Isaiah 56
1 Thus says the LORD: "Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil."
3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely separate me from his people"; and let not the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree."
4 For thus says the LORD: "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,
5 I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
6 "And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant--
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples."
8 The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, "I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered."
Isn’t it a blessing to serve G-d and delight in His ways? We would love to help you walk more in G-d’s Kingdom in your home, and have compiled this Shabbat resource page to assist.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
Much of what is laid out here may be difficult to appropriate for someone new to Hebrew or Torah, and may be best appropriated slowly over time, and quite helpfully – experienced with others in order for it to be a blessing.
Hebrew4Christians is a wonderful resource for any new to Torah and we would recommend taking some time browsing their website. Here are a few specific resources that will be very helpful for Shabbat:
We would suggest you start by reading the Celebrating Shabbat page and its content first; it will give you a good background and starting point. Trying to follow the whole of the Shabbat Seder Guide on your first Shabbat, or even maybe for your first year of Shabbatot may be quite ambitious. We would suggest you use the Quick Friday Night Kiddush Guide as a starting point and over time use the Shabbat Seder Guide as a reference to slowly incorporate more into your Shabbat as you feel it is a blessing.
As a family, we start the Shabbat at home with the lighting of the candles, and from there, depending how hungry the children are (or organised we are) we will either sing some Shabbat songs, or just do the Kiddush. Here are some of the Shabbat songs that we sing at home and at Beit Ariel:
Shabbat Shalom
Blessed are you O Lord our G-d
V’ahavta
Adon Olam
Sim shalom
From there we will enjoy our meal together and may end off with some songs and blessing the family.
Then SHABBAT!
For Saturday evening we will usually just get the spices, candle and Kiddush grape juice and sing along to the Havdalah in 5 minutes with Elijah the Prophet and coming of Messiah afterwards.
Useful links:
(Please note that some of the resources are not from Messianic Jewish sources, though this is the case, we feel if they are viewed in light of the Truth of Messiah Yeshua of Nazareth, they will be a blessing and will encourage each of us in their Messianic reference and symbolism.)