August 16, 2011

For this is what the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.” But you were not willing, And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses!” Therefore you shall flee!  “And we will ride on swift horses!” Therefore those who pursue you…

Who’s In?

And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer.  Isaiah 56:6-7a  NIV All – Each one…

The Creative Sabbath (3)

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exodus 20:8 NASB Work and “Work” – “The biblical story of mankind begins with the command, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.’ Work is more than labour. Biblical Hebrew has two words to express the difference: melakhah is work as creation, avodah is…

Razor’s Edge Shabbat

Funny thing about a razor. No matter which way you move it, it cuts. That’s the way I am feeling about the wonderful discussion concerning activities prohibited on Shabbat. Now that Shabbat is over (for me), I thought I would write a few of my own thoughts (and spill a bit more blood). Today, while…

The Creative Sabbath (2)

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exodus 20:8 NASB To keep holy – Pay close attention to the verse. Notice that the act of remembering has a purpose. That purpose is leqaddesho, “to keep holy.” We remember in order to sanctify. That’s not our usual thinking about Shabbat. We often think that Shabbat…

The Creative Sabbath (1)

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exodus 20:8 NASB To keep it – Let’s talk about the Sabbath. Again and again the question comes up, “Am I allowed to do ­­­­________ on the Sabbath?” You fill in the blank. Of course, what you will fill in is not something specifically prohibited. Those actions…

Weekday World

This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 NASB Day – Yom, the Hebrew word for “day,” is the most common word describing time in the Tanakh. You might think that this is to be expected. After all, the common experience of life is…

The Day

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Exodus 20:8:  ESV The Sabbath day – And what does this mean?  Does it mean we spend the day meditating on God?  Does it mean we sit around wondering if doing the next thing will violate the commandment about rest?  Perhaps we need to look at the original…

Not a Moment Too Soon

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.”  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus.  Revelation 22:20  NASB Quickly – I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t seem too quickly to me.  Two thousand years and counting.  Maybe God’s idea of quick is completely irrelevant to ours.  There are plenty of days when…