KIDRON CHRISTIAN COLLEGE AND SEMINARY

Shabbat, A Great Blessing

by

Benjamin Shadwick, DMin

 

 

          There are so many things that could be said about Shabbat. Mostly among Christians it is not about rest but about contention of whether we need to keep it or not. “We are not under the Law" is what you hear. Or “I am free, and I don’t have to keep the Sabbath.” 

 

         For me and my dear wife these thoughts and beliefs are so very tragic, because truly Shabbat is about freedom. For you see, for a few short hours--for one day--we stop and let go of the cares of this world and think about ha Olam haba, the world to come. This, of course, is the time of Messiach and to us it means Yeshua comes again and sets up HIS Kingdom. 

 

 When God first gave the Shabbat it was to Moses in Exodus 20:8-10:

 

“Remember the Sabbath day—keep it holy. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God.” 

 

And in Deuteronomy 19:30:

 

Keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord. So the LORD was giving to man a wonderful gift you see because in the beginning the LORD Himself kept Shabbat. 

 

Genesis 2:2-3:

 

And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

 

         As I sit here in Jerusalem, it is Shabbat. It is amazing, I mean really amazing, how still this whole city of over 800,000 has become. There is a peace here that transcends time; this occurs each Shabbat. Shabbat is a very sweet gift that we have the honor and pleasure of joining if we but choose, and Jerusalem is the best place on earth to make the most wonderful of choices.