The beginning is always present; and the present always contains the beginning. From the creation week, only the Sabbath remains untouched by sin, and its observance is to keep in mind the creative power of God. But creative power is the power of the Gospel, so that which celebrates creation also celebrates redemption. Christ is the Redeemer, because in Him were all things created (Col. 1:16). The power that saves men is but the power that created the heavens and the earth. He imparts His grace by the same mysterious and mighty power by which He created the earth.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:1, 2).
Notice how creation progressed. God forms from nothing, then God fills what He has formed. See the intimate connection between the first day and the fourth; the second day and the fifth; and the third day and the sixth. For instance on the first day God created light out of the darkness and divided the light from the darkness, and He called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. Then on the fourth day He fills His work from the first day with the sun, moon, and stars. This pattern continues through the end of the sixth day.
We see the same pattern set out in the creation of man. God forms man out of the dust of the ground and then fills him with the breath of life and man was (Gen. 2:7). Again the pattern: God plants a garden eastward in Eden, and then He puts man into it (vs. 8).
The Sabbath follows the finished work of God. The Sabbath commandment as given in Exodus has a completed creation as the reason for the keeping of the Sabbath, while the same commandment in Deuteronomy has a completed redemption from sin as the reason for keeping the Sabbath. Notice: “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” (Ex. 20:11); “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day” (Deut. 5:15).
Creation and redemption are sealed with the Sabbath. God has made His rest the seal of His finished work—and if we will but believe this, He has made His rest our rest as well. The Sabbath means that we are to rest upon the word that upholds the universe. It is a memorial of creation; but redemption is the power that created all things, working to restore them. Therefore the Sabbath marks the highest Gospel attainment.
The gospel and creation are one. The power of creation is but the power of redemption. The heavens show God’s power. God holds everything in its place. Likewise, God’s power to save man is seen in the cross. The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). The cross and creation are inseparable—all Gods work, and the Sabbath marks His rest in this finished work. “As soon as there was sin, there was a Savior.” [1]
Without the help of man, God created and made this world and all we see in the heavens and earth and under the sea—everything, and it wasn’t until all else was done that He formed man. Man had no more a part in the creation of the world than he does in the redemption of man.
Man has come to think of himself as more than just the dust of the earth. It is true that the love of God has placed the same value upon us as that of His Son by giving Him to the world, but this value He places upon us does not endow us with the ability to contribute anything toward our salvation anymore than it gives us the power to move a star around just by thinking.