The Seventh Day—the Sabbath
By W. A. Sweany
THE GOSPEL IN CREATION. NO. 10.
The Seventh Day—the Sabbath.
WE now come to the close of that first week of time. The Sacred Record reads:— “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. In harmony with this is the Sabbath law, and the words of Christ:— “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. “And He said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath day.” Mark 2:27, 28. These and related passages tell us how, when, and where, of what, by whom, for whom, and for what purpose, the Sabbath was made, just as Genesis 1 and related passages tell us all these things concerning the other works of God. From the simple reading of the Record, some very interesting and important facts concerning the Sabbath become clearly apparent, and plainly evident:— 2. It was made for man—not for the Jews only. 3. It was made on the seventh day of creation week, before the fall, and is, therefore, not a type or shadow of anything, but a blessed, living reality. 4. Specific actions on the part of God entered into its making as verily as in anything else that was made. 5. It was made out of the seventh day intermingled with the rest, blessing, and sanctification of God. The acceptance and understanding of these and related facts will result in the revelation of some most precious truths, that are almost universally unknown, or blindly rejected as error. It is interesting to note the successive acts by which God made the Sabbath. First of all, He worked six days for man, making and preparing the earth for his habitation. Ps. 115:16. Thus six days of labor is the foundation for proper Sabbath-keeping, and only those who have, during the six working days, faithfully done all their work can derive any benefit or blessing from Sabbath observance. Next, He rested—not for Himself, nor from physical weariness, for “He fainteth not, neither is weary” (Isa. 40:28), but for man; “God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24. His rest is, therefore, spiritual rest. O sin-burdened souls, longing to be free, accept “the gift of God,”—“the faith of Jesus” (Eph. 2:8-10), “which worketh by love” (Gal. 5:6); believe in Him, and thus “work the works of God” (John 6:28, 29). Cease from your own works as God from His, and enter into the rest that remains for the people of God, which is the seventh day,—the Sabbath or rest of the Lord thy God. Heb. 4:1-11. “Come unto Me,” says Jesus, “and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Matt. 11:28-30. Soul rest comes only from Christ, but the Sabbath brings the presence of Christ to the believer, and so it is that the seventh day, the blessed holy Sabbath of the Lord, becomes the chief instrument or channel through which His rest flows into the souls of His people. And the rejection of this truth fills the world with unrest, strife, war, confusion, and commotion. As the great Creator contemplated the finished, perfect work of His hands, He “was refreshed,”—delighted. Ex. 31:17. Just so, when we are “created anew in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:10; 2 Cor. 5:17), and all our works are wrought in Him (John 3:21), His “wonderful works to usward” (Ps. 40:5) will refresh and delight us as we contemplate them in the observance of the holy Sabbath day (Isa. 58:13, 14). After resting, He blessed the Sabbath, or rest-day, for man. God blesses men on every day for He “daily loadeth us with benefits” (Ps. 68:19); but He has placed one blessing for us in the Sabbath, which can only be obtained in the proper observance of the day, of which it is a part. The Sabbath thus becomes a channel or means of blessing. All blessings are in Christ. Eph. 1:3; Col. 2:1-3, 6-10. But the Sabbath contains special blessings, which demonstrates again the presence of Christ in the Sabbath that makes it a means of sanctification, for He is made unto us sanctification. 1 Cor. 1:30. “To sanctify” is defined to mean, “to set apart for a sacred, holy, or special use”. So the Sabbath was sanctified, or set apart by God for a sacred, holy, or special use on the part of man. This could only be done by giving him the proper instruction concerning its use. So we have the plain statement that the Sabbath was given to man in the beginning, altho it was not written until the law was reiterated on Mount Sinai. That the seventh-day Sabbath has a definite, peculiar, sanctifying “setting-apart” influence and effect upon those who observe it, is seen in the fact that they are cut out from the world, and are known as a peculiar people, separate and different from every one else. The Sabbath is supposed by many to be some sort of an institution which the Lord made and placed on the seventh day, afterward removing it and placing it on the first day. But the Sabbath can no more be separated from the seventh day than the seventh day can be separated from the seventh day; for “the seventh day is the Sabbath,” and the Sabbath is the seventh day. The terms “Sabbath” and “seventh day” are but two forms of expression denoting exactly the same period of time. The “Sabbath” is not the combination of a day, and an institution; but an institution composed of the seventh day, intermingled with the rest, blessing and sanctification of God. How idle, then, is all talk about the Sabbath being changed. The reason for which the Sabbath was made and enjoined upon man is plainly stated in the Fourth Commandment, viz., because “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth.” It is, therefore, a monumental memoir of the creative power of God, as verily as Washington’s monument, or February 22 commemorates the greatness of the “father of his country.” Notice that it is more than a memorial of creation which is only one manifestation of God’s power. Another mighty manifestation of His power is seen in redemption or re-creation. And the Sabbath is also a sign of this. “Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” Eze. 20:12, 20; Ex. 31:13. And so it is that the followers of Christ do not keep the Sabbath to get Him to save them, but in grateful acknowledgement of the blessed fact that He has saved them.