God’s Image Study • Commandment 4: The Sabbath
Our previous post followed Joseph’s preparation before the famine. Provision received beforehand sustained people when the circumstances changed.
Amos brings another famine into view: a famine involving the hearing of God’s words. Before reaching that warning, however, we must notice what the chapter says about the Sabbath.
Waiting for the Sabbath to End
Amos describes people who want the Sabbath to pass so they can resume selling grain. Their intentions include dishonest measurements and exploitation of the poor.
Their attention to the calendar has not produced faithfulness toward God or care for others. They wait through the appointed day while planning to continue the very conduct God condemns. Read Amos 8:4–7.
This brings our examination inward. Am I treating holiness as something observed for a certain period, while protecting desires that oppose God’s instruction?
A Famine of Hearing
Later in the chapter, YHWH (יהוה) announces a famine involving the hearing of His words. People will search for His word and fail to find it. Read Amos 8:11–12.
The warning gives urgency to hearing while His instruction is available. Having an opportunity to listen should never become a reason to postpone obedience.
Alongside Joseph’s account, we can consider this connection: what is received before a time of lack matters when that time arrives.
Ready Before the Door Closes
In Matthew 25, all ten virgins take lamps to meet the bridegroom. The wise also bring oil in their vessels. During the delay, all become drowsy and sleep; at the announcement, all rise.
The distinction is therefore more specific than some sleeping while others remain awake. It concerns their preparation.
While the foolish leave to buy oil, the bridegroom arrives. Those who are ready enter with him, and the door is shut. Read Matthew 25:1–13.
Placed beside our earlier passages, this invites reflection on receiving and being prepared before the moment of need. The comparison concerns that sequence; the parable does not explicitly identify the oil as the Holy Spirit.
Let What Was Received Remain
First John directs readers to let what they heard from the beginning remain in them. The passage connects this abiding with the Son, the Father, and the promise of eternal life.
John also addresses those attempting to deceive them. He describes the anointing they received as remaining in them and teaching truth. Receiving and remaining belong together. Read 1 John 2:24–27.
This helps develop the connection we are examining throughout our Sabbath study: rest includes continuing faithfully in what God has given.
Am I allowing His instruction to remain in me? Does it govern how I treat others? When a teaching challenges what I have received, do I examine it carefully against Scripture?
Threads to Follow
Hearing and obedience: Keep the warning in Amos beside the call to respond today.
Receiving and remaining: Consider how abiding relates to keeping holy.
Rest and faithfulness: Bring provision, preparation, and love together as we continue examining the fourth commandment.
The books were opened…
🌿 By Maria Emilia
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