Relax And Be Forgiven!

This is part 5 of Chapter 6 of Friends With God: The Gifts Of God.

In this chapter we are exploring the blessings that God gives to those who delight in his way of life.

The Sabbath And Forgiveness Of Sin

As explained in the previous post, one of the first gifts God gave to man was to make holy (meaning to set aside) one day a week for rest from work, called the Sabbath.

This day God determined to be holy, as it is the time God set apart for focusing on the spiritual work of developing in mankind the very mind of the great creator God.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested (Hebrew Shabath) on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested (Shabath) from all his work which God created and made. (Gen 2:1-3)

The Sabbath is such a complex blessing from God, yet such a simple command of love. When we rest on his day of rest, we are walking in the footsteps of God our creator, who wants us to be one with him, both now and for all eternity. (John 17:20-22)

• By resting on the seventh day of creation, God is simply telling us: I have shown you how to do it, now follow my example and have a rest.

When God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt, he gave them “the holy Sabbath of the Lord.” (Exo 16:23) Yet this day of rest was established at creation, as the Ten Commandments, given a few verses later, clearly state. Following are the Third and Fourth Commandments:

· You shall not take (bear) the name of the Lord your God in vain. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes (bears) His name in vain.

· Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed (made holy) it. (Exo 20:7-11)

What is the relationship between the Third and Fourth Commandments?

In the Third Commandment we are told that if we bear his name in an unworthy manner, we will not be counted guiltless, which means we will not have our sins forgiven!

Relax And Be Forgiven

As discussed in the previous chapter, to take or bear God’s name in vain means you call yourself a follower of God, but do not actually follow what he tells you to do. In doing so you are not only a hypocrite but you also misrepresent God in an unholy way.

If you call yourself a follower of God, but you murder, or lie, or steal, then you are bearing God’s name in vain. (James 4:1-12, Prov 30:7-9, 1John 3:15) To ‘take his name in vain’ therefore has nothing to do with blasphemy, such as using God’s name as a swear word. If it is not about blasphemy, then what is it about?

The third commandment, “not to bear God’s name in vain”, can be seen as an introduction to the next six commandments, which tell us what we must do so that we DO NOT bear God’s name in vain.

Most people can see the seriousness of the last five commandments, but the Sabbath is the one command they tend to downplay, or alter at their own whim. Perhaps that’s why it’s mentioned immediately after the command to not take God’s name in vain? Yet keeping the Sabbath holy is obviously associated with representing God properly to the world, as we keep it holy because he kept it holy for us to follow his example, and if we do follow his example then we do not bear God’s name in vain.

• By keeping the Sabbath Day holy we take or bear the name of the creator as an example to the world, that same world that he made in six days.

• We proclaim that we are a worshiper of the creator of life, who rested on this day and hallowed it, and commanded us to hallow it also.

If we claim to be his people, but undertake work on God’s holy Sabbath Day, we will be bearing his name in vain- and the consequences of doing so are not insignificant: … the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes (bears) His name in vain.

Does this mean that forgiveness of your sins is directly linked to your keeping the Sabbath holy? It’s difficult to read it any other way.

However, the Sabbath Day is not meant to be a burden. Why not look at it from the perspective of “In order to be forgiven you must take a holiday!”

Could be a catchy slogan: Relax and be forgiven!

Freedom To Rest From Sin

God’s day of rest is to tell us we are not slaves, but sons and friends of God. If you work on the Sabbath, then you are acting like a slave, but not a slave of God, for even slaves have a rest on God’s Sabbath. We are slaves of sin if we profane the Sabbath:

Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever practices sin is the slave of sin. And the slave does not abide in the house forever, but the Son abides forever. Therefore if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. (John 8:34-36)

We are told three times that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. (Matt 12:8, Mark 2:28, Luke 6:5) God has made you free to keep his holy Sabbath day. Do you accept his freedom from sin? If so, then take the first step in having a rest from sin, by keeping his day of rest as he commanded you to do. In doing so you will be a light to the world, revealing the creator of life who offers freedom from the consequences of sin to the entire world.

It's our choice if we obey God’s commands or not. If we love God, and delight in his ways, then we will want to have a rest and develop our relationship with him on his day of rest:

If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, (don’t do any work) from doing your pleasure on my Holy Day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the Holy Day of the Lord, honourable, and shall honour Him (by resting as he commanded), not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord.
(Isaiah 58:13-14)

God is not forcing you to delight in him, or his ways. But if you do, he shall delight in you and give you the desires of your heart, including forgiveness of sin.

The Re-Creation Of The First Week

We use the term “recreation” when talking about taking some time off work to regenerate and renew ourselves. This certainly applies to the Sabbath, as it was established at the time of the creation of all life.

When we rest on the Sabbath we are re-creating that time of rest every week, while also remembering the creator of all life, who made us in his image and likeness during this first week, so that we could become re-created into his spiritual image throughout our lives:

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God. (Rom 12:2)

God obviously thinks that we need to be reminded, on a weekly basis, that the purpose of human life is not just to make a lot of money, or engage in other physical pursuits, but to be made in his spiritual image. (2Cor 3:18)

When we willingly and purposefully partake of the Sabbath, we are also choosing to partake in our own spiritual creation of becoming his sons and friends:

Do not lie to one another, having put off the old man with his deeds and having put on the new, having been renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
(Col 3:9-10)

All God’s commands are for our good. The Sabbath Day, however, is the command reminding us that God set aside time at the beginning of creation for us to be re-created into his spiritual image throughout our lives!

For you ought to put off the old man (according to your way of living before) who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And you should put on the new man, who according to God was created in righteousness and true holiness.
(Eph 4:22-24)

The Sabbath was created for us to rest on, to develop our relationship with God, to congregate with others, to reflect upon the week’s accomplishments, and in doing all this we reflect God in our lives, and are one with God as his children and friends.

Unfortunately, many churches have altered the time and observance of the Sabbath, and so have missed this vital link back to the creator, and the blessings associated with keeping his day.

There is no command to keep the first day of the week holy. By doing so we don’t reverence God, because God said to keep the Sabbath day holy, as that was the day he rested on.

• But why should it be such a big deal? Surely one day is the same as the next? If so, then why did God tell us to rest on the seventh day, rather than just one day a week? God makes it plain what he wants you to do. It’s a fairly simple request. Do you really want to argue with the all-powerful creator about this particularly obvious directive?

Yet the Sabbath is not our day of the week to alter. It’s God’s weekly rest, in which he commands us to remember that he is the creator and our potential is to become one with him! We need to rest on his day, which was made for us, or he simply won’t believe that we are actually serious about loving him, or his way of life, or being his friends. Why then would he want to give you eternal life?

The next post will explore how God expects us to rest on God’s day of rest.