The Fourth Commandment - One Day A Week

(Before I start, let me encourage you again - DO NOT just skim over the verses in this post! Whose words mean more in this article, GOD's or MINE? If you skip over anything here, skip what I said and read the verses!)

Exodus 20:8-11 - "Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you.
For in six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day He rested. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy."

Stop And Rest

When God created the world, He did it in six days and took one day off to rest. Why would an all-powerful, tireless, ever-working God need a day of rest? Actually, He didn't need it. He didn't rest because He was tired. He rested to set an example for the day-old humans that He created. God showed mankind how their time should be organized. Six days on, one day off - this was the way God intend us to live.

Our years are governed by the earth's revolution around the sun.
Our months are governed by the cycle of the moon.
Our days are governed by the rotation of the earth.

But the seven-day work week has no external contributing factors. There are no outside reasons for it. It doesn't fit into our months or years. There is simply no outside explanation for it outside the Bible!

Side note: In 1793, the French Revolutionary Government tried to change their weeks from seven days to ten. They thought that ten days made more sense than seven. It'd be more productive, and it'd fit into a 30-day month easier. (The real reason for the change is that the atheistic government wanted to sever all ties with the Scriptures.) But it was a disaster! In 1803, ten years later, the French government reversed course and went back to seven-day workweeks again.

It seems that humans are hard-wired to work for six days and rest one. You may think you have too much to do. You may think you don't have time to put aside one day a week to rest. But, your Creator knows better than you. HE made you, and HE knows how your body works. In a perfect world, with no pain or sorrow or hard labor, God still had His people set aside one day a week to rest. How much more would we need this day after the world fell into the curse?

Stop And Gather

Still, the Sabbath was intended to be more than just a day off. God had more in mind for this day that just taking a break. This is obvious from what He first said about it: "...the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy." When you read through the first five books of the Bible, God usually describes the Sabbath the same way - as "holy". 

More than just a "day off" - God intended the Sabbath to be His standing appointment to meet with His people. We see this stated plainly in the two verses below:

Leviticus 19:30 - "Keep My Sabbath days of rest, and show reverence toward My sanctuary. I am the LORD."

Leviticus 23:3 - "You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly." 

God's plan was to meet with His people when they gathered together in holy assembly, one day a week.

Let's be clear, God wants to visit us at any time and in any place. There's no limit to His relationship with us! So don't think I'm limiting God to one day a week. But there is a set time when He wants His people to gather together in His name. And from what we see in scripture, He wants this special time at least once a week...on the same day that we're not working.

You may say, "The Sabbath day is for the Old Testament, we're not bound to that in the New Covenant!" Well...that's true in a sense. We're not "bound" to the Sabbath, but now we're free to keep it! 

Would you agree that we should be following Jesus' example? What did HE do while He was here on earth? Luke 4:16 shows us: "So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day..."

Jesus' custom was to gather with God's people in the synagogue once a week!

Revised, But Not Cancelled

After His resurrection, Jesus took the concept of the Sabbath day and revised it for His church. In Mark 16:9, we read, "Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene..."

Later on the same day, Jesus appeared to all of His disciples as they were meeting together. Well, all of them except Thomas. He had to wait for a week, when Jesus appeared to them again as they were gathered, on the first day of the week.

This began the church tradition of meeting on Sundays - the first day of the week. Acts 20:7 shows us that this custom continued indefinitely - long after Jesus had returned to Heaven.
"Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread..."

We know that the early church met often, even daily at times. But they still set aside the first day of the week as something special. This is the heart of the fourth commandment. We have a standing appointment with God, and with His people. 

Of course we're under grace now...but shouldn't that motivate us to do more that we're required to do? Why would any believer that has been saved and empowered by God's grace insist on doing less than people did under the law? Shouldn't you have the desire to gather with God and His people?

Listen to what Paul says in Hebrews 10:25, "...not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."

God wants to meet with us.

Not just with you...not just with me; He wants to meet with us! And He even gave us a day off to keep this standing appointment with Him! Instead of ignoring the Sabbath day, we should follow what God said...and keep it sacred.