Two Foci – The Fourth Commandment

Two Foci

The fourth commandment

Exodus 20.8; Deuteronomy 5.12

“Remember, observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

Isaiah 58.13, 14

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

God as Creator and Redeemer

The two occurrences of the fourth commandment give a different rationale for keeping it. Rather, we should say, they provide a different focus for our “remembering” and “observing” this one day as a holy day unto the Lord. In Exodus the focus is on God as Creator: “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth…” In Deuteronomy the focus is on His work as our Redeemer: “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought you out from there…” The Lord’s Day can be a delightful season of retreat with the Lord if we can learn to plan around these two foci. We can spend part of the day focusing on the creation, praising God for its beauty, diversity, and wonder, and even doing a little “creational theology” to discern the voice of the Lord in the things He has made (Ps. 19.1-4; 111.2). Then we can recall the redemptive work of the Lord on our behalf, meditating on the work of Jesus Christ, singing songs particularly related to His ministry, and recalling (as in Psalm 18) all that God has done in bringing us to Himself. You don’t have to be very creative to fill a day with activities focused on these two aspects of the Lord’s mighty work. As we rest in Him on the Lord’s Day we remember that it is only because He has worked, and continues to work, so powerfully for us that we can have any real rest for our souls at all. Surely it’s not too much to devote one day in the week to honoring our Creator and Redeemer with special remembrances and observances?

How might you begin to prepare even now for a full Lord’s Day of remembering and observing the Lord as Creator and Redeemer? Why not start making a plan for how you will use this Lord’s Day to honor Him?

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.