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A Particular God

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 16, 1915

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 92, No. 46.

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A Particular God

By O. J. CALKINS

O. J. CALKINS
Is God particular which day one observes as the Sabbath? That it “makes no difference which day of the week one observes as the Sabbath” is the assurance so frequently given by both clergy and laity. Probably many honest people advance this as a reason for Sunday keeping, and many more advance it as an excuse for not observing the Sabbath of the Lord. When other excuses fail to satisfy the quickened conscience, this man-invented theory seems to act like a hypnotic, and lulls again the awakened soul into carnal security. In other words, they claim God is not particular and exacting in his demands, and that he overlooks implicit obedience to his commands, giving man a little leeway in the matter of following the plan his Omniscience has adopted for his creatures.
Some have supposed that God overlooks a slight deviation of his commands, providing some imaginary good could be accomplished. That may have been Saul’s motive in not obeying the command of the Lord to destroy the Amalekites, their flocks and herds, and spare none. The record says that he “spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord.” 1 Samuel 15. He was told, however, that “to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams,” and “because thou rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” A similar motive may have actuated Uzzah when he put forth his hand to hold the ark when the oxen stumbled on the threshing floor of Chidon (1 Chron. 13:9) although all Israel well knew that the ark of the Lord was sacred and that none but the priests were permitted to touch it. Yes, God is particular, and by that act, Uzzah, regardless of a possible motive of doing good, forfeited his life.
Thousands are excusing themselves from observing the seventh-day Sabbath because it is not customary and convenient, so they have accepted a substitute, congratulating themselves that it answers the purpose, and that “it makes no difference;” yet Protestants assert that among the great spiritual crimes of the Papacy, the most pronounced are her flagrant acts of substitution. For instance, justification by works for justification by faith; forms and ceremonies for the graces of the Spirit; and above all, mortal man is substituted in the place of God. 2 Thess. 2:4. The first recorded attempt at substitution is that of Cain, when he, being a tiller of the ground, found it convenient to bring the fruit of the ground as an offering unto the Lord; but the record says that God had not respect unto Cain’s offering. Undoubtedly the Creator had instructed man after the fall what offering was acceptable to him, but Cain may have reasoned that God is not particular, and “it makes no difference.” There was nothing in the offering of the vegetable kingdom to typify the offering of the blood of Christ on Calvary, neither is there anything in Sunday observance to memorialize a completed creation.
Suppose Eve had suggested to Adam that, because the tree of knowledge of good and evil was more convenient of access, God would permit them to substitute another tree that resembled it. If the Creator would have justified them in such an act, then I can see how he could justify those who substitute for the Sabbath another day that he never blessed, sanctified, nor hallowed. So-called Sunday sacredness was not brought about by mere chance. It is the legitimate child of paganism, and came into the Christian world by adoption; and, like sin, it has no excuse for existence. Its legitimate ancestor, paganism, and foster parent, the Papacy, have both a very questionable spiritual reputation. Paganism is the hugest false system of theology Satan ever devised, and the Word of the Lord designates the Papacy as “the man of sin, . . . the son of perdition,” and its unwarranted power as presumptuous, blasphemous, and the abomination of the earth. One prominent form of paganism devoted Sunday to the honor and worship of the sun. The Papacy, because of its hatred of Judaism and its solicitation of the heathen world, soon found it convenient to adopt it and finally enforced it by law.
In view of this “authority” for Sunday sacredness, let us notice another historical fact as recorded in Scripture. The Lord directed that the tent of the tabernacle should be placed at the west end of the court inclosure, so that when Israel worshiped before the sanctuary they would face the west instead of the east, as the idolatrous heathen did when worshiping the rising sun. If God was then so particular that his people should not even simulate the heathen in their worship, is it a great stretch of logic to suppose that he is not now pleased to have his professed followers substitute another day for the only day that truly commemorates his power to create and his power to save?
It is said that any day of the week is the seventh day; that it depends upon where one begins to count. A true child of God will count as his great Teacher directs, and there is no question as to the method the Author outlined in his Book. Suppose you hold an interest-bearing note for ten thousand dollars due the thirtieth of the month. Would it make any difference to you if the maker of the note called any day the thirtieth? But, it is argued, the Lord specifies only a seventh part of time as holy. Very well, then I could find it possible to observe a different day each week, according to my personal convenience. No, you say, the rest days must come in their regular order; and so they must, for the weekly Sabbath is not a question of the seventh part of time but of the order of days, and in that way only can the finality of creation be memorialized; for God began his work on the first day and ended it on the seventh. The completed creation cannot be celebrated the day it was begun.
If in your business dealings with a very dear friend there arose some doubt as to the exact amount of your indebtedness to him, would you not cheerfully give him the benefit of the doubt? Now if after what you have read there is still a shadow of a doubt as to your obligation to your Creator in this matter, as one professing love for God, to whom will you give the benefit of the doubt? “If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments.” “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
Moore, Mont.