Sabbath Reflections

Weekly Devotions Through the Year, Second Edition

Before there was a law, a temple, or a nation, there was a day. God finished His work, rested, blessed the seventh day, and made it holy. The Sabbath is the first thing in Scripture God ever called holy, and He gave it as a gift, not a burden.

Sabbath Reflections walks through that gift one week at a time, fifty-two devotions across a full year, gathered into seventeen movements that follow the Sabbath through the whole Bible.

It begins at creation, with the rest of a King, then moves to the appointed times and the manna that fell for six days and not the seventh. At Sinai comes the only one of the Ten Words that begins with "Remember," and in Deuteronomy the command to keep it, because you were once a slave. The Sabbath becomes the sign between God and His people, a sabbath for the land, a proclamation of liberty, and a delight Isaiah opened even to the foreigner and the eunuch. Nehemiah shuts the gates of Jerusalem to protect it.

Then Jesus walks into the story as Lord of the Sabbath. He heals on it, declares it was made for man, rests in the tomb on it, and rises at its end. The apostles keep it as their custom, Hebrews promises a Sabbath rest that remains, and the year closes with the thousand years and the eighth day.

Each devotion is short enough to read at the table on Friday evening and rich enough to carry through the week. An appendix sets out what the record shows about how the seventh day was lost.

This second edition is a new and expanded rebuild of the original devotional, illustrated throughout.

Come to the table. The day is still holy, and the invitation still stands.