God's Sabbath

O UR N EED FOR THE S ABBATH

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“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29. In the meek and lowly One was manifested the character of the eternal God. Therefore, the Father whom He came to reveal must also be the perfection of humility. One characteristic of a humble person is that he never fights for his rights. In this, Jesus, as the Revelator of His Father’s perfect character, is the ultimate example. Never was there an instance in His life where He was seen fighting for whatever was His by right. In this He lived out the principle He Himself gave: “But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if some one wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.” Matthew 5:39–40. “Jesus did not contend for His rights. Often His work was made unnecessarily severe because He was willing and uncom plaining. Yet He did not fail nor become discouraged. He lived above these difficulties, as if in the light of God’s countenance. He did not retaliate when roughly used, but bore insult patient ly. The Desire of Ages , 89.4. Just as Christ demonstrated humility on earth, so too in all His dealings with humanity, God never fights for His rights. This characteristic puts a greater responsibility on us never to withhold from the Father that which is rightfully His, because our humble God will never fight for it. To withhold what belongs to God is to separate from Him and thus bring death and de struction upon ourselves. It was to preserve us from this fatal course that the Sabbath became a necessity. Because God will never fight for His rights, we must under stand exactly what those rights are, in order to give them to Him. The problem is that as God is so humble and therefore oc cupies so retiring a position in divine-human relationships, peo ple often forget His part, and see only their own. We tend to as cribe to ourselves the credit due to the Almighty. The resultant punishment which descends on us is not the expression of an of fended God, but the sure result of separation from Him. Human beings cannot successfully occupy the Lord’s place. Any attempt to do so leads to fatal consequences.