The Sabbath was hallowed at 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. 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.
(HLv 185.1)
Because He had rested on the Sabbath, “God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it” (Genesis 2:3)—set it apart to a holy use. It was a memorial of the work of creation, and thus a sign of God’s power and love.
(HLv 185.2)
All things were created by the Son of God. “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:3. And since the Sabbath is a memorial of the work of creation, it is a token of the love and power of Christ.
(HLv 185.3)
The Sabbath brings us into communion with the Creator. In the song of the bird, the sighing of the trees, and the music of the sea, we still may hear His voice who talked with Adam in Eden. 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, hath 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.
(HLv 185.4)
“Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” Isaiah 45:22. This is the message written in nature, which the Sabbath is appointed to keep in memory. When the Lord told Israel to hallow His Sabbaths, He said, “They shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Ezekiel 20:20.
(HLv 185.5)
The people of Israel had knowledge of the Sabbath before they came to Sinai. On the way, the Sabbath was kept. When some profaned it, the Lord reproved them, “How long refuse ye to keep My commandments and My laws?” Exodus 16:28.
(HLv 186.1)
The Sabbath was not for Israel merely, but for the world. Like the other precepts of the Decalogue, it is of imperishable obligation. Of that law Christ declares, “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law.” Matthew 5:18. So long as the heavens and the earth endure, the Sabbath will continue as a sign of the Creator’s power. And when Eden shall bloom on earth again, God’s holy rest day will be honored by all beneath the sun. “From one Sabbath to another” the inhabitants of the glorified new earth shall go up “to worship before Me, saith the Lord.” Isaiah 66:23.
(HLv 186.2)
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” (Exodus 20:8), the Lord said also to them, “Ye shall be holy men unto Me.” Exodus 22:31.
(HLv 186.3)
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 worked to pervert the Sabbath, because it is the sign of the power of Christ. The Jewish leaders surrounded God’s rest day with burdensome requirements. In the days of Christ 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 impossible for men to obey. They led the people to look on God as a tyrant, and to think that the Sabbath made men hardhearted and cruel. It was the work of Christ to clear away these misconceptions. Jesus did not conform to the rabbis’ requirements, but went straight forward, keeping the Sabbath according to the law of God.
(HLv 186.4)
One Sabbath, as the Saviour and His disciples passed through a field of ripening grain, 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 would have excited no comment, for a person passing through a field, 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. Gathering the grain was a kind of reaping, the rubbing of it in the hands a kind of threshing.
(HLv 187.1)
The spies at once complained to Jesus, “Behold, Thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day.” Mark 2:24.
(HLv 187.2)
When accused of Sabbathbreaking at Bethesda, Jesus defended Himself by affirming His Sonship to God, declaring He worked in harmony with the Father. Now that the disciples were attacked, He cited Old Testament examples of acts performed on the Sabbath by those who were in the service of God.
(HLv 187.3)
In the Saviour’s answer to His accusers there was an implied rebuke for their ignorance of the Sacred Writings: “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?”“And He said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”“Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.”“The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Luke 6:3, 4, RSV; Mark 2:27, 28; Matthew 12:5, 6, 8, RSV.
(HLv 187.4)
If it was right for David to satisfy his hunger by eating the bread set apart to a holy use, then it was right for the disciples to pluck grain on the Sabbath. Again, the priests in the temple performed greater labor on the Sabbath than on other days. The same labor in secular business would be sinful, but they were performing rites that pointed to the redeeming power of Christ, and their labor was in harmony with the Sabbath.
(HLv 188.1)
The object of God’s work in this world is the redemption of man. Therefore that which is necessary to do 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 questions and all law. This infinite judge acquitted the disciples of blame, appealing to the very statutes they were accused of violating.
(HLv 188.2)
Jesus declared that in their blindness His enemies had mistaken the object of the Sabbath. He said, “If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.” Matthew 12:7. Their heartless rites could not supply the lack of that integrity and tender love which characterize the true worshiper of God.
(HLv 188.3)
Sacrifices were in themselves of no value. They were a means, not an end. Their object was to direct men to the Saviour, to bring them into harmony with God. It is the service of love that God values. When this is lacking, mere ceremony is an offence to Him. So with the Sabbath. When the mind was absorbed with wearisome rites, the object of the Sabbath was thwarted. Its mere outward observance was a mockery.
(HLv 188.4)
On another Sabbath, Jesus saw in the synagogue a man who had a withered hand. The Pharisees watched, eager to see what He would do. The Saviour did not hesitate to break down the wall of traditional requirements that barricaded the Sabbath.
(HLv 189.1)
Jesus told the afflicted man to stand forth, and asked, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?” Mark 3:4. It was a maxim among the Jews that 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 were silent. And He looked at them with anger, grieved at the hardness of heart, and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.” Verse 5, RSV.
(HLv 189.2)
When questioned, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” Jesus answered, “What man of you, if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Matthew 12:10-12, RSV.
(HLv 189.3)
The spies dared not answer Christ. They knew He had spoken the truth. Rather than violate 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. Greater care was shown for dumb animals than for man. This illustrates the working of all false religions. They originate in man’s desire to exalt himself above God, but result in degrading man below the brute. Every false religion teaches its adherents to be careless of human needs, sufferings, and rights. The gospel places a high value on humanity as the purchase of the blood of Christ, and teaches a tender regard for the wants and woes of man. See Isaiah 13:12.
(HLv 189.4)
The Pharisees were hunting Jesus’ life with bitter hatred, while He was saving life and bringing happiness to multitudes. Was it better to slay upon the Sabbath, as they were planning to do, than to heal the afflicted, as He had done?
(HLv 189.5)
In healing 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 senseless restrictions, Christ honored the Sabbath, while those who complained of Him were dishonoring God’s holy day.
(HLv 190.1)
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 taking the same ground as did the caviling Jews. In this they contradict 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 Sabbath. Looking upon a nation of witnesses who were seeking occasion to condemn Him, He could say unchallenged, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” John 8:46, RSV.
(HLv 190.2)
“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath,” Jesus said. The Ten Commandments, of which the Sabbath forms a part, God gave to His people as a blessing. See Deuteronomy 6:24. 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.
(HLv 190.3)
“The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” For “all things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” John 1:3. Since Christ made all things, He made the Sabbath. By Him it was set apart as a memorial of creation. It points to Him as both Creator and Sanctifier. It declares that He who created all things is the Head of the church and that by His power we are reconciled to God. 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 sanctify them”—make them holy. Ezekiel 20:12. The Sabbath is a sign of Christ’s power to make us holy. And it is given to all whom Christ makes holy, as a sign of His sanctifying power.
(HLv 190.4)
To all who receive the Sabbath as a sign of Christ’s creative and redeeming power, it will be a delight. See Isaiah 58:13, 14. Seeing Christ in it, they delight themselves in Him. 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 unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28.
(HLv 191.1)