The Sabbath in the New Testament.
By John Nevins Andrews
"AND they returned and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath-day according to the commandment." Luke 23:56. This text records the most remarkable instance of sabbatic observance in the Bible. The Lord of the Sabbath had tasted death for sinful man. He had offered up his life as a sin-offering to the majesty of that law which was placed beneath the mercy-seat. The holy women followed our Lord from his crucifixion to his burial. As the preparation day was just expiring, and the Sabbath about to commence, our Lord was quickly placed in the sepulcher. Luke 23:53, 54; John 19:41, 42. But this burial did not satisfy them. They returned from the sepulcher, and prepared spices and ointments for the body of Christ. But before they could use them, the Sabbath commenced. Now observe their action. It was easy to plead that the Sabbath was not so important as the Lord of the Sabbath; that, though the Sabbath had arrived, the Lord of the Sabbath had still stronger claims upon them than had that institution; or, that whatever they might do in the work of anointing him would be suitable work for the Sabbath. But they did nothing of the kind. They thought the best method of honoring the Lord of the Sabbath was by properly observing the Sabbath itself. And so they laid aside their work, when that work was only acts of reverence and affection for Christ, and they rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. And Luke, writing a considerable number of years after this, inspired by the Spirit of God, places this on record as a noble act of obedience to God. This act of these godly women was in strict accord with the events of79Calvary. It was not the law that was slain by Christ, but Christ that was slain by the law. So, when the Son of God lay under the power of death, slain by that law of which the Sabbath is a tenth part, it was fitting that the arrival of the Sabbath should be recognized, even though it was the body of the crucified Redeemer that was the occasion of the labor; and that the law of God should be then and there honored in the observance of the Sabbath-day according to the commandment. The Sabbath of the Lord was honored by the life of Christ, but still more manifestly in his death and burial. In his teaching and his example he took the utmost pains to establish the fact that the Sabbath was a suitable day for acts of mercy; and that such deeds, performed even in behalf of dumb beasts, were lawful upon the Sabbath. But now observe the lesson at the funeral of the Son of God. His teaching concerning merciful works on the Sabbath was absolutely demanded by the prevalent errors of the Jewish doctors; but there was danger that this might be perverted by that class of teachers who go to the opposite extreme, and deny the sanctity of the rest-day of the Lord. The record of his burial teaches a lesson as expressive of the sacredness of the Sabbath, as does the crucifixion, of the sacredness of the law. When Christ stood with our sins upon him, either the law must give way or Christ must die. We know very well that the law did not give way. Now, at the burial of Christ, the Sabbath of the Lord stands directly in the way of certain acts of love and tenderness in behalf of the dead body of God's dear Son! Observe, these were not acts of mercy, like those which our Lord approved in behalf of suffering man and animals, for the dear Saviour was sleeping in death; nor were they acts of necessity to give him a decent burial, for this, though done in haste, had been performed tenderly and with great expense, by Joseph of Arimathea, and by Nicodemus. He was wrapped in fine linen, and with a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about one hundred pounds weight; and a linen napkin was bound about his head. John 19:38-40; 20:5-7; Matt. 27:59, 60; Mark 15:45, 46; Luke 23:53. But these faithful women, out of tender regard for the honor of Christ, desired to prepare his body more perfectly for its rest in the grave. In the midst of their preparation, the hour of the Sabbath was marked by the going down of the sun. And observe the expressive language of the Holy Spirit: they "rested the Sabbath-day according to the commandment." Here is a remarkable exposition of the fourth commandment. If we place this in connection with our Lord's teaching and example relative to the Sabbath, we have the following facts:- 1. It is lawful, i. e., according to the law, to do well on the Sabbath. But the deeds to be wrought are acts of worship toward God the Creator, like assembling at the house of God and reading and expounding his word, or listening to it with serious attention; and also the work of the priests, or acts of mercy in behalf of the distressed, whether they be men or animals. Luke 4:15, 16; Matt. 12:10-12; Luke 14:1-5. 2. But it is not lawful, i. e., not "according to the commandment," to perform unnecessarily even such work as the anointing of the body of Christ, that he might in the most honorable manner be yielded up to the power of death. The Sabbath is a memorial of God's rest from the work of creation. The Lord of the Sabbath is best honored by obedience on our part to the commandment which requires us to rest in memory of God's rest. The crucifixion of Christ attested the majesty of the law; the resurrection of Christ attested his personal innocence. Gal. 3:13; Rom. 4:25. The law survived the death of him who became its sin-offering. The fourth commandment is solemnly recognized the day after the crucifixion, and its sacredness is revealed to us by the most remarkable example of its observance in the whole Bible. Nor is this to be met by saying that this was simply the act of a few women, and therefore of no real consequence. Even were this all that there is to it, the fact that these women were most intimately acquainted with the teaching of Christ proves that Jesus had never given them to understand that the Sabbath was a day of little consequence. But it is not the mere act of these pious women. Luke, writing by inspiration, places their example on record as something done in obedience to the fourth commandment. And certainly nothing could so attest the sacredness of the sabbatic institution as does this peculiar act of obedience, indorsed as it is by the Spirit of inspiration, many years after the resurrection of Christ. One other truth should be brought out from this text. Here it is: the women who thus observed the Sabbath kept the very day which God ordained in Eden. For we learn that they kept the day ordained in the commandment, and that the following day was the first day of the week. Luke 23:56; 24:1; Mark 16:1, 2. They did, therefore, in keeping the Seventh day of the fourth commandment, observe by that very act the seventh day of the New-Testament week. But the day ordained in the fourth commandment is the day hallowed in memory of the Creator's rest. Ex. 20:11. And that we may not be in doubt that this identical day was known to Israel at the time of the giving of the law, the providence of God in sending the manna six days and then withholding it on the seventh, and the testimony of God himself that the manna ceased on that day because it was the Sabbath, both bear an unequivocal witness, and clearly settle this important point. Ex. 16:22, 23. And thus we may state the fact that the day following the crucifixion of Christ, his most faithful disciples observed the day ordained in the commandment, which day the commandment itself identifies as the one hallowed by God in Eden. It is certain, therefore, that the Spirit of God bears testimony to the knowledge of the true seventh day at the time of Christ's crucifixion, even as the providence of God bears to the knowledge of that day at the fall of the manna. In our Lord's last discourse from the mount of Olives, in which he gives his disciples an outline of events from that time to the day of Judgment, he brings in the Sabbath in a manner to commend it to their peculiar care. Thus he says:- "When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth let him understand), then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains; let him which is on the house-top not come down to take anything out of his house; neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath-day." Matt. 24:15-20. Our Lord did thus make the Sabbath a subject of prayer on the part of his people, for the period of nearly forty years after his crucifixion. Whenever the people of God in the land of Judea, during that whole time, should bow before God in prayer, they would be reminded of the Sabbath. It is to be observed that our Lord does not say, "Let them which be in Jerusalem flee into the mountains," but, "Let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains." This shows how great an error those commit who assert that our Lord taught his disciples this prayer because that the gates of Jerusalem would be shut on that day, rendering their flight impossible. The words of Christ relate to the whole land of Judea. So it is very evident that the shutting of the gates of Jerusalem could affect, at most, only a very small number of the people of God who were concerned in this flight. But let us consider the case of those who were actually in Jerusalem at that time. Josephus, in the second book of the Jewish war, chapter 19, informs us of the fulfillment of the sign given by our Lord. Cestius, the Roman commander, encompassed the city with his army, and "had he continued the siege a little longer, had certainly taken the city." But "he recalled his soldiers from the place, and . . . retired from the city, without any reason in the world." Here was our Lord's promised token by which the disciples were to understand that the moment of flight had arrived. And how evident that it was the hand of God which caused the Roman general, as soon as he had given the Saviour's token, to withdraw from the city "without any reason in the world." And now the disciples must flee without a moment's delay. Let us admire the providence of God which opened their way in manifest answer to prayer. First, we have the case of those disciples who were in the country of Judea. Josephus informs us that at this time, when Cestius marched upon Jerusalem, he found the country destitute of men; because, as the law of Moses required, all the males were assembled at Jerusalem to keep the feast of tabernacles. Deut. 16:16. Thus it is manifest that the people of God throughout the land of Palestine, had no Jewish enemies to hinder their flight, even had it been upon the Sabbath. And now let us see how it was with those who were in the city of Jerusalem itself. We find in the statement of Josephus the most convincing proof that, had they had occasion to flee upon the Sabbath, the circumstances were such that they might have done it on that day with as little hindrance from the Jews as could their brethren in the country. Josephus gives us the remarkable information that, when Cestius was some six or seven miles distant from Jerusalem, on his way to attack the city, the Jews went out on the seventh day to fight him, "although the Sabbath was the day to which they had the greatest regard." Certainly, the "multitude went in a sudden and disorderly manner to the fight," had they been disposed so to do on that Sabbath-day. It was but a few days after this that Cestius, having fairly encompassed the city, and thus given the Saviour's token for his disciples' flight, did, "without any reason in the world," raise the siege and suddenly retreat. And we are told by Josephus (Jewish War, book 2, chapter 19) that no sooner did the Jews perceive this unexpected retreat of the Roman army than they ran after them, "and destroyed a considerable number of both their horsemen and footmen." This was the moment of flight for the disciples. It is perfectly evident that, had this retreat of Cestius occurred on the Sabbath, the Jews would have pursued them on that day; for only a few days before, they went out fifty furlongs, to attack him on the Sabbath. When the gates of the city were opened for the disorderly mob to rush forth after the army of Cestius, it was the hour for the disciples to flee. They could then do it unperceived by the wicked men of their nation, who now neither feared God, nor regarded man. It is, therefore, perfectly evident that had this occurred upon the Sabbath, they could have fled on that day, even from Jerusalem itself. These facts do plainly prove that the interpretation given to our Lord's command respecting prayer that their flight should not happen upon the Sabbath, to the effect, that this was because their enemies would not allow them to flee that day, is entirely false. Had that been the sense of his words, it would have been much more in accordance with the course of things that actually transpired, had he taught them to pray that their enemies might not be so situated as to hinder their flight on that day. For the circumstances show that they were not, and that, if they had no conscientious regard for the day themselves, they could have fled on that day without difficulty. It follows, therefore, that the Lord of the Sabbath uttered these words out of sacred regard for the Sabbath, even as he joined with it in the same prayer, out of tender regard to his people, the petition that their flight should not be in the winter. And joining these in a prayer that they used some forty years, it taught them a lesson they could never forget. His tender love for his people could not but kindle in their breasts the same love for him, their Saviour and Redeemer; and his sacred regard for the rest day hallowed in Eden to commemorate the work of the Creator, could not but inspire in the minds of his people the same reverence for that day. Here, then, is the Sabbath of the Lord sacredly regarded by the Son of God and by his disciples as late as the destruction of Jerusalem, in the year of our Lord 70. And thus we have in the New Testament, not only a distinct recognition of the fourth commandment after the crucifixion of Jesus, and with it such a lesson respecting its sacredness, as we cannot well forget, but we have also a precept from Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath, that does in a most effectual manner, show how sacred was this day in his esteem. He had bidden his disciples flee for life the moment his signal should appear, and lest that flight should happen upon the Sabbath, he taught them to offer prayer to God for the interposition of his providence to prevent it. And, certainly, this forty years' lesson was admirably adapted to impress the sacredness of the day upon the first generation of the Christian church, and to transmit that sacredness to the latest age of that church. J. N. A.