Quotes About Sabbath

Sabbath keeping is a way of ordering one's whole life to honor the rhythm of things--work and rest, fruitfulness and dormancy, giving and receiving, being and doing, activism and surrender. The day itself is set apart, devoted completely to rest, worship, and delighting in God and his good gifts. And the rest of the week must be lived in such a way a way as to make Sabbath possible.

Because we do not rest we lose our way.... Poisoned by the hypnotic belief that good things come only through unceasing determination and tireless effort, we can never truly rest. And for want of rest our lives are in danger.

Sabbath keeping is the primary discipline that helps us live within the limits of our humanity and to honor God as our Creator. It is the key to a life lived in sync with the rhythms that God himself built into our world.

Sabbath is that uncluttered time and space in which we can distance ourselves from our own activities enough to see what God is doing.

The sabbath was the sign of the covenant that God made with Israel and therefore it had to be part of the covenant document of which it was the sign.

Breaking the sabbath renounced the whole covenant relationship with God. To profane the Sabbath by performing even the slightest physical work was to deny all of the vows taken at Mount Sinai. It was an action equivalent to a man deliberately spitting in God's face and then, in defiant self-sufficiency and rebellion, breaking the most important law of the covenant by walking away and picking up some sticks or doing some other physical work.

When Jesus said 'THIS do in remembrance of ME,' he was contrasting the New Covenant, and its remembrance sign, with the Old Covenant and its remembrance sign. He was saying, "Instead of keeping the sabbath in remembrance of the old creation and Israel's redemption, THIS do in remembrance of me and the deliverance I have accomplished at Calvary." In other words, remember and think about what the new creation is and how Christ brought it about.

We make the Sabbath a delight when we teach the gospel to our children.

The Christians gave Him Sunday, the Jews gave Him Saturday, and the Muslims gave Him Friday. God has a three-day weekend.

The Sabbath provides a wonderful opportunity to strengthen family ties.

[Sunday] should be different from another day. People may walk, but not throw stones at birds. There may be relaxation, but there should be no levity.

The Muslims observe their Sabbath on Friday, the Jews observe on Saturday, and the Christians on Sunday. By the time Monday rolls around God is completely f***in' worn out.

There's a pattern in these Commandments of setting things apart so their holiness will be perceived. Every day is holy, but the Sabbath is set apart so that the holiness of time can be experienced. Every human being is worthy of honor, but the conscious discipline of honor is learned from this setting apart of Mother and Father.

Sabbath-keeping requires two orientations. One is Godward. The other is timeward. To keep Sabbath well—as both a day and an attitude—we have to think clearly about God and freshly about time. We likely, at some level, need to change our minds about both. Unless we trust God's sovereignty, we won't dare risk Sabbath. And unless we receive time as abundance and gift, not as ration and burden, we'll never develop a capacity to savor Sabbath.

She had been notably religious, but that was gradually wearing off as she advanced in years. The rigid strictness of Sabbatarian practice requires the full energy of middle life.

Safely through another week,   GOD has brought us on our way,   Let us now a blessing seek   On th' approaching sabbath-day:

The seventh-day Sabbath is in no uncertainty. It is God's memorial of his work of creation. It is set up as a heaven-given memorial, to be observed as a sign of obedience. God wrote the whole law with his finger on two tables of stone.—Selected Messages, book 3, p. 318.

Heaven's work never ceases, and men should never rest from doing good. The Sabbath is not intended to be a period of useless inactivity.

as God ceased His labor of creating, and rested upon the Sabbath and blessed it, so man is to leave the occupations of his daily life, and devote those sacred hours to healthful rest, to worship, and to holy deeds. The work of Christ in healing the sick was in perfect accord with the law. It honored the Sabbath.—The Desire of Ages, p. 207.

He will not be held guiltless who neglects to relieve suffering on the Sabbath. God's holy rest day was made for man, and acts of mercy are in perfect harmony with its intent. God does not desire His creatures to suffer an hour's pain that may be relieved upon the Sabbath or any other day. The demands upon God are even greater upon the Sabbath than upon other days.

The claim so often put forth, that Christ changed the Sabbath, is disproved by His own words. In His sermon on the mount He said: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

As the sun goes down, let the voice of prayer and the hymn of praise mark the close of the sacred hours and invite God's presence through the cares of the week of labor. Thus parents can make the Sabbath, as it should be, the most joyful day of the week. They can lead their children to regard it as a delight, the day of days, the holy of the Lord, honorable. —Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, pp. 358, 359.

The Sabbath is a token between God and His people. It is a holy day, given by the Creator to man as a day upon which to rest, and reflect upon sacred things. God designed it to be observed through every age as a perpetual covenant. It was to be regarded as a peculiar treasure, a trust to be carefully cherished.—Our High Calling, p. 343.

God saw that a Sabbath was essential for man, even in Paradise. He needed to lay aside his own interests and pursuits for one day of the seven, that he might more fully contemplate the works of God and meditate upon his power and goodness. He needed a Sabbath to remind him more vividly of God and to awaken gratitude because all that he enjoyed and possessed came from the beneficent hand of the Creator.