Season 5 Podcast 92, “Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy Pt B.”

Season 5 Podcast 92, “Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy Pt B.”

In Part A We listed the following seven blessings of keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. 

1.     Physical health

2.     Spiritual health,  

3.     Better working hours. 

4.     The Law of Equality, 

5.     Rest from merchandisers.  

6.     Self-Reliance: 

7.     Liberty.  

 That is actually just the beginning. If you listened closely to Part A many more blessings were listed: We shall 

8.     be returned to our own possession

9.     be relieved of oppression

10.  dwell in safety

11.  have rich crops and fertile fields

12.  be rested and refreshed

13.  have a perpetual covenant with the Lord

14.  have our strength renewed

15.  shall dwell at ease

16.  shall inherit the earth

17.  shall receive God’s mercy

18.  shall delight ourselves in the Lord

19.  shall ride upon the high places of the earth

Jeremiah also tells us that the nation that observes the sabbath day shall remain forever.  He was not just speaking of Jerusalem when he said 

·      Our nation shall remain forever (Jeremiah 17: 25)

Jeremiah also pronounced a curse if we do not obey the sabbath day.  

“Then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” (Jeremiah 17: 27)

In Exodus the Lord tells Moses of another blessing of keeping the Sabbath day holy.

“Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generation; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.” (Exodus 31:13)

Even another of the great blessings of honoring the sabbath day is listed in Ezekiel, 

8.     And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God. (Ezekiel 20:20)

When the Lord came in person to live on the earth, the Jews had so ritualized the sabbath day that they entirely forgot to remember the coming Savior.  It is for that reason that they rejected the Savior even when he dwelt among them.  Christ despised their hollow worship and established himself once again as Lord of the Sabbath. In Matthew we read: 

“8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day. 9 And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue: 10 And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him. 11 And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? 12 How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days. 13 Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.” (Matthew 12:8-13)