"And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read." (Luke 4:16)
We hear a great deal about the example of the apostles, and of that of the Christian church in the early centuries; and many people think that if we can but find out what they did, we have no need to look further to find out what we ought to do.
But the greatest apostle of all tells us that the apostles are but ministers, through whom the word of the Lord comes, and that: "Neither is he that plants anything, neither he that waters; but God that gives the increase." (1 Corinthians 3:7)
He tells us that it is no difference who anybody is, "God accepts no man's person." (Galatians 2:6)
And he openly rebuked Peter, because he had led many of the Jews, who followed his example, into dissimulation, contrary to the truth of the Gospel: "But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If you, being a Jew, live after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" (Galatians 2:11-14)
As for the church, even from the very days of the apostles until modern times, its history has been one of apostasy, and of persecution of those who steadfastly held to the plain Word of God. Where then can we look to know what course we ought to pursue? The answer is plain: "Your Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalm 119:105)
Then we have the living manifestation of the Word, in Jesus of Nazareth, who left us "an example, that you should follow in His steps." (1 Peter 2:21) "He that says he abides in Him, ought himself also so to walk even as He walked." (1 John 2:6)
The Custom of Jesus
Our course therefore is clear, and in the lesson before us we have a statement of one of the ways of Jesus. "He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read." (Luke 4:16)
If we intend to "follow in His steps" it is certain that we ought also to regard the Sabbath day. "In His steps" has been used as a title to a book that has been sold by the hundred thousand, so that the people are very familiar with the phrase; and "What would Jesus do?" has been asked many times of late.
But here we find what Jesus really did, and so there is an end to all doubt as to what we ought to do in order to follow in His steps. For it is certain that if Jesus were on earth today He would do exactly the same that He did when He was here nearly nineteen hundred years ago.
What Day is the Sabbath?
There is no room for question as to what day it was when Jesus went into the synagogue to worship, according to His custom. It was the day on which the Jews had regular worship. That day was and is the seventh day of the week, commonly called Saturday. It is the last day of the week, and in the cycle is immediately followed by the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday.
The day which is now almost universally devoted to business, being to many the busiest day of the week, is the day which in the beginning was sanctified by God as the day of rest and worship; and He "who is the Beginning," kept it sacredly. "And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-eminence." (Colossians 1:18) The commandment that is given to us is the old commandment which was from the beginning: "And this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment, That, as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it." (2 John 6)
We have all wandered from the right way, and are called upon to seek the old paths, and to walk in them. "Thus says the Lord, Stand in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and you shall find rest for your souls." (Jeremiah 6:16)
The old paths are the steps of Him who is from everlasting to everlasting.
The Sabbath Unchanged
We are told that after His resurrection Jesus changed the day of rest and worship from the seventh to the first day of the week.
Is there anybody who really believes that at the very last of His earthly ministry Jesus deliberately undid all that He had done in the preceding years? What a fearful charge of inconsistency that is to bring against the Son of God! He said in the hearing of multitudes, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:17-19)
Yet in the face of this plain declaration, there are those who will tell us that Jesus himself changed the fourth commandment, and taught men to violate it! Surely, "they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)
If it were so, then Jesus, according to His own words, would be the least in the kingdom of heaven, instead of being Lord of all.
Saved by the Life of Jesus
It is by the death of Christ that we are brought to God, and reconciled to Him; but: "We [are] saved by His life." (Romans 5:10)
When we die in Christ, which is the giving up of our own ways, and our own ideas and prejudices and wishes, we become one with the Father and the Son; then the life of Jesus,--the same life that He lived when here on earth, in Nazareth and elsewhere,--abiding in us, saves us from all lapses into sin. He is the Righteous One, and only His righteousness, His right doing, His obedience to the law, in us is of any value.
Only One Life
Some one will tell us that "Jesus was a Jew," and that therefore He naturally did as the Jews did, but that it is not by His life as a Jew that we are to be saved. That is to reject Jesus entirely as Lord; for all His life long He was the Son of David, and He was crucified as King of the Jews. The wise men came to worship Him in His infancy, as King of the Jews, and the same title was hung upon His cross.
Jesus did not live a double life; He had only one life, and He gives that to us. The "same Jesus" who was crucified, rose again, and ascended to heaven, and will come again. Whosoever therefore rejects the life of Jesus before His crucifixion, rejects His sacrifice and His coming to reign. He himself has said that: "Salvation is of the Jews," (John 4:22) because He who is our salvation is the seed of Abraham. There is no way of escape from this conclusion, and nobody ought to wish to escape from it, that if we are to follow Christ, walking in His steps, we must come back to: "That which was from the beginning." (1 John 1:1)
Bible Terms Not Obsolete
But the lesson here as to the Sabbath is not alone from the example of Christ, important as that is. Here we have a book written many years after the resurrection of Jesus, by a Christian, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, for Christians to the end of time, and in it the day on which the Jews assembled for worship is called "the Sabbath day."
If there had been any change, is it not most wonderfully strange that Jesus himself did not say a single word about it, and that the writers of the New Testament, writing many years after His resurrection and ascension, gave not the slightest hint about the matter?
If the seventh day had been superseded by the first day of the week, Luke would have said something like this: "On the day which was at that time observed as the Sabbath, Jesus went into the synagogue."
How easy it would have been to let us know of the change, if any such change had taken place. If it had taken place, we may be sure that the Lord would have told us about it. The simple facts of the case are these:
• There is a commandment forbidding the doing of ordinary labor on the seventh day of the week. "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor, and do all your work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." (Exodus 20:8-11)
• The transgression of the law is sin. "Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." (1 John 3:4)
• On the other hand there is not the slightest trace of any law for the observance of the first day of the week.
• And "where no law is, there is no transgression." (Romans 4:15)
To disregard the Sabbath is therefore a sin, while to do any sort of honest labor on the first day of the week is perfectly right and proper.
Faith Receives Favors
We have left ourselves but little space to speak of this time of that which Jesus did and said on the Sabbath day under consideration; but if we learn this first lesson thoroughly, all the rest will come very easily.
The passage from Isaiah will come in due time in our lessons from that book. That which is taught by the references to the widow of Sarepta, and to Naaman the Syrian, is that everyone who is humble and receptive will be saved.
It is the same lesson that is taught in the account of the centurion who wished Jesus to speak the word, that his servant might be healed, and of whom Jesus said, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness." (Matthew 8:11-13)
Jesus will do mighty works wherever there is a desire to profit by them, but not merely for the sake of silencing carping criticism. He could not do many mighty works in His own country, because of the unbelief of the people, and He would not perform a miracle to gratify the curiosity of Herod. "And when He was come into His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence has this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then has this man all these things? And they were offended in Him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in His own country, and in His own house. And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." (Matthew 13:54-58) "And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see Him of a long season, because he had heard many things of Him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him. Then he questioned with Him in many words; but He answered him nothing." (Luke 23:8-9)
Blindness of Unbelief
What a fearfully blinding thing prejudice is! When Jesus first spoke, the people were involuntarily touched by the words of grace that came from His lips, and they "all bore Him witness" by the customary "Amen." But very soon they began to question among themselves, "Who is this man, that he should say such things? We know him well, as well as his mother and brethren. He is only the carpenter's son, and yet he professes to have a message that will set everybody free; who is he, that he should presume to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah?"
And thus they put from them the Gospel of their salvation. For of a truth, Jesus made no pretensions at all. The same message that He bore that Sabbath day, He has commissioned His followers to bear: "For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set you to be a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation unto the ends of the earth." (Acts 13:47)
They might not only have been set free that day, but all that were in the house might have gone forth with shouts of rejoicing to bear the glad news of freedom to others. Instead of that, they sought to kill the One to whose gracious words they had but just before borne witness. Surely the "sentiment of the people" is a very fickle thing.
Kept by the Power of God
"And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust Him out of the city, and led Him unto the brow of the hill, whereon their city was built, that they might cast Him down headlong. But He passing through the midst of them went His way." (Luke 4:28-30)
Jesus allowed himself to be led to the brow of the hill, but that was all. Then He did the very mighty work that they had wished to see wrought in their own country. He passed "through the midst" of the angry crowd who were seeking His life, and went His way. They had no power over Him. They could not kill Him, because His work was not done. Some one has said that: "Every man is immortal until his work is accomplished." [Editor's note: Attributed to Whitfield by some Presbyterian publications in the late 1800's, although I could not confirm this attribution. The original seems to be "Every man is immortal until his work is done."]
This is not true, for every man in this world is mortal until the Lord comes. But it is true that every mortal man who has committed himself fully into the hands of God, is proof against death until he has finished the work that God has sent him to do. Therefore instead of saying, "I am so feeble that I cannot work, and I believe that I shall not live long," the servant of the Lord ought rather to say, "I have work yet to do, and therefore I am going to have health and strength to do it." "I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord." (Psalm 118:17)--Present Truth, February 15, 1900--Subtitle: A Sabbath-Day's Lesson--Timeline: IV-2 (First Rejection at Nazareth)--Luke 4:16-30.