Remember the Sabbath Day, to Keep it Holy (4th Commandment) Part 1

Introduction

English Standard Version Chapter 2

2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

12 “ ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.

Today we’re going to begin looking at the fourth commandment that was given to Moses at Mt. Sinai. The fourth commandment is the last of the commandments included on the first table of the law. Combined with the other three these four commandments are related specifically to man’s duty or obligation to God, first, to worship him alone, second, to worship him rightly, third, to worship him reverently, and fourth, to worship him regularly. That we’re to worship him rightly, reverently, and regularly. Whereas, the scope of the other six, included on the second table of the law, which we’ll look at in the coming weeks, are related specifically to man’s duty to his neighbor, or as Jesus put it, that man is to love his neighbor has himself.

Now, up to this point, most Christians wouldn’t think twice about whether or not they were obligated to keep the first three commandments, nor would most of us think twice whether or not we’re obligated to keep the last six. However, this isn’t necessarily the case with the 4th commandment. To put it mildly, the 4th commandment has fallen on hard times in recent decades. While very few Christians would debate the permanent and binding nature of the first three commandments and the last six, many Christians in recent history have become convinced that the fourth commandment is no longer relevant, or binding upon them.

Many Christians today assume the 4th commandment was strictly associated with the old covenant, and therefore has since been abrogated or repealed as a result of the new covenant and the coming of Christ. Many borrow from the Apostle Paul in Romans 14:5, and insist that, “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.” and that, “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” Or from Colossians 2:16-17, arguing to “let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath,” because “these are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” So, while most Christians would gladly affirm to 9 out of the 10 commandments, many would argue that the 4th commandment is no longer applicable to Christians today, but that it’s has been fulfilled in Christ.

One of the reasons for this, is the rise of what’s called new covenant theology. Now, most of you may not be familiar with that term, but, in short, new covenant theology is simply a theological system, among others, that attempts to understand how the old and new testaments relate to one another, or how the biblical covenants relate to one another. Now, there are other theological systems that seek to do the same thing, such as dispensationalism and covenant theology, systems which you may have heard of before, but new covenant theology is distinct from these by emphasizing the newness of the new covenant. New covenant theology sees very little continuity between the old covenant and the new covenant. Going so far as to assert that the 10 commandments, along with all the other old testament laws, have been cancelled or superceded by “the Law of Christ”, a phrase they borrow from the Apostle Paul (Galatians 6:2, 1 Cor. 9:21).

New covenant theology makes the assertion that when Paul refers to the “the law of Christ” in the NT that he is referring to an altogether new law or new Christian ethic, that only those OT laws which are repeated in the NT are binding upon Christians today. As a result, new covenant theology typically embraces only 9 out of the 10 commandments, because they don’t believe the 4th commandment is adequately repeated in the NT. However, the problem with their approach is that it assumes that a commandment must be repeated in the NT in order for it to be binding upon the Christian, and this assumption that a commandment must be repeated in the NT to be binding in the new covenant doesn’t seem to have any Scriptural warrant. Where does this hermeneutic come from? Where is the biblical precedent to interpret Scripture in this way? I don’t believe there is any. Now, my point here isn’t to bore you with theological terms and systems, but simply to point out one of the reasons the 4th commandment has fallen on hard times.

On the other hand, there are others who believe the 4th commandment is still binding upon Christians, but believe that the Sabbath should be observed on the last day of the week, on Saturdays, just as the Jews observed it under the old covenant. For example, 7th Day Adventists, those involved in the Hebrews Roots Movement, and other small groups observe the Sabbath just as the Jews did under the old covenant. These groups are referred to as 7th day Sabbatarians.

However, I think both of these positions are in error. New covenant theology fails to recognize the distinctions within God’s law (its threefold division) and therefore dispenses with all of it, starting from scratch under the new covenant, whereas the 7th day Sabbatarians, who also fail to recognize the distinctions within God’s law, usually import all of it into the new covenant, failing to see the differences between the old and new covenants. As Christians, we have to be careful, on one hand to recognize the continuity between the old and new covenants, that they’re not totally unrelated to one another, while on the other hand recognizing the discontinuity between the old and new covenants, that they’re also fundamentally different.

So, my goal this morning is to chart a different path, not an uncharted path, but a path that I believe takes into consideration the distinctions found within the law of God, that all 10 commandments are still binding upon the church today, that there remains some continuity between the old and new covenants, yet recognizing what’s changed in the new covenant, and how the coming of Christ has impacted our observance of the 4th commandment to remember the Sabbath day, and to keep it holy.

Now, we’re going to break up our study of the 4th commandment into at least two sermons, because, first, I want to demonstrate to you the abiding nature of the 4th commandment, even in the new covenant, then in our next time I want to explain what it looks like to keep the 4th commandment, what it looks like to keep the Sabbath in light of the new covenant.

Creation ordinance

That being said, I want to begin today by pointing out that the Sabbath does not find it’s origin at Mt. Sinai, that the Sabbath was not invented at Sinai, but that the 4th commandment is rooted in creation, that it’s what you might call a creation ordinance. Most of the laws given at Sinai were either connected to the moral law, summed up by the 10 commandments, such as Israel’s civil laws (like criminal justice laws, laws for land ownership, or marriage, etc.), or were ceremonial laws that served the temporary purposes of the old covenant (such as Israel’s sacrificial system, dietary laws, holy days, etc.). Most of the laws within these two categories, the civil and ceremonial, were tied to the old covenant, and therefore find their origin at Sinai. However, the 10 commandments, including the 4th commandment, are often referred to as the moral law, and find their origins either at the very beginning of creation, or are rooted in the eternal character of God.

Three enduring creation ordinances

Probably the strongest argument for the enduring nature of the Sabbath is that it’s a creation ordinance. It not only predates Sinai, but it predates the fall of mankind. The Sabbath is one of three creation ordinances, the first is marriage and multiplication, the second is work and dominion, and the third is rest and worship. And as one might expect this created order is intended to continue until the second coming of Christ, until the resurrection of the dead. For example, you might recall when Jesus was approached by the Sadducees in Matt 22:23-30 and they tried to pose what they thought was an impossible question to him, we read,

English Standard Version Chapter 22

“Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. 26 So too the second and third, down to the seventh. 27 After them all, the woman died. 28 In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”

29 But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

Again, my point is simply this, as a created ordinance, the Sabbath, like marriage, is intended to continue until the resurrection of the dead.

Creation ordinances for all mankind

Furthermore, these three creation ordinances are the guidelines established at creation for all mankind, not just the Jewish people, these ordinances are meant to order mankind and creation as God intends, not just those under the old covenant, that all of mankind is intended to have dominion over the earth, to work it and to keep it, and that mankind is intended to accomplish this task through the institution of marriage, Adam and his help-mate Eve are instructed to do this together, subduing and filling the earth by working and bearing children. Furthermore, they’re instructed to rest from their labors each week on the seventh day, setting the day aside as a Sabbath unto the Lord. In Mark 2:27 Jesus famously told the Pharisees that he was the Lord of the Sabbath and that the Sabbath was made for man, not merely for Isreal, but for all mankind. All of mankind, not just a select group, is subject to these creation ordinances. Which is why, for instance, marriage isn’t only for believers but an institution given to all. Mankind is also subject to the need to rest and for worship, as indicated by the Sabbath command.

Man’s need for rest

The Sabbath also teaches us that man has been designed for regular, weekly rest. That our bodies are not intended to work seven twelves in perpetuity, and that to do so pushes the body beyond it’s natural limits. While God himself does not require rest he set for us an example by resting on the 7th day after working for six. Therefore, to say that the Sabbath has been abrogated or repealed as a result of the new covenant would require ignoring our own bodily limitations established at creation, and our biological need for rest.

Sabbath before Sinai

And not only was the Sabbath established in Genesis 2, but we also see the Sabbath at work before it was codified in tablets of stone at Sinai in Exodus 20. Almost immediately after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea to escape the Egyptians, the Israelites, in Exodus 16, began their cycle of grumbling against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. Despite their escape from slavery in Egypt they began to bemoan their circumstances in the wilderness, complaining that despite their slavery, at least in Egypt they had an abundance of bread to eat. But, despite their grumbling, God told Moses that he was about to rain bread down from heaven for them, enough for each day, but that they would need to collect twice as much on the sixth day in order to observe the Sabbath, “a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.” (Exodus 16:23) Even before Sinai the Lord was bringing his people into conformity to the Sabbath.

Tablets of stone signifying permanence

Then, at Sinai, we’re told that Moses was given the 10 commandments on tablets of stone, “written with the finger of God,” (Exodus 31:18) which is significant, because most of the laws given to Israel at Sinai were not written on tablets of stone, and not by God’s own hand, but were written down by Moses, and presumably upon scrolls. Furthermore, the Lord declared the ten commandments to the Israelites by the use his own voice out of the midst of the fire, whereas the other commandments were declared to the people by Moses. The 10 commandments were later kept inside the ark of the covenant, while the rest of the scrolls were kept beside the ark. And my point is this, that there was something clearly unique about the 10 commandments. That they were written on tablets of stone, signifying their permanence, spoken audibly to the people from the mountain, and written with very the finger of God. Therefore, any theological approach that would argue against the permanent nature of the 4th commandment, without serious warrant, shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Sabbath under the old covenant

Now, in addition to the Sabbath’s permanent nature, as signified by the tablet’s of stone, and it’s establishment long before Sinai as a creation ordinance, it’s also important that we understand how the Sabbath functioned under the old covenant. While the old covenant didn’t change the purpose and meaning of the Sabbath establish at creation, we do discover that the Sabbath, under the old covenant, took on additional meaning. At the beginning, the Sabbath was a day of rest that was to be set a part as a day unto the Lord, and it commemorated creation, that God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and rested on the 7th. However, when the law was given at Sinai the Sabbath took on a greater meaning, not less, but more.

Sabbath commemorates Israel’s redemption

In order to see this, turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 5. Now, the 10 commandments were recorded in two separate places, first, in Exodus 20, then again, later, in Deuteronomy 5. Now, there’s no substantial difference between the commandments listed in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, but Deuteronomy does attach additional significance to the Sabbath to those under the old covenant. Read with me there in Deuteronomy 5:12-15,

Deuteronomy 5:12–15 ESV

“ ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

Notice, again, what it says there in verse 15, that “you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” Under the old covenant the Sabbath was also intended to function as a reminder to the Israelites that the Lord had redeemed them from their slavery in Egypt. So, when the old covenant is established at Sinai, the meaning attached to the Sabbath escalates. It not only commemorates God’s rest from his work at creation, but now it also commemorates Israel’s redemption from their slavery in Egypt, it’s meant commemorate the rest they’re intended to find in Canaan. So, while the Sabbath isn’t tied exclusively to the old covenant, the meaning attached to the Sabbath escalates under the old covenant.

Sabbath in the Gospels

Then by the time we reach the NT the subject of the Sabbath remains a frequent subject of discussion in the life of Christ. The Pharisees had perverted much of the law given under the old covenant and turned it into a means of self-righteousness, and through their efforts they even added their own regulations, including dozens of Sabbath regulations. They had turned the Sabbath into a law-keeping endeavor, rather than a day of rest for the people of God. The day had become burdensome rather than a day of rest and blessing, which set the stage for their conflict with Jesus.

Jesus teaches us how to keep the Sabbath

As Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus was rightly disgusted by what the Pharisees had done, tying “up heavy burden, hard to bear, and lay[ing] them on the people’s shoulders.” (Matt. 23:4) Not only were their Sabbath regulations burdensome, but by them they had prohibited works of necessity and acts of mercy. Jesus’ disciples couldn’t even pluck heads of grain while walking through a field of wheat without being charged with harvesting grain. On multiple occasions Jesus they accused Jesus of violating the Sabbath for healing others on the Sabbath. At one point, when Jesus is about to heal a man with a withered arm, he tells Pharisees, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”And what’s striking about all of this is that we don’t find Jesus’ giving any indication that he intended to do away with the Sabbath, but rather that he repeatedly makes a point to teach his disciples how they should keep the Sabbath properly.

The Lord’s Day is fitting

Now, at this point, the question that becomes difficult for us is this, if the 4th commandment is a creation ordinance, not fundamentally contingent upon any particular covenant, and therefore binding even under the new covenant, then on what day should we observe it? And then, how do we observe it properly? Well, with the remainder of our time I want to start by answering the first question, and then in our next time try to answer the second.

Now, to answer the first question, I want to do so by giving you several reasons why I think, as a result of the new covenant, the Sabbath should be observed on Sunday, the first day of week, rather than on Saturday, the last day of the week. On the face of it, I think this can appear to be a tall order to prove, because there’s no specific verse or chapter in the NT that answers this first question directly, but I think after we consider all of the Scriptural evidence that it’ll quickly become apparent that it’s fitting that the Sabbath should be observed on the first day of the week under the new covenant.

Apostolic practice

The first reason I believe the Sabbath should be observed on the first day of the week is because of the Apostolic practice of the early church. In other words, the first indication we have that the day had changed comes from Apostolic tradition, not from any tradition found outside of Scripture, but from the Apostolic tradition we see very clearly within Scripture, more specifically, that the early church, from the very beginning, was meeting regularly on the first day of the week, rather than the last day of the week. For example, when the Apostle Paul instructed the church at Corinth to take up a collection for the Jewish believers who were in Judea he wrote this in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4,

English Standard Version Chapter 16

16 Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. 3 And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.

Notice Paul’s reference to the “first day of the week” as he instructed the church in Corinth to take up an offering for the churches in Jerusalem. His assumption was that when they gathered together on the first day of the week, as they were accustomed to doing, they would to bring what they had stored up over the course of the week on that day, so that it could be delivered to Jerusalem when Paul arrived.

We also see the church explicitly meeting together on the first day of the week in Acts 20:7, when Paul ends up preaching late into the night, and a man named Eutychus, who was sitting in a window, fell asleep, and fell three stories to his death. We read,

Acts 20:7 ESV

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

Then later in Revelation 1:10 when the Apostle John was given a vision of the apocalypse we’re told it took place on the Lord’s day, which is what the church has historically called the first day of the week ever since.

It set the Christians apart from the Jews

What’s also interesting about this change from the last day of the week to the first day of the week is how this change immediately set the Christians apart from the unbelieving Jews. Because the Christians worshiped on Sundays rather than Saturdays this immediately set them a part from Judaism. In fact, those who kept the Sabbath on Saturday’s quickly became associated with those who denied the resurrection. That those who embraced the resurrection of Christ worshiped on Sunday, whereas those who did not, worshiped on Saturday.

Ignatius of Antioch, a bishop in the early church, who’s believed to have been discipled, at least in part, by the Apostle John in the late first century wrote this in one of his letters, “If, then, those who had lived according to the ancient practices came to the newness of hope, no longer keeping the Sabbath, but living in accordance with the Lord’s Day.” As one commentator of Ignatius put it, “The sabbath, for Ignatius, [was] the badge of a false attitude to Jesus Christ, while the Eucharistic worship on the Lord’s Day [defined] Christianity as salvation by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (Bauckham)

The resurrection

Which brings me to the second reason I believe the Sabbath has shifted to the first day of the week, that is, the resurrection. The reason Sunday became known as the Lord’s day was because it was the day that Jesus rose from the dead, the day of his resurrection. Therefore, it’s fitting that under the new covenant the Sabbath would be observed on the first day of the week, rather than the last, as a result of the resurrection, because as John Calvin put it many years ago, “Every Sunday is like a little Easter.”

Furthermore, it was on the first day of the week that many of Jesus’ resurrection appearances to his disciples took place, while they were gathered together. It was also on the first day of the week when the early church was gathered together in the upper room on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, 7 weeks after the resurrection, when the Holy Spirit fell upon the church. Therefore, it’s clear that the first day of the week played a very significant role in the life of the church as a result of the resurrection.

The new covenant

The third reason I believe the Sabbath has shifted to the first day of the week is as a result of the new covenant. And here’s what I mean by that. I pointed out earlier in Deuteronomy 5 that when the law was given at Sinai that the Sabbath took on greater meaning. That under the old covenant the Sabbath was also intended to function as a reminder to the Israelites that the Lord had redeemed them, that it not only commemorated God’s rest from his work at creation, but under the old covenant it also served to commemorated Israel’s redemption from their slavery in Egypt. That when the old covenant was established at Sinai, the meaning associated with the Sabbath escalated or intensified.

And similarly, when the new covenant was established at the the coming of Christ I think we’re meant see how that escalation continued as the Sabbath shifted from the last day of the week to the first day of the week. That, while at first, the Sabbath commemorated God’s rest from creation, later, under the old covenant, it commemorated Israel’s redemption from their slavery in Egypt, and finally, under the new covenant the Sabbath, now referred to as the Lord’s Day, commemorates the arrival of a new creation, a new heaven and a new earth, and our redemption from our slavery to sin, that the Sabbath now reminds us of the rest we find in Christ. That just as Joshua was intended to give Isreal rest from its enemies, Jesus now gives us reset from ours.

A sabbath rest remains

Now, it’s at this point, many argue that because Jesus is our rest, that the Sabbath has therefore been fulfilled, and therefore done away with. That like the other ceremonial laws of the old covenant the Sabbath is no long binding upon us. That the Sabbath was a “shadow of the things to come, but that the substance belongs to Christ,” who has already come. And while this conclusion may seem appealing on its face, the problem is that the rest we find in Christ is an inaugurated rest, it’s a rest that still awaits its final consummation at the second coming of Christ. On one hand, the Sabbath, or the Lord’s Day, commemorates our redemption from sin and death, but it’s also a constant reminder that we’re still looking forward to the consummation of that rest, the resurrection of our bodies, our glorification, when death, the last enemy, is finally destroyed. Therefore, a Sabbath rest still remains for the people of God until Christ comes again.

Conclusion

So, to summarize, the 4th commandment, that we should remember the Sabbath, and to keep it holy, was given, first, at creation. That it’s one of three creation ordinances given to all mankind, not exclusively tied to, or contingent upon, any one covenant, but God’s intention for all of mankind. That, like the other creation ordinances will persist until the second coming of Christ. That the Sabbath was later given again at Mt. Sinai to the Jews, under the old covenant, to follow, written on tablets of stone, signifying it’s permanence, and given greater significance by reminding Israel that God had redeemed them from their bondage to slavery in Egypt. Then, later, at the time of Christ, after the Pharisees had long perverted the Sabbath, Jesus instructed his disciples how to keep the Sabbath as it was intended from the very beginning, that it was never meant to be a burden, but a day of rest and of blessing, until finally at the resurrection of Christ on the first day of the week, and the establishment of the new covenant, even greater significance was attached to the Sabbath, like Israel’s redemption under the old covenant, the Sabbath, now called the Lord’s Day, signifies our own redemption from our slavery to sin. Yet, we still look forward the consummation of that rest when Christ comes again, at the resurrection, when we are glorified with him, when death, the last enemy, is finally destroyed.

Prayer