Sabbath
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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. Of that law of which the
fourth commandment forms a part, Christ declares, “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. 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.”
Matthew
5:18
;
Isaiah 66:23
.
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 wor-
shipers. 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 par-
takers 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, “Ye shall be holy men unto Me.”
Exodus 20:8
;
22:31
. Only
thus could the Sabbath distinguish Israel as the worshipers of God.
As the Jews departed from God, and failed to make the righteous-
ness 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
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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 virtu-
ally 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.