Season 4 Podcast 126, In Defense of Christianity, “The Sabbath Day, Part V, Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy 1.”

Season 4 Podcast 126, In Defense of Christianity, “The Sabbath Day, Part V, Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy 1.” As mentioned in previous podcasts, after the earth was created, God rested from his labors.Genesis 2: 1-3“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 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.”The Seventh or Sabbath Day is unique and set apart from the other six days of the week. On the Sabbath Day we are to remember our creator which sets the tone for the other six days of the week. God is asking us to parallel his work. For example, Adam was told as recorded in Genesis 1:28“Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”As Moses was leading the children of Israel out of Egypt, in preparation for them establishing a nation unto the Lord and entering into the Promised Land, Moses was given the Ten Commandments, written by the hand of the Lord upon stone tablets. The preface of the Ten Commandments said this.Exodus 20: 2 “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”In the passage above, God declares that the purpose of the Ten Commandments is to keep them out of the house of bondage. In other words, they were in bondage to the Egyptians because they did not obey the Ten Commandments. They had forgotten the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and had followed Egypt’s Gods. The first thing the Lord did was to command them to leave the idols of Egypt in Egypt.Exodus 20: 3-5“Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.”Some atheists read that passage and accuse God of having petty jealousies like a high school sweetheart. They have entirely missed the context. God is declaring his love, and teaching the Children of Israel that he is the one true God, and the idols of Egypt are false gods. It was idol worship that put them in bondage.  It was the Ten Commandments that freed them from bondage.God doesn’t curse the second, third, and fourth generation.  They curse themselves. Any student of history knows that it is the parents who pass their traditions down to their children that goes through many generations; therefore, the sin will be upon the parents not God if they go back to idol worship. The Lord is trying to help Israel break the chains of slavery.  The Ten Commandments became known as The Law of Liberty. The Old Testament is written in epic form to teach the Children of Israel and those who later become Christians the consequences of violating the Ten Commandments. The history of the Jews is a history of rebellion, apostasy, and restoration. The same lesson is taught over and over.