A PSALM OR SONG FOR THE SABBATH DAY.
By A. C. BOURDEAU
This is the inspired title of the ninety-second psalm; and this fact alone would be a sufficient evidence that the psalmist had a sacred regard for the Sabbath. However, there are other instances in which this point is fully established. Psalms 19; 103; 111; and others, enforce in exalted terms God’s law and commandments, of which the Sabbath precept is a part; and the one hundred and nineteenth psalm, containing 176 verses—the longest chapter in the Bible—is an eight-fold acrostic on God’s moral law. No doubt David frequented God’s house on the Sabbath day. “How amiable,” said he, “are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. . . . For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” Ps. 84: 1–10. Sabbath day signifies rest-day, which, in the Scriptures, is a name given to no other day than the seventh day, as a day of weekly recurrence. It is the day upon which God “rested” after having created the heavens and the earth, and the things therein, in six days; the day that he “blessed” (or extolled and gave success to), and “sanctified” (or set apart and appointed to a holy, sacred, or religious use), “because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made”; it is the day that he enjoins to be remembered and kept holy by the fourth precept of the decalogue; and it is the only day that was observed as a weekly Sabbath by the patriarchs, the prophets, our Saviour, the apostles, and the primitive Christian church. Therefore, the seventh day alone can truthfully and scripturally be called the “Sabbath of the Lord,” or the “Lord’s day.” The sentiments in this psalm are deeply interesting, and well calculated to represent the true nature and object of the Sabbath; and especially to show the topics that should interest us above all others on that day in order to a proper observance of the same. Let us briefly notice them. 1. Verses 1–3: “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High; to shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.” The Lord is our Creator, our preserver, and our kind benefactor; therefore, we should have him in grateful remembrance, and with our voices, and even upon musical instruments “with a solemn sound,” give songs of praise to his great name, and joyfully acknowledge him as the “Most High.” Truly this is good, and in perfect keeping with the spirit and letter of the Sabbath commandment. And what can be better calculated to elevate and to link us to God than to hold him uppermost in our thoughts and affections, and to dwell upon “his loving-kindness” and “his faithfulness” to the creatures of his hands? How manifold are his blessings to us in both temporal and spiritual things! How vast a field we may profitably survey with accents of thanksgiving and praise on our lips on God’s holy day! 2. Verses 4, 5: “For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work, I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.” The Lord should be praised for his great works, through which we are made glad, and by which we have the triumphant assurance that our Lord is the “living and true God.” He is seen and exalted as supreme through the works of his hands, and he vividly shows his intelligent creatures that his “thoughts are very deep.” This accords perfectly with the tenor of the fourth commandment. The Sabbath is God’s memorial. It is the sign, or seal of God, by which we may distinguish him from other beings or objects that are called gods, as being the “one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him” (1 Cor. 8: 4–6); and by which we may know that he is the Lord that sanctifies us. Eze. 20: 12, 20; Rev. 7: 2, 3; 14: 1. In keeping it we have the fact brought fresh to our remembrance that “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.” Ex. 20: 8–11. In Gen. 1 is given an account of the six days’ work of creation. The first three days cover the inorganic part, and the last three the organic. Perfect order is seen in God’s work. The creation of man comes in as the crowning and finishing touch, after everything had been made ready for his comfort and happiness. All God’s works had been pronounced “very good.” The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Job 38: 7. (Doubtless many stars in the firmament are inhabited worlds. Heb. 1: 2; 11: 2; Ps. 19: 1–3.) The six days’ work of creation being ended, the Lord rested “on the seventh day from all his works”; and then he appointed the seventh day as the Sabbath, not only for a part of the human family, but “for man”—for Adam and all his posterity. Here also we have an extensive field before us that we can survey in our meditations during the Sabbath hours. We have the creation of the universe, which embraces everything that is not God. Further, God not only gave a beginning to the existence of the universe at the creation; but, through laws that he then established, he continues that existence, and he is the only fountain of its present existence. Thus he magnifies his power and his own supreme majesty through all his works. Even the smallest spire of grass that grows proclaims that God, who alone can make it take root and spring forth from the ground, is the great First Cause, and stands high above all the conditions of created beings. 3. Verses 6–9: “A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this. When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed forever; but thou, Lord, art most high forevermore. For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.” Many, alas! seem to be void of reason and without understanding in regard to these things. They do not properly estimate the works of God, and they say in their hearts, “There is no God.” Ps. 14: 1. They speak and act as though he were self-derived and self-sustained; hence they fail to see God through the works of his hands. How can such see the importance of keeping the Sabbath? Can they feel the necessity of heeding the practical truths of God’s word, and of availing themselves of the means of grace that are proffered through our Saviour? We want faith in order to understand. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Heb. 11: 3. The wicked, the workers of iniquity, and the proud and lofty, are the enemies of the Lord. The severe judgments pronounced upon them should serve as a warning to us, and should lead us to fear the Lord and to keep all his commandments. Though they “spring as the grass”—possess much wealth, hold high positions, or have high-sounding titles in the world, yet as they sow so shall they reap in the great day of retribution. Those who persistently disobey shall “perish,” be “scattered,” and be “destroyed forever.” But the Lord is “most high forevermore.” He is limited by no principle or power beyond himself. He is the Eternal. 4. Verses 10–15: “But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn; I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; to show that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.” Horn, when used as a symbol, denotes power. Since the fall of our first parents, the great adversary has claimed the dominion that God gave to Adam at creation. He is the “prince of this world,” the “prince of the power of the air”; the wicked bear rule by this means, and oppress the righteous; and the power of God’s people is small in the earth. But, through our Lord Jesus Christ, the saints finally come off conquerors. At Christ’s appearing, while the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, etc., hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and cry to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne,” the resurrected and the living saints meet their Lord with joy, and go up to the mansions in their Father’s house, where, “exalted” and “anointed with fresh oil,” they reign with Christ as kings and priests a thousand years, and sit on thrones, judging the “world,” and judging even fallen “angels.” See Rev. 6: 15, 16; 1 Thess. 4: 13–17; John 14: 1–3; Rev. 20; and 1 Cor. 6: 1–3. When the thousand years are ended, the Lord places his feet upon the mount of Olives which cleaves in the midst; and a very great valley is formed (Zech. 14: 4), where the holy Jerusalem, which comes down from Heaven with all the saints, is located; the wicked dead are raised; Satan deceives them and gathers them to battle; they compass the camp of the saints, the beloved city; but in the sight of all the righteous, fire comes down from God out of heaven, and devours them. Rev. 20. In that final conflagration the wicked are burned up root and branch (Mal. 4: 1); and the atmospheric heavens and the earth melt, and are dissolved, etc. But the new-earth state immediately follows (2 Pet. 3: 10–13), in which “the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree,” and “grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” Palm trees are said to be the most beautiful of trees; some of them grow to the height of a hundred feet, and bear yearly fifteen or twenty clusters of dates, each weighing nearly twenty pounds. They fitly represent the saints in the immortal state, when they are arrayed in beauty—clad in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads and harps in their hands. The cedar of Lebanon is described as being tall, and spreading; and by some, as being most esteemed and imperishable. Cedars used for beams and roofs of buildings have lasted from four hundred to eleven hundred and seventy-eight years. The tree is an evergreen. The first pair in Eden, and those who lived to the good old age of nearly one thousand years, attained, doubtless, to a much higher stature than men and women do at the present time. The human family have greatly degenerated. The saved in the resurrection embrace all the righteous, including little children, in every age of the world, who, while they vary in stature, are clad with immortality. Yet in a prophecy which applies after the great burning day, a thousand years after the saints are made immortal, we read, “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.” Mal. 4: 2. “Healing” here cannot mean a recovering from sickness of any kind; but, as I understand, it refers to growth in stature. And in a prophecy which applies when the new Jerusalem, in which is the tree of life, is on the new earth, we read, “And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” Rev. 22: 2. Now we can readily see how the cedar of Lebanon may fitly represent the saints growing up to a full stature, when they shall be “fat and green” (margin); and “shall flourish in the courts of our God.” Yes, the beautiful, holy throng shall continue while the new heavens and the new earth shall remain; and during a long eternity they shall come to worship before the Lord “from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another.” Isa. 66: 22, 23. Dear friends, it pays to love and serve the Lord. We have seen that, in contrast with the severe judgments on the evil-doers as seen in their final punishment, there are rich blessings to be bestowed on the righteous when they are rewarded for well-doing; and that, the Lord, in his dealing with the children of men, both with the evil and with the good, vindicates his own exalted uprightness, and evinces that he is the rock and support of his obedient children, and that there is “no unrighteousness in him.”