The Sabbath
Those who have read my xanga blog know that I keep the original Sabbath and not "The Lord's Day" on Sunday. But I'm fairly new to Blogspot so I thought I would take the time once again to explain why.
Sabbath (Shabbat) was instituted by the Creator at the time of creation.
"On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce." (Gen. 2:2, 3)
The Sabbath commandment is a sign of God's promises to the nation Isra'el.
"Tell the people of Isra'el, "You are to observe my Shabbat; for this is a sign between me and you through all your generations; so that you will know that I am ADONAI, who sets you apart for me. The people of Isra'el are to keep the Shabbat, to observe Shabbat through all their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the people of Isra'el forever; for in six days ADONAI made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and rested." (Ex. 31:13, 16-17)
God's covenant with the nation Isra'el is written as a marriage contract. The New Testament does NOT supersede that covenant but is an extension of it. Jesus kept the Law, quoted Scripture and celebrated the Feasts during His lifetime. As Believers, we are grafted in and partakers of the covenant.
Jesus specifically stated, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:17-20)
Sabbath is a perfect picture of what life in Messiah is to be. Paul wrote that the feasts and Sabbath are a "shadow of things to come" (Col. 2:16,17)
Just as Isra'el were slaves to Pharaoh who worked them without rest, we too were slaves in Satan's kingdom under the bondage of sin (Romans 6:17). Even more, just as Isra'el could not deliver herself out of physical bondage, we are not able to deliver ourselves out of the bondage of sin. (Romans 3:10-12, Ephesians 2:1) Our deliverance was accomplished when Y'shua (Jesus) atoned for sin, setting men free. (Eph. 1:7; 1:13,14; 2:13-15)
Our life before rebirth is the picture of slave labor to sin, and it is through Him that believers enter "the seventh day rest". In accepting the gift of His sacrifice, we stop trying to gain salvation on our own (which is futile) and rest in the finished work of Messiah.
The Sabbath is a weekly reminder of what Jesus has done for us. Just as Isra'el wanted to return to Egypt, we have a tendency to go back to the old ways of trying to "achieve" righteousness on our own, and it is essential that we remember not to do this. (Galatians 3:1-3)
God blesses those who observe the Sabbath in the way He intended.
"If you hold back your foot on Shabbat from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call Shabbat a delight, ADONAI's holy day, worth honoring; then honor it by not doing your usual things or pursuing your interests or speaking about them. If you do, you will find delight in ADONAI - I will make you ride on the heights of the land and feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Ya'akov, for the mouth of ADONAI has spoken." (Isaiah 58:13, 14) "And the foreigners who join themselves to ADONAI to serve him, to love the name of ADONAI, and to be his workers, all who keep Shabbat and do not profane it, and hold fast to my covenant, I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer... for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples." (Isaiah 56:6,7)
The Eternal Sabbath was kept:
- By all the Old Testament Prophets of the LORD God of Isra'el.
- By the early Christian Church long after the death and resurrection of the Saviour.
- By all the early Apostles, including the Apostle Paul.
- By Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ)
- And by GOD (YAHWEH) Himself.
"So there remains a Shabbat-keeping for God's people. For the one who has entered God's rest has also rested from his own works, as God did from his. " (Hebrews 4:9, 10) "For just as the new heavens and the new earth that I am making will continue in my presence," says ADONAI, "so will your descendants and your name continue. Every month on Rosh-Hodesh and every week on Shabbat, everyone living will come to worship in my presence," says ADONAI." (Isaiah 66:22, 23)
I choose to keep the Biblical Sabbath instead of man-made tradition. Please don't be offended; I'm not saying that I'm better than anyone else. But this is what was revealed to me and I am sharing it with those who may not have heard or who may wonder why I am following Christ so "differently" than everyone else. May God be glorified.
Shalom. 
Posted by Alyx at 4:44 PM
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Monday Bullet blog.
- How was your weekend?
- Poor Hub was sick.
- He virtually never gets sick.
- If he does, it's gone in 24 hours. No kidding.
- Sometimes I wish I had his constitution.
- This time, it was different and I was getting worried.
- No matter what we did for him, he got worse.
- It started with a sore throat and runny nose.
- By Sunday, he had a fever
- the shakes
- was nauseous
- he just felt terrible.
- It suddenly dawned on him at about 6 pm
- he hadn't had coffee since Friday.
- After one cup, he felt much better.
- All of his symptoms gone except for the runny nose.
- Yep, caffeine withdrawal. ROFLMBO!
- Today he is right as rain and off to work again.
- No, we aren't going to let him forget this one.
- Treatment will begin with coffee from now on.
- Rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain.
- Sounds lovely, dunnit?
- Thank You, Lord (literally) for the lovely respite.
- My garden is standing tall again.
- There is nothing like a soothing rain ...
- Wondering if the "bugmen" will show up today.
- Friday morning, I heard a preteen scream and came running.
- It looked like somebody threw an ant bomb in the bathroom.
- Just as many winged females as males.
- EVERYWHERE
- In the only bathroom.
- Danibear has reverted to using the potty chair.
- I have to put her kiddie pool outside to get her to bathe.
- She absolutely refuses to go in the bathroom now.
*sigh*
- Two steps forward, one step back.
- Shell has shut down her weblog. *cries*.
- Xanga was my only contact with her.
- Miss you, Shell.
- Haven't been able to log on to Yahoo IM either.
- Rats.
- Introduced my kids and Hub to "Starman" last night.
- I love that movie although the FX are a giggle.
- Not so pleased with "Enough", which I hadn't seen before.
- It was okay. The best part was the last 15 mins. or so.
- Anyone want a husband beaten up?
- Just kidding.
- Here comes August already!
- Tell me about your weekend.
- Shalom.
Posted by Alyx at 9:57 AM
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Thirteen Explanations
Some have asked me a few questions about my TT list. Here's a short explanation:
I spent the first 6 years of my life in
Dracut, MA. My mother died when I was five and nearly one year later, we moved to
Tyngsboro, which I consider my hometown. Thirty-five years later, I am still in touch with some of the people I knew there. To my horror, we moved from our small rural town to the big city --
Lowell -- when I was in Jr. High (middle school). I really hated it at first and fantasized that we would move back to Tyngsboro for years (like some kids wish their parents would remarry after a divorce). I never did adjust to city living. I lived there until I was 18.
By that time I was married (at 16, actually) and with child. My then-husband was in the Army and stationed at Ft. Ord, CA. He went ahead to get an apartment and I joined him in
Seaside, a military town 7 miles or so away from the Army post. Our first child, a girl, was born in the Army hospital on Ft. Ord.
Some years later, Ex had to choose "overseas duty". At that time, the choices were Alaska, Hawaii and Korea. I couldn't accompany him on a Korean tour of duty, so I wouldn't have seen him for nearly 18 months if he chose that. Neither of us were interested in Hawaii (we had heard a lot of things from others who lived there) and we thought Alaska was intriguing. So with two girls under the age of three and pregnant with daughter #3, we moved into Army quarters in
Ft. Wainwright, AK. My daughter was the last child born in the old maternity ward at Ft. Wainwright so I had the whole wing to myself. It was cool. We lived there for three years and even though the weather is extreme in the winter, we adored living there. We tried everything we could not to leave, but when the Army calls, you run. I was so upset, I became sick at the thought of leaving. But we had to go.
For a while, I lived near my Aunt Suzy in
Addison, MI, a tiny village (Pop. 96) in southern Michigan. Suzy was my youngest aunt; only 11 years older than I was, she was more like the sister I never had. We love each other deeply and I spent as much time as possible with her until Ex sent for me to join him at
Ft. Hood, TX. I had to take a bus from Michigan to Texas, 8 months pregnant with our only son, Roan and accompanied only by three children under the age of 4. It took three days. The only way I can figure we managed with no problems is that God was truly watching over us. It still amazes me to this day.
We lived a few different places in Texas and some years later, Ex left the Army. We decided to try living in
Springfield, MO for a while as the brother I am closest to lived there. By this time we had one other girl, making a total of five children. Ex and I were having problems with our marriage, as he was not able to adjust to civilian life. He thought that life in Springfield was boring and wanted to move to his home state of Kentucky. He didn't believe I'd leave, so he lied about not being able to find a job and talked his family into finding us a place near them.
Our marriage never recovered. During one of the many times we were separated, I moved the kids to
Florence, KY, which was closer to my new job. It's not a bad place but still too "cityfied" for me and I met very few nice people. We moved quite a few times in the 12 years I lived there, but I never adjusted to living in that place. It wasn't the state itself but I seemed to keep meeting the wrong people. I finally divorced my husband.
It was there that I met my current husband, Gunnar. By this time my youngest was 16 and doing well, so she stayed with her biofather to finish her education in the States while I moved ahead to Sweden. Daughter #4 never finished school under her father's care and when she turned 18, she decided to stay in KY to be with her boyfriend. Gunnar and I lived inland in a place called
Vetlanda (Wheat Land) for quite some time. We have three daughters ages 14, 12 and 4. This year he found a better job and we moved to
Gothenburg. We live in the country, on the outskirts of the second largest city in Sweden.
I lived in
Hollywood, FL and
Coalville, Utah while in my teens. I've lived in many more places in the States, but I thought these were the most interesting.
The question I was asked most often is, "Where was your favorite place to live?" I would have to say it is a tie between Alaska and Sweden. Alaska is beautiful and the people are wonderful and warm, but it is incredibly expensive and the winters are so harsh. Sweden is also beautiful; it's about the least polluted place you will ever live. But Americans (and immigrants in general) are not very welcome unless they "become" Swedish. It is difficult for immigrants to get a decent job here -- and much much worse as a female immigrant. Food is fresh but terribly expensive and SAHM's are frowned upon here.
If I could have a combination of Swedish and Alaskan land, the Swedish medical and dental system and environment and Alaskan people in one country, I'd be a totally happy camper. Our next "target" is England. I'd love to see what it's like to live there...
Posted by Alyx at 4:04 PM
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