If we are made in the image of God it follows that we should engage our lives in an imitatio Dei, "imitation of God." If we are MADE like God, it follows that we should ACT like God and imitate him in every way it is possible for a human to do. We need to let his character become our character; his love the pattern for our love; his justice how we meet out justice; his judgment how we judge, and so on. How do we then imitate the Creator’s act of making the first holy thing? Jesus engaged in imitatio Dei. "Then Jesus answered and said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; . . .' " (John 5:19-20, NKJV) Christ imitated God. What he "sees" his Father doing becomes his guide for what he does. This would include the Father’s personal example as well as the instructions and commandments given from the beginning. Did this include Christ’s observance of the Sabbath? Evidently. He was so faithful to his Father in this area of worship, so consistent in his Sabbath observance that the historian Luke records it as being habitual (see Luke 4:16). Jesus’ imitation of God was precise and total: "'For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.'" (John 12:49, NKJV) Not only did he follow God’s commands, he followed his intent, his spirit, his heart — the "how" in Jesus’ "how to say it" is just as important as the "what to say." Jesus said, "I always do those things that please him" (John 8:29, NKJV). What was mankind’s FIRST chance to imitate GOD? Just as God separated Adam and Eve from the rest of creation by making them in imago Dei, he separated the seventh day from the other days of the week by the divine action of RESTING. The verb "to rest" is sabat (Hebrew), meaning "to stop, cease" and the noun form is sabbat from which we get our word "Sabbath." The seventh day came to be named by what God did on the first one — he stopped his work and rested in peace with his image bearers. God is the divine example for human kind and he manifested himself in refraining from work and in resting. He rested from his work for the purpose of having peaceful fellowship with those he had just made in his image. He was celebrating his creation with his family. This is why he blessed this time and made it holy — the first holy thing. Our human parents were alive at the moment when God took this deliberate action. They SAW it. By witnessing God resting Adam and Eve had mankind’s first opportunity to imitate him. Having just been made in God’s image only hours before, man could now take his first step to imitate his Maker, to validate, as it were, his created design. That first Sabbath, I believe, went very well. It was celebrated as all Sabbath’s should be celebrated — in joyful fellowship with God. Consider the picture: God and his son and daughter at peace, without sin, in an absolutely beautiful paradise. There was a lot to be happy about on the first holy day. That first Sabbath, as Biblical Canon develops, becomes the template for the Kingdom of God and the Plan of God: Man and God in fellowship in a paradise world, at rest without the slaveries and miseries of sin. We don’t know how long it took for Adam and Eve — and their new found serpentine "friend" — to mess up the harmony, but it probably happened by the following Sabbath. The next picture we have of God is his arrival near sundown (perhaps at the beginning of the second Sabbath) walking on his way to fellowship with his beloved children. This time the picture has changed. Some time after the first Sabbath Adam and his wife ceased any imitation of God, set aside his example, and disobeyed his instructions. This Sabbath they didn’t want fellowship, they wanted to hide. What is Man's Purpose and Calling? Adam’s behavior didn’t alter mankind’s one purpose, one calling: To Imitate God. But it did illustrate the difference between God and man. God is a holy God. Holiness is defined by God. Holiness is the nature of God. For us to imitate God we must take on his holiness. Peter, the Apostle of Christ, expresses it clearly: " . . . but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.' " (1Peter 1:15-16, NKJV). This is not a new concept as is evident from Peter’s quote from the Holiness Code in Leviticus. It has been God’s intent from the beginning. Mankind must respond to his Creator, either in obedience or opposition. Human history since Eden is largely a sad chronicle of opposition to God’s example and instructions — including his example of resting on the seventh day. The holiness of God is shunned. The holy things of God are ignored or even desecrated. The first holy thing of God gave to man was a special day — the seventh — made holy by God’s blessing and example. His holy presence permeated the day. His example and teaching would, if followed, lead his children to become holy as he is holy. Here we discover the PURPOSE of the Sabbath: To fellowship with and worship our Creator, and learn from his Word the path to becoming like him. To do this we must cease, meaning rest or pause from all other activities, important though they may be, for none can equal this divine appointment. The written creation account that has come down to us must have been prepared by God himself as there were no human witnesses until the sixth day (it is doubtful that Adam was taking notes!). The first chapters of Genesis are the most magnificently, weighty and elegantly crafter portion of all Scripture. The words are weighed and fit with a godly precision. This is the most important record of what God did in the beginning. It is true history. And not by accident, the Sabbath event caps creation. At some later time it was given to men to preserve and copy. God is the One who gives the rhythm and step of the creation week. He is the one who designs time, inhabits eternity and establishes the seventh day for a special purpose. He began what is now the ever-present rhythm of sunset, sunrise and of six working days followed by a seventh (Sabbath) rest day. These were deliberate actions of the Creator to indicate the Sabbath’s universality — giving clear evidence that every human being who lives with sunsets and sunrises — Jew and Gentile — is to engage in imitatio Dei, "imitation of God," by resting as God did. What came FIRST, Man or the Sabbath? Both man and the Sabbath were created by God at almost the same time. Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man (Mark 2:28) and we can see that by the very order; man was made first then, a few hours later, the Sabbath. The Creator enjoins the Sabbath upon all humanity in two ways: by his own example, and by his direct command through Moses. The former has by far the greater appeal and authority — especially for those engaged in imitating God. The sixth day was man’s beginning. The seventh day was the beginning of God’s spiritual work of making man holy as he is holy. The beauty of the Sabbath is that by participating in God’s rest we can enjoy the divine gift of freedom from the labors of human existence and thus acknowledge God as our Creator. If we share his rest now we can look forward to sharing his rest FOREVER. The goodness and genius of God leads us in one direction: Godward. The first holy thing, the Sabbath, is the Creator’s gift to move us Godward — toward becoming holy as he is holy. Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy, for without holiness no one will see the Lord: "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord . . ." (Hebrews 12:14, NKJV)
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