Studies on the Sabbath by R. A. Underwood

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jan 10, 1911

Studies on the Sabbath

By R. A. Underwood

The Sabbath Made for Man

"HE Sabbath was made for man." Mark 2:27. We may inquire with profit, Who is the maker of the Sabbath? When was it made? For what purpose was it made? And how long is it to endure?

In answer to these questions, we can assure the reader that the Sabbath was made not in vain. It was made for man, to be co-existent with man through time and eternity.

There is only one weekly Sabbath brought to view in the Bible. Its origin dates from creation's week. Of its Author and Maker the apostle John bears record:

ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. . . . That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and THE WORLD WAS MADE BY HIM, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. John 1:3, 4, 9-12.

To Christ was delegated, by the Father, almighty, creative, life-giving, lawmaking power and authority. It is by Him and through Him that all things were created and are upheld.

And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. Eph. 3:9.

In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature: for BY HIM WERE ALL THINGS CREATED, THAT ARE IN HEAVEN, AND THAT ARE IN EARTH, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. Col. 1:14-17.

The Law of the Sabbath

In the light of these scriptures the Sabbath law reveals Christ as its Maker:

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 [Christ] MADE heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord [Christ] blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. Ex. 20: 8-11.

The Sabbath law of Exodus 20 is the foundation of all Biblical weekly Sabbath observance. This law cites to the creation of this world as the base upon which the Sabbath institution rests. It is the memorial of the Creator's authority and power, showing God's right to govern man and all His creative works.

Let us turn to the inspired record when the Sabbath was made. Genesis 1 gives the statement of creation, followed in the second chapter by the steps in making the Sabbath.

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.

Steps in Making the Sabbath

Let us note what the record shows. First, Christ wrought in creating this world in six days. Second, God (Christ) rested on the seventh day, or literally sabbatized the seventh day. In this act of Christ the seventh day became the rest-day, or Sabbath day, of Jesus Christ. Third, God (Christ) blessed the seventh day. Thus the seventh day became the "rest," "blessed" day of no less a personage than Jesus Christ, the One who says, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." Rev. 22:13. The fourth step was to sanctify it.

The primary meaning of the word "sanctify" is to make holy. The secondary meaning is to set apart to a sacred and holy purpose. Both definitions are included in the act of Christ sanctifying the Sabbath. God has put His own presence and holiness into the Sabbath as He has into no other day. He calls it "My holy day." Isa. 58:13.

The secondary act of sanctifying the Sabbath was to set the day apart for man as an everlasting reminder of man's dependence upon his Creator, and of all the blessings God bestows upon him. Of the Sabbath, David wrote: "He hath made a memorial for His wonderful works! Gracious and merciful is the Lord!" Ps. 111:4, Jewish translation.

The Object in Giving the Sabbath

The object in giving the Sabbath was not primarily for man to have a day of physical rest. As already seen, the Sabbath was given to man in Eden before sin and death entered this world. Again, the Sabbath will remain throughout the eternal ages, when man will know no weariness nor have need of physical rest.

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. Isa. 66: 22, 23.

The real purpose of giving the Sabbath to man is expressed in these words:

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. . . . And hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, THAT YE MAY KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD. Eze. 20: 12, 20.

Redemption Is Creation Gone over Again

(See Ps. 51:10; 1 Sam. 10:6, 9; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:10; Rev. 21:1, 5.) Hence the Sabbath remains through all eternity, not only a sign of the creation of this world, in the beginning, but it is a sign of the sanctifying, regenerating power of its Author in the redemption of a lost world. It is ever to remain co-existent with man as a memorial of the creative, redeeming power of Jesus Christ, its Maker. Reader, do you remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy, as given by Christ? "Thy name, O Lord, endureth forever; and Thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations." Ps. 135:13.