Bible students must be impressed with the many Old Testament passages that stress the continuity of Moses’ covenant. These passages naturally come to mind when we read in the same Bible of a change in covenant. How are we to reconcile passages of permanence with passages about change? This is a valid question. It deserves an answer that reflects all the Scriptures accurately.
This question often arises in discussions about the use of the Sabbath today. Doesn’t the Old Testament speak of the Sabbath as a permanent institution? Didn’t the Sabbath pre-date the Ten Commandments? If the Sabbath was established from the creation, shouldn’t its observance continue despite changes in covenants? Again, these questions deserve an answer that is true to God’s intent in the Bible. We may begin the Sabbath discussion here since it relates to the important question of permanence. Of course, the subject of the Sabbath is significant enough that it will receive more detail in a separate lesson.
Exodus 31 speaks of the Sabbath as an enduring sign of God’s covenant. Notice the words for continuity (shown in italics).
“Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between Me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.” And He gave to Moses, when He had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. (Exodus 31:16-18)
In the English language, we use the expression “etched in stone” to express inflexibility and permanence.
No one can doubt the importance of the Sabbath when it receives such prominence from God. It was written by God Himself as one of the famous Ten Commandments. Indeed, the Sabbath is so central that it deserves the title of “covenant” itself, as we have just seen in Exodus 31:16.