What does it mean to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy?

The fourth commandment was to remember the sabbath day (v. 8), the last day of the week (Saturday) to keep it holy, that is, sanctified from all other days for the purpose of being devoted to God. Israel had six days to labor, but the seventh was a day of rest.

At Sinai the people of Israel were enjoined to "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy." There were to be no sinful desires, no sinful actions, no sinful associations. They were to regard the claims of Jehovah upon them and observe the day to Him, distinguishing it from the six days by abstaining from all manner of work, i.e., all labour usually undertaken for personal gain or gratification or comfort.

In the Mosaic economy, the day of rest was made to succeed the six days of toil. Jehovah in promulgating the law on Mount Sinai commanded, "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" (Ex. 20:8-11).

It is not overlooked that there are earlier references to a hebdomadal division of time, and also to the seventh day as the sabbath. But only when incorporated with the "ten words," did it possess the nature of a legal obligation, so that to break the sabbath, by gathering sticks, for instance, was punishable by death. It was the sabbath of Jehovah Elohim, and it was to be hallowed to His worship and service.

It was to be a sabbath of rest to them. While it is true that its holy character was enforced by divine authority, it remains that its peculiar feature was that it was a day of rest. In contrast with their labours of the six days, they were to do no manner of work on the seventh.

Now if one word more than another is characteristic of the ancient economy, it is the word, "Do." "The man that doeth these things shall live in them." It was therefore the man that laboured for six days that rested the seventh. Had he for six days loved the Lord his God with his whole being, and his neighbour as himself, he could then, in a worthy manner, remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. But alas! in this as in every other commandment Israel failed. They estranged their hearts from Jehovah. They did their own pleasure on His holy day, and thus profaned His sabbaths. So that we find throughout the prophets that the Lord brings a continual charge against His people for breaking His sabbaths. They proved themselves unable to discharge their responsibility Godward in the due observance of this day. Being unholy for six days, it became impossible to keep holy the seventh.

THE SABBATH: A SIGN BETWEEN GOD AND ISRAEL (vv. 12-18)

In this place God's insistence on the keeping of the Sabbath is most appropriate. When work has been given us to do, there may be a danger of our getting carried away because of the work we are doing. One day in the week the work was therefore to cease. Even a matter so important as the building of the tabernacle was to give place to the rest that is necessary both physically and spiritually. “The Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27), for God has true consideration for the need of physical rest, but as well as this, in man's ceasing one day a week from his work, he is intended to realize that he is not to depend on his own work, but on the grace of God. This last day of the week was therefore set aside that man might have his soul specially encouraged and strengthened in the Lord.

The sabbaths were to be kept for the Lord, as a sign between God and Israel. This was not told to Gentiles, just as the law was given only to Israel, not to other nations. The sabbath therefore was a special witness to the relationship that existed between God and Israel, to be kept throughout all their generations, for the purpose of keeping Israel reminded of the greatness of the living God, who sanctified them, or set them apart for Himself.

The weekly sabbath is mentioned first of all. For six days work was to be done, but every seventh day was to be a time of complete rest. Other scriptures indicate the special character of the sabbath. For instance, Deuteronomy 5:15, states that it was to act as a reminder of their deliverance from Egypt. Again, Ezekiel 20:12, shows that it stood as a sign between God and Israel, that there was a covenant between them. It signified rest after work accomplished. This was the case in creation when, after six days of work which was very good, God rested. Under the law Israel was to work for six days, and so earn a rest on the seventh.

In reading the Gospels, we cannot but be struck with the frequency with which our Lord's recorded works of mercy were done on the sabbath, incurring the anger of Pharisees and scribes. Israel had wholly broken the covenant, so He was setting aside the sign of it, and showing also that there was no rest for God in a creation that had been ruined by sin. Hence that great word of His, recorded in John 5:17, "My Father works hitherto, and I work." We are delivered from the law, and it no longer forms the basis of our relation with God. We stand before God in righteousness, accomplished by the work of Christ, and therefore we begin with rest on the first day of the week, instead of reaching it at the end by works of our own.

This was to be observed every week on the seventh day, so that it overspread the whole year. It was to be a day of rest, with no work to be done. It teaches us that we are to rest on the value of God's work already accomplished, not daring to add any work of our own to this. Such a reminder was necessary for Israel, and is necessary for us.

This was to be observed every week on the seventh day, so that it overspread the whole year. It was to be a day of rest, with no work to be done. It teaches us that we are to rest on the value of God's work already accomplished, not daring to add any work of our own to this. Such a reminder was necessary for Israel, and is necessary for us.

The Sabbath was the one day in which no work was to be done. Also no fire was to be kindled that day (v. 3). This would be a cruel law if applied to the inhabitants of an extremely cold climate, but it applied only to Israel. The Sabbath also was to be a day when God's judgment was not kindled, - neither a day of work nor or judgment, but of rest. It looks on therefore to God's eternal day, when He will have accomplished all His work, and judgment has accomplished its ends, so that He may fully rest in His love and rejoice over us with singing.

The Sabbath had a peculiar place in relation to Israel: thus in Lev. 23, in the feasts of Jehovah, in the holy convocations, the Sabbath of Jehovah is first mentioned as showing the great intention of God. God had delivered Israel out of the slavery of Egypt, therefore God commanded them to keep the Sabbath. Deut. 5:15. The Sabbath was the sign of God's covenant with them, and it may be that the Lord in repeatedly offending the Jews by (in their view) breaking the Sabbath by acts of mercy foreshadowed the approaching dissolution of the legal covenant. Ex. 31:13, 17; Ezek. 20:12, 20. The Sabbath foreshadowed their being brought into the rest of God; but, because of the sin of those who started to go thither (who despised the promised land), God sware in His wrath that they should not enter into His rest. Ps. 95:11. God has purposed to bring His people into His rest, for whom there remains therefore the keeping of a Sabbath. Heb. 4:9.

The Sabbath was never given to the nations in the same way as to Israel, and amid all the sins enumerated against the Gentiles, we do not find Sabbath-breaking ever mentioned. Nevertheless, it appears to be a principle of God's government of the earth that man and beast should have one day in seven as a respite from labour, all needing it physically.

The Christian's Sabbath is designated the LORD'S DAY — and is as distinct in principle from the Jewish legal Sabbath as the opening, or first day of a new week is from the close of a past one. The Lord lay in death on the Jewish Sabbath: the Christian keeps the first day of the week, the resurrection day. See LORD'S DAY.

We cannot be too thankful that the law of the land and the customs of the countries in which we live give us the Lord's Day free from the ordinary business of the week. While not under the law of the Sabbath (if we were, we should have most rigidly to observe the seventh day, Saturday, not the first), there is an evident necessity for a period of rest, one day out of the seven, needed by all alike, and doubly prized by the child of God as affording a cessation from that constant strain of business which is racking to nerves, mind, and heart alike.