The Ten Commandments - 5
The Fourth Commandment - Rest on the Sabbath Day
The commandments given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai were for the instruction and guidance of God's people, and were a binding law by which they were to order their lives. If they observed them, then they would be blessed as a people because they set out the rules for a right relationship between man and God and between man and man. These commandments also had another purpose, as we discover in the New Testament. This was to demonstrate to the people, and to us today, that because of our sinful natures we are not capable in ourselves of keeping these laws. This should drive us to seek the mercy of God and the salvation that He has provided in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This time we are looking at the fourth commandment which is found in Exodus chapter 20 and verses 8 to 11. This is what it says:
"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you nor your son or daughter, not your manservant or your maidservant, nor the animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
Of all the commandments this is the longest, and it occupies an important position because it ends the section that deals with man's duty to God. The rest of the commandments deal with our duty towards our fellow human beings.
To keep the first three commandments properly demands that we keep this fourth commandment. We are commanded in them to have no gods before the Living and True God; to make no idols and to worship only God; and we are commanded not to misuse God's name in any way. And here in this fourth commandment we are to keep one day set apart for Him. It is also true that without keeping the first four commandments, we cannot properly keep the rest.
First then, we discover that this is a key command of God. It is based on the principle that God Himself rested on the seventh day after the work of creation was complete. This principle of keeping a Sabbath day cannot be relegated to a bygone age. As the rest of the commandments are for all time, so too this one, and it should be observed - especially by Christian believers.
Of course, every day belongs to the Lord, but the Sabbath is His by special right, and we are called on to remember it. We tend to forget very easily or to allow other things to crowd out this day which rightly belongs to God. We are to remember it because God has commanded it. He does not ask for six days, but just one out of each seven. Do we begrudge God His day? "The seventh day", says this commandment, "is a Sabbath to the Lord your God." If the Lord God set aside a day for rest, then so should His people. There are many benefits that come from setting aside this day for the worship and service of God, and for rest from the toils of the week. It was intended to be a time of both spiritual and physical refreshment. So this is the basis of the day.
Next we discover the "blessedness of the day." The Sabbath is a blessed day for those who keep it. We are occupied all week with business, and with household duties, and there are pressures of many kinds. But the Sabbath is special because that is when Christian believers can meet together to hear the Lord's Word, to worship and to pray. On this day we can be built-up in our faith and be refreshed for the week ahead. Sadly, in many parts of the world which have a Christian tradition the principle of a Sabbath day has been abandoned. Every day of the week is the same with commerce and industry not pausing at all. People find themselves forced to work on God's day, and there is nothing special about the day in the eyes of many. If you are still able to observe the Sabbath day then value it and use it as God intended you to. You will be blessed by it.
The question has arisen in some minds as to which day Christians should keep as the Sabbath. Should we keep the first day of the week or the seventh day of the week? The Sabbath, or Sabbat means "Rest," or "Day of Rest." Orthodox Jews, following this original commandment, still observe the seventh day of the week as their Sabbath. From 6 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Saturday is regarded as the Sabbath day. The Christian Sabbath or "Lord's Day" obeys the principle set out in this fourth commandment that there must be a day of rest, set apart for the Lord our God. The Lord Jesus Christ is described as "The Lord of the Sabbath", it is His day, and it was He who said that "The Sabbath is made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." In other words this command is given for man's blessing and benefit, not merely as a regulation to be observed.
In Psalm 118 verses 22 to 24 we have a reference to Christ that is quoted six times in the New Testament. In these verses we read these words:
"The stone the builder rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this and it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."
So, there is a day of rejoicing and gladness associated with the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. This Psalm is quoted by Peter as he addresses the rulers and elders of the Jews in Acts chapter 4 verses 10 to 12, and notice the context of what he is saying:
"Then know this, you and everyone else in Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you completely healed. He is 'The stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone,' Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
Now clearly the "rejected stone" is a reference to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the rejected stone became the headstone, or capstone, of the corner when Jesus was raised from the dead. So which day of rejoicing and gladness can we say is being referred to in Psalm 24 - the "day that the Lord has made"? Looking at it carefully, in its context, and as proclaimed by the apostle Peter, we see that it refers to the resurrection day of the Lord Jesus Christ. This was on the first day of the week. The Jewish Sabbath in the week of Christ's crucifixion was not a day of joy for Jesus was dead and in a tomb. The disciples were distressed and frightened and scattered. They were not glad at all but were very sad. But the next day, the first day of the week, their sadness turned to very great joy and gladness because Jesus had risen from the dead.
For New Testament believers, the first day of the week occupied an important place. They met on this day and it was on this day that God poured out His Spirit at Pentecost. There has always been a Sabbath day, but the day that we would call the first Easter Saturday was the last old covenant Sabbath. A Sabbath based on God's resting on completion of creation. The very next day a new Sabbath began based on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus when God's work of salvation was made complete in the finished work of His dear Son.
The evidence from the New Testament and from secular history is that the first Christians met together on the FIRST day of the week which they called "The Lord's Day." So what is our responsibility? The Christian Sabbath is given to us by God to be remembered by all His people. We should prepare spiritually for it and set aside all unnecessary work. It is a day when we should seek the good of others by helping those who need help. It is a day when we can set aside all other legitimate activities and give our time to the Lord, to worship Him and to witness for our Saviour.
So, the principle of this fourth commandment is clear: God desires of His people that they set aside one day a week for Him. It may be that where you are it is not possible to observe the first day of the week. If this is so then give the Lord what you can, whenever you can, and you will be blessed as you do.