The Sabbath, or a rest-day for man.
(For a notice of the variations between the wording of this command in Exodus 20:1-26. and in this chapter, see Exposition.) No Christian preacher could wisely deal homiletically with the question of the Divine intent in the appointment of a seventh-day rest, without noting, in connection with our text, the teaching of our Lord and his apostles thereon. In developing the true doctrine and use of our rest day, let us—
I. INDICATE SEVERAL PRINCIPLES FROM WHICH OUR CONCEPTION OF THE HEBREW SABBATH MUST START. The Hebrew Sabbath has a far-back look. "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." What spaces of time the "six days" represent we may perhaps never know in this life. One thing is clear—a "day" of Divine action must be indefinitely longer than one of man's days. This far-back look, moreover, reveals to us a method of Divine work, after which ours is to be modeled. As man's nature is made in God's image, so our time is to be portioned out after God's order. Further, the basis of the right observance of the day is that of "rest." The word "Sabbath" means that; whatever else may have been connected with the day, the notion of rest lay beneath all. While the Hebrews were to regard the observance of the day as a part of their covenanted duty as a nation, yet the rest was not for them as Hebrews only, but as men. The Sabbath was made for man. Work was to be laid aside, that man might give himself up to a holy and happy day of rest and worship. With a view, moreover, to securing all this, the work of the six other days was to be arranged.
II. THE SUBSEQUENT PRECEPTS ARE ALL IN THE SAME DIRECTION. Never is there anything out of harmony with this benign command to rest (see Exodus 16:29; Exodus 23:9-13; Exodus 31:13; Exodus 34:21; Exodus 35:1-3; Le Exodus 19:3, 30; Exodus 33:3; Exodus 26:2; Numbers 15:32-36). Of such importance to the good of the people was their rest day, that if a man attempted to turn it into a day of common work, he was to be stoned! Severity to the one was a guard of mercy round all! If the people could not or would not guard their rest day for themselves, the great Lord who gave it would shield it for them all! In course of time these precepts were grievously disobeyed, either by an entire neglect of the day, or by a merely formal observance of it (2 Chronicles 36:21; Nehemiah 9:14; Nehemiah 10:31; Nehemiah 13:15, Nehemiah 13:16; Isaiah 1:13; Isaiah 56:2; Isaiah 58:13; Jeremiah 17:19-27; Ezekiel 20:12, Ezekiel 20:13; Ezekiel 22:8, Ezekiel 22:26). Later on, when Jesus Christ came, many had lost the spirit of the day in the letter; so that the day which was given to man as a boon of mercy had come to be a chafing yoke and a grievous burden. Consequently, not even Jesus Christ was a sufficiently strict Sabbath-keeper for the -Pharisees. Hence, Jesus in his teaching respecting the Sabbath, did not divert it from, but restored it to, its original intent. The Sabbath as God made it, was restful, beautiful, and free. As rabbinical teaching had perverted it, it was rigid and burdensome. Men came to be on the Sabbath under a hard yoke; but it was man's yoke, not God's (see in Dr. Geikie's 'Life of Christ' abundant illustrations of this).
III. NEW TESTAMENT INDICATIONS VARY IN FORM BUT ACCORD IN SPIRIT. We find in the New Testament some passages which indicate some observance of the first day of the week (John 20:19-26; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2; Revelation 1:10). It is remarkable how few there are of such. We have no specific precept to direct us with regard to a Christian Sabbath. There is nothing very clear on the matter, either in the Gospels or the Epistles. Judaism is waning; what is peculiar to it dies away; what is worldwide and for humanity, lives. We seem to see the seventh day receding from our gaze, its luster fades and is lost in the brightness of the first day. There is a dissolving view. Winter is succeeded by spring. Here is something which has Christ's sanction and apostolic warrant, viz. meeting on the first day. It is the day of religious assembling, the day of "breaking bread." The God of Sinai has invested the Son of man with all power in heaven and in earth. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. Memories of the great deliverance wrought by him eclipse those of the deliverance from Egypt. Wherefore, ever after, rest-day becomes "the Lord's day." Ignatius says, "Let every friend of Christ celebrate the Lord's day." Justin Martyr, "On the Lord's day, all Christians in the city and in the country assemble together, because that is the day of the Lord's resurrection." Tertullian, "The Lord's day is the holy day of the Christian Church. So gradually, however, did the seventh-day Sabbath change into the first-day rest, that we find for a while both days observed. Accordingly we find, in 'The Apostolic Constitution,' both days named as days for the assembling of the Church; that on the Sabbath and on the Sunday the slaves should rest from their labors, and attend church with the rest to hear the sermon. But as the new skin is forming under the surface, the old is getting looser and looser. Yet for a time, there are two coverings. Soon, however, the old is shuffled off, and only the new is seen. The Sabbath is lost, but rest-day reappears as the Lord's day!
IV. HOW STANDS THE REST-DAY NOW? The fourth commandment had a natural basis and a religious one. It gave a day of rest for man as man, and, as such, has never been repealed. God has never taken away the world's rest-day. It is ours still—a priceless heritage. The religious side of the Hebrew Sabbath, though abolished so far as the observance of Jewish rites is concerned, was at once taken up by the Christian Church, and Christians have, as we well know, by meeting for worship on the first day, recognized the principle of a world's rest-day, and have used it for the higher purposes of the kingdom of heaven. And now to us the Lord's day is
V. WHAT IS OUR DUTY WITH REGARD TO OUR REST-DAY?
1. As men, let us regard it as an inestimable boon for the right use of which we are responsible to God. We are so made, as to our physical constitution, that we require one day's rest in seven. Then let us take the rest gratefully.
2. As citizens, we have a trust to guard for our fellow-countrymen. Legislation can never direct a man how to spend his rest-day, but it may do something to guard it for him. While we use the rest wisely, so that it makes us not only brisker animals, but holier men, let us also give others the rest.
3. As Christians, we have a sacred day for sanctuary worship, and for home and school instruction. We should do everything to show the young that the Sunday is a bright, light, cheery day, remembering that whatever helps best to health, rest, worship, and holiness is, and always has been, lawful on the Sabbath day.
4. As workers for God, the rest day is our glorious day of special service for Christ and for souls, in the very fatigue of which the spirit finds refreshment. Then surely we enter into the Master's spirit. Our meat is to do the will of him who hath sent us, and to finish his work.