Bible Verse of the Day Sunday July 16th, 2023

Mark 2:27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

God completed His creation in six days; however, because of the sin committed by his creation, humans, He rested on the seventh day. The evil that came into the world by Adam and Eve set off the need for another creation, the work of redemption. This work would culminate and be complete by the coming of the Messiah to take away the world's sins.

The fact that God rested on the seventh day was a prophetic representation for all humans. God chose the Children of Israel to reflect Christ's light until He came to earth. God gave the Israelites a sabbath day of rest from their worldly tasks as an image of a day in the future when we all rest in Jesus. God designed the Sabbath as a weekly reminder that the world's Savior would come one day to make restitution for the sins of all humankind.

Furthermore, God also created Israel's Sabbath as a reminder that a Savior was coming one day to finish their toil and pass them into an eternal day of rest. God accomplished that at Jesus' first coming for all who would believe. Israel's Sabbath was pointing forward to the day all will rest in Jesus and look back to God's Day of Rest at His completion of the world's creation. God created The Sabbath to help people, not hurt people; however, the leaders of the Nation of Israel had morphed the Sabbath into something God never intended by creating restrictions far removed from God's intention.

The Jewish leaders deemed that walking through a grainfield and munching on a single head of grain was considered harvesting. As followers and believers in Christ Jesus, God does not judge whether we keep the Sabbath (Colossians 2:16). In its place, we follow the Lord of the Sabbath, our Savior, Christ Jesus. We always find our rest in Him and worship Him not one specific day but seven days a week. Most Churches of all denominations worship on Sunday, and in some circles is believed to be the modern-day Sabbath. However, we celebrate and glorify God on Sunday, the first day of the week, because that was when our Savior walked out of his tomb and assured eternal life for all who follow and believe in Him.