D-E-C-L-A-R-E!

What is the only declaration God made in the Garden of Eden? Eden was this perfect place, a four dimensional canvas for God the creator to bring forth His artwork. He took this blank earth and said, “Let there be this, and let there be that,” and it was so. He made man and woman and it was all very good. Then He stepped back and made this one declaration.

But first, let’s define the word declare. The online dictionary defines it as, “say something in a solemn and emphatic manner.” Some of the synonyms are proclaim, announce, publish, and trumpet. Growing up, my mother would say, “I do declare”, when she was shocked about something. Students “declare their major” when they go to college. The Founding Fathers signed The Declaration of Independence to establish the United States of America. A country “declares” war on another country, which is the most solemn and emphatic use of the word.

However, in the Garden of Eden everything was at peace. There was beauty everywhere! Over and over God said it was good. And finally on the last day of creation, “Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!” Genesis 1:31 And then He made His only declaration in this perfect place.

“So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 2 On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and DECLARED it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.” Genesis 2:1-3 (emphasis added) The King James Version uses the word sanctified which means “to be set apart”.

You may be asking, “So what’s the big deal? The Seventh-day Sabbath was under the Old Covenant. We are under the New Covenant. Keeping the Seventh-day Sabbath was done away with at the cross.” Or was it? The big deal is this, at creation there was no sin, therefore the cross had no affect on this declaration. Sin and Christ’s death on the cross never changed the declaration.

Rather, God declared the Seventh-day Sabbath holy and set it apart for our blessing and for His blessing throughout eternity. As I’ve said before, it’s God’s date day. Yes, you can “date” God any day of the week, but there is something special about the Seventh-day Sabbath simply because He declared it to be special.

Whether you are a multi generational Seventh-day Sabbath keeper or have never kept the Sabbath, I want to encourage you to explore with God the beauty of this declaration. God is always calling us to a deeper level of understanding and relationship with Him, and the Sabbath is a perfect time to answer that call.

May this declaration bring you the peace and rest of the Sabbath, so that you will be blessed and be a blessing In Jesus Name!