Disobedience to Be Punished by M. G. HUFFMAN

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 18, 1915

Disobedience to Be Punished

By M. G. HUFFMAN

M. G. HUFFMAN

“Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.” Eccl. 8 : 11-13.

WHEREVER we present the truth in regard to the seventh-day Sabbath, and prove beyond doubt or cavil that man’s whole duty is to fear God and keep his commandments, of which the Sabbath is a very conspicuous part, we are met with the argument that God is not very particular as to what day we keep for the Sabbath, just so we keep one in seven.

If I hire a man to work for me, do I not expect that he will pay some attention to my wishes?—Most assuredly. To illustrate: I tell the man to take my carriage horse, which stands in the seventh stall, and hitch him to the spring wagon for me to take my produce to the city; but when I am ready to start, I find that the man has not obeyed my command; that instead of taking the horse out of the seventh stall as I commanded, he took one of the common everyday work horses, and that, too, out of the first stall. I ask him for an explanation why he disobeyed my command, and he answers, “I did not think that you were very particular as to what horse I took, or from what stall, just so I took a horse.” The man, thinking that I was not particular, did not obey my instructions.

“Well,” says one, “if God is particular which day we keep for the Sabbath, and how, why is it that he does not speedily execute judgment upon all who break the fourth commandment, as in the former dispensation?” That question is easily answered. In the former dispensation the Israelites had a theocratic government, under which Moses received both the civil and the ecclesiastical law direct from God, and the penalty for the transgression of either was administered speedily. God’s dealings with Israel in the former dispensation “were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures

might have hope.” Rom. 15 : 4. And they were written for our examples, that we should not “tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.” 1 Cor. 10 : 1-13.

We should always keep in mind that death is still the wages of sin. We may be emboldened to disobey the fourth commandment of God’s holy law, but we cannot annul the sentence, “The wages of sin is death.” We are free moral beings, and can do what we please. We can spurn the plain “Thus saith the Lord,” and repudiate the principles of God’s government. We can, if we choose, substitute another day for the Sabbath, thus setting aside the one the Lord made and commanded us to remember to keep holy; but we cannot repeal any part of the moral law, nor escape the punishment decreed for its violation. “We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him?” Heb. 2 : 1-3.

Every word spoken by angels in the former dispensation was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward. Hence we cannot, with impunity, break any part of God’s holy law, nor reject light when the Lord in his mercy sends it to us. “If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” Heb. 10 : 26. Again we read: “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4 : 17); “and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James 1 : 15. The law of God will constitute the rule of judgment; for we read: “If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.” James 2 : 8-12.

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Eccl. 12 : 13, 14. Christ, in speaking of the law, said that not one jot or tittle would in any wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled, and that whoever broke even the least commandment in the law would be called the least in heaven, but he who kept and taught the commandments would be called great. See Matt. 5 : 17-19.

God is now calling upon his watchmen to hold up the true Sabbath above the spurious, and call the attention of his people, who are honest and anxious to know and do his will, to the importance and significance of dropping the man-made sabbath, the first day of the week, and of accepting the true and only Sabbath that God has ever recognized, or ever will recognize, as his own. The seventh-day Sabbath constitutes the seal of God, and is a sign between man and his Creator, by which all may know him as the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent, and in knowing him is life eternal. See John 17 : 3. But disobedience will be punished.