Rest
From ReformedWord
| |||||||||||||||||
Rest is more than the absence of labor, it is the appreciation of completed tasks. God has set down a pattern for our lives of work and rest and we will derive much reward if we follow His directions.
Contents |
Day of Rest
In the original week of the universe, God rested on the seventh day and set it apart from the other six days. This last day of the week is known as the Sabbath to the Jews and is made emphatically clear in the fourth commandment.
The day of rest changed to the first day of the week after Jesus Christ completed His work of redemption on rose on a Sunday. We call this the Lord's Day now.
Importance
The question exists as to whether the Sabbath or Lord's Day injunction continues into this present time. If so, there are blessings and curses enumerated in Scripture that we would do well to heed. If not, them we would be engaging in a form of pointless legalism, denying the freedom Christ bought for us at such a price.
Disappearance
It sounds ludicrous to suggest, but the day of rest is actually disappearing from Western Culture with the secularization of society. Paradoxically, no one is suggesting that we work every day either! The Church has largely slipped into the pattern of the culture, producing Scriptural rationales after the fact. Whether Sabbath-keeping is enjoined or not, no one is going to fall into it any longer. While some municipalities do maintain strident lists of forbidden activities on the Lord's Day, no one can question the quiet fade of Sunday as a day of holy rest in our land.
