A Weekly Rest and Reflection ~ Shabbat

Shabbat Shalom!

It is after dark on Friday night, which is the beginning of the seventh day, called Shabbat, Shabbos or more commonly known as Sabbath on the Hebrew calendar.  It is a day that has been given to all of Israel and the stranger sojourning among them for rest. So why is it ignored and disregarded as 'done away with'?  What do we believe? 

 Exodus 20: 1-17 (Amp)

Then God spoke all these words:

I am (Yahweh) the Lord your God, Who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before or besides Me.

You shall not make yourself any graven image [to worship it] or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I (Yahweh) the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, But showing mercy and steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

You shall not use or repeat the name of (Yahweh) the Lord your God in vain [that is, lightly or frivolously, in false affirmations or profanely]; for (Yahweh) the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

[Earnestly] remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (withdrawn from common employment and dedicated to God). Six days you shall labor and do all your work, But the seventh day is a Sabbath to (Yahweh) the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your domestic animals, or the sojourner 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 seventh day. That is why (Yahweh) the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it [set it apart for His purposes].

Regard (treat with honor, due obedience, and courtesy) your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land (Yahweh) the Lord your God gives you.

You shall not commit murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not witness falsely against your neighbor.

 
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

This is the foundation.  The first four statements (commandments) are about how to love Yahweh.  The last six are how to love your neighbor as yourself...These two commandments sum up and upon them hang all the Law (Torah) and the Prophets.  Matthew 22:40 AMP  

I love Shabbat! I look forward to it every week.  Learning how to 'remember it earnestly' has been challenging at times as we live in a country that does not acknowledge Shabbat...but, this does not mean we should just go with the flow and not worry about it...I mean God knows my heart...right?  Yep.  It is deceitful, who can know it?  The way is narrow and few find it...if I 'go with the flow'  I quickly find myself swept away and on the wide path that leads...well...you know...and no one wants to go down that road! 
  
More to ponder scientifically:  NEWSTART - Rest

An apologetic study to watch:  119 Ministries - Test Everything, The Sabbath Day

A few more verses to ponder...

And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. And God blessed (spoke good of) the seventh day, set it apart as His own, and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all His work which He had created and done. Genesis 2:2-3 (Amp)

Wherefore the Israelites shall keep the Sabbath to observe it throughout their generations, a perpetual covenant. Exodus 31:16 (Amp)

If you turn away your foot from [traveling unduly on] the Sabbath, from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a [spiritual] delight, the holy day of (Yahweh) the Lord honorable, and honor Him and it, not going your own way or seeking or finding your own pleasure or speaking with your own [idle] words, Then will you delight yourself in (Yahweh) the Lord, and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage [promised for you] of Jacob your father; for the mouth of (Yahweh) the Lord has spoken it. Isaiah 58:13-14 (Amp)
 
I came to be, in the Spirit, on the Day of (Yahweh) the Lord; and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet,...  Revelation 1:10 (CJB)

Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.  Matthew 24:20 (Amp)

And (Yeshua) Jesus said to them, The Sabbath was made on account and for the sake of man, not man for the Sabbath; Mark 2:27 (Amp)

So He came to Nazareth, [that Nazareth] where He had been brought up, and He entered the synagogue, as was His custom on the Sabbath day. And He stood up to read. Luke 4:16 (Amp)

.... For from ancient generations Moses (Torah) has had his preachers in every town, for he is read [aloud] every Sabbath in the synagogues.  Acts 15:21 (Amp) 

Some of these passages have been twisted or ignored and made into something they were never meant to be and in 325 AD the course of time (Yahweh's calendar) and the seasons (Yahweh's appointments) were changed and outlawed by the Council of Nicea.  We live in a time of restoration of the ancient paths..Stand at the crossroads and look; ask about the ancient paths, ‘Which one is the good way?’ Take it, and you will find rest for your souls.  But they said, ‘We will not take it.’ (Jeremiah 6:16), We want to be those who do take the ancient path.  We want to be those who Hear and Obey (Shema!)  

This is why we remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy. 

 May Yahweh bless you and keep you, my His face shine upon you and bring you peace!

Shalom! (Peace)

~Anita