*The author of this article, knowing that other views are held on the subject, writes thus to the Editor:"What I send you has been seen by several here who are readers of your magazine, and they expressed the desire that it should appear in its pages. I do not seek, nor invite, discussion, but want the Lord's people to see that there is something to be said different from what has been taught."
To this the Editor can only reply, in the language of Scripture, "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge" (1 Cor. 14:29).*
It seems to me that the seven days of creating and making (Gen. 2:3) are connected entirely with earth, and therefore the typical teaching must be connected with this earth likewise. If the seven days typify seven dispensations, then the whole seven must have their fulfilment on this earth-not on another, a new earth, which the eternal state introduces. We cannot make the six days typify what is fulfilled on this earth, and then relegate the seventh day to a new earth in the eternal state for its fulfilment. We must make the teaching consistent, and fill in the week on this earth, or abandon the thought of its typical teaching on these lines.
That God intends to have a rest, surrounded by a saved, happy and contented people on this earth, there can be no question with Psalm 132, and other prophetical scriptures, before us; and also that the seventh or sabbath day pointed towards this, and only to this. Moreover, that God has a heavenly rest before Him as the portion of His beloved and heavenly saints when all their spiritual labor and
toil is ended and they are caught up to be forever with the Lord, no one can surely deny with Heb. 4 before him. But this latter, is set forth, not by the seventh day, but by the eighth day. And these two rests-heavenly and earthly-must never be confounded, nor the days which typify each.
In Gen. i and 2 there could not possibly be any thought of either a heavenly rest or rest on a new earth, not even in type. It was this earth, and God's rest on this earth after all His work on and for this earth. And though spoiled meanwhile through the entrance of sin, and man now unable to enter into and enjoy rest with and according to God because of his fallen and sinful state, yet "there remaineth a rest, or keeping of a sabbath, for the people of God " (Heb. 4:9)-that is, for those who are His people on earth at the time when it will be kept in order to complete earth's week, and who will be in a moral condition to keep and enjoy it. " All Israel will then be saved." They will be truly converted, and the law written in their hearts (Jer. 31:31-34). Thus they will be fitted to enjoy the rest of earth's seventh or last day before the final outburst of sin which follows it, and which makes way for the bringing in of an entirely new scene, which commences an eighth day, which can never be spoiled, and in which both heavenly and earthly saints will live in their different spheres, perfect and happy forever :the week fulfilled, and a new order and scene begun, never to be disturbed.
Heb. 4 gives us a twofold idea of rest. It is God's rest for the Christian; but the door is left open for Israel, whose rest likewise remains, but on earth-the Millennium. Israel never reached their rest because of their state. We too have not reached ours, and are still laboring on the way to it. Israel did not enter theirs because of unbelief. We too must take heed lest we come short of ours. Rest remains for both-"for the people of God." Both they and we are that. Their rest remains for them on earth. God will surround Himself on earth with His saved and happy people. It will be their seventh, or sabbath day:the last day of their national existence on earth. In the eternal state all nationalities will cease. Israel will then cease to exist as a distinct nation, and the tabernacle of God will be with men -men as such-no longer Jews as contrasted with Gentiles:so that if Israel as a nation is to have a sabbath, it must be during the Millennium, since their national existence ceases in the eternal state.
On the other hand, our rest is in glory. No seventh day ever typified what is true of us as Christians, and only fulfilled in glory when the Lord comes and takes us in. We then enter into the new and eternal state-the rest which remains for us. We have entered it already as to our souls-we are new creation in Christ now. We belong to eternity (Eph. i), but are not in it yet as to our bodies. We will be then. But of that, and blessing which remains for us, the seventh day is not a type. We belong to the eighth day. It is the commencement of a new order of things-a new start, and there is no ninth day-and cannot be. The eighth is the eternal state, when we think of typical days-a day after the seventh; but there is no ninth to follow the eighth.
The great mistake made by many is, it seems to me, seeing only the rest of God which Christians
look forward to in glory, and in the eternal state; and applying that to Israel and earth, thus make the seventh and eighth days typify the same thing. A confounding of the seventh or sabbath day with a sabbath. In fact, it really shifts Israel's hope from the millennial blessing on this earth to the new earth and the eternal state as the fulfilment of their seventh day, or day of rest, which remains for them.
It has been remarked that there is no eighth day mentioned in Gen. 1 and 2. Of course not! None was needed. It was earth, and a complete picture (seven days) of earth's history. Had man not fallen, he would have continued his history in blissful innocence, and the seventh day would have been an eternal one on this earth. But having sinned and broken God's rest, God had to work again in order to fit some for His rest on high, as well as to fit a company on earth to enjoy His rest on earth, and thus let them have their seventh and last day of this earth's history.* *It has also been remarked and emphasized that there is no evening and morning mentioned in connection with the seventh day in Gen. 2:1-3. Surely not! It would have supposed that there was another day to come after God's rest, and before sin had entered. Had man not sinned, he would have enjoyed God's rest forever on earth. No doubt there would have been literal cycles of day and night, but all would have been characterized as "the seventh day "-the day of God's rest on earth. As it is, the seventh day must have continued for some time, at least, beyond the mere literal twenty-four hours which limited the previous six. We can hardly suppose that innocence was limited to a period of less than twenty-four hours. Seeing Adam was formed last on the sixth day, and then Eve created after that, and the animals all brought to him and named, etc., still it was God's rest, therefore the seventh day, however long it continued, and only ceased when man sinned.*
At the same time we can see from Lev. 23:39, and various scriptures, that God had another day, beyond that week, an eighth day-a day beyond the seventh, and for a gathered out and heavenly people who do not belong to this earth. Into that eighth day He will likewise transfer and introduce His earthly people, setting them down on the new earth, in earthly blessing still, when their seventh day has ended; so that both they and us, each in our different spheres, shall enjoy together God's eighth day- His new day-a day which has a morning, but no evening-a day which knows no sin, therefore no sorrow or death. It is God's rest, in God's eternal day.
The seventh or sabbath day is connected only with Israel, and given them as a commandment, and a type of what only belongs to them and has its fulfilment on this earth. The first sabbath was God's rest after His work was ended.
The next time it is mentioned is in Exod. 16, and would rather tend to show that man had kept the seventh day, and recognized it as a day of rest:but needed instruction as to how to act in connection with the daily manna which God was giving them from heaven.
Next we find it incorporated in the law as the fourth commandment (Ex. 20 ; 8-11). Then it is given as a sign that the people were sanctified, or set apart for Jehovah (Ex. 31:12-17; Ezek. 20:12).
Again, it is connected with their deliverance from Egypt. "Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm :therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day" (Deut. 5:15).
Then, we have various judgments executed upon them because of their neglecting to keep it, as set forth in various scriptures.
Then, again, we find in Ezek. 46 that it will be kept in the Millennium. It will no doubt bear a commemorative character then, as will those of their feasts which they will keep at that time. They will then remember that they were in bondage, not only in Egypt, but "in all lands," from whence Jehovah had gathered them out, and sanctified them, and blessed them, bringing them into their own land, to enjoy His deliverance and rest (Psa. 107). All these passages and instructions show us it was given to and meant for an earthly people only, and never goes beyond this earth and the thought of earthly blessing and rest.
When we look at the eighth day, we open up on something further, something beyond what is taught in and by the seventh day. It does not necessarily confine itself to time, but is connected with what is new, in contrast to what is old; whether it be time, place, or service, the context will decide ; but it is always something new.
Take circumcision :it was to take place on the eighth day. The seven days (a perfect period of the child's life) counted, as it were, for nothing, and it was reckoned as one of the congregation only on the eighth day, when it was circumcised. If that rite were omitted, the child had to be "cut off." It was therefore a new start. The teaching for us is simple enough without my enlarging on it. The whole of our history as sinners is "put off" in the circumcision, or death, of Christ (Col. 2); and we commence a new history as risen with Him. The eighth day is therefore a new start for us. We are new creation in Christ.
Lev. 9 gives us an interesting eighth day. It was the commencement of a new order of things-the first day of the exercise of Israel's priesthood-a thing which never existed before. For seven days Aaron and his sons were shut inside the tabernacle courtyard until their consecration was ended and they were able to commence their public service on behalf of others. They could not officiate for others till they were consecrated into office. So that seven days does not typify the present period during which we are identified with Christ inside. If so, to be consistent with the type and its teaching, there can be no exercise of priesthood either for Israel or for us until Christ appears. That perfect period of consecration (seven days), with its various sacrifices offered each day, sets forth the perfection of the sacrifice of Christ, and the perfect fitness it gives to us to act in our priestly service, as it denotes His personal fitness and entrance on His priestly work.
But there is more set forth there. After Aaron had done everything for Israel on that day, he lifted up his hands and blessed them; and all that was now required was for God to show His acceptance of this their first national sacrifice offered by their priest on their behalf. But that acceptance was not given then. Their subsequent history gives us to see the reason why. Aaron and Moses together entered into the tabernacle, and it was only when they came out together that the fire came down and consumed the sacrifice and the people shouted and fell on their faces. In other words, it is only when Israel shall see the Lord Jesus appearing in His double character as King and Priest by and by, that they will know God's acceptance of Christ's sacrifice, and their own acceptance of blessing on the ground of that.
Thus we see a sort of break in Israel's history occur here. And it is at this point, in the action of Aaron and Moses going inside, that we see the picture of our present position-not in the seven days of consecration. Christ is at present inside as King and Priest-Israel is outside-in fact, rejected just now. The Holy Ghost has come out, and tells us of our identification with Christ inside, and of God's acceptance of that perfect sacrifice offered outside on the altar-Calvary. By and by Israel will see the Lord appear, as I have already said, and then, and only then, will they know their acceptance, as we already know ours. Then they will get the full value on the eighth day of the priestly service of the true Aaron.
In Lev. 23 we have set forth the feasts which filled up the year for Israel. I need not enlarge on them. After the passover, and feast of unleavened bread, we come to the wave sheaf. It was to be waved on the eighth day-the first day of the week-"the morrow after the Sabbath," setting forth the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, who rose on the first day of the week-the eighth day. A new start surely.
Then the feast of Pentecost was on the fiftieth day, not on the forty-ninth. This set forth the descent of the Holy Ghost consequent on Christ being exalted to the right hand of God (Acts 2). And surely this was something new. It was the commencement of Christianity-the Church's birthday.
The Jubilee year, too, was to be the fiftieth year, not the forty-ninth, when every one and every thing returned to their original order and ownership, and a new start was again made (Lev, 25).
The feast of tabernacles, Israel's last and best feast of the year, lasted seven days (Lev. 23 :34), when they both rested and rejoiced before Jehovah. But verse 39 speaks of them keeping an eighth day -a day beyond their feast-as a sabbath:but it was not the Sabbath, for that was never anything else than the seventh day. This was an eighth day.
And what can that speak of but a new start for Israel, in a new scene, where there can be no sin and failure-the eternal state. If the seventh day typifies the eternal state, then there can be no eighth day! But Israel's seven days will be fulfilled; in other words, the Millennium will end; and then, on the eighth day, when the new heavens and earth appear, God will transfer them to the new earth, as He will have placed us in the new heavens, for eternal blessing. Thus they will have their sabbath day, and then, with us, enter upon the eternal eighth.
The teaching is consistent and harmonious throughout the Word if the two peoples-earthly and heavenly-with their different days and blessings, are kept distinct. Wm. Easton
New Zealand