Origin of Sabbath Observance.
By F. M. W.
There are but two institutions to-day in vogue and practise among mankind which carry the mind back to the primeval period. These institutions are the Sabbath rest and holy wedlock. That both have been misunderstood, maligned, and misused, does not abate one iota from the holy character of these twin sisters. Each has had its imitators; both have been trampled in the dust; the history of one has been largely the history of the other. It is our purpose in this paper to speak particularly of the Sabbath institution. When we come to consider its origin, its scope, its intent, and the people to whom it was given, we are impressed with the strength of the principles underlying its perpetuity and obligation in all ages and among all classes of people. In the second chapter of Genesis and first three verses we have the record of its creation. (a) “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.” This made the seventh day the rest day of God. “He rested and was refreshed”—not from physical weariness, but refreshed in spirit, refreshed in quiet contemplation of the new world which He had brought into existence. By resting on the seventh day, it became in the very nature of the case God’s rest day, or Sabbath. (b) “And God blessed the seventh day.” The blessing of God upon the seventh day made that day blessed. The blessing of God upon a sinner separates him from his iniquity, and indeed makes him the blessed of the Lord. And so the Lord in placing a special blessing upon the seventh day separated it from all of its fellows, from the other members of the cycle, and gave it a blessed character that it might be a blessing. Thus the seventh day became not alone God’s Sabbath day, but it became God’s blessed Sabbath day. (c) Then God “sanctified it.” To sanctify is to set apart, to separate, to a holy or sacred use. The question arises, To whose use did God set apart this holy day? Not for His own, evidently; for He had used it previous to this sanctifying process. Christ, the Author of the Sabbath, says, “The Sabbath was made for man.” Hence in making the day holy, and in setting it apart for a holy use, the Creator had in view the good of man, and bestowed the Sabbath upon him as a heritage and blessing. With a revelation of this truth, that the Sabbath was made for man, other propositions present themselves to the mind suggestive of the great principles of perpetuity and obligation lying at the foundation of this institution. A few of these may be considered with profit. I. The Sabbath was designed as a great memorial of creation. It was the birthday of the world. Just as long as the created works of God exist, the keeping of the Sabbath by the human family was designed to commemorate that event. Every recurring seventh day would be a reminder to them of the Creator of the universe, the Author of their beings, and would call forth from their hearts new expressions of prayer and praise to Him who is the beneficent Giver of all their blessings. 2. The Sabbath institution was designed for the whole race of mankind. This is proved by the fact that it was given to the father and mother of the race. In giving the Sabbath to Adam and his companion, God designed it for their children in every age. 3. The Sabbath originally was designed for a holy race. It was not given to Adam after sin entered, but before. It was set apart for his use while he still was in his purity and innocency. Had the dark shadow of sin never enshrouded the world, had Adam and his descendants always remained pure and holy, the Sabbath still would have been kept by them as the memorial of God. Thus, had sin never entered, and time continued until the present, if we who now exist had then existed, the whole world to-day, including ourselves, would have been observers of the one true Sabbath given to man at the beginning. And as the Sabbath was designed for a holy race, the statement that men cleansed by the blood of Christ are above its claims is of little force. The vilest sinner in coming to Christ to-day, in the observance of the Sabbath of the Lord, is but following God’s original purpose concerning the inhabitants of this earth. 4. The Sabbath is equally adapted to the needs of a sinful race. While the Sabbath originally was designed for man in his sinlessness, the change wrought by sin in the character of the human family did not change their relation to Sabbath observance nor the relation of the Sabbath to them. This is evidenced by the fact that the children of God after the fall were still required to keep His commandments and observe His rest day. Gen. 26:5; Ex. 20:8–11. 5. As the Sabbath was instituted before sin entered, it had no natural relation to the sin-offerings or types or ceremonies or sacrifices introduced into the ritual of the Jewish church in consequence of sin. Hence the expiration of those types, the abolishing of sacrifices, affected in no degree the perpetuity of the Sabbath institution. 6. The Sabbath was instituted before the Jews existed as a nation; hence it is in no sense Jewish in its origin or character. We must therefore conclude that as the Sabbath formed a part of God’s great eternal purpose, related alike to all nations, conditions, climes, and countries, no local claims of time or nation could affect its far-reaching import or its everlasting perpetuity. As long as the handiwork of God shall be witnessed in the heavens above or in the earth beneath, the seventh-day Sabbath will stand as the great memorial of the creative work. No more could the birthday of an individual be changed than the birthday of the world. It must therefore be concluded that the Sabbath to-day is as binding upon the children of men as when instituted by the Lord six thousand years ago. To deny its claims is to deny the power of God. But to honor and revere the day which the Lord hath made is to honor and revere the Lord of the Sabbath, even our Creator and Redeemer. F. M. W.