Many reasons have been fronted why the seventh day Shabbat is irrelevant in this post-atonement dispensation. However, the more one examines it, the more it grows relevant for the body of Yahshua to observe Shabbat.
From the scriptures it is clear that Adam has been given six good days out of seven when he can employ all his self - centered ploys to eke/make a living in this rush of life. Elohim tells Bnei Adam (Children of Adam) in Deuteronomy 5:13, "....six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work..."
But Adonai knows our greed and he knows we always want more and all and will somehow find excuses why the six days were not enough and needed the seventh as well. So, of the seventh day, Hashem first makes it clear to Adam that none of his children should even think of using it for "....the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God..." (Deuteronomy 5:14). The seventh day is someone else property; it belongs to Elohim. Don't even think of using a piece of it for doing so will be breaking the eighth commandment; "...Thou shalt not steal...." (Exodus 20:15).
After claiming the day, the all benevolent/generous Hashem welcomes his children to the party as follows "...call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of Hashem honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words..." (Isaiah 58:13). In other words leave that mean spirit of self-centeredness you had assumed for six days and delight in the LORD at least for one day. Just don't even think about yourself for a moment but think of the delight of Hashem."
But how can one experience the delight of Hashem? It is only by embracing the central character of Hashem; LOVE (John 4:8). Yahshua puts it more clearly how to experience this delight of Hashem, "...These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full....love one another, as I have loved you....." (John 15:11-12). It is by loving one another that we experience the full joy of Hashem.
This is why, once Hashem claims the day, then tells us to leave our egocentric approach to life and seek his delight by loving one another he makes it clear how we will spend the day in his joy. First and foremost, we should extend love towards all that has served us for six days as follows "...the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou...." We should extend our love to what serves us as well so that they too may rest as well as we do.
The party is then taken a notch higher. The homestead gets smaller to contain the spirit and all flow from their small places of worship and climax in a holy convocation/gathering (Leviticus 23:3). It is here where the total shift of focus from self-centeredness to the other entity is best demonstrated. Once in this setting, everything is done for the sake of the other person. "...How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying...." (I Corinthians 14:26).
It is in this Shabbat gathering where the true delight is realized for every person gives out of his/her abundance to edify the other who lacks as much. It is here where the miracle in the wilderness is fully realized; the bread of life that we gather for six days is shared out equally for "....he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack..." (Exodus 16:17-19). Truly Shabbat is very relevant. Keeping it is an enactment of the true purpose of life; to experience the total sweetness of life exactly as Hashem does.
By Bro. Bonface Muthii
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