We’re now coming to the realisation that God’s salvific work manifested for the Children of Israel also involved them becoming God’s nation. As God’s chosen, there were specific assignments God desired of them. This included the observance of Sabbath. Some of this is explained in Today’s Holy Nougat
Exodus 16:29-30 AFV
[29] See, because the Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore He gives you the bread of two days on the sixth day. Let each one stay in his place. Do not let any one go out of his place on the seventh day.” [30] So the people rested on the seventh day.
Sabbath Practice
One thing this extended reflection on Exodus has taught me is that God is sovereign. As sovereign, God is leader of a nation, country, kingdom, or empire (choose the term which is best suited to your context) that is beyond this world. The subjects, all chosen by God, comprise individuals who accept God’s invitation. Among the first subjects we know of are the Children of Israel.
Prior to this large group, comprising family tribes, we know of individuals – those whom we refer to as the patriarchs – who accepted God’s call, each living according to God’s precepts. With this larger group, we see God involved in the business of moving from seemingly random choice to formalised nation-building.
The Children of Israel were chosen not for their obedience, but in honour of a promise God made to their ancestor, Abram (see Genesis 12:1-3 for more about that covenant). But they had not yet made the decision to accept God’s rulership over their lives. Lack of exposure to God over 400 years negatively impacted their capacity to know God intimately. Their Wilderness Wanderings offered them the chance to lose their connection to other nations as they understood their chosenness.
Later, they would receive the nation’s constitution (Ten Commandments), but God began with removal of the lifestyle to which they had become acclimatised. As enslaved people, the Children of Israel were not used to taking a break from labour. They worked non-stop for the sovereign of the country in which they lived. From a spiritual perspective, we could say that under pharaoh’s rule, worship involved continuous labour. One might say that this was a practice from Joseph’s days; which was exacerbated in successive years. And that continued labour was toward pharaoh, the human ‘deity’ over Egypt.
Having released the Children of Israel from Egypt, YHWH introduced rest, i.e., the Sabbath, as part of God’s sovereignty.
Self-check
What does our work pattern suggest about our worship lives?
Digging Deeper
God wasn’t asking the Children to forfeit food or drink when they rested – it wasn’t a fast. (Remember, the main argument the Children of Israel levied against YHWH was: as sovereign, YHWH failed to supply their need for food). Subsequently, God offered them a way to ensure that they had food on the rest day. The solution was straightforward – they would prepare one day’s food in advance. This act of preparation removed any argument that the Children could use to say they could neither rest, nor be available to worship YHWH.
Siblings, we also need to discern what gets in the way of our rest. For if rest is an opportunity for worship of our sovereign, then we are obliged to remove all other things (idols) that prevent us from observing the Sabbath.
I’m not speaking about the week day, rather I’m speaking to total submission to our sovereign. It offers us the opportunity to have a wholly personal interaction with our national leader. Philippians 3:20 assures us that ultimately, our citizenship isn’t of this earth. We are citizens of Heaven. So we are bound to the rules that govern Heaven. And one of the first rules of Heaven is Sabbath rest, just as God did at Creation.
Is it any wonder that Y’shua’s invitation to those who are keen on worshipping YHWH is an invitation to rest from heavy (forced) labour? Yet, Y’shua does not only speak to or literal labour. Whatever weighs us down, and seeks to draw our attention away from being in God’s presence can also a point for our salvation. Our response … to spend uninterrupted time in God’s presence.
Point to Ponder
What burdens do we need to cast down, so that we may be ushered into the presence of our Sovereign?
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May all we seek be found in Christ
