Editorial by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · May 23, 1912

Editorial

By F. M. W.

The Making of the Sabbath

WE have already traced the origin of the Sabbath institution. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, established it as a memorial of his great work. It is proper now to consider the steps by which the Sabbath was thus set apart, the three distinct acts of the Creator by which it was dedicated to this use.

God's Rest Day

1. The first step is indicated in the following scripture: "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." Gen. 2:2. The Creator chose one day from the weekly cycle as his own rest day. This was the seventh day of the week. By this act he distinguished this day above all its fellows. This henceforth would forever remain the rest day of Jehovah.

The Day Made Holy

2. After resting on the seventh day, "God blessed the seventh day." This divine blessing constituted the seventh day holy time. It set apart that day in a class by itself, and made it unique and of a different character from all its fellows. Upon no other day of the week was the divine blessing bestowed. The blessing of God upon a sinner separates him from his iniquity and makes him the blessed of the Lord, and so the Lord in placing a special blessing upon the seventh day separated it from all its fellows, from the other days of the cycle, and gave to it a blessed character. Thus the seventh day became not alone God's Sabbath day, but it became his blessed Sabbath, his holy day. This blessing placed upon the seventh day of the week in the beginning still remains upon it. By no act of the Creator has it ever been removed, and we can say of it, as Balaam said of Israel, "He hath blessed; and I can not reverse it." No forces of evil can take from the seventh day the heavenly benediction placed upon it by its divine Author.

Set Apart for Man

3. The third act of God in making the Sabbath signalized his purpose concerning the institution. After resting upon the seventh day, and making it holy by blessing it, the record is that he "sanctified it." The reason why he blessed it, the reason why he sanctified it, was "because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Gen. 2:3. He placed his blessing upon the seventh day because it had been his rest day, and he sanctified the day for the same reason.

To sanctify is to set apart, to separate to a holy or sacred use. To whose use was the Sabbath set apart and sanctified? For whose benefit, by these three distinct acts of God, was the Sabbath created? Not for his own evidently, for he had used it previous to its sanctification. Our Saviour plainly answers this question. He says, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." Mark 2:27. It was not made for Adam alone, but for the whole human family, of whom he stood as a representative. Most fitting indeed that God should thus give this institution to our first parents. Busied as they were during the week with the work to which their Creator had assigned them, it was appropriate that they should have a day of rest in which they could turn their minds more fully to the contemplation of God and his wondrous works. Sharing God's blessings every day, they could experience in the observance of the Sabbath a double blessing. This same blessing is in the Sabbath to-day for all who will observe it.

Spiritual and Physical Rest

The idea of physical rest was not the only one in the establishment of the Sabbath institution. We can hardly conceive that our first parents knew fatigue and weariness in the same sense that men do to-day. God designed that they should obtain from the Sabbath not only physical rest, but spiritual rest also, a rest of spirit and of heart, a new joy in the contemplation of God, a quickening and reviving of the spiritual sensibilities. To this spiritual rest a cessation from physical labor was necessary.

If we to-day see in the Sabbath of the Lord only physical refreshing, an opportunity merely to relax from the wearing toil of the six days in order that we may more vigorously prosecute our purposes during the succeeding six days, we shall miss the grand purpose of the institution. Physical rest will contribute to spiritual rest, and in the observance of the Sabbath institution is absolutely essential and required. The mind, instead of being intent upon matters of personal concern, is left free to contemplate God and his goodness. In his created works around us this love is revealed. Earth and sea and sky, mountain, hill, and dale, the delicately tinted flower, the majestic, waving tree, the warbling of the bird in his leafy bower, the hum of the insect in the air, — all speak of the great Creator and of his love for the children of men.

The contemplation of these blessings and of every material benefit begets deeper gratitude of heart. The goodness of God leads to repentance. The contemplation of all he has done for us leads us in return to honor and glorify him. Let us welcome the Sabbath institution in the spirit in which God gave it, and so employ its sacred hours that we shall receive the double blessing of spiritual and physical rest which it holds for us, and which its divine Author is desirous of bestowing upon us.