Rosh Hashanah is over—now it is time during
the next ten days before Yom Kippur to consider the sins of the past year…and
repent. There are times in the Bible, like when some of the Jews were exiled to
Babylon, that God deals with His people because they sinned and did not do as
He said. The people in Daniel’s era paid for their transgression with 70 years
of captivity because they didn’t observe the Sabbath of the land. God told
Moses…Speak to the sons of Israel and say
to them, 'When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land
shall have a Sabbath to the LORD. 'Six years you shall sow your field, and six
years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, but during the
seventh year the land shall have a Sabbath rest, a Sabbath to the LORD; you
shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 'Your harvest's aftergrowth
you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather;
the land shall have a sabbatical year." Leviticus 25:2-5. I see it as
a matter of trust. Did they trust the Lord to provide for them? God continued
to speak through Moses. 'You shall thus
observe My statutes and keep My judgments, so as to carry them out, that you
may live securely on the land. Then the land will yield its produce, so that
you can eat your fill and live securely on it. 'But if you say, "What are
we going to eat on the seventh year if we do not sow or gather in our
crops?" then I will so order My blessing for you in the sixth year that it
will bring forth the crop for three years.’ Leviticus 25:18-21.
This all centers around one of the Ten
Commandments…
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six
days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of
the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your
daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who
stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the
sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD
blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20:8-11.
Punishment for not observing the Sabbath
was pretty stiff.
For six days work may be done, but on the
seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does
any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. Exodus 31:15.
Death is final—unless one believes in Jesus
as their Savior. But then again Jesus said…If
you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My
Father's commandments and abide in His love. John 15:10. Abide…live. God
was merciful to the Israelites when He allowed the Babylonians to carry off
Daniel and the others to Babylonia—He could have just struck all of Israel dead
for their disobedience but instead He allowed them to be overtaken by King
Nebuchadnezzar and live in captivity for seventy years.
What does that say to us? Do we “keep the
Sabbath” or even follow all of the Ten Commandments? How often have you “worked”
on the Sabbath—which for most Christians is Sunday?
Prayer
~ Holy Spirit…I want to live to please God. Remind me daily that I need not
only to follow a Sabbath day but to keep it holy…no work on that day. You alone
God are holy and pure—worthy of my praise, adoration, and obedience.
© 2015 by Mickey
M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.
All
scripture quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise
noted.
Biblical
search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm
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