“If
thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy
day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and
shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor
speaking thine own words:
“Then
shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the
high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father:
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
(Isaiah 58:13,14)
“Keeping
of the sabbath as a day of surcease from ordinary toil was a national
characteristic, by which the Israelites were distinguished from pagan peoples,
and rightly so, for the holiness of the Sabbath was made a mark of the covenant
between the chosen people and their God. (James Talmage, Jesus the Christ,
p 203).
This
characteristic of Sabbath observance lives with us still as a commandment within
the House of Israel to be a standard and an ensign to the world. In Hebrew the
term Sabbath means ‘rest’. This rest constitutes quiet tranquillity,
peace of mind and spirit, however, the main benefits promised by Isaiah
regarding the Sabbath are three-fold:
·
Sanctification:
It is called a holy day because ‘holy’ means set apart or sanctified for the
work of God (see also Exodus 31:13);
·
Revelation
and communion with God (I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the
earth);
·
Exaltation
(I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father)
Other
promises are ones of temporal plenty, divine protection and spiritual power.
The
most important of these three is sanctification. So important was this
sanctification that violation of the Sabbath was a capital crime punishable by
death under the Mosaic dispensation and this is why….. it impressed upon
ancient Israel the seriousness of spiritual death (see Numbers 15:32-36).
Without sanctification you cannot have eternal life but instead suffer
spiritual death. Whereas eternal life means a life with God, spiritual death
means to be cut off from His presence (Alma 42:1-9; D&C 29:41).
“Alma
taught that certain early Saints entered the “rest of the Lord” after being made
pure through a process of sanctification (Alma 13:12). In other words, God’s
work is the sanctification of His children to the point where they can enter
into the ultimate rest, which is the fulness of His glory.
“Once
each week man is commanded to cease his own labours and allow God to perform
His work of sanctification on him. Resting on the Sabbath, then, implies far
more than taking a nap or stopping normal activities. Mankind must enter into
the Lord’s work on that day. This work involves making themselves and others
more godlike, another way to speak of sanctification.
“Doing
the work of the Lord (sanctification) often involves great activity on the
Sabbath day, and the day may not be restful in the usual sense. One can assume
that if doing good to an animal on the Sabbath is approved by the Lord (see
Matthew 12:11; Luke 13:15), then doing good to men is an even higher good. The
two commandments for the Sabbath are rest and worship (see D&C 59:10). The
Hebrew verb la-avodh, “to worship”, means also “to work” and “to serve”.
This holy work then creates a new and holy man;
so the Sabbath is tied into the work of creation.” (Old Testament Student Manual Book 1, p 130)
Sometimes
I fear that we have lost the holiness of the Sabbath in our day and age. When I
was growing up in Croatia, our Catholic community was very observant of the Sabbath.
Nobody worked, nobody partied. We usually made the best meal on Sunday with the
only dessert of the week, usually a cake or a slice that could be shared in
case any guests should come by. My mother would not allow us girls to even knit
on Sunday. It was a peaceful, calm day of the week when we went to Church and sometimes
met with extended family or friends but it was a meeting devoid of any
entertainment. I always felt a special
spirit on Sunday. I felt it was God’s day. This is the Europe I remember of
some 50 years ago.
The
Australia of today where I live now is vastly different. Consumerism has
destroyed a lot of values we once used to have, children’s parties are rampant
on Sundays as are sporting events and competitions. Sometimes I feel like we
observe the Sabbath day if there isn’t anything else going.
We,
modern-day Israel have a higher obligation than just abstaining from work and
frivolity. We are to turn away our foot (the symbol of following or obeying)
from doing our own pleasure on the Sabbath and to remember the Lord’s work
which is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man (Moses
1:39). If we did so we would be drawn to God in the greatest way possible (see
The Old Testament Student Manual Book 1, p 181). It would be the beginning of
our path to eternal life. And when we came to it, we would hear God say: “Well
done thou good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
