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To the Index ................ 
The Life of Christ
The Lord's day
Volume 16
This volume is based on:-
Genesis 2:1-3; Isaiah 66:22-23; Hebrews 3:12-17; 4:1-13.
It is recommended that you read these before you read the book.
© You may freely copy this book as you desire.
The language of the Scripture quotes has been modernised for easier understanding.
The Seventh-day Sabbath
The Sabbath was hallowed at the creation.
As ordained for man, it had its origin when "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Job 38:7. Peace brooded over the world; for earth was in harmony with heaven. "God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good;" and He rested in the joy of His completed work. Genesis 1:31.
Because He had rested upon the Sabbath, "God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it," - set it apart to a holy use. He gave it to Adam as a day of rest. It was a memorial of the work of creation, and thus a sign of God's power and His love. Genesis 2:3.
The Scripture says, "He has made His wonderful works to be remembered." Psalm 111:4. "The things that are made," declare "the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world... even His everlasting power and divinity." Romans 1:20. R.V.
All things were created by the Son of God.
"God, who at sundry [various] times and in divers [different] manners spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds..." Hebrews 1:1-2.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.... All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made." John 1: 1-3.
The token of love
And since the Sabbath is a memorial of the work of creation, it is a token of the love and power of Christ.
The Sabbath calls our thoughts to nature, and brings us into communion with the Creator. In the song of the birds, the sighing of the trees, and the music of the sea, we still may hear His voice who talked with Adam in Eden in the cool of the day. And as we behold His power in nature we find comfort, for the word that created all things is that which speaks life to the soul.
He "who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:6.
It was this thought that awoke the song, -
"You, Lord, have made me glad
through Your work;
I will triumph in the works
of Your hands.
O Lord, how great are Your works!
And Your thoughts are very deep."
Psalm 92:4-5.
And the Holy Spirit through the prophet Isaiah declares: "To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?... Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
"It is He that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in.... To whom then will you liken Me, or shall I be equal? says the Holy One.
"Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things, that brings out their host by number: He calls them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one fails.
"Why say you, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment
is passed over from my God? Have you not known? Have you not
heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the
ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary?...
He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might He
increases strength."
"Fear you not; for I am with you: be not dismayed; for I am your God: I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness."
"Look to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."
Isaiah 40:18-29; 41:10; 45:22.
The sign of rest
This is the message written in nature, which the Sabbath is appointed to keep in memory. When the Lord bade Israel hallow His Sabbaths, He said, "They shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God." Ezekiel 20:20.
The Ten Commandments
The Sabbath was embodied in the law given from Sinai; but it was not then first made known as a day of rest.
The people of Israel had a knowledge of it before they came to Sinai. On the way there the Sabbath was kept. When some profaned it, the Lord reproved them, saying, "How long refuse you to keep My commandments and My laws?" Exodus 16:28.
A universal gift
The Sabbath was not for Israel merely, but for the world. It had been made known to man in Eden, and, like the other precepts of the Decalogue, it is of imperishable obligation.
Christ declares of that law of which the fourth commandment forms a part, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law." So long as the heavens and the earth endure, the Sabbath will continue as a sign of the Creator's power. Matthew 5:18.
And when Eden shall bloom on earth again, God's holy rest day will be honoured by all beneath the sun. "From one Sabbath to another" the inhabitants of the glorified new earth shall go up "to worship before Me, says the Lord." Isaiah 66:23.
The distinguishing mark
No other institution which was committed to the Jews tended so fully to distinguish them from surrounding nations as did the Sabbath. God designed that its observance should designate them as His worshippers. It was to be a token of their separation from idolatry, and their connection with the true God.
But in order to keep the Sabbath holy, men must themselves be holy.
Through faith they must become
partakers of the righteousness of Christ. When the command was
given to Israel, "Remember the Sabbath day,
to keep it holy," the Lord said also to them, "You
shall be holy men to Me." Exodus 20:8; 22:31. Only thus
could the Sabbath distinguish Israel as the worshippers of God.
The losing of the Sabbath rest
As the Jews departed from God, and failed to make the righteousness of Christ their own by faith, the Sabbath lost its significance to them. Satan was seeking to exalt himself and to draw men away from Christ, and he worked to pervert the Sabbath, because it is the sign of the power of Christ. The Jewish leaders accomplished the will of Satan by surrounding God's rest day with burdensome requirements.
In the days of Christ the Sabbath had become so perverted that its observance reflected the character of selfish and arbitrary men rather than the character of the loving heavenly Father. The rabbis virtually represented God as giving laws which it was impossible for men to obey. They led the people to look upon God as a tyrant, and to think that the observance of the Sabbath, as He required it, made men hard-hearted and cruel. It was the work of Christ to clear away these misconceptions. Although the rabbis followed Him with merciless hostility, He did not even appear to conform to their requirements, but went straight forward, keeping the Sabbath according to the law of God.
Sabbath observance
Upon one Sabbath day, as the Saviour and His disciples returned from the place of worship, they passed through a field of ripening grain. Jesus had continued His work to a late hour, and while passing through the fields, the disciples began to gather the heads of grain, and to eat the kernels after rubbing them in their hands. On any other day this act would have excited no comment, for one passing through a field of grain, an orchard, or a vineyard, was at liberty to gather what he desired to eat. See Deuteronomy 23:24-25. But to do this on the Sabbath was held to be an act of desecration. Not only was the gathering of the grain a kind of reaping, but the rubbing of it in the hands was a kind of threshing. Thus, in the opinion of the rabbis, there was a double offence.
The spies at once complained to Jesus, saying, "Behold, Your disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day." Matthew 12:2.
When accused of Sabbath-breaking at Bethesda, Jesus defended Himself by affirming His Sonship to God, and declaring that He worked in harmony with the Father. Now that the disciples are attacked, He points His accusers to examples from the Old Testament, acts performed on the Sabbath by those who were in the service of God.
The Jewish teachers prided themselves on their knowledge of the Scriptures, and in the Saviour's answer there was an implied rebuke for their ignorance of the Sacred Writings. "Have you not read so much as this," He said, "what David did, when he himself was a hungry person, and they which were with him; how he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread,... which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone?" Luke 6:3-4.
"And He said to them, 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.
"Have you not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane [or work on] the Sabbath, and are blameless? But I say to you, That in this place is one greater than the temple." Matthew 12:5-6.
"The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath" is what He proclaimed.
If it was right for David to
satisfy his hunger by eating of the bread that had been set apart
to a holy use, then it was right for the disciples to supply
their need by plucking the grain upon the sacred hours of the
Sabbath. Again, the priests in the temple performed greater
labour on the Sabbath than upon other days. The same labour in
secular business would be sinful; but the work of the priests was
in the service of God.
They were performing those rites that pointed to the redeeming
power of Christ, and their labour was in harmony with the object
of the Sabbath.
But now Christ Himself had come. The disciples, in doing the work of Christ, were engaged in God's service, and that which was necessary for the accomplishment of this work it was right to do on the Sabbath day.
The "way" of the Sabbath
Christ taught His disciples and His enemies that the service of God is first of all. The object of God's work in this world is the redemption of man; therefore that which is necessary to be done on the Sabbath in the accomplishment of this work is in accord with the Sabbath law.
Jesus then crowned His argument by declaring Himself the "Lord of the Sabbath," - One above all question and above all law. This infinite Judge acquitted the disciples of blame, appealing to the very statutes they are accused of violating.
Faith that works by love
Jesus did not let the matter pass without administering a careful rebuke to His enemies. He declared that in their blindness they had mistaken the object of the Sabbath. He said, "If you had known what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless." Matthew 12:7. Their many heartless rites could not supply the lack of that truthful integrity and tender love which will ever characterise the true worshiper of God.
Again Christ reiterated the truth that the sacrifices were in themselves of no value. They were a means, and not an end.
Their object was to direct men to the Saviour, and thus to bring them into harmony with God. It is the service of love that God values. When this is lacking, the mere round of ceremony is an offence to Him.
So with the Sabbath.
It was designed to bring men and women into communion with God; but when the mind was absorbed with wearisome rites, the object of the Sabbath was thwarted. Its mere outward observance was a mockery.
Healing on the Sabbath
Upon another Sabbath, as Jesus entered a synagogue. He saw there a man who had a withered hand. The Pharisees watched Him, eager to see what He would do. The Saviour well knew that in healing on the Sabbath He would be regarded as a transgressor, but He did not hesitate to break down the wall of traditional requirements that barricaded the Sabbath.
Jesus bade the afflicted man stand forth, and then asked, "It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life, or to kill?" It was a maxim among the Jews that a failure to do good, when one had opportunity, was to do evil; to neglect to save life was to kill. Thus Jesus met the rabbis on their own ground.
"But they held their peace. And when He had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other." Mark 3:4-5.
When questioned, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days?" Jesus answered, "What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days." Matthew 12:10-12.
The "way" of false religions
The spies dared not answer Christ in the presence of the multitude, for fear of involving themselves in difficulty. They knew that He had spoken the truth. Rather than violate their traditions, they would leave a man to suffer, while they would relieve a brute because of the loss to the owner if it were neglected. Thus greater care was shown for a dumb animal than for man, who is made in the image of God.
This illustrates the working of all false religions.
They originate in man's desire to exalt himself above God, but they result in degrading man below the brute. Every religion that wars against the sovereignty of God defrauds man of the glory which was his at the creation, and which is to be restored to him in Christ.
The difference
Every false religion teaches its adherents to be careless of human needs, sufferings, and rights and place ceremonies first.
The gospel places a high value upon humanity as the purchase of the blood of Christ, and it teaches a tender regard for the wants and woes of man, and therefore elevates them above ritual.
The Lord says, "I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir." Isaiah 13:12.
The tables turned
When Jesus turned upon the Pharisees with the question whether it was lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill, He confronted them with their own wicked purposes. They were hunting His life with bitter hatred, while He was saving life and bringing happiness to multitudes. Was it better to kill upon the Sabbath, as they were planning to do, than to heal the afflicted, as He had done? Was it more righteous to have murder in the heart upon God's holy day than love to all men, which finds expression in deeds of mercy?
In the healing of the withered hand, Jesus condemned the custom of the Jews, and left the fourth commandment standing as God had given it. "It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days," He declared. By sweeping away the senseless restrictions of the Jews, Christ honoured the Sabbath, while those who complained of Him were dishonouring God's holy day.
The law not abolished
Those who hold that Christ abolished the law teach that He broke the Sabbath and justified His disciples in doing the same. Thus they are really taking the same ground as did the criticising Jews.
In this they contradict the testimony of Christ Himself, who declared, "I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." John 15:10.
Neither the Saviour nor His followers broke the law of the Sabbath. Christ was a living representative of the law. No violation of its holy precepts was found in His life. Looking upon a nation of witnesses who were seeking occasion to condemn Him, He could say unchallenged, "Which of you convinceth [convicts] Me of sin?" John 8:46.
The Saviour had not come to set aside what patriarchs and prophets had spoken; for He Himself had spoken through these representative men. All the truths of God's word came from Him.
But these priceless gems had been placed in false settings. Their precious light had been made to minister to error. God desired them to be removed from their settings of error and replaced in the framework of truth.
This work only a divine hand could accomplish. By its connection with error, the truth had been serving the cause of the enemy of God and man. Christ had come to place it where it would glorify God, and work the salvation of humanity.
For the benefit of man
"The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath," Jesus said, because the institutions that God has established are for the benefit of mankind. "All things are for your sakes." 2 Corinthians 4:15.
"Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and you are Christ's; and Christ is God's." 1 Corinthians 3:22, 23. The law of Ten Commandments, of which the Sabbath forms a part, God gave to His people as a blessing.
"The Lord commanded us," said Moses, "to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive." Deuteronomy 6:24.
And through the psalmist the message was given to Israel, "Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing. Know you that the Lord He is God: it is He that has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise." Psalm 100:2-4.
And of all who keep "the Sabbath from polluting it," the Lord declares, "Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer." Isaiah 56:6, 7.
The Son of man
"Wherefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." These words are full of instruction and comfort. Because the Sabbath was made for man, it is the Lord's day. It belongs to Christ.
For "all things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made." John 1:3. Since He made all things, He made the Sabbath. By Him it was set apart as a memorial of the work of creation.
It points to Him as both the Creator and the Sanctifier. It declares that He who created all things in heaven and in earth, and by whom all things hold together, is the Head of the church, and that by His power we are reconciled to God.
For, speaking of Israel, He said, "I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifies them," - makes them holy. Ezekiel 20:12. Then the Sabbath is a sign of Christ's power to make us holy.
And it is given to all whom Christ makes holy.
Given to Christians
As a sign of His sanctifying power, the Sabbath is given to all who through Christ become a part of the Israel of God.
And the Lord says, "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable;... then shall you delight yourself in the Lord." Isaiah 58:13-14.
To all who receive the Sabbath as a sign of Christ's creative and redeeming power, it will be a delight. Seeing Christ in it, they delight themselves in Him. The Sabbath points them to the works of creation as an evidence of His mighty power in redemption. While it calls to mind the lost peace of Eden, it tells of peace restored through the Saviour.
And every object in nature repeats His invitation, "Come to Me, all you that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28.
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Text only ................... "Word 97" version
Bible study sites:-
The "The Future" - A Daniel and The Revelation compilation
The Letter to the Roman Christians