We were recently inspired by some friends of ours concerning the
celebration of Shabbat. They were kind enough to invite us all over for
the tradition they have been participating in for over 15 years.
For some time now I have been feeling a tugging to learn more about the Torah, the Jews, God's Chosen, and the Feasts and Festivals He called His people to participate within. To study the deep significant of the OT in a way I haven't before. Knowing full well that elements of each feast and festival represented deep truths related to His divinity and His Character as well as His purpose for His people.
I feel that as modern day Christians we have abandoned our true place as Gentiles, grafted in to the Jewish covenant through Jesus. This somehow has translated into us developing our own traditions for the church, it's people, and we have left behind the traditions and remembrances God first called His Chosen people to participate within.
Each of them displaying important factors of His Will and Purpose and who He wills for us to be with Him. Modern Christian has moved past the Torah b/c they see that Christ fulfilled the Law, but then we sacrifice so many of the blessings God wanted to poor out on us through the OT pictures, practices, and traditions. The idea is that we are not celebrating Jewish festivals and feasts but rather God's.
Just because the Jews have failed to see Jesus as the true Messiah, does not mean the feasts and festivals were in vain and have lost their meaning. In fact, through Jesus we can see the true significance and the picture of ultimate Grace found within them fulfilled through Jesus.
shab·bat
/SHäˈbät/
The Jewish Sabbath
For six days you may perform melachah, but the seventh day is a complete Sabbath, holy to the L-RD ... it is an eternal sign that in six days, the L-RD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. Exodus 31:15-17
The word Shabbat is used to reference both the meal we share as a family as we usher in the Sabbath on Friday night to Remember, and the day of rest on Saturday to Observe the only thing in Creation the Lord called Holy.
Even more significant to us as Christians, grafted in to the Jews promise and covenant by God, as Gentiles, we experience the fullness of the Lord's will as He laid out the feasts and festivals for His Chosen People, because we know Jesus became the fullness of His Will.
There are two important parts of Shabbat: To Remember and Observe.
For some time now I have been feeling a tugging to learn more about the Torah, the Jews, God's Chosen, and the Feasts and Festivals He called His people to participate within. To study the deep significant of the OT in a way I haven't before. Knowing full well that elements of each feast and festival represented deep truths related to His divinity and His Character as well as His purpose for His people.
I feel that as modern day Christians we have abandoned our true place as Gentiles, grafted in to the Jewish covenant through Jesus. This somehow has translated into us developing our own traditions for the church, it's people, and we have left behind the traditions and remembrances God first called His Chosen people to participate within.
Each of them displaying important factors of His Will and Purpose and who He wills for us to be with Him. Modern Christian has moved past the Torah b/c they see that Christ fulfilled the Law, but then we sacrifice so many of the blessings God wanted to poor out on us through the OT pictures, practices, and traditions. The idea is that we are not celebrating Jewish festivals and feasts but rather God's.
Just because the Jews have failed to see Jesus as the true Messiah, does not mean the feasts and festivals were in vain and have lost their meaning. In fact, through Jesus we can see the true significance and the picture of ultimate Grace found within them fulfilled through Jesus.
shab·bat
/SHäˈbät/
The Jewish Sabbath
For six days you may perform melachah, but the seventh day is a complete Sabbath, holy to the L-RD ... it is an eternal sign that in six days, the L-RD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. Exodus 31:15-17
The word Shabbat is used to reference both the meal we share as a family as we usher in the Sabbath on Friday night to Remember, and the day of rest on Saturday to Observe the only thing in Creation the Lord called Holy.
Even more significant to us as Christians, grafted in to the Jews promise and covenant by God, as Gentiles, we experience the fullness of the Lord's will as He laid out the feasts and festivals for His Chosen People, because we know Jesus became the fullness of His Will.
There are two important parts of Shabbat: To Remember and Observe.
Remember:
To remember God is the creator of both the heavens and the earth and all living things.
To remember the freedom found through the Exodus.
We do this through the Shabbat meal, which has several parts, to usher in the Sabbath day.
Observe:
To refrain from "typical work" or labor and strain.
To observe the day as Holy unto the Lord and spend time together as a family, in joy and celebration, without the pressures of our "typical" behaviors and responsibilities.
To spend time in His word.
To remember God is the creator of both the heavens and the earth and all living things.
To remember the freedom found through the Exodus.
We do this through the Shabbat meal, which has several parts, to usher in the Sabbath day.
Observe:
To refrain from "typical work" or labor and strain.
To observe the day as Holy unto the Lord and spend time together as a family, in joy and celebration, without the pressures of our "typical" behaviors and responsibilities.
To spend time in His word.
To spend time in Prayer.
We do this through the day of Rest as the Lord first displayed and modeled for us.
The Meal:
There are several movements of tradition as we move throughout the meal time, to mark and remember both God's creation and His provision both through the Exodus and through Christ the Savior. Each of them has a Hebrew prayer to usher in the next tradition, and is greatly grounded in Jewish purpose.
1. Washing of hands--we wash away the icky feelings from the week, forgive and renew.
2.Charity--we give of our abundance to those less fortunate, into a Charity box, which we hold until the time comes in which another's need arises.
3. Approaching the table for prayer, then lighting the candles to usher in the Sabbath (done by the woman of the home). 1 Candle represents Remembering the other Observing.
4.The taking of the wine--The Abundance of God's provisions poured out to us, also the blood of Christ provided to us as atonement for sin.
5.The breaking of the braided bread (Challah) with Salt--The provision of the Man-nah in the Exodus, 2 loaves on Friday, by God along with Christ's body, broken for us. The Salt is a symbol that it never goes bad or rots, it preserves.
6.The Father blesses each child of the family and then reads a blessing over his wife.
7.We say a final prayer, ending with saying loudly "Shabbot Shalom".
8.We engage in our family meal, giving everyone the opportunity to share about their week (High's of the week).
9.We discuss God's abundant blessings both in the OT and the New and how it relates to us as Christians in the light of being grafted into the Jews Chosen Position with the Lord. How this then implies what our true traditions, celebrations and remembrances should be.
10. Lighting of the candles on Saturday to Usher our the Darkness and bring in the Light. Both the light of provision in darkness given to the Jews upon the Exile, the Light given upon Creation and the Light given in Jesus Christ. Moving through these prayers, traditions and sharing in the markers to remember God and our Savior now as the fulfillment of the Law, we are blessed and reminded of God's character, love, provision, plan, and our position in Him.
Below I pasted some information about Shabbat from a Jewish website. There is tons of information available.
In Exodus 20:11, after Fourth Commandment is first instituted, G-d explains, "because for six days, the L-rd made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and on the seventh day, he rested; therefore, the L-rd blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it." By resting on the seventh day and sanctifying it, we remember and acknowledge that G-d is the creator of heaven and earth and all living things. We also emulate the divine example, by refraining from work on the seventh day, as G-d did. If G-d's work can be set aside for a day of rest, how can we believe that our own work is too important to set aside temporarily? In Deuteronomy 5:15, while Moses reiterates the Ten Commandments, he notes the second thing that we must remember on Shabbat: "remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the L-rd, your G-d brought you forth from there with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm; therefore the L-rd your G-d commanded you to observe the Sabbath day." What does the Exodus have to do with resting on the seventh day? It's all about freedom. As I said before, in ancient times, leisure was confined to certain classes; slaves did not get days off. Thus, by resting on Shabbat, we are reminded that we are free. But in a more general sense, Shabbat frees us from our weekday concerns, from our deadlines and schedules and commitments. During the week, we are slaves to our jobs, to our creditors, to our need to provide for ourselves; on Shabbat, we are freed from these concerns, much as our ancestors were freed from slavery in Egypt.
As believers we get to also remember the freedom given in Christ from sin, through the Cross. We are given the gift of experiencing the fullness of the message God prepared for the Jews through the atonement of Christ, the Son of God. How much more do we see the full beauty and the experience the completeness of God's perfect will?
As believers we can see and often hear that Jesus has fulfilled the Law and we are not bound to the same observances as the Jews were in the OT. Although, this may be true, there are fabulous blessings available when we honor the things the Lord has set out to honor and those things Jesus himself honored, being the Messiah.
We may not see or interpret the word "work" the same considering we no longer build sanctuary's or temples, but, we can see in our busy modern lives the need to honor the Lord's day of rest. He called in Holy. When we do so, we enjoy both a sense of accomplishment from preparing for Shabbat throughout the week and then rest when we spend the day Observing the Lord's perfect picture painted through the OT, which displays His Character, beauty, authority and governing over the Earth.
For our family we see a handful of blessings being offered by getting back to the feasts and festivals, specifically Shabbat, the Lord laid out for us, as Gentiles, adopted into His Chosen People.
1. A weekly family time of Remembrance and Observance which displays for us both God's divine nature and provision along with Christ's fulfillment of the Lord's will.
2.Tradition which offers teaching and instructing in the ways of God's people, which connects us more closely with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
3. Spending the week with Intentionality to draw in the Shabbat meal on Friday night and the day of rest on Saturday. We must be more diligent as a family to prepare to experience Shabbat together.
4. Keeping my family coming together on a regular basis, hopefully as they grow, and possibly leave home. Establishing a tradition they look forward to and enjoy so they too will bring their families over once they grow.
5. An opportunity to teach reverence and respect for the Lord's Holy things. To dress up in honor of Him. To act out of love for him.
We do not see celebrating Shabbat weekly as an act of obedience or religiousness that earns favor with God, but rather out of our deep love for Him and His Son Jesus, displaying our respect for the days He designed and remarked in scripture as significant and Holy. It is an act of Love. A reverence of the fulfillment of the Saviors sacrifice in light of the picture God was painting from the beginning.
Ebay is a great place to purchase the items you would need/desire to celebrate the meal time (Challah (bread) cover, candlesticks, Handwashing Cup, Charity Box, Bread plates, Wine Fountains, etc.).
We do this through the day of Rest as the Lord first displayed and modeled for us.
The Meal:
There are several movements of tradition as we move throughout the meal time, to mark and remember both God's creation and His provision both through the Exodus and through Christ the Savior. Each of them has a Hebrew prayer to usher in the next tradition, and is greatly grounded in Jewish purpose.
1. Washing of hands--we wash away the icky feelings from the week, forgive and renew.
2.Charity--we give of our abundance to those less fortunate, into a Charity box, which we hold until the time comes in which another's need arises.
3. Approaching the table for prayer, then lighting the candles to usher in the Sabbath (done by the woman of the home). 1 Candle represents Remembering the other Observing.
4.The taking of the wine--The Abundance of God's provisions poured out to us, also the blood of Christ provided to us as atonement for sin.
5.The breaking of the braided bread (Challah) with Salt--The provision of the Man-nah in the Exodus, 2 loaves on Friday, by God along with Christ's body, broken for us. The Salt is a symbol that it never goes bad or rots, it preserves.
6.The Father blesses each child of the family and then reads a blessing over his wife.
7.We say a final prayer, ending with saying loudly "Shabbot Shalom".
8.We engage in our family meal, giving everyone the opportunity to share about their week (High's of the week).
9.We discuss God's abundant blessings both in the OT and the New and how it relates to us as Christians in the light of being grafted into the Jews Chosen Position with the Lord. How this then implies what our true traditions, celebrations and remembrances should be.
10. Lighting of the candles on Saturday to Usher our the Darkness and bring in the Light. Both the light of provision in darkness given to the Jews upon the Exile, the Light given upon Creation and the Light given in Jesus Christ. Moving through these prayers, traditions and sharing in the markers to remember God and our Savior now as the fulfillment of the Law, we are blessed and reminded of God's character, love, provision, plan, and our position in Him.
Below I pasted some information about Shabbat from a Jewish website. There is tons of information available.
The Nature of Shabbat
The
Sabbath (or Shabbat, as it is called in Hebrew) is one of the best
known and least understood of all Jewish observances. People who do not
observe Shabbat think of it as a day filled with stifling restrictions,
or as a day of prayer like the Christian Sabbath. But to those who
observe Shabbat, it is a precious gift from G-d, a day of great joy
eagerly awaited throughout the week, a time when we can set aside all of
our weekday concerns and devote ourselves to higher pursuits. In Jewish
literature, poetry and music, Shabbat is described as a bride or queen,
as in the popular Shabbat hymn Lecha Dodi Likrat
Kallah (come, my beloved, to meet the [Sabbath] bride). It is said "more
than Israel has kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept Israel." Shabbat is the
most important ritual observance in Judaism. It is the only ritual
observance instituted in the Ten Commandments.
In modern America, we take the five-day work-week so much for granted that we forget what a radical concept a day of rest was in ancient times. The weekly day of rest has no parallel in any other ancient civilization. In ancient times, leisure was for the wealthy and the ruling classes only, never for the serving or laboring classes. In addition, the very idea of rest each week was unimaginable. The Greeks thought Jews were lazy because we insisted on having a "holiday" every seventh day. Shabbat involves two interrelated commandments: to remember (zakhor) Shabbat, and to observe (shamor) Shabbat.
In modern America, we take the five-day work-week so much for granted that we forget what a radical concept a day of rest was in ancient times. The weekly day of rest has no parallel in any other ancient civilization. In ancient times, leisure was for the wealthy and the ruling classes only, never for the serving or laboring classes. In addition, the very idea of rest each week was unimaginable. The Greeks thought Jews were lazy because we insisted on having a "holiday" every seventh day. Shabbat involves two interrelated commandments: to remember (zakhor) Shabbat, and to observe (shamor) Shabbat.
Zakhor: To Remember
Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it (Hebrew: Zakhor et yom ha-Shabbat l'kad'sho)-Exodus 20:8We are commanded to remember Shabbat; but remembering means much more than merely not forgetting to observe Shabbat. It also means to remember the significance of Shabbat, both as a commemoration of creation and as a commemoration of our freedom from slavery in Egypt
In Exodus 20:11, after Fourth Commandment is first instituted, G-d explains, "because for six days, the L-rd made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and on the seventh day, he rested; therefore, the L-rd blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it." By resting on the seventh day and sanctifying it, we remember and acknowledge that G-d is the creator of heaven and earth and all living things. We also emulate the divine example, by refraining from work on the seventh day, as G-d did. If G-d's work can be set aside for a day of rest, how can we believe that our own work is too important to set aside temporarily? In Deuteronomy 5:15, while Moses reiterates the Ten Commandments, he notes the second thing that we must remember on Shabbat: "remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the L-rd, your G-d brought you forth from there with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm; therefore the L-rd your G-d commanded you to observe the Sabbath day." What does the Exodus have to do with resting on the seventh day? It's all about freedom. As I said before, in ancient times, leisure was confined to certain classes; slaves did not get days off. Thus, by resting on Shabbat, we are reminded that we are free. But in a more general sense, Shabbat frees us from our weekday concerns, from our deadlines and schedules and commitments. During the week, we are slaves to our jobs, to our creditors, to our need to provide for ourselves; on Shabbat, we are freed from these concerns, much as our ancestors were freed from slavery in Egypt.
As believers we get to also remember the freedom given in Christ from sin, through the Cross. We are given the gift of experiencing the fullness of the message God prepared for the Jews through the atonement of Christ, the Son of God. How much more do we see the full beauty and the experience the completeness of God's perfect will?
Shamor: To Observe
Observe the Sabbath day to sanctify it (Hebrew: Shamor et yom ha-Shabbat l'kad'sho)-Deuteronomy 5:12Of course, no discussion of Shabbat would be complete without a discussion of the work that is forbidden on Shabbat. This is another aspect of Shabbat that is grossly misunderstood by people who do not observe it. Most Americans see the word "work" and think of it in the English sense of the word: physical labor and effort, or employment. Under this definition, turning on a light would be permitted, because it does not require effort, but would not be permitted to lead Shabbat services, because leading services is his employment. Jewish law prohibits the former and permits the latter. Many Americans therefore conclude that Jewish law doesn't make any sense. The problem lies not in Jewish law, but in the definition that Americans are using. The Torah does not prohibit "work" in the 20th century English sense of the word. The Torah prohibits "melachah" Mem-Lamed-Alef-Kaf-Hei, which is usually translated as "work," but does not mean precisely the same thing as the English word. Before you can begin to understand the Shabbat restrictions, you must understand the word "melachah." Melachah generally refers to the kind of work that is creative, or that exercises control or dominion over your environment. The word may be related to "melekh" Mem-Lamed-Kaf. The quintessential example of melachah is the work of creating the universe, which G-d ceased from on the seventh day. Note that G-d's work did not require a great physical effort: he spoke, and it was done. The word melachah is rarely used in scripture outside of the context of Shabbat and holiday restrictions. The only other repeated use of the word is in the discussion of the building of the sanctuary and its vessels in the wilderness. Exodus Ch. 31, 35-38. Notably, the Shabbat restrictions are reiterated during this discussion (Ex. 31:13), thus we can infer that the work of creating the sanctuary had to be stopped for Shabbat.
As believers we can see and often hear that Jesus has fulfilled the Law and we are not bound to the same observances as the Jews were in the OT. Although, this may be true, there are fabulous blessings available when we honor the things the Lord has set out to honor and those things Jesus himself honored, being the Messiah.
We may not see or interpret the word "work" the same considering we no longer build sanctuary's or temples, but, we can see in our busy modern lives the need to honor the Lord's day of rest. He called in Holy. When we do so, we enjoy both a sense of accomplishment from preparing for Shabbat throughout the week and then rest when we spend the day Observing the Lord's perfect picture painted through the OT, which displays His Character, beauty, authority and governing over the Earth.
For our family we see a handful of blessings being offered by getting back to the feasts and festivals, specifically Shabbat, the Lord laid out for us, as Gentiles, adopted into His Chosen People.
1. A weekly family time of Remembrance and Observance which displays for us both God's divine nature and provision along with Christ's fulfillment of the Lord's will.
2.Tradition which offers teaching and instructing in the ways of God's people, which connects us more closely with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
3. Spending the week with Intentionality to draw in the Shabbat meal on Friday night and the day of rest on Saturday. We must be more diligent as a family to prepare to experience Shabbat together.
4. Keeping my family coming together on a regular basis, hopefully as they grow, and possibly leave home. Establishing a tradition they look forward to and enjoy so they too will bring their families over once they grow.
5. An opportunity to teach reverence and respect for the Lord's Holy things. To dress up in honor of Him. To act out of love for him.
We do not see celebrating Shabbat weekly as an act of obedience or religiousness that earns favor with God, but rather out of our deep love for Him and His Son Jesus, displaying our respect for the days He designed and remarked in scripture as significant and Holy. It is an act of Love. A reverence of the fulfillment of the Saviors sacrifice in light of the picture God was painting from the beginning.
Ebay is a great place to purchase the items you would need/desire to celebrate the meal time (Challah (bread) cover, candlesticks, Handwashing Cup, Charity Box, Bread plates, Wine Fountains, etc.).
No comments:
Post a Comment