![]() We have the privilege to look over the shoulder of the prophets, apostles, and even our Lord, to learn from them the way to interpret and apply the Old Testament Scriptures. Finally, we can find the interpretation of the Sabbath as provided us by the teaching of the apostles and the Book of Hebrews. We then can turn to the New Testament, to see how the Pharisees misinterpreted and applied this commandment, and how our Lord corrected them. Because this passage comes so early in the Bible, we are able to learn how the later Old Testament writers interpreted and applied the Sabbath teaching of the Fourth Commandment. Two related texts come before Exodus 20:8-11, but there are many Sabbath passages in the rest of the Old Testament and in the New. The commandment is found early in the Pentateuch (the five books of the Bible written by Moses, the first five books of the Bible). ![]() The Fourth Commandment provides us with an excellent opportunity to sharpen our interpretive skills. ![]() Not only do we find the culture of the Ancient Near East foreign and the events unrelated to us, but when we do discover a biblical principle we are not sure that it applies to the New Testament saint, and if so, how. The most difficult portion of Scripture to study for most Christians is the Old Testament. One of the greatest rewards I ever receive as a teacher is to see my listeners become students of the Word, so that they see for themselves whether or not my conclusions are rooted in the text of Scripture. I attempt to communicate the process by which I have arrived at my product so that sooner or later you will discover, to your delight, that you have gained a fair bit of information, but that you have also learned how to study the Bible on your own. In my sermons I have always sought to combine indoctrination and education. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with indoctrination, other than the fact that without education, those who are taught will always be dependent upon the teacher, who must tell them what to think. Given this distinction, most sermons would have to be called indoctrination, not education. Indoctrination gives you the product-what you should think-but it does not convey the process-how to think. The difference between education and indoctrination is the difference between a process and a product. ![]() Last, learning the meaning of the Sabbath will provide us with a most valuable lesson in how to study, interpret, and apply the Scriptures. A violation of this commandment is to result in the death penalty (Exodus 31:14). It is also the commandment chosen to be the “sign” of the entire Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 31:13). It is a part of those commandments related to our relationship with and our worship of God. There is another reason why the Sabbath is a subject worthy of our thorough investigation: the Sabbath is one of the most important commandments of the ten. If you look up the terms “Sabbath,” “Sabbaths,” and “rest” in a concordance you will find the reason for a more extended study of this subject. Thus, if we are to understand the Sabbath, we must consider more than its Old Testament texts. There are ten additional chapters, containing over 350 additional pages. To illustrate how much material there is to cover beyond the Old Testament texts, in one of the books recently published on the Sabbath 243 the one chapter dealing with the Sabbath in the Old Testament has about 20 pages, including numerous footnotes. The reason why so much time is required is that there are so many other texts in the Scripture which deal with the Sabbath. He confessed to me that he was wondering how I would “fill up” one message with the subject. As I sat at breakfast with a friend this week, discussing this message, I told Don that I could not conceive of a way to teach on the Sabbath in less than two lessons.
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