The Memorial of Creation.
By John Nevins Andrews
The psalmist tells us that "the works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein." And he adds: "He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered." Ps. 111:2, 4. Certainly, the greatest of all his works, and that which surpasses every other in its manifestation of infinite power, is the creation of the heavens and the earth. This is the most wonderful of all the works of his hands. This great work is worthy of being sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. God wrought this wonderful work to be remembered; that is to say, he designed that men who owe their existence to the creation of the heavens and the earth, and of mankind upon the earth, should never forget that he had wrought this work, and that he was their Creator. Indeed, it is this great fact that he appeals to as distinguishing himself from all false Gods. And thus he speaks by Jeremiah: "Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have NOT MADE THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens." Jer. 10:11. But he speaks thus of himself: "The Lord is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting king. . . HE HATH MADE THE EARTH by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion." Jer. 10: 10, 12. One of the highest acts of faith is to grasp the existence of an uncreated Being, who has called into existence, out of nothing, an infinite host of worlds. To believe this great truth, which Paul makes so prominent an act of faith, we must credit the testimony of the Scriptures; for he tells us that "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Rom. 10:17. But faith without works is dead, being alone. No human being can have so perfect a theoretical faith in this great truth as has Satan. But his faith in it is of no benefit to himself. If our faith in this cardinal truth of revelation is of greater value to us than Satan's faith to himself, it must produce certain acts of obedience by which our love for the truth we believe, is made manifest. And thus the apostle James states the case: "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well; the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" James 2:19, 20. "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God." But by what act of obedience do we manifest our love for this great truth? And by what good work do we show that our faith in the creation of the heavens and the earth is not a dead faith? If God made his wonderful works to be remembered, how are we to remember our Creator? If the creation of the heavens and the earth distinguishes the true God from all false gods, by what acts are we to preserve in our minds the memory of this work of infinite power?55 To answer these questions, we have only to turn to the record of the creation in Genesis 1 and 2. The close of the sixth day witnessed the perfection of the Creator's work. He surveyed all the works of his hands, and behold they were all very good. With the beginning of the seventh day, God's work of creation ceased. And thus we read: "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." Gen. 2:2, 3. The record tells us what God did on the seventh day as distinctly as it relates what he did on the six days of creation which preceded it. His work was wrought in six days. On the seventh day he rested from that work. He did not rest because of weariness, for the Creator of the heavens and the earth cannot be wearied. Isa. 40:28. He made the seventh day his rest-day in order that he might set up an everlasting memorial of his creative work. For when he had rested upon the day, he blessed it, and sanctified or hallowed it. He blessed the seventh day because he had rested upon it, which shows that the day of God's rest was past when he blessed the seventh day. He did not bless the day because he was about to rest upon it, but because he had rested upon it. So it is evident that the blessing was placed upon the seventh day for time to come, in honor of what God had done upon that day. And thus also with respect to the sanctification of the seventh day. God sanctified it because he had rested upon it. He did not sanctify the day because he purposed to rest upon it, but because he had rested upon it. The sanctification cannot be placed upon a day after it has ceased to exist. And hence God did not sanctify the first seventh day of time because he had made it his rest-day, for when he had thus rested, the day had expired; but he sanctified the seventh day for time to come, in memory of his own rest on that day, from the work of creation. To sanctify is to set apart, or appoint to a holy use. And here we learn at the very beginning of the Bible that God appointed the seventh day to a holy use. He did it because that in it he had rested from all his work. So it is incontestible that the seventh day was appointed to a holy use in order that God's rest from creation might be remembered. And this appointment must have been made to Adam and Eve, for they were the ones who had the days of the week to use. The fact, therefore, is undeniable that God bade Adam set apart the seventh day for sacred rest in memory of his own rest upon that day. Here, then, we find the memorial of the creation of the heavens and the earth. The seventh day was set apart to a holy use because God rested upon it from all his works which he created and made. So the creation which called the elements into existence, and the making of the earth out of those elements, are here distinguished from each other, and both are included in the commemorative rest. He rested from the six days of creation. God made his works to be remembered; and no sooner was his work complete than he set up a lasting memorial of that work. He hallowed every seventh day, that man might remember God, his creator. And that man might grasp the great truth that God in his infinite power, spoke into existence, from nothing, the heaven and the earth, he ordained, at the very beginning, one grand act of obedience by which his faith in that truth should be declared, and his love for it made manifest. The observance of the Creator's rest-day is that act of obedience by which we declare our faith in God as the creator of the heavens and the earth. J. N. A.