Exodus 20:8-11 Remember The Sabbath

As we discussed over the last few weeks in the Ten Commandments, the first four deal with your relationship with God, and the last six deal with your relationship with others. If you get commandment number one right—love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength—you're probably going to do pretty well with the rest of them because everything flows in line. However, we also need to understand that these laws, these commandments, are not just good ideas or suggestions. They were God's commandments for his people. So, we need to understand the weight of the commandments, but also recognize that they are not meant to confine us but to provide a framework to help us get the most out of life. God knows more about you and what you need than you do, and the Ten Commandments help guide us to his very best for our lives.

First and foremost, the Sabbath was established by God's pattern of work. It was established in the very beginning—Genesis 2:1-2—thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. On the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had done. This was God's example, his template, his pattern that he established. We find with the people of Israel that he had implemented this flow of life for them even before the Ten Commandments were given. Exodus 16:22-26 says this: On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each, and when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, "This is what the Lord has commanded: Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning." So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none."

So, God was establishing this pattern with his people: six days of the week, you're going to go out into the field, and you're going to find manna for your provision. Day seven, you're going to go out, and you're not going to find anything; it's a day of rest. So leading up to the Sabbath, the day prior, you need to gather twice as much. And just to show you my love for you and my power for you, it's not going to spoil, it's not going to go bad, it will supply your needs. You are trusting me for your sustenance, and that's an important concept we'll dive into a little more here momentarily.

The pattern was already established before the commandment is given, but then we get into the command. Let's dive into our text here, Exodus 20, starting at verse 8: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." So, the first word we want to take notice of is that word "remember." I took a look at the dictionary and said, "Well, what does 'remember' really mean?" It says to be mindful of needs, to be at the forefront of our thoughts. "Remember the Sabbath;" we need to reflect, we need to ponder, we need to understand its meaning, we need to understand its significance, we need to take time to mentally engage with Sabbath. Deuteronomy 5:15 adds another component to the memory. Deuteronomy 5 is a retelling of the Ten Commandments by Moses, and in chapter 5, verse 15, he says, "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day."

So, the Sabbath day's purpose was not just the pattern that God had established, but it was also to remember what God had done for his people. That you once were in captivity, now you've been set free. It's a chance to reflect and to remember. It's also a legacy component—the idea being that your children will ask someday, "How come we're not doing any work on this particular day?" and it's an opportunity for you to tell your children, "This is why we do that. We were once in captivity; God set us free. Here's how he delivered us. Here's the story of faith," and it perpetuates generation to generation.