To Keep It Holy

The Book of Mormon only speaks of the Sabbath in a few places. Jarom mentioned this about the people of Nephi: “They observed to keep the law of Moses and the sabbath day holy unto the Lord. And they profaned not; neither did they blaspheme. And the laws of the land were exceedingly strict” (Jarom 1:5). Abinadi later quoted the Ten Commandments to the priests of King Noah, and that included the original commandment from the Lord: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; But the seventh day, the sabbath of the Lord thy God, thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is; wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Mosiah 13:16-19). This must have stuck with Alma who shortly thereafter repented and made sure that those who followed him kept the Sabbath Day: “And he commanded them that they should observe the sabbath day, and keep it holy, and also every day they should give thanks to the Lord their God.” Mormon also recorded about these believers two verses later, “And there was one day in every week that was set apart that they should gather themselves together to teach the people, and to worship the Lord their God, and also, as often as it was in their power, to assemble themselves together” (Mosiah 18:23, 25). Presumably that day set apart was the Sabbath. Though there are not a lot of references to the Sabbath, clearly the faithful in the Book of Mormon did observe the Sabbath. The word that is included in all three of these references is holy. They sought to keep the day holy and that single word should help us in our day as we decide how to spend the Sabbath—our thoughts, words, and activities should help make the day feel holy before the Lord.

                Similarly, the Doctrine and Covenants does not mention frequently the Sabbath. But we have enough instruction from the Lord to know that it is a commandment that is still in force today. He said this: “And the inhabitants of Zion shall also observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy” (Doctrine and Covenants 68:29). In another revelation He gave more instruction on the Sabbath: “And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day; For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High.” He clarified further what we should do on this day: “But remember that on this, the Lord’s day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord. And on this day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart that thy fasting may be perfect, or, in other words, that thy joy may be full” (Doctrine and Covenants 59:9-13). I think as Church members we generally do well at going to the house of prayer on Sundays, worshiping together as we partake of the Sacrament and learn. But I’m not sure that in general the rest of our activities on this day could be described as resting from our labors and paying our devotions to the Most High. It is all too easy to lose a sense of the “holy” that the Lord wants us to feel as we dress the same, watch the same sports, shop online in the same way, and do the same chores as every other day of the week. I know that in our home it is all too easy for the day to become just like any other after we get home from church. But if we want the great blessing of becoming “unspotted from the world,” we have to do more to make this day holy and set apart. The fact that the scriptures of the Restoration do not speak frequently of the Sabbath is not an indication that it is not very important for us: the Lord has given us the Sabbath to bless our lives and we are under covenant to observe it.

                My favorite scriptural passage about the Sabbath are these words from Isaiah: “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaiah 58:13-14). As we learn to “delight” in the Lord and making His day holy, He will cause us to “ride upon the high places of the earth.” In other words, His blessings will be great upon us as we turn away from doing our own pleasure on the Sabbath day.