| TUESDAY | May 19 |
Experiencing the Joy of the Sabbath
When we talk about the Sabbath commandment, we usually refer to the version we find in Exodus 20. There the commandment is anchored in the Creation of the world. Every Sabbath we are reminded that God is our Creator and that we are His creatures, with all that this glorious truth implies. But in the version of the Ten Commandments in the book of Deuteronomy we discover an additional aspect. The weekly Sabbath is also a commemoration of Israel's delivery from Egyptian bondage and thus, by extension, of every kind of slavery from which God's grace has set humanity free.
Read Deuteronomy 5:12-15 carefully and compare it with Exodus 20:8-11. What do they add to each other? How do they complement each other? Are there possibly still other things we ought to "remember" in our Sabbath keeping? If so, what might they be?
The Sabbath is a sign not only of creation but of redemption. It points us to the salvation we have in Jesus, who not only re-creates us now (2 Cor. 5:17, Gal. 6:15) but offers the hope of an eternity in a new heavens and a new earth (2 Pet. 3:13). In fact, the Jews have seen the Sabbath as a symbol of the "world to come"; that is, the new heavens and the new earth. It's a weekly foretaste of what we will have for eternity and should serve as a special reminder of what we have been given in Jesus.
On a more practical level, Sabbath helps to free us from the slavery of the clock and the calendar. Many are slaves of computers and mobile phones, also. For many people it has become incredibly difficult to separate work time from leisure time. It seems that modern life requires that we can always be reached and always must be ready to switch into our work mode. The Sabbath is the perfect antidote to this disease, which threatens every form of true rest, both physical and spiritual.
"Setting aside a holy Sabbath means that we can cease our productivity and accomplishments for one day in every seven. The exciting thing about such a practice is that it changes our attitudes for the rest of the week. It frees us up to worry less about how much we produce on the other days. Furthermore, when we end that futile chasing after wind, we can truly rest and learn delight in new ways."—Marva J. Dawn, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996), p. 19.
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