God considers His law as His requirement upon sinners. The contents of the law mainly are the Ten Commandments. The first three commandments require us to have only God and not have any idols aside from God (Exo. 20:3-7). They charge us repeatedly not to have graven images or other gods besides Jehovah, nor make images or worship them. In other words, we should have only God, and besides Him, we should not have any other object which we worship and by which we are occupied. If someone loves a pair of shoes, that pair of shoes is an idol on his feet. If someone loves his hairstyle, that hairstyle is an idol on his head. If someone loves having a Ph.D., that degree is the idol in his heart. Some people love their houses and possessions, others love their bank accounts, and still others love their reputation and position—all these things are idols. If you look from this angle, who among those living on earth today does not have idols? Everyone has idols, and there are not very many who want God. Very few are those who simply want nothing but God. Quite often I am afraid that if I like a certain thing, I might love that thing more than I love God. Many people shed tears today for various reasons, but I have rarely seen some brothers or sisters shed tears for the Lord. Almost all of those who have been close to me have shed tears in front of me, but who has shed tears for the Lord? I am afraid that you have not once shed tears for the Lord. You have shed tears before the Lord but not for Him; you wept because you did not graduate from college, because you failed to obtain a Ph.D., or because the promotion that you pursued went to another person. You should know that this kind of shedding of tears contradicts the first three commandments. You have violated God’s law, you have desired other gods, and you have created idols.
The fourth commandment requires man to take only God and all that God has accomplished for man as man’s satisfaction and rest (Exo. 20:8-11). This commandment concerns the keeping of the Sabbath. I read the Bible for several decades, but I did not quite understand why in His Ten Commandments God made such a commandment to set up a day and require man to keep it as the Sabbath. What is the meaning of this? Furthermore, when the Lord Jesus came, He did not want man to keep the Sabbath. Before the Lord Jesus came, God wanted man to keep the Sabbath. Then when the Lord Jesus came, although man still desired to keep the Sabbath, the Lord did not want man to keep it any longer. What does this mean?
It was not until these last six years that I began to understand what it means to keep the Sabbath. The keeping of the Sabbath means that you can take only God and all that He has done for you as your satisfaction, enjoyment, and rest. Keeping the Sabbath indicates that you have nothing on earth other than God; you take only God Himself and all that He has accomplished for you as your enjoyment, satisfaction, and rest. Your God is your everything, and He has accomplished everything for you. All you need to do is enjoy Him and take Him as your satisfaction and rest. Let me give you an illustration. I remember my old mother, who was a Christian. She loved her children very much and often cooked good food for us during holidays or on the Lord’s Days. She had a peculiarity that while she loved to cook good meals for us, she had to do it all by herself and did not want us to do anything. If we would sit there and watch her doing everything and then praise her for doing such an excellent job, she would be very happy. If we would say, “Mother, you have been too busy; let me help you,” she would be unhappy. She did not want us to help because she considered that an insult to her. Hence, we children knew that we just needed to wait for our mother to prepare the food for us and that we did not have to do anything. When the dumplings were done, we just praised her that her dumplings were really delicious; then she was very satisfied. While all of us were eating, she did not eat but just watched us and waited on us that we might have the enjoyment. When I was young, I could not understand her, but now that I look back, I realize that this is the way God deals with us. He is doing things for us, but if we try to help Him, the more we help, the more work He has to do. He does not want our help. Rather, He wants to do everything for us. Today everything is ready, and all we need to do is to come to the feast and enjoy Him. What does it mean to keep the Sabbath? To keep the Sabbath is to take God and everything that He has done for us as our satisfaction, enjoyment, and rest. Otherwise, we violate the Sabbath. When the Lord Jesus came, the Sabbath was simply the Lord, for the Lord is the real Sabbath. Therefore, there is no longer the need for us to keep the Sabbath as a ritual.