⁸ “Remember ^(K)the sabbath day, to keep it holy. ^9 (L)Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God;in it ^(M)you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who ^[e]stays with you. ^11(N)For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11, NASB)

This command deals with two issues so dear to God’s heart that that he requires every one of us to understand them and do them.  If we will not, then he will kill us (the second death in the Lake of Fire). He ordered Moses to execute the man caught picking up sticks on the Sabbath for reason that obeying this particular commandment is very, very important and for another reason we will discuss below.  Have you ever noticed that this is the longest of any of the Ten Commandments?  That’s because it deals with something we need to understand and obey.

But today’s Christians tend to relegate this command to the netherworld of the forgotten. I remember one of the last times that I attended a Thyatira type church.  It was a large, thriving charismatic church in a Kansas City, Missouri suburb. The popular Christian pastor there preached on Numbers 15:32-36.  Here is the whole passage in context:

^27(AA) “If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. ^28(AB) And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. ^29(AC) You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. ^30(AD) But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. ³¹Because he has^(AE) despised the word of the LORD and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.”

A Sabbathbreaker Executed

 ³²While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man^(AF)gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. ³³And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. ^34(AG) They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him.³⁵And the LORD said to Moses,^(AH) “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall^(AI) stone him with stones outside the camp.” ³⁶And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the LORD commanded Moses. (Numbers 15:27-36, ESV)

The key to this troubling account can be found in verses 27 to 31, just before the capital offense occurs. Obviously this man picked up sticks “with a high hand,” that is, he “despised the word of the LORD,” and “intentionally” sinned against him. God commanded that such a man must be “cut off” from his people (executed) because his type of rebellion would (and did) destroy the entire society. All of society would be harmed and, therefore, all society took part in stoning the offender. The goal of the law was to bring people into God’s rest and to keep the society holy, to keep it as a people separated unto God.

But, the popular preacher condemned Moses’ verdict (by doing so he condemned God too) and taught the people that Moses was “legalistic.” (He was preaching on grace versus legalism). The man (Alan Koch of Christ Triumphant Church) made this grave mistake because he did not understand God’s Law, did not understand God’s Law as it relates to grace, did not understand Jesus’ or Paul’s teaching about the Law, and did not understand God. We met a couple that we had “home-churched” with for a couple years after church and they asked us what we thought of that “great sermon!” I can’t remember our response, but I don’t think we have ever seen this couple again. This confirmed for us that we were at the end of that particular fellowship.

For most of its history the United States honored the Sabbath (I, like Paul, do not argue about keeping a particular day like Saturday or Sunday).  Few stores in America used to be open on the Sabbath.  Many people did become legalistic concerning Sabbath rules, however, during this time.  They forbade their children to even play on the Sabbath, for example.  To them the Sabbath meant a time of becoming somber before the LORD. They did not understand Jesus’ words that the Sabbath was “for men,” not “men for the Sabbath.” As cars became ubiquitous gas stations began to open on the Sabbath. As this country turned further and further from God more and more stores began to open on Sunday.  States passed “blue laws” to try to keep people from buying “bad” things like liquor on the Sabbath. Now most of those laws have been repealed or overturned by courts zealous to remove every vestige of God from the public square. Consider the second psalm:

^1(A) Why do^(B) the nations rage^[a]
   and the peoples plot in vain?
²The kings of the earth set themselves,
   and the rulers take counsel together,
   against the LORD and against his^(C) Anointed, saying,
³“Let us^(D) burst their bonds apart
   and cast away their cords from us.”

 ⁴He who^(E) sits in the heavens^(F) laughs;
   the Lord holds them in derision.
⁵Then he will speak to them in his^(G) wrath,
   and terrify them in his fury, saying,
⁶“As for me, I have^(H) set my King
   on^(I) Zion, my^(J) holy hill.”

 ⁷I will tell of the decree:The LORD said to me,^(K) “You are my Son;
   today I have begotten you.
⁸Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
   and^(L) the ends of the earth your possession.
⁹You shall^(M) break^[b] them with^(N) a rod of iron
   and dash them in pieces like^(O) a potter’s vessel.”

 ¹⁰Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
   be warned, O rulers of the earth.
^11(P) Serve the LORD with^(Q) fear,
   and^(R) rejoice with trembling.
^12(S) Kiss^(T) the Son,
   lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
   for his^(U) wrath is quickly kindled.
^(V) Blessed are all who take refuge in him.  (Psalm 2, ESV)

America, and indeed the whole world, now refuses to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. The nations rage against God and continually plot to keep his influence away from them. We have not entered his rest (see Hebrews 3 & 4) and we do not keep the Sabbath holy.  We have become abomination before him. The abomination of desolation has been revealed.