Exodus 31:12-17

Verse 16 says that we are to observe the Sabbath "throughout their generations." That is, the generations of Israel. Does Israel continue to exist? Yes, it does. Therefore the generations of Israel are continuing. Therefore the covenant continues to go right on.

We have to first understand that the Sabbath is not a ceremonial ritual. The world designates it as such, and tosses it aside—saying that the principle of the Sabbath can be applied to any day. That is an argument that sounds good to the carnal mind, which is ever-ready to make adjustments to what God says to things that it (the carnal mind) finds to be 'more appropriate' to it. But as we can clearly see, it is not what God commands. God clearly commands that the Sabbath be kept throughout all the generations of Israel. Israel continues to this day, and the church is clearly designated (in Galatians 6:16) as the Israel of God. It belongs to God! He possesses it.

The Sabbath is not a ritual, but a commandment—one of the big Ten. It is a foundational law intended to provide instinctive guidance for the entirety of humanity's social life. It was made for man, and is just as much a part of God's character as the other nine commandments. It is one of the ten laws that define love toward God and fellow man. It is one of ten basic laws that regulate all relationships.

This series of verses shows that the keeping of it gives evidence to God, to ourselves, and to the world as to where God's sanctified ones are. The world may not understand or agree with it, but they are aware of it. It sets off our distinctiveness, and it thus provides a measure of witness showing forth the praises of God. However, we must thoroughly understand that it is not merely that we observe it—because there are others who also observe it. All that a Christian needs to do is to act as a Christian should, and, at the very least, he becomes an irritant to non-Christians—and to "Christians" who are fellowshipping with the church, but who are not doing things right. But regardless to which it goes—the witness is made. Jesus did everything right and it irritated the leadership of the Jews into killing Him, thus witnessing against them.

Exodus 31:16-17

It is indeed a gift in terms of its importance to mankind being able to achieve significant growth toward completing God's spiritual purpose. It was the final creation of the creation week. It was created for spiritual purposes, it most certainly is not an afterthought. It was not a leftover. The context reveals that it was deliberately planned to occur after the events of the first six days were completely finished.

A pattern for man regarding the day was thus established by God Himself at the end of His establishing everything else. The work was completely done, now comes rest. So God stopped His work. He did not need to rest to recover strength but He was indeed refreshed by reflections upon what He had accomplished and satisfaction in a job well done. He was contented and at peace. He then blessed the day, uniquely. This was an act He had not done to any other day of creation.

To bless indicates to bestow something good, and the blessing is that He dedicated the day, a recurring period of time that occurs every week, to a noble life and growth-promoting cause to be used by man for the completing of God's spiritual purpose. The next thing He did was to hallow it—He set it apart, sanctified it from every other day of the week. He consecrated it to be used following the pattern that God Himself established by what He did.

Exodus 31:15-17

I want you to note that. It is "holy to the Lord." This is not something that men dreamed up. It does not say holy to certain denominations, or certain groups. It is holy to the Lord—set apart to Him, sanctified to Him. He Himself sanctified it, because it says that right in the Commandment.

We might speculate that the Fourth Commandment clearly identifies, and therefore, they who are carnal do not want to be identified with those who keep it. But God here in this covenant set how long this covenant is to be observed, adhered to: as long as there are generations of Israelites. Are there generations of Israelites continuing? Oh yes, you had better believe it. The generations continue, therefore this covenant continues.

He next says that the Sabbath and its roots go right back to Creation (or, we might say, Re-creation). He goes right back to Genesis 2 here, not Exodus 16. Do you get that? God places the beginning of the Sabbath at Creation, not Exodus 16, in order to confirm that their relationship is with the Creator. The relationship through the Sabbath did not begin at Exodus 16. Exodus 16 was only a reminder of what already existed.

Exodus 31:14-17

We must keep God's Sabbath because it is one day in the week to focus solely on our sole reason for living: to become like our holy God. This is a day dedicated to qadash activity, activity that makes us pure and Godlike, holy like Him. This has been set apart by God for the recreation and cleansing process. It is different than the other six days. He ordained it to be different, to be holy, because He knew the world that we live in is full of too many distractions. (Our pastor warned us about this not too long ago.) So He called this day out to be special so that we do not think about those other things. This day is the day that is to be dedicated to thinking about Him and what He is doing for us in the sanctification process.

The Sabbath is holy because He made it holy with His holy presence. Just like He made the ground holy by the burning bush. Everyone who profanes it, defiles it, pollutes it, will be put to death, He says. How do we pollute God's Sabbath? By doing any of our work on it. By doing anything not aligned to God's qadash activity.

Exodus 31:16-17

The Sabbath is a perpetual sign of identification. It is something that anybody familiar with the way you live your life can observe you doing. God did that on purpose. I mean He made the Sabbath the sign so that anybody can see it. Anybody who is familiar with you can see that you keep the Sabbath.