Commandment 4 - Enter His Rest

Of all the Ten Commandments, the 4th commandment regarding the Sabbath, is probably the most misunderstood and misapplied commandment.  Consider this billboard message you see occasionally:

Let us consider God's word carefully as we study this fourth commandment.  There are some important principles for the Christian to apply but you have to "present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15, NIV).  We will look at the 4th commandment and study the following outline:

1. What does the Sabbath mean?

2. What is the basis for the Sabbath commandment?

3. How does the Sabbath command apply to Christians?
   a. Four possible views of the Sabbath.
   b. The Old Testament Law and the Christian.
   c. Biblical teachings on the Sabbath for Christians.

4. The Bottom Line on the Sabbath

8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:8-11, NKJV)

1. What does the “Sabbath” mean?

The 4th commandment reminds the Israelites of the Sabbath – a word meaning “intermission” or “rest.” It was a time to stop and take a break from the normal activities and concerns of work.  The Sabbath was the seventh day of the week to be set aside for worship and service to the LORD – it was “holy” (v8., meaning “set apart”).  Sabbath was observed from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown.

God said to “Remember” the Sabbath – this does not mean they were to just think about it but that they were to be careful to observe it. As slaves in Egypt, they had no choice but to work 7 days a week. Now they had the freedom because of God’s mighty deliverance.  So the Sabbath was a day to be devoted to God and to depend on God.

2. What is the basis for the Sabbath?

God gave this command to the Israelites as part of the Mosaic Law – These were 10 key commands but part of a whole system of law that comprised some 600+ commandments.  The basis for this command was the example of the creation week (v11) in Genesis 1.  God spent six days creating all things – time, space, matter. He created the Earth and all life on the Earth in six days but on the seventh He rested from His work of creation.  This does not mean that God stopped working (for the universe would simply collapse if He did) but rested from His creative labor. This was then an example to follow for the Israelites. 

There was another reason for the Sabbath day given to the Israelites seen in Deuteronomy:

12 "Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:12-15, NKJV)

3. How does the Sabbath command apply to Christians?

This raises several questions about the Sabbath:

• Does the Sabbath command apply to Christians today?

• If yes, then how does it relate to Sunday, the LORD’s Day and how do you keep it?

• If no, then what about the other nine of the Ten Commandments?

a. Four possible views of the Sabbath

People have differing views on how to “remember the Sabbath” as a Christian today. You will find a range of beliefs that are sometimes based on one’s upbringing, the specific teaching of a church/sect, biblical basis for their conviction, or personal opinion. These views boil down to one of four possibilities:

1. You must observe the Sabbath day only and worship from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown.

2. You must observe the Sabbath day in addition to the LORD’s Day (Sunday worship).

3. You must observe the Sabbath day but the early church replaced it with the LORD’s Day (Sunday worship).

4. The Sabbath command does not apply to Christians and, for the Christian, every day is a day of worship.

b. The Old Testament Law and the Christian

The Ten Commandments are not isolated but part of the Old Testament Law (also called the Law of Moses or Mosaic Law). Some suggest that the ritual/ceremonial parts of the Mosaic Law have been done away with by the once-for-all sacrifice for sin by Jesus Christ. But they contend that the moral law has not passed away and therefore still applies to Christians.

This is neither biblically supportable nor historically defensible for these reasons:

1. The Jews never made any distinction in the 600+ laws between ceremonial and moral. They were all moral laws of God. For the Jews, the Law was as much a lifestyle as a religion.

2. The Bible, in fact in the New Testament, makes it clear that the whole law hangs together as one unified whole:
   
   For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. (James 2:10-11, NKJV)
    

3. The Law was given to Israel not to the Gentiles:
   
   14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) 16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. (Romans 2:14-16, NKJV)
   
   …who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; (Romans 9:4, NKJV)
    

4. Jesus did not come and simply abolish the Mosaic Law – as though God made a mistake – but rather He came and fulfilled the law:
   
   17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17-19, NKJV)
    

5. The early church faced this issue and concluded the Law did not apply to them or to the Gentiles (non-Jews) who were becoming Christians:
   
   1 And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." 2 Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question. … 6 Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. 7 And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: "Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, 9 and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they." … 18 [James said] "Known to God from eternity are all His works. 19 Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, 20 but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. 21 For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath." (Acts 15:1-2, 6-11, 18-21, NKJV)
   
   Note that they advised them on some minor contentious issues of the day but did not impose on them the Law of Moses, the Ten Commandments or even the Sabbath.
    

6. The Mosaic Law is only a shadow of the good things to come – the reality is found in Christ:
   
   For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. (Hebrews 10:1, NKJV)
   
   A shadow is the shape cast by an object that represents the form. It is not the substance or reality. So once you find Christ, there is no need to follow the shadow (ref. Colossians 2:17).

The application of the Mosaic Law to Christians today is inappropriate because it is part of the Old Covenant. We are saved by the New Covenant bought, not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with the blood of our Savior Jesus Christ!

c. Biblical teachings on the Sabbath for Christians.

Jesus was confronted often by the Pharisees about breaking the Law including the Sabbath. Their heavy “rules” concerning the Sabbath went into minute detail delineating what was work and what was not. As you can imagine, their rules sometimes defied common sense. They would allow you to pull your animal out of a hole to avoid being killed but they objected to Jesus healing the disabled hand of a beggar.

One day they saw the disciples pulling the heads off of the wheat grains in a field. This was “harvesting,” an activity strictly forbidden by them on the Sabbath. When they confronted Jesus about this, He said:

25But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: 26how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?" 27And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."

Man was not made to be able to keep a perfect Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for man – to be a blessing and not a curse. God upholds mercy and justice above sacrifice. (Hosea 6:6; Matthew 9:13)

Also consider the following:

• All of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament for the Christian except one – the Sabbath observance.

• The early church worshiped on Sunday not Saturday, observing what came to be known as the LORD’s Day.
  
  Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. (Acts 20:7, NKJV)
  
  Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.
  (1 Corinthians 16:1-2, NKJV)
  
  I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, (Revelation 1:9-10, NKJV)
   

• Christians are told NOT to judge anyone about Sabbath observance.
  
  16Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17, NKJV)

4. The Bottom Line on the Sabbath

Sabbath observance is not a commandment for Christians.  That said, the Sabbath principle is a good pattern to live by. God gave us a good example – to work six days and rest for one. The human body was not meant to work constantly – Jesus needed down time and so do you.

The more important principle is this – The Sabbath was intended to teach the Israelites to be devoted to God and to depend upon God. You and I need to learn to be devoted to God and to depend upon God not one day a week but 24/7. If we can learn this, we will be effective servants of the LORD.

©  Copyright 2005, Randy Lariscy.

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