Day 27: The Elevator Sabbath

Day 27: The Elevator Sabbath

If you go to Israel today, especially Tel-Aviv and the big cities with skyscrapers and tall buildings, you will discover something different about their elevators. On Saturdays or Sabbath, they run automatically and stop on every floor. Why would anyone want to do such a silly thing you ask? Well, it's because they believe that "pushing a button" is work, and there is a commandment in the Torah about "not working on the Sabbath." That's why they prefer to have elevators stop on every floor, instead of pressing a button and breaking the Sabbath commandment! If you thing that is strange, wait til you discover in today's devotional study what we today in the western world have created out of the Seventh-day Sabbath, for we are not that very far from Orthodox Jews in Israel in keeping the Sabbath! Read on!

Four days and counting. The finish line is almost here. We are three days away from reaching day thirty on our thirty day spiritual journey. While you have had some ups and downs, the journey has been amazing and well worth it if you have stuck to it and “hanged” in there. God always has a reward in store for those who cross the finish line! Today, we are going to reflect on Jesus and the Sabbath, since for the rest of our lives until Jesus returns, we will have the weekly seventh-day Sabbath to prepare for, enjoy, and remind us of Jesus Our Creator, Redeemer, and soon coming King! Let’s enter our study of this glorious truth.

The Sabbath in Creation

Have you ever read the Creation story in Genesis chapter one and chapter two? They are two different narratives of the same event. Some infidels have challenged the biblical record in saying that the two are diametrically opposed when in fact they complement and enhance one another. Chapter one details the Creation of our universe (Genesis 1:2), and then immediately begins to detail the creation of our galaxy, solar system, and planet (v. 2-31). Chapter one covers the entire first six days of creation. Genesis 2:1-3 recounts the Creation of the seventh-day Sabbath as one of the crowning acts in the creation week. Man and Woman are the crowning act of God’s creation in Genesis chapter one, verses twenty six and twenty seven. 

“Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 

“So God created mankind in his own image,
   in the image of God he created them;
   male and female he created them.” 

The Creation week appeared to be finished and complete, but it wasn’t. God still had a surprise in store to culminate His Creation. That surprise is the Sabbath or Shabbat, which God created by resting (or ceasing or stopping). You see, the Sabbath is a memorial of creation, and a day that God didn’t really need to create for His well-being. God, the infinite Creator, never gets tired or weary and He definitely did not need a day every week to rest because He was tired. Instead, the Sabbath is a surprise and gift that God created for the benefit of mankind. It is a day that commemorates the creation of our world in seven days, but is also a weekly date and appointment to meet with God for twenty-four hours.  See if you see this truth also in Genesis 2:1-3.

“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”

God created the Sabbath on the Seventh-day and He did so by resting. He stopped creating more on the seventh-day and just paused to admire all that He had made. But more than admire, he created a weekly date and appointment where man, who is constantly busy and distracted, could meet with God every week to grow in His relationship with God and to never forget God. The reason today why man has forgotten God is because man has forgotten the Sabbath. 

Jesus is Our Creator

And who exactly is the Creator of the Sabbath. In Genesis 2, we discover that God is the Creator of the Sabbath. In John 1, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1, we discover that Jesus Christ is the Creator. Jesus was the one who created the universe, galaxy, solar system, and planet in which we live. Of the three members of the Godhead, Jesus Christ was the Creator. So in fact, Genesis 1:1-3 could read, “

“In the beginning “Jesus” created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And “Jesus” said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  “Jesus” saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. “Jesus” called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day."

When it comes to the creation of the seventh-day Sabbath in Genesis 2:1-3, the passage then could also read:

“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day ‘Jesus’ had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then ‘Jesus’ blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” 

If our reading of the text is correct in saying that Jesus Christ was the member of the Godhead that oversaw the creation of the world of the human race, and He is in fact was intimately involved in the creation of our world, then it makes sense that Jesus called Himself the “Lord of the Sabbath.”

In Mark 2:27-28, Jesus said:

“Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

In so many words Jesus is saying that He is the Lord of the Sabbath because He created it in Genesis. Wow! Amazing! And every week he is present during the Seventh-day Sabbath to help us grow in our relationship with Him. What a great opportunity it is to be able to relate to God during the hours of the Sabbath, for God is present not only ON the Sabbath, but God is present IN the Sabbath. What a great opportunity to let slip by. If God meets man on the seventh-day Sabbath every week, don’t you think you should take the time to be ready to meet God every week too?

Conclusion

Remember the "Elevator Sabbath"? How silly it seems, but how true of human nature. We have put every possible barrier to keep the Sabbath from being broken when in fact as we have seen, it is a day to be enjoyed with Jesus every week. Sabbath observance is good as far as obedience is concerned. Going to church, not working, not watching secular television or listening to secular music, reading the daily paper or watching the secular news. In some places of the world, even playing sports, or eating at a restaurant is considered breaking the ordinance of the Sabbath. While that is true when you stop and think about it, the truth of the Seventh-day Sabbath is more that just a day. It is a weekly date with the Creator of the Universe and of Our Life. Jesus wants us to keep the Sabbath as a day to grow in our relationship with Him, and a day to be enjoy with family and friends. In the end, if the Sabbath is no more that a day on which to avoid pressing buttons on an elevator, we have the lost the true meaning of the Sabbath. The truth is that the Sabbath is a day to love Jesus and to grow closer to Him each week. Instead of avoiding the buttons on an elevator on the seventh-day Sabbath, make sure you press the highest button so that you can meet Jesus on this special day at the very top. He's there just waiting for you! Go ahead and meet Him there!

Practical Steps

1. Decide to celebrate the Seventh-day Sabbath (Saturday). Don’t just keep Saturday morning, but instead observe the Sabbath with Jesus in your heart.

2. Do something different on the Sabbath than you do during the week. Go to the park, beach, mountains, or go and visit someone in a hospital or in a convalescent home. Get out of the ordinary.

3. Have a special meal on the Sabbath. Don’t fast. Make it a day of Joy!

4. Focus on Jesus during the Sabbath hours and ask Him to show you His face. Get to know God more as a friend during the Sabbath.

~ Pastor Sal Garcia