REST! It’s essential to Human health, boosting the effectiveness of our immune systems, and reducing the negative effects of stress. REST is also helpful to our hearts, improving cardiovascular function by lowering damaging levels of cortisol in our bodies, and maintaining proper blood pressure. REST is also vital to our Mental health, improving concentration and recall, while aiding with mood and body rhythm.
In a 2015 survey of 18,000 people from 134 Countries, 68% of participants said they don’t feel they get enough rest. Isn’t it ironic that we live in a ‘restless world’ when the first ritual Almighty God gave Mankind was the 6 Day work week - followed by a mandatory ‘Day of Rest’? We all see the benefits of momentary rest: pausing, sitting, napping - but few see the value of a ‘Day of Rest.’
In the book of Genesis we read: “On the 7th day God ended His work which He had done and He rested on the 7th day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the 7th day and sanctified it (set it apart), because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
God then went on to codify this act as part of the 10 commandments: “REMEMBER the Sabbath Day, to keep it HOLY. Six days you shall LABOR and do all your work, but the 7th Day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is 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 7th day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath Day and hallowed it.” (EXODUS 20:8-11)
Most people are familiar with this 4th Commandment, but few know the principles behind it! Remember that principles are the reasons behind the rules. The most obvious principle behind the Sabbath Law is RENEWAL. All physical things need the renewal that comes from cyclical rest. The Federal Labor Department recognized this decades ago - suggesting that all employers give their employees a 15 minute rest break for every 4 hours worked. Ironically, some employees ignored the break, choosing to keep on working, so some states made the ‘rest break’ mandatory! Renewal means to bring back to an original state of vigor & energy. So when people go 7 days a week either working or partying till the wee hours of the morning - they’re damaging their health & longevity, and not allowing their bodies to rejuvenate.
REMEMBRANCE is also a principle behind God’s giving of the Sabbath! By sanctifying the 7th day from the very beginning, God’s intention was that Mankind observe it and always be REMINDED of our origins. Again it’s ironic that the one commandment that starts with the word REMEMBER - is the one most forgotten and ignored! Moses was inspired to write: “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the power to get wealth…” (DT.8:18) If all of Mankind had oberved the Sabbath down through the centuries - there would be only one religion and everyone know who their Creator is!
A 3rd principle behind God’s giving of the Sabbath cycle is to teach us the concept of HOLINESS. While few things are still considered sacred today, most people still view houses of worship as ‘holy places’ not to be vandalized, or entered into irreverently. Most people also treat a man or woman of the cloth as special holy representations of a certain religion. The last 2 words of the 4th commandment concern the ‘hallowing’ of the 7th day - which means to make it holy. ‘Holy time’ was set apart by God to teach us to revere God and His authority over our time, our money, our diets and our bodies. Your bible says that without holiness - no one will see God! Revering the Sabbath as holy time trains our hearts and minds to be careful about what we think, say and do in relation to God and others - that hopefully extends into the 6 day work week.
Another principle inherent in the 4th Commandment is FULFILLMENT from LABOR. People forget the phrase ‘6 days shall work be done” in the Sabbath commandment which forms part of the Judeo-Christian work ethic dominant in the western Christian world. As your Bible says, “Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I (Solomon) saw, was from the hand of God.” (ECCLESIASTES 2:24) Of course it was from God! - because He’s the one who set the 6 day work week ‘in the beginning.’
Two more related principles behind God’s giving of this REST commandment is the importance of REVIEW and EVALUATION: “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” (GEN.1:31) When was the last time you reviewed & evaluated your last 6 working days as God did? My wife and I try to do this every Sabbath, and in the process we’re able to revel in the good that came from our work and also evaluate our individual & joint effectiveness. In this review process, the memories of our lives are more deeply etched in our minds, our spirits are lifted by what went well, and we’re able to address and learn from our mistakes.
The 7th principle behind observing the Sabbath is KINDNESS: to your kids, employees, and animals - as they all get the day off! Slave-owners worked their slaves 7 days a week, which was cruel and unjust. But as the Scripture says: “Masters, give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.” (COL.4:1) God gave Mankind the 7th day of every week off to recover and rejuvenate, Man should do the same with their kids, employees and animals. The book of Proverbs says: “A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.” (PR.12:10)
One principle behind the 4th commandment that is found outside the Decalogue, is UNITY: “Six days shall work be done, but the 7th day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation (gathering to worship).” (LEVITICUS 23:3) Gathering to group worship builds a bond between us and God, and between brothers and sisters of Christ! That’s why the Apostle Paul admonished, “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together…” (HEB.10:24-25) King David was inspired to write: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” (PSALM 133:1) God Almighty intended to build unity in the ‘Body of Christ’ by making it mandatory for people to gather every 7th day and worship Him together.
But the most important principle behind this 4th rule in the 10 commandments is that God is WORTHY of our undivided attention on the 7th Day that He set apart for us to focus on our Creator: “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord, honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord and I will cause you to ride on the high hills.” (ISAIAH 58:13,14)
The United Nations estimates that about a third of the world’s soils are degraded because of over-farming and over-grazing. That would not be the case if the land was given a regular Sabbath rest as God Almighty commanded: “Six years you shall sow your field and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather its fruit; but in the 7th year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the land. “ (LEV.25:3) This land rest is so important to God that He listed Israel’s negligence of this law as a major reason why He allowed them to be taken into captivity. (II CHRONICLES 36:20,21)
So there’s rest for the body, rest for the soil, and also rest from war: “The Lord gave them (Israel) rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand.” (JOSHUA 21:44)
There’s also internal rest needed by every Human Being: “Come to Me (Jesus), all you who are wearied and burdened and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me… and you will find rest for your souls.” (MATTHEW 11:28,29)
But the weekly Sabbath is also a harbinger of an extraordinary REST to come: “Therefore, since the promise of entering HIS REST still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it… For somewhere He has spoken about the 7th Day in these words: ‘On the 7th Day God rested from all His works…’ For if Joshua had given them REST, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains then, a Sabbath-REST for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s REST also rests from their works just as God did from His. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter THAT REST, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.” (HEBREWS 4)
The Apostle Peter said that with God - one day is as a 1000 years (II PETER 3:8) And the book of Revelation says that Christ is going to reign over all nations for a 1000 years (REVELATION 20:4-6)
So chapter four of Hebrews is telling us that the weekly Sabbath foreshadows a 1000 year REST from war that we can enter into - if we cease from our works every 7th Day as God did from His.
Isaiah was inspired to write: “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before Me… From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, ALL MANKIND will come and bow down before Me, says the Lord.” (ISAIAH 66:22,23)
So start now to give your body, mind and soul the REST God intended you to have - live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God - including the 4th Commandment!