The Sabbath

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping 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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." Exodus 20:8.

The word Sabbath simply means rest or cessation from work. Did you ever wonder why God took six days to create everything? Clearly He did not need to take six days - God is able to create instantaneously - but He decided that He would take six days. And why did He rest on the seventh day? He certainly did not need to rest - for it is impossible for Him to be fatigued - but He did rest from His work of creation. In doing these things He established a pattern, a cycle of life: six days of work and one day of rest.

Many of us give very little thought to how we use the Lord’s Day. In fact any attempt at maintaining the sanctity of the Sabbath is often seen as nothing more than a present day form of Phariseeism. After all Jesus did say the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath? When He made this declaration was He setting aside all the old laws?

In these studies Alistair Begg helps us examine the contemporary Christian Sabbath and asks, "Is it possible that theology has been replaced with expediency in regards to this issue? How should today’s Christian comply with the fourth commandment?"