Ex 20:8: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
A lot has been said and taught about this command but where is the truth? Let us first look at its definition.
What is Sabbath day?
Sabbath is a day of rest. A day of ceasing, quitting or stopping all what you do (work) in all other six days. It is the seventh day, a day of relaxation, a special day.
Six days shall you labor, and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor you son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates (Ex 20:9-10).
God gave the definition of Sabbath in creation. Six days He did the work of creation and in the seventh day He rested. Ex 20:11: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
God is the first to introduce Sabbath and bring it down to the children of Israel. He knew and knows that man’s tendency is to work and work with no rest. Israel had gone 400 years in bondage without a rest in Egypt and being told by God to take a day in rest was radical to them. No other part of the world or community used to take rest.
The reactions to this command are different and it is through these reactions that all sorts of argumentation, controversies, perversions and twists are brought out. There are different groups of people according to their reactions of Sabbath day.
There are those who;
- Deplore the day
- Ignore the day
- Worship the day
Deploring Sabbath day
Deploring is finding exceedingly badly.
This group of people say that they cannot take a day of rest because it is exceedingly bad. Bad to their economy, military gain, power, fame, money etc. They are busy, they have a lot to do, busy conquering the world; they are against this day.
There are communities, groups and societies in the early days that were against this day. The Romans mocked the Jews saying they were lazy and slothful by taking off one day to rest. They used to tell Israel that they will never conquer the world and be in control like them (Romans). The Romans thought that there is no way the Israel will amount to something with that kind of mentality.
Today, we have some cultures, communities and societies who deplore the Sabbath day. Like China and Japan, who are busy fighting to conquer the world economically and taking a day of rest is a killer to their economy.
Countries like Russia who are busy equipping themselves militarily and a day of rest is a loss to them. Many world nations are not spared; they are all busy deploring the Sabbath day, busy preparing themselves militarily, economically and in all ways possible to conquer the world.
Not only China, Japan, Russian and many other nations are busy deploring the Sabbath day but many people will say that they do not need a rest. To many people taking a break is laziness, as the Russians used to tell Israel, and it is not a wonder seen someone coming to you and calling you lazy when you are resting.
They claim that taking rest is bad for their business, money, power, fame, etc; they are wired to work 24/7 and with rest they will never conquer the world. Man is busy day and night creating a 24/7 working culture in all days of the week. They claim that having a 24/7 economy, seven to seven days of work, will make their economy stronger, make more money and so on and so on but this is disobeying God and there are consequences for disobedience.
