Atmosphere of Peace

As this Sabbath evening began I was, with a spiritual ‘family’, partaking of a ‘Sabbath feast’ - supper, song, blessing and prayer - where minds were harmonizing together in PEACE and JOY.

This Sabbath morning the text “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27) was going through my mind and I noted the following.
· The Sabbath is similar to an ‘anniversary’ of this earth’s creation.
· Sabbath love was first experienced on the first ‘full’ day of man’s (male and female) life.
· On that first seventh-day Sabbath God ‘rested’ (Genesis 2:2);
· The ‘morning stars’ sang and the ‘sons of God’ shouted for JOY.” (Job 38:7)
· God ‘blessed’ and ‘sanctified’ Sabbath (Genesis 2:3) after He completed His creation.
· Keeping the seventh-day Sabbath holy is the outward ‘sign’ of allegiance to Creator God.

What does it mean to ‘keep’ the Sabbath God’s way?
The Bible describes His view of Sabbath ‘keeping’.

God’s plan for Sabbath includes ‘delight’ (luxury, intensely pleasant) and ‘honour’ (rich, weighty)!
“ . . . Call the sabbath a delight, the holy (pronounce/observe sacred, clean) of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking [thine own] words not an ‘I can’t do my ways on the seventh-day Sabbath,’ but God freeing me from activities which steal time from worshiping the Creator God: then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken [it].” Isaiah 58:13,14

Sabbath reminds me of God’s ‘rest’ (repose, intermission).
“And he said unto them, This [is that] which the LORD hath said, To morrow [is] the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: Exodus 16:23

God invites me to meet Him in holy ‘convocation’ (worshiping God in a group - encounter, to call, address).
“Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day [is] the sabbath of rest, an holy (clean) convocation; ye shall do no work [therein]: it [is] the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.” Leviticus 23:3

‘Keeping’ Sabbath (make, pronounce, observe as clean) includes remembering (mentioning, marking).
“And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and [that] the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.” Deuteronomy 5:15 (past)

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Exodus 20:8 (present)

“Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, [for] a perpetual covenant. Exodus 31:16 (future)

"For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, [that] from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD." Isaiah 66:22 (future)

How awesome! Each Sabbath offers me another uniquely special opportunity in time to worship, praise and glorify God personally and in unity with God’s family. Appropriate music, prayer, meditation, instruction in righteousness as well as communicating love, joy and peace with other minds who are in harmony with God’s mind results in blessing the Sabbath. God's purpose for the Sabbath was that it be special time on a regular basis when He and I would be together without all the cares of life to weigh me down. He also longs for me to ‘delight’ -
experience His JOY and PEACE during each Sabbath.

May you experience God's peace