When I was a kid I couldn’t wait until the end of Sabbath. My brothers and I liked Sabbath as much as any dirty nineties kid made to wear church clothes and eat haystacks with strangers. The best times were when we got to have a friend over or head home with another family after church. Still, though, we counted the minutes until the sun sunk down behind the horizon and we could really live.

The Death of the Sabbath

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He created a garden full of wonder, a place of pure pleasure, and beings to enjoy it. He walked the garden pathways with them. He gave them each other, He gave them Himself, and He gave them a place to enjoy and live freely. They were in the midst of holiness and gave it up.

There once was a gift given to mankind. He was Holy, He was made for man as He exchanged His perfect Heavenly life for humanity. He came as a gift, wrapped up and presented. With Him everywhere He went, He brought healing, forgiveness, rest, peace, and joy. He shared knowledge, met needs, and raised the dead. The epitome of holiness, the peace and pleasure of Sabbath rest, was handed to us again as a man–a Savior. He came to earth and was turned away. He was persecuted and put to death.

There is a people, an overworked, unhealthy, over-stressed, grieving, depressed, and lonely people. They see brokenness daily. They don’t trust each other or their Creator. They don’t know how to love because they were never taught. They don’t know how to trust because they were never taught. They don’t know how to rest because they were never taught. They were never taught that freedom is found in fellowship with God.

Searching for a Sabbath

The people search for ways to live forever when the Savior who lives is freely available to them.

They search for a cure for depression and loneliness when the Creator of love weaved relationship into them.

They spend thousands of dollars and days, months, and years seeking rest and peace when the Heavenly Father gave them a day every week. God set us up with a long life and 1/7th of it is set aside for rest, peace, and relationship. Instead of cherishing this gift, we can’t wait for it to be over.

We treat our Sabbaths as a stuffy wool sweater. It looks good. It feels good to look good.

We just can’t wait to get out of it.

We treat Sabbaths like fine china. We like the way it looks on the shelf, but when we use it once-a-year we’re racked with anxiety over chipping the edges. We can’t wait for the guests to leave so we can break out the plastic plates.

We treat Sabbath like Eden, a beautiful place, a nice idea, but we find ourselves in the midst of the tree that tells a lie about our Creator.

We treat Sabbaths like the tomb of Jesus, when Sabbath is actually the joy and freedom of the stone rolling away.

We treat Sabbaths like His death, when it’s actually His life!