I desire to do the will of the Lord. How can I tell which day I should keep? If I can be convinced that I am in the wrong, at any cost I'll adopt the other day.
We are sure that there are hundreds of other people who will see this paper, who are in the same condition, and therefore we write for the benefit of them all. There are very many who desire to do the will of the Lord in the matter of Sabbath observance as well as in other things, but who are yet in doubt as to what that will is. We ask such to take up with us a brief study of the subject.
The Source of Authority
When we know where we may find an answer to a question, it is half answered. For our part, we accept the Bible as the final authority in all matters pertaining to our duty to God and to men. If our inquiring friends accept the same standard, we shall have little trouble in arriving at a solution of the difficulty. The Psalmist says, "Your Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalm 119:105)
Therefore we must expect it to shed light upon this question. Again we read, "Through your precepts I get understanding." (Psalm 119:104)
Therefore, if we study the precepts of the word of God, we shall understand this matter, as well as others. But in studying those precepts, we must be sure to listen to the voice of the Lord alone, and must avoid listening to the constructions of man, our own included. Again we read the words of the same psalm, "Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against You." (Psalm 119:11)
Then if we have that Word not simply in our minds, but in our very lives, we shall be kept from all sin. On the contrary, if that Word does not control our lives, we shall be sure to sin. The Apostle Paul wrote, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Therefore if we follow the Scriptures, we shall do everything that is necessary to be accounted perfect before God. No human addition is needed. But no word of God must be neglected, for man cannot live except "by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4)
With these assurances as to the authority of the Word of God, let us begin our brief search.
In the Beginning
In the beginning is the place where we ought to begin. We read that "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1)
The remainder of the chapter gives the work of each day of creation, and at the close we are told that: "God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." (Genesis 1:31)
Then the record continues: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." (Genesis 2:1-3)
Here we have the record of the institution of the Sabbath. The first Sabbath was the seventh day of the first week of time. "The seventh day," not merely a seventh part of time, was blessed and sanctified, because it was the day of the Lord's rest. To sanctify a thing is to set apart that thing as sacred to a certain purpose. (See the record concerning Mount Sinai and the cities of refuge, in Exodus 19:12,23; Joshua 20:7-9, and margin of verse 7) Therefore the sanctification of the seventh day of the week by the Lord in the beginning, was the appointment of it as the sacred rest day for all mankind. That it was for all mankind is shown by the fact that it was given to Adam, the head of the human race; and to this agree the words of the Lord Jesus, "The Sabbath was made for man." (Mark 2:27)
The record of creation gives the origin of the week. There are seven days in the week, and the Sabbath, the last of the seven, rules it. The measurement of time by weeks is as old as creation, and has continued ever since, and will continue to all eternity, for the Sabbath is to endure for ever. (See Isaiah 66:22) We know also that "Whatsoever God does, it shall be for ever." (Ecclesiastes 3:14)
In the Wilderness
When the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt it was "That they might observe His statutes, and keep His laws." (Psalm 105:45)
Accordingly, when they murmured on account of hunger in the wilderness, a few weeks after leaving Egypt, the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and, gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no." (Exodus 16:4)
Read the entire chapter, and you will find that the people were to go out each morning and gather manna for that day. They were to leave none of it until the next morning, for if they did it would breed worms, and be offensive. On the sixth day of the week, however, they were to gather twice as much as on other days, and the extra portion was to be kept over for the next day's use, since on the seventh day of the week none fell. And although it was ordinarily impossible to keep the manna overnight, without its utterly spoiling, no such trouble was experienced on the seventh day, for on that day they found that what remained over from the preceding day was sweet and good for food. "And it came to pass that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse you to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore He gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days." (Exodus 16:27-29)
From this it appears that the Sabbath is the test of whether or not men will keep the law of God. Whoever will keep the Sabbath in spirit and in truth will keep the whole law of God. Whoever refuses to keep the Sabbath of the Lord, thereby shows that his apparent obedience to any other requirement of the Lord is not out of reverence to God, but because of some selfish motive.
At Sinai
Not many days after the first appearance of the manna, the children of Israel came to Sinai. There, after suitable preparation had been made, the Lord came down in awful majesty, and spoke His law "out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice," (Deuteronomy 5:22) which shook the earth. (Hebrews 12:26) On that occasion the Lord spoke the Ten Commandments, and nothing more, and He wrote them with His own finger on two tables of stone. (See Deuteronomy 5:22; 10:4) The fourth commandment reads thus: "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)
Here we find that the facts of creation are the foundation of the Sabbath. Therefore we know that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is identical with the Sabbath that was sanctified at the close of the first week of time.
A Definite Day
Moreover we know that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is a fixed definite day of the week. How do we know this? We know it first from the fact that the giving of the commandment followed very closely after the giving of the manna, by which the Sabbath was shown to be unalterably fixed to a certain day of the week,-the seventh day. By a series of miracles repeated every week for forty years, the Lord showed that His Sabbath was a definite day of the week, and that it was to be honored above all the other days of the week. During that forty years it was impossible for anyone to be in the slightest doubt as to which day of the week was the Sabbath. It was the day of the week that was thus fixed and guarded on all sides, that God from Sinai declared to be His Sabbath.
Further, we know from the record of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, that the commandment requires the observance of a certain day of the week,--the seventh,--and not an indefinite seventh part of time. In the gospel of Luke we are told that the day of the crucifixion "was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with Him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how His body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." (Luke 23:54-56) "Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared." (Luke 24:1)
From the record in Mark we learn that the women came "when the Sabbath was past." (Mark 16:1)
But they came on "the first day of the week." Then it is evident that the Sabbath was the day before. But since there are but seven days in the week, it follows that the day before the first day of the week must necessarily be the seventh day of the week. Therefore the day on which they rested was the seventh day of the week. But they rested "the Sabbath day according to the commandment." (Luke 23:56)
Therefore it is as certain as inspired Scripture can make it that the Sabbath day according to the commandment is the seventh day of the week.
The Sabbath Unchanged
The Scriptures that we have already studied sufficiently point out the true Sabbath of the Lord. There are therefore only two questions that can by any possibility cause any doubt in the minds of any, and they are,
1. Has the Sabbath been changed? and
2. Can we be certain which day is the seventh day of the week, and thus the Sabbath of the commandment?
These questions are not at all difficult, and may be answered in a few words.
As to the first, we have the words of our Lord Jesus Christ as He sat upon the mountain teaching the people the great principles of His kingdom. "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 man so, he 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)
This of itself should be sufficient to settle the question as to the possibility of any change in the Sabbath. But Christ continued: "For I say unto you, that 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)
The scribes and Pharisees were very scrupulous in the outward observance of the Ten Commandments, but they cared nothing for having them in their hearts. Outwardly, however, they kept the Ten Commandments, just as they are written, very strictly. Jesus did not reprove them for their observance of the letter of the law, but for not keeping it in spirit and in truth. He did not warn His disciples against observing the law, but warned them that they must observe it a great deal better than the scribes and Pharisees did. Our righteousness must "exceed" theirs. That is, it must go beyond theirs. It must include not only the observance of the letter of the law, but also the keeping of the spirit and life of the law, as it is in Christ.
When the Lord has once spoken, a thousand repetitions would not make what He says any more sure. Therefore we can accept it as a settled fact that the law is in force today just the same as when it was spoken from Sinai and written by the finger of God. Not a letter has been changed.
The Day Not Lost
The question, if we can be sure that the day commonly known as Saturday is indeed the real seventh day of the week, counting from the creation of the world, seems to trouble some. But it need not, since nothing is more impossible than that the reckonings of the days of the week should have been lost.
Single individuals have been known to make a mistake in their reckoning, but they have soon been set right by their neighbors. But that an entire neighborhood should on the very same day make a mistake as to the day of the week, and that all should make the same mistake, is a thing beyond the fancy of the wildest imagination.
But if the present seventh day of the week is not the same as the seventh day of creation, then that mistake must at some time have been made not only by one neighborhood, but by the whole world. If there were a disagreement in different parts of the world as to the days of the week, then there would be a certainty that the reckoning had been lost by some people, and there would be room for question as to which party was correct.
But since there is no disagreement, the only ground on which it can be supposed that the reckoning of the day has been lost, is that on some Wednesday morning, for instance, all the inhabitants of the world awoke with the notion that it was Thursday. Of course the supposition is most absurd, but it is no more absurd than is the supposition that the true reckoning of the days of the week has been lost.
As we have seen, the seventh day at Sinai is identical with that of creation. God's own Word establishes that. Hundreds of years afterwards the children of Israel were given into the hands of the Babylonians because they had persistently violated the Sabbath, (Leviticus 26:33-35) thus showing that it had not been lost; for God would not have punished them for a mistake made through ignorance.
When the Lord lived on the earth He recognized as the Sabbath the day which the Jews were keeping; so we know that the count had been kept straight up to eighteen hundred years ago. Ever since the time of Christ the Jews and many Christians have kept the Sabbath day according to the commandment, while from within two or three hundred years of that time the majority of professed Christians have observed the first day of the week.
The Jews were soon dispersed, and have ever since been found in every part of the world, and observers of the first day are also as widely scattered; yet everywhere we find the Jews agreed as to which day is the Sabbath, and nowhere have observers of the first day of the week been found trying to enforce the observance of the seventh day under the supposition that it was Sunday.
We may rest assured that the day has not been lost.
The Example of Christ
"He that says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked." (1 John 2:6)
No one has yet been found with the hardihood to assert, in the face of the Gospel record, that Jesus ever observed any other day than the seventh,--the same day that the Jews observed. It is true that the Pharisees did accuse the Lord of breaking the Sabbath day, because He did not heed their false notions; but He demonstrated His innocence, and in so doing incidentally showed that the seventh day is the true and only Lord's day.
When Jesus and His disciples were going through the fields on the Sabbath day, the Pharisees accused the disciples of breaking the Sabbath, because they plucked and ate the corn as they walked. That day was the seventh day of the week, for it was the day which the Jews regarded as the Sabbath. The seventh day of the week, and no other, was the day under consideration. And it was of that very day that Jesus said, "The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." (Mark 2:28)
It is most certain, therefore, that Jesus called the seventh day of the week the Sabbath, and himself its Lord, thus demonstrating that the seventh day is the Lord's day. It was the custom of Jesus to observe the Sabbath day, and to meet on that day for worship with those who observed it. (Luke 4:16) Here is an example for us to follow.
The Testimony of the Spirit
The use of the word "Sabbath" in the New Testament is incidentally one of the strongest evidences that there has been no change in the Sabbath, and that Christians shall observe no other day as the Sabbath than the seventh day of the week. The Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles were written many years after the events that they record took place. Yet not only is there no hint given that the Sabbath was to be different from what it had been from the beginning, but the seventh day is spoken of as "the Sabbath."
There is no possibility for doubt that the day called "Sabbath" throughout the New Testament is the seventh day of the week. But it is never referred to as "the former Sabbath," or "the Jewish Sabbath," or anything of the kind. It is called the Sabbath just as though the writers had never heard of any change, as indeed they had not.
But the Holy Spirit is the Author and Inspirer of the New Testament. The language of the Gospels is the language of the Spirit of God. One great work of the Spirit of truth is to lead into all truth. Therefore we are bound to accept as truth whatever the Spirit says. Since the Spirit of God calls the seventh day the Sabbath, that is evidence that we are to do the same.
In the book of Revelation we are frequently exhorted, "He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches." (Revelation 2:7; 2:11,17,29; 3:6,13,22)
Shall we not demonstrate that we have ears?
A New Creation
Some people object to the fact that so much is made of the particular day of the Sabbath. They say that the Sabbath is spiritual. So it is, and it should never be considered as anything else. But all must see that we must have a Sabbath day before we can consider its spirituality. "Spiritual" does not mean unreal or non-existent. What use to talk about the spirituality of a thing that has to us no definite existence?
If our friends did not raise the question as to the existence of the Sabbath, there would be no need to talk about it, but let no one think that in dwelling upon the definiteness of the Sabbath day we are unmindful of its spirituality. We may abstain from labor on the very day of the Sabbath, and yet not keep the Sabbath holy unto the Lord. But that does not warrant us in ignoring the day of the Sabbath. We may abstain from taking human life, and still not keep the sixth commandment; but that does not warrant us in killing men.
In the beginning God sanctified the Sabbath as a memorial of His creative power. He set it apart for the use of men, in order to remind them of His power to sanctify them. (See Ezekiel 20:12) The Sabbath, which calls attention to the creation, and thus shows God's eternal power, (Romans 1:20) makes known the sanctifying power of God, since sanctification is the exercise of creative power. "Create in me a clean heart." (Psalm 51:10) "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Or, as the Revision has it, "there is a new creation." (2 Corinthians 5:17,RV)
Christ is Creator and He created all things. (Colossians 1:16) The Sabbath comes to us from Eden, when the earth was new, to remind us of the power of God in Christ to make us new creatures, as perfect as man and all things were in the beginning. And this will be its office throughout eternity; for the Lord says of the time when He shall have made all things new, and shall have made men also new, that they may fittingly inherit His new creation: "As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, says the Lord." (Isaiah 66:22-23)--Present Truth, April 9, 1903.