Duties Toward God
The Fourth Commandment
Remember the Sabbath Day, to Keep It Holy
Description
The fourth commandment establishes a sacred rhythm of work and rest, setting apart one day in seven for holy purposes. The Sabbath commemorates creation—God rested on the seventh day—and in Deuteronomy, redemption from Egypt. This commandment benefits humanity: providing physical rest, spiritual renewal, and time for worship. The principle of Sabbath rest points ultimately to the eternal rest that remains for God's people, the ceasing from works-righteousness and resting in Christ's finished work.
Key Verses
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 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.
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD.
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.