Birthday of the World

God created the earth in six days, and when He finished He celebrated its birth on the seventh
day. God “blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of
creating that he had done” (Gen. 2:1, 2). 2 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of
them, were finished. 2 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.* God celebrated. God rejoiced.
God delighted in what He had made. It was the birthday of the world.
 
When God enshrined the Sabbath in the fourth
commandment, He linked it with the birthday of the
world. “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and
the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on
the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath
day and made it holy” (Ex. 20:11). 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.
 
God wanted us to remember who created the world.
Could it be that our neglect of the Sabbath as a reminder
of who created the world has contributed to the
agnosticism and atheism that many people profess?
 
Human beings were made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26, 27) 26 Then God said, “Let Us make
man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over
the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps
on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male
and female He created them., the only part of God’s creation ever given that description. The
Sabbath, as the memorial of Creation, tells us that human beings are very special to God, that we
are important, that we are special, that we are treasured.

Birthday of Freedom
There is a second reason for celebrating the Sabbath. The fourth commandment tells us to
celebrate in honor of life being created. But when Moses repeats the same commandment in the
book of Deuteronomy, he omits the link with Creation and adds the link with salvation from
Egyptian slavery. “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought
you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your
God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day” (Deut. 5:15).
 
Thus the Sabbath, while it is a remembrance of our original creation, it is also a remembrance of
freedom, of deliverance from evil, of rescue from oppressive powers. While the Sabbath had
special significance for the Israelites, who were redeemed from oppression, it is not limited only
to them. We, too, can see it as a symbol of our release from anything that might oppress us.