Chapter 47—The Observance of God’s Holy Sabbath
Great blessings are enfolded in the observance of the Sabbath,
and God desires that the Sabbath day shall be to us a day of joy.
There was joy at the institution of the Sabbath. God looked with
satisfaction upon the work of His hands. All things that He had made
He pronounced “very good.”
Genesis 1:31
. Heaven and earth were
filled with rejoicing. “The morning stars sang together, and all the
sons of God shouted for joy.”
Job 38:7
. Though sin has entered the
world to mar His perfect work, God still gives to us the Sabbath as a
witness that One omnipotent, infinite in goodness and mercy, created
all things. Our heavenly Father desires through the observance of the
Sabbath to preserve among men a knowledge of Himself. He desires
that the Sabbath shall direct our minds to Him as the true and living
God, and that through knowing Him we may have life and peace.
When the Lord delivered His people Israel from Egypt and com-
mitted to them His law, He taught them that by the observance of
the Sabbath they were to be distinguished from idolaters. It was
this that made the distinction between those who acknowledge the
sovereignty of God and those who refuse to accept Him as their Cre-
ator and King. “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel
forever,” the Lord said. “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep
the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for
a perpetual covenant.”
Exodus 31:17, 16
.
As the Sabbath was the sign that distinguished Israel when they
came out of Egypt to enter the earthly Canaan, so it is the sign that
now distinguishes God’s people as they come out from the world
to enter the heavenly rest. The Sabbath is a sign of the relationship
existing between God and His people, a sign that they honor His law.
It distinguishes between His loyal subjects and transgressors.
From the pillar of cloud Christ declared concerning the Sabbath:
“Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and
you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the
Lord that doth sanctify you.”
Exodus 31:13
. The Sabbath given to the
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