Exodus 20:8-11 English Standard Version

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep 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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

This commandment was not the first time the Sabbath is mentioned in the scriptures.

Exodus 16:22-24 English Standard Version

22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.

Exodus 16:31 Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

The first connection between the Sabbath and work is related to the manna from heaven.

John 6:32-35 English Standard Version

32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

Considering that God made the Sabbath holy, can we keep it holy?

Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.

There are 21 dictionaries defining redemption and thousands of words on the subject. How can we be expected to explain this to the lost who will scream at us that they are being judged unfairly.

Before we go on, let us remind ourselves that Jesus was judged unfairly.

Adam was given one command and he disobeyed God and for that Adam and Eve were cast out of paradise and into the world. In the world they conceived Cain and Abel. They were born in sin, just one sin mind you but that is all it takes. Those children did not sin until Cain slew Abel.

It was just one sin, but it demonstrates how just one sin leads to death. Simple?

We are all born innocent but the nature of sin is born in us. We will become selfish, it is a matter of survival, we cannot deny ourselves regardless of how we are raised.

So how do we explain something so complex as redemption in simple terms?

Green stamps! They have no value anywhere except in the redemption center where they can be traded for something of value, something that is useful.

Jesus told Mary that He had redeemed her. Past tense, as in He is the redemption center and has already traded in something of no value for who He wants.

Jesus left the eternal realm where all things had already taken place in the spiritual realm and came down to earth to claim His prize in the flesh.

He was our redeemer before He ever left the Father to be born of woman.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.

The Son came to do what was already accomplished in the eternal realm.

Has He called you by name? That is the question the lost need to ask themselves.