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IX.
Sabbath
Chapter 92
:
God's Memorial
1. WHAT is to endure
throughout all generations?
"Thy name, O Lord, endureth forever;
and Thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all
generations." Ps. 135:13.
Memorial: "Anything intended to preserve the
memory of a person or event; something which
serves to keep some person or thing in
remembrance, as a monument or a practise."-Webster.
2. What illustration of
this is given in the Bible?
"And these stones shall be for a
memorial unto the children of Israel
forever." Joshua 4:7.
3. What are these
stones to commemorate?
"And he spake unto the children of
Israel, saying, When your children shall ask
their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean
these stones? then ye shall let your children
know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on
dry land." Verses 21,22.
NOTE.-These stones were to be a standing
memorial, or reminder, of Israel's coming
dry-shod over the Jordan.
4. What was another
memorial instituted to commemorate another
signal providence in behalf of the Israelites?
"And this day shall be unto you
for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast
to the Lord throughout your generations; ye
shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever."
Ex. 12:14.
NOTE.-This, the Passover, was a
periodical memorial, to be observed on
the fourteenth day of the first month of
each year, the day on which the Israelites
were delivered from Egyptian bondage, and
its celebration was to be, with the seven
days' feast of unleavened bread following
and connected with it, in commemoration of
that event. See Ex. 13:3-9.
5. Does God design that
His great work of creating the heavens and the
earth shall be remembered?
"The works of the Lord are great, sought out of
all them that have pleasure therein. His work is
honorable and glorious: and His righteousness
endureth forever. He hath made His wonderful
works to be remembered." Ps. 111:2-4.
6. What has He
commanded men to observe in memory of this great
work?
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep
it holy; . . . 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."
Ex. 20:8-11.
7. Of what was this
memorial to be a sign?
"And hallow My Sabbaths; and they
shall be a sign between Me and you,
that ye may know that I am the Lord your God."
Eze. 20:20.
8. How long was the
Sabbath to be a sign of the true God?
"It is a sign between Me and the
children of Israel forever: for in six days
the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the
seventh day He rested, and was refreshed." Ex.
31:17.
NOTE.-It is manifest that if the object of
the Sabbath was to keep God as the Creator
in mind, and it had been faithfully kept
from the first, there would not now be a
heathen or an idolater on the face of the
earth.
9. What besides
creation were Israel to remember when they kept
the Sabbath?
"And remember that thou wast a
servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord
thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty
hand and by a stretched-out arm: therefore
the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the
Sabbath day." Deut. 5:15.
NOTE.-There is a deep significance to this
scripture not apparent to those unacquainted
with the facts. In Egypt, through oppression
and idolatrous surroundings, the keeping of
the Sabbath had become not only almost
obsolete, but well-nigh impossible. See
reading on "Reasons for Sabbath-Keeping,"
under questions 9 and 10, on Chapter 93 of
this book. Their deliverance from bondage
was in order that they might keep God's law
(Ps. 105:43-45), and particularly the
Sabbath, the great seal, sign, and
memorial-institution of the law. The
recollection of their bondage and oppressed
condition in Egypt was to be an additional
incentive for keeping the Sabbath in the
land of freedom. The Sabbath, therefore,
besides being a memorial of creation, was to
be to them a memorial of their deliverance
from bondage, and of the great power of God
as manifested in this deliverance. And as
Egypt stands as a symbol of the condition of
everyone in the world under the slavery of
sin, so the Sabbath is to be kept by every
saved soul as a memorial of the deliverance
from this slavery by the mighty power of God
through Christ.
10. Of what else does
God say He gave the Sabbath to His people to be
a sign, or reminder?
"Moreover also I gave them My
Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them,
that they might know that I am the Lord that
sanctify them." Eze. 20:12.
NOTE.-Sanctification is a work of
redemption,- of making holy sinful or unholy
beings. Like the work of creation itself,
this requires creative power. See Ps. 51:10;
John 3:3,6; Eph. 2:10. And as the Sabbath is
the appropriate sign or memorial of the
creative power of God wherever displayed,
whether in creation, deliverance from human
bondage, or deliverance from the slavery of
sin, it is to be kept as a sign of the work
of sanctification. This will be one great
reason for the saints' keeping it throughout
eternity. It will remind them not only of
their own creation and the creation of the
universe, but also of their redemption.
11. Through whom do we
have sanctification?
"But of Him are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption." 1 Cor. 1:30.
NOTE.-Then, as the Sabbath is a sign or
memorial of sanctification, and as Christ is
the one through whom the work of
sanctification is accomplished, the Sabbath
is a sign or memorial of what Christ is to
the believer. Through the Sabbath,
therefore, God designed that the believer
and Christ should be very closely linked
together.
12. What statement of
the redeemed shows that they will remember God's
creative power?
"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory and honor and power: for Thou hast
created all things, and for Thy pleasure
they are and were created." Rev. 4:11.
13. How often will they
congregate to worship the Lord?
"For as the new heavens and the new
earth, which I will make, shall remain before
Me, saith 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, saith the Lord." Isa.
66:22,23.
NOTE.-The Sabbath, which is the memorial of
God's creative power, will never cease to
exist. When this sinful state of things
shall give way to the sinless new earth, the
fact upon which the Sabbath institution is
based will still remain; and those who shall
be permitted to live in the new earth will
still commemorate the creative power of God,
while singing the song of Moses and the
Lamb. Rev. 15:3. See Rev. 22:1,2.
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