Ten: Week Four

The Fourth Commandment - Rest

God gave us the 10 Commandments to teach us about relationships, relationships with Him and with other people.  We’ll study this fourth commandment by examining: 

1. How resting gives God the opportunity to provide for us supernaturally.
2. How resting gives us the opportunity to be refreshed.
3. That there are consequences when we don’t trust.
4. That there are blessings when we do rest.

• Resting gives God the opportunity to provide for us supernaturally. 

Exodus 20:8 says, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”

Sabbath is a Saturday, but Christians worship on Sunday because Jesus rose from the dead on the 1st day of the week. 

Exodus 20:8-11, which is the longest commandment, teaches the Principle of Rest.

We don’t keep the 10 Commandments to be saved. (Ephesians 2:8-9) But, there are blessings if we keep them.

In Exodus 16:23-30, God showed how He would provide for the Israelites day by day as long as they trusted in Him.

The Jewish people were to remember and observe the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 7:12)

While in slavery, the Israelites were never given rest, but God loved and rescued them. (Deuteronomy 7:8)

• Resting gives us the opportunity to be refreshed.

The Sabbath was a great sign to the world because no other nation before Israel rested one day a week. (Exodus 31:14-17)

On the seventh day after creating everything, God breathed in, and He rested and was refreshed. (Exodus 31:17, Genesis 1:3, Genesis 2:7) 

If God refreshes Himself, why don’t you?

• There are consequences when we don’t rest.

In Numbers 15:32-36, a man was sentenced to death for breaking the Sabbath. Four things in the Old Testament incurred the death penalty: murder, not keeping the Sabbath, adultery and rebellious children.

Is it possible that you’re killing yourself by not resting one day a week?

In 2 Chronicles 36:20-21, the Israelites went 490 years without letting the land rest every seventh year. This added up to 70 missed Sabbaths, which is how long they were in captivity, 70 years. 

• There are blessings when we do rest.

In Mark 2:23-27, Jesus explains that the Sabbath was made for man not as a legalistic rule with God.

There’s an old Jewish saying, “More than Israel has kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept Israel.” 

If you don’t rest one day a week, you’re not trusting God, and the principle of rest is a gift from God.