As we have noted previously, the first four commandments have to do with man’s relationship with God and his recognition of the true nature and character of God. The first three commandments emphasize the truths that God is unique ("thou shalt have no other gods"), God is a spirit and cannot_indeed, must not_be represented by images of created beings, and God is holy and His name must always be used in a holy, reverent manner.
The fourth commandment brings before us the wisdom and power of God in His works of creation and in His deliverance of His people from their enemies. "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day, . . . and hallowed it" (Exod. 20:8-11). "Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day" (Deut. 5:15).
The word ‘sabbath’ means ‘rest’; since God rested from His works of creation on the seventh day, this day was marked out as a day of rest_or sabbath. While in principle the sabbath was instituted on the day following the six days of creation, no command was given to man to observe the sabbath day until the law was given to the nation of Israel through Moses. Mention of the sabbath is made in Exodus 16 in connection with the manna, but this seems to have been in anticipation of the law that was to be given shortly thereafter.
By observing the sabbath, Israel was commemorating the old, original creation, acknowledging God’s power and wisdom in that creation. Every week when they rested from their work on the sabbath day, the people of Israel would be reminded that the God who created the heaven and the earth was their God. The Lord told Israel, "My sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. … It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed" (Exod. 31:13-17).
No doubt one of the side benefits of keeping the sabbath was improved bodily strength and health derived from giving the body and soul a break every seven days from the daily routine of hard labor in the field, household chores, and the like. This aspect is especially emphasized in regards to letting the fields rest every seventh year in order to recover their fertility (Lev. 25:4). Because of Israel’s failure to observe these seven-year sabbaths for a period of 490 years (70 sabbatical years), the Lord led them away captive to Babylon for 70 years to allow the land to recover fully from this neglect (2 Chron. 36:21). Is there a spiritual lesson in this for us? Does not the Lord sometimes allow us to be laid up with an illness or injury so that we will be forced to spend more time in quiet before Him and in reading and meditation upon His Word?
The fourth commandment is unique among the ten in that it is not carried over into Christianity. The other nine commandments are restated and often expanded upon (for example, Matt. 5:21-37; 6:9; Eph. 4:25-28; 1 John 5:21) in the New Testament ministry to believers in Christ (although, as we have discussed in previous issues, these are not presented as a means of salvation or a rule of life, but as minimal evidences that one truly is following Christ). However, nowhere are Christian believers commanded, encouraged, or instructed to observe the sabbath. In fact, Christians are warned against going back to sabbath-observance. In Col. 2:16,17 we read that "the sabbath days … are a shadow of things to come, but the body [or substance] is of Christ."
The prophetic scriptures indicated that Israel’s sabbaths would cease (Hos. 2:11) and that they will once again be resumed during the period of the great tribulation and the millennium when Israel will once again become God’s special people (Isa. 66:23; Ezek. 46:1; Matt. 24:20), Thus it would appear that the sabbath observance was meant particularly and specifically for the nation of Israel, and_unlike the other nine commandments_not applicable to God’s people, the Christians, in the present age.
Recall that the sabbath is a commemoration of the old creation, described in Genesis 1. But this creation was marred by sin, so that now the "whole creation groaneth" (Rom. 8:22). To the honest heart, observance of the sabbath day could not really give rest and peace to the soul, knowing that sin had come in to ruin the beauty and perfection of that creation. This is confirmed by the fact that in spite of the prohibition of work of all kinds on the sabbath (Lev. 23:3; Num. 15:32-36; Neh. 10:31), yet the priests were to offer sacrifices on the sabbath day as on every other day (Num. 28:9,10).
On the other hand, with the death and resurrection of Christ we have the bringing in of a new creation:"Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [or new creation]; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Cor. 5:17). Is it not appropriate, therefore, that the followers of Christ commemorate the new creation on the first day of the week_that day on which Christ arose triumphant over death and the grave, having gained the victory over sin and Satan and all that has come in to mar the old creation!
There are a number of scriptural facts_besides that marvelous, stupendous fact of Christ’s resurrection on the first day of the week_that lend support to the notion that God has established the first day of the week as the day for Christians to devote to worshipping, serving, and learning about Christ:
1. In late afternoon of the resurrection day, Jesus Christ broke bread with some of his followers (Luke 24:30).
2. On two occasions during that resurrection day, Christ met with His followers and disciples and taught them out of the Scriptures concerning Himself (Luke 24:27,44,45).
3. In the evening of that resurrection day, Christ commissioned His disciples to testify of His death and resurrection beginning at Jerusalem (Luke 24:47,48).
4. Exactly one week later, on the first day of the week, while Christ was meeting with the disciples, He received worship ("My Lord and my God") from Thomas when he beheld Christ’s nail-pierced hands and feet (John 20:28).
5. The Holy Spirit came down to indwell the believers on the day of Pentecost_a Jewish feast day that always occurred on the first day of the week (Lev. 23:15,16)_marking the beginning of the Church (Acts 2).
6. The disciples who lived in Troas gathered together the first day of the week to break bread and to hear the apostle Paul preach, even though Paul was in Troas an entire week and they could theoretically have met together any other day of the week (Acts 20:6,7).
7. The believers at Corinth were instructed by the apostle Paul to set aside their monetary offerings for the Lord’s work on the first day of the week (1 Cor. 16:2).
Thus we have ample scriptural evidence both that the Lord does not want Christians to observe the Jewish sabbath (that is, the seventh day of the week), and that He is pleased if we devote the first day of the week to commemorating the new creation based on the death and resurrection of Christ.
It is important to note that Christians are nowhere commanded to set aside a particular day of the week for worshipping and serving the Lord. Rather, God has presented to us in the New Testament a series of wonderful truths and facts relating to the first day of the week, and in the spirit of the grace wherein we stand, it is left up to our own heart’s desire as to whether we devote that day to the Lord.
Under the system of law, the people may have derived benefit from obedience to this or that commandment, but God did not receive much glory if the people refrained from stealing or adultery or observed the sabbath only as a matter of duty, or out of fear of God’s punishment for disobedience. Under grace, however, the Christian has the precious privilege of doing all things to the glory of God. This is carried out as a matter of Christian liberty, motivated by love and appreciation toward God in response to His manifold grace and mercy shown to us, rather than by fear of the consequences of going our own way.
Thus the first day of the week, for the Christian, is quite distinct from the Jewish sabbath. It is not necessarily a day of rest and quiet but, it may be, a day devoted to worshipping the Lord, remembering Him in His death, being taught God’s Word, and serving Him in the gospel. Under the law, the people worked the first six days of the week and rested from their works on the seventh. This is in keeping with the demands of the law which required man to do good works first in order to receive God’s blessing (Deut. 11), even though, manifestly, no one (excepting the Lord Jesus Christ) ever succeeded in doing those good works required to enter into rest. In contrast to this, under grace, the Christian’s week begins with a day of blessing before any works are wrought, and this helps to give him the spiritual strength to keep close to the Lord and work for the Lord throughout the next six days. This is a beautiful picture of God’s ways with the believer in Christ:He first brings us to a saving knowledge of Christ, gives us a new nature, and sends the Holy Spirit to indwell us. Then He sends us, appropriately equipped, back into the world (at work, school, our neighborhood, etc.) to work for Him and bear fruit for Him.
What now, fellow Christian? Given that we are not to observe the Jewish sabbath and given that we have no commandment in the Bible to observe the first day of the week, what shall we do? Shall we use our Christian liberty to spend that day of Christ’s resurrection to cater to our own personal pleasures, to engage in activities that have nothing to do with our resurrection life in Christ and that will be burnt up as wood, hay, and stubble at the judgment seat of Christ? Shall we spend that day that commemorates the birth of the Church by forsaking the gathering of ourselves together? (Heb. 10:25). Shall we consider that we have fulfilled our Christian duty by attending only the Lord’s day morning breaking of bread meeting while neglecting the Bible studies, lectures, prayer meetings, and/or gospel meetings also conducted that day?
There is little question over how a well-instructed, Spirit filled believer should be occupied on the day that commemorates Christ’s resurrection, the new creation, and the beginning of the Church. If, perchance, the child of God is not yielded to Him, no unwilling observance of a day will correct his carnal heart nor would such observance be pleasing to God. The issue between God and the carnal Christian is not one of outward actions but of a yielded life.
May we each grow in our heart’s appreciation of our Lord’s love and grace shown to us, and may we thus respond to that grace by joining our fellow believers in devoting the first day of the week to the worship, ministry, and service of our wonderful Lord and Saviour.
FRAGMENT After weariness of heart in the world_after the Lord Jesus had gone through the world and found no place where a really broken heart could rest_He came to show that what could not be found for man anywhere else could be found in God. This is so blessed! that after all, the poor wearied heart, wearied with itself, with its own ways, wearied with the world and everything, can find rest in the blessedness of the bosom of the Father.
FRAGMENT It is Jesus who gives abiding rest to our souls, and not what our thoughts about ourselves may be. Faith never thinks about that which is in ourselves as its ground of rest; it receives, loves, and apprehends what God has revealed, and what are God’s thoughts about Jesus, in whom is His rest.
FRAGMENT
And here we walk, as sons through grace,
A Father’s love our present joy;
Sons, in the brightness of Thy face,
Find rest no sorrows can destroy.
FRAGMENT There is but one man who never had a place of rest. "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." And if we now have a nest, a place of rest in God, it is because for our sakes Jesus was without rest on earth.
FRAGMENT After weariness of heart in the world_after the Lord Jesus had gone through the world and found no place where a really broken heart could rest_He came to show that what could not be found for man anywhere else could be found in God. This is so blessed! that after all, the poor wearied heart, wearied with itself, with its own ways, wearied with the world and everything, can find rest in the blessedness of the bosom of the Father.
FRAGMENT It is Jesus who gives abiding rest to our souls, and not what our thoughts about ourselves may be. Faith never thinks about that which is in ourselves as its ground of rest; it receives, loves, and apprehends what God has revealed, and what are God’s thoughts about Jesus, in whom is His rest.
FRAGMENT
And here we walk, as sons through grace,
A Father’s love our present joy;
Sons, in the brightness of Thy face,
Find rest no sorrows can destroy.