Grand Opening Earns Rave Reviews! Series

A. There was Satisfaction.

God was pleased! Gen. 1:31 "very good"

The angels obviously joined in this celebration:

"3 Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. 4 "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, 7 When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?" Job 38:3-7 (NKJV)

B. There was also Sanctification.

Sanctified - a verb in the Piel stem, deals with making someone or something holy to God. He blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it, or set it apart, for a special relationship to Him.

C. The Stipulation for man? None!

1. There is NO command given to man at this time - truth is, nobody even knew about this until God revealed it too Moses many years later!

"First, the sabbath was a uniquely Jewish institution and was neither given to nor fully observed by any other race or nation either ancient or modern. This is not true of the other commandments; they are generally paralleled in other ancient law codes. Sabbatarians generally appeal to Genesis 2:2-3 (referred to in the fourth commandment) as showing the contrary.

Strictly speaking, however, those verses do not say that God instituted the sabbath at the time of creation; indeed, there are other verses which seem to teach that he did it later." [Foundations of the Christian Faith]

Leupold, "The verb "he sanctified it" being Piel stem can be translated "He declared it to be sanctified." However, it should well be observed that no commandment is laid upon mankind at this point."

There is no record of God ever telling Adam and Eve to observe any kind of a Sabbath or special day.

Mackintosh, "There are few subjects on which so much misunderstanding and contradiction prevails as the doctrine of "the Sabbath." Not that there is the slightest foundation for either the one or the other; for the whole subject is laid down in the Word in the simplest possible manner.

The distinct commandment to "keep holy the Sabbath day" will come [to Israel as we find in the book of Exodus]. In the chapter now before us, there is no command given to man whatever, but simply the record that "God rested on the seventh day."

2. There is some Confusion - Some try and teach that God has always commanded mankind to observe the Sabbath. That is non-sense!

The Church observes the Lord’s Day, Sunday, the first day of the week, not the Sabbath!

1. Sabbath in the OT.

a. Means "ceassion from activies."

b. God ceased His creation work.

c. Yet, no mention of it given as a commandment, from Adam to Moses.

d. It was first given to Israel (Ex.31:12-17) and embedden in the Law (Ex.20:10-11). It was given to the Nation of Israel - it is first mentioned as a commandment to them in Ex. 16:26-30:

"26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, there will be none." 27 Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. 28 And the LORD said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? 29 See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." 30 So the people rested on the seventh day." Exodus 16:26-30 (NKJV)