John Murray writes: “God does not change; his moral perfections do not change; his moral law does not change. Times change; conditions change; we change. But under and through all there remains man’s conscience, man’s responsibility; and over all there is the unchanging holiness justice and authority of God, issuing in the commands that bind man’s conscience and , with a divine imperative must regulate his life, in one word, the moral law.”
Michael Horton: “Therefore, in this one chapter of Matthew, we have Jesus Christ proclaiming Himself as the Sabbath rest, demonstrating Himself as the Lord of the Sabbath, and attributing to Himself the fulfillment of the prophecy concerning the Chosen Servant who would care for the broken and weary, unlike the religious leaders who had given themselves to casually breaking off bruised reeds and snuffing out smoldering wicks. To those with weak faith, He would give hope instead of fear; to those with doubts and spiritual insecurity, he would provide a place of rest.”
“In Scripture the idea of providing rest extends beyond a Sabbath day…God adds a Sabbath for the land every seventh year. Similarly, in the seventh month of each year the Day of Atonement is to be observed. Finally, every fiftieth year is to be a major Sabbath, the Year of Jubilee, in which prisoners, slaves, and debtors go free, their debts canceled.”
"The lost generation failed to enter into the promise, not because they failed to do or achieve something, but because they would not stop trying to enter the land by their own efforts and scheming. In the same way, we are barred from God’s seventh day, his eternal rest, unless we cease our striving after God’s favor and trust in Christ alone.”
"In the New Testament, the light has come. With the dawn of Christ’s coming we have the end of the Jewish week and the beginning of the new age and the new creation. The Jews looked for the Messiah at the end of the week, but we look backward to Christ at the beginning of the new week. When the Second Adam came, he fulfilled all obedience due to God and, unlike the first Adam, won for us access to the Tree of Life and entrance into the eternal Seventh Day that God Himself enjoys. The Sabbath is, therefore, eternal life in the presence of God.”
Here are some of the passages of Scripture we did not have time to use in the message, as they relate to the 4th commandment:
Hebrews 10:11 – “And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.”
Hebrews 10:12 – “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.”
Hebrews 10:16-18 – “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds, then he adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.”
“Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your evil assemblies…your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them” (Isaiah 1:13-14). God defined sincere Sabbath-keeping in Isaiah 58:13-14: “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’S holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
Galatians 4:9,10 – “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years!”
Jesus and the Sabbath:
Luke 13:14-16 – “The religious leaders said you have all the other days to heal, not the Sabbath. Jesus pointed out their hypocrisy by saying they cared more for donkeys than the people.”
Psalm 62:1,5 – “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation...For God alone, o my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.”
II Corinthians 3:6 – “Who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
“This is what the LORD commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’“ So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a Sabbath to the LORD. You will not find any of it on the ground today. Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.” (Exodus 16:23-26).
Matthew 11:28-30 – “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you reset. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
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