As human beings, we love to mark ourselves with an outward
demonstration of a group we belong to. This can be something like a Christian
wearing a necklace with a cross charm, or a Latter-day Saint wearing a CTR
ring. It can be through clothes we wear, the manner in which we groom
ourselves, and so forth. We like to know we belong somewhere, and we like to be
able to recognize other people in our group by these markings.
Most of the time there is no harm in these outward markings,
but these are not what really matter. When Samuel, the ancient Israelite
prophet, was commanded to anoint a King of Israel from Jesse’s family, the Lord
told him, “The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
In the scriptures, the Lord occasionally gives His own markings
that He looks for to know His people. I will discuss one of these today. In
Exodus 31:13, the Lord says to Moses, “Speak thou also unto the children of
Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me
and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that
doth sanctify you.”
Thus one of the “markings” that the Lord looks for on the
heart is the commitment to keeping the Sabbath day holy. Most people recognize
this as one of the Ten Commandments, but I think very few realize just how
important this is to the Lord. Our obedience to this commandment is a direct
testament to the Lord that we are His people. This knowledge merits taking a
closer look at what the scriptures teach about this commandment.
When the Lord originally gave the Ten Commandments to Moses,
He decreed that men should work for six days, and then rest on the Sabbath and
do no work thereon (Exodus 20:8-10). The concept of rest on the Sabbath is
frequently taught throughout the scriptures. If there is any way to avoid
working, we are to do so. Not only do we not work, but we also avoid having to
make others work as well.
One of my favorite passages that illustrates the importance
of this principle is found in Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a Jewish leader charged
with rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, and was also influential in reforming
the people and rededicating them to the Lord. In Nehemiah 13:15-22 he tells us
that he saw some people working on the Sabbath by making wine, harvesting, and
selling. Nehemiah decried this activity, calling it evil, and commanded that all
such activity should cease, or else he would “lay hands on them.”
This is a pretty strong statement. Many believe shopping on
the Sabbath is wrong, but evil? And it was such a serious offense that Nehemiah
was threatening to beat up the offenders? What prompted Nehemiah to say these
things? Nehemiah gives us the answer in verse 18 from the passage cited above.
“Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us,
and upon this city? Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the
Sabbath.”
What did he mean by that? To understand, we need to expand
our reading and understanding of the Old Testament. Many writers in the Old
Testament indicate that the people had abandoned the commandment to keep the
Sabbath, and that by doing so, they were putting themselves in spiritual and
physical danger. Here are a few examples:
“Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my
Sabbaths” (Ezekiel 22:8). The fact that the people polluted the Sabbath is
actually mentioned many times in the book of Ezekiel. Because the people
abandoned the Lord by profaning the Sabbath and following after idols, the Lord
told Ezekiel that Israel would also be abandoned.
“But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath
day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on
the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall
devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched” (Jeremiah
17:27). Because Jerusalem and its palaces and temples were destroyed by
Babylon, we can see that the people were not keeping the Sabbath.
In 2 Chronicles, the historian tells of the destruction of
Jerusalem and then concludes by saying all this was done, “To fulfill the word
of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths:
for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten
years” (2 Chronicles 36:21).
This, then, was the cause of Nehemiah’s concern. One of the
reasons that Israel had been scattered and Jerusalem destroyed is because the
people were not honoring the Sabbath. Nehemiah was determined to not let
history repeat itself. Now, of course, there were many other terrible immoral
sins that Israel was committing that certainly led to their destruction, but
perhaps if they had been honoring the Sabbath in the true sense that the Lord
intended, these other sins would not have been committed.
Unfortunately, by the time of the Savior’s mortal ministry,
the Pharisees had swung the pendulum so far the other way that the Sabbath had
lost its original meaning. The leaders were outraged that Jesus would have the
audacity to heal on the Sabbath (and yet apparently had no problems with
meeting on the Sabbath to plan how to kill Jesus—figure that one out).
So on the one hand we have the Israelites completely ignoring
the Sabbath day. On the other we have the Pharisees distorting it to the point
where it is meaningless. If we know that keeping the Sabbath day is so
important to the Lord that He considers it a sign of His people, then it
becomes clear that we need to understand what true Sabbath day observance entails
so that the Lord can recognize us as His own.
This subject will be explored in Part Two.
