April 5, 2014 Life Rest

Life Rest

Exodus 35

Ex 35:2-3 “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day must be a Sabbath day of complete rest, a holy day dedicated to the Lord. Anyone who works on that day must be put to death. 3 You must not even light a fire in any of your homes on the Sabbath.”

DO God’s Word seem terribly restrictive? After all, millions of people work on the Sabbath, but God doesn’t kill them. Can we believe God?  

      This circumstance of Moses reminding Israel of the Sabbath command came as Israel prepared to build the Tabernacle. God upheld his Sabbath law first given in Exodus 20:8-11 and added a penalty of death to those who would work on the Tabernacle on the Sabbath. God was sure to command rest as his people built his Holy dwelling. God is not a slave master.

      What, then, are the general work restrictions on the Sabbath? The law requires the cessation of one’s regular workday labors. That’s the framework of God resting from his creation. Creation was the work he did, but he did not stop working to care for his creation. He stopped the work of creation.

      God made the Sabbath for mankind that we would rest to refresh himself physically and spiritually. Otherwise, forgetting our physical rest, we will be too filled with labor to be filled with the Gospel. We will neglect the hearing and reading of God’s Word. Our lives will diminish, and our culture will die.

      Just look around and see what’s happened to our churches and communities since people have stopped stopping their work and play one day a week. Our souls are dieing for God’s Word as we work ourselves to death.  

LIFE Link: Rest is life.