Tuesday, 15 February 2022

You Gotta Love Shabbat!

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There are special prayers for Shabbat. That shouldn't surprise anyone. We have prayers for every day and prayers for holidays. The greatest holiday of all is (the weekly) Shabbat. When a holiday falls on Shabbat (which actually happens quite often) there are even more special prayers. It is the nature of those "even more" special prayers that is my subject today.

Many of the prayers change with the addition of only two words. Those two words are "in love." God gave us "in love" His Shabbat. Think about it. The creator of the universe knows us (humanity) so well that He knew in advance we would have a desire to perform, to excel, to strive, to compete, to provide, so much that we would devalue taking a break or resting.

God is thinking, "I know those people. If I don't command them to rest, they will just work, work, work. If they don't demand it of themselves, their taskmasters will. Therefore; I will command a day of rest, a day when they can cease from their work, just as I (God) did from Mine. Not only will I command their rest, but when they obey My command, I will also command a blessing for them."

Deuteronomy 7:12-13 Then it will happen, as a result of your listening to these ordinances, when you keep and do them, that Adonai your God will keep with you the covenant kindness that He swore to your fathers. He will love you, bless you and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your soil, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that He swore to your fathers to give you.

Did Yeshua cancel this blessing or affirm this blessing? Let's ask Him. Matthew 5:17 Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. Yeshua Himself says He came to fill the Torah to fullness. Isaiah affirms this thought: Isaiah 42:21 Adonai was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to make Torah great and glorious. That's right, Yeshua is pleased to make the Torah great and glorious.

Neither Yeshua nor His disciples broke the Shabbat, though they were accused of doing just that. There is a prohibition against harvesting on Shabbat, but not against eating. Mark 2:2-28 Then He said to them, "Shabbat was made for man, and not man for Shabbat. So the Son of Man is Lord even of Shabbat." The Shabbat is a gift from God, an expression of His love for us, to ease our burdens, not to increase them.