"THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT" (An Article by Christian Henry) ~ 7/17/25

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, 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: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:8-11)

The Fourth Commandment, to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, is likely the most misunderstood of the Ten Commandments. The misunderstanding often stems from people only looking at what exists on the surface of the command and failing to ask the right questions about what God is revealing through this instruction and how He is paving the way for Christ. In reality it is a command to rest in God, which serves as a shadow of the greater rest that is coming, or has come, in Christ.

What does this text display? I will go through the text sentence by sentence to thoroughly expound on the commandment:

‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.’

Sabbath means “rest” in Hebrew. We must remember the Sabbath and keep it separate. This cannot be just another day to us; we must keep this day separate and distinct.

‘Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God.’

The Sabbath, under the Old Covenant, was the seventh day, which was to be devote to the worship of the Lord. There were six other days in which to accomplish all their work. But the seventh day was to be kept separate and pledged to 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.’

They were to do their best to accomplish all work on other days of the week, as well as encouraging their family and all under their employ to do the same, so that all could fully commit this day to praising the Lord.

‘For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.’

According to the creation account in Genesis 1, the Lord made everything in six days and rested on the seventh. As a reflection of this, they were to set the seventh day aside to ‘rest’ and worship. God did not rest on the seventh day because He was tired and required a break, but to enjoy His work. As such, God commands us to “rest” in this way and enjoy what He has given us.

‘Wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.’

Because this day was set aside and dedicated to the Lord, it ought to be set aside and made Holy. Jesus instructed us to observe the Sabbath day to worship, remember creation, and rest, so that we can serve God and others.

We can further perceive the importance of this Fourth Commandment, in that it also deals with loving your neighbor, even though its primary focus is on love for God. No one within the boundaries of the ancient land of Israel was to work on the seventh and final day of the week, not even the servants and animals. Giving a day of rest to one’s servants and working beasts was a profound act of love that found its source in the Lord and its application through faithful, Sabbath-keeping Israelites. Keeping the day of rest holy also shows one’s love for God. The rationale for Sabbath observance is the imitation of the Creator, who worked for six days and then rested on the seventh. Fundamentally, we show our love for God in our desire and effort to be holy as He is holy; His holiness is a pattern for us to copy in our everyday lives. The ancient Israelites were duty-bound to structure their entire lives according to God's will, with designated periods of work and rest.

The same principle of imitation applies to new covenant believers as well, although we no longer observe a seventh-day Sabbath. Under the Old Covenant, the Sabbath celebrated God’s work of creation. We celebrate God’s creation under the New Covenant as well; however, the focus is now on the new creation in Christ, which was established through His resurrection on the first day of the week. In the ongoing call to be imitators of God, one way we can pattern our lives after His is to ensure we alternate periods of rest and work within our families. We should be setting aside time, especially on the Lord’s Day, to rest and worship with our loved ones. We should also be diligently working during those times when we are not at rest.

God has set aside a day of rest not to promote idleness, but because we need it. But more than sleep and doing nothing, the Sabbath is a day for focusing on God, worshiping Him, and spending time in fellowship with like-minded Christians: praying, studying the Bible, and meditating. The Sabbath should be a delight, not by doing and seeking our hobbies, interests, and pleasures, but by honoring God in seeking to please Him and do His will.