The LORD said to Moses: “tell the Israelites: You must observe My Sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so that you will know that I am Yahweh who sets you apart.
Observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Whoever profanes it must be put to death. If anyone does work on it, that person must be cut off from his people.      Exodus 31:12-14 HCSB

We are told in Exodus 20:11 the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy. This is very clear. God worked for seven days making the world and He rested on the 6th day. He expects us to do the same. This comes from the Ten Commandments. He doesn’t suggest that we keep the Sabbath day holy, but He commands that we keep the Sabbath day holy.

Interestingly enough, the Israelites failed to obey this command. They failed to obey a lot of commands. God wanted them to repent and get their lives together. He sent several prophets to try to tell them of the destruction that would befall them if they did not get right with Him.

Jeremiah warned them in verses 19-27 to keep the Sabbath holy. God assured them good things would happen to their city if they did. In verse 27, however, He assured them if they did not keep the Sabbath holy, He would set fire to its gates, and it would consume the citadels of Jerusalem and not be extinguished.

Ezekial also warned against not keeping the Sabbath holy. In chapter 20, verse 24 He said they profaned His Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their father’s idols. This is so relevant today. I know there was a time when church was not important to me. My eyes were fixed on idols. These idols were in the form of material possessions, relationships that were not good for me, or simply laziness after a hard week.

Sadly, I never derived any satisfaction from these idols, just temporary pleasure. It is only through church attendance that I receive the peace that passes all understanding. It is through serving the Lord and doing His will in my life that I feel complete.

Now you may have read this and thought I only used Old Testament Scripture and may regard this as irrelevant, so I will give you one from the New Testament. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us be concerned for one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

My friend, the day is drawing near. We need to be drawing near to God. We can’t do this by refusing to go into His house. I know if you have a job that requires you to work on Sunday this can be difficult. But you can still set time aside to worship the Lord. There are also other service times like Sunday nights and Wednesday nights.

The Lord seeks our heart. He knows when idolatry takes over and He knows when we are committed to Him. If at all possible, we need to spend our Sabbaths in the Lord’s house. We need to spend them as days of worship and resting with our families. We don’t know how many more we have left so please don’t put this off.

Have a great day!