The emphasis of many before us, way back in the Old Testament records, was about going to a church building or temple to “properly worship God” during these times.
However, not all can it be possible for them to do just that. Therefore, a “guilt trip” comes to them and associating sinfulness to failure to come to church on those days. Are we in fact missing the context of these Sabbaths? What is the truth behind these Sabbaths that we need to understand?
- When is the 7th day ? In Genesis, days were counted as numbered; there was no name for that day.
The 7th day Sabbath is a weekly sabbath and specifically identified which day in:
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” (Exodus 16:4-5).
Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none. On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. (Exodus 16:26-27)
Notice that day among the 7 days of the week will have no manna/bread to gather suggesting to rest and not work to get food on that day. The Sabbath day was marked (before the Ten commandments) by the lack of manna. This continued for the 40-years the Israelites were in the wilderness. Thus, the Jewish tradition has its roots not only in the commandment to work six days and rest on the seventh; it has the tradition of knowing which day is the seventh day.
