Remember the Sabbath (Part 2 of 3) - Rooted in Redemption

            In my last post, we looked at the value of taking the time to cease - or Sabbath - from the frantic pace of our everyday lives in order to be refreshed physically, renewed emotionally, and restored spiritually.  Our key text was in Exodus 20.  Today I'd like to look at another passage that opens a bit more insight for us on the vital importance of remembering the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

            In the book of Deuteronomy, we find a restating of the Laws of God and in chapter 5 we find a restating of the 10 commandments . . . similar to what is recorded for us in Exodus 20.

Key Text:  Deuteronomy 5:12-15

“Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded

you.  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 or your male servant or your female servant

or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays

with you, so that our male servant and your female servant may rest

as well as you.  You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt,

and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand

and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you

to observe the Sabbath day.” (NASB)

            As we compare Deuteronomy 5 with what we have in Exodus 20, we’ll discover a shift in emphasis in regard to the principle of the Sabbath rest, we find that this abiding principle of the Sabbath was not only conceived in creation as in Exodus 20:11, but that it is also rooted in redemption.  Check out verse 15 of Deuteronomy 5:

“You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt
 and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand
and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God
commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.” (NASB)

            Remembering the Sabbath day is rooted in the deliverance and the redemption of the people of God from their slavery in Egypt.  You’ll remember that Moses was called by God to bring about the deliverance of the Hebrew people, but the Pharaoh of Egypt would not listen.  God brought plagues against all the gods of the Egyptian people demonstrating that He alone is the one true God.  The last plague was the death of the first born of both man and animal.  The people of God were spared this curse by the offering of a Passover lamb.

            As God instructed His people what they were to do, He told them that they were to establish a feast to memorialize this special day of redemption.  The account is found in chapters 12 and 13 of the book of Exodus.  Look at Exodus 12:14 & 16:

“Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast
to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance . . .  On the first day you shall have a holy assembly and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them . . . .” (NASB)

and also Exodus 13:6 & 8:

“For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD . . . You shall tell your son on that day, saying, 'It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'” (NASB)

            The Passover was a week-long celebration to commemorate their redemption and deliverance.  Remember that at the time the Mosaic Law was handed down at Mount Sinai, the people of God had just been brought out of slavery.  Day in and day out they labored under the Egyptian task masters building the great dynasty of the Egyptian empire.  They were slaves.  They had no day off, no opportunity to rest, no opportunity to cease from their labor, no opportunity to find relief from the monotony of life, no opportunity to come together and worship the Lord and be restored and refreshed and renewed on a spiritual level.

            In fact, as Moses and Aaron began to bring God’s message to Pharaoh, their labor was not only increased, but made more difficult.  Check out this conversation between Moses, Aaron, and the Egyptian Pharaoh in Exodus 5:3-5 . . .

“Then they said, ‘The God of the Hebrews has met with us.  Please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, otherwise He will fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.’   But the king of Egypt said to them, ‘Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work?  Get back to your labors!’  Again Pharaoh said, ‘Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease [Sabbath] from their labors!’”

            Sabbath day remembrance was to be a perpetual reminder of the deliverance and the redemption that God brought to His people; that they had been freed from their enslavement to Egypt; freed to worship God and live life in joy and peace.

            It's important for us to set apart time to remember the redemption that we have been given in Christ.  There are many types, or foreshadowings,  of what Christ has accomplished for us in the events of Israel's history . . . especially in what we are considering today:  the Passover lamb . . . sacrificed to save the people of God from the wrath of God, the blood of the Lamb that covered them, the redemption of God's people from slavery, God's mighty right hand of salvation . . . .

            Take the time to cease from all the busy-ness of life and pause to remember what God has done for you in Jesus.  God established this abiding principle of the Sabbath day to be a reminder of His grace and mercy.  Don't let the trappings of this world draw you away from remembering what God has accomplished for you.  Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.