Date: Thu, 23 Mar 1995 11:04:09 +0100 Reply-To: t.benschop@pobox.ruu.nl Sender: Christian explanation of the Scriptures to Israel From: Teus Benschop Subject: Catechism, 9 Q: Which is the fourth commandment? A: The fourth commandment is, "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 man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, 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: therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it." How is this command built up? 1. The command itself: Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy. In it thou shalt not do any work. 2. The difference between the Sabbath and the other days: 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. 3. That everyone must obey, whoever he is: Thou, thy son, thy daughter, thy manservant, thy maidservant, thy cattle, thy stranger that is within thy gates. 4. The reason annexed to this command: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it. Q: 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. "Remember the Sabbath-day". That is, keep this day in your mind, even during the week. Be attentive unto that day. You shall keep that day with industry and reverence. Do not forget that day. For when this day is forgotten, soon is the whole religion away. "To keep it holy". To keep the Sabbath holy does not mean that we pass that day in laziness, but that we keep it. This day is especially devoted to the service of God. It is separated from the other six days of the week. Those six days are more than enough given to the temporal things, but the seventh is for God. Though one must be holy during whole the week, yet, on the Sabbath, he must give even more attention to a holy life. Lev.19:30 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD. Deut.5:12 Keep the sabbath-day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. Q: 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. On the seventh day of the world, God sanctified that day. Gen.2:3 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. After the resurrection of Christ, the day of the Sabbath changed to the first day of the week. Yet, it stayed the seventh day, namely the seventh day after six days. It was now the first day of the week, as is written: Act.20:7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them. This first day, Sunday, is also called the Lord's day. For on that day, our Lord Jesus Christ stood up from the death. Rev.1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. Q: 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. We ought to have a holy resting on the Sabbath, like is written: Lev.23:3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein. All the works, which draw us away from God, must be refrained from. Our daily work, we must leave that. We will spend the whole day in the public and private exercises of God's worship. We will go unto the holy convocation, to worship God there. As often as the convocation comes together, we will go, and not forsake it. And when we return from that holy convocation, we again exercise ourselves in the worship of God. Ps.92:1,2 [A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath day.] It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High. To show forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night. It is however allowed, to do the good works, those of mercy, and those of necessity. Matt.12:11,12 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. Q: 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 that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about our worldly employments or recreations. One ought not to do the worship of God in a careless way. God does not like such people. For doing so, that is a clear sign thereof, that we have no love unto God. And the omission of the Sabbath is much worse. These things are forbidden. Others spend that day in nice meals; in other words, they are idle. For, nice meals have no connection with God's service. People spending that day thus, serve themselves and the lusts of their flesh, not God. Others use that day to sleep late, for "we have worked so hard the week". They call it the rest day, and think that it is allowed to be lazy then. They understand not that the rest day means, that we rest from the weekly employments, and give our entire time to the worship of God. Q: 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. We got six days of God to do our own employments. Especially for Himself, God asked but one day. We have six days to do our work, and it is not asked too much, to give one day of seven to God. God Himself gave the example, when He rested on the seventh day of the creation. We have to follow that example. The seventh day is spent in the service of God. The believers have a great delight in that day, for then they are allowed to leave their daily work, and to go up unto God's house. What a great delight do they find therein. They can hear the preaching of His Word, and they sing the Psalms to the honour of God. During the week, they think: "Was it but the Sabbath, for in that day is my great enjoyment". And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD. (Isa.66:23) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chr-Exp, a Christian explanation of the Tanach and the New Testament Editor: Teus Benschop - t.benschop@pobox.ruu.nl No copyrights on this publication Institution Practical Bible-education, the Netherlands End of Catechism, 9 -------------------------------------------------- file: /pub./resources/text/ipb-e/cate: cat-009.txt .