Sabbath School Today
With the 1888 Message Dynamic
Glimpses of Our God
Lesson 2: “In the Beginning”
The beginning is always present; and the present always contains the beginning. From the creation week, only the Sabbath remains untouched by sin, and its observance is to keep in mind the creative power of God. But creative power is the power of the Gospel, so that which celebrates creation also celebrates redemption. Christ is the Redeemer, because in Him were all things created (Col. 1:16). The power that saves men is but the power that created the heavens and the earth. He imparts His grace by the same mysterious and mighty power by which He created the earth.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:1, 2).
Notice how creation progressed. God forms from nothing, then God fills what He has formed. See the intimate connection between the first day and the fourth; the second day and the fifth; and the third day and the sixth. For instance on the first day God created light out of the darkness and divided the light from the darkness, and He called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. Then on the fourth day He fills His work from the first day with the sun, moon, and stars. This pattern continues through the end of the sixth day.
We see the same pattern set out in the creation of man. God forms man out of the dust of the ground and then fills him with the breath of life and man was (Gen. 2:7). Again the pattern: God plants a garden eastward in Eden, and then He puts man into it (vs. 8).
The Sabbath follows the finished work of God. The Sabbath commandment as given in Exodus has a completed creation as the reason for the keeping of the Sabbath, while the same commandment in Deuteronomy has a completed redemption from sin as the reason for keeping the Sabbath. Notice: “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Ex. 20:11); “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day” (Deut. 5:15).
Creation and redemption are sealed with the Sabbath. God has made His rest the seal of His finished work—and if we will but believe this, He has made His rest our rest as well. The Sabbath means that we are to rest upon the word that upholds the universe. It is a memorial of creation; but redemption is the power that created all things, working to restore them. Therefore the Sabbath marks the highest Gospel attainment.
The gospel and creation are one. The power of creation is but the power of redemption. The heavens show God’s power. God holds everything in its place. Likewise, God’s power to save man is seen in the cross. The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). The cross and creation are inseparable—all Gods work, and the Sabbath marks His rest in this finished work. “As soon as there was sin, there was a Savior.” [1]
Without the help of man, God created and made this world and all we see in the heavens and earth and under the sea—everything, and it wasn’t until all else was done that He formed man. Man had no more a part in the creation of the world than he does in the redemption of man.
Man has come to think of himself as more than just the dust of the earth. It is true that the love of God has placed the same value upon us as that of His Son by giving Him to the world, but this value He places upon us does not endow us with the ability to contribute anything toward our salvation anymore than it gives us the power to move a star around just by thinking.
God blesses us, not because we are good, but in order that we may become good. All His blessings are for the purpose of turning us away from sin to Himself. God’s word turns us from living for self. “The just shall live by faith” (Rom.1:17), and living by faith is taking God’s word at its face value. All God’s promises are His enablings.
Elder E. J. Waggoner, one of the 1888 “messengers,” wrote, “The cross is and always has been a symbol of disgrace. ... To take the cross of Christ means to depend solely on Him for everything, and this is the abasement of all human pride. Men love to fancy themselves independent. But let the cross be preached, let it be made known that in man dwells no good thing and that all must be received as a gift, and straightway somebody is offended.” [2]
The one thing that prepares men for the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the full acceptance of the message that man is nothing, and that God is everything. The same power that sanctified the Sabbath day sanctifies us, and our rest will come when we realize that salvation comes not from us, but from the word which made the heavens and the earth, and which upholds them. This Sabbath rest is a rest from sin.
Man’s works of merit are meaningless and his attempts to make himself better are but the offerings of Cain. Ellen G. White speaks to this foolish behavior of men: “If you would gather together everything that is good and holy and noble and lovely in man, and then present the subject to the angels of God as acting a part in the salvation of the human soul or in merit, the proposition would be rejected as treason.” [3]
“Creation shows the power of God. So the power of God is creative power. And since the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, it follows that the Gospel is the manifestation of creative power to save men from sin.” [4]
“To some it may be a new thought that creation and redemption are the same power; to all it is and must ever be a mystery. The Gospel itself is a mystery. The Apostle Paul desired ... that he ‘should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ’ (Eph. 3:8, 9). Here again we see the mystery of the Gospel to be the mystery of creation. [5]
This mystery of the gospel, which has been hidden from ages and generations, God is now making known to us what are its riches and glory: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). “The conclusion is that the Gospel is the revelation of Jesus Christ in men” [6]
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). We are crucified with Christ, which empties us of all self, and pride; we are then filled with all the treasure of the riches of the mystery of the Gospel. “For it is the God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness [the first day], who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:6, 7).
The “oft-repeated declarations that the Lord is Creator are intended as a source of strength. Notice how creation and redemption are connected in the first chapter of Colossians.” [7] (Read Colossians 1:9-19 and see this wonderful connection.)
Lets face it; our efforts to do more than Abram did when he “believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness” result in discouragement and depression. Our fingerprints were not involved in creation, and our efforts to save ourselves are fruitless. Praise God for giving us His rest!
—Daniel H. Peters
Note: Bible texts (unless in quotations) are from the New King James Version.
Endnotes:
[1] Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 210.
[2] The Glad Tidings, p. 113 (Glad Tidings ed.).
[3] The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 816.
[4] Ellet J. Waggoner, The Everlasting Covenant, p. 16 (Glad Tidings ed.).
[5] Ibid., p. 18.
[6] Ibid., p. 19.
[7] Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness, p. 39 (Glad Tidings ed.).
