O Day of Rest and Gladness

At church I am in the middle of preaching a series on the Ten Commandments. Yesterday's topic was The Fourth Commandment: Remember the Sabbath Day (Exodus 20:8-11). Most Christians and most churches shy away from this discussion. Many assert that "we're not under law but under grace" (a misreading of Romans 6:15) and refuse to consider if the Sabbath commandment has any bearing for us today. That is unfortunate.

Yesterday I labored to show why God commanded the Israelites to observe the Sabbath. There are two major reasons for this found in both lists of the Ten Commandments:

• Exodus 20:8-11 God directed them to observe the Sabbath and rest from all labor. They were to consider this day as holy: something sacred and not to be defiled by working. In so doing the Israelites were following God's example of resting (see Genesis 2) and they were entering into His ongoing rest one day out of seven.


• Deuteronomy 5:15 includes a separate reason for the Sabbath: it was to be a day to remember their former slavery in Egypt and how God redeemed them from that miserable condition.

Added this discussion ought to be the words of the prophet Isaiah:

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the hold day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed your with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” Isaiah 58:13-14

Notice the word 'delight' in verse 13. It comes from the Hebrew word 'oneg' meaning "daintiness or exquisite delight." It can also mean something luxurious or a luxury. God's intent from the beginning was that the Sabbath was to be a luxurious gift to His people, not a chore or a burden. I think that it is safe to conclude that the few in ancient Israel saw it that way and it is abundantly evident from the Gospels that the Pharisees were not even close to this understanding.

Jesus asserted that He did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). He also asserted that He was Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8) and that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). Jesus is thus upholding Sabbath observance but also transforming it to something different and better for Christians. He is upholding Isaiah's assertion that this day is a gift from God and ought to be considered as such.

Here is how the Reformed Tradition has understood the significance of the Sabbath:

• Heidelberg Catechism
  Q 103) What does God require in the fourth commandment?
  A) First, that the ministry of the gospel and the schools be maintained; and that I, especially on the Sabbath, that is, the day of rest, diligently attend the church of God, to learn God’s Word, to use the sacraments, to call publicly upon the Lord, and to give Christian alms. Second, that all the days of my life I rest from my evil works, and let the Lord work in me by His Holy Spirit, and thus begin in this life the eternal Sabbath.
• Westminster Shorter Catechism
  Q 58) What is required in the fourth commandment?
  A) The fourth commandment requires the keeping holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in his Word; expressly one day in seven, to be a holy Sabbath to himself.
  
  Q 60) How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?
  A) The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations that are lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.

Dr. Edmund Clowney argues in his book, "How Christ Transforms the Ten Commandments" that the Sabbath has the following benefits for Christians:

• Physical rest - If the ancient Israelites along with their slaves, their livestock and the foriegners were to rest from all of their labor one day out of seven, how much more are we do the same. We have 6 days to do our work, shopping, homework, and yardwork. Competitive sports ought to be fit in on those other days too. Of course their are times when we must do some work on the Lord's Day and there are occupations when people must work an occasional Sunday but those ought to be the exception and not the rule. Those with laptop computers ought not to be logging in unless absolutely necessary. Those emails can wait! And as we enter into this physical rest we are getting a foretaste of the eternal rest that awaits all of God's people (Hebrews 4:9).


• Spiritual refreshment - The ancient Israelites observed the Sabbath as a day of spiritual renewal. Christians are to do the same. The Lord's Day is chiefly a day for us to receive instruction from His word and partake of the sacraments. That's why our tradition has taught and encouraged morning and evening worship with both services serving as bookends to the day. What better way to observe the Lord's day than to begin and end the day worshiping God and receiving instruction from His Word?


• A Sign of Redemption - The Israelites were to observe the Sabbath to commemorate their redemption from slavery in Egypt. It was to be a day of joy and gladness! Christians ought to observe the Sabbath in the same way: God has redeemed us from our slavery to sin (Ephesians 2) and from the futile ways we inherited from our forefathers (I Peter 1:19). God did this for us as we were spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1) and incapable of freeing ourselves.


• A People Set Apart in Place and Time - When the Israelites observed the Sabbath they were the sole Sabbath-keeping nation on the face of the earth. They weren't out in the fields working nor were their markets open. No doubt the nations looked at this monotheistic nation with its weekly Sabbath observance with wonder. So too Christians ought to be set apart from our surrounding culture by observing the Lord's Day. Our friends and neighbors ought to look at us with wonder about why we hold this day as special and sacred. This is where Dr. Marva Dawn's book, "A Royal Waste of Time" is so helpful. To the watching world we are wasting our time by observing the Sabbath. But what a 'royal' waste of time it is as we worship the Lord of Lords and King of Kings!

The hymn, "O Day of Rest and Gladness," says it better than I ever could:

O day of rest and gladness; O day of joy and light, O balm of care and sadness, most beautiful, and bright, on you the high and lowly, through ages joined in tune, sing "Holy, holy, holy" to the great God triune.

You are a port protect from storms that round us rise, a garden intersected with streams of paradise; you are a cooling fountain, from life's dry dreary sand; from you, like Pisgah's mountain, we view our promised land.

Do you view the Lord's Day as a delight (Isaiah 58:13)? Do you see it as God's luxurious gift to you, a foretaste of what awaits all Christians? Do you see it as a weekly reprieve from the rat race? It is not a chore but a gift. If you haven't thought about it in these terms I encourage you to study it closely. I challenge you to call the Lord's Day a delight. In fact I dare you to call it a delight.