Sabbath

In Leviticus 23, G-d’s first appointment with us is for the Sabbath, which comes from the Hebrew word Shabbath, meaning rest(Gen. 2:1-3).
The whole world knows what the Sabbath is. One day in every seven, work is to stop, in honor of the Creator. This ordinance permeates civilization, there seems to be fitness, an exact estimate of human rhythms, in the proportion of six days of work to one of rest.
The day of rest was instituted as a memorial to His creation and a loving respect for the Father.
In Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12 it is included in the Ten Commandments to remember and observe.

Remember = inward thoughts of love and devotion.
Observe = expression of our feelings.

Sabbath combines love and Law, devotions and obedience, feelings and observance. It starts on Friday at 6 p.m. and runs through Saturday at 6 p.m.

The week pivots around this special day:

7th. Saturday
6. Friday → 1. Sunday
5. Thursday ↑ ↓ 2. Monday

4. Wednesday ↑ ↓ 3. Tuesday
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The seventh day is holy: set off by changes in dress, manners, diet, and occupations, and by special worship of the Creator. We all know about Sunday best, Sunday manners, Sunday dinner, Sunday quiet and churchgoing. Did G-d change the Sabbath day or man? Has G-d rewritten His Word?
The Jewish Sabbath is a ceremony that makes steep demands to achieve a decisive effect.
A Believer who undertakes to observe it is, from sundown on Friday to the end of twilight on Saturday. On this day you bring in rest, joy, peace, celebration and preserve.
The seven day cycle is a seal that cuts very deep into a Believer’s existence. All planning relates to the creation day; plans of work, of travel, of leisure, even of a place to live. Bulking so large in life, coming so often, the Sabbath has a lifetime in which to imprint its meaning on the spirit and the brain. Those who keep the day inevitably have the ideas of creation and of the Creator, of one’s identity strongly in mind.
The literature is vast, the mystic pictures are copious…The Sabbath is a bride, and nightfall the wedding hour, so that every Friday at dusk pious Jews read the sparkling love poetry of the Song of Songs.
The Sabbath is the seal of partnership between G-d and mankind in the rule of creation. The Sabbath is the beginning of one’s imitation of G-d.
The Sabbath is a day in our time of the Messianic era, a foretaste of the coming peace between mankind and G-d, mankind and nature, mankind with mankind.
Such themes throng the writings on Sabbath, and the Sabbath liturgy and customs.
If I have conveyed three ideas – that the Jewish Sabbath is on the far side of its tough disciplines, a day of ennobled pleasure; that it is hard to achieve but worth all the effort it calls for; and that in their religion it is the keystone of the arch of symbol through which one pass to seek the great truths – I have done all I can.
All the restrictive Laws of the Sabbath banish in the presence of emergency; illness, disaster, urgent rescue, and the like.
Common sense is the second layer of Judaism’s bedrock, if faith in One G-d is the first. The definition of emergency is a severe but realistic one. Danger to life or limb is an emergency. Danger to a deal which might net many thousands of dollars is not. There are, I know, people who will take anxious exceptions to such a view, but so it is written.
This weekly observance represents the cycle of all history. Y’Shua stands at the center.
The Sabbath is symbolic of Y’Shua.
The Old Covenant teaches ‘get ready to observe,’ Y’Shua, our Sabbath enters.
The New Covenant teaches ‘remember Me with joy! For I, the Messiah, am Master even of the Sabbath.’ (Matt. 12:8).

Y’Shua
→
Old Covenant ↑ ↓ New Covenant
Get ready to OBSERVE ↑ ↓ Do this in REMEMBRANCE
←


Candles burn out, flowers fade away, bread gets moldy, and wine turns sour, but as He dwells in us, we become His living sign to the world.
He said, “You are witnesses of these things.” (Lk. 24:48).

Sabbath Shalom = have a good day in the Sabbath - Sabbath peace