The Sabbath commandment
Look at how the fourth commandment beautifully acts as a monument which brings back to memory our God as the Almighty Creator:
““Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.”
Exodus 20:8-11 NLT
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Why? Because 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 set it apart as holy.
Here in the quote which follows is a snippet, a record of an amazing part of God’s creation. The Sabbath is keeping this message alive.
“God’s splendour is a tale that is told, written in the stars. Space itself speaks his story through the marvels of the heavens. His truth is on tour in the starry vault of the sky, showing his skill in creation’s craftsmanship. Each day gushes out its message to the next, night by night whispering its knowledge to all – without a sound, without a word, without a voice being heard, yet all the world can hear its echo. Everywhere its message goes out. What a heavenly home God has set for the sun, shining in the super-dome of the sky! See how he leaves his celestial chamber each morning, radiant as a bridegroom ready for his wedding, like a day-breaking champion eager to run his course. He rises on one horizon, completing his circuit on the other, warming lives and lands with his heat.”
Psalms 19:1-6 TPT
No other day but the seventh caries these memories. No other day but the seventh is blessed and made holy. God was happy with His perfect and completed creation and celebrated on the seventh day. He intended that we should keep remembering this – by following His example every seventh day of each week as it comes. “Remember the seventh day to keep it holy”, He said. You can see the logic in it. Yes. God is perfect in all His ways.
It may be useful here to notice those words from the Sabbath Commandment quoted above:
“…but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God.“ … “That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.”
These words confirm that God made the seventh day special. Dedicated to the Lord your God. Dedicated to Himself. He blessed the Sabbath and set it apart as holy. Obviously intended as a day for worship, as the Israel’s history confirms.
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Did God make a mistake when He included Sabbath into the moral law of the Ten Commandments? Unthinkable! God does not make mistakes.
Generally, people in Christian churches are happy to keep nine out of the Ten Commandments – throwing out the forth, which is the Sabbath commandment. There is certainly no logic in it. And certainly no Scriptural support. The argument usually goes along this line: Jesus fulfilled the law for us so we don’t need to keep the Sabbath. Sabbath keeping is ‘works’. We are told that salvation is by faith alone and through Grace alone.
Oh dear.
It means that: not stealing, not lying, not killing, not sleeping around, honouring your parents – is also ‘works’. Dead works. Come on friends. You have eyes. You have ears. Use them.
What was righteousness in the Ten Commandments at the time of Moses, was the same righteousness at the time of Jesus and at the time of Paul, and is the same righteousness today. God said:
““I am the Lord, and I do not change….”
Malachi 3:6 NLT
Just as God does not change, same is with His Righteousness. With His law. It does not change. What has changed however, is the method of bringing that righteousness into human hearts. With the coming of Jesus, new way has opened for God to act. New Testament is actually the New Covenant, and the core promise of the New Covenant is to bring God’s law into the hearts of all who believe in Jesus. A perfect gift – and none too soon.
““This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.””
Hebrews 10:16-17 NLT
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The Sabbath has no substance. It is made of time. It cannot be seen or touched. Like other divine elements it may only be experienced. God blessed it and made it holy. It resembles other Salvation realities, which in their own ways are also invisible, immaterial, but very powerful – like faith, hope, love, forgiveness, Grace…
Even though immaterial, Sabbath time is blessed and made holy. And is certainly very powerful. Sabbath is a monument to God’s Glory – made out of time – the holy time – which comes back regularly at the end of every week. It is the seventh day Sabbath, and it reminds us that our God is the Almighty Creator.
Weak and sinful human beings as we are, loaded with cares of daily toils, we need this regular remainder – and God provided it.
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Sabbath is God’s mystery. He has elevated the seventh day Sabbath above the other six days. We have just seen how God is using the Sabbath holy time as a vehicle to remember Him as the Almighty Creator. Sabbath also brings to us rest from daily toil; and blessings from worshiping Him; and joy from celebrating akin to that on the first Sabbath day on the planet. But this divine mystery in Sabbath is deep and wide, and one cannot grasp the magnitude of its blessedness by a casual and indifferent approach. Sabbath is.like a magnet that draws heaven and earth together for one who embraces it.
“And it is impossible to please God without faith.”
Hebrews 11:6.
Equally so, without faith, the Sabbath is empty. All its riches and glory are inaccessible. God has placed Himself into the essence of the Sabbath time, and that is what makes Sabbath holy. God designed it to be a foretaste of heaven. It is a window of what is to come. God’s presence is there and that makes Sabbath alive. But all that – is lost to one who does not believe. Who does not obey. There is also a deeper, mysterious Sabbath rest included among the other Sabbath blessings, but it also is entered only by faith. Yes. Believing and trusting we wait till God reveals what this mysterious rest is. In the meantime, all mechanical Sabbath-keeping misses this rich gift of God – which is so sad. Why should we pass by this gift of life God so graciously offers? Faith is a free gift from God. There is no need to miss out.
“We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. …”
Hebrews 12:2 NLT
Therefore please underline this thought: mechanical Sabbath keeping is meaningless and insulting.