Chapter Two – From the Beginning

Next Part Sabbath Created Next—for Man

This book will examine many verses from the Old Testament. Of course, it is there that the Sabbath is first mentioned. However, one of the strongest verses in the entire Bible on the subject of God’s Sabbath day is found in the New Testament!

Speaking to His disciples, Christ said, “The SABBATH was made for man” (Mark 2:27). This is a powerful statement. Immediately following this verse, we read: “Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.” (This is repeated in Luke 6:5.) Any who wish to superimpose the idea that Christ did not keep and endorse the Sabbath must face this enormous first obstacle. This plain passage, recorded twice for emphasis, cannot be dismissed. We will see there is a reason it follows Mk 2:27 as it does.

But what did Christ mean when He said, “The Sabbath was made for man”? Haven’t you always been taught, “The Sabbath was made for the Jews”? If so, why did Christ say, in the New Testament, “for man”? We must go to the creation account to find the answer.

The Real Beginning

Genesis means “beginning.” Most people assume this is where one learns of the beginning of God’s revealed knowledge. The true beginning of all things—where the account of God’s creation really starts—is not found in Genesis 1:1-31. It is found in the New Testament, in John 1:1-51. This is where the Bible records who or what existed before the creation recorded in Genesis.

Here is how John writes of the earliest time the Bible records: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things[“the universe” – Moffatt translation of same word in Hebrews 1:2] were made by Him; and without Him was not ANYTHING made that was made” (John 1:1-3). This is all-encompassing.

But who is “the Word”? John answers a few verses later: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

In the original Greek, the term “the Word” actually means “Spokesman.” While Christ only became the Son of God at His human birth, He was an eternal Being—He was “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life” (Heb. 7:3).

Plainly, these verses speak of Jesus Christ both before and after His human birth. Only one God Being “became flesh and dwelt among us.” But John 1:1 reveals more! Notice it says that Christ, the Word, “was” God and was also “with” God. This can only be possible if TWO separate Beings are being described. These TWO eternal Beings—Personages—existed before any of the physical universe had been created. They existed from the beginning and earlier.

Ephesians 3:9, written by Paul, confirms John 1:1-51 “God ... created all things by Jesus Christ.” Having been “the Word”—the Spokesman—for all eternity, Jesus said many times throughout His ministry that He only stated what God wanted Him to say. Since He was “the Word,” we can understand why Psalm 33:1-22 states, “By the Word of the LORD were the heavens [the universe] made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.... For He spoke, and it was done” (Ps. 33:6, 9).

Understand what we have just read! The Jesus Christ of the New Testament was the God of the Old Testament. They are not two separate Beings. Notice this plain passage, ignored by almost all: “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they [ancient Israel] drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4). We will examine this later in greater detail.

The One who led ancient Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness was Jesus Christ of the New Testament! The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—and David (Ps. 18:2)—was Christ! And Paul wrote that God created “all things—by Jesus Christ”!

Let’s read one final scripture demonstrating, from the New Testament, that Christ, in fact, was the God of the Old Testament who did all the creating: “For by Him [Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him.... And He is the Head of the Body, the Church” (Col. 1:16, 18).

This passage is all-inclusive. The fact that it was Christ who created everything that exists in the entire universe must be understood before continuing.

The Creation of Man

Since Jesus Christ and the Father were both present during the creation week, Genesis 1:26 naturally speaks of “Us” and “Our” when referring to God. Yet, again, it was Christ who actually did the creating of “all things.”

Notice: “And God [Elohim] said, Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.... And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day” (Gen. 1:26-27, 31).

The last part of Genesis 1:1-31 records the creation of man on the sixth day. This passage reveals that the Father and Christ (remember, Christ did the creating—He was the God of the Old Testament) created man for a great purpose—to reflect physically and take on spiritually God’s “image” and “likeness.”

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