Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Feb/63

Contributor - Rev. H. Van Essen

Title - Remember The Sabbath Day to Keep It Holy

Topic - Youth

This is not to chide the various contributors, to the contrary : I hope that along this line many discussions will get started. For once you start digging, the things that really matter are discovered.

In connection with the Sabbath it must not be forgotten that the Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week, thus actually Saturday, while our Sunday, which we often call the Sabbath day is the first day of the week. So before we turn to the O.T. for guidance in the keeping of the Sunday, or for that matter to expressions by the Lord Jesus concerning the seventh day, we must answer the following questions :

1) Does the Fourth Commandment has authority over us, since it is in the O.T., and since the N.T, teaches that we are not under the law but under grace (Rom. 6:14, 15) ? 2) If the Fourth Commandment must be followed by us in N.T. times, why have we switched from the seventh to the first day? After that we may be able to say something about the Sunday. And all this depends on the original meaning of the Sabbath. All this will mean a little bit of work (keep your Bible handy), but it will be helpful.

THE WORD SABBATH

Sabbath does not mean seventh day.. Its first meaning is that of ceasing, stopping ; thus in connection with work it takes on the meaning of stopping, ceasing work, or resting. But the Hebrew word sabbath does not signify rest in just any sense of the word. When a person would rest for a few minutes or an hour after the noon meal, they did not say, "He is keeping or having a sabbath". The word Sabbath comes to mean a rest that is in a specific way connected with the God of Israel, with our God and Father.

In Gen. 2 : 2 we read that God rested on the seventh day and the verb "rest" is Shabath, directly connected with our word Sabbath. And all through the O.T. the word sabbath or derivations from it are only used in connection with the religion of the Israelites. Sometimes it seems that all those rules and regulations which we find in the O.T. concerning the Sabbath are there for no good reason at all, (for ex. Ex. 35 :3). But we must remember that our God never ordered something without reason. And as surely as He used the Tabernacle and the Ark and the various offers and sacrifices to teach His people, so was also the Sabbath the shadow of something that was to come in Christ.

THE FIRST SABBATH

When God ended his work of creation, the first Sabbath began. Now we say, "He rested", but Jesus quickly dispels any thoughts we might have about God resting in the sense we think of rest (see John 5: 17). And we know also that you can often rest without being idle. Rev. Herman Hoeksema defines rest as "the entering into the enjoyment of a finished and perfected work" (The Sojourner's Sabbath, pamphlet). This does not mean that God is idle, for He never is. But "there is in Him no labor, not toil, no struggle and strife to reach a certain end, to accomplish a certain work" (same source). In this sense the sabbath started after creation and man and woman created by God were living in that rest in Paradise. For them there was also no labour, no toil, no struggle and strife to reach a certain end. They were to be the keepers of God's creation here on earth, and it was "good".

But Man and Woman elected to go against God, and immediately their rest, their Sabbath, comes to an end ; the toiling, the struggling and strife starts (Gen. 3 :16-19). Man is driven out of God's rest, and becomes a wanderer, a sojourner, an emigrant, on God's earth. And wherever they seek, they cannot produce a finished and perfected work, and thus cannot enter into the enjoyment thereof.

ISRAEL

God calls Abraham and makes of him a great nation. This is not without reason, but has a purpose for "in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12 : 1 3). In and through the people of Israel and their history, God prepares for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, whose name Jesus means Saviour for He shall save people from the wrath and judgement of God. For God is also a God of mercy who loves the world (John 3 :16) and wants it to return to His rest, to re-enter. But the people have forgotten most of all what happened, and thus God must first teach them, often with visible methods, just as the Lord Jesus teaches in parables.

In such a way the captivity of Israel in Egypt is compared to the existence of man away from his Creator, man in bondage of sin, a restless man. And it is Joshua (which name means the same as Jesus), who leads them out of the wilderness into the promised land, which was to be a shadow of the true rest (Ps. 95, esp. vs. 11, and Hebr. 4: 8). But in the promised land the longing for the true rest should become even stronger, while longing for the day of the Messiah, as for instance Simeon did (Luke 2 :29).

The Sabbath idea in Israel was to teach the people (and us) about a true rest which God was preparing for them (and has prepared for us). Therefore the laws concerning the Sabbath are very strict, because not honouring the Sabbath would mean again rebellion, just as Adam and Eva did. The keeping of the Sabbath is a confession that God is creator, that He finished His creation and that it was good.

THE SABBATH TODAY

Therefore we still must keep the Sabbath today. But the day has changed, because God finished His work in Christ on the first day of the week, when Christ arose from the grave. "The old has passed away, behold, the new has come" (II Cor. 5 :17 b). The Sunday then is the Sabbath of the New Testament. It still points towards the complete fulfilment of the sabbath rest. We are looking forward to this, "for whoever enters God's rest also ceases from his labours as God did from his" (Hebr. 4 :IO).

Now we know that we are not saved by doing the law, yet this does not mean that we can live in idleness, He who confesses Christ as his Lord and Saviour, and addresses God as "My Father" will seek to do His will. He will confess the Triune God as much as he is able, in all places. And if we do not keep the Sabbath then we deny God - a) as our Creator, and b) as our Father through Jesus Christ, and we act and behave worse than the first couple did Or rather, we rebel and walk away from the true sabbath rest which our God has prepared for us.

HOW TO BE KEPT

Now we come to the questions which started the discussions. The Sabbath is to be a day of rest. And thus the Scriptural teaching makes this a day in which we enter "into the enjoyment of a finished and perfected work", praise God. through Jesus Christ. We rejoice, for Christ is "the pioneer and perfecter of our faith" (Hebr. 12 :2). It is therefore that Jesus heals, restores, on the Sabbath For the blind, the lame, the sick, are in direct contrast with the promise of the Sabbath, because they are unfinished and imperfect You could say. Therefore it is allowed to do good on that day, to the glory of God.

The Sabbath then is not to be a day of idleness. The believer rested from his toils and labours '-by the reminder that God has done it for him in Christ Jesus. The believer is comforted that day, and naturally comes together, as a foreshadowing of the true sabbath rest, when we will be gathered around the throne, with the people of God, to worship and praise his God and Saviour ; and io be rested, comforted and cheered from the Word of God, so that he may continue his labours here on earth (the question of how often you should go to church becomes a kind of silly in this connection doesn't it ?). The remainder of the day -will be spend by the believer in accordance with the purpose of the Sabbath.

PERSONALLY SPEAKING

Here the personal application begins, and any statements of what you may or may not do would be legalistic. A few remarks may be made, but ultimately you must apply this, yourself in your own situation., The farmer, who does not work on Sunday, but spends (half) the afternoon discussing his cattle and his crops with a friend or neighbour, is, it would seem to me, not far removed from the earthly toil, labour, Struggle and strife, from which he is to rest on that day. But on the other hand, the student, who does not want to read on Sunday because he does this all week, is wrong too because it is good to consider yourself in the light of God's plans, it is good to rest", from the strain of school, even by reading about the sabbath rest which God has prepared for us. But enough.

1. A person always remains restless, so long as he has not found his rest in Christ. A person at rest in Christ will remember the words of the Lord, that the Sabbath was made for man, to enjoy it. But at the same time he will strive "to keep it holy". Me thinks that these two guide lines are quite clear and firm.

2. You should never stop growing as a Christian. Paul said, "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child ; when I became a man, I gave up my childish ways" I Cor. 13 :11). Elsewhere in the Bible the new believer is compared with a baby, and it is implied that he must grow in knowledge and grace. We must continually ask whether we keep the Sabbath properly. (A helpful out sometimes painful question is, What would Jesus have me do ?).

3. We are indeed living in a very complex society and the question of working on the Sabbath keeps popping up. Now you do not observe the Sabbath by merely refraining from earthly labour ; but earthly labour can get in the way. Therefore a person shall try as much 'as is in him to stay away from every earthly task on the Sabbath, to remove from his mind and heart all earthly cares, so that the Sabbath will truly be a day of rest, coming together with God's people, and feeding his soul.

Here also growth of a person's faith and trust will eventually bring changes. The worst thing one can do is come to a conclusion how he is going to keep , the Sabbath, etc., etc., and then dismiss the whole thing from his life, and keep it till he dies. Such a person does not have much of a living relationship with his Lord.

4. The world who does not acknowledge our God and Saviour will make it more and more difficult to truly observe the Sabbath. Here lies the struggle of true confession of faith and the possibility of persecution.

And here I end. If you want to discuss these- things in more detailed fashion, do this in your Youth Fellowship group or in a get-together on a Sunday night. I am sure that your minister will be willing to assist ; by the way, has just received literature on this subject from the General Synod, R.C.A. Ask him for material on this subject. As far as the Youth Page is concerned, we better close the discussion.

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