Profaning The Sabbath
Nehemiah left Jerusalem after the wall was rebuilt and dedicated. He needed to return to the king of Persia like he promised when the king gave him permission to go. However, he was not happy when he returned to Jerusalem. The people had already fallen into several serious sins. I can imagine this was very frustrating for Nehemiah, because he had worked so hard to remove the reproach on the people.
One specific sin that he contended with them about was profaning the Sabbath day.(Nehemiah 13:17) Basically, the Israelites were allowing the Sabbath day to be a day of buying and selling like the other days of the week. They were not keeping it "holy" like it calls for in the 10 Commandments. Nehemiah restored the sanctity of the Sabbath day by closing the gates and forbidding the vendors from coming in to sell their wares. He knew God was serious about the Sabbath when He gave it, and He would not bless them if they did not keep it holy.
You can call me "old school," but I believe we need to do whatever we can to make the Lord's Day a proper sabbath for us as believers. It is one of the 10 Commandments, so if we do away with it, which of the other 9 would we decide don't apply anymore, too? Jesus warned us about being legalistic about the Sabbath like the Jewish religious leaders were in His day. However, He never told us to quit having a Sabbath day or to break any of the 10 Commandments. Therefore, I believe we need to be very careful to seek God's heart on how to make Sunday a day of worship and rest, while refraining from doing the types of things that would cause us to see it as just another day. It is in our best interest to have one day set apart for God and for rest. It helps keep us focused on Him, and it gives us time to rest and reflect on what God would have us to do.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Esther 1-3.
One specific sin that he contended with them about was profaning the Sabbath day.(Nehemiah 13:17) Basically, the Israelites were allowing the Sabbath day to be a day of buying and selling like the other days of the week. They were not keeping it "holy" like it calls for in the 10 Commandments. Nehemiah restored the sanctity of the Sabbath day by closing the gates and forbidding the vendors from coming in to sell their wares. He knew God was serious about the Sabbath when He gave it, and He would not bless them if they did not keep it holy.
You can call me "old school," but I believe we need to do whatever we can to make the Lord's Day a proper sabbath for us as believers. It is one of the 10 Commandments, so if we do away with it, which of the other 9 would we decide don't apply anymore, too? Jesus warned us about being legalistic about the Sabbath like the Jewish religious leaders were in His day. However, He never told us to quit having a Sabbath day or to break any of the 10 Commandments. Therefore, I believe we need to be very careful to seek God's heart on how to make Sunday a day of worship and rest, while refraining from doing the types of things that would cause us to see it as just another day. It is in our best interest to have one day set apart for God and for rest. It helps keep us focused on Him, and it gives us time to rest and reflect on what God would have us to do.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Esther 1-3.