Isaiah 58:13-14 – Honor the Sabbath

The Sabbath was established by God. Genesis 2:2-3 said, “By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” God was the first to observe the Sabbath. Then in the fourth of the Ten Commandments recorded in Exodus 20:8-11, God commanded His people to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. For six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your cattle, or your resident who stays with you. For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; for that reason, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

Isaiah in these two verses of 13-14, challenged the people not to violate the Sabbath but to “restraint their foot”, meaning to cease from engaging in needless activities. Instead of seeking their pleasure on that day, they must consciously set it apart for God’s pleasure and honor. They ought to set aside that day to delight in God and find pleasure in Him. Then, God Himself would ensure their prosperity and security. In saying that they would be fed “with the heritage of Jacob your father” was as good as saying what was promised to Jacob their father would be restored to them. 

What is God saying to us in this passage? It is a call to make sure that we too will honor the Sabbath, a day to connect with God. The Sabbath day is a gift from God. It is a day of rest, a day to cease from our works. And certainly a day to dedicate to God and to h0nor Him. It is to be a day set apart to connect with Him and be recharged for the new week. Over time, the reason for Sabbath became blurred and man used it to engage in all sorts of activities except to honor God. By the time of Isaiah, the people did not treat it as a holy day and did not sanctify the Sabbath. Hence, their disregard for the day that God had instructed them to be kept holy became a hindrance to the blessings God would have released upon them. We should reconsider what we must do on Sabbath. Don’t just give God the two hours or so in church on that day and then spend the rest of our time doing things that will not encourage rest nor connect us to Him. Be sure that God is the prime focus of your day every day, but especially on the Sabbath.