Grace Bible Church

Worship Meditation
Sunday, February 28, 2010

“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,
From doing your pleasure on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a delight,
The holy day of the Lord honorable,
And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,
Nor finding your own pleasure,
Nor speaking your own words,
Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord;
And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,
And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

— Isaiah 58:13-14

The Psalmist said, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 34:7) How does one delight himself in the Lord? Isaiah 58:13-14 tells us one of the ways to do so: Honor the Sabbath. The Lord’s Day is not just another day off to do what pleases us. It is a day to honor the Lord. When we do that we delight ourselves in the Lord and we receive God’s rich blessings.

Most modern Christians have no special regard for the Lord’s Day as the Sabbath. For over 1800 years, all of Christendom recognized Sunday, the “Lord’s Day,” as the Sabbath. The day changed from Saturday to Sunday in recognition of Christ’s resurrection on the first day of the week. After nearly two millennia, however, some decided that the Sabbath was not important because “that was Old Testament.” To which I ask, which of the other Ten Commandments were laid aside under the New Covenant?

As the nation of Israel was severely chastised for not honoring the Sabbath, might spiritual Israel, the church, be forfeiting some of God’s blessings because of our low view of the Sabbath Lord’s Day. We do not want to legislate the details of what one can and cannot do on the Lord’s Day, as the Pharisees did in Jesus’ day. I urge you, however, to search the scriptures to discern how God would have you and your household honor the Lord’s Day.

As Isaiah said in 58:14, “The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”