Sabbath is all about getting ready and being prepared. It’s about entering into rest! If we’ve not prepared…then we can’t enter into the rest. It’s not a salvation issue…it’s a blessings issue! Salvation comes from Messiah alone and His finished work. The Sabbath is a blessing of rest offered to all. The spiritual truth the Lord seeks to teach us each week pertains to rest. And He gives us the opportunity each week to see if we are ready and prepared. This physical day of rest points to His spiritual day of rest. As believers in Messiah, we are called to cease from our own works and rest in Him and His finished work. But we are also given the opportunity to enter into a physical rest each week.
Unbelief and the works of the flesh don’t want to cease striving from all its self-effort. Continual labor gives the impression that it all depends on man and his efforts. Physically resting on the Sabbath reflects trusting in God. Many in the Body of Messiah are tired and weary. Could it be because people are not literally taking the physical rest their body needs? God knows our frame full well. He knows that we are but dust and that we need to rest every Sabbath day (every Friday evening and Saturday). It’s not a laborious task to enter into this physical rest each week…it’s a privilege …with a “special permission” card from God. Don’t let anyone rob you of this blessing of rest each week on the Sabbath!
God’s Biblical Calendar – God established the Sabbath in the beginning (Gen 1&2) with the “evening & morning” pattern given for Adam & Eve (all mankind). This cycle occurs every week. The Sabbath begins Friday evening @ sunset and ends Saturday at sunset. God Himself designed the cycle and wants mankind to follow. Work 6 days and rest on the 7th day.
God wanted Adam & Eve to observe & honor the Sabbath, His special day of the week. So, too, He wants all men, women, boys & girls to know about His special day and rest on the Sabbath day (Friday evening & Saturday morning). Did you know at the second coming of Jesus… at the time when He returns ….we will still have the Sabbath and observe & honor it as His special day?
Isaiah 66:22-23 (author’s comments in parenthesis) – “For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me”, declares the LORD, “So your offspring and your name will endure. And it shall be from new moon to new moon (month to month) and from Sabbath to Sabbath (week to week), all mankind will come to bow down before Me” says the LORD.
Rest on the Sabbath - This is one of the 10 commandments. Exodus 20:8-12 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God; (rest on Sabbath, even during plowing & harvest (Exd 34:21). You shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; there the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
Many people throughout the years have wondered about the ways of God. I imagine even the Greeks and Romans must have been astounded that Jews insisted on observing ‘a day of rest’ and having their animals and servants also enjoy God’s ‘day of rest’ as well. It must have seemed like such a waste of time and production. But the Creator certainly knows best. In fact, today in our busy hustle & bustle world of high technology and communication, it’s still very important to take advantage of this blessing of rest God offers to all mankind.
When we’ve done all the work of the week and prepared to enter into the Sabbath… or at least stopped from the long list of demands… then we are no longer in a rush! Suddenly, we have time to pray and read and mediate on the Scripture and spend time with family. Some wise men consider the Sabbath as the most important of all the Appointed Times because it’s first on the list (Lev. 23) J
No cooking on the weekly Sabbath – Ah, the joy of not having to prepare meals or think about a menu and prepare lunch on the Shabbat…because the work and cooking has all been done on the 6th day. Many families cook and prepare a large meal on Friday before the sun sets and sit down and enjoy the big evening meal together without rushing. Then all the leftovers are put in the refrigerator for the Sabbath day lunch. This is the pattern in the Word. In the Scripture in Exodus16:22-30, God instructs the people to collect manna for 6 days. On the 6th day, the people are to collect twice as much – “bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil” on the 6th day and rest on the 7th day. They “all ate the same spiritual food…now these things happened as examples for us” (1 Corth 10:6). Remember…some grumbled and some tried to collect too much during the week and do it their own way. But God set the pattern and gave the provision. On the 6th day, the double portion was prepared and it was kept over for the next day and didn’t rot or turn to worms! God is into leftovers for lunch on Shabbat. It’s another way we cease from our labors on the Sabbath.
No buying & selling on the Sabbath – Neh10:31; Neh13:15-22 don’t buy on the Sabbath. Don’t “profane the Sabbath” by buying, selling or trading on the Sabbath. Gatekeepers are to guard to “sanctify the Sabbath day”. Think about it…if you are buying something on the Sabbath, then someone else is working to process your order and take your money (ie: at a grocery store, gas station or restaurant, etc.) God is concerned for all mankind and He wants them to take advantage of the rest He provides.
Guard the Sabbath – Guard the Sabbath to keep it holy (guard the Sabbath from corruption, don’t add or take away from God’s command). Jesus rebuked the Scribes and Pharisees for invalidating the word of God for the sake of tradition “teaching as doctrine the precepts of men”
The Sabbath is one of the Appointed Times of the LORD. The Appointed Times are specific times set by God. He has chosen to reveal Himself and His ways throughout history during these Appointed Times. The Appointed Times are “shadow pictures of what is to come” (Col 2:17). This means it points to the Sabbath rest referenced in the book of Revelation. We must be ready and be prepared to enter into His rest!
Learning comes from doing. Each week, God gives us an opportunity to prepare to enter into the physical rest of blessing each week. If you don’t understand the Sabbath, I might be because you are not doing it. Try it, you’ll learn to enjoy the permission given by God to just rest and read the Word, or watch a biblical movie or listen to some glorious, heavenly gospel music …or just take a nap 
Try it for a while. It is especially rewarding when your body becomes used to this weekly ‘cycle’ of the LORD and really enters into the physical rest. It’s a blessing from heaven. And the LORD knows that our bodies need it
The Sabbath is not just for the Jews. The Sabbath is for the Gentile, too.
Isaiah 56:3-7 (author’s comments in parenthesis) – “Let not the foreigner (the Gentile) who had joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely separate me from His people”… to them (the foreigners) I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial…….Also the foreigners (the Gentiles) who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants, everyone who guards from profaning the sabbath and hold fast My covenant; even those I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer…for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples”
The fast the LORD chooses….is for us to fast from our own ways on the Sabbath
Isaiah 58:6,12-14 “Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free…..Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins, you will raise up the age-old foundations, and you will be called the repairer of the breach….if because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your pleasure on My holy day and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD honorable and honor it…then you will delight in the LORD and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth