SABBATH: A GIFT FROM EDEN

1. SABBATH: A GIFT FROM EDEN Lesson 11 for March 16, 2013

2. We will answer three questions about Sabbath in this week’s lesson: • Why must we keep the Sabbath? • Because of Creation. • Because of Redemption. • Because of Sanctification. • How must we keep the Sabbath? • How is Sabbath related to the End Time?

3. SABBATH AND CREATION “And on the seventh day" God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 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 2:2-3) “On the seventh day” God ended the Creation process; it lasted for a whole week. God associated the Creation week with our current week in the fourth Commandment (Exodus 20:8-11) • We must work six literal days and rest on the seventh one, just like God created the world in six literal days and rested on the seventh one.

4. SABBATH AND CREATION When God said, “Remember the Sabbath day” He added, “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8, 11) God didn’t create the Sabbath for the Jewish people (as some people teach) but to the entire human race. All men and women are called to keep the Sabbath, since Adam at Eden until today. “Had the Sabbath been universally kept, man’s thoughts and affections would have been led to the Creator as the object of reverence and worship, and there would never have been an idolater, an atheist, or an infidel. The keeping of the Sabbath is a sign of loyalty to the true God, “Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” It follows that the message which commands men to worship God and keep His commandments will especially call upon them to keep the fourth commandment” E.G.W. (The Great Controversy, cp. 26, pg. 437)

5. SABBATH AND REDEMPTION “And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day”(Deuteronomy 5:15) The story of how God delivered the people of Israel from the slavery in Egypt and led them to the Promised Land is an example of how God redeems us from the slavery of sin. He changes our lives and gives us eternal life. God asks us to keep the Sabbath to remember that we were slaves of sin and He set us free with His great power. Sabbath is a time for remembering the work of Jesus at the cross.

6. SABBATH AND SANCTIFICATION “Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them” (Ezekiel 20:12) Keeping the Sabbath is a sign of how God transformed the believer. He sanctified him/her and created a new heart in him/her. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26)

7. “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 world as the sign of God as the Creator is also the sign of Him as the Sanctifier. The power that created all things is the power that re-creates the soul in His own likeness. To those who keep holy the Sabbath day it is the sign of sanctification. True sanctification is harmony with God, oneness with Him in character. It is received through obedience to those principles that are the transcript of His character. And the Sabbath is the sign of obedience. He who from the heart obeys the fourth commandment will obey the whole law. He is sanctified through obedience” E.G.W. (Testimony Treasures, vol. 3, pg. 16-17)

8. HOW MUST WE KEEP THE SABBATH? Since Sabbath was created before man sinned, it is good to think about how Adam and Eve kept the Sabbath at Eden. That is how we should keep it too. Sabbath is a day to renew our relationship with God. It’s a day of close friendship between God and mankind. They stopped taking care of the garden on Sabbath, so we must also stop our daily work. That will help us in remembering our priorities: Our communion with God is more important than our job or than satisfying our needs. Adam and Eve met God in a special way on Sabbath; that way they recognized God’s sovereignty and showed that they were willing to obey all the divine laws. That is valid for us too.

9. “And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”” (Mark 2:27) HOW MUST WE KEEP THE SABBATH? THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS The Jewish leaders thought that all the laws they had created for the Sabbath day were more important than the human needs. Jesus set the right priorities by teaching that the Sabbath should be a day of blessing and joy for man.

10. HOW MUST WE KEEP THE SABBATH? Jesus taught with His example that working to relieve human suffering on the Sabbath day does not violate It. THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS

11. A PSALM FOR SABBATH: PSALM 92 “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night, On an instrument of ten strings, On the lute, And on the harp, With harmonious sound. For You, Lord, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands. O Lord, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep. A senseless man does not know, Nor does a fool understand this. When the wicked spring up like grass, And when all the workers of iniquity flourish, It is that they may be destroyed forever. But You, Lord, are on high forevermore. For behold, Your enemies, O Lord, For behold, Your enemies shall perish; All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. But my horn You have exalted like a wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil. My eye also has seen my desire on my enemies; My ears hear my desire on the wicked Who rise up against me. The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord Shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing, To declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him”

12. HOW MUST WE KEEP THE SABBATH ACCORDING TO PSALM 92? In David’s psalm for the Sabbath day: • He praises God and thanks for His kindness and faithfulness. • He declares God is His Creator. • He proclaims that judgment is on behalf of the saints. • He teaches that Sabbath is a time for: • Delighting in the Lord. • Delighting in all He has done. • Delighting in all He has promised to do for us. The whole psalm involves praise, joy and happiness. How can we learn to rejoice on Sabbath as the psalmist does in this psalm?

13. HOW IS SABBATH RELATED TO THE END TIME? Sabbath is related to the End Time in two ways: Its relationship to the evolutionist theories and it being a sign of loyalty to God. Peter said that “in the last days” men would say that “all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation” and that they “willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water” (2 Peter 3:3-6). Those expressions are closely related to the philosophic concepts of evolutionism: uniformitarianism and rejecting God as Creator. Remembering every Sabbath that God is our Creator helps us in rejecting the false evolutionist theories. 1 “In the warfare to be waged in the last days there will be united, in opposition to God’s people, all the corrupt powers that have apostatized from allegiance to the law of Jehovah. In this warfare the Sabbath of the fourth commandment will be the great point at issue, for in the Sabbath commandment the great Lawgiver identifies Himself as the Creator of the heavens and the earth” E.G.W. (Last Day Events, cp. 9, pg. 124) 2