#7 God Blessed The Seventh Day Genesis 2

Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, are finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. Genesis 2:1-3 NKJV

So we see here that on the seventh day God rested, and established the calendar week for men. This would be what we refer to as Saturday, and what has also been a point of much needless contention between those claiming to believe in Christ. It is funny, if not sad, that whatever God does for our good or as part of and leading up to a message, we take and reconstruct into our own legalist ideals. We miss the message as we look for ascetic, religious practices as if to be more holy or acceptable. This is what the Bible says about the Sabbath:

First under Mosaic Law: "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. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Exodus 20: 8-11 NKJV

The word Sabbath means to rest or stop working. It interesting to to see that all things in your care, as an Israelite, were given this rest. You could not overwork your servant while you were resting, not even a stranger. 

And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath." Mark 2:27 NKJV

Matthew 12 also gives a very good account of those who would seek to discredit Jesus based upon the Mosaic Law. They do it with little understanding and out of context. Jesus answers them based upon a story of David, who they would be all too familiar with. It is also interesting that Jesus answers them the same as He answers Satan during His temptation in the wilderness - with Scripture.

"Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means,'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even on the Sabbath." Matthew 12: 6-8

Is that not enough? Do you still prefer the way of the Pharisee?

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Colossians 2:16 & 17

One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. Roman 14: 5-9

Everything is the Lord's: everyday, every act and everybody belonging to the body of Christ, so quit judging what day others worship on as if they are less enlightened than you, because its quite the other way around. I love you no matter what day you go to Church, but I want to be and should be a Christian everyday.