HOW TO OBSERVE THE SABBATH AND CALL IT A DELIGHT
The Sabbath is not just a day, not just Saturday, midnight to midnight, but 24 hours of special time that God gave to us for a blessing. 12 o’clock to 12 o’clock is a man-made division and not the time that God gave to us. Midnight to midnight will serve for reckoning the days for man-made calculations – like when we go to work, when we go shopping, on what day we go on holiday, when we signed that particular legal agreement, or when something is to be delivered.
The Sabbath was given to mankind at creation, and if we read the Bible account – the evening and the morning were the first day, and the second day and so on. So when God gave the Sabbath commandment, he asks us to remember it begins with the dark part, the evening first and the morning, or day light part to follow. The dark part of the Sabbath is the time after sunset on Friday night all through the light hours on Saturday, and finishes when the darkness comes again on Saturday evening. The Sabbath is therefore from sunset to sunset. It is easy to find this time by looking in the local paper
and of course it changes through the year, arriving very early in the winter and very late in the summer with the light evenings.
There are many people who have to keep Sabbath by themselves or with one or two other people, but this does not make the blessing of the day any less. God has promised that there is a special blessing attached to the day, and God is faithful in keeping his promises. He will do His part but how do we make it special day.