Why does the devil want the 4th commandment forgotten ?

Why do so few people keep the Sabbath, and what is the purpose behind keeping it?

The Fourth Commandment, which says "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," is not repeated in the New Testament. However, it remains controversial and some people choose to ignore it. The Ten Commandments show our failure, sinfulness, and need for a Savior, and it is impossible for anyone to keep them.

Perhaps you have not come across the Sabbath in your Christian journey. Find out more about what the Sabbath is, and why Satan hates it so much in this post.

Satan hates the Sabbath because it reflects our relationship with God and is a commandment to honor. Satan tries to weaken the footing of the Sabbath by distorting its meaning.

Satan attacks the Sabbath because it illuminates the character of God. During the Christian dispensation, Satan made the Sabbath an object of special attack, empowering his followers to set aside God's memorial, the seventh-day Sabbath .

Satan’s varied attacks against the Sabbath beg the question: Why does Satan direct his fury on the Sabbath institution, and why does he exert so much effort to separate people from its practice?

Unpacking the spiritual significance of the Sabbath will help shed light on the reasons for Satan’s attacks.

As pointed out above, Satan’s goal is to discredit God’s character.

Satan attacks the Sabbath because it illuminates the character of God. The Sabbath reveals the God who has so much love to give that He creates more beings to be recipients of that love.

Not only does He give these beings life, but He also sets apart special time to spend in relational intimacy with them. He desires to know them personally and for them to know Him not just as their Creator but as their Friend (John 15:15).

The Sabbath reveals that God desires a close relationship with humanity (Ezek. 20:12, 20). As such, the Sabbath is a sign of a covenant relationship with God.

With the entrance of sin, the Sabbath took on a new meaning. The Sabbath became a reminder of how God liberates humanity (Deut. 5:15).

The Sabbath is also a reminder of God’s providential care (Ex. 16; Matt. 11:28, 29) amid the uncertainties in a broken world.

Satan hates the Sabbath because it reveals the God of love who calls people to find rest in Him.

He wants to destroy the Sabbath because by doing so, he hopes to attack God’s authority as Creator and erode trust in Him as Redeemer and Provider.

Simply put, “An attack against the Sabbath is an attack against God [and] all that the Sabbath represents.”

Since the Sabbath is a reminder that God is the Creator (Ex. 20:11), it points to the reality that human beings do not exist by an accident of nature but are created with a God-given identity (Gen. 1:26, 27) and purpose.

As God’s creation, humanity is designed to find ultimate joy and meaning in relation to Him.

These truths are engrained in the Sabbath. The Sabbath points to the worth of every human being as God’s workmanship (Eph. 2:10), a reminder that worth and value are not found in what humans can gain or accomplish.

Instead, it is found in relation to the God who places immeasurable value upon them.

Sometimes, human beings need to be reminded about what matters most.

The Sabbath reminds us that there is more to life than what we can earn.

The Sabbath helps recognize limitations and ultimate dependence on God for life and flourishing.

By keeping the Sabbath, human beings rest in God’s goodness and providential care instead of relying on the capacity to work for oneself.

This applies not only to physical realities but spiritual realities as well.

The Sabbath, properly understood and practiced, is an antidote to legalism.

Sabbath brings freedom from self-dependency because it holds in check the human tendency to think that well-being and survival depend on personal effort, resulting in freedom from anxiety and worry.

In contrast, Satan wants people to be work-oriented and self-dependent, and consequently separated from God.

A hurried, restless, and labor-filled lifestyle makes one more susceptible to Satan’s attacks because an obsessive occupation with life’s pressing needs often leaves little room for God.

The more people think they can rely on themselves, and the less they think they need God, the more Satan has succeeded.

More than a religious obligation, the Sabbath is a deeply personal experience because it draws people to God.

The Sabbath is a weekly reminder of how much God loves and cares for humanity.

Recognizing God as Creator and Redeemer, the human heart responds in a spirit of thanksgiving, worship (Rev. 4:11), and loyalty in recognition of God’s love and authority.

It helps them see how truly beautiful His character is, leading them to love Him in return.

The binding effect of the Sabbath on the God-human relationship is what makes Satan view the Sabbath with particular animosity.

The rest on the Sabbath is not mere cessation of activity.

It is not stopping activity in and of itself.

It is freeing oneself to find rest in Christ as Creator and Redeemer.

It is a weekly opportunity to refocus one’s life and assess one’s relationship with God, to see whether one is still walking the path God desires for them.

This reality could serve as a warning to Sabbath keepers. It is possible for one to abstain from work on the Sabbath, but still miss out on truly keeping the Sabbath.

While it has not yet arrived, biblical prophecy points to a time when the Sabbath will become a test of loyalty.

Beneath that test is the issue of authority: Who should we listen to? Who should we obey? And still beneath that issue of authority is the question of character.

A tyrant would not care about convincing his citizens to obey him, only that they obeyed absolutely.

In contrast, God desires His created beings to obey Him out of love (John 14:15).

Thus, He takes extra effort to convince people of the goodness of His character, so that people will realize that He is the one to be rightfully obeyed—not just because He is Creator and Sustainer, but because He is love.

Keeping the Sabbath is indeed a recognition of God’s Lordship and supreme authority. But the Sabbath points to more than God’s authority.

It reveals God’s loving commitment to and desire for intimacy with humanity.

It is this evidence of God’s loyalty and His commitment to humanity’s well-being that awakens a response of loyalty in return.

Satan rebels against God’s authority and is angry at those who are loyal to Him (Rev. 12:17). Consequently, the Sabbath, being a visible sign of loyalty to God, becomes the focus of Satan’s fury.

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