Holiday--[Old English haligdaeg: Holy + day]--holy day; a day of freedom from labor; day set aside for leisure and recreation; a day set aside by law or custom for the suspension of business, usually in commemoration of some event (Webster's New World College Dictionary).
So God proclaimed a holiday. Why did He do that? The Bible tells us that after creating everything in the known (and unknown) universe, "Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing, so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work He had done" (Genesis 2:1-3). Don't know about you, but I have a hard time picturing a tired God. "He will not let your foot slip--He who watches over you will not slumber; Indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:3-4). The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible explains that the word rested translates a repose, desist from exertion, to cease or put away, and also to celebrate. God Himself proclaimed a holiday to celebrate all of His creation. The notes in my NIV Study Bible say, "God rested on the seventh day, not because He was weary, but because nothing formless or empty remained. His creative work was complete," and it was, as He said, "very good" (Genesis 1:31).
God initiated a holiday once a week to celebrate and remember what He had made. He made a holiday to celebrate us, for we are part of His creation. That's awesome! And He invites us weekly to celebrate with Him. As He remembers us and all the world He made for us to exist in, He ushers us in to remember Him. "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord created the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day and made it holy" (Exodus 20:8-11).
Think about other holidays--what do we do?--Stay home from work, have fun with family and friends, visit our parents' home for wonderful meals, rest. I love to spend Sundays at Daddy's house with my brothers and sisters in Christ, feasting on the Word, finding rest for my soul. Of course, there have been some killjoys along the way:
12:1 At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
12:2 But when the Pharisees saw [it], they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
12:3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
12:4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
12:5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
12:6 But I say unto you, That in this place is [one] greater than the temple.
12:7 But if ye had known what [this] meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
12:8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
12:9 And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue:
12:10 And, behold, there was a man which had [his] hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.
12:11 And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift [it] out?
12:12 How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
12:13 Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched [it] forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.
What a bunch of party-poopers the Pharisees were. They're still around. But Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27).
I have a new perspective of Sundays now. I will anticipate each Sunday with joy and expectation for the celebration commemorating the creative work of my Heavenly Father. And although Daddy and I are together every day, I know He looks forward to celebrating, too.
2:3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation.
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