The Fourth Commandment (Part 3)

This is the third part of the 3-part series on the Fourth Commandment. You can see Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Q. 57. Which is the fourth commandment?

A. The fourth commandment is, Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, 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.

Q. 58. What is required in the fourth commandment?

A. The fourth commandment requireth the keeping holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in his Word; expressly one whole day in seven, to be a holy sabbath to himself.

Q. 59. Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly sabbath?

A. From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian sabbath.

Q. 60. How is the sabbath to be sanctified?

A. The sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.

Q. 61. What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?

A. The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission, or careless performance, of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing what which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about worldly employments or recreations.

Q. 62. What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment?

A. The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment are, God’s allowing us six days of the week for our own employments, his challenging a special propriety in the seventh, his own example, and his blessing the sabbath day.

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“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exod 20:8-11)

“For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Heb 4:8-13)

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This is part 3 of our fourth commandment study. Perhaps you are wondering why we are taking three weeks to study the fourth commandment. Indeed, why?

The first reason has to do with the most basic and important rule of studying the Bible. That is, we take our cues from the Bible itself as to what we emphasize. Of the Ten Commandments, the fourth commandment takes up the most space in Exodus 20. It pleased the Holy Spirit to emphasize the fourth commandment so. The writers of the Shorter Catechism were simply following the Holy Spirit when they dedicated to the fourth commandment more questions than any other commandments.

The second reason has to do with the unique character of the fourth commandment. The nine other commandments do not necessarily require us to have a grace-changed heart. In fact, we can avoid idolatry, making images, taking the Lord's name in vain, honor our parents, keep from murder, adultery, theft, false testimony, and covetousness if we are sufficiently afraid of punishment, or are worried enough about our reputation. But to rest from our works on the Sabbath / Lord's Day, to remember that not by our works but by his grace we have rest, requires a heart profoundly changed by God’s grace.

In other words, the fourth commandment is not about the restrictions God places on us. Rather, it is about the freedom we have found in God. And we, the redeemed, joyfully rest from our works to proclaim the goodness of the Lord.