Re-Posting on Rest

I wrote this post on the church's blog earlier this year and had it on my mind this morning - it compares the de-volution of Southern Baptists' confession about the holiness of the Lord's Day over the last century.

I'm reading Walt Chantry's great work Today's Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic, and came across this comment on the evangelistic preaching of the Law of God:

"The present moment of history finds more ignorance of God's Law than in many previous generations. The pulpit ignores Exodus 20. Even church members despise the fourth command, 'Remember the Sabbath day.' How can the world feel guilty in the neglect of worship?" (pg. 29).

"The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8//Mark 2:28//Luke 6:5). In addition to being a clear statement of Jesus' self-identification as God Himself, the Lord's confession ought to make His followers take the Sabbath seriously. While the Sabbath command is part of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8-11//Deuteronomy 5:12-15), it is even more fundamentally a Creation ordinance (Genesis 2:1-3). The mandate of Sabbath is, in a sense, the meeting point of general revelation (how God reveals Himself through Creation - Romans 1:20) and special revelation (the Bible). We would do well not to live dismissively of this idea!

Have you considered the Sabbath? Have you searched the Word to see how we are called to live this command out in light of the new covenant in Jesus Christ? If the old covenant shadow was taken very seriously, how much more reverently should we regard the day that now marks the beginning of our eternal peace and rest because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, the firstfruits of all those who will follow Him by faith (Acts 26:23; 1 Corinthians 15:20,23; Colossians 1:18; 1 Peter 1:3; Revelation 1:5)? How do you hallow the new covenant Sabbath in your life?