The Fourth Commandment

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The Fourth Commandment

• Or, Why You Should Take a Holy Rest Every Sunday

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Genesis 21-3 Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them. And on
the seventh day God finished his work that he had
done, and he rested on the seventh day from all
his work that he had done. So God blessed the
seventh day and made it holy, because on it God
rested from all his work that he had done in
creation.
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Exodus 1622-30 On the sixth day they gathered
twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all
the leaders of the congregation came and told
Moses, he said to them, "This is what the Lord
has commanded 'Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest,
a holy Sabbath to the Lord bake what you will
bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is
left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.'
" So they laid it aside till the morning, as
Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and
there were no worms in it. Moses said, "Eat it
today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord today
you will not find it in the field. Six days you
shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is
a Sabbath, there will be none." On the seventh
day some of the people went out to gather, but
they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, "How
long will you refuse to keep my commandments and
my laws? See! The Lord has given you the
Sabbath therefore on the sixth day he gives you
bread for two days. Remain each of you in his
place let no one go out of his place on the
seventh day." So the people rested on the
seventh day.
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Exodus 2310-12 "For six years you shall sow
your land and gather in its yield, but the
seventh year you shall let it rest and lie
fallow, that the poor of your people may eat and
what they leave the beasts of the field may eat.
You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and
with your olive orchard. "Six days you shall do
your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest
that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and
the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may
be refreshed.
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Leviticus 256-7 The Sabbath of the land shall
provide food for you, for yourself and for your
male and female slaves and for your hired servant
and the sojourner who lives with you, and for
your cattle and for the wild animals that are in
your land all its yield shall be for food.
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Exodus 208-11 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep
it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all
your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to
the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any
work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your
male servant, or your female servant, or your
livestock, or the sojourner who is within your
gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and
rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord
blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Deuteronomy 512-15 Observe the Sabbath day, to
keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your
God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your
son or your daughter or your male servant or your
female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any
of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within
your gates, that your male servant and your
female servant may rest as well as you. You shall
remember that you were a slave in the land of
Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from
there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep
the Sabbath day.
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Hebrews 41-11 Therefore, while the promise of
entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest
any of you should seem to have failed to reach
it. For good news came to us just as to them, but
the message they heard did not benefit them,
because they were not united by faith with those
who listened. For we who have believed enter that
rest, as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath,
'They shall not enter my rest,' although his
works were finished from the foundation of the
world. For he has somewhere spoken of the
seventh day in this way "And God rested on the
seventh day from all his works." And again in
this passage he said, "They shall not enter my
rest." Since therefore it remains for some to
enter it, and those who formerly received the
good news failed to enter because of
disobedience, again he appoints a certain day,
"Today," saying through David so long afterward,
in the words already quoted, "Today, if you hear
his voice, do not harden your hearts." For if
Joshua had given them rest, God would not have
spoken of another day later on. So then, there
remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for
whoever has entered God's rest has also rested
from his works as God did from his. Let us
therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no
one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
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Revelation 1413 And I heard a voice from heaven
saying, "Write this Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord from now on." "Blessed indeed," says
the Spirit, "that they may rest from their
labors, for their deeds follow them!"
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Heidelberg Catechism 103 What does God require in
the fourth Commandment? In the first place, God
wills that the ministry of the Gospel and schools
be maintained, and that I, especially on the day
of rest, diligently attend church to learn the
Word of God, to use the holy sacraments, to call
publicly upon the Lord, and to give Christian
alms. In the second place, that all the days of
my life I rest from my evil works, allow the Lord
to work in me by His Spirit, and thus begin in
this life the everlasting sabbath.
WLC 117 How is the sabbath or the Lord's day to
be sanctified? The sabbath or Lord's day is to be
sanctified by an holy resting all the day, not
only from such works as are at all times sinful,
but even from such worldly employments and
recreations as are on other days lawful and
making it our delight to spend the whole time
(except so much of it as is to betaken up in
works of necessity and mercy) in the public and
private exercises of God's worship and, to that
end, we are to prepare our hearts, and with such
foresight, diligence, and moderation, to dispose
and seasonably dispatch our worldly business,
that we may be the more free and fit for the
duties of that day.
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Isaiah 5813-14 "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 holy
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 you with
the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth
of the Lord has spoken."