In Colossians 2:16-17 we read that we are not to let anyone judge us in respect to the Sabbath days "which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." If the Sabbath is a shadow, the body being Christ, does it not necessarily pass away with the coming of Christ, like all other shadows?
It is a great mistake to draw conclusions from a single sentence taken out of the body of the text without any consideration of the connection in which it stands. While it is true that the Bible in every place means just what it says, it is also true that in order to know just what it says in any place we must know what goes before it. You know well how that by taking a single sentence or part of a sentence out of a man's speech he can be made to appear to say something directly contrary to what he means.
Now of all the people whom I have heard quote Colossians 2:1617 against Sabbath-keeping and also against any instruction about healthful diet, I have never seen one who could give even an outline of the contents of the chapter, or who had tried to follow the line of the Apostle Paul's argument. We have not time nor space now to go into the whole subject at length, but I think it will not be difficult to enable you to see at least what the text in question does not teach.
First of all, then, the Sabbath of the Lord,--the seventh day of the week,--is not a shadow of something to come, but a memorial of something already done. "God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." (Genesis 2:3) "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor, and do all your work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work; ... 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) "The works of the Lord are great; sought out of all them that have pleasure therein," (Psalm 111:2) because it is in the works of His hands that His people rejoice and triumph. (Psalm 92:4) "His work is honorable and glorious; and His righteousness endures for ever. He has made His wonderful works to be remembered." (Psalm 111:3-4)
Or, more literally, as indicated by Young, "He has made a memorial for His wonderful works," and that memorial is the Sabbath. The Sabbath was before the Gospel, because it originated in Eden, before sin entered into the world. Hence it is impossible that it should be in any sense whatever a shadow or sign of something connected with the Gospel.
It is, indeed, the substance, to which the Gospel endeavors to bring us. There were sabbaths, not weekly, however, but yearly, connected with the Jewish round of service, and designed to illustrate some feature of the Gospel. These, of course, were "a shadow of things to come." (Colossians 2:17)
They would never have been given if it had not been for sin and unbelief; and of them we need not now speak particularly; but the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is something far different.
Though the Sabbath is not a shadow, it is a positive assurance of something to come. Thus: It originated in Eden, and is inseparably connected with the earth in its new, perfect state. It is the seal which God set on His works, to show that they were finished and perfect. The earth is now very imperfect; yet: "Whatsoever God does, it shall be for ever;" (Ecclesiastes 3:14)--therefore it is certain that the present state of the earth must be only incidental and temporary, and that it must again become as new and perfect as in the beginning. The Sabbath is the assurance of this, for it brings Eden to us. The earth is now cursed, but one part of it, Eden, was not; and the Sabbath brings us its blessing. God blessed the Sabbath day in Eden, and whoever rightly understands it, and truly keeps it, has the blessing, the joy, the rest, and the power of the world to come, which is the world that was in the beginning. "But the body is of Christ," (Colossians 2:17) for, "In Him all things were created, ... and in Him all things consist." (Colossians 1:16-17)
The reality, the substance, of the Sabbath is found only in Christ. He who does not know the Lord as his personal Saviour, does not and cannot keep the Sabbath, though he most scrupulously refrains from labor on the seventh day of the week. The day is to him only a shadow, of no worth, except as through it he may in time come to a sense of what the Lord's rest really is. In that sense the seventh-day Sabbath may be only a shadow-an empty form; but the coming of Christ to the man will fill out the form and make it a perfect substance.
The Sabbath is a sign of a perfect creation. It not merely reminds us of the fact that it was God who created all things, but it shows us the power of creation; and its continuation to us shows us that God still lives as Creator. So as it is the assurance that Eden will be restored to this earth, it reveals to us the power by which we now may be made new: "Meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." (Colossians 1:12)
Thus the Sabbath is inseparably connected with the cross of Christ, for: "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new; And all things are of God." (2 Corinthians 5:17-18)
As Christ was about to yield up His life on the cross, He cried, "It is finished," (John 19:30) showing that in the cross are to be found the perfect works of God that "were finished from the foundation of the world." (Hebrews 4:3)
Instead of the cross putting an end to the Sabbath, it is only in the cross that we find it; "For we which have believed do enter into rest." (Hebrews 4:3)
Sabbath is rest. Sabbath-keeping is resting in God. Christ says, "Come unto me, all you that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and you shall find rest unto your souls." (Matthew 11:28-29)
In Him we find perfect and everlasting rest--eternal Sabbath--keeping. Therefore, "As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And 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 me, says the Lord." (Isaiah 66:22-23)--Present Truth, October 24, 1901.