The climax of all God’s creation is the Bible Sabbath. During the first three days of Creation week, God created light, formed the heavens and earth, and created water and land and all kinds of plants. On the fourth day, He made the sun, moon, and stars. The next two days, God made fish and fowl and land animals and human beings. On the seventh day, God hallowed, or set apart as holy, the Sabbath as a day for human beings to reverence God for the wonders of creation, enjoy loving relationships, and enter into fellowship with their Maker. In this week’s lesson, “The Rhythms of Rest,” we will discover how the Sabbath is knit into the fabric of time as a memorial to our Creator for His gift to us of life, both temporal and eternal.
This lesson reveals that throughout the centuries, the Sabbath has been a memory aid for God’s people, constantly reminding them of their Creator. If the Sabbath were faithfully kept in each generation, there would be no atheists, agnostics, or secular humanists. The Sabbath speaks of a God who created us, is concerned for us, and cares for our daily needs. It also is a reminder of the power of God to deliver. The all-powerful Creator delivered Israel from the bondage of Egypt and can deliver us from the bondage of the sinful habits that enslave us.
On Sabbath, we rest in the blessing of the One who created us, the One who redeemed us, the One who is sanctifying us, and the One who is coming again for us. The Sabbath is heaven’s oasis of rest in the parched desert of our frenzied, secular world.
Part II: Commentary
The awesome wonder of space speaks of an all-powerful God who is the Creator of the universe. Frank Borman was commander of the first space crew to travel beyond the Earth’s orbit. Looking down on the earth from 250,000 miles away, Borman radioed back a message, quoting Genesis 1:1, “ ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’ ” As he later explained: “I had an enormous feeling that there had to be a power greater than any of us—that there was a God, that there was indeed a beginning.” Many of this world’s greatest thinkers have been so moved by the incredible design, complexity, order, and vastness of the universe that they have developed a bedrock faith in God. Let me give you some examples.
Some people think science is antagonistic to faith. Yet, most of the great figures who shaped the scientific enterprise from the beginning have been devout believers—such people as Copernicus, who discovered that the sun, not the earth, is the center of our solar system; Isaac Newton, who revealed the law of gravity; Blaise Pascal, who invented the first calculator; and James Maxwell, who formulated the laws of electromagnetism. All were Christians who felt that the study of nature did not challenge their faith but rather strengthened it.
Genesis 1:1 is the foundation for all of Scripture. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (NKJV). The Hebrew word for “create” in this passage is bara’. It refers to something God did. This Hebrew verb is always linked to God’s creative activity. God has the ability, the awesome power, to create something out of nothing. God speaks, and the earth comes into existence. He speaks, and the earth is carpeted with living green. He speaks, and trees and flowers flourish. He speaks, and the sun, moon, and stars instantly exist.
God’s Unlimited Power
To get just a small idea of how unlimited God’s power is, let’s consider just one object in the heavens: the sun. Did God create the sun? Certainly. Genesis 1:14–16 tells the story of God’s creating two lights to rule the heavens: the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night. We exist on one of the planets that revolve around the sun. The sun produces more energy in one second than humans have produced in all their history. Take all the electrical power and all the energy produced by solar or coal or gas since the beginning of time, and the sun produces more in one second.
The sun has a diameter of approximately 860,000 miles and could hold a million planets the size of earth. But the sun is just one of at least 100 billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. One star called the Pistol Star gives off ten million times the power generated by our sun. One million stars the size of our sun can easily fit within the sphere of the Pistol Star. Some scientists estimate that there are ten billion trillion stars in the universe. Someone has said that there are about the same number of stars as there are grains of sand on the seashore.
The prophet Isaiah beckons us to meditate on God’s creative power in these words, “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing” (Isa. 40:26, NKJV). The seventh-day Sabbath is an eternal memorial, an everlasting sign, a perpetual reminder of God’s incredible creative power.
At the conclusion of Creation week, Genesis 2:1–3 declares, “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (NKJV). God rested, but not because He was tired. He rested refreshed in the beauty and majesty of the world He had made. He rested as an example to us. The Sabbath is a weekly pause to praise the One who made us. As we worship on the Sabbath, we open our hearts to receive the special blessing He placed in this day that was placed in no other day.
A Creator Who Cares
The Sabbath reminds us that we are not cosmic orphans on some spinning globe of rock. It points us to a Creator who created us with a purpose and loved us too much to abandon us when we drifted from that purpose. The Sabbath reminds us of the One who has provided all the good things of life for us. God’s care is illustrated in the triple Sabbath miracle of the falling manna. Twice as much manna fell on Friday. None fell on the Sabbath. If the Israelites gathered more than they could eat on any single day of the week except Friday, it would spoil. On Friday, the manna that was kept over to be eaten on the Sabbath did not spoil. Sabbath worship during those 40 years of wilderness wandering reminded the Israelites of a Creator God who cared for them. It is important to notice carefully that the Israelites kept the Sabbath before the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. The Sabbath commandment in Exodus 20:8–11 begins with the word “remember.” It points back to a God who created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. If, as some people believe, God set this world in motion and it evolved over millions of years, there would be absolutely no need for the Sabbath and nothing to remember.
Sabbath is an eternal symbol of our rest in God. It is a special sign of loyalty to the Creator (Ezek. 20:12, 20). Rather than being an arbitrary, legalistic requirement, it reveals that true rest from righteousness by works is found in Him. The Sabbath speaks of a God who has achieved so that we can rest in His achievements. True Sabbath rest is the rest of grace in the loving arms of the One who created us, the One who redeemed us, and the One who is coming again for us.
The Deliverer
There is another important aspect of the Sabbath command.
Deuteronomy 5 restates the Sabbath command to a new generation about to enter the Promised Land. This passage reminds the people that they were slaves in Egypt, and their almighty Creator delivered them. He is the only One who can deliver us from the bondage of sin. He is the only One who can break the chains that bind us. He is the only One who can deliver us from sin’s clutches. This is the message of the Sabbath—an almighty Creator wants to re-create our hearts.
Part III: Life Application
As you consider the practical application of the Sabbath to your own life, consider the following questions:
• When you think of Sabbath rest, what do you think of ? How is the concept of Sabbath rest meaningful to you?
• Why is the Bible truth about Creation important in your life? What practical difference does it make if we were created or we evolved over millions of years? How does your belief in either of these two views impact your life today?
• Have you thought of the Sabbath as a sign of deliverance before? Why is this biblical truth important?
• The Sabbath speaks of resting in a God who provides for all our needs. The falling of the manna illustrates His daily provisions. How does this idea of the Sabbath make a difference in your life?
• Considering this week’s lesson, what do you think Ellen G. White means in the following statement: “At the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully.”—Early Writings, p. 33. She further explains that by the commencement of the time of trouble, she is speaking about a time just before the close of probation when probation is still open.
Notes
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The climax of all God’s creation is the Bible Sabbath. During the first three days of Creation week, God created light, formed the heavens and earth, and created water and land and all kinds of plants. On the fourth day, He made the sun, moon, and stars. The next two days, God made fish and fowl and land animals and human beings. On the seventh day, God hallowed, or set apart as holy, the Sabbath as a day for human beings to reverence God for the wonders of creation, enjoy loving relationships, and enter into fellowship with their Maker. In this week’s lesson, “The Rhythms of Rest,” we will discover how the Sabbath is knit into the fabric of time as a memorial to our Creator for His gift to us of life, both temporal and eternal.
This lesson reveals that throughout the centuries, the Sabbath has been a memory aid for God’s people, constantly reminding them of their Creator. If the Sabbath were faithfully kept in each generation, there would be no atheists, agnostics, or secular humanists. The Sabbath speaks of a God who created us, is concerned for us, and cares for our daily needs. It also is a reminder of the power of God to deliver. The all-powerful Creator delivered Israel from the bondage of Egypt and can deliver us from the bondage of the sinful habits that enslave us.
On Sabbath, we rest in the blessing of the One who created us, the One who redeemed us, the One who is sanctifying us, and the One who is coming again for us. The Sabbath is heaven’s oasis of rest in the parched desert of our frenzied, secular world.
Part II: Commentary
The awesome wonder of space speaks of an all-powerful God who is the Creator of the universe. Frank Borman was commander of the first space crew to travel beyond the Earth’s orbit. Looking down on the earth from 250,000 miles away, Borman radioed back a message, quoting Genesis 1:1, “ ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’ ” As he later explained: “I had an enormous feeling that there had to be a power greater than any of us—that there was a God, that there was indeed a beginning.” Many of this world’s greatest thinkers have been so moved by the incredible design, complexity, order, and vastness of the universe that they have developed a bedrock faith in God. Let me give you some examples.
Some people think science is antagonistic to faith. Yet, most of the great figures who shaped the scientific enterprise from the beginning have been devout believers—such people as Copernicus, who discovered that the sun, not the earth, is the center of our solar system; Isaac Newton, who revealed the law of gravity; Blaise Pascal, who invented the first calculator; and James Maxwell, who formulated the laws of electromagnetism. All were Christians who felt that the study of nature did not challenge their faith but rather strengthened it.
Genesis 1:1 is the foundation for all of Scripture. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (NKJV). The Hebrew word for “create” in this passage is bara’. It refers to something God did. This Hebrew verb is always linked to God’s creative activity. God has the ability, the awesome power, to create something out of nothing. God speaks, and the earth comes into existence. He speaks, and the earth is carpeted with living green. He speaks, and trees and flowers flourish. He speaks, and the sun, moon, and stars instantly exist.
God’s Unlimited Power
To get just a small idea of how unlimited God’s power is, let’s consider just one object in the heavens: the sun. Did God create the sun? Certainly. Genesis 1:14–16 tells the story of God’s creating two lights to rule the heavens: the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night. We exist on one of the planets that revolve around the sun. The sun produces more energy in one second than humans have produced in all their history. Take all the electrical power and all the energy produced by solar or coal or gas since the beginning of time, and the sun produces more in one second.
The sun has a diameter of approximately 860,000 miles and could hold a million planets the size of earth. But the sun is just one of at least 100 billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. One star called the Pistol Star gives off ten million times the power generated by our sun. One million stars the size of our sun can easily fit within the sphere of the Pistol Star. Some scientists estimate that there are ten billion trillion stars in the universe. Someone has said that there are about the same number of stars as there are grains of sand on the seashore.
The prophet Isaiah beckons us to meditate on God’s creative power in these words, “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing” (Isa. 40:26, NKJV). The seventh-day Sabbath is an eternal memorial, an everlasting sign, a perpetual reminder of God’s incredible creative power.
At the conclusion of Creation week, Genesis 2:1–3 declares, “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (NKJV). God rested, but not because He was tired. He rested refreshed in the beauty and majesty of the world He had made. He rested as an example to us. The Sabbath is a weekly pause to praise the One who made us. As we worship on the Sabbath, we open our hearts to receive the special blessing He placed in this day that was placed in no other day.
A Creator Who Cares
The Sabbath reminds us that we are not cosmic orphans on some spinning globe of rock. It points us to a Creator who created us with a purpose and loved us too much to abandon us when we drifted from that purpose. The Sabbath reminds us of the One who has provided all the good things of life for us. God’s care is illustrated in the triple Sabbath miracle of the falling manna. Twice as much manna fell on Friday. None fell on the Sabbath. If the Israelites gathered more than they could eat on any single day of the week except Friday, it would spoil. On Friday, the manna that was kept over to be eaten on the Sabbath did not spoil. Sabbath worship during those 40 years of wilderness wandering reminded the Israelites of a Creator God who cared for them. It is important to notice carefully that the Israelites kept the Sabbath before the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. The Sabbath commandment in Exodus 20:8–11 begins with the word “remember.” It points back to a God who created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. If, as some people believe, God set this world in motion and it evolved over millions of years, there would be absolutely no need for the Sabbath and nothing to remember.
Sabbath is an eternal symbol of our rest in God. It is a special sign of loyalty to the Creator (Ezek. 20:12, 20). Rather than being an arbitrary, legalistic requirement, it reveals that true rest from righteousness by works is found in Him. The Sabbath speaks of a God who has achieved so that we can rest in His achievements. True Sabbath rest is the rest of grace in the loving arms of the One who created us, the One who redeemed us, and the One who is coming again for us.
The Deliverer
There is another important aspect of the Sabbath command.
Deuteronomy 5 restates the Sabbath command to a new generation about to enter the Promised Land. This passage reminds the people that they were slaves in Egypt, and their almighty Creator delivered them. He is the only One who can deliver us from the bondage of sin. He is the only One who can break the chains that bind us. He is the only One who can deliver us from sin’s clutches. This is the message of the Sabbath—an almighty Creator wants to re-create our hearts.
Part III: Life Application
As you consider the practical application of the Sabbath to your own life, consider the following questions:
• When you think of Sabbath rest, what do you think of ? How is the concept of Sabbath rest meaningful to you?
• Why is the Bible truth about Creation important in your life? What practical difference does it make if we were created or we evolved over millions of years? How does your belief in either of these two views impact your life today?
• Have you thought of the Sabbath as a sign of deliverance before? Why is this biblical truth important?
• The Sabbath speaks of resting in a God who provides for all our needs. The falling of the manna illustrates His daily provisions. How does this idea of the Sabbath make a difference in your life?
• Considering this week’s lesson, what do you think Ellen G. White means in the following statement: “At the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully.”—Early Writings, p. 33. She further explains that by the commencement of the time of trouble, she is speaking about a time just before the close of probation when probation is still open.
Notes