GOD’S HOLY DAY

            It would seem that love could do no more than God had done for His own.

            And yet God was not satisfied.  He had given the earth to the children of men; now He added a bit of heaven.  Once a week the Sabbath was to come to earth; once a week God would in a special manner meet with His children; once a week heaven’s peace would rest on the whole creation.  Coming down from God out of heaven, the Sabbath would descend with healing in its wings, bringing to man rest, peace, and blessing, yea, God Himself.  Thrice blessed, it was the golden clasp that bound earth and heaven together, the golden chain that bound the soul to God.  As God and man communed together that first Sabbath on earth, the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy (Job 38:7).

            But sin and sorrow came in and marred God’s perfect creation.  Long has evil prevailed, and at times it has seemed that God has forsaken man and left him to his own folly and destruction.  From the anguished hearts of millions has ascended the cry to God, “How long, O Lord, how long!”  Yet God has not left the earth, nor man.  He still meets with His own; He still sends them the holy Sabbath with balm for the weary, quiet for frayed nerves, comfort for distressed hearts, peace for anxious and troubled souls.  God is still on the throne. At the determined time He will speak, and will not keep silence.  Men shall still hear his voice.

            If ever the Sabbath was needed, it is needed now.  Amid the tumult of nations, amid the clash of arms, God’s voice is heard calling men to worship, to communion, to the Sabbath rest that remains for the people of God.  The time has come, and is long overdue, for a Sabbath restoration and reformation.  The evil one has almost succeeded in depriving men of God’s Sabbath gift, and the church is apathetic.  It is time for the Christian, for the church, to awake, and go out to battle for the faith once delivered to the saints.  It is time for all to “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

THE SABBATH

SPIRITUAL SERVICE

            The Sabbath raises man from the level of earthly existence to the plane of the spirit.  Six days man toils to provide the needed food, clothing, shelter, and protection against possible contingencies.  On the Sabbath he is lifted above all earthly considerations, and communes with his God.  On that day he takes his rightful place in creation, lifts his mind to things above, lays aside all that binds him to earth, and enters into the heavenly rest.  He meets with those of like precious faith, partakes of the bread which came down from heaven, sits at table with his Lord, and receives His parting blessing as he turns again to his earthly pursuits for another week.

            The Sabbath provides the occasion for spiritual service and contemplation.  On that day man may consider the marvelous things out of God’s law;  he may view the glory of God in the heavens above and the earth beneath; he may commune with God and his own soul.  Were it not for the time thus provided, man would sustain an irreparable spiritual loss.  The Sabbath gives the needed time for contemplation of life and its duties, for God, heaven, and religion.  Take the Sabbath away, and the foundation of the other commandments is removed; there would be no stated time for worship, no time dedicated to the consideration of our responsibilities to God and man.  Without the Sabbath life would be an endless round of duties and labor, spiritual things would be neglected, and man’s highest end would not be attained.  If there is to be religion at all, God must provide time for it.  This God has done.

            The Sabbath command is central in the law of God, the most precious document in the possession of mankind.  This law was spoken by God Himself in majesty upon Mount Sinai, confirmed by Christ while on earth, and given to the church and the world as a guide of life and standard of conduct.  Its clear, crisp, decisive commands comprehend the whole duty of man.  In its original form it is the constitution of the universe; as adapted to man it defines his every duty.  It is the foundation of all human law, the bulwark of society and civilization, the protector of liberty, the guardian of morality, the preserver of the home, the security of the state.  Obeyed, it brings happiness, prosperity, and peace; disobeyed or ignored, it brings sorrow, disaster, and chaos.  Men and nations have disregarded it; pew and pulpit have attempted to disannul it; evil men and seducers have violated it; society has flouted it; yet it remains the one accepted standard of conduct.  It is a builder of character, a reprover of sin, a guide of life.

THE SABBATH COMMANDMENT 2

          “REMEMBER THE Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labour, 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 manservant, nor thy maidservant, 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 the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”  Exodus 20:8-11. 

            The first word in this commandment, “remember,” sets it apart from the other commandments and lends it distinction.  When God gave the Sabbath to man He knew the great value of His gift, and He also knew of the widespread disregard into which it would fall.  He knew that Satan would use this commandment as his special point of attack upon the church, and would do everything in his power to cause men to forget the Sabbath.  He knew that in time men would lose the sense of the sacredness of the day, and ignore its binding obligation.  For these reasons God called special attention to the Sabbath when He announced the law at Sinai, and asked that it be particularly kept in mind.  All the commandments of God are vital, and none is to be neglected.  But to one He gave distinction above the rest, asking His people not to forget it.

            Because of its unique character this commandment has been broken — by saint and sinner alike — more then any other commandment.  Men who would never think of being dishonest or telling a falsehood, who would never knowingly break any of the other commandments, think nothing of breaking the Sabbath of the Lord.  They ignore entirely the fact that the Lord blessed this day above other days, that He made it for man, and that He has never revoked the blessing with which He once invested it, nor has He taken back His gift.  Men forget that in rejecting the gift, they wound the giver.

            Breaking the fourth commandment is not like breaking some of the other commandments.  A man may kill another in a fit of anger; he may rashly take the name of God in vain; or he may suddenly be overcome by a great passion.  But not so with failure to keep the fourth commandment.  Sabbathbreaking does not have the excuse of sudden passion or of inordinate desire.  It is not like a great sin or a destructive habit.  It is rather a symptom of spiritual decline, of departure from God, of estrangement from the promise, of a sickly Christian experience.  Let this be emphasized:  it is a symptom indicative of disease, and reveals an inward condition of apostasy from God.

            He who takes the Sabbath away, takes worship away, closes one of the doors of heaven and greatly impoverishes spiritual life.  The Sabbath stands for worship, meditation, reflection, study, prayer, communion, fellowship.  If these are neglected or seriously interfered with, religion ceases to be effective, and worldliness takes the ascendancy.  For this reason Satan considers the overthrow of the Sabbath one of his best means of causing men to forget God, and of lowering the spiritual tone of the people.  As men forget the Sabbath they forget God.  As they become careless in Sabbathkeeping they become careless in other religious duties.  Sabbathkeeping is an accurate barometer of spiritual life.

THE PLACE OF THE SABBATH

            Men need a Sabbath.  The world is too much with us.  We are rushed with so many things that we fail to take time to think.  We have no leisure, no time for spiritual exercise, no time for study, reflection, or meditation, only as we deliberately set aside a time for it.  This God wants us to do.  And He wants us to choose the time He has chosen.  He wants us to “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

            As it would be quite impossible for a little girl to keep her dress clean if she should play in the mud and get her hands soiled, so it is quite impossible for us to keep the day holy unless we refrain from sin and evil and all that defiles.  If her little hands were soiled, it would not be long until her dress would be soiled.  The only hope of keeping her dress clean would be to stay away from all that is unclean — all that defiles.  Only as she kept herself clean could she keep her garments clean.

            The parallel is plain.  God’s Sabbath day is holy.  It is a sanctified day.  It is God’s holy rest.  We are not to regard it lightly.  We are not to trample it underfoot.  We are not to do our own pleasure on it.  We are not to speak our own words.  We are not to pollute it.  We are to keep it holy (Isaiah 58:13;  Ezekiel 20:13, 21).  This can be done only as we ourselves are holy and keep away from all that defiles and pollutes.

SABBATH REST

 Read again the fourth commandment quoted at the beginning of this chapter:

            “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but —” Note that “but.”  It is well to work, but.  Some are so interested in work that they cannot stop.  Work is their life.  From early morning till late at night they work.  They hardly take time to eat or sleep.

            To such God Says: “It is well that you work, but you must not forget that I have other claims upon you.  Work is not all.  I have appointed a day upon which you are not to do your own work.  On that day you are to rest and refresh yourself.  You are to turn away from secular things and commune with Heaven.  You are to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.  It is My day, and I want you to share My rest.”

            The reason given in the commandment for observing the Sabbath is not that of our physical well-being, as is popularity supposed.  It is true that man requires physical rest to refresh his body.  But needful as such test may be, that is not the reason given in the commandment.  The reason there given is the example of God.  He rested, and so we are to rest.  Note the wording: “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: . . . for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, . . .and rested the seventh day.”  That is: God worked, and therefore we are to work; God rested, and therefore we are to rest.  It is a matter of example; only later did it become a matter of command.  Example is enough; that is what Adam had in the Garden of Eden.  Later, because of laxity, it became necessary to add the command.

            The Sabbath command is the only commandment in the observance of which God can join man.  It would be highly improper to speak of God as keeping the first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”  So it is with the second and the third.  Again, it would be highly irreverent to speak of God as keeping the last six commandments.  A moment’s reflection will make this clear.  Stealing, lying, adultery — all these have no place with reference to God.  But there is one commandment in the observance of which God can join man: the Sabbath commandment.  Man can keep it; God can keep it.  Thus the Sabbath is the meeting place of God and man.  In the Garden of Eden divinity and humanity joined in its observance.  It was the golden clasp that united heaven and earth then; it will again serve that purpose in the earth made new.  When God deigned to come to this earth and meet with Adam and Eve, He instituted the Sabbath, blessed and sanctified it, and gave it as a gift to man.  The Sabbath is a bit of heaven, God’s own gift.  Let us take heed, lest we refuse this blessed gift of God.

            “The Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27), and is called “a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them” (Ezekiel 20:12).  On this basis He invites us to join Him in His regard for the Sabbath, and promises that those “that keep My Sabbaths, and choose the things that please Me, and take hold of My covenant; even to them will I give in Mine house and within My walls a place and a name better than of dons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off” (Isaiah 56:4,5).  No promise could be of wider import or of greater significance.  It indicates strongly what has been mentioned before, that true Sabbathkeeping is indicative of holiness of life, of sanctification, of communion with God, and that the Lord considers it a sign of union with Him.

THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH 

            In regard to the outward observance of the Sabbath, what does the Lord require?  First, “In it thou shalt not do any work.”  This is defined to refer to our own work and pleasure.  “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaiah 58:13, 14).  Note the words: “Nor doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words.”  This, then, forbids selfish observance of the day; it forbids using it as a day to please ourselves.  This is the negative side of the commandment.

            For the positive observance of the day, we must go to the example of our Lord and Saviour when He was here on earth.  Christ is “Lord also of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28).  “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3).  “If “all things” were made by Christ, if the Sabbath “was made” (Mark 2:27), then Christ made it.  Being thus closely connected with it, He knows how it should be observed, and we may safely follow His example.  He will not lead us astray.

CHRIST’S SABBATHKEEPING 

            How did Christ observe the day?  “As His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read” (Luke 4:16).  Christ went to church on the Sabbath.  This was no spasmodic or occasional attendance.  It was “His custom” to do so.  He had a part in the service.  He “stood up for to read.”  It was the custom in those days to invite those who were capable of reading or speaking to lead out in the service.  Christ did not draw back when He was so invited.  He stood up to read.

            But Christ did more than just go to church on the Sabbath.  He went about doing good.  Often, upon coming out of the synagogue, He would accept an invitation to go to a home, as in the instance recorded in Luke 4:38, 39.  On that occasion “He arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house.”  Here He found one sick, “taken with s great fever. . . .And He stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her.”

            At times this healing was done in the synagogue itself.  On one occasion there was a man with a withered hand, and His enemies “watched . . . whether He would heal him on the Sabbath day” (Mark 3:1-5).  They did not have long to wait.  To the man he said, “Stretch forth thine hand.  And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.”

            It was at this time that Christ asked a question which throws light on the meaning of true Sabbathkeeping.  the Pharisees were watching Him.  He knew that they were ready to take “counsel with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him” (Mark 3:6).  But He had a work to do.  He must be true to Himself and to His heavenly Father, though it might mean losing His life.  So “He saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life or to kill? But they held their peace.”

            The Sabbathkeeping of the Pharisees was mostly negative.  They had numerous rules in regard to what must not be done.  With them it was always, You must not do this; you must not do that.  Christ was positive.  His conclusion was, It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day.

            When we sum up what we know concerning the manner in which Christ spent the Sabbath, we find that He went to church, that He preached and healed, that He took walks in the fields, that He studied, prayed, and meditated.  Christ was not a recluse, keeping to Himself and withholding from the world His presence and His service.  He loved to mingle with other people.  He even accepted invitations on the Sabbath to dine with Pharisees where others were present, and He used these occasions to bring out some of His most pertinent lessons for them and for all.

            As we understand it, Sabbath observance is to be a demonstration of the gospel in operation.  When God commands us to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, He is in that command providing not only for the observance of a day for our benefit, but also for giving the world an object lesson in applied Christianity.  The Sabbath was given not only to man but for man.  Rightly observed and used, it is a mighty means for the proclamation of the true gospel in a way that all can understand.  As Christ was the word made flesh, so the Sabbath is heaven transplanted, a day given to man as a reminder of that which once was and which again shall be.  It came from God, and it is to be given back to Him again in service.

            As we review the Sabbath commandment we notice that its chief demand is holiness.  “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”  Cessation from labor is commanded, but this is by no means all.  He who abstains from work does not by that fact become a Sabbathkeeper and an heir of the promise.  He may not do any work on God’s day, but this merely and at best a negative virtue.  He is to keep the day holy.  This means positive goodness.  To the writer of Hebrews it means that man is to cease “from his own works, as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:10).  The man who ceases from his own works, ceases from sin.  Only such a man can keep the Sabbath as God wants it kept.  Only he who is truly holy can keep the Sabbath holy.