How does doing no work on the Sabbath make it holy?

[Sonny]

On another post, Gerry said: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." And my question is how does not working on a day make it holy?

[shelly]

God being in and within something makes it Holy. Be refrainng from those things that take our focus off of God during the Sabbath allows him to be the center of our thoughts and actions for a 24 hour period making it Holy. It is an effort to reduce as much outside destraction to focus on Him. We know that multitasking leads to doing each task to a lesser degree than doing tasks one at a time. 6 days a week we multitask our relationship with God. The Sabbath affords us the opportunity to focus on our relationship with God and on Him alone. Kind of like a 24 hour date.

[Parade Orange]

SHELLY good answer!

[Tom Wetmore]

And borrowing another thought from another post - If we don't work at all on any other day, does that make every day holy?

[Gary K]

On another post, Gerry said: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." And my question is how does not working on a day make it holy?

Not working cannot make the Sabbath holy. It is holy because of what it is, because it is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God who created us. We can't make something holy. Only God can do that.

The admonition in the 4th commandment is for us to keep the knowledge that it is holy, and who made it holy, first in our minds, and to act accordingly. He is the one who set aside a time for us to meet with Him with no outside interferences, no daily grind, none of our usual distractions/entertainments to take our minds away from Him who made us, is saving us, and who loves us.

We can do nothing less than that out of respect for God. It's the very least we can do, and we should do more, as in participating with Him in His work for the salvation of our fellow man. In doing that we can be assured that we will be spending the day with our God, and keeping it holy, for in doing so we will be acknowledging that it is God who sanctifies us.

[Woody]

On another post, Gerry said: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." And my question is how does not working on a day make it holy?

A couple of thoughts:

Not working on Sabbath makes it holy because God said so.

Not working on Sabbath makes it holy because we are doing what God did and said to do.

Not working on Sabbath makes it holy because of what we DO do. Not working allows us to have time to do those things which certainly are holy. Worship Service Praise and Study.

[Dr. Shane]

The 24 hour period of the Sabbath is not in and of itself holy in the sense that God is holy. The Sabbath meets each of us where we are - literally. The Sabbath starts and ends for me at a different time than it does for folks that live a bit north of me or a bit in any direction from me. God created the Sabbath for man and not man for the Sabbath. Not doing work amounts to a day off or what most folks in society today call a holiday. Broken apart the word holiday becomes holy-day. That is what the Sabbath is.

Have you ever seen a picture of a man sitting on the beach working on his lap-top with his cell phone near by while his family is out in the ocean playing in the tide? Doesn't such a picture scream that something is wrong? The man is on vacation and should be spending time with his family but instead has yet to leave his office. His job is taking priority over his family.

The Sabbath is our holiday to spend with God.

[Sonny]

God being in and within something makes it Holy.

[Sonny]

On another post, Gerry said: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." And my question is how does not working on a day make it holy?

Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. 2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested [literally stopped creating] on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and set it apart, [why?] because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Keep in mind that God didn't start working the day after the Sabbath, what we call Sunday. Neither did He work the day after that, what we call Monday. When God finished His work of creation it was complete. He didn't make additions to it the day after the Sabbath. Why? Because creation stood perfect. All His work reflected the Creator. Mankind perfectly reflected God's agape love. The earth wasn't marred with pollution. Disease was unknown. His rest was eternal.

[Parade Orange]

yes only GOD can declare a day or a person HOLY?

hmmm ...have i hit upon something?

[Sonny]

yes only GOD can declare a day or a person HOLY?

As Shane says, "the Sabbath is not in and of itself holy". So then, what the Sabbath symbolizes or points to must be holy, right?

Again, to what did the Sabbath of creation point?

Answer: To God's finished work. His resting was the evidence that His work was complete! But keep in mind God's rest was eternal - if not then something was wrong with His creation that needed repairing.

[ClubV12]

The work of the creation of THIS world was done in six days, and the God rested, sort of. But His work, like at a medical institution is never done. He works constantly holding in place all those little things that make up an atom, for instance. If He really stopped working, all things would cease to be!

Which is why he made the Sabbath for MAN. It's a time for us to reflect on His continuing work!

[Dr. Shane]

Not working on Sabbath makes it holy because of what we DO do. Not working allows us to have time to do those things which certainly are holy. Worship Service Praise and Study.

[Sonny]

The work of the creation of THIS world was done in six days, and the God rested, sort of.

[Gerr]

On another post, Gerry said: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." And my question is how does not working on a day make it holy?

Notice that the statement says: "Remember the Sabbath to KEEP it holy," NOT MAKE it holy. The Sabbath IS already holy because a holy God MADE it holy. By desisting work on the Sabbath, we keep, i.e. continue or cause to continue in a specified condition, position, or activity (Concise Oxford Eng. Dict.) what is ALREADY holy.

[Sonny]

what is ALREADY holy.

Okay...so we can't make it holy...it's already holy.

Now is the day really holy? Can time be holy, or is what it points to holy? I think it's the latter.....What are your thoughts?

[Tom Wetmore]

I think that the operative word there is remember. It is by remembering the Sabbath that we keep it holy. If we forget the Sabbath we make it unholy.

Work and busyness are distracting. Stopping all the distractions of such busyness of other days helps us remember.

We are to be the Sabbath holiness maintenance squad. God created the Sabbath and declared it good (holy) and we are to keep it that way.

[Sonny]

But the Sabbath is merely a symbol. If we focus on all the dos and donts we forget it's about Christ's perfect work of creation. This was the Jew's mistake.

[Gerr]

Okay...so we can't make it holy...it's already holy.

Now is the day really holy? Can time be holy, or is what it points to holy? I think it's the latter.....What are your thoughts?

Uzzah was struck dead when his profane hands touched a holy ark. Was the ark holy? The altar? The temple?

ESV | Ge 2:3 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.

The text does not say that it is only pointing to something holy.

[Woody]

I just got the Adventist health study results in the mail yesterday. It reports that those who work or do secular activities on Sabbath had poorer health.

[miz3]

Ahhhha! That fits my theory that about SDA living longer then the general population.

Such studies have attributed SDA longevity to their diet, but I believe that our longevity as a people and the better health we enjoy is because we keep the Sabbath as a rest day and the world does not.

Your statement, Woody, concerning the finding seems to support my theory.

[Woody]

Quote:

Your statement, Woody, concerning the finding seems to support my theory

Cool. I'm glad to help out your theory anyday. I'm here to serve.

[Sonny]

ESV | Ge 2:3 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.

The text does not say that it is only pointing to something holy.

NAS: Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it [set it apart], because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Not all translations say "holy". Again, a day - a 24 hour period - can't be holy. A measure of time is not a tangible thing.

[Gary K]

Originally Posted By: Gerry Cabalo

ESV | Ge 2:3 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.

The text does not say that it is only pointing to something holy.

NAS: Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it [set it apart], because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Not all translations say "holy". Again, a day - a 24 hour period - can't be holy. A measure of time is not a tangible thing.

Sanctified is often interchangeable with hallow, and both hallow and "set apart" are in the definitions given for the Hebrew word transalted as holy and sanctify/ied. IOW's these seem to be pretty much interchangable terms in Jewish thought.

So, an hour, a day, month, or year is not tangible to you? Those are all tangible to me, and are more than just "substantially real" to me. Time is very real, and we will be held accountable for how we spend it.

Definition of TANGIBLE

1

a : capable of being perceived especially by the sense of touch : palpable b : substantially real : material

2

: capable of being precisely identified or realized by the mind <her grief was tangible>

3

: capable of being appraised at an actual or approximate value

[karl]

... We know that multitasking leads to doing each task to a lesser degree than doing tasks one at a time. 6 days a week we multitask our relationship with God. The Sabbath affords us the opportunity to focus on our relationship with God and on Him alone. Kind of like a 24 hour date.

BUMP!