I wrote this in 2020, but find I needed to read it again and so I'm sharing it again.
'Palace in time.' Those words are from the book- The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel.
My thoughts on those words--
Palace in time… the Sabbath.
We enter the palace in time when we choose to recognize the Sabbath, when we acknowledge its existence, its reality. The palace of holiness shimmers into our lives in all its glory as the sun sets on Friday evening and the Sabbath begins. The doors to the palace are opened and we are bidden to enter within holy time. We are engulf in this spiritual reality by faith- the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. We cannot use our physical eyes to see the holy time palace we've entered, we must use our spiritual eyes. We do not leave the physical world- bidding all around us to come with us, or farewell if they choose to disregard the Sabbath. We remain in the world, we remain physically here with all the myriad distractions. Being instructed to cease from our work, as well as to cease from our own pleasure seeking - is meant to help us remember the special, the holy spiritual time we've entered into.
We are to glorify God during our time in the palace. The palace designed to draw us into a spiritual wealth of prayer, of study, of praise, of worship to our GOD. We are to take part only in things that will keep our focus on our surroundings -the palace of holiness. It's so easy for the shimmering spiritual walls to fade away around us as the world fights to destroy our time there.
When the children of God newly freed from their captivity in Egypt were given instructions for the Sabbath they were miraculously provided with enough manna on the day before the Sabbath so they would not have to go out and gather manna on the Sabbath. Do you suppose the gathering of the heavenly food was a laborious task? I don't. Each day they'd find this food sent by God laying upon the ground and they'd take a basket to collect what they needed for the day, any manna left on the ground would melt away in the heat of the sun.
Do you suppose manna was created in this fashion, unable to be stored as a leftover for a reason? I do. God had the ability to create a food that could be kept indefinitely if He so chose, but He didn't. God was teaching the newly freed captives of His holiness, His love for them. God wanted them to learn dependence upon Him along with the way to live in obedience to Him so they could be prepared for the Kingdom of Heaven. Part of that obedience was their learning that God didn't want them to do any work on the Sabbath day. He wanted them to have day of rest from their labors. He provided a special preparation day manna that would not spoil the next day. How miraculous was this, truly. What an important lesson was being taught with this miracle.
Manna and it's miracle properties ceased once the children of Israel were in the land of promise and able to fend for themselves food wise. What didn't end was the lesson's teaching. They were still to gather their food for the Sabbath, before the Sabbath. They were still to cease from their work on the Sabbath. They were to take this one day in seven, the seventh day of the week, and recognize the holiness of God, their Creator. This special palace of time was theirs, and God made the palace of time holy, and because it was created holy it was to be kept holy by those entering the time palace.
Holy time.
In the time palace our thoughts are to be directed to God, and all things God. If we find our minds wandering away from God, we need to pull them back to Him. The walls of time around us will remain solid as long as we recognize the holy time we are in, holy only because GOD made this time holy. God created this holy time the same week He created us. God reiterated the holiness of this weekly time as He led the children from Egypt through the wilderness. God established a moral, royal law with ten moral royal laws for His children to keep.
Psa 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul
The Sabbath is so incredibly important if we are to keep God where He belongs in our lives. Our selfishness subservient to God.
The holy time palace that is the Sabbath is meant to keep our carnal selves outside of focus, and our spiritual selves inside with God. With our mind we are to serve God wholly, and by His command on this seventh day of the week. Remember Paul said this…
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God
We are to arrange things in our lives on the Sabbath so that they will not be typical, but rather point us to the God we serve, our Creator. We are to remember our createdness, we are to remember we are but creatures created for our Creator's glory.
Isa 43:7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
*
'Palace in Time' All of us can share this palace because it is in time, it is blessed, it is holy, it is created for man by man's God.
Gen 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
I read somewhere recently (9/2022) that on every day of creation God ended it with and the evening and the morning were the (first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth) day. On the Sabbath God spoke the above verses- without the 'and the evening and the morning were the…' He didn't speak this for the seventh day. Truly it was the last day of creation, and everything was physically finished- a blessed day made holy. There was no new physical manifestation on the seventh day. Creation was finished. We cannot, no matter how hard we try, or desire, comprehend the world then as it was first created. We can't. We can use our faulty imaginations, our limited imaginations, but the world created brand new without a single shred of evil's decaying, corrupting touch, this is beyond pure comprehension- we've only ever lived in a world twisted by evil. In the beginning there was not one thing touched by death. When you take a moment of time to really contemplate how evil has tainted this world, you know that it was not intended to be this way, it just wasn't. The touch of evil is in almost all things in one way or another. The very fact we are all born to live with a death sentence over our heads the rest of our lives, speaks of evil permeating our reality … it just wasn't supposed to be this way.
May we all seek the 'Palace in Time' that we have each week, the seventh day holy Sabbath. A time of renewal in hope - knowing that it wasn't supposed to be this way, and most importantly- it's NOT going to be this way forever. The Sabbath is a blessing in time allowing us to know the reality to come, no more death, no more evil, all things new through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, our Creator.
Amen.
'Palace in time.' Those words are from the book- The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel.
My thoughts on those words--
Palace in time… the Sabbath.
We enter the palace in time when we choose to recognize the Sabbath, when we acknowledge its existence, its reality. The palace of holiness shimmers into our lives in all its glory as the sun sets on Friday evening and the Sabbath begins. The doors to the palace are opened and we are bidden to enter within holy time. We are engulf in this spiritual reality by faith- the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. We cannot use our physical eyes to see the holy time palace we've entered, we must use our spiritual eyes. We do not leave the physical world- bidding all around us to come with us, or farewell if they choose to disregard the Sabbath. We remain in the world, we remain physically here with all the myriad distractions. Being instructed to cease from our work, as well as to cease from our own pleasure seeking - is meant to help us remember the special, the holy spiritual time we've entered into.
We are to glorify God during our time in the palace. The palace designed to draw us into a spiritual wealth of prayer, of study, of praise, of worship to our GOD. We are to take part only in things that will keep our focus on our surroundings -the palace of holiness. It's so easy for the shimmering spiritual walls to fade away around us as the world fights to destroy our time there.
When the children of God newly freed from their captivity in Egypt were given instructions for the Sabbath they were miraculously provided with enough manna on the day before the Sabbath so they would not have to go out and gather manna on the Sabbath. Do you suppose the gathering of the heavenly food was a laborious task? I don't. Each day they'd find this food sent by God laying upon the ground and they'd take a basket to collect what they needed for the day, any manna left on the ground would melt away in the heat of the sun.
Do you suppose manna was created in this fashion, unable to be stored as a leftover for a reason? I do. God had the ability to create a food that could be kept indefinitely if He so chose, but He didn't. God was teaching the newly freed captives of His holiness, His love for them. God wanted them to learn dependence upon Him along with the way to live in obedience to Him so they could be prepared for the Kingdom of Heaven. Part of that obedience was their learning that God didn't want them to do any work on the Sabbath day. He wanted them to have day of rest from their labors. He provided a special preparation day manna that would not spoil the next day. How miraculous was this, truly. What an important lesson was being taught with this miracle.
Manna and it's miracle properties ceased once the children of Israel were in the land of promise and able to fend for themselves food wise. What didn't end was the lesson's teaching. They were still to gather their food for the Sabbath, before the Sabbath. They were still to cease from their work on the Sabbath. They were to take this one day in seven, the seventh day of the week, and recognize the holiness of God, their Creator. This special palace of time was theirs, and God made the palace of time holy, and because it was created holy it was to be kept holy by those entering the time palace.
Holy time.
In the time palace our thoughts are to be directed to God, and all things God. If we find our minds wandering away from God, we need to pull them back to Him. The walls of time around us will remain solid as long as we recognize the holy time we are in, holy only because GOD made this time holy. God created this holy time the same week He created us. God reiterated the holiness of this weekly time as He led the children from Egypt through the wilderness. God established a moral, royal law with ten moral royal laws for His children to keep.
Psa 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul
The Sabbath is so incredibly important if we are to keep God where He belongs in our lives. Our selfishness subservient to God.
The holy time palace that is the Sabbath is meant to keep our carnal selves outside of focus, and our spiritual selves inside with God. With our mind we are to serve God wholly, and by His command on this seventh day of the week. Remember Paul said this…
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God
We are to arrange things in our lives on the Sabbath so that they will not be typical, but rather point us to the God we serve, our Creator. We are to remember our createdness, we are to remember we are but creatures created for our Creator's glory.
Isa 43:7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
*
'Palace in Time' All of us can share this palace because it is in time, it is blessed, it is holy, it is created for man by man's God.
Gen 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
I read somewhere recently (9/2022) that on every day of creation God ended it with and the evening and the morning were the (first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth) day. On the Sabbath God spoke the above verses- without the 'and the evening and the morning were the…' He didn't speak this for the seventh day. Truly it was the last day of creation, and everything was physically finished- a blessed day made holy. There was no new physical manifestation on the seventh day. Creation was finished. We cannot, no matter how hard we try, or desire, comprehend the world then as it was first created. We can't. We can use our faulty imaginations, our limited imaginations, but the world created brand new without a single shred of evil's decaying, corrupting touch, this is beyond pure comprehension- we've only ever lived in a world twisted by evil. In the beginning there was not one thing touched by death. When you take a moment of time to really contemplate how evil has tainted this world, you know that it was not intended to be this way, it just wasn't. The touch of evil is in almost all things in one way or another. The very fact we are all born to live with a death sentence over our heads the rest of our lives, speaks of evil permeating our reality … it just wasn't supposed to be this way.
May we all seek the 'Palace in Time' that we have each week, the seventh day holy Sabbath. A time of renewal in hope - knowing that it wasn't supposed to be this way, and most importantly- it's NOT going to be this way forever. The Sabbath is a blessing in time allowing us to know the reality to come, no more death, no more evil, all things new through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, our Creator.
Amen.