Allah and Elohim - Are they
the Same Go? - Part 19
Keep Sabbath Day Holy
Exodus 20:8-11, "Remember the
Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all
your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God.
In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter,
nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle,
nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the
LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in
them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the
Sabbath day and hallowed it."
This
is the fourth commandment of God that He gave to Moses and we can
see how much importance God gave to Sabbath. Bible also tells us
in Exodus 31:17, 'It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel
forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth,
and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'"
When
we observe Sunday as Sabbath and when we go to His sanctuary and
glorify God, this day stands as a sign between God and us. This
is a memorial day of creation that how wonderfully God created heaven
and earth and to glorify the creator.
This
is the day of sanctification when priests used to sacrifice animal
in the altar of the temple and God forgave the sins of people. God
says to Moses in Exodus 31:13, "Speak also to the children
of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is
a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you
may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you."
Yes,
the Sabbath day is a day of sanctification so that we may know that
The LORD-God all mighty sanctifies our souls. He is the God who
wants us to live a holy and pure life. He wants to wipes away all
our sins. That is the reason He sent His only begotten Son to die
for us. Why? To sanctify us, to make us clean and pure! Jesus broke
all the bondage of death, sin, curse, pain, sorrows, tears and came
out of the grave victoriously. On the third day He rose again and
gave us new hope. He is still alive and gives us new life. His blood
cleanses us from all our sin.
God
wants us to observe this day as holy and separated for Him alone.
Doing some work and not keeping Sabbath is considered as sin and
breaking His eternal covenant as we read in the Bible in Exodus
31:14-16 'You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy
to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for
whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among
his people. 'Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is
the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on
the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 'Therefore the
children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath
throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant."
Bible
tells us that God sent bread from heaven for the Israelites when
they were in the desert and people of Israel called its name 'manna'.
God told them to pick up two quarts for each person."(Exodus
16:16) But God sent manna double portion for Sabbath day because
God told that no one should work on Sabbath day. When a few people
went out to gather manna on the 7th day they could not find it on
the ground. as we read in Exodus 16:27-29, "Now it happened
that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but
they found none. And the LORD said to Moses, "How long do you
refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? "See! For the LORD
has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day
bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man
go out of his place on the seventh day."
But
when we come to the Quran we can see that there is no verse which
gives importance of Sabbath though Quran also says that God created
universe in six days but there is no mention of 7th day or holy
Sabbath. And interestingly enough I read in one Muslim web site
like this:
"The
idea that God rests like humans and gets refreshed like humans had
to be corrected by Jesus, on whom be peace, when, according to John,
he declared that God never stops working, even on the Sabbath day
(see John 5:16). God clarified the matter in His own words when
he declared: "And verily we created the heavens and the earth
and all that is between them in six days, and naught of weariness
touched us" (Quran 50:38 see also v. 15). "
Let
me quote the verse John 5:16-17 that says, "For this reason
the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had
done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, "My
Father has been working until now, and I have been working."
Well,
there is no contradiction or correction by Jesus in these verses
but it is a simple misconception of Muslims. Psalmist also says
in Psalms 121:4, "Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither
slumber nor sleep." If God neither slumbers nor sleeps then
why He said that, He rested on Sabbath?
Let
us look what the meaning of "rested" is:
Hebrew
lexicon says like this:
Shabath
Definition
- to
cease, desist, rest
- (Qal)
- to
cease
- to
rest, desist (from labor)
- (Niphal)
to cease
- (Hiphil)
- to
cause to cease, put an end to
- to
exterminate, destroy
- to
cause to desist from
- to
remove
- to
cause to fail
- (Qal)
to keep or observe the sabbath
So "Rested" simply means
that God finished His work on the seventh day. It does not mean
God slumbered or slept or felt weary! If Allah is the same God of
the Bible then he could have known what is the meaning of Sabbath
and what is the importance of Sabbath. And what is the meaning of
"RESTED". But we can see that Allah do not know all these
things and it makes clear that Allah is not the God of the Bible.
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Allah or Elohim - Are they same
God? Part -1 to 22
3 God or 1 God?
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