keep the Sabbath so that they would not live such an oppressed life again. So, the Sabbath is meaningful as an act of resistance.
God warned the people of Israel who left Him to live for their own greed and lust. “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” (Jeremiah 2:13).
In this present age, we too are living in a world that, just like Egypt, is burning with greed. A culture of greed that forces us to work tirelessly like slaves. We are living for a desire that we don’t know how to stop, like a broken cistern that we keep trying and trying to fill up, but it cannot hold the water and we can never be satisfied. Sabbath is not just about taking a break from work. That is, it is not a day for us to just use or enjoy for our own greed and desires, but it is a day for us to worship and rest in only God.
Since COVID, the concept of going to church on Sunday to worship has been breaking down. A life where the Sabbath is broken down is like a broken cistern. Sundays should be a Sabbath to worship and to find rest in only God.
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수정교회 번역팀 2022.04.16 16:57
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The Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word shabbat which means ‘to stop’. In other words, the Sabbath is the day when you stop working, stop desiring and stop worrying. God created the heavens and the earth and rested on the seventh day. Was this because God was tired? No. It was for us. God set apart the Sabbath as a day for us to rest in God and receive His grace and blessings.
After the Exodus, God commanded his people to keep the Sabbath. The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt. Egypt had an economic system that had been built on the blood of slaves. For his extreme greed, Pharaoh needed slaves to work to death. God commanded the Israelites who left Egypt to keep the Sabbath so that they would not live such an oppressed life again. So, the Sabbath is meaningful as an act of resistance.
God warned the people of Israel who left Him to live for their own greed and lust. “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” (Jeremiah 2:13).
In this present age, we too are living in a world that, just like Egypt, is burning with greed. A culture of greed that forces us to work tirelessly like slaves. We are living for a desire that we don’t know how to stop, like a broken cistern that we keep trying and trying to fill up, but it cannot hold the water and we can never be satisfied. Sabbath is not just about taking a break from work. That is, it is not a day for us to just use or enjoy for our own greed and desires, but it is a day for us to worship and rest in only God.
Since COVID, the concept of going to church on Sunday to worship has been breaking down. A life where the Sabbath is broken down is like a broken cistern. Sundays should be a Sabbath to worship and to find rest in only God.