“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you.”

Devotion based on Deuteronomy 5:12

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” is one of the Ten Commandments. The word “Sabbath” means “cease, desist, rest.”

Faithful people before Jesus kept the commandment by working for six days every week but resting on the seventh day of the week. Every member of the family, every servant, and every working animal, like oxen and donkeys, were all supposed to rest on that seventh day, just like God did when he finished creating the world. The idea was to spend the day remembering that God rescued the people from being enslaved in Egypt. To prompt that remembering people were supposed to listen to the Word of God.

The famous religious reformer Martin Luther explained that this commandment means, “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and his Word but regard it as holy and gladly hear and learn it.” This means that we gather with other Christians to hear the Word of God proclaimed in its truth and purity. And because that truth tells us that we have spiritual rest through Jesus, we do so, not because we have to, but because we want to.

Rest is important for our bodies and our souls. God has granted us rest in Jesus. This commandment shows us that God wants us to thank him for his goodness by regarding his Word as holy and gladly hearing and learning it.

Prayer: