Category Archives: Devotional

Unknown's avatar

Living on top of a living land.

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Leviticus 25:1-7:  The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai,2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. 3 For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops.4 But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.5 Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. 6 Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, 7 as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.

The sabbatical system is much more than one Sabbath every seven days, it also consists of one sabbath year every seven years, and the Year of Jubilee. By reading the above passage, we can see the complexity of the Sabbath commandment, and God’s intention behind Sabbath.

  1. Sabbath is “to the Lord”. It is a reminder that the land and its productivity are gifts from God. By dedicating one year out of every seven years or one day out of every seven days to the Lord, we are saying that the entire productivity of the land comes from the Lord.
  2. “The land is to have a year of sabbath rest.” – it is not only human beings who need rest. The fact that the land need rest means that, like humans, the land is a living system.
  3. “Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year…” – even if we don’t sow or prune, the land is still productive. This is another trait of living systems, living systems are naturally productive. In fact, living systems that have regular rest are more productive than living systems that are over-worked.
  4.  “for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, 7 as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land.” – the land as a living system does not exclusively serve the land owner, instead it sustains both the rich and the poor, both domesticated and wild animals. The land is healthy when the ecosystem living upon it is healthy.

Those who honor God honor God’s creation. To honor God’s creation means that we live in a mutually beneficial relationship with our land and our environment. The land is not a lifeless piece of resource we can exploit.

Unknown's avatar

Magic 7

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While we have been following a 7 day week calendar for what seems to be forever, scholars have been trying to find out how did Moses come out with the idea of a 7 day cycle of Sabbath in the first place. For “scholars”, divine revelation is not an acceptable answer, so a hunt for an alternative is necessary. The first theory is that Moses copied it from other ancient cultures, most likely the Egyptians. The scholars tried hard, but could find no records in any other ancient culture of anything similar to either a socially accepted work-rest cycle or the number 7 being somehow special.

The other theory is that 7 has some mathematical or astronomical significant. This theory failed also. The number 10 make sense, because human and monkeys have 10 digits. The number 2, 3, 4, 6, 12, 24, and even 60 have been used as units of measurement of time, mostly because they can be easily constructed with simple geometry (i.e. you can divide a line or an angle using straight lines and a pair of compasses into halves and thirds, thus making the measurement of movement of sun, moon and stars easy). But the number 7 is particularly difficult to construct geometrically. The best theory is that 7 is almost one quarter of the lunar cycle (one lunar cycle = 29.53 days). But 10 days (= one third of lunar cycle) would be a much more convenient and accurate unit for that.

So we are stuck with the theory that either Moses really suck at astronomy or the number 7 comes from divine revelation.

Regardless, the number 7 is the signature of Sabbath. As in the coming weeks we go through scriptures to look for the number 7, we will discover that Sabbath is much more than a weekly religious ceremony but an elaborate system for a sustainable economy.

 

Unknown's avatar

Kairos vs. Chronos

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In New Testament Greek there are two words that are translated into “time” in English. One is “chronos” (from which we get the English words chronic and chronology) which represents “clock time”. Time that can be measured in seconds, minutes, hours, and days.

The other Greek word for “time” is kairos, which may be best translated as “moments”. Kairos represents memorable events, available opportunities, special situations. For example: “It is Tebow time!” (Sorry NY Jets fans, just can’t resist!)

We fill up our space with objects – the car go in the garage, TV, sofa and coffee table fill up the living room. We fill up our chronos time with tasks – commuting, working, cleaning, and church going.

Our kairos time, on the other hand, is filled up with people, especially people we love. Kairos time is your first glance at that special someone, your weddings, birth of a child, graduations, glorious victories and bitter defeats.

As we have been discussing Sabbath, let me ask you this question: Is Sabbath chronos time or kairos time for you personally?

Unknown's avatar

Space-time duality part 2

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When you walk into a Christian household, it is not uncommon to find Christian decorations hanging on a wall somewhere. Sometimes it is a simple cross, or it might be an inspirational verse. You will also find most probably a copy of the Bible on the bookshelf or at the corner of the desk in the study.

It is not difficult for us to devote”space” to the Lord. We can devote a wall, a shelf, or even build a shrine. After all we have more walls to decorate, more book shelves to fill. After every room has been filled, we can find a bigger house.

We have control over space, so we think. We can travel long distance via planes, trains and automobiles. We pick our devotional space to our convenience. If it is not convenient, we can leave the Bible in its rightful place on the bookshelf without reading it. The rich have more space, the powerful can even invade into other people’s space.

Time is different. No one controls time. The rich and the poor both have 24 hours to a day. It is ultimately fair.

When we observe Sabbath in time, we’ll quickly discover that Sabbath does not come at our convenience. It comes unceasingly, once every 7 days. We cannot control it and tell it to go away and come back when we “have time”. No wonder so many of us have chosen to run away from observing Sabbath!

The true meaning of Sabbath is faith – belief in a graceful God who is in control of our daily lives. May I boldly suggest that you give our Lord the control of your time and really observe Sabbath?

Unknown's avatar

Space-time duality

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Hebrews chapter 4 is a commentary on Psalm 95. It is also key to understanding the meaning of sabbath. Psalm 95 is a reminder of Moses’ generation who, by their lack of faith, were condemned to wander in the wilderness for 40 years without enter the Promised Land.

Did Moses’ generation “observed” sabbath? Yes, kind of – they were eating manna, which mandated that they follow a strict sabbatical schedule.

Did they have “Rest”? They definitely did not! They could not enter the Promised Land as explained in Hebrews 4. So there is still an outstanding “Today” – a genuine eternal Sabbath. (See my previous post on the seventh day of creation.)

Space-time duality is not a sci-fi concept from Star Trek. Sabbath day (time) is in duality with Promised Land (space). Both are God’s gift to us, both require us to demonstrate our faith in God for us to enter.

Those of us who work seven days a week because we are “too busy”. Are we demonstrating faith in God’s provision or is our faith placed on our bank account?

For those of us who are observing sabbath. Is our sabbath a legalistic mandate which we “observed” like Moses’ generation of  Israelite or like the Pharisees of Jesus’ time? Or are we genuinely enjoying sabbath by dwelling by faith in God’s Promised Land of salvation in Jesus Christ our savior?

Unknown's avatar

It is not an amendment

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The Sabbath commandment is the fourth of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments was recorded twice in the Old Testament. Once in Exodus chapter 20; and a second time Deuteronomy chapter 5. Let us compare the two rendering of the Sabbath commandments:

Exodus 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

Deuteronomy 5:12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

The observance part of the two renderings are largely the same. But the motivation behind keeping the sabbath is quite different. In Exodus, we are reminded of creation; In Deuteronomy, we are reminded of redemption.

Why such difference? The main difference was in the audience. In Exodus, the audience were former slaves whom Moses had recently led out of Egypt. Sabbath was a completely foreign concept to them – which Egyptian  slave owner would give his slave a day off every seven days? Deuteronomy on the other hand happened 40 years later, where the audience were the decedents of the Israelite of the Exodus. These generation grew up eating manna from heaven, which God has divinely scheduled its delivery according to a sabbath friendly schedule (Exodus 16). For them, sabbath was a familiar reality. What they need to be reminded of was to continue to keep sabbath after they enter the prosperity of the Promised Land.

Doesn’t these two renderings of the Sabbath Commandment fit our Christian calling? We are first of all called to be living images of God and then we are to be benefactors of our neighbors. True holiness is not just personal holiness but a holiness that outflows to benefit those around us – especially those who are less fortunate.