The Son & The Sabbath

 By Pastor Andrew Kerr - Posted at Gentle Reformation:

Over the past two weeks, given Christ's statement in the Gospels, I've been mulling over the question of how the Sabbath of Creation connects with Christ as Son.

The Sabbath was Made by The Son.

We are plainly told in Genesis that, having concluded Creation work, God set Day Seven apart. At this particular junction in divine revelation, Moses is not concerned with the Persons of the Godhead: if explicit mention of the Father, Son and Spirit of Yahweh is held back to the Baptism of Christ, we know from New Testament references that, as The Pre-Incarnate Logos, God the Son was The Agent of Creation who also gave the Sabbath Ordinance.

In all of the external works of God (or opera ad extra), all Three Glorious Persons of the Godhead are active: we must clearly state that if the Father ordained the Sabbath by the Spirit, the Seventh Day of Rest, equally, is the Son's gift to mankind. Or, at risk of stating the matter in an anachronistic fashion, the origin of the Sabbath can be traced to the now-Enfleshed Word. His sanctifying that day by setting it apart as special could have been intensive (most sacred), factitive (made sacred), or declarative (marked sacred), or perhaps all three. Whatever the precise nuance involved in demarcation of the Seventh Day, let us be very clear that having made that Day, the Sabbath belongs to Him. It is not an exaggeration to call it the Sabbath of the Son.

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