115: Sabbath Day

Today, Denver answers the question, "On Mount Horeb, the Lord gave a commandment to “remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” How do we keep a day “holy?” What does the Lord expect or desire of us in keeping this commandment? Why do we no longer worship on Saturday?" Transcript First, this from The Old Covenants, Isaiah 20:7 RE: Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God. They ask of me the ordinances of justice, they take delight in approaching to God. Why have we fasted, say they, and you see not? Why have we afflicted our soul and you take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure and exact all your labors. Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness. You shall not fast as you do this day to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to remove the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him, and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then shall you call and the Lord shall answer, you shall cry and he shall say, Here I am. If you take away from your midst the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity, and if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall your light rise in obscurity and your darkness be as the noonday. And the Lord shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make fat your bones; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of you shall build the old waste places. You shall raise up the foundations of many generations, and you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in. 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 of the Lord honorable, and shall honor him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then shall you delight yourself in the Lord. And I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. ——— This is from T&C 46:2-4: Wherefore, I give unto them a commandment, saying thus: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your might, mind, and strength, and in the name of Jesus Christ you shall serve him. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. You shall not steal, neither commit adultery, nor kill, nor do anything like unto it. You shall thank the Lord your God in all things. You shall offer a sacrifice unto the Lord your God in righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And that you may more fully keep yourself unspotted from the world, you shall go to the house of prayer and offer up your sacraments upon my holy day. For verily, this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay your devotions unto the Most High. Nevertheless, your vows shall be offered up in righteousness on all days and at all times, but remember that on this, the Lord’s day, you shall offer your oblations and your sacraments unto the Most High, confessing your sins unto your brethren and before the Lord. And on this day, you shall do none other things — only let your food be prepared with singleness of heart, that your fasting may be perfect, or in other words, that your joy may be full. Verily, this is fasting and prayer, or in other words, rejoicing and prayer. And inasmuch as you do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances (not with much laughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance), verily I say that inasmuch as you do this, the fullness of the earth is yours — the beasts of the fields and the fowls of the air, and that which climbs upon trees and walks upon the earth, yea, and the herb, and the good things which come of the earth, whether for food, or for raiment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, or for vineyards. Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye, and to gladden the heart, yea for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul. And it pleases God that he has given all these things unto man, for unto this end were they made, to be used with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion. What a happy thought is contained in all of that. Commandments that constrain us from evil. Blessings and opportunities intended to benefit us, make us cheerful and provide for our needs. Everything. But it begins with the self discipline to keep the commandments and to no longer be a threat to one another. To no longer introduce elements of disobedience and chaos continuously into this world. Because mankind has been continuously off the mark. Therefore, we aren’t glad at nature because we threaten one another. We aren’t rejoicing at the peace that this world gives to us with enough and to spare, because we horde. Because we are not generous and kindly and loving one towards another. We’re fearful and we find this world a threatening place, because we make it so. God on the other hand, never intended that it should be so. We just finished the Easter celebration last weekend. As a result of celebrating Easter, I wanted to take some comments from the account of that very first day when the Lord came out of the grave. The fact that Easter is in the springtime I don’t think is any accident. I think it’s intended to align with the testimony of nature about the promise of eternal life, the promise of the renewal that comes every spring, and I think the Lord intended that His death and His resurrection should associate with spring. I think it’s appropriate that that be the subject that we look at today. The incident that I want to look at is recorded only one place in scripture. Even though it only appears one place in the scripture I think it’s one of the most thought-provoking and potentially rewarding discussions about the Lord that appears anywhere else. I’m talking about the incident that Luke records of two disciples who were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus on the day that the Lord rose from the dead. I’m going to be using the Luke material throughout this as the exclusive source if Luke talks about it. If someone else talks about it and Luke didn’t then we’ll look at that. The distance that they are going to walk is beyond what was then viewed as a Sabbath days’ journey so they couldn’t take this walk on the Sabbath. They had to wait until the first day of the week when the Sabbath was over, which was also the day on which the Lord would be resurrected. The incident appears in Luke chapter 24 and it begins in chapter 24: “Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared...” (Luke 24:1). He doesn’t tell us this but there’s a detail you can find over in John chapter 20: "The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark" (John 20:1). All that Luke says is it was very early in the morning. John lets us know that this was not only very early in the morning, it was still dark out. If you brought your scriptures it might be useful to use them as we go along. So there is a walk that’s going to take place in which two disciples–we have the name of only one of the two–are walking back to Emmaus and this is what the account reads, beginning in verse 13: Luke 24:13-32: 13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. That's about seven miles, which clearly, under their tradition, would have been too far. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. 16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. Their eyes were holden. The Lord is with them. He’s resurrected. He’s walking along with them and they don’t recognize Him. Christ has the capacity to withhold His identity. As Paul reminded us in Hebrews 13:2: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” From this incident, on this day with the Lord, we learn that the strangers can include the Lord Himself. When He says to be careful how you treat “the least of these my brethren”, you ought not be surprised if, on the day of judgement, one of those “least” was the Lord Himself and your eyes were holden that you should not know Him. 17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? Clearly a rhetorical question. This is the risen Lord joining this fellowship in their walk and He's asking them, "What are you talking about?" That ought to tell you something about Him. The Lord doesn't make any effort to displace their attention from the subject t