Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath [Isaiah 57-58]

  13"If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot
         From doing your own pleasure on My holy day,
         And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable,
         And honor it, desisting from your own ways,
         From seeking your own pleasure
         And speaking your own word,
    14Then you will take delight in the LORD,
         And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
         And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
         For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

In the Old Testament, God set aside the Sabbath as a day of rest on the 7th day of the week to commemorate the 7th day of creation when God rested from the work of creation. Originally, the Sabbath rest began on Friday evening and lasted through Saturday. This was a time when the Jews did no work and were to focus on God instead. Later, God instituted a Sabbath rest for the land. In this rest, God commanded His people to let the land rest  from growing crops every 7th year. This gave the land a time to recover from depletion that occurs during the years of planting.

Some Christians still observe the Sabbath rest, but on Sunday because that was the day that Jesus rose from the dead. Like in the Old Testament, one day is set apart to worship and not to work. However, over the years, I have come to understand that as New Testament believers, every minute of every day is to be considered as the Sabbath rest and that Jesus is our Sabbath rest. When we get up in the morning and put off our flesh desires for our day and put on His direction and power, that is entering His rest. He is doing the work and we are worshiping Him. Therefore, every day is a Sabbath rest in Christ and Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. 

We praise, You, Lord, that you want us to rest every minute of every day in Jesus. Thank You that You have provided the will and the way to rest in Your Son and that He is our Sabbath rest as we surrender our will and way to Your Spirit each day. Give us strength
Beth Warlick, 11/29/2009