Remember the Sabbath Day: A Gift We Were Told Not to Forget
A Teaching from The Ten Step Guide
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
— Exodus 20:8 KJV
There is something striking about the way the Fourth Commandment begins.
Remember.
The Most High did not simply say, Keep the Sabbath. He said, remember it.
To remember something means there is a possibility that it can be forgotten, neglected, pushed aside, or replaced by something else. And perhaps that makes this commandment particularly worthy of our attention today.
What exactly were we told to remember?
And why did the Most High consider it important enough to place within the Ten Commandments?
Before we decide what the Sabbath means based on what we have heard, what we were taught, or what has become customary, let us go back to the Word and allow Scripture to answer.
The Sabbath Did Not Begin at Mount Sinai
When we think about the Sabbath, we may immediately think about Moses standing at Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments.
But Scripture introduces us to the seventh day long before Sinai.
At creation itself:
“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.”
— Genesis 2:2–3 KJV
Before there was a nation of Israel, before there were tablets of stone, and before Moses stood on Mount Sinai, the Most High had already distinguished the seventh day from the other six.
He rested on it.
He blessed it.
And He sanctified it.
To sanctify something is to set it apart as holy.
Man did not make the seventh day holy. The Most High did.
That distinction matters.
The Sabbath is not holy because we decide to observe it. We recognize it because He already declared it holy.
Written Into the Ten Commandments
When the Most High later gave His commandments at Sinai, He pointed His people back to creation:
“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…”
— Exodus 20:8–10 KJV
Then He explains why:
“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.”
— Exodus 20:11 KJV
The commandment points us back—to creation and to the Creator.
For six days, humanity works.
We build.
We produce.
We clean.
We plan.
We earn.
We accomplish.
And then comes the seventh day, when the Most High commands us to stop.
Perhaps part of the beauty of Sabbath is found right there.
The Sabbath asks us to stop our work long enough to remember whose work made everything possible.
Our lives can become so consumed with what we are building that we forget the One who built us.
Sabbath interrupts that cycle.
The Sabbath Was Made for Man
By the time Jesus walked the earth, religious traditions had accumulated around Sabbath observance. What the Most High had given as something holy had become surrounded by man-made requirements.
Jesus confronted that.
He said:
“The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.”
— Mark 2:27–28 KJV
Notice what Jesus did not say.
He did not say the Sabbath was harmful to man.
He said it was made for man.
There is something deeply merciful about a God who commands His creation to stop.
The world tells us to keep going.
Produce more.
Earn more.
Accomplish more.
Do more.
But Sabbath reminds us that our value is not measured by our productivity.
For one day, ordinary labor ceases.
The noise quiets.
Our attention turns away from what our hands are producing and toward the One who provides everything those hands possess.
Jesus and the Sabbath
Jesus Himself lived within the rhythm of Sabbath.
Luke tells us:
“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.”
— Luke 4:16 KJV
Those words are worth noticing:
As His custom was.
The Sabbath was not unfamiliar to Jesus.
And throughout the Gospels, Jesus also demonstrated what righteous Sabbath observance looked like when human tradition attempted to obscure its purpose.
He healed.
He taught.
He worshipped.
He did good.
Jesus challenged distorted ideas surrounding the Sabbath, but He never treated holiness casually.
What Does It Mean to Keep the Sabbath Holy?
This is where the commandment becomes personal.
If the Most High sanctified the seventh day—if He set it apart—then what does it mean for us to treat it as set apart?
Keeping something holy means we do not treat it as common.
The Sabbath should therefore look different from the other six days.
That requires intention.
It may mean preparing beforehand so ordinary responsibilities do not dominate the day.
It means setting aside ordinary labor.
It means making room for Scripture, prayer, worship, rest, fellowship, family, and the things that turn our attention toward the Most High.
It also means remembering what Jesus demonstrated: holiness does not prevent us from showing mercy or doing good.
The Sabbath is not merely a list of things we cannot do.
It is sacred time that belongs to the Most High.
And when something belongs to Him, we should be careful about deciding for ourselves how common we are willing to make it.
Have We Forgotten What He Told Us to Remember?
Perhaps this is where the Fourth Commandment becomes uncomfortable.
The command begins:
Remember.
So we have to be willing to ask ourselves:
Have we remembered?
Not what does our culture say?
Not what has become convenient?
Not even simply, What have I always been taught?
But:
What does the Word say?
Have I allowed tradition to determine my understanding of something the Most High Himself called holy?
Have I studied the Sabbath for myself?
Have I asked why the seventh day was blessed at creation?
Have I considered why this commandment begins with the word remember?
And most importantly:
Am I willing to obey what I discover in His Word, even if it requires me to change something?
That question reaches beyond Sabbath.
It reaches directly into discipleship.
Because obedience is easy when the Word confirms what we already want to do.
Surrender is revealed when the Word requires something different.
Heart Check
Take some time this week and read:
Genesis 2:1–3
Exodus 20:8–11
Isaiah 58:13–14
Mark 2:23–28
Luke 4:16
Then ask yourself:
What has the Most High actually said about the Sabbath?
Not what have I heard.
Not what have I assumed.
Not what is most common.
What has He said?
And then ask the harder question:
If His Word challenges what I currently believe or practice, am I willing to follow Him anyway?
An Invitation to Remember
The Sabbath is more than stopping.
It is remembering.
Remembering our Creator.
Remembering His authority.
Remembering His provision.
Remembering that our lives do not depend solely upon the labor of our own hands.
And remembering that among seven days, there is one that the Most High Himself blessed, sanctified, and commanded His people to remember.
Perhaps the first step toward understanding Sabbath is not arguing about it.
Perhaps it is simply opening the Word again and listening.
Because thousands of years after the command was spoken, the words remain:
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
— Exodus 20:8 KJV