Anchored to a Great Fact — Immovably Fixed — Shadowy Sabbaths That Were Abolished
In tracing the Sabbath commandment, the principle of law for tracing a civil statute, given by a learned member of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, is the safe principle to follow: “The original statute must first be found. It must then be traced through the revised statutes, to see if there has been any revision or repeal. If there has been no revision or repeal, the original law still stands.”
Last week we studied the introduction of the Sabbath at creation. “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 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. 2:1-3. It was therefore appointed that on the seventh day of each recurring week, the Sabbath should be observed. This was the original law of the Sabbath. It was based upon moral reasons—the work and rest of God. It was a moral, not a ceremonial institution.
A Finished Work and Permanent Foundation
The Sabbath as a moral institution was based upon the finished work of creation, and God’s rest. It is based, therefore, upon no changeable foundation, but upon the eternal fact that at the time of creation God worked, and at the end of that period He rested. When, at the close of that period, He rested, it became an eternally established fact that that day, upon which He had so rested, was the Lord’s “rest” or “Sabbath day.”
It was made originally for unfallen man. If man had never fallen, he would have observed it eternally, to commemorate weekly the work and rest of God at creation. It was therefore a commemorative institution, introduced before the fall; and like one’s birthday, nothing could ever come to alter the facts upon which it was instituted. As it was instituted before the fall, it could not have been a ceremonial rest, or liable to pass away.
They Rested on Failure
All typical or ceremonial sabbaths rest upon the fact of man’s failure and fall, and point him to Christ as a remedy for that failure. They have all been introduced since the fall. They pointed forward to the cross, where they ceased by limitation. Not so with the weekly Sabbath. Made for man at creation, it was given at that time to the first man ever made. Man was made on the sixth day of creation week. The Sabbath was made for man the very next day after the first man was made. It points backward to creation. It is no more typical than one’s birthday. Any person who can understand the meaning of his birthday, can understand the meaning of the Sabbath.
The Weekly and Annual Sabbaths Contrasted
In contrast to the weekly Sabbath, there are seven annual sabbaths introduced in Leviticus 23. They were observed once a year, and were associated with offerings of blood, which pointed forward to Christ. These were ceremonial sabbaths, and were instituted as the result of the fall, to point forward to Christ. “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My feasts. Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.” Lev. 23:1-3. This is the weekly Sabbath of rest.
Moses was commanded to speak concerning the feasts of the Lord. “These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.” Verse 4. These came at the same seasons of the year annually. The first was the Passover. “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s Passover.” Verse 5. In Ex. 12:6-18 the occasion of the institution of the Passover sabbath is fully given. It required the killing of a lamb, the blood of which was to be sprinkled upon the doorposts to point forward to Christ, the Lamb of God, who only can take away, and pass over, the sins of the world. Paul, speaking of the significance of this type meeting its antitype, says, “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” 1 Cor. 5:7.
They Were Nailed to the Cross
In the remaining portion of the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus, we have six other annual feast days mentioned. These feast days are called sabbaths in verse 39. They pointed forward to Christ, and were to cease at the cross. Paul speaks of them thus in Col. 2:14, 15, and adds that they were nailed to the cross. In verse 16 he says they were that class of sabbaths associated with meats and drinks and new moons; and in verse 17 he says they were shadows that were to end when the shadow reached the object which cast it, to which it pointed, namely, Christ. “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
These were festival sabbaths, shadowy, pointing to Christ, who was the body that cast the shadow back to their introduction after the fall of man. The weekly Sabbath was never shadowy, but commemorative. It pointed ever backward to creation. In Lev. 23:3 the weekly Sabbath is introduced in contrast to these annual sabbaths: “Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.”
One Ceased, the Other Did Not
It is called the Sabbath, or rest of the Lord. In making it, the Lord worked, and the Lord rested. He did nothing of the kind in making these annual sabbaths. In verses 37, 38, the Lord forever settled the question as to the distinction between the weekly Sabbath and these annual sabbaths: “These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, everything upon his day: beside the Sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the Lord.”
These feast day sabbaths associated with meats and drinks, repealed at the cross, according to Col. 2:14-17, were given “beside the Sabbaths of the Lord.” The Lord’s Sabbath was associated with gifts and freewill offerings and moral precepts, which did not cease at the cross. It still remains for man, for whom it was made.
The weekly Sabbath, introduced before the fall of man, ever proclaims God’s power in creation. The annual festival sabbaths, introduced after the fall, proclaim man’s frailty, and point to Christ as his only hope. These passed away when type met antitype at the cross. The Sabbath of the Lord is eternal.
The Sabbath in the Wilderness
In Ex. 16:4, 5 we read: “Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people186shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.” The object of this miraculous fall of the manna was in part to test Israel upon the law of the Sabbath. This was more than a month before the law was proclaimed from Sinai. The law of the Sabbath was well known, however, and was made a test of loyalty to God. When Israel reached Sinai, the Lawgiver proclaimed His own law, gave His reasons for it, and wrote it on tablets of stone with His own hand. He certainly knew on which day He had rested and made the weekly Sabbath at creation, and the purpose of its observance. The Sabbath law reads: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:8-11. The Lawgiver says the Sabbath was made at creation, and based upon the fact of His own work and rest at that time.
Examining the Assumption
Some have thought that because, in rehearsing the law in Deut. 5:15, Moses said that they should keep the Sabbath in memory of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, the Sabbath was first instituted to commemorate that event, and not in memory of God’s work and rest at creation. It is assumed that the facts upon which the Sabbath was instituted had not all occurred until the Exodus. Let us examine this assumption.
The facts are that the Sabbath was instituted at creation, on account of God’s work and rest. Gen. 2:1-3. The Sabbath command was proclaimed from Sinai, after the Exodus—that is, after the deliverance from Egypt. The reason for its institution is given in the law. Does He, in giving the Sabbath law, and the reason for its institution, say that it was because He had delivered Israel from Egypt?—No, He makes no reference to that incident. His reasons are His labors in the great work of creation, His rest, sanctification, and blessing at the close of that labor. Why did He not say, in the Sabbath law, that the reason for its institution was the deliverance from Egyptian bondage?—That was not the fact. He is a God of truth, and told the facts of the case in giving the Sabbath law.
Existed Before Sinai
Ex. 16:4 shows that the Sabbath was in existence prior to the giving of the law on Sinai. Deuteronomy 5 is not a full report. Compare Ex. 20:3-17 with Deuteronomy 5. This was a rehearsal by Moses forty years later, and refers to the law for its authority. Read Deut. 1:3: “In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them.” With this read Deut. 5:16, “Honor thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.” Verse 12: “Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.” They were to sanctify it according to previous appointment.
This rehearsal, then, refers for its authority to the law as previously given. “And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.” Verse 15.
This was an appeal to those only who had been under Egyptian bondage and had been delivered. We read: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” Ex. 8:1. If this was the reason for the institution of the Sabbath, then it was never binding upon any but those who came out of Egypt. This would be too absurd to consider seriously. God never dignified this statement by referring to it either in giving the facts of the institution of the Sabbath, or in giving the Sabbath law.
Justice and Righteousness on the Sabbath Basis
Deuteronomy 5 does not give a fact or a reason for the institution of the Sabbath. The fallacy of that argument which some make is further shown by the following text: “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. Therefore shall ye observe all My statutes, and all My judgments, and do them: I am the Lord.” Lev. 19:35-37. The logic of this view is therefore that only those who came out of Egypt need to be righteous, or become a holy people. This is too inconsistent for credence.
