“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet.” Revelation 1:10
Why did God create the Sabbath, or the seventh day on which He rested. Was He tired, or weary with all that He had made? Isaiah tells us that, “…the Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary.” (40:28) The Psalmist declares also, in speaking of the Lord, “…Behold, He that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” (121:4) The sabbath, and the corresponding “rest” of the Sabbath, or seventh day, was not created FOR God, for He has need of nothing at any time. God’s example of resting on the sabbath day was to be a designated specific essential and practical means and provision by God for man to remember, and to use, so that man’s faith should be renewed, and strengthened by the power of the Spirit. The principle and practice of the seventh day, was not intended for man to be imprisoned by his own designs and ideas, but to grasp something of God’s gracious provision by which man could come to know God in quietness and strength. The great application of the principle of the Sabbath would allow man to stop, cease from his endeavors in order to give himself to seeking God, finding Him afresh, and thus maintaining true worship of His Maker and Redeemer. This would enable him to more consistently abide in Christ, worship Him, live for the glory of God, the believer being brought into a deeper fellowship, and communion with God, and greater conformity to His will and purposes. By this the world would know that Christ IS the Creator and only Savior of man, Lord of All. To know the true meaning of the Sabbath, and the rest associated with it, is to venture into the Holiest of All by faith, by the precious blood of Christ, trusting wholly in the Spirit of God, to commune with God, and God with him.
How then is the Sabbath, the seventh day to be practiced, so that God becomes real to the individual worshipper of Christ, and also to the local body of believers? We find our response in the Apostle John, who was elderly at the time of the writing of the book of Revelation, and who had been exiled to the Isle of Patmos, for his faith. It was then and there that he writes: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day…” Key to the use of the Sabbath, or the Lord’s day, is the recognition of it as a gift of God, a very valid and precious provision of God, so that man can truly be met by God. For John the Apostle, the Lord’s day was not an idea and practice that was encumbered by the commandments of men, traditions, and philosophical perspectives. John’s goal was to use the opportunity in the will of God to seek and find God regardless of his circumstances. Patmos would become for him place of meeting. There, on that lonely isle, on the “Lord’s day,” as he was worshipping the Lord in the Spirit and truth, the Lord would reveal Himself to him in a dramatic, clear manner, to give to him the revelation of the glorified Christ, and the knowledge of what was to come, specifically with regard to the church in the last days, and His coming to establish His kingdom on earth.
So, how important is the Sabbath, or the Lord’s day? It is important in every way, as it is the Lord’s command and provision to be quiet, to rest in Him, to know Him, to “see the glory of God,” as revealed by the Spirit according to the truth. If one would be faithful, and be kept in communion with Christ, with the Spirit of wisdom and revelation witnessing to the individual’s sprit and soul, then there should not only be the respect of the seventh day, but the practice of seeking Christ and truly finding Him.
Dear Father, Teach us Your ways. In Jesus’ name, Amen.