Bible -- Illustrations; Bible -- Indexes; Bible -- Study and teaching
“_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, page 423.
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
every one 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?
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