Why do We Observe the Sabbath?

We observe the Sabbath to remember what God has done for us from creation to re-creation. When we say we remember what He has done for us in creation we are remembering the six-day creation event and commemorating it by resting on the seventh day of the week just as God did after creating the heaven and the earth and the sea and the fountains of waters.

When we say we worship from to creation to re-creation we are remembering everything God has done for us firstly, as a people, from creation to the fall to re-creation of which Christ's resurrection was the true initiation, although one could say that there were instances before Christs own re-creation that were reliant on His resurrection. (Every resurrection prior to Christ's resurrection was reliant on the event that occurred on Resurrection Morning.). Re-creation is fully realized in Christ's literal second coming as portrayed in the following verse:

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

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When on Sabbath we remember everything God as done for us from creation to re-creation we can contemplate everything God has done for us as a people throughout scripture to the days of the early church through the dark ages and all phases of the Reformation including its beginning right on up until today as it won't be finished until just before Christ's second coming.

The following verses designate the Sabbath as a seal of his people being delivered from the captivity of sin which is Christ's goal for re-creation in our lives. Egypt is a symbol for sin throughout the Bible and here we see that we have been delivered from sin buy God's outstretched arm and are to remember that he has delivered us from our slavery to sin (or habitually committing sins), therefore we observe the Sabbath as a sign that God has freed us from sin

"Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day." Deuteronomy 5:12-15

Also, when we contemplate re-creation we can think about how Jesus' life can be recreated in our lives if we choose to give our hearts and minds to him.

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Philippians 2:5

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" 1 Corinthians 3:16

"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:14-19

Yes! We can have Christ living inside us giving us victory over sin and this is one of the most important things we can remember about God, that through Jesus perfect life we are able to also partake of His life. This is one of the most important things we can remember when observing the Sabbath while contemplating what God has done for us.

Furthermore, we can remember what he has done for us in our personal lives. For example, when I was doing my masters in a certain Asian country and didn't have any friends except my thesis advisor, there were times that I would get really down. I would get so depressed and lonely that I would want to die. I was sure I wasn't going to graduate. I would often get angry at God accusing him of having evil designs for me. In those times he would say, "Don't worry, I have a plan, just stay in this program..." I didn't believe him, but I stayed in the master's program and graduated, and had a high paying job lined up even before graduation.

Now on the Sabbath, if I want to remember what God has done for me in my life in the past, and apply that to my future life, I can think about my grad school days.