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A Day Pointing to God’s Power and Love, May 3
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested
from all His work which God had created and made.
Genesis 2:3
, NKJV.
God looked with satisfaction upon the work of His hands. All was perfect,
worthy of its divine Author, and He rested, not as one weary, but as well pleased
with the fruits of His wisdom and goodness and the manifestations of His glory.
After resting upon the seventh day, God sanctified it, or set it apart, as a day
of rest for humankind. Following the example of the Creator, dwellers on earth
were to rest upon this sacred day, that as they should look upon the heavens and the
earth, they might reflect upon God’s great work of creation; and that as they should
behold the evidences of God’s wisdom and goodness, their hearts might be filled
with love and reverence for their Maker.
In Eden, God set up the memorial of His work of creation, in placing His
blessing upon the seventh day. The Sabbath was committed to Adam, the father
and representative of the whole human family. Its observance was to be an act
of grateful acknowledgment, on the part of all who should dwell upon the earth,
that God was their Creator and their rightful Sovereign; that they were the work
of His hands and the subjects of His authority. Thus the institution was wholly
commemorative, and given to the entire human race. There was nothing in it
shadowy or of restricted application to any people....
God designs that the Sabbath shall direct the minds of all people to the contem-
plation of His created works. Nature speaks to their senses, declaring that there is a
living God, the Creator, the Supreme Ruler of all. “The heavens declare the glory
of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night sheweth knowledge” (
Psalm 19:1, 2
). The beauty that clothes
the earth is a token of God’s love. We may behold it in the everlasting hills, in the
lofty trees, in the opening buds and the delicate flowers. All speak to us of God.
The Sabbath, ever pointing to Him who made them all, bids men and women open
the great book of nature and trace therein the wisdom, the power, and the love of
the Creator.—
Patriarchs and Prophets, 47, 48
.
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