Christ the Rest-Giver by Charles Lindsay Taylor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jul 15, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 29.

Christ the Rest-Giver

By Charles Lindsay Taylor

"The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath; therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Mark 2:27, 28.

THE word "Sabbath" signifies rest. The Sabbath day is simply the rest day. The command, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," is the command to remember the rest day.

It requires no interpretation, therefore, and really no explanation, to make it plain that the Lord Jesus in declaring Himself "Lord also of the Sabbath" was simply expressing this great truth, that He is the Lord of the rest day.

Now right here the reader should not forget that ofttimes remarkable word "therefore." Jesus says, "Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath." By the use of that word He points the mind back to a reason why He is Lord of the Sabbath.

The only reason given is, "The Sabbath was made for man." The making of the Sabbath for man is therefore the reason why Jesus is its Lord.

The Sabbath day, the rest day, was made and given to man at the very foundation of the world. Thus we read, "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 had made." Gen. 2:1-3.

Without question this account is Jehovah's record of the making of the Sabbath—the Sabbath that was made for man; and undoubtedly it was to this very record that Jesus referred when He said, "The Sabbath was made for man," and declared, "Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath."

Remembering once more that Jesus Christ was the Creator (John 1:1-3, 14; Col. 1:16); that it was Christ who "rested on the seventh day;" that it was Christ who "blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it He had rested from all His work;"—remembering this we can at once understand why He called Himself "Lord also of the Sabbath." Christ Jesus was the Author of the Sabbath and therefore is Lord of the Sabbath.

Very few, indeed, are the people who enter into the real truth of the Sabbath of Christ, the Sabbath of the seventh day. To most professed Christians the making of the Sabbath was nothing more than the arbitrary setting apart, by decree, of a twenty-four-hour day, a thought which, at the best, contains no help and comfort for sin-weary souls. And yet Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for man,"—for his salvation and strength.

Jesus Christ "blessed the seventh day." Are these words meaningless? Are they empty rhetoric? or, do they bring home to us the very fulness of Gospel truth? What is the "blessing" of God?

The blessed word says, "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich." Prov. 10:22. Christ, the Angel of Jehovah, bestowed upon the patriarch Jacob "the blessing of the Lord." Jacob in his life had been far from God. But when, in the agony of his soul, and because he realized that he must be a different man, even a man of God, he said, "I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me," the blessing came. And what did it mean to Jacob?—It brought him another nature and another name. He had been Jacob, "the supplanter;" now he was Israel, the overcomer. See Gen. 32:24-29. The blessing of God was God's presence in his soul. It was, in fact, Christ in him the hope of glory. He who had been unholy was now holy; he who had been unsanctified was now sanctified.

The blessing of God can never be, and therefore never is, separated from the presence of God. To say that God blesses men is but to say that He puts Himself, His own living presence, within them. It is thus that men are made holy. God's presence in Jesus Christ at the burning bush made the place holy or sanctified (Ex. 3:2-5); and likewise His presence in the tabernacle sanctified the entire building.

With these thoughts in mind turn back, dear reader, to the making of the Sabbath, Christ, the Creator, blessed and sanctified the seventh day. In other words, He put His presence, His own divine Self, into the day. His holy presence in the day makes it a holy day. No place, no man, and no day, are holy in any other sense; but in this sense each and all are specifically "holy."

And just as the presence of the Lord Jesus makes holy, so it gives rest. To Israel Jehovah said, "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." Ex. 33:14. The Presence of God—the Lord Christ—would give "rest." Christ is the Author of rest. He who went with Israel is He who said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. . . . Ye shall find rest unto your souls." Matt. 11:28, 29.

The rest found in the Son of God is rest from self and sin, rest from all that annoys and distracts, rest from that which tears down and destroys. His presence keeps man from sin and thus gives rest and makes him whole. Wholeness is holiness. Perfect rest from sin means perfect wholeness of soul—perfect holiness of life. Rest and holiness are truly coordinate in meaning, and both came from the abiding presence of the holy Son of God.

To say that our Lord Christ was the Maker and Lord of the Sabbath day is only another way of saying that He is the great Rest-giver to mankind. The Sabbath—the rest day—is His "rest," and thus to be the Lord of the Sabbath is to be the Lord of rest. And to know Him as the Lord of rest is to find in Him salvation from self and sin. True Sabbath-keeping is the sunshine and sweetness of salvation, the restfulness and helpfulness of everlasting life springing from the immediate presence of God's only Son.

The Sabbath brings rest because it brings Christ; and it brings Christ because for the eternal good of His people Christ put Himself into the day. Blessed Sabbath, blessed Rest-giver!

Long has God waited for men who would enter into His rest. Read Heb. 4:3-11 and take note that from the time that Jesus Christ rested from all His works (Verse 4), and the "rest" of the Sabbath was given, men have been invited in a special way to choose that rest. All thru the ages, Christ, the Rest-giver, has been seeking to lead men into His rest by revealing Himself to them thru His rest day.

The Rest-giver gave His rest day before sin entered the world. He has continued to give it thru all the ages; He will continue to give it after sin has been overthrown. Eden, fresh from the hand of the

Creator, knew both the Author of rest and the day of rest; Eden restored will have the same privilege. Isa. 66:23.

Let us all "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," that in so doing we may continually invite into our lives the Author of its rest and holiness, the Lord of the Sabbath, the Rest-giver of mankind.