THE SABBATH AND CHRIST by Clarence Santef

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 12, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 50.

THE SABBATH AND CHRIST.

By Clarence Santef

AS an institution, the Sabbath holds a place distinct and alone. No person could ever have lapsed into heathenism while keeping it; for it is founded upon the great events of creation week. There is no measure of time that is identical with the week closing with the Sabbath, except the week of creation. This week must ever stand as the basis for the dividing of all after-time into periods of seven days. The Sabbath marks the "rest" period after a completed work. It was the "seal" God placed upon the work of His hands, testifying that there was nothing farther that could conduce to perfection. The Sabbath was given as a memorial, not of one point in creation week, but of every act embraced in that week. God says: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. . . . 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."

Let us see some of the points covered by this far-reaching memorial. "And God said, Let there be light; and there was light." Gen. 1:3. The sun was not yet shining upon the earth, neither did it shine there for three days. Upon what, then, was the light based? The record says, "And God said." Then light, and light as perfect as ever shined from the sun, was shining upon this earth, based alone upon the power in God's word. The Sabbath keeps this grand truth before all men. No heathen sun-worshipper could ever have developed if the Sabbath had always been observed, and this fact kept in mind.

The power of God's word is again shown in the creating of a great "firmament" of life-giving air. Gen. 1:6. The Sabbath is the pledge that God will never take this from those who lay hold of it in the Sabbath; for His Word says, "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever." Eccl. 3:14. This last text verifies the statement that all the changes from this perfect state, tho allowed by the Lord, are yet done by other hands, and can not be commemorated in true Sabbath-keeping.

Pass to Gen. 1:11, 12: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit." "God saw that it was good." Here, again, the life, the growth, the yield of ripe fruit, was not dependent upon the warmth of the sun, because the sun had not yet lighted the earth. Neither were they dependent on the earth, because they were there bearing fruit before they grew from the earth. Proof: "The Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew." Gen. 2:4, 5. Then when Adam on the sixth day plucked the ripe fruit and ate, he could return no thanks to earth, sea, or sun. He could only see Him who, by the power of His word, brought them all into being, in a perfect state, for man's use.

To him who keeps God's Sabbath, then, and sees what God sees in the Sabbath, there is no fear, tho earth fail to bring forth, and tho the sun's power may be so fierce as to fulfil the prophecy that "the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field." And again: "The rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness." Joel 1:19, 20. The man of God has laid hold of the pledge of God's power in the Sabbath, a pledge that "was made for man." Mark 2:27. And he can calmly rest in the power of God's word to supply him with those things that are necessary to carry him through. The earth may fail, the rays of the sun may turn to scorching, withering shafts of death (Rev. 16:8, 9), yet God's word can not fail.

Going again to Genesis 1, we pass over the dominion of the earth, the equality of male and female, and find the food of man all marked out complete in the "herb bearing seed" and the tree yielding fruit. Even the beasts were given a diet in which no conscious life should be taken. Gen. 1:29, 30. God saw all the work, and the provision, pronounced it very good, and then He rested. True Sabbath-keeping sees all this, but it never can include aught that is not in these six days. True Sabbath-keeping, then, can not include a flesh diet. It never can countenance the feeling of superiority of husband or wife over the companion; for this was the result of and did not come into the six days. It can never rest with the man who, with every change of the season, looks with gloomy doubts upon the fields, fearing starvation because of the failure of the earth. It never can rest with the man who will take away one point in this great week, and in its place substitute the "inventions" of man. It can rest in the bosom of the man who, trusting alone upon "the word of His power," keeps the "commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."

The question then arises, If the Sabbath given at the close of creation week commemorates only these events, should we not have another Sabbath to commemorate redemption and the work of Christ? This question, which has often been asked, separates Christ from the creation, and this is not correct. Christ was the active agent in the work of creation, and He it was who rested, and made the Sabbath day. That Christ did, with the counsel of the Father, act in the creation, we learn from many texts. "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." "All things were made by Him." John 1:10, 3. In harmony with this we hear the Saviour saying, "The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." Matt. 12:8.

Christ is inseparably connected with the Sabbath. He 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." Eze. 20:12. Take Christ away, and the Sabbath is gone. Thus the Jews, ignoring Christ, and planning His death, observed in their own way the hours of the Sabbath, yet failed to keep the Sabbath, by failing to see Him in the Sabbath. They were keeping a "Jewish Sabbath"—man-made, with no Christ in it.

None but the Creator could be the Redeemer, as, in every case, it must be a new creation. He says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." 2 Cor. 5:17. Then the seal of creative power is the assurance of redemptive power. If the one is forgotten the other can but be doubted. He who sees Christ in the creation, and Christ in the Sabbath, will see in the Sabbath the only power that can redeem. "For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12. And that name and its power are forever stamped in creation's Sabbath.

What cause, then, for another Sabbath? It would find no place as creative power—which is redeeming power—and all that will ever be enjoyed by the redeemed soul in a perfect state, is embodied in the reasons God has given for keeping the only Sabbath that He ever gave to represent Himself. This, God assures us, will be kept throughout the eternal ages. Isa. 66:22, 23.

CLARENCE SANTEF.