In Exodus 20, the fourth commandment required Israel to take a Sabbath rest on the seventh day of each week. This pattern was established by God as he rested on the seventh day from his work of creation. And so while the command is indeed part of the Mosaic Covenant, it is also a pattern built into the very framework of creation.
In Deuteronomy 5, a different reason was given for keeping the Sabbath. God reminded them that they were slaves in Egypt, but God had saved them out of their slavery. And so everyone (even the animals!) ought to enjoy and celebrate this new freedom by resting on the Sabbath. Here was a great blessing for everyone to enjoy!
And yet, by Jesus’ day, the Sabbath had become a burden with a myriad of man-made rules attached to it. And so Jesus teaches us further about the Sabbath in Matthew 12:5-14. He makes clear that acts of ministry (like priests offering sacrifices) can be part of the Sabbath. He demonstrates that acts of mercy (like Jesus healing people) can be part of observing the Sabbath. And acts of necessity (like getting a sheep out of a pit) are also acceptable on the Sabbath. In other words, while it is a day of rest and worship, we can do good things for other people (and animals) on this day. Again it was to be a day of blessing!
Many Christians these day have lost sight of the Sabbath, and so have lost out on a great blessing. Some Christians argue that this command is only for Israel, and has no place today. Some claim that since this command is not repeated in the New Testament, that it is not applicable to us. But here in Matthew 12, and indeed scattered throughout the gospels, we find Jesus teaching about the Sabbath. Apparently the gospel writers believed Christians needed to be instructed on the Sabbath. If it does not apply to us, why include it in the gospels when there is so much Jesus must have said and did that we know nothing about?
And in Matthew 12, we are told that Jesus is the lord of the Sabbath. The Lord we follow is lord of the Sabbath, which strongly suggests we ought to follow him in keeping it. And in Mark 2:27, we are told that the Sabbath was made for man – again it is a blessing designed for people!
While the Sabbath command remains, its application changes under the New Covenant. Because Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, the church quickly started meeting for worship on that day (Acts 20:7, I Corinthians 16:2) instead of the seventh day. Instead of remembering creation and salvation from Egypt, now we remember Jesus’ work of re-creation and salvation from sins through the cross and resurrection. And so the early church celebrated our salvation through the Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7), did acts of ministry like teaching (Acts 20:7), and also acts of mercy like giving (I Corinthians 16:2) – all on the first day of the week.
My purpose here is not only to encourage you to rethink the fourth commandment’s application for today, but even more to encourage you to consider what a blessing it would be for all of us to follow it whether it is required or not.
- What a blessing to step out of the commercial rat race one day a week.
- What a blessing to rest from the busyness and constant running of the rest of the week.
- What a blessing to get a break from our jobs and school work once a week.
- What a blessing to have a day set aside for corporate and private worship.
- What a blessing to have a day to spend extra time in the Word and prayer, growing in our relationship with the Lord.
- What a blessing to spend time with God’s people doing ministry and acts of mercy.
- What a blessing to have time free to spend with family and friends.
The Sabbath is a command, but it is also a gift. A day of worship and rest. A day of delight and joy.
A day of blessing.
Brian J. Mikul 
I love the Sabbath Truth. And with the help of our Lord, I also blog about it, so that through the Holy Spirit people can rethink and keep the Sabbath again as it was both in ancient and in the Lord’s time! But there is something within your post, which is a problem to me. I mean, I could notice when you also talked about the 1st day of the week (the so-called Sunday), saying on it we remember Christ’s re-creation on the Calvary’s cross. Well, my question is “Are you saying that we are to keep Sunday as well?” Is it biblical? Isn’t God just commanding us to keep holy the Seventh-day Sabbath only? Where does the doctrine of Sunday come from? Even the word “Sunday” is from paganism, which was “the worship of the pagan sun god (idol worship=sun worship).” Why did Jesus rise on Sunday? Answer: Jesus just rose on the first day of the week, because he was to rest on the previous Sabbath day just as God, after creating the universe, rested as well (remember, the Sabbath is the day of rest). But he didn’t tell his disciples to keep Sunday. Sunday is not a day for us to keep, because the disciples didn’t keep it, they just gathered in the house for the fear of the Pharisees, they were not Sunday at all!
I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon…thanks!
Thanks for the thoughtful comment. I am saying that with Christ’s new work of recreation and a greater salvation, that the church now celebrates the Sabbath on Sunday instead of Saturday. Jesus’ coming has radically shifted everything. The commandment remains, but the application has changed. Even the command itself simply requires six days of work and then a seventh day of rest. For Israel that was Saturday. But what if our day of work started on Monday as it does for so many? Then our day of rest would be Sunday. I’m suggesting the 6 day / 1 day pattern is the main point. For Israel it was Saturday based on God’s example in creation, for the church it is now Sunday (Acts 20:7, I Corinthians 16:2) based on the Lord’s resurrection – which John and the early church refers to as the Lord’s Day (Revelation 1:10). I’m not sure I would agree with your idea that Jesus rose on the first day so he could rest on the seventh. Death and rest are hardly the same. Indeed the Sabbath was to be a day of rest, celebration, joy, and delight – hardly something one does when their soul and body have been ripped apart by death. Those would be my thoughts. Thanks again for the comment.
Regardless of what day we observe or how we understand the fourth command to apply today (and there are many different understandings!), I come back to my main point: a day of rest and celebration each week can be a great blessing to us if we will simply embrace it.
I mean, your comments make me TREMBLE, because God the Creator rested on the Seventh-day Sabbath (Gen. 2:1-3), Israel also rested on the Seventh-day Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11), Jesus also, while on earth, was resting on the Seventh-day Sabbath (see Luke 4:16, 31). And the Apostles kept the Seventh-day Sabbath as their custom as was Jesus’ (See Acts 17:2; Luke 4:16). And to your knowledge, God’s word doesn’t change (Prov. 30:6). So where does “Sunday Sabbath” come from? You see, Sunday is a doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church put into Christianity (see Ezekiel 22:26; Matthew 15:8, 9; Daniel 7:25) . It was never God changing the Law (Matthew 5:17-18). You’d better review your beliefs.
I am looking forward to hearing from you!
Paul went to the synagogue on the Sabbath because that is when the Jews met, and he wanted to preach the gospel (Acts 17). That passage can hardly be used as proof the apostles kept the seventh day sabbath. And God’s Word does not change, but his covenant expectations do, and we have moved from the Mosaic Covenant to the New Covenant with a new sacrifice, new high priest, and I’m suggesting a new sabbath day.