The Sign of Freedom The Sign of Freedom

1. The Sign of Freedom

The fourth commandment, the sabbath law, is important in terms of its prophetic significance, as well as its legal status. Kline, in discussing the Deuteronomic formulation of the law, states:

Most significant of the variations from the form of the Decalogue as presented in Exodus 20:2-17 is the new formulation of the fourth word. The sabbatic cycle of covenant life symbolizes the consummation principle characteristic of divine action. God works, accomplishes his purpose and, rejoicing, rests. Exodus 20:11 refers to the exhibition of the consummation pattern in creation for the srcinal model of the Sabbath; Deuteronomy 5:15 refers to its manifestation in redemption, where the divine triumph is such as to bring God’s elect to their rest also. Most appropriately, therefore, was the Sabbath appointed as a sign of God’s covenant with the people he redeemed from the bondage of Egypt to inherit the rest of Canaan (cf. Ex. 31:13-17). In keeping with the Deuteronomic interpretation of the Sabbath in terms of the progress of God’s redemptive purpose is the New Testament’s orientation of the Sabbath to the Saviour’s resurrection triumph by which his redeemed people attain with him unto eternal rest.210

The pattern of the sabbath is God’s creation rest; the goal of the sabbath is man’s redemption rest.

There is no record or evidence for the sabbath prior to Exodus. The word “remember” in the commandment harks back to the creation and does not recall a past observance but commands the people to remember the sabbath thereafter. A weekly day of rest is unknown to other cultures. Only where biblical faith and culture have brought it about does it exist to this day. In some cultures of the ancient world, an occasional day of rest marked the celebration of the divine- human king’s birthday. But the biblical concept of a redemption rest as the goal of history, i.e., a perfect order in which work is totally blessed, and the order is entirely of God’s making, is

unknown outside of biblical faith. God, speaking through Isaiah, declared, “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isa. 57:20-21).

The world of the unregenerate is in perpetual search of the sabbath, of the glorious rest of creation, but its self-defeating quest leads only to greater disturbances: it casts up “mire and dirt.” The sabbath is not an infringement of man’s liberty but rather the liberation of man.211

The sabbath asserts the principle of freedom under God, of liberty under law, God’s law. It summons man to obedience to the ordinance of rest in order to free man from himself and from this work. The essence of humanism is its belief in the plenary ability of man. Man is able, it is held, to save himself, to guide his own evolution and that of society, to control himself, his world, the weather, and all things else. When man controls and reorders all things, then man will have re-created the world into a paradise. Whether Marxist, Fabian, or democratic, this is the dream of humanism.

It is also the assurance ofthe proletarianization of man.As Pieper has noted, “the proletarian is the man who is fettered to the process of work.”212 The leaders of the proletarian revolution dream of freeing man from work. For them, this means freeing man from God also. According to Stalin,

If God exists, He must have ordained slavery, feudalism, and capitalism. He must want humanity to suffer, as the monks were always telling me. Then there would be no hope for the toiling masses to free themselves from their oppressors. But when I learned that there is no God, I knew that humanity could fight its way to freedom.213

If there is no God, Stalin held, then there is no divine Providence, and man must work to become his own providence. The total government of God would have to be replaced by the total government of man. This means tremendous work and sacrifice. The end result would be the liberated and ideal man.

Each man, Stalin predicted, would be developed under socialism to a point at which he and all his fellows would surpass the giants of the presocialist past, such as Michelangelo, or Goethe. Yet nothing sounds less like Michelangelo or Goethe than these hints of Stalin’s about the ideal future condition of man. The men of the future were in fact intended by Stalin to resemble the New Soviet Men of his day — hard-working, utterly devoted, utterly self-effacing, utterly submissive Stakhanovite workers and other heroes. The world was to be transformed into what the Communist ideology of Stalin’s day said it ought to be. And that was essentially Stalin’s Russia, writ large, spread over the whole world, made prosperous at last, and rid of all save those who obeyed voluntarily and perfectly the perfect laws of Communism.214

Stalin, in the course of this quest for the true sabbath, man’s true rest, did two things: First, he enslaved more men than any other tyrant in all history, and, second, he had more men killed than any other man in all history. Man’s attempt to enter heaven on his own terms places him instead in hell.

Now to examine the sabbath laws more specifically, it is at once apparent that, while the principle of the sabbath remains basic to biblical law, the specific form of sabbath observance changed radically in terms of the new covenant in Christ.

First , the sabbath in the Old Testament law was not primarily a day of worship but a day of rest. The pattern of weekly worship did not exist in the Old Testament law. The synagogue introduced it in the intertestamental period, and the New Testament clearly practiced it and urged it (Heb. 10:25). In the Old Testament, worship was family-centered, and woven into the fabric of daily life. It should still be so embedded in the common life of man, but there is now also the duty of corporate worship. This corporate worship cannot, however, be confused or equated with rest , although the two are closely associated. Rest has reference here to the soteriological reality, to the fact of redemption, liberation, and wholeness of life. Rest here means confidence in God’s work, so that we cease from our own labors in symbolic representation of our total confidence in God’s accomplishment. The manna in the wilderness set forth God’s rest, and the order to observe the sabbath with confidence in the sufficiency of manna reinforced this fact of God’s provision. When such a God works, man can and must rest (Ex. 16:14-36).

Second , severe laws enforced the sabbath rest. It was not worship which the laws demanded, but rest. The general law was that no work should be done on the sabbath (Ex. 20:8-11; 34:21; Lev. 23:3; Deut. 5:12-15; Jer. 17:22). “The gates should be shut” (Neh . 13:19). “Abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day” (Ex. 16:29). Asses should not be laden (Neh. 13:15), nor burdens borne (Jer. 17:21-22), nor fires kindled (Ex. 35:3), nor sheaves brought in (Neh. 13:15), nor sticks gathered (Num. 15:32-35), nor victuals or wares bought (Neh. 10:31) or sold (Neh. 13:15), nor wine treaded in the presses (Neh. 13:15). Life, however, could be saved on the sabbath (Mark 3:4; Luke 6:9), since redemption is the essence of the sabbath. This can mean healing the sick (Matt. 12:10-13; Mark 3:1-5; Luke 6:8-10; 13:14-16; 14:3-4; John 7:23), or rescuing an animal that has fallen into a pit (Matt. 12:11; Luke 14:5). Since hunger alleviated is a part of redemption, it is proper for one who is hungry to “pluck and eat corn” on the sabbath (Matt. 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5), and the same is true of thirst, so that a thirsty animal can be taken to water in fulfilment of the sabbath (Luke 13:15). Since redemption means defeating God’s enemies, the Maccabees finally came to the logical conclusion that it was in conformity with the sabbath to resist attacks by the enemy (1 Macc. 2:41 ).215 These laws make it clear that the essence of the sabbath is the victory of redemption rest. Mary’s Magnificat, because it celebrates the redemption through the Messiah, is a sabbath song in essence, and it properly forms a part of sabbath worship:

My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall called me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever. (Luke 1:46-55)

Third, there is not a trace of the maintenance of the sabbath penalties in the church after the resurrection. Because the early disciples and members were Jews, they continued for a time to observe the Old Testament sabbath (Acts 13:14-26; 16:11-13; 17:2-3; 17:1, 11). But the Christian day of worship was the first day of the week, the day of resurrection as well as of Pentecost (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1-2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1-19; Acts 20:6-8; 1 Cor. 16:1-2). Many

Reformed churchmen seem to assume that the one law of Scripture is sabbath observance. Clearly, this is not derived from Calvin, who held, in his “Catechism of the Churches of Geneva,” that

M. Does he order us to labour on six days, that we may rest on the seventh?

S. Not absolutely; but allowing man six days for labour, he excepts the seventh, that it may be devoted to rest.

M. Does he interdict us from all kinds of labour?

S. This commandment has a separate and peculiar reason. As the observance of rest is part of the old ceremonies, it was abolished by the advent of Christ.

M. Do you mean that this commandment properly refers to the Jews, and was therefore merely temporary?

S. I do, in as far as it is ceremonial.

M. What then? Is there any thing under it beyond ceremony? S. It was given for three reasons.

M. State them to me.

S. To figure spiritual rest; for the preservation of ecclesiastical polity; and for the relief of slaves.

M. What do you mean by spiritual rest?

S. When we keep holiday from our own works, that God may perform his own work in us.

M. What, moreover, is the method of thus keeping holiday?

S. By crucifying our flesh, — that is, renouncing our own inclination, that we may be governed by the Spirit of God.

M. Is it sufficient to do so on the seventh day?

S. Nay, continually. After we have once begun, we must continue during the whole course of life.

M. Why, then, is a certain day appointed to figure it?

S. There is no necessity that the reality should agree with the figure in every respect, provided it be suitable in so far as is required for the purpose of figuring.

M. But why is the seventh day prescribed rather than any other day?

S. In Scripture the number seven implies perfection. It is, therefore, apt for denoting perpetuity. It, at the same time, indicates that this spiritual rest is only begun in this

M. But what is meant when the Lord exhorts us to rest by his own example?

S. Having finished the creation of the world in six days, he dedicated the seventh to the contemplation of his works. The more strongly to stimulate us to this, he set before us his own example. For nothing is more desirable than to be formed after his image. M. But ought meditation on the works of God to be continual, or is it sufficient that one

day out of seven be devoted to it?

S. It becomes us to be daily exercised in it, but because of our weakness, one day is specially appointed. And this is the polity which I mentioned.

M. What order, then, is to be observed on that day?

S. That the people meet to hear the doctrine of Christ, to engage in public prayer, and make profession of their faith.

M. Now explain what you meant by saying that the Lord intended by this commandment to provide also for the relief of slaves.

S. That some relaxation might be given to those under the power of others. Nay, this, too, tends to maintain a common polity. For when one day is devoted to rest, every one accustoms himself to labour during the other days.

M. Let us now see how far this command has reference to us.

S. In regard to the ceremony, I hold that it was abolished, as the reality existed in Christ (Col. ii. 17).

M. How?

S. Because, by virtue of his death, our old man is crucified, and we are raised up to a newness of life (Rom. vi. 6).

M. What of the commandment then remains for us?

S. Not to neglect the holy ordinances which contribute to the spiritual polity of the Church; especially to frequent sacred assemblies, to hear the word of God, to celebrate the sacraments, and engage in the regular prayers, as enjoined.

M. But does the figure give us nothing more?

S. Yes, indeed. We must give heed to the thing meant by it; namely, that being engrafted into the body of Christ, and made his members, we cease from our own works, and so resign ourselves to the government of God.216

St. Paul was emphatic in stating that the sabbath regulations no longer had their old binding force: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ”

(Col. 2:16-17). None will argue that the old death penalty for violations of the sabbath is still binding, or ever has been since Christ. The whole of the New Testament forbids such an interpretation. But, equally clearly, any law which at one time brought forth a death penalty for violation must involve a principle so basic to man and nature that obviously a hard central core remains in some sense binding in every age. (In another chapter, this will be considered.)

Fourth, not only is the legal status of the sabbath altered, but the day of rest has been changed from the Hebrew sabbath to the Christian day of resurrection. The Deuteronomic law (Deut. 5:12- 15) made it clear that the Hebrew sabbath celebrated the deliverance from Egypt: “And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day” (Deut. 5:15). The Hebrew redemption was thus celebrated in the sabbath; the Christian sabbath commemorates Christ’s triumph over sin and death, and hence it is celebrated on the day of resurrection, the first day of the week. To reject this day is to reject Christ’s redemption and to seek salvation by another and inadmissible way.

Fifth, the Hebrew sabbath and the modern Saturday cannot be equated. As Curtis Clair Ewing has clearly shown, the calendar of Israel does not permit such an identification. The calendar of Israel at Sinai was a solar calendar, and it is not to be confused with the modern Jewish solar-lunar calendar of AD 359. Ewing has called attention to the unfortunate translation at times of “moon” for “month,” thus creating some confusion. There are three sabbaths spoken of in Scripture: the creation sabbath; the Hebrew sabbath, which commemorated the deliverance from Egypt; and the Christian sabbath, which is “kept in commemoration of Christ’s finished resurrection and is the only sabbath that remains.”217 As Ewing points out, the fourth commandment orders remembrance, because it recalls the creation sabbath, God’s rest, as the pattern of the covenant rest:

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it. (Ex. 20:8-11)

In Deuteronomy, they are not commanded toremember , since it is not the pattern of the creation sabbath in view, but they are commanded to keep the sabbath, in commemoration of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt:

Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. (Deut. 5:12-15)

Because of the deliverance from Egypt, Israel is “therefore” to keep the sabbath. The extent of the required rest is more specifically spelled out in Deuteronomy.

The Hebrew calendar began its dating from the deliverance from Egypt. As Ewing points out, the Hebrews retained the Egyptian calendar of twelve months of thirty days, but, instead of adding the five supplementary days at the end of the year, they added three at the end of the sixth month, and two at the end of the twelfth month. The fifteenth day of Abib, the first month, had to be a sabbath every year, which meant that the first and eighth of Abib were fixed sabbaths, as were the seven sabbaths following the 15th of Abib (Lev. 23:6-7, 11, 15-16). The fiftieth day would then be Pentecost:

Now the Sabbath of Abib 15th being fixed by date, it follows that these seven