Lessons on the Book of Mormon 2020
Lesson No. Seventeen
The Blessings of Observing the Sabbath
The law of the sabbath was instituted in the premortal existence and it has been part of religious history – God set the pattern for sabbath day observance when, after six day of creation labors, He rested on the seventh. (See Genesis 2:2). It was part of the Law of Moses as given in the Old Testament: “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…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” (Exodus 20:8-11).
Prophets, ancient and modern, have taught the blessings of observing the sabbath. History shows that when people keep the sabbath they receive great blessings, and when the sabbath is violated blessings are forfeited and the consequences are dire. The following are examples of this principle:
The Nephites who kept the commandments, including the sabbath, were greatly blessed – In Zarahemla there had been “much contention and many dissensions away unto the Lamanites” but “king Benjamin, with the assistance of the holy prophets who were among his people” brought the people to repentance and “did once more establish peace in the land” (Words of Mormon 1:16, 18).
These Nephites looked forward to Christ and lived the law of Moses including the law of the sabbath, and therefore, “the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come” (Mosiah 4:3).
The Nephites who violated the commandments, including the sabbath, where brought into bondage – Near the time the people of king Benjamin were being blessed for their righteousness, the Nephites living in the land of Nephi under king Noah, “did “commit sin, and do that which was abominable in the sight of the Lord. Yea, and they did commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness” (Mosiah 11:2).
The prophet Abinadi preached repentance to them and admonished: “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy…wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hollowed it” (Mosiah 13:16-19). These people killed Abinadi and rejected his teaching for which they were brought into bondage and many were destroyed. (See Mosiah 17, 19)
By the time Jesus walked the earth the Sabbath had been perverted into a system of inane rules and requirements – Jesus taught that “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27), but to the Jewish leaders His actions and teaching about the Sabbath and His claim to be the Son of God overshadowed everything else. It was these issues that brought the most anger and enmity against Him and for which they conspired in His death, and the consequences have been terrible.
Frederic W. Farr explained why the people at the time of Christ willingly submitted to a system of Sabbath observance that was rigid and nonsensical. What he wrote can apply to the latter days also:
“They were wedded to the religious system which had long prevailed among them because it is easy to be a slave to the letter, and difficult to enter into the spirit; easy to obey a number of outward rules, difficult to enter intelligently and self-sacrificingly into the will of God; easy to entangle the soul in a network of petty observances, difficult to yield the obedience of an enlightened heart; easy to be haughtily exclusive, difficult to be humble spiritual; easy to be an ascetic or a formalist, difficult to be pure, and loving, and wise, and free; easy to be a Pharisee, difficult to be a disciple; very easy to embrace a self-satisfying and sanctimonious system of rabbinical observances, very difficult to love God with all the heart, and all the might, and all the soul, and all the strength” (Quoted by Bruce R. McConkie in Mortal Messiah 3: 232).
We will be blessed if we keep the sabbath day holy – In 1831 the Lord gave a key revelation, recorded in D&C 59 about the purpose and blessings of the sabbath:
“And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world” (Vs 9) – I believe sabbath observance is one of the best ways to loosen our grip on the things of this world, and tighten it on the things of eternity.
“thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day” (Vs 9) – Normally, on Sunday we go to a church building to partake of the sacrament. However, for most of the last three years my wife Susan and I have been assigned to take the sacrament to patients at the University Hospital. Because of Covid 19 for the last several weeks we have been authorized to hold sacrament meeting in our home or in the homes of others. These experiences has impressed on us the great blessings that come from partaking of the sacrament with full purpose of heart.
“For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High” (Vs 10) – We have learned from experience that if we rest from our labors and pay our devotions to the Most High the sabbath is truly a delight. (See Isaiah 58:13-14)
“And on this day thou shalt do none other thing…that thy joy may be full” (Vs 13) – The sabbath was given as a perpetual covenant, a constant reminder that the Lord will sanctify His people if they keep the sabbath. (See Exodus 31:13, 16) Then certainly their joy will be full.
“And inasmuch as ye do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances,…the fulness of the earth is yours” (Vs 15-16). “Imagine the scope of that statement! The fulness of the earth is promised to those who keep the Sabbath day holy” (Russell M. Nelson, Ensign, May 2015).
Testimony of the blessing that come by observing the sabbath – I have learned by experience that my conduct and my attitude on the Sabbath is a sign between me and my Heavenly Father that I am striving to keep my covenants not only regarding the sabbath but also in every other way. Sabbath observance has given me confidence as I call upon the Lord for the blessings I most desire.