SABBATH A SIGN IN ISRAEL.
THE ordinary student of the Holy Scriptures, who accepts them as they were written, would find it difficult, if not impossible, to separate the story of Israel from the divine institution of the sabbath in that nation; and to blind himself to the fact of the sabbath being a sign between Jehovah and Israel. Scientific enquirers in their researches in the domain of nature, seek to acquaint themselves with the laws and principles which govern the particular branch of their study, and Scripture enquirers should at least seek to follow the scientist in this respect, and make themselves acquainted with the laws and principles of the Book they criticize. There are divine laws and principles in the Scriptures in relation to the Sabbath, which are certainly as apparent as the colors of the rainbow are to the eye which is not color blind. We see the sign of light in the rainbow; we see the sign of coming rest in the Sabbath. Man’s hand did not paint the rainbow on the cloud, neither did the priests of Ezra’s days, who had learned their lessons in Babylonia, pen the sign of the Sabbath in Israel.
The first occasion on which the Sabbath is said to be a sign in Israel is of the utmost importance. In the Scriptures, when a truth is mentioned for the first time, it is frequently enunciated in the form of a great principle, which becomes developed and enlarged in after ages. Genesis is the seed plot of the whole Bible. In a kindred way the book of Exodus, beginning with Israel’s bonds, ends with Israel’s rejoicing in the glory of God. The first mention of
THE SABBATH AS A SIGN BETWEEN JEHOVAH AND ISRAEL
was made to Moses on the mount of God, when he had received the instructions for the erection of the sanctuary in Israel’s midst. “Verily My sabbaths ye shall keep,” said Jehovah: “for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations. . . . Six days may work be done: but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to Jehovah. . . . It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.” The words, “in the seventh is the sabbath of rest,” indicate the seventh day as a time measure, and that on that day was the holy Sabbath. This carries our thoughts to those ancient testimonies from Babylonia to which reference has already been made. The fulfilment of the sign, which was first given in creation, was eventually to be found through Israel. And this principle, as we shall see, was expanded in the feasts of the Lord. But before looking at the expansion, we call attention to the way in which the command respecting the observance and the sign of the Sabbath was given.
The injunctions delivered to Moses on the mount are contained in chapters 25. to 31. They are divided into seven sections, each of which begins with the well-known formula— “And Jehovah spake unto Moses.” The first six are introductory to the seventh, as were the six days of creation to the seventh day. First, the sanctuary and its service are fully provided for; lastly, the holy rest of the Sabbath is in view.
THE SAME PRINCIPLES AND LAWS
which are apparent in the book of Genesis are thus apparent in the book of Exodus. In the beginning God worked and brought man into the perfect rest which followed the divine work; in the unfolding on the mount, by means of gifts, redemption, cleansing, hallowing, intercession, and construction of the sanctuary, Jehovah could rest in the midst of Israel, who should keep holy Sabbath to Him.
The next mention of the Sabbath is upon the occasion of the descent of Moses from the mount of God to Israel after he had been there the second time. Israel’s idolatry had been forgiven, and the sanctuary was about to be erected. Gifts were to be offered, and a noble service of love was to be performed in the spirit. The introduction to this was, that Moses said to assembled Israel, “The seventh day ... shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to Jehovah.” Israel was to give to God and to work for God in the spirit of His holy rest. Can we fail to see a sign here―one of moral and spiritual importance!
The life of the nation of Israel and the observance of the Sabbath are closely connected together. The whole religious year was a series of seven feasts of Jehovah, and the weekly feast of the sabbath governed them all. In the records of these feasts that of the sabbath stands first and alone, as a sort of preface to the seventh; and in this we have again a witness to the plan of the Book of God―the seed plot comes first. The Sabbath contains the great purpose to which the seven feasts lead up.
THESE FEASTS WERE SIGNS
between Jehovah and Israel. They were of weekly and yearly occurrence. When Israel flourished the feasts were kept; when Israel decayed they were neglected. If Israel’s life revived, the observance of the feasts revived also.
There is not space to enlarge upon the feasts in this paper, but all are aware that the signs contained in the first four have been fulfilled or are in fulfilment—the very days of three of them having been literally observed.
The first feast, the Passover, was kept when “Christ our Passover” was “sacrificed for us.”
The second, that of unleavened bread, which lasted seven days—a perfect period of time—is now being kept by the redeemed when their lives are lived “in sincerity and truth.”
The third, the sheaf of the firstfruits, was kept when Christ rose from the dead and became “the firstfruits of them that slept.”
The fourth, fifty days after, was kept, the Holy Spirit descending from heaven “when the day of Pentecost was fully come.”
What, then, were these feasts but signs in Israel between Jehovah and them? Signs, too, which were literally realized, and none of which could have occurred without the foundation of the Sabbath, as a perusal of their proclamation will prove.
The last three feasts have yet to be fulfilled. As the reader studies the order of the proclamation a break is manifest at the end of the fourth feast. A clean riddance of the harvest field is not to be made; the poor and the stranger are contemplated; fora new beginning is to occur, initiated by the call of trumpets. What is this? A freak of the priests of Ezra’s time, a clever plan of designing men who had learned their craft in Babylon? Nothing of the kind, but a divine purpose.
The descent of the Holy Ghost forming the Church is not the last act of God in this world; far from it. The Jews are to be brought again into relationship with Jehovah. The sign of the Sabbath is yet to be inaugurated on the earth.
THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH
does not pertain to Christendom. Christians keep not a seventh day holy day, but a first day holy day, the Lord’s Day, for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Christians keep His resurrection day, who kept Sabbath for them in the grave, and they should keep that day in holiness to Him. For centuries the Jews, who reject Christ our Passover, and who reject the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, have kept their Sabbath, but the feasts of Jehovah can only be duly kept in Jehovah’s land. Israel’s feasts are but poor reminders of the lost feasts of Jehovah.
But when Christ shall have come, and the holy day of the Christian, the Lord’s day, be kept no more, and when Israel shall have returned to their land, then shall a great arousing take place, a blowing of trumpets as the call of Jehovah, and
ISRAEL “SHALL ... HAVE A SABBATH”
which shall open up the grand fulfilment of the last three of the seven feasts of Jehovah.
Higher criticism may see no sign here, but when that call of God to Israel is heard, the sign will be as evident as is that of the fulfilment of the Passover and Pentecost now!
Our space is nearly filled up, but the moral character of the sign between Israel and Jehovah must be noticed. The people lapsed into idolatry both under the judges and the kings, and the Sabbaths were sorely neglected. We may say that when the Sabbaths were not kept
A SIGN OF ISRAEL’S DEPARTURE FROM JEHOVAH
was apparent.
When the spiritual life revived in the nation the observance of the feasts revived also. But as time went on, Israel lapsed into deeper indifference. At length the land was given over to strangers “to fulfil the word of Jehovah . . . until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate, she kept Sabbath.” The last testimony of the Old Testament relative to the sabbath being a sign is found in the words of Ezekiel, when he was “among the captives.” God recalled to the captive remnant the sin of their fathers from the very first in relation to His sabbath: “I gave them,” He said, “My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that I am Jehovah that sanctify them;” but Israel’s “heart went after their idols,” and hence Jehovah’s holy days were not observed. The special sacrifices and services on the Sabbaths were a sign in Israel, and one which Israel despised when given over to idolatry.
After the captivity the letter of the law was observed with careful attention, but Scripture does not speak of the sign of the Sabbath subsequent to the captivity. The glory of the nation had departed.