Few would argue against the commandments forbidding murder or stealing, but the relevance of the fourth commandment is often debated even among those who promote keeping the Ten Commandments. The fourth commandment states: “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 …” (Exodus 20:8-10).
The Sabbath stands as a weekly testimonial to God as Creator. As part of the fourth commandment God tells us, “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 20:11, Genesis 2:3).
Biblical days begin and end at sundown so, no matter how hectic the week, Friday at sunset—the beginning of the Sabbath–-awaits with its promise of physical, emotional and spiritual renewal. God told the ancient Israelites the Sabbath is a “solemn rest, a holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:3). It’s a time for gathering with other Christians to worship God. Through the prophet Isaiah, God reminded Israel: “If you turn your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the LORD…” (Isaiah 58:13-14).
After God freed ancient Israel from slavery in Egypt, and they faced a food shortage in the barren wilderness, God told them He would miraculously supply them with manna every morning except on the seventh day which was the Sabbath, teaching them the important concept of preparing for the Sabbath (Exodus 16:22-26), By Ezekiel’s time, centuries later God punished the Israelites by a devastating national defeat and captivity. One of the Israelites’ most flagrant sins leading to their national downfall and captivity was profaning the Sabbath (Ezekiel 22:26; Jeremiah 17:21-27).
When Jesus was questioned about healing a man on the Sabbath, He answered: “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it, and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:11-12). When we visit the sick or elderly on the Sabbath, we are putting God’s way of life into action (James 1:27).
Most people go to church on Sunday—which is the first day of the week. (To learn when, why and how this was changed, see “From Sabbath to Sunday”). Some may think that the Sabbath was given only to the Jews, but the fourth Commandment states that God hallowed the Sabbath at the beginning of creation, before there was a distinction between Israelite and gentile. Jesus didn’t claim the Sabbath was only for Jews, but that God made it for “man” and stated that He is “Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 11:28, 12:8).
God wants us to have a proper, loving relationship with Him and to do that we must spend time seeking Him. The Sabbath is a time for reading His Word, for prayer and for fellowship with other believers. Sadly, traditional Christianity has for the most part turned its back on the Fourth Commandment. The Sabbath is considered obsolete and fulfilled by Jesus Christ, although He set the example for us of observing the Sabbath.
Nowhere in the Scriptures will you find the day God established at creation as the proper day of rest and worship has been changed or abolished. Most religious groups don’t have a problem with the other nine commandments, but few are willing to submit to God’s will on the Fourth. God’s test commandment compels us to decide whether we are willing to keep the seventh day Sabbath as we are commanded to do.
