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Ten Commandments-The Fourth Commandment
May 17, 2025

For the longest time in my backyard the only wild animals I would see were birds, stray cats, and the occasional desert turtle. When I brought a dog into the family, the dog became protector of the birds and kept the stray cats away. JoJo, our dog, even once proudly brought a turtle to me in his mouth as if he wanted to show me his new friend, and after getting JoJo to release the turtle, the desert turtles quickly became late night backyard turtles and mostly hung out in the front yard where JoJo wouldn’t be. Just a few years ago, a new type of wild animal showed up in our backyard, and it almost gave JoJo inspiration to climb the tree. Until that day, neither JoJo nor I had ever seen a squirrel in the backyard. Living in the Chihuahua Desert in El Paso you might think squirrels can’t be found here, and for many years they weren’t, but they were easier to find in the nearby Franklin Mountains. The summer we started seeing the squirrels was a summer of heavy rain which turned the parched desert mountains into something looking like the lush tropical hills of Hawaii. The squirrels kept their distance with JoJo around, and then after JoJo died, the squirrels became more and more curious and bold in the backyard.

They know they can count on some type of unshelled raw nut in the backyard, mostly walnuts and sometimes peanuts, and just about every day they will come to gather nuts, but there is one day where I have noticed they typically do not gather nuts, and that day is Saturday, the seventh day Sabbath of the Bible. I’ve also noticed that the birds which can be noisy around the backyard pond are quieter on the Sabbath. I don’t know if you have noticed that kind of trend with animals where you live, but I see it in my backyard. The Sabbath itself is Biblical and yet it is treated as if it is something archaic and specifically Jewish. Most who call themselves Christians might go to church on Sunday, but no matter how hard a person might try or hope for, there is nothing about Sunday that makes it the weekly Sabbath. The seventh day of the week, the one God rested on at the end of creation week is what we today call Saturday.

It was on the Sabbath thousands of years ago that Jesus and the disciples were walking through a farm field. The disciples were hungry and picked a bit to eat along their way, which was commonly accepted back then, but the problem for them in the eyes of the Pharisees was they were doing this on the Sabbath. The Pharisees looked at the few bits of food the disciples were eating and began shaking their heads because they saw this as work. They quickly challenged Jesus and asked Him why His disciples did that which was illegal to do on the Sabbath. Jesus used the example of David who along with his travelling companions ate showbread from the altar because they were hungry. Implied but not stated in the example given by Jesus was the concept that there is nothing that could be found in the Old Testament to justify what David and his companions did. Jesus probably strategically used this example about David because he knew most would not challenge what King David, a man after God’s own heart, had done about a thousand years before. He also explained that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath, and fully angered the Pharisees by telling them that he was the Lord of the Sabbath.

Mark 2:23-28
And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

After that encounter, Jesus went to the synagogue and in the congregation was a man with a withered hand. The religious elite saw this as an opportunity to entrap Jesus and casually asked Him if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Instead of directly answering their question with a yes or no answer, Jesus presented them with a common Sabbath occurrence, of a farm animal needing some type of assistance on the Sabbath. He explained that if a sheep fell into a pit that the sheep’s owner would rescue the sheep on the Sabbath. Jesus then went on to explain that people are more important than animals, and if people will work to rescue an animal on the Sabbath, that it is perfectly fine to do good things, like healing a person, on the Sabbath. With that explanation delivered, Jesus then healed the man with the withered hand, and that made the Pharisees so very angry they got together and met trying to figure out how to destroy Him.

Matthew 12:9-14
And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue: And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days. Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other. Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.

The Sabbath that Jesus said he was Lord over, and the Sabbath that the Pharisees claimed Jesus was violating is the same Sabbath we can find commanded in the fourth commandment in Exodus twenty.

Exodus 20:8-11
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.

There is the element of not working on the Sabbath that the Pharisees were harping on, but work can be defined in many different ways, and what is being implied is the type of work we do as a servant or as our vocation. Any action we take with our bodies requires energy to complete that action, and by the strictest definition any type of action can be considered work. On the Sabbath we are told not to do any work, and so the Sabbath is not a day for employment, and around our house, it’s also not a day to complete a list of household chores. Just like Jesus healed on the Sabbath, we’ll do things at our house that promote health and safety. Just like Jesus used the example of the sheep in a pit, sometimes we might find a bad situation happening around us on the Sabbath that requires our immediate attention. But week after week, the Sabbath is day where we don’t work. It is a day of rest just like God rested from all the work done during the creation week.

The Sabbath was enumerated with the other commandments in Exodus twenty, but the commandments have been around since the very beginning. After six days of creating heaven and Earth, God rested on the seventh day, God sanctified the seventh day, and in so doing, the Sabbath was created.

Genesis 2:1-3
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem after captivity in Babylon, restoring the Sabbath was a priority for him. He noticed the people who lived in Judah treated the Sabbath as just another day for work, just like today for so many, Saturday is just another day for work. Those who worked in vineyards could be seen pressing grapes to make wine, and using animals to get work done around the farm. If they weren’t pressing the grapes to make wine, they were loading animals with whatever they produced on their farm to go to market. Beyond the locals who sold at the market on the Sabbath were the fishermen and merchants of Tyre. Nehemiah was confounded by the buying and selling that happened on the Sabbath and ultimately decided he would shut the city gates to prevent people from entering the city to buy and sell on the Sabbath.

Nehemiah 13:15-22
In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath. And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day. So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice. Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath. And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.

God not only created the Sabbath by resting at the end of creation week, but God also gave the Sabbath as the fourth commandment in Exodus twenty to serve as a sign between His people and Him to show that it is God that sets them apart from the rest of mankind. The people of Israel rebelled against God and polluted the Sabbath by not resting on it and by mingling concepts and ideas from other religions. Polluting the Sabbath was one of many reasons why God scattered the tribes of Israel so that most of what was once Israel are considered to be the lost tribes of Israel.

Ezekiel 20:12-24
Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness. But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God. Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth. I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries; Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols.

God even had enough with religious practices of Israel that seemed to comply with what God commanded. He was tired of their vain offerings, of their ritualistic adherence to the sacred calendar and Sabbath. What Israel saw as doing what God required, God hated, because they used religion to serve as a veneer for the hate and evil that fueled their lives.

Isaiah 1:10-15
Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

Jeremiah pleaded with the people to not do any work on the Sabbath and not to cause others to do work for them on the Sabbath, but to keep the Sabbath holy. If six days are for getting work done, then we keep the Sabbath Holy by focusing on the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness on the Sabbath. Jeremiah also warned of destruction to come if the Sabbath was not kept.

Jeremiah 17:19-27
Thus said the Lord unto me; Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; And say unto them, Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates: Thus saith the Lord; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction. And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein; Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain forever. And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the Lord. But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.

The Sabbath is not a day for scheming and plotting. We should never look at the Sabbath as a day preventing us from doing other things, like work.

Amos 8:4-10
Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. Shall not the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

Beyond the weekly Sabbath are the annual Holy Days that we look at each year. Then there is also the land Sabbath. In the modern world fertilizers are used to get the most out of an acre of farmland, and there are consequences to that approach. When fertilizers are leached from the land through water run-off, those fertilizers almost always impact rivers and bodies of water. In some bodies of water at the mouth of rivers are dead areas where the run-off from fertilizers have killed off life in the water. Through our modern farming practices instead of live-giving water, we have created areas where water is the harbinger of death. The land Sabbath was designed to regenerate the land by having it rest once every seventh year. Fertilizers wouldn’t be used, and crops would not be harvested, even anything that grew of its own accord. The next year, whatever that grew during the land Sabbath would be tilled under the ground becoming an organic fertilizer.

Leviticus 25:1-7
And the Lord spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord. Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee, And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

There are some who think that with Jesus the Sabbath was done away. Jesus did not come to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfill. He also said that until heaven and Earth pass nothing is removed from the law. As long as we have our heaven and Earth that means the commandments are enforced, including the fourth commandment on the Sabbath. With Jesus there was no movement of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, because the Sabbath is tied to the seventh day which is what we call sunset Friday to sunset Saturday.

Matthew 5:17-20
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Written as a psalm for the Sabbath, Psalm ninety-two reminds us to give thanks to God and to praise His name. We are reminded of God’s love and fidelity to His people. Through God’s work we should find happiness recognizing it is God who brings us victory. When enemies arise before us, it is God Who scatters them. Unlike enemies who flee, the righteous are planted like a strong tree that flourishes because of God.

Psalm 92:1-15
It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound. For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this. When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed forever: But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore. For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; To shew that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Isaiah reminds us that it is when the Sabbath becomes a delight for us by doing what God commands that we will reap blessings from God. We cannot allow the Sabbath to become a day of just doing what everyone else does on Saturday.

Isaiah 58:13-14
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

There is no doubting that Jesus was focused on the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness throughout His human life. After all, He taught us to seek first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness. Jesus taught throughout His earthly ministry whenever the need and occasion presented itself, and Jesus also taught on the Sabbath and Holy Days. When Jesus taught on the Sabbath at a synagogue in his hometown, the locals had a hard time conceptualizing that it was Jesus who was teaching them. They saw Jesus as somebody just like them, and not worthy to teach them.

Mark 6:1-5
And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Judas, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.

On another occasion when Jesus was teaching at a synagogue, He noticed a woman with a physical disability, and Jesus removed the disability from the woman, causing the woman to give glory to God. That didn’t sit well with the leader of the synagogue who told the congregation that a person shouldn’t be healed on the Sabbath because there are six other days to be healed. Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy of that thinking by explaining that any person with a farm animal will on the Sabbath take an animal from the stable so it can be taken to a place where it can get water to drink, and that if there was nothing wrong with that, there is nothing wrong with healing people and removing disabilities from people on the Sabbath. This caused the religious elite to be ashamed and the people to rejoice.

Luke 13:10-17
And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

Once, Jesus was eating a meal with one of the prominent Pharisees on the Sabbath and He couldn’t help but notice a man whose body was swelling because his body retained water. Jesus used this to ask the Pharisees directly if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath, and the Pharisees wouldn’t answer Him. With no response from the Pharisees, Jesus healed the man and then reminded them that if they had a farm animal in trouble on the Sabbath, they would make the effort to extricate the animal from its trouble.

Luke 14:1-6
And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? And they could not answer him again to these things.

On another Sabbath close to a Holy Day, Jesus was in Jerusalem when He walked by the pool of Bethesda, where people with all types of disabilities and illnesses congregated waiting to be healed. They believed when the water was agitated it was because an angel was in the pool stirring up the water, and they also believed the first person to enter the pool would be healed. Jesus noticed one person who had been there for years and who was never able to make it first into the pool because of his physical limitations. Jesus asked him if he would indeed like to have his disabilities removed from him, and the man told Jesus he would. Jesus healed the man immediately removing the disability and told the man to take up his bed and walk, which the man did, on the Sabbath. The religious elite saw it as a problem that the man was walking with his bed on the Sabbath and never considered that after more years than anyone could remember his disability was removed from him on the Sabbath. That caused many to persecute Jesus and it caused others to seek his death, because He healed on the Sabbath. Because Jesus was already teaching that God was His Father, that also caused many more to seek His death.

John 5:1-18
After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

In all of this, not once did Jesus remove the commandment to keep the Sabbath. However, not once did Jesus affirm that how the religious elites and Jews of his time kept the Sabbath were aligned to the expectation of the commandment, because Jesus healed on the Sabbath when the religious elites and Jews saw that as a problem. When Jesus said that our righteousness needed to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees if we wanted to be part of the Kingdom of God, He wasn’t telling us we needed to be super Jews, where we apply their standards of understanding better than they do. He was telling us that what we do to obey God, and all His commandments needs to be done without hypocrisy knowing that obedience to the laws of God causes us to have greater love for God and other people. Much of what Jesus faced during His earthly ministry about the law of God and the Sabbath was a human response to the captivity of Israel and Judah. Nobody wanted to be led away into captivity again, so very rigid standards were developed, and over time those rigid standards took precedence over what was in the Bible. Instead of being led by faith, the people became led by standards devised by man. One of those standards referenced in the Bible is the concept of a Sabbath day’s journey. It’s mentioned only once in the Bible in the Book of Acts. A Sabbath day’s journey is about a half mile, about the distance it would take me to walk from my house to either of the major nearby intersections close to my house. Elsewhere, a Sabbath day’s journey is not mentioned in the Bible. We have a command to keep the Sabbath, but a Sabbath day’s journey was developed as a tradition of man to keep the Sabbath, not because a Sabbath day’s journey is commanded in the Bible.

Acts 1:12-14
Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

We cannot keep the Sabbath through fear and terror of making a mistake. In the parable of the talents, the servant who was given one talent who was horribly afraid of what would happen if he lost the talent and went and buried the talent, had that talent taken away from him. We know from the commandment we do not work on the Sabbath, and we also know that Jesus challenged the ideas of what work was during His lifetime and He healed on the Sabbath. We shouldn’t be thinking of the Sabbath as a day where we can’t do much of anything on the Sabbath, and we should be thinking of the Sabbath as day where because we do not work on the Sabbath, we are free to do good through faith on the Sabbath.

After the death of Jesus, we have no evidence of abandonment of the Sabbath by the early church. The custom of Paul was to preach on the Sabbath, with or without Jews. We can look to his preaching in Antioch as an example where on one Sabbath, almost the whole city, probably minus the Jews and a few others, came together to hear Paul preach. If Sunday was the intended day of worship, Paul would have preached on Sunday, and with Paul’s writing ability, Paul would have thoroughly explained the reasons why, and throughout the writings of Paul, there is no teaching given to move from Saturday to Sunday.

Acts 13:42-52
And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.

Those who believe the Sabbath is done away with often cite a verse from Colossians. In Colossians Paul wrote that we are to let no man judge us in meat, drink, or in respect to a Holy Day, Sacred Calendar, or the Sabbath. Those who think the Sabbath is done away, look at this verse and use it to justify to not keep the Sabbath on Saturday. Yet, the very next verse shows that the Sabbath, Sacred Calendar, and Holy Days are shadows of things to come. We are reminded that these all point us to Jesus Christ who is the body of the shadow, foretelling the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Those who overlook the Holy Days, the Sacred Calendar, and the Sabbath, and those who overlook the connection between Jesus Christ and the Holy Days, the Sacred Calendar, and the Sabbath risk being deceived by man.

Colossians 2:16-19
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

Shadows give us an idea of the shape and form of something. If we see the shadow of a person near us, we think there is a person near us. We do not jump to the conclusion there is a squirrel or dog near us. Without the shadow of things to come given to us by the Holy Days, the Sacred Calendar, and the Sabbath, we would be unable to see the shape and form of God’s plan of salvation that is given in the Bible, and because so many who claim to be Christian do not keep the Holy Days, understand the Sacred Calendar, or keep the Sabbath, they do not understand God’s plan of Salvation. Others who do keep the Holy Days, understand the Sacred Calendar, and keep the Sabbath forget to link these to Jesus Christ, and in so doing become nothing more than super Jews. We are not called to be super Jews. We are Christians who affirm the need to keep the ten commandments including the fourth commandment regarding the Sabbath. We know the Sabbath, Sacred Calendar, and Holy Days give us a glimpse into what will soon happen and that what will soon happen is all made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.