I wanted to take a minute to say more about the fourth commandment that I didn’t want to try to fit into a post about all of the commandments. God gave us a list of 10 rules to observe, one of which is to remember the Sabbath day and keep it set apart; rest on that day. God defined the day. Notice the wording doesn’t say to pick one day a week and take a break. It says on the last day of the week, Saturday. That was the day that God rested, and it was the day God set apart.
For thousands of years that day was set apart according to God’s law by people who loved Him, until the Church came along. And one day, 30 leaders of the church got together (see post on Scripture) and argued and reasoned and negotiated with one another to set rules for the Church. One of those rules was that the “Christian Sabbath” would now be Sunday… “The Lord’s Day.” This was specifically done by the Church to separate itself from the Jews.
The sheer arrogance of us to assume we can just do whatever we want with God’s commandment. What blatant disrespect for God and God’s authority to tell God what day we will rest on. Imagine your child telling you how they will follow the rules of your house. The Church has taken authority from God and, in His name, made themselves the authority over its people. I am convinced that to attempt to modify one of God’s laws “on His behalf” and then observe it as if you’re doing good, is more disrespectful to God than to ignore the law altogether.
Think I’m exaggerating? Let me tell you a story about Nadab and Abihu.
Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the LORD spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.’” (Leviticus 10:1-3)
Don’t tell me God is happy with your worship regardless of whether you follow His instructions! Nadab and Abihu thought they knew better and offered their own worship to God. They told God what incense they would use to worship Him, and led the Hebrew people in their worship, and it cost them their lives. The Church has snubbed God’s command and made up their own “sabbath”, and led billions of people to do the same for 1700 years.
The third commandment (conveniently placed right before this one) says that if you do evil in His name, you will not be forgiven. And, not coincidentally, in Matthew 12 Jesus speaks of the unforgivable sin immediately after getting into an argument with the Pharisees about the Sabbath. Jesus says in Matthew 5 that anyone who teaches against the least of His commands will be considered the least in His kingdom. And in Matthew 7, He says many will say they knew him and He will turn them away because they didn’t follow His law. I cannot think of anything more evil than leading billions of people to ignore one of His commandments, while claiming to speak for God.