"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates. For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy. " - Exodus 20:8-11
The Fourth Commandment.
This one is probably a commandment that is one of the most controversial in terms of interpretation and observance. Even our Lord was yelled at by the religious leaders of His day, when He seemed to do good "work" ( healing etc ) on the Sabbath - seemingly breaking this commandment. Since God credited Him with obeying the Law perfectly all His life, He was vindicated as being right and sinless in doing so! How should we interpret this commandment then?
There are those who would say that we are no longer under the Mosaic law and under Grace, so this commandment no longer applies to us. There is an important point to realize here before we move on with any further interpretation.
The 10 commandments that God SPOKE and caused to be written on stone tablets and placed as a permanent memorial in the Ark of the Covenant -are separate from the rest of the Mosaic Law ( which was not similarly treated ) - they expire only when this heaven and earth pass away. In Matthew 5 ( the Sermon on the Mount ) our Lord really elevates these commandments, and actually discourages people from teaching others not to follow them! "Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches people to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." - Matt 5:19 He teaches that the commandments must be observed in their true spirit from the heart. He takes examples - from the 10 - ( do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not bear false witness) to show how our heart breaks these commandments through anger, lust and lies. He -does not- treat the Mosaic Law with the same respect - in fact He explicitly says the law permitting divorce causes people to commit adultery through remarriage and says it should no longer apply, and says an "eye for an eye and tooth for tooth" no longer applies! Please read Matthew 5:17-43 to see for yourself how He elevates the commandments and also repeals elements of the Mosaic law like I have illustrated.
While it is true we are under the covenant of Grace, and are led by the Spirit- God has spoken and written his moral code in these 10 commandments so that we have the dual witness of His Word AND the leading of the Spirit in our hearts - to guide our actions infallibly. Grace does not imply a license for Lawlessness to murder, lie or commit adultery. We must repent and turn from Sin!
So what about Sabbath observance then?
The first thing to note is that it, like the Sacrament of marriage, has its roots in Creation ( before Abraham, before Moses, Before Israel). The reasoning is given in the commandment itself. God rested ( ceased from His work because it was finished - not stopped to catch His breath :-) ) on the 7th day, and we observe a 7th day ( ANY seventh day ) of rest from work in remembrance of His sanctifying it. The commandment does not prescribe a specific day of observance, the Mosaic law does - and God held His covenant people - Israel - responsible for obeying the Mosaic Law (because they agreed to do so!). Gentile believers are under no compulsion to observe a specific day - but should rest every 7 days in similar remembrance to keep this day Holy, and give their servants and animals the day off too! This concept was absolutely unique in the ancient world, and incidentally also points to a literal 7 day creation.
The second thing to note is the introduction of the concept of Rest that prefigures the rest from Sin and Death that is waiting for us in Christ. By observing the Sabbath we are, in a sense, reminding God, and ourselves remembering the final rest that is waiting for us!
We have written about this in more detail here...
http://tabernacleoftheholyspirit.org/bible-study/bible-study-genesis/84-sabbath-rest
Lastly, we are to rest from doing our works and instead let God work through us as He does His works through us. Not our will but His, not our works but His, not for our glory but His! Let His Love flow through you daily, keep your eye open and heart attentive to His leading, and the works will come easy! " For the person who has entered His rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from His. Let us then make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience. " - Heb 4:10-11
Again, we have a write up on that here..
http://tabernacleoftheholyspirit.org/articles-and-opinion/food-for-thought/85-rest-from-your-works
The key takeaway is summarized by our Lord : " The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. " Matt 2:27
God gave us a day of rest from our works that symbolizes the final rest that He has planned and created for us. The rest was made FOR man. If you choose to do good on the Sabbath you can argue that it is "working" ( as the Pharisees did ) but in fact it is actually "keeping it holy" - as Christ did. As we are united with Christ, like Him, we have lordship over the Sabbath and should use our God given judgment and wisdom to observe it. If there are things that need doing, do them and don't feel guilty. If you need to work on Friday or Saturday, if you need to work 14 days in a row - don't feel guilty. Your ( and your servants and animals ) lawful needs for food, shelter, health, will be prioritized higher by our Lord as He always did!
It is good to stop and meditate on the goodness of our God once every seven days. It is good to give rest to those that labor on our behalf as God gives to us who also labor. God takes that so seriously He banished the Israelites to Babylon for seventy years so that the land could enjoy the rest it had been deprived of (2 Chron 36:17-21). He warned them of it in the Mosaic Law- "Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it." - Lev 26:34.
The command to Rest is borne out of the Love God has for us and all His creation. Let us observe it in the same spirit!