The Day of Rest!

The prophet Isaiah says that if the day of rest is not kept, anything else is of no worth (Isa. 58.13). Therefore, men must give up their own virtues and be content to leave them, or else it is not the LORD’s Sabbath, nor will he approve of what they are doing. In this we see that it is useless just to observe the ceremony. For the Jews kept the ceremony very properly when they assembled on the Sabbath day; and they didn’t lift a finger to do housework, yet they fed their own wicked desires. Afterwards they followed their desires and thereby mocked God, abusing his name and defacing and falsifying the entire order that he had ordained. For this reason he rebuked them. The most important thing was for them to see the meaning of the figure, which was to serve God spiritually. It was necessary for the Jews to keep the ceremony as they were commanded. But God kept them from having its pure substance. Instead they had only the shadow until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

-o0o0o-

The Sabbath day observance is not just a ceremony – if it is only that to you, then you have not kept it!  Is it merely something that you do, or is it something that God has provided for your good?  If it is just an action that you do, then, says Calvin, it is not the LORD’s Sabbath that you are keeping.  Does that surprise you?  Does it offend you?  How often we imagine we are observing God’s Sabbath when in fact we are breaking it religiously!  We deserve to be rebuked by our Father.  The most important lesson for us is to see to it that we serve God spiritually everyday, and not just one day a week.  Do you do that?  Make up you mind today to make every day a Sabbath to the LORD.