«　WEEK 5　DAY 3　»

　　Exo. 31:13 Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, You shall surely keep My Sabbaths; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am Jehovah who sanctifies you.

　　Gen. 2:2 And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

　　In Exodus 31:12-17, after a long record concerning the building up of God’s dwelling place, there is a repetition of the commandment to keep the Sabbath… We need to find why…[it] is repeated after the record concerning the full revelation of God’s dwelling place…When Jehovah called Moses to go up to the mountain, Jehovah first gave Moses the law. Then He gave Moses the revelation concerning the building up of His dwelling place on earth. In this section we see the design of the tabernacle and its furniture and a full revelation regarding the priesthood. There is also a record concerning the builders of the tabernacle. After all of this, Jehovah repeated the requirement related to keeping the Sabbath.

　　The fact that this insertion concerning the Sabbath follows the charge for the building work of the tabernacle indicates that Jehovah was telling these builders, these workers, to learn how to rest with Him. They should not work and forget about resting with the Lord. Therefore, in charging them to do the work of building His dwelling place, Jehovah reminded them that as they worked for Him, they should learn how to rest with Him. If we only know how to work for the Lord but do not know how to rest with Him, we are acting contrary to the divine principle. (Life-study of Exodus, 2nd ed., pp. 1759-1760)

　　The principle of the Sabbath is not a matter of the day on which it is observed. The principle of the Sabbath is that working with the Lord requires that we learn how to rest with Him. Some may think that the significance of the Sabbath is merely to cease from work. This is not the real meaning of the Sabbath in the Bible. The Bible emphasizes the fact that God rested on the seventh day [Gen. 2:2].

　　According to the book of Genesis, to God the Sabbath is the seventh day, but to man it is the first day. In six days God created the heavens, the earth, and everything necessary for man to exist for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. After all things were made, man was created on the sixth day. This means that as soon as man came forth from the creating hand of God, his first day, which was God’s seventh day, was about to begin. Thus, what was the seventh day to God was the first day to man. The significance of this is that to God the Sabbath was rest after work, but to man it was rest first and then work. God first worked for six days and then He rested on the seventh day. But man rested on his first day and then began to work.

　　In Exodus 31:12-17 we see that the builders of the tabernacle were charged not to begin working until they had rested with Jehovah and had been refreshed. Then they could work for Him and with Him. However, this work would not go on continuously. Rather, it would be a work in intervals of six days of labor and one day of rest. With every interval, the beginning is a day of rest, followed by six days of work. Then there would be another interval beginning with rest and continuing with work. We have emphasized that to God the Sabbath is the seventh day and to man, the first day; that God worked for man’s enjoyment and rest; and that man enjoys what God has accomplished in His work in order to work with God. Man in his first day enjoyed what God accomplished in the previous six days. Then in the following six days man worked with God. After six days’ work, man again first enjoyed what God had accomplished, and then he worked again the following six days. This proceeds as a cycle. This cycle is a sign that we are one with God. (Life-study of Exodus, 2nd ed., pp. 1760, 1766)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Exodus, msg. 172