Yes! There is Good News! 11.2.18

In looking at the Fourth Commandment we saw, last week, that there was a slight difference in the two instances where the Ten Commandments are written. Deuteronomy begins by telling us to “Observe the Sabbath day” and Exodus starts by telling us to “Remember the Sabbath day. In Exodus the emphasis of this command is related to the creation found in Genesis 1 and 2. Within this version we find written, “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 animals, not 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.”

As we look at this, let us note that God is concerned with animals. He is the Creator and He has compassion upon all the He has created. The alien that might have been living among them (There were a few Egyptians that tagged along with them as they left Egypt.) was also to be given a rest day. But the emphasis here is upon creation week.

In the other version of the commandments found in Deuteronomy we find this addition, “The seventh day is a Sabbath day to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, not your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath Day.” The emphasis here is on the fact that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. This was something that God wanted His people to remember and so to memorialize it by keeping the Sabbath day; a day of freedom.

Allow me to consider here what the Apostle Paul tells us about our own slavery. In Romans 6:16 we read, “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” Jesus Himself said in John 8:34, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”

And so, what is the sign that leads us to remember our freedom? It is the Sabbath day! And our freedom leads us to rejoice in the freedom of obedience.

Within both of these versions we find written that the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD. This is not a man-made concept. God blessed the day and made it holy; only God can make a day holy! It is a gift from God to us and is something to be valued.

In every place I look, I see the hand of God giving good gifts and blessing to His people – let us rejoice in our God!