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lsEveryDay
'1ust Lil<e
Any
Other''?
by
John
R.
Schroeder
"Tomorrow's just another day since
you went away; tomorrow's just another
day tocry. . .."
So goes a popular country and west–
em song of a bygone era. And to the
average person, one tiresome, .monoto–
nous day does indeed seem to melt into
another.
Deeply distressed and discouraged
· over the death of a life-long mate, an
elderly person 1 know lamented about
how he had just spent Thanksgiving.
"Just another day," he told me with
tears in lüs eyes.
But the Creator never intended for
meo and womeo to live dry, dull, irk–
some, boring lives, barely eking out
sorne sort of ersatz existence, never un–
derstanding why they draw breath on
this planet of ours. He never intended
tife to be so hard that one depressing,
trouble-filled, twenty-four-hour day was
just another
link
on a
chain into
another.
King David of ancient Israel well
linew_:,-tha~h¡; c~eator
never ·envisioned
such a
dull,
uninteresting existence for
millions of men and· women. ·Notice:
".. . we¡;ping may endure for a night,
but joy [a change) cometh in the mom–
ing" (Psalm 30:5).
We humans need frequent rest and
deliverance from the trials and troubles
that seem to result from "just living."
Man needs a time free from tbe normal
routine, a time in wbich to rest and re–
Hect, to be recharged, reenergized and
restored, a time to leam
·why
we were
put on this earth.
Tbe Birth of a Special Da
y
The Creator desigried a weekly cycle
of seven days for the benefit of man: He
set apart the last day of the seven for a
special, spiritual purpose. According to
the biblical narrative, man was fash–
ioned and made to have an intimate,
spiritua:l relationship with
bis
Creator.
To keep man and woman in this in–
tended life-long friendship and spiritual
proximity to God, tbe seveoth day was
given a very vital and special signifi–
caoce.
Regarding the biblical account of the
six-day creation, the Geoesis writer con–
tinues: "And on the seveoth day God
finisbed bis work wbich he had done,
and be rested on the seventh day from
all bis work wbicb he had done. So God
b/essed the seventh day
and hallowed
it
[set it apart for a holy use or purpose),
because on it God rested from all bis
work which he had done in creation"
(Gen. 2:1-3, RSV).
The sabbath rest was
created
on the
~eventh
day of the week - less than a
day after man bimself carne on the
sceoe. Jesus Christ of Nazareth referred
to the birth ofthesabbath in Mark 2:27.
"The sabbatb was made
forman
and oot
man
(oc
the sabbath," he explained.
12
Tbe word "sabbath" means "rest" in
the original Hebrew. Simple pbysical
rest and refreshment after a grueting
work week is an obvious reasoo for the
sabbatb. But the true meaning and pur–
pose of this God-ordained institutioo
goes far beyond physical, mental and
perhaps even emotional respite. For tbe
seveoth day
i~
inextricably inte.rwoven
into God's transcendent purpose for cre–
ating man in the first place.
Genesis 1:26 explains: "And God
said, Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness ..."
(KN).
When one
really comprebends the fullness of this
short bíblica! phrase, it means that men
and womeo are made to cooform to the
spiritual iml!ge and character of God -
eventually actually becomiog person–
alities in the God family.
(Important:
The Editor-in-Chief has w·riuen two vi–
tal free booklets to help us understand
Ibis almost incomprehensible truth.
Request
Why Were You Born
and
Jusi
Whai'Dq You Mean -
Bt>m'Agáin?).~
·
From ·tli.e beginning the Creator ai–
tached a special significance to the sev–
enth day. He never asked man to rest
on, or in any way commemorate, the
first six ·days of the week. lt is only the
seventh day that takes on deep spiritual
proportions.
The seventh day is a time lo meditate
aod muse upon the reason for the whole
six-day creation and especially man's
part in it.
A Brief Biblical History
On the very first sabbatb day the Cre–
ator began to educate our first parents.
Chapters one through six of Genesis
are only a brief outline of the first 1,650
years of human history. However, it is
c!ear that the concept of the weekly
cycle remained very much in the mind
of the early patriarchs. Noah sent forth a
dove out of the ark based on seven-day
cycles (see Gen. 8: 10, 12). Noah's de–
scendant, Jacob, was also fully cognizant
of the seven-day weekly cycle (Gen.
29:27, 28).
Eventually Jacob's descendants found
themselves in a state of captivity in
Egypt where they probably suffered reli–
gious persecution as well as political
slavery. Apparently they lost the knowl–
edge of the sabbath and the specific day
on wbich it fell. So the Creator re–
minded ancient Israel of its existeoce,
making , it crystal clear not only that it
fell on the seventh day, but also that
sabbath observance was a vital part of
tbe nation's constitutional law , - and
especially that portion govemiog man's
relationship to God (see Exodus 16:22-
30).
The Spiritnallmport ·
So importan! is the seventh day to
God's overall spititual plan that be
placed it in tbe Decalogue, spoken by
bis own
voic~
and writteo by bis own
finger.
It
is th.e fourth of the Ten Com–
mandments (the first four reveal how
_man is to worship bis Creator), and a
bridge to the other six reveating the ba–
sic moral relationsbip between man and
bis neighbor.
Here is the fourtb commandment:
"Remember
the sabbath day, to keep it
holy... . for in six days the
~rd
made
beaven and earth, the sea, and all that
is
in them, and rested
the seventh day;
therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath
day and hallowed it" (Ex. 20:8, 11,
RSV). The Creator, here, does
not
insti–
tute 'the sabbalh. Tbe first word of th.is
commandment is "remember." In
codifying the sabbath as an integral part
of bis basic moral law, the Creator re–
minds man once again of when (al cre–
ation) and why the seventh day was
given.
·
The sabbath is not just any old day to
God -
'~ust
like any other."
lt
should
also be a special day to man, but tragi–
cally for most it is not.
Man has been deceived into thinking
th.at the seventh·day sabbath was de–
signed' to be a "yoke of bondage." Un-
" Remember the sabbath day, to
keep
1t
holy ••.• for In six days
the Lord made heaven and earth,
the seaol< and al/ that In them 'fs,
" 'aña r"'siei the se'veñtii day: ...
wherefore the Lord b/essed the
sabbath day, and hallowed lt"
- Exodus 20:8, 11
fortunately men have sometimes made
it into precisely that. Such is the antith·
esis of Gqd's thinking. He meant bis rest
day to be an occasioo for feasting and
joy (see Lev. 23:2-3; Isaiah 58:13, 14).
A Ílistory of lsrael's
Sabbath Breaking
'
In
spite of
~11
of God's revelations,
much of the history of ancient Israel was
an exercise in sabbath breaking. The
prophet Ezekiel records the Creator's
tboughts on lsrael's defiling of bis holy
day. "Moreover 1 gave them my sab- ·
baths, as a sign between me and them,
that tbey migbt
know
that I tbe Lord
sanctify them. But the house of Israel
rebelled against me in the wilderness;
they did not walk in my statutes, but
rejected my ordinances, by whose obser–
vance man shall live; and
my sabbaths
they greatly profaned"
(Ezek. 20:12-13,
RSV).
After God physically disinherited
both the nations of Israel and Judah for
sabbath breaking, among other reasons, ·
the House of Judah (the Jews) finally –
seemed to get the point. Ezra aod Nehe–
miah, after that nation's fetum from
Babylonian captivity, vigorously
preached and taught against sabbath
breaking.
And as humanity is wont to extremes,
the Jewish nation (between the testa–
ments) p.lunged headlong into the other
ditch. Sorne of their religious leaders
added
ao incredible oumber of do's and
doo'ts to the original sabbatb command–
ment - making it into an ecclesiastical
monster. When Jesus Christ began bis
ministry, the IÍil!e had come to slrip
away thése sabbatical traditions
ofmen.
Jesus showed how the sabbath day
should be kept to fulfill its fullest spiri–
tual intent (Matt. 5:17; lsa. 42:21). He
removed the yoke of l>ondage that tbe
religiooists had attacbed to the sabbath.
But one polnt is cleac Jesus Christ did
keep the day itself. "And he [Jesus)
came to Nazaretb, where be bad been
brought up: and,. as
his custom was,
be
went into tbe synagogue on tbe sabbath
day, and stood up for to read" (Luke
4:16, KJV). Notice verse 31 : "Aod
[Jesus) carne down to Capemaum, a city
of Galilee, and taught them
on the sab–
bath dLlys
[plural)."
The New¡Testament Sabbath Rest
Th.ere is biblical evideoce · that the
early New Testament cburch kept the.
seventh-day sabbath (Acts 13:14-15, 42-
44; 15:1-2, 14-21; 16: 12-15; 18:1-11;
17:2, etc.). There are severa! verses
(eight) that mention
the first day
of the
week, but they do
no/
prove that the
sabbath is transferred from Saturday to
Sunday.
A full exposition of these texts is
available upon request in our two free
booklets,
Which Day ls che Sabbath of
the New Testament?
aod
The Resurrec–
tion Was Not on Sunday.
In the N'ew Testament (as well as in
the Old), the sabbath
is.more than
".i,ust
another day." Tne
s-eyen_Ü\~~ay'
sabl>a'th.
has deep spiritual sigiüficance and sym–
bolism in the New Testament era.
. Perhaps the most importan! chapters
in this regard are H_ebrews·
3
,ana
4.
In
those critica! chapters it comes clear that
the seventh-day sabbatb is a type (or
forerun.ner) of the kingdom of God - a
sbadow of God's eterna! rest (see Col.
2: 16-17).
Chapter three of Hebrews speaks of
"the Promised Land" of old as also
being a type of God's kingdom.
Ex·
cepting Joshua and Caleb, that whole
generation of lsraelites were unable to
enter the Promised Land because .of
their unbelief(verses 18-19).
·
Chapter four continues discussing the
same subject:
·
"Let us [Christians) therefore fear,
lest, a promise being left us of entering
into bis rest [God's kingdom), any ofyou
should seem to come sbort of it. For
~oto
us was the gospel preached, as well
as untó them: but the word preached
did not profit them, oot being mixed
with faith in them that beard it. For we
which bave believed do enter into
rest ... although the wor.ks were finisbed
from
th~
foundation of the world [refer–
ring to the six-day creation). For he
spake in a certain ·place of the seventh
day on this wise, And G.od did
res/ the
sevenlh day
from all
bis
works [of cre–
ation)" (Hebrews 4:
1-4).
Verse 9 is crucial to the- purpose of
this article: "There remaineth therefore
a
rest
to tbe people of God" (verse 9,
KJV). The margin says·: '_'There remain–
eth tberefore
a keeping of the sabbath
to
the people of God."
The Revised Standard Version has it:
"There remains
a sabbath rest
for the
people ofGod."
The. Jerusalem Bible: "There must
still be, tberefore, a place of rest re-
JANUARY
1976