Sabbath
The 7th Day Sabbath is the first of God’s Festivals, Leviticus 23:3.
3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of Yehovah in all your dwellings.
The Sabbath is proclaimed from the beginning, Genesis 2:1-3.
1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
After God completed creation, He rested on the 7th Day. Not only did God rest, God blessed the 7th day and sanctified it. God reminds us of this when He spoke to the Children of Israel from Mount Sinai, Exodus 20:8-11.
8Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10But the seventh day is the sabbath of Yehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11For in six days Yehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Yehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Further, He tells us in Exodus 31:17:
17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days Yehovah made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
The Sabbath was to be a sign between God and His people. One might think of it as similar to the ring that one wears when they are married. It was a sign that we are His people. Why would anyone want to observe any other day.
Clearly the Sabbath is important to God. It is not just a day for us to rest, it is a day for all of mankind, his servants and animals to rest. There is so much more to a Sabbath than just the 7th day of the week.
New Testament Believer and the Sabbath
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