“The people of Israel are to keep the Shabbat, to observe Shabbat through all their generations as a perpetual covenant.”-Exodus 31:16
I’m going to get BOTH a little philosophical AND scientific on you today.
Let me start off by making what may seem to be a philosophical statement.
Just as the Tabernacle represented the Lord’s will in observing SACRED SPACE, the 7th day Sabbath represents the Lord’s will in observing SACRED TIME.
‘What the heck does that mean?’ is what you’re probably thinking.
Well, hold on to your horses while I break it down nice and simple for you.
First, understand that scientifically speaking, we live in a universe that consists ONLY of space and time.
We’re all aware that space consists of 3 dimensions.
This is a piece of cake to grasp because all one has to do is observe a physical object to plainly see its attributes of length, width and height.
However, the dimension of time is not so easy to grasp.
And the reason is because we can’t see or touch it.
We can, however, observe its effects.
All I have to do is compare two photos of me taken ten years apart and I can see the effects that time (and the effects my Doritos and cupcake diet) has had on me.
So what in the world is “time” exactly?
How would one define time?
Well, just as inches, centimeters, feet, and meters etcetera are measurements of the first 3 dimensions of space (length, width, and height), time is A MEASUREMENT OF DECAY.
This would be in accordance with the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics which says that all physical things decay, but they decay at differing speeds.
A rock ages much slower than a human but not all rocks age at the same pace.
And the same could be said for humans.
Not all humans decay at the same rate regardless of one’s literal age number (so eat your greenies folks!) which is why some folks even with the same birthdate die at different times.
So a property definition of “time” is again to say that TIME is a measurement of decay.
Okay, by this point you’re probably wondering, did I just accidentally click into some SCIENCE 101 site?
What the heck does this have to do with the 7th day Sabbath?
Well, it has everything to do with it because the Lord has created a universe of 4 dimensions (space and time).
And via the Tabernacle and the Sabbath, He has ordained a means of enshrining the holiness of these 4 dimensions of His Creation.
The Tabernacle enshrines the 3 dimensions of space.
The Sabbath enshrines the dimension of time.
Think of it like this.
God SET APART the Tabernacle from all other human space and made it holy unto Him.
In the same way, God SET APART the Sabbath from any other block of time and made it holy unto Him.
So the Tabernacle and Sabbath together enshrine the holiness of God’s creation.
I’m going to disagree on one point by adding something. The universe has three things; matter, space and time. If it only had space and time there would be nothing occupying the space and time would be acting on nothing. These three things that make up the universe exist in a trinity of trinities. Matter has three forms; gas, liquid & solid. Normal space has three dimensions; height, width & depth. And time has three perceived dimensions; past, present & future. This in my thinking illustrates the beauty and harmony of His creation.
I wouldn’t disagree that the universe is comprised of matter, space, and time. However, I was talking about the four dimensions of height, width and depth. Interesting how you categorize time as having three dimensions (past, present, and future). I’m not sure about that because technically the past and future don’t really exist because there is only now. But very interesting thoughts. As always, thanks for sharing.