True Christian Religion # 301
301. THE THIRD COMMANDMENT
Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy; for six days you are to labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath for Jehovah your God.
For this third commandment, see Exodus 20:8-10; In the natural or literal sense this means that six days are for man and his work, and the seventh is for the Lord, and for Him to give man rest. Sabbath in the language of the original means rest. Among the Children of Israel the Sabbath was the holiest of observances, because it represented the Lord. The six days represented the Lord's toils and battles against the hells, the seventh His victory over them, and so rest. Since that day represented the completion of the Lord's whole act of redemption, it was for that reason the height of holiness. When, however, the Lord came into the world, so that representations of Him ceased, that day became a day for instruction in Divine matters, and also a day of rest from work, for meditation about matters conducive to salvation and everlasting life, and a day for love towards the neighbour. Its being a day for instruction in Divine matters is plain from the fact that the Lord taught in the Temple and in synagogues on that day (Mark 6:2; Luke 4:16, 31-32; 13:10). Also from His saying to the man He had cured, 'Pick up your bed and walk', and to the Pharisees, that His disciples might pick ears of grain and eat them on the Sabbath day (Matthew 12:1-9; Mark 2:23-end; Luke 6:1-6; John 5:9-19).
All these details mean in the spiritual sense being instructed on matters of doctrine. The things the Lord did and taught show that that day also became a day for love towards the neighbour (Matthew 12:10-14; Mark 3:1-9; Luke 6:6-12; 13:10-18; 14:1-7; John 5:9-19; 7:22-23; 9:14, 16). Both of those sets of passages make it plain why the Lord said that He was also Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5). It follows from His saying this that that day was to represent Him.
Luke 6:1-6
1
Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first, that he was going through the grain fields. His disciples plucked the heads of grain, and ate, rubbing them in their hands.
2
But some of the Pharisees said to them, "Why do you do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?"
3
Jesus, answering them, said, "Haven't you read what David did when he was hungry, he, and those who were with him;
4
how he entered into the house of God, and took and ate the show bread, and gave also to those who were with him, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests alone?"
5
He said to them, "The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath."
6
It also happened on another Sabbath that he entered into the synagogue and taught. There was a man there, and his right hand was withered.
