God’s Memorial

WHAT did God desire men ever to keep in mind?
“The works of the Lord are great. He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered.” Psalms 111:2-4.
What special memorial did He provide to keep in remembrance His creative work?
“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.” Genesis 2:2, 3.
NOTE. “Such an honor was not conferred on any of the preceding six days; and as it is impossible to conceive in what this peculiar distinction put upon the seventh day consisted, except in making it a season for the bestowment on man of some important benefits suited to his exalted nature and destiny, we must suppose that, when „God blessed and sanctified the seventh day,‟ He declared His gracious purpose of marking that day by the tokens of His best and most valuable gifts, and by such communication of benign and purifying influences from above as would encircle the Sabbath with a halo of holiness. But while God,
on His part, thus honored the Sabbath, by reserving for that season the richest manifestations of His grace and love, He designed that it should also he a period consecrated on the part of man to the purposes of religious meditation and divine worship.” Robert Jamieson, Commentary, note on Genesis 2.
If we had no other passage than this of Genesis 2:1 there would be no difficulty in deducing from it a precept for the universal observance of a Sabbath, or seventh day, to be devoted to God, as holy time, by all of that race for whom the earth and its nature were specially prepared. The first men must have known it. The words „He hallowed it‟ can have no meaning otherwise. They would he a blank unless in reference to some who were required to keep it holy.” John Peter Lange, Commentary, note on Genesis I to 2:3.
How does God designate this day?
“My holy day; … the holy of the Lord.” Isaiah 58:13.
Who was associated with the Father in the work of creation and in the rest of the first Sabbath?
“All things were made by Him [Christ]; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:3. See also Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2.
What could Jesus, therefore, assert concerning the Sabbath rest?
“Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:28.
Where is the law of the Sabbath most comprehensively stated?
In the fourth commandment. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall thou
labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shall not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8-11.
Is the Sabbath merely one-seventh part of the week, or must it be a definite day and no other?
“The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Verse 10.
NOTE. “The institution of the Sabbath is of still higher importance to man by affording him a
periodical season for withdrawing from the engrossing scenes of the outer world to attend to the interests of his higher nature and prepare for the enjoyment of that future state to which he is destined. Though naturally religious, and disposed by the original instincts of his being to dedicate a portion of his time to the worship and service of his Creator, he was not left at liberty to determine at what season he should perform that sacred duty. But the authority of a positive commandment, united with the inborn sentiments of his moral nature, led him to consecrate „the seventh day,‟ the first of his existence, to the honor of God. And this fixing of the time for religious worship from the first was an act of divine wisdom. For, had it been left
to be appointed by the will or at the convenience of mankind, either the world would have been a theater of religious dissension, or religion would have been entirely extinguished in the contest. Human wisdom would have been incompetent to decide the just proportion of time that was due to God, and human power to establish a uniformity of practice. But God was pleased at the commencement of man‟s history to make known His will, by allowing him six days in continuous succession to carry on the necessary business of the world, while the Creator claims only „the seventh day‟ to be held sacred to divine service. The Sabbath
is the sun of the moral world, the mainspring of moral action, the handmaid of Christian faith and piety, a weekly stage at which man pauses to think of the journey that still lies before him, to examine into the progress he has made Zion ward, and to strengthen his views of „the better country‟ which has been promised him.” Robert Jamieson, Commentary, note on Genesis 2. “The Sabbath is Saturday, the seventh day of the week; it was to be kept holy by consecrating it to God.”-K W. Farrar, The Voice From Sinai, page 163.
How precisely did God define the bounds of the Sabbath?
“From even unto even, shall you celebrate your Sabbath.” Leviticus 23:32.
When does evening begin?
“At even, when the sun did set!” Mark 1:32.
What example of God are His creatures to follow on the Sabbath?
“Six days thou shall do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shall rest.” Exodus 23:12.
NOTE – “The researches of the most eminent physiologists have brought them to the conclusion that the human constitution has been framed on the principle of a seventh portion of time being dedicated to the enjoyment of repose. And that the man who faithfully gives to his body its weekly interval of rest, and to his mind a relaxation from the pressure of worldly pursuits and cares, is the better fitted for resuming, with new zest and fresh vigor, the duties of the ensuing week. In a medical point of view, then, the Sabbath forms part of the remedial system of nature.”- Robert Jamieson, Commentary, note on Genesis 2.
Was the Sabbath to be merely a period of physical rest?
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Exodus 20:8-11.
NOTE I believe that the Sabbath question today is a vital one for the whole country. It is the
burning question of the present time. If you give up the Sabbath, the church goes; if you give up the church, the home goes; and if the home goes, the nation goes. That is the direction in which we are traveling.”-D. L. Moody, Weighed and Wanting, page 47.
Of what would the faithful observance of the Sabbath be a sign?
“Hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.” Ezekiel 20:20. “Moreover also 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.” Verse 12.
NOTE “For the Sabbath to be a sign of sanctification, it must of course include more than the
mere abstinence from labor on a certain day. It is in a very vital sense true, that no unregenerate man can keep the Sabbath holy. He may cease from his common duties, he may even attend divine service, but this does not ensure his entering into the rest of God. Only a Christian can do this. Only „we which have believed do enter into rest.‟ Hebrews 4:3. Hence only he who is himself holy can keep the Sabbath holy. True Sabbath keeping is a spiritual service which can be rendered only by a Spirit filled person. True Sabbath keeping involves complete dedication to God. The Sabbath is a bit of heaven transferred to this earth. It is a small sample of what heaven will be. The man who keeps it as God would have it kept, must
be at peace with God. Not only or merely must his body rest. Rather, his whole soul, body, and spirit must for that day be used in God‟s service, and everything worldly be shut out.”-M. L. Andreasen, The Sabbath, pages 198, 199.
To what future state would the Sabbath also point?
“There remains therefore a rest to the people of God.” Hebrews 4:9.
For how many was the Sabbath intended?
“He said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man [mankind], and not man for the Sabbath.”
Mark 2:27.
NOTE “Did He [Christ] not say that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath?
He it was who originally gave the law upon Mount Sinai! He it was who at the creation of the universe rested on the Sabbath day, and blessed it, and hallowed it. When He spoke of the Sabbath, He spoke of His own. He explained His own appointment. He set forth the meaning and the purport of His own institution.”- Joseph B. McCaul, The Ten Commandments, pages 106, 107.
How does the fourth commandment emphasize its universality?
“In it thou shall not do any work…. nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.” Exodus 20:10. “Six
days thou shall do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shall rest: that your ox and your ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.” Exodus 23:12.
To how many does the prophet Isaiah declare the blessings and rewards of Sabbath keeping are extended?
“Also the sons of the stranger [or Gentile], that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone that keeps the Sabbath from polluting it, and takes hold of My covenant. Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer.” Isaiah 56:6, 7.
NOTE “The Sabbath is equally important and necessary to every child of Adam. It was no more
necessary to a Jew to rest after the labor of six days was ended, than to any other man. It was no more necessary to a Jew to commemorate the perfection of God, displayed in the works of creation; it was no more necessary to a Jew to obtain holiness, or to increase in it; it is no more necessary to a Jew to seek or to obtain salvation. Whatever makes either of these things interesting to a Jew in any degree, makes them in the same degree interesting to any other man. The nature of the command, therefore, teaches as plainly as the nature of a command can teach, that t is of universal application to mankind.”- Timothy Dwight, Theology Explained and Defended, 6th ed., vol. 3, P. 225.
For how long did God intend that the Sabbath should be observed?
“Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.” Exodus 31:16. “Thy name, 0 Lord, endures forever; and Thy memorial, 0 Lord, throughout all generations.” Psalm 135:13.
NOTE “Because this commandment has not been particularly mentioned in the New Testament as a moral precept binding on all, therefore some have presumptuously inferred that there is no Sabbath under the Christian dispensation. The truth is, the Sabbath is considered as a type. All types are of full force till the thing signified by them takes place; but the thing signified by the Sabbath is that rest in glory which remains for the people of God, therefore the moral obligation of the Sabbath must continue till time he swallowed up in eternity.”-Adam Clarke, Commentary, note on Exodus 20:8.
What attribute of God is given special prominence in His last message of mercy to the world?
“I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come. And worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Revelation 14:6, 7.
Will Sabbath keeping continue beyond the end of this present world?
“It shall come to pass [in the new earth], that from one new moon to another, and from one
Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, said the Lord.” Isaiah 66:23.
NOTE-The Sabbath in this world has been a perpetual reminder of creation and recreation or
redemption; and in the world to come it will continue to be observed in eternal remembrance of what man owes to God.
20.What acclamation will still be upon the lips of the redeemed in the kingdom?
“Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou has created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.” Revelation 4:11.
In what future glories will faithful Sabbath keepers participate?
“If thou call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words: then shall thou delight thyself in the Lord. And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isaiah 58:13, 14.
How then should we relate ourselves to God’s Sabbath memorial?
“Yea, in the way of Thy judgments, 0 Lord, have we waited for Thee; to Thy name and to Thy
memorial is the desire of our soul.” Isaiah 26:8, R. V.

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