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Is Keeping The Fourth Commandment That Serious?
We are commanded to keep the Sabbath Day holy. But how serious is it if we don't keep the commandment? Numbers 15: 32-36 says,
"Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation; and they put him in custody because it had not been declared what should be done to him. Then the LORD said to Moses, 'The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.' So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, just as the LORD had commanded Moses."
2 comments:
So you've proven that Sabbath-keeping is important in the OT. How does that translate into the NT? How does Christ's fulfilling of the law, but not abolishing it, change Sabbath-keeping, if at all? I personally am what you might call a somewhat strict Continentalist, just fyi. I have friends who think that the 4th commandment is the only one of the 10 that is no longer in effect in the age of the church.
Adrian,
Welcome.
Christ fulfilling the law but not abolishing it is key in understanding the fourth commandment for today, just as it is important in keeping the other nine commandments today.
Clearly, the ceremonial aspects of the fourth commandment and those directives for Israel have been abolished, but that which is prescriptive still applies to us.
Since we are not dispensationalists the OT is for us as much as the NT. I believe there are two main foci we should have on the Lord's Day. Isaiah 58 shows that we ought not do our own pleasures. This fits squarely with the fourth commandment in that we are to Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy (to the Lord). In our hearts, what we ought to long for is to worship the Lord in all things. Our focus shouldn't be on our work, our pleasures, our entertainment, but on praising the Lord and sitting under His Word.
Matthew 12 also helps us understand what the fourth commandment is for today in that those things which are necessary (not those things we can say are necessary so we can do them but are actually necessary for survival) can be done on the Lord's Day and those things which tend toward being merciful to others just as God is merciful to us can be done on the Lord's Day.
But this is all about the heart as all the commandments are. In our hearts because of the commandment it should be our goal to worship the Lord in all areas of our life especially on the Lord's Day. The focus is not on ourselves but on the Lord.
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