The Fourth Commandment- Part 1
First, we must come to terms with what it means for God to rest.
The Fourth Commandment – Part 1
Exodus 20:8–11
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy … For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”
The first four commandments define our relationship with God. The remaining six deal with our relationships with people. The fourth commandment, about the Sabbath, concludes the first section.
The Sabbath Day is about rest. God is all-powerful, eternal, infinite, and never grows weary. So if God does not need to rest, why did He? And why are we called to remember it?
Let’s start by coming to terms with what it means for God to rest. When we talk about rest in English, we usually mean that we are tired and need a break. Once we have rested, we can start again, refreshed and ready to continue. That idea doesn’t fit when applied to God, does it?
The Bible means something different when it talks about rest. When it says that God rested, it meant that His work was complete. It was finished so He ceased from His work. He didn’t “take a breather” from creating; He finished it.
That can be hard to grasp because we experience the Sabbath differently. For us, it is a weekly pause: we stop our work, set it aside for a time, and then return to it.
It takes a while to let that sink in because our understanding of the Sabbath is different. And since we often picture God in human terms, we assume the same is true for Him. Instead, we should think of it this way: “God made the heavens and the earth in six days, and on the seventh day it was complete. His work was done.”
Tomorrow: Why is this distinction so important to us?
