20. The Sabbath
The gracious Creator, after the six days of Creation, rested on the
seventh day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a memorial of
Creation. The fourth commandment of God’s unchangeable law requires
the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and
ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of
the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of delightful communion with God and
one another. It is a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our
sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal
future in God’s kingdom. The Sabbath is God’s perpetual sign of His
eternal covenant between Him and His people. Joyful observance of this
holy time from evening to evening, sunset to sunset, is a celebration of
God’s creative and redemptive acts. (Gen 2:1-3; Exod 20:8-11; 31:13-17;
Lev 23:32; Deut 5:12-15; Isa 56:5, 6; 58:13, 14; Ezek 20:12, 20; Matt
12:1-12; Mark 1:32; Luke 4:16; Heb 4:1-11.)