The New Creation and the Sabbath
By Roderick S. Owen
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. 20:11. ERE the seventh day is set forth as a sign of the Creator's rest, a seal of creative power, vested only in Him; as a memorial of His distinguishing title, which is, Creator. In Ps. 111:4 we read that God "hath made His wonderful works to be remembered." Just as this nation has made its independence to be remembered, by setting apart the fourth day of July as a memorial, so God has set apart the seventh day of the week as His memorial. Just as the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the fourth of July fixed that day unchangeably as Independence Day, so God's resting on the seventh day fixed that day unchangeably as the Sabbath day. Just as long as creation stands, just as long as God's wonderful works endure, His memorial should and will stand; and any new manifestation of creative power must only give the memorial, if possible, a surer footing. When God undertook the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage, Pharaoh denied the existence of the God of Israel as the Creator and supreme Ruler. He said: "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." Moses was teaching the people to observe the Sabbath, the memorial of God's name as Creator. Therefore Pharaoh charged Moses with making the people rest; and he not only laid more work upon them, in requiring them to gather stubble for straw, but also insisted that they deliver a certain number of bricks every day. This made it impossible for them to keep the Sabbath. Thus Pharaoh not only denied God as Creator, but also set aside the Sabbath, His memorial. In Ex. 9:16 God says, "And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee My power; and that My name may be declared throughout all the earth." The issue being thus squarely set forth, God proceeds to vindicate His right as Creator and supreme Ruler. He gave exhibitions of the superiority of His power over all the gods of the Egyptians. He showed His power to control the elements, and cause them to do His bidding, as the hail, lightning, darkness, etc. He exercised creative power in producing frogs, lice, flies, locusts, etc., and later by feeding the multitudes in the wilderness with quails and manna. During all this, great prominence was given the Sabbath, that being the point of controversy before they left Egypt, being made the test of their obedience before they reached Mount Sinai, and finally receiving its place of prominence in the bosom of the law spoken by the voice of God amid the thunders of Sinai and afterward written with His finger on two tables of stone. It is also worthy of notice that the Lord, in feeding the people with bread from heaven, followed the same course pursued by Him in creating the world; for He did not create manna on the seventh day. The Promised Rest Remains
In Heb. 3:11-18; and 4:1-3, in reference to the experience of the children of Israel, we read: "So I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest. . . . And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For-unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest." Also in Heb. 3:7-13 we read: "To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, . . . in the wilderness. . . . But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day." And in Heb. 4:7: "He limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so long a time; as it is said, To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Thus we find that God offered His rest to the people in the wilderness, and in David's day, and in the apostle's day; and by the Holy Ghost He is still offering it even in our day, saying that to-day, if you will hear His voice, you may enter into rest. We also learn by Heb. 4:2 that this rest is presented in the Gospel. Hence ever since the Gospel was first proclaimed in the promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, even to the last lingering moment of probationary time, it has been and will be, "To-day." For now is the acceptable time; to-day is the day of salvation; and to-day, just as it has been in all the past, those who believe do enter into His rest, while others shut themselves out through unbelief. As stated in verse 9, "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." How We May Enter into Rest
Verse 10 tells us that we must cease from our own work to enter this rest, even as God ceased from His. But our works are works of sin; hence to enter God's rest we must cease from sinning. The only way to do this, is in Christ Jesus. But "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature," or creation, and can then enter into God's rest; for as God rested and was refreshed while He contemplated the work of a new creation, even so the one who can look into his own heart, and see the transforming power of the Spirit of God creating him anew in Christ Jesus, can and does rejoice in a new creation, and is thus entering into God's rest. But altho this rest remains, and is an abiding, continual rest, excepting where it is broken by sin, God has set apart the seventh day as the outward sign of this rest; for the apostle says that God's works were finished from the foundation of the world. As proof of this he cites the fact that one "spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works." Altho sin came in and disturbed this abiding rest, still God did not do away with the outward sign, but permitted it to remain, not only as a sign, but also as a pledge of the final restoration of all things. Hence He says of His people, "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. Thus the Sabbath becomes at once the sign both of creative power in calling the world into existence at the first, and also of creative power manifested in redemption. How Are You Related to God's Rest?
But the children of men are making many mistakes in this matter of God's rest. Some are ignoring both the rest and the sign; others are ignoring the rest and wearing the sign; while still others are seeking the rest but ignoring the sign. O that the first class would acknowledge God, and obtain His rest, and wear His sign! O that the second class would retain the sign, and allow God to flood the soul temple with His rest! and that the third class, accepting the fulness of His rest, may not be ashamed of His sign, lest in so doing they find themselves among those who are denying God's name.5A young Scotchman, being required to pass through territory belonging to a clan antagonistic to his own, removed from his person the badge by which his clan was identified, and by so doing he certainly denied his name. Do Not Set Aside God's Rest
We are now in an enemy's land. Let us be very careful not to set aside the memorial of our Father's name, that which He has established to be the distinguishing sign of citizenship in His country. For when the last one has been found who will allow himself to be made a new creature in Christ Jesus; when Jesus shall come to set up His kingdom; when the work of re-creating shall be completed, and the earth shall stand forth in all its Edenic beauty,—then shall God, together with every loyal subject of His eternal kingdom, enter into the fulness of His rest, by rejoicing in this renewed and finished creation. Then shall the seventh day be observed by all the redeemed throng as the outward sign of their eternal, abiding rest; for we read in Isa. 66:22, 23: 'For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.' There remains therefore a rest and the keeping of the Sabbath to the people of God.