A Matter of History The unique wording of this commandment sets it apart from all the rest. God opened the commandment with the word remember. This bold statement shows that the Israelites had knowledge of the Sabbath day prior to the dramatic giving of the Ten Commandments. We will show you how they received that knowledge later in the chapter. Many ignorant scholars want to tie this commandment to the book of the covenant (which was actually the civil law of Moses) listed in Exodus chapters 20 through 24 and say that this commandment is done away because the Old Covenant is done away. That argument cannot stand up to what the Bible reveals about the Sabbath day. It is a matter of facing history. The saga of the Sabbath goes back to the time of the creation of man. Moses recorded the events of the very first Sabbath for us in Genesis. “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Genesis 2:1-3). To grasp the meaning here, we must wipe our minds clear of all prejudices. These verses are not myth or legend, but a record of sacred history. To deny the history of these verses would be similar to denying that George Washington was America’s first president. Recognize that Moses wrote down these words after Israel’s exodus from slavery in Egypt. God revealed the history for man’s benefit. The revelation in these verses is truly wonderful. God kept the first Sabbath day by ending His work of the physical creation. Yet His creative work was not completed. Genesis 1 outlines the supernatural creative acts of the preceding six days. Herbert W. Armstrong explained in Mystery of the Ages that God’s creative work during the six days of creation was actually a renewal of the Earth fashioned perhaps millions of years prior to the creation of man. God restored a destroyed Earth as a home for man. God provided our first parents with light, clean air, fresh water, abundant food and the most desirable of occupations—rulership of God’s magnificent creation. Then He did something even more fantastic. He created the Sabbath day—not by physical work but by resting on the seventh day. The creation of the Sabbath was the means for God to begin His spiritual creation of man. It is through the observance of the Sabbath that man can come to know the magnitude of God’s purpose for human life—to be born again as a spirit being into the very Family of God. It is God’s ultimate goal to build His own holy, righteous character in man (1John 3:9). Bible history shows that the Sabbath is as much a part of the creation as the night, day, sky, animals or even man. Man cannot change what God has created! What man can change night into day or day into night? It is impossible!
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 16:51:09 +0000
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