You Shall Keep the Sabbath

Again God seems to change the subject, after telling Moses that He has prepared people to do the work required to make the tabernacle and its furnishings. He reminds them of the Sabbath that it is the sign that it is God who sets them aside. They have been out of Egypt for ninety days and they have not had to work. Now they are assigned work and it would be easy for them to say, this is the work of the Lord, so it is fine to violate the Sabbath to accomplish it. But God reminds them that the sign that He set them apart as His people is not the tabernacle, it is the Sabbath. The tabernacle is to show that the presence of God is with them. That Sabbath is to show that they are His people that He called. The fact that He gave them work to do, just as He has given us work to do, does not mean that we are to violate the Sabbath to do it. In fact, God makes it clear: they are to be cut off and they are to be put to death. Violation of the Sabbath, even to do the work of God, is to deny that it is God who sanctifies and not we ourselves. He has the ability to accomplish whatever He chooses. He commands us not to break His law thinking that we are doing good.