The Sign of Creative, Converting, and Sanctifying Power
By W. A. WESTWORTH
Nature and Purpose of the Sabbath—It Means More than a Mere One-Day-in-Seven Rest
THE continued effort of the Father above to bring fallen man to a full realization of what God will do for His children is nowhere better emphasized than in the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. Ofttimes an ignorance of all that the Sabbath stands for causes men to claim that it is merely a ceremony, and that in its very nature it differs from the rest of the precepts of the Decalogue. So we find that, in the effort to get away from the obligation therein imposed upon them, many insist that the Sabbath is done away, and that the other nine precepts of the law were reinstituted by Christ. ITS REAL NATURE NOT COMPREHENDED
The true nature of the Sabbath is thus passed by, and it merely becomes a relic of the old Hebrew economy. A careful study of the real character of the Sabbath rather reveals that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment stands for everything that God has done or is doing to bring man to the high plane of morality essential to immortal life. This is a strong statement; and yet as we study all the Word says for this institution, the Sabbath becomes the most prominent token that the Bible contains of God's effort to lift man up. Three steps in man's uplift are before us for consideration. The first is creation. Ex. 20:8-11 establishes the Sabbath as God's sign of His creative power. There is no dispute as to this. And as man realizes that the earth was6brought forth by the word of God, he can not but the more appreciate the fact that this same powerful word is responsible for his own existence. So Paul expresses it in his argument on Mars' Hill. After showing God to be the Creator of all things, he brings that same creative power to the personal consideration, and says (Acts 17:28), "For in Him we live, and move, and have our being." To receive the Sabbath as nothing more than a token of what was done in creation's week is to allow it to degenerate into a mere memento of Creation, a simple reminder of an ancient historic fact. The Sabbath must come to us as a token of that power which brought us forth and sustains us by His word, if we would get all God has in it for us. Creation therefore comes to us as the first step absolutely essential in the development of man in the image of God and fitting him for a place in eternity. The second step in the consideration of God's dealing with His children is the great plan carried forth to redeem man from the power of sin and to restore the lost image. After man had fallen, and sin had secured that hold on him which would drag him down to ruin and oblivion, it was necessary that a higher power get hold of him, and bring him back again to where the power of the higher life might be developed in him, and he be fitted for eternal residence with God. Deliverance from sin, without doubt, is the great step necessary for all; "for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." LED OUT OF EGYPT, LITERAL AND SPIRITUAL
When God's ancient chosen people, surrounded by the damning influences of the heathen nation in whose midst they were cast, desired to worship God in the truth which would save them, it was necessary for God to lead them from Egypt with a mighty hand and a stretched forth arm. The same power which produced the world, and which sustains it, set Himself to develop in His own people that character which should stand the test of the eternal Judgment. He brought them forth from that ancient land of sin and darkness into the place where they could serve Him in spirit and in truth. So in Deut. 5:15 He gives them as another reason why they should keep the Sabbath, the fact that He had brought them forth from Egypt. But Egypt in its deeper meaning and in God's sight stands not merely for a geographical location, but for a condition. God did not lead Israel forth from Egypt because the land itself was not capable of sustaining them, but rather that they might be separated from the contaminating influences with which they were surrounded. A SIGN OF THE SECOND WORK FOR MAN
The symbolic nature of the very name "Egypt" is clearly set forth in Rev. 11:8, where "Sodom" and "Egypt" are synonymous with "sin." The call from Egypt was a call from sin, and the Sabbath was to be a sign of the call from the rudiments of the world to the higher life, where the power of God is recognized as the all-sustaining force in the world. Thus the Sabbath becomes the sign of the second work for man—the delivering from sin's cursed power. THE STEP OF SANCTIFICATION
The third great work for man after he has been released from the power of Satan's rule is the work of developing in him the higher life, that spiritual power which will fit him for a place in the everlasting kingdom of God's love. First is creation, then deliverance, and then sanctification. The same power which first brings us forth, and then saves us from the death-dealing poisons of sin, is set for the purpose of working in us His own life, and bringing us forth ready for a place with all the redeemed. Eze. 20:12 says: "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." This text represents the Sabbath as a sign that God is sanctifying His people. God calls it His sign of that very work. So it comes to man as a sign of all that God has done or will do for the development of a people peculiar to Himself. THE INSIGNIA OF SEPARATION
Further, then, as it is necessary for every one to recognize God's power as Creator and Sustainer in his own individual existence, so is it necessary for every one to experience God's power to deliver and separate from sin in the daily life. The Sabbath as a sign of delivering power must come as an evidence of God at work separating us from the world about us. Some may argue that the commandment simply calls for one day's rest out of each seven, but the one-day-in-seven argument surely does not show the separation from the world that is essential to salvation. Millions who make but little if any pretension to the faith of Jesus, formally recognize one day in seven; but as soon as any one steps out in full obedience to the law of God on this point, it is made very evident to him that he must come out and be separate, he must leave Egypt would he serve God aright. So to-day the Sabbath is a sign of God at work bringing forth His people from the elements of the world and establishing them as true followers of the truth as it is in Jesus. Again, sanctification must be a living experience. It can not be a theory. But as ancient Israel had to learn that God's way alone would lead to Canaan, so the child of God to-day must learn that only as the Christ life is lived in him can he expect to get that holiness without which no man can see the Lord. Thus the Sabbath becomes a great moral force. It continually leads man to see how only he can get back into life with his God. Given in love from the very beginning, it ever holds out to man the possibilities before him, and leads him on to the life and light which measure existence with the Infinite.