Having recently lost my situation on account of keeping the Sabbath I have been sorely tempted.
I have been told that if we are wholly the Lord's, and sanctified to His service, we are no longer doing our own work, whatever we do, and that when we do everything to the glory of God,--when we do only the work of the Lord,--then anything that is proper to do any day is legitimate Sabbath work; in short, that there can be no difference in days to the Christian, but that he is to find rest in Christ, and not in a day.
Can you help me to a clear understanding of the matter? for I wish to do only the Lord's will.
I think I can help you; or, rather, I can direct you to the Word of the Lord, which can help you. In the first place, let me emphasize the fact that the Christian finds rest only in the Lord. There is no rest for any soul anywhere else. Jesus calls: "Come unto me, all you that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls." (Matthew 11:28-29)
This rest in Christ is not something new that was introduced at the time of the first advent of Jesus; for many hundred years before, when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, God said to Moses, "My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest." (Exodus 33:14)
It is worth while to remember that this was said but a few days after the ten commandments were spoken from Sinai, and while Moses was still in the mount with the Lord. "We which have believed do enter into rest." (Hebrews 4:3)
The rest that the Lord gives, which is the only real rest there is, can be obtained only by faith, faith in the finished work of Christ. "This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent." (John 6:29)
But God's work is finished and perfect; therefore whoever accepts His work must have rest. The cross of Christ contains and reveals the completed work of Christ; for on the cross He exclaimed, "It is finished." (John 19:30) "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [or, "there is a new creation"]: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God." (2 Corinthians 5:17-18)
All the real rest that any soul on earth can ever enjoy is in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Resting in the Lord is Sabbathkeeping; and it is only the righteous who rest in the Lord. "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." (Isaiah 57:20)
Therefore a wicked man does not, and cannot, keep the Sabbath. It is only the righteous, who are righteous because they are resting in the Lord, that keep the Sabbath. "Well, ought not a person to rest in the Lord all the time?"
Certainly he ought. "Is there any day when a man should not be righteous? Can a man be a Christian if he does not rest in the Lord every day?"
Most certainly not; we are to believe all the time, and so to rest in Christ--in His finished work--all the time, every day in the week, and every hour in the day. "Then is not every day the Sabbath day?"
Not by any means. "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God." (Exodus 20:10)
That is, "the day of the Sabbath." We are always to rest in the Lord; but the seventh day, the Sabbath day, is the sign of that rest. It is the sign that we know God; and the knowledge of God is rest.
Now while it is a deplorable fact that there are many people who have the sign without the substance, that is no reason why those who have the substance should throw away the sign. Indeed, the idea that sanctified people are above and beyond the keeping of a definite rest day, is most illogical. As a matter of fact, nobody but a sanctified person does, or can, or ever did, keep the Sabbath of the Lord; it is the person who does not trust the Lord who ought not to exhibit the sign of rest in the Lord.
The seventh-day rest by a man who does not know the Lord, is meaningless; if he does not intend to give himself wholly to the Lord, to rest wholly in Him, he ought not to take in the sign; but the better way to do would be to make his practice conform to his profession: to secure the substance and to keep the sign. We are to keep the Sabbath, not in order to be righteous, but as the sign that we trust in God for righteousness.
What about the statement that we ought to be doing the Lord's work all the time, and that therefore there can be no difference in days; that one day is no more a rest day than any other? The answer to this is found in the example of God himself. "In six days God 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 20:11)
It is self-evident that God was doing nothing but the Lord's work in the six days of creation; nevertheless He rested on the seventh day. Then it is plain that resting on the Sabbath day is for those who, even in doing their own work on the six working days, are doing only the Lord's work, since they are the Lord's.
Just a few words to call attention to the relation between the Sabbath and the cross. Note the following plain statements of truth.
1. The Sabbath is the sign of work finished and perfect. It is the sign of a new creation; for it was when the heavens and the earth were finished, and "God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good," (Genesis 1:31) that God rested on the seventh day. He rested because His work, which was perfect, was finished.
2. It is in the cross that we find the new creation--God's finished and perfect work. "If any man be in Christ, there is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new; and all things are of God." (2 Corinthians 5:17-18) The cross brings us back to the beginning,--into Christ, who is the beginning.
3. Therefore the Sabbath,--the seventh day, in which God rested from all His works,--is the sign of the cross.
Not how little, but how much, is to be the Christian's enquiry. "Much more" is the motto. (Romans 5:9,10,15,17,20) He is always to be seeking to develop and expand, not to contract. But new lessons in the school of Christ do not necessitate the unlearning of what we have already passed over in the same school. Growth in grace does not imply the rejection of that which has already been gained. The greater includes the less, and cannot be had without it.
So while "the law is spiritual," (Romans 7:14) and no form is of any value without the Spirit, it is impossible to keep the spirit of the law and to repudiate the letter of it. Thus, "Love is the fulfilling of the law, ... for he that loves another has fulfilled the law;" (Romans 13:10,8) but it is impossible for a man to love his neighbor, and at the same time to rob and murder him. Jesus said, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20)
To exceed means to go as far, and farther; to have as much, and more. The scribes and Pharisees were very scrupulous about observing the outward form of the law, but had not the Spirit of Christ, which is the living law. Therefore if our righteousness exceeds theirs, it must include both the form and the spirit of knowledge and truth.
And now I may, before closing, call your attention to how really the Sabbath is connected with the cross. You find it actually so in your case. You are out of work; you could easily get employment if you would give up the Sabbath; and your friends and acquaintances doubtless think you are foolish and fanatical. You have found that religion does actually involve the cross; it separates you wholly from the world. Well, why should it not? Why should the native of India or China alone suffer hardship for the sake of Christ, and the Englishman expect to undergo no inconvenience on becoming a Christian? Is not this the Christian's motto: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world?" (Galatians 6:14)
Do you not now see that you are being tested as to whether you do really trust the Lord or not? we agree that there is no Christianity without resting in the Lord; and that means absolute trust in Him for support; but if you never have any trial, how will it appear that you do really trust Him? How can it ever be known that there is any meaning to you in the petition, "Give us this day our daily bread," (Matthew 6:11) if you always have supplies enough on hand for a week or a month? You say that you trust the Lord to save you, soul and body, and to keep you safe to all eternity; surely, then, you can trust Him to keep your body alive in this present time, while you are strictly conforming to His Word.
The Sabbath test has demonstrated in the case of thousands of professed Christians that they dared not trust the Lord where they could see no prospect of life. It has shown that they were not really children of Abraham, "Who against hope believed in hope." (Romans 4:18)
I trust that in your case it may prove that you are "strong in faith, giving glory to God." (Romans 4:20) "None of us lives to himself." (Romans 14:7)
We sing, "What is my being but for Thee?" [Philip Doddridge, Hymn: My Gracious Lord, I Own Thy Right "The Service of Christ a Delight," or "Living to Serve the Cause of Christ"] and yet are apt to act as though we lived only for ourselves. We have our being because of God's good pleasure, and: "[He] has pleasure in the prosperity of His servants." (Psalm 35:27)
We may be sure that, however sorely we may be tried, if we are serving the Lord He will not allow us to die because of our faithfulness to Him, [except] our death would be to His glory in the salvation of souls; and to die in God's service is better than to live in rejection of it.
Do not get the idea that the seventh day rest is simply a sign, apart from the substance, and that the complete substance may be had without this sign. In God's house nothing is for mere show, but every word or sign carries with it the thing signified. "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord." (Exodus 20:10)
It is the Lord's rest. We may not understand how it can be, but nevertheless it is a truth, that the seventh day itself carries with it a blessing that no other day can give; and the blessing can be realized only by faith. "[God] spoke in one place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works. And in another place, [of those who did not believe, (Hebrews 3:18-19)] They shall not enter into my rest." (Hebrews 4:4-5)
This shows that God's rest is the seventh day; not that we are to rest in Him in that 24-hour period only, but that the understanding and acceptance of what it means includes the receiving of all that He is and has for us. God says, "I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." (Ezekiel 20:12)
Thus let this assurance be your confidence: "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure; nor speaking your own words: Then shall you delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." (Isaiah 58:13-14)--Present Truth, January 15, 1903.