The Sabbath Through the Ages
By Charles L. Taylor
I. The Sabbath at Creation
TIME had begun. The first six days of earth’s career had sent up for entrance in the heavenly books their wonderful record of Jehovah’s mighty miracles. For God had just completed the great masterpiece of all His handiwork — man; and, now, surveying all that divine power had wrought, He pronounced it “very good.” However, all was not yet complete. The divine plan, laid in the counsels of infinity and from the days of eternity, called for one further miraculous effort on the part of Omnipotence. In honor of the King-Creator and to seal to Him the love and loyalty of those for whom the earth had been so gloriously adorned, there was still to be established a memorial. A monument of righteousness must be erected, one that would forever exalt the majesty and creative power of Him from whose word worlds had sprung forth and at whose bidding darkness had fled, giving place to light and life and symmetry and unsurpassed beauty, — a monument proportionate to the greatness of the work accomplished and that would indeed cause “His wonderful works to be remembered.” Ps. 111:4. That monument was the Sabbath. The value of the Sabbath to the human race can be understood only in the light of the truth that at the very foundation of all things, before sin entered and while all was perfect and upright, it was given by the Creator — the Lord Jesus Christ — as an infallible and continuous reminder of His power to create and uphold. But the Sabbath was more than a reminder; it was, as we shall see, the very essence of creative power itself. The record of our Lord’s gift of the Sabbath to man is set forth in Gen. 2:1-3: “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.” To this same time and event Jesus undoubtedly referred when, seeking to show to His people that the Sabbath was designed as a blessing, He said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27, 28. Before turning again to the word in Genesis, let us note, dear reader, these words of Jesus Christ. According to His own statement, He Himself was Lord of the Sabbath and for no other reason than that it had been made by Him. It was made for man; therefore I am its Lord. Why use the word “therefore”—for this reason? Simply this: Jesus was the Author of the Sabbath. It was He who created the earth, who made man and placed him in the garden, who rested on the seventh day and gave it as a Sabbath to man. Having made the Sabbath He is “therefore” its Lord. See John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16, 17. How very beautiful and how intensely interesting is the simple story of Gen. 2:1-3 when we consider that we are reading of the Lord Jesus and of His relations with our first parents! That it was our “chiefest among ten thousand” and the One “altogether lovely” who, with Adam and Eve, kept that first Sabbath in Eden, who, with them, rejoiced in His finished work, and who “rested, and was refreshed.” Ex. 31:17. “The Sabbath was made for man.” Yes, made. Definite, specific steps were taken by Divinity to bring the Sabbath into being and to place it in man’s realm of experience. What were those steps? Referring once more to the Author’s own account we find, first, that He rested; second, that He blessed; and, third, that He sanctified. The readers of the SIGNS are probably well acquainted with the fact that our English word Sabbath was brought bodily from the Hebrew and signifies “rest.” Sabbath day is but rest day. The great Creator rested on the seventh day, and in so doing made of it a rest day or Sabbath day. Paradoxical as it may seem, His resting was the first step in the work of Sabbath-making. He rested for man’s sake, having in view a divine end,—His own glory in man’s exaltation. And when He rested, then that day became His rest day and He, truly, was its Lord. Throughout the Scriptures, therefore, God calls His rest days “My Sabbaths.” See Eze. 20:20, and many other texts. “And God blessed the seventh day.” As the first step was the resting, so the second was the blessing. Already it was His rest day, and now it became a blessed rest day. The blessing of Jehovah, placed upon and in the day, was nothing less than His own divine presence. God’s blessing can never be separated from Himself. His blessing to mankind, that blessing which “maketh rich,” is only His own glorious fulness which, brought into the life, changes man’s character and transforms him into the divine image. As the apostle stated, it is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Col. 1:27. The blessed rest day was to be to man the day of Jehovah’s presence, the day of divine visitation, the day of creative energy, the day of heavenly illumination and holiness. And God “sanctified it.” Not only did He make it holy by placing within it His sacred presence; He also set it apart to a holy purpose. The word “sanctified” signifies to set apart, to announce or proclaim, to appoint. As one of our great scholars has said: “It is by this term [‘and sanctified it’] that positive appointment of the Sabbath as a day of rest to man is expressed.” To state the truth in the words of another great writer: “We should do no violence to the text if we should read it, ‘And God blessed the seventh day, and commanded Adam to sacredly observe it.’” “The Sabbath was made for man,” that is, for mankind. Not for one age, but for all ages. “Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever.” Eccl. 3:14. Made as it was at the very first, before sin had place on earth, it was designed to be an everlasting token between God and His children. Ex. 31:16, 17. Truly, it was “to be devoted to God as holy time, by all of that race for whom the earth and its nature were specially prepared.” It should never be forgotten that the advent of sin can not in the least set aside that great creation idea. Than the plan instituted in Eden — the plan by which men may live and walk with God — none other can be found. The Christ of creation is our Christ, His power our power, His work our work, His Sabbath our Sabbath, His life our life. O, dear reader, pass not by these thoughts carelessly. Are we hoping to share the glory of Eden restored? Then well may we turn to the Eden lost, embrace what was there given, enjoy it as we may throughout this life, and when all is perfect again, enjoy the same throughout eternity.