We Are Sabbath, Part II: An Event Worth Celebrating

Guest post by Travis Claybrooks

She...was...PERFECT! All 7lbs. 6oz. of little Abeni Michele Claybrooks – PERFECT! At about 12:25, on an early Sunday morning, October 2, 1994, Abeni let the world know that she had arrived. Boy, could she yell! It was a moment to celebrate – the birth of a baby. Our best of friends were crowded there in the hospital room. New grandparents were on the phone. There I was juggling conversations between both, lost in sheer ecstasy.

As the minutes following Abeni's birth turned into hours, I found myself alone and awake holding that little bundle. There she was, asleep in my arms. She was so tiny. My forearm was longer than she was. Her breaths were so fast and so deep. I began to look over her precious little body. All ten of her little toes and fingers were there. Her ears, eyes, nose and mouth were all normal. She had a head full of hair. Her arms and legs were without deformity. There were no blemishes or marks anywhere on her. She...was...PERFECT!

As I reminisce on that moment, a rather startling reality comes to mind. Considering all the things that have to come together to have a baby and the odds of that actually happening, it is virtually impossible to have a baby, much less one without a noticeable defect, disease, or deformity.

Think about it. As you know, conception begins when a sperm cell from Dad fertilizes an egg cell from Mom to form one little cell called an embryo. In this one cell are 46 chromosomes – 23 from Dad and 23 from Mom. On these 46 chromosomes, the best estimates are that there are something on the order of 30,000 genes (that we know of) – all in one little cell. It is these genes that will control everything that will happen in that body from the moment of conception until the moment of death.

Now, here's the kicker. 

Over the next 40 weeks or so, that one cell will divide into two cells and those two will each divide into two more, and so on until there are trillions of cells that will go to make up that little baby's body. Each and every time a cell divides, all 30,000 or so of those genes must make an exact copy of themselves inexactly the same spot on the chromosome for the new cell. All it takes is just one mistake, just one time, in just one of those duplications for that baby to self-abort at worst or be born with some sort of deformity or disease at best. So, as you can see, the odds of having a baby are near zero and even less for having one without any noticeable deformity, defect, or disease.

I want to bring a seemingly obvious truth to your attention. She...was...PERFECT! However, she had absolutely nothing to do with it. She was simply made that way. It was a miracle and it's worth celebrating once a year (at least).

The Heart of the Matter

Sabbath. I've begun to ask myself what is the singular event that was so significant that God felt the need to set aside a day of holy and sacred commemoration – not once a year...not once a month...but once every seven days?

Most Sabbath keepers recognize that the Sabbath is a memorial of God creating the heavens and the earth and “all that in them is.” While this is true, let's explore deeper.

Luke 3:23-38 is another one of those boring genealogies that we usually skip when reading the Bible. However, this is not one to be passed over. For in it is a key that will liberate your soul, give you context for your life, explain everything that God has ever done for mankind, and help us all understand what event was so significant that God felt the need to establish a weekly time to commemorate it with the human race.

Luke begins with Joseph, Jesus' “father” and traces the ancestry all the way back through as series of ...which was the son of...which was the son of...which was the son of...all the way down to verse 38. Here it is, “...which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.”

This is perhaps the most important text in all of scripture. God through scriptural inspiration ascribes to Adam a title that usually is only given to Jesus Christ (see verse 22). Adam was more than just a miraculous creation. He was the son of God! But what did this mean? It meant that he...was...PERFECT! He had God's genes! When God bore Adam, he came forth with the same spiritual, mental, physical, and social DNA that God had. He was not God any more than Abeni is not her parents. But he was the son of God, made in the image of God. PERFECT!

This was the crowning act of creation and the reason for the rest of creation. Sabbath was a celebration and a commemoration of this event – God had had a “baby” and this baby looked just like his Daddy. And guess what, Adam had absolutely nothing to do with it. He was simply made that way and God felt that it was a miracle worth celebrating once a week (at least).

Unfortunately, on most weekends, we've traded celebrating this wonderfully important event in exchange for hymns vs. contemporary Christian music, for denominations and non-denominations, for green carpet in the foyer vs. no carpet at all, for church boards, and disfellowships. We've reduced the Sabbath from the celebration of a high and lofty event to simply having church. We have extracted from the Sabbath day the celebration of our heritage as children of God that were once upon a time PERFECT and replaced it with an infusion of religious forms and fashions that temporarily pacify the empty cry of both the day and the heart. What's a celebration without a reason for celebrating? What's a reason without the right one?

What have these trades cost us? 

We have lost an identity linking us directly with God Himself as our Father and we His children that transcends religiosity and churchianity. We have lost a true and real sense that once upon a time, on a day before the very first Sabbath, we...were...PERFECT!

Here are some things that my family and I together are beginning to focus on re-discovering:

1. How God wants to celebrate with us the fact that we are biological descendants of His first son, Adam.
2. How God wants to celebrate with us the fact that the same perfection with which He made Adam is also intended for us and that we have absolutely nothing to do with achieving it. This is the theme of Sabbath rest and why we are asked to remember to celebrate the event (not the day) let we forget and try to achieve that perfection on our own.
3. How God want to celebrate with us the fact that He's simply in the process of making us that way and it's a miracle worth celebrating together once a week (at least)!
   

In part III, we'll explore Adam's Fall, it's impact, God's answer, and how Sabbath now has a new event to celebrate that is directly linked to the original event.

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Travis, and his wife Gabriella, are the founders of of an exciting wellness ministry in Nebraska.  You may contact him via his Facebook profile. This article was originally posted on Facebook here.