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THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT – A BRIEF EXPLANATION
TEXT
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
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.
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)
EXPLANATION
The 4th Commandment touches the most precious commodity of modern life – our time! Yet once again, as we shall see, our response to this commandment will reveal the depth of our love (or lack of it) to God. The 4th Commandment can easily be sub-divided into 3 parts:
(a) What to do? V8
(b) How to do it? V9-10
(c) Why do it? V11
What to do?
When I say “I remember that today is my wedding anniversary”, what does it mean? It means (a) I recall that on this day a number of years ago, I walked down the aisle with my wife, and (b) I am going to do something today to celebrate it. So when God calls Israel to remember the Sabbath day, it is both a call to recall (past) and to act (present). What is the act required? Keep it holy. The word ‘holy’ means to set something apart. In simple words, Israel must set the 7th day of each week apart, mark it as different from the other six days, and do different things on that day.
How to do it?
There are two parts involved: (i) Work on the six days and (ii) Rest on the seventh day. Focusing on (ii), do note that the word ‘sabbath’ means to cease, to rest, not business as usual. We are to make this day different by ceasing our work and by resting. Not just for ourselves but also for those under our authority and care. The ‘rest’ must include physical rest/recreation, as well as spiritual rest, meaning to gather for the public worship of God.
Why do it?
The example of God during the Creation Week is here held up as a model for our imitation. We are to imitate God in working and resting. In calling us to imitate God, we are reminded that God must be in the centre, not peripheral, of our lives.
Another reason is given in Deuteronomy 5:15 – to remember their redemption from Egypt, the house of bondage. Such a remembrance will ensure that Israel will always be grateful to God for His mercy, and hence remain faithful to Him.
In the New Testament, Jesus tells us that "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27) This is the great divine principle given to us to avoid all forms of legalism with respect to the Sabbath. Instead of asking what may or may I not do, the correct question is how could I spend this day to better know my Lord and enjoy the rest He has accomplished for me.
In the New Testament, the 1st day of the week and not the 7th day is the Sabbath. The 7th day commemorates the old creation and the physical deliverance from Egypt. The 1st day, the day on which Jesus rose from the dead, commemorates the new creation and our spiritual deliverance from sin.
In the midst of extreme busyness, am I prepared to set aside time to spend with the Most Important Person in my life?
QUESTIONS TO PONDER . . .
1. Are you convinced that the 4th Commandment is still applicable today and that the day has been changed from the 7th to the 1st? Why or why not?
2. What are the benefits of obeying this commandment?
3. Nehemiah 13 records an incident of how Nehemiah imposed the keeping of this commandment on the Jews during his time. What principles can we learn and apply from this account to the way we observe the Lord’s Day today?
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