Marriage and Sabbath Institutions
By T. Godfrey
Origin and Relation to Each Other
HE marriage and Sabbath institutions are of divine origin, and are the two oldest institutions upon record, both dating back to creation week. In the second chapter of Genesis we have the date of their institution. Concerning the marriage institution the inspired record says: "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. . . . And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam: . . . and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman [Isha, margin], because she was taken out of man [Ish, margin]. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Gen. 2:18-24. Mark 10:1-9. "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish [fill] the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Gen. 1:27, 28. Thus we see that the marriage institution is of divine order, and that it is a holy and sacred institution. God made man male and female, and gave unto them the marriage institution, and blessed them, and gave them dominion over the works of His hands. He gave to man the marriage vows to be a sign of the righteousness of the institution, and a seal of His approval. It is a perpetual covenant between the man, his wife, and God forever. God made man male and female that they might be a blessing to each other, and an honor to God. The woman is of the man, and was made for the man. 1 Cor. 11:9. To violate the marriage vow is sin; it is adultery, says the seventh commandment. "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Ex. 20:14. Thus we see that there exists a close affinity between the marriage relation and the law of God. The primordial home instituted by the Lord in Eden was a holy and happy place. There God talked with man face to face, and the angels of God loved to visit it. It was the depository of God's holy law, written in each individual heart. O, that Elysian home so pure! At the close of the sixth day of creation, God reviewed the works of His hand, and pronounced them very good, and rested from all His works. In the second chapter of Genesis we have the account of the institution of the Sabbath day. Concerning that institution of the Sabbath, the word of inspiration says: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And 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. 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. 2:1-3. Thus we learn that the Sabbath is of divine order, and that it is a holy and sacred institution. God made the Sabbath by resting, blessing, and sanctifying it. Then He gave it to man. It "was made for man;" made for him to remember and "keep holy." Mark 2:27; Ex. 20:8. It is a perpetual covenant between God and His loyal subjects forever that He is the true God, the God that made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is. Ex. 31:16, 17. Thus the Sabbath was made for man, or the whole human family. To desecrate the Sabbath is sin. "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. Says the fourth commandment: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore [for this reason] the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Ex. 20:8-11. These two primitive institutions have coexisted for six thousand years in spite of the many attempts on the part of the enemy of all righteousness and truth to separate and obliterate them. These two institutions are eternal and inseparable. Says the wise man: "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before Him. That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past" (or, "driven away"). Eccl. 3:14, 15. It is true that sin entered into the world (Rom. 5:12), and that the marriage vow has been and is violated, and the Sabbath desecrated; but sin has not changed God's plan and eternal purpose in creation. The marriage vow and the Sabbath are gifts from God. Says the Word of God, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17. "For I am the Lord, I change not," etc. Mal. 3:6. The marriage vow is still a holy and sacred gift. The Sabbath day is still a blessed, sanctified rest day. The enemy has made many attempts to reduce the marriage vow to a mere civil contract, to be dissolved at will; and many attempts have been made to set aside the holy Sabbath of the Lord, and put in its stead Sunday, "the wild solar holiday of all pagan time." These attempts are treason committed against the government of God. But the principles of truth and righteousness will prevail, and sin and its originator will be forever blotted out, and man will keep the Sabbath in the earth made new. Isa. 66:22, 23.