Since the Sabbath is the memorial of the creation of the earth, does not the fourth commandment constitute an exception to the statement that the law is the character of God, and therefore coexistent with Him? Could there have been any Sabbath before the creation of this earth? and if not, can the fourth commandment be considered strictly as of moral obligation, since moral principles can have no beginning except in God?
This is a question which touches the very heart of Sabbath-keeping, and I am glad of the privilege of talking it over with the readers of Present Truth, since the failure to understand it has led many to make shipwreck of faith, and a right knowledge of it brings one into the closest fellowship with God.
In the first place we must remember that it does not necessarily follow that our first introduction to anything is the beginning of its existence. The fact that we did not know a thing before, does not prove that there was no such thing before. God himself is the Beginning, the source of all things, the universal storehouse of good. A thing that is first made known to the world in this age may have been hidden in Him for eternal ages. He is the sum of all truth and morality, and He reveals himself to His creatures just as they have need of Him.
So even if we consider the Sabbath as first made known in the universe at the creation of this world, that fact would not by any means detract from the morality of the fourth commandment. It all comes from God; therefore: "The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." (Romans 7:12)
God is Spirit; therefore: "We know that the law is spiritual." (Romans 7:14)
This is as far as we really need to consider the subject, since what goes on in other worlds, or what took place before the creation of this world, does not specially concern us; but there is a principle involved in the question, which we may discuss without being irreverent or curious.
Everything that is, except God, had a beginning. He created all things by Jesus Christ. "In whom [Christ] we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: ... For in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through Him and unto Him; And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." (Colossians 1:14,16-17)
Moreover all things have not been brought into existence at the same time. When the Lord "laid the foundations of the earth. ... The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." (Job 38:4,7)
Now the Sabbath was given to man as a reminder of himself as Creator. It was given in Eden, in order that man in his unfallen state need never fall through forgetting his Maker; and since there is equal reason for all other created beings to remember God as their Creator, that they may give unto Him the glory due to Him, it is evident that the Sabbath is as old as the first created being.
Sabbath means rest. The word is but the untranslated Hebrew word for rest. It is God's rest, and, given to His creatures, teaches them to rest in Him. No angel in heaven created himself, or can maintain his existence or his purity by his own power. All things are of God, and all things continue to exist only in Christ.
Rest in God is the universal law of existence. Wherever there is perfect rest in God, there is perfect righteousness and strength; and just to the extent that any creature undertakes to manage himself and his own affairs does he fall below the standard of perfection. Sabbath-keeping, rest in God, is therefore the seal of perfection, not only in this world, but also in every part of God's universe.
It is because the false principle of justification by works is so firmly seated even in the majority of those who decry it, that the Sabbath is so little understood. Men seem to think that they are raising an insuperable objection to the Sabbath when they exclaim: "Oh, but we are not justified by works!"
Exactly, and just for that reason must we keep the Sabbath, that is, rest in God, if we would be righteous. Not to keep the Sabbath, not to rest in God, is to seek to establish our own righteousness.
We see therefore that from the very nature of the case the Sabbath of the Lord is as eternal as He himself. He rested in His own fullness and perfection in the days of eternity, before anything was made, and as soon as the first thing was created, that thing rested in His everlasting power. Instead of this earth being the only place where the Sabbath is kept, it is the only place where it is broken.
It need not take long to answer the question that may arise, concerning the varying length of days in the various planets. The seventh day is the seventh day, whether on the earth or on Jupiter, and the inhabitants of the latter planet cannot have any more difficulty in observing the seventh day than those of this planet.
And just as travelers to various parts of this earth may and should observe the Sabbath wherever they are, so in the ages to come, the explorers of God's universe will gladly join with the inhabitants of any planet where they may be, in keeping the Sabbath as it comes to them. And on this earth, which will then be the place of God's throne, the center of His universal dominion: "It shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before the Lord." (Isaiah 66:23)--Present Truth, October 25, 1900.