CovenanterCast Episode 12 - The Christian Sabbath Part 1

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Today we start a new series on the subject of the Christian Sabbath. Part 1 provides an introduction for the series and begins our survey of Biblical texts on the Sabbath with an overview of the Old Testament.

Twas the Night Before the Lord's Day

Twas the Night Before the Lord's Day

By Nick Schoeneberger

Twas the night before the Lord’s Day, when all through the house

Not a person was stirring, not even my spouse.

The church clothes were hung up in the closets with care,

In hopes that to church we’d arrive wrinkle-free there.

The children were bundled all snug in their beds,

While catechism and memory verses danced in their heads.

And wife in her gown, and I setting up the coffee,

Had just prayed for rest that we might worship attentively.

As a good Sabbatarian, I’ve gassed up the car,

No need to do business on Sunday if thoughtful you are.

The meals for tomorrow are cooked up and packed,

For fellowship lunch cannot be just snacks!

Six days we’ve been given for work and for play

But one day we’re commanded: Remember the Sabbath Day.

A magnificent grace that with creation He instilled,

That we might be blessed by His presence and thrilled.

To spend a whole day taken up with his glory

Seems a most generous gift to we sinful and ornery.

But that’s the love only the Father can give.

The kind that sacrifices only Son so that we may yet live.

So while we wait patiently until in glory He comes,

The precentor starts the tune with the bars that he hums.

We taste eternity with word, sacrament and prayer.

And rest in the promise that where we gather, he’s there.

After worship tomorrow, for week’s labor be prepared

For the sermon’s truth’s plain, the Gospel boldly been shared.

The dinner is eaten and the last Psalm’s been sung,

The sweetness of His Sabbath tasted by my own tongue.

Christian, the Sabbath is now and always was made for you,

To partake of Holy rest, Isaiah 56 does show that its true.

A blessing is found for the man lays hold of his covenant.

Even the stranger and his house if he keeps from polluting it.

To delight in the Lord and His Day is a tradition Apostolic.

So no need to fight saying, “that tradition’s just Mosaic!”

That in God’s moral law you’ll find the Sabbath, it's true

That remains for us a rest is chapter four of Hebrews.