Beloved Church Family,
This Lord’s Day we will be taking our second look at the Fourth Commandment of the Decalogue found in Exodus 20:8-11. This week our focus will be upon the words of verse 11 where we discover that the Sabbath Commandment looks back to something that happened on the “seventh day” of creation–something that the Lord Himself did:
“For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the 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.”
Long before God sounded the Ten Commandments from the top of the mountain, there was a “Sabbath”–a “blessed” and “holy” day–the “seventh day.” And when the Law is given later at Sinai, it’s as if Moses and the Covenant people are called to ‘look back over their shoulders’ into primal history in order to understand Commandment number four.
But what does it mean that God Himself “rested”? And what is so significant about the “seventh day”? And why is the “seventh day” of creation different than the other six? Why, unlike the first six days, is there no “morning and evening” to this special day?
As you get ready for Lord’s Day worship this week, take some time to read and meditate upon that magnificent creation account, Genesis 1:1-2:3. And then, let’s pray that the Spirit of the Living God will meet with us in worship as we hear and respond to the proclamation of His sacred Word.
All my love and fervent prayers for each of you, through Christ Jesus our blessed Lord,
Mike