Origin and Institution of the Sabbath
By G.
Origin and Institution of the Sabbath.
“The Sabbath was made for man.” Man is a created being, therefore he had a beginning. He is an earthly being, and the earth had a beginning. We read that “in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Also that God created man in His own image, and that He “formed man of the dust of the ground.” After God had created the earth, He shed light upon it, and there began the system of days that pertains to the earth. As the days followed in consecutive order, the Lord established the mode of reckoning them in cycles of seven. This was an arbitrary arrangement, as there is nothing in nature to indicate the week, as the day, month, and year are indicated by planetary movements. Reckoning the week is simply a matter of counting off seven days. The Sabbath, as a matter of time, is merely one of these days—the seventh day. The ordinance of the Sabbath, like that of the week, rests solely on the commandment of God. So the Sabbath and the week are co-indicative. The last of the cycle of seven days is the Sabbath, and the observance of the Sabbath day in a manner peculiar to itself emphatically marks the ending of the week. Remembering the Sabbath day to keep it holy would forever keep the weekly cycle intact. In contemplating the subject of the Sabbath, we shall deal with it only in its relation to time and to its purpose in the earth as declared by the Lord of the Sabbath. The Bible was written for man in his fallen condition, as a means of lifting him out of that condition, and of revealing to him God’s purpose concerning the earth and its people. The Origin and Institution of the Sabbath
Was on this wise: “God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended [or ceased] 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. 1:31; 2:1–3. This is the original record, and there is no such record of any other weekly Sabbath institution. All the references to a weekly Sabbath that are found in the Scriptures pertain to the Sabbath as instituted by the Lord. Therefore the Sabbath that was “made for man” by the Lord of the Sabbath day, was none other than the seventh day of the week, set apart at the beginning of man’s career. Christ is the “Son of Man” who is “Lord also of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27, 28. Christ was the active agent in the creation of all things (Col. 1:16); so it was He who instituted the Sabbath day for man. Therefore the Sabbath day sanctified by Christ in the beginning, and observed by Him when on earth, is the Christian’s Sabbath. God never does anything amiss, nor did He ever perform any unnecessary or superfluous act. He made the Sabbath for man because mankind would need such an institution. So He set about the making of it in a way that would permanently establish it upon divine principle—eternal, unchangeable principle. The three steps noted in the record are significant. First, He rested on the seventh day, and rested all of the day; for at the close of the sixth day it is plainly said, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them;” and there is no record of anything being made beyond the sixth day. That God rested all the day is further shown by the fact that the other two steps in the institution could not be taken until the day was past. God rested and was “refreshed.” But He did not rest because He was tired; for “the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary.” Isa. 40:28. It is clear, then, that it was a spiritual refreshing, or pleasure in the contemplation of His work, which He enjoyed so much that a whole day was consumed in the enjoyment. What a happy day that must have been! for God was not alone in the celebration of the great event of creation; “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” Job 38:7. This included all the heavenly host. Inasmuch as God’s rest on the seventh day was not for physical refreshment, but for spiritual enjoyment, it is evident that the Sabbath was not instituted because of man’s need of a day of physical rest. It was instituted before the fall, and if man had not sinned, he never would have known the pain of fatigue. Whatever physical benefit, in and of itself, any earthly creature could obtain from cessation of activity, was provided for by the recurrence of night and the disposition to sleep. After resting on the seventh day, God added His blessing to it—not to a seventh day, but to the seventh day, as it should afterward recur as a fixed portion of the weekly cycle. Then He sanctified it, or set it apart for the use which He Himself had made of it. It was dedicated for man’s use, for him to use as God had used it. Man was to rest on that day, because the Creator had set him the example. The seventh day was henceforth to be treated not as a different day each time, but as a sanctified day making weekly visits, to be greeted as a recurring blessing, and received with thanksgiving. It was now made holy, to be remembered in anticipation of its arrival at the stated time each week, and kept holy on its arrival. To sanctify signifies “to pronounce holy, to institute any holy thing, to appoint.” Then to sanctify the seventh day was to set it apart by appointment; and as it was appointed for man, the proclamation was made to the man and his wife. As the Lord designed that the day should be kept holy by man, He certainly so commanded; sanctification to a general use implies commandment to that effect. Thus by three prominent acts of the Creator there was instituted a memorial of the creation event for the observance of the inhabitants of the earth. The Lord’s blessing upon the seventh day indicates that there is blessing in it for those who observe it according to His commandment. Such a blessing is certainly essential to the perfect happiness of the race for whom it was designed by an all-wise Creator.