p. 187 | The Sabbath by E. Jones

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 13, 1866

The Sabbath.

By E. Jones

THE Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the Sabbath, still. This proposition is founded upon the following testimony of scripture. In Exodus xx, we learn, by expressions that cannot be misunderstood, that the seventh day is the Sabbath; and it is not one day in seven, neither one seventh part of time; but the seventh day. Verse 11 gives the reasons why the seventh day is sanctified and set apart for rest. It is because the great Jehovah rested upon it. He labored six successive days; hence he labored the first of the seven. After all the work of creation was finished, he set apart this rest-day as a memorial of what he had done. This memorial was for the benefit of man, to the end that man should not forget the holy and mighty Being who created him.

If mankind should forget the Sabbath-day, how easy it would be to forget, and how soon they would forget, the Creator of the world. Was there any one who acted in conjunction with the Father in the creation of the world? Says John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” John i, 1–3. Here we learn that Jesus Christ was in the beginning with God, and there was nothing made without him. Even in the last great crowning work on the sixth day, the Father said to the Son, Let us make man in our image. We see by this language that the Son acted in conjunction with the Father in the creation of all things. After this he with the Father, passed through the seventh day’s rest, and then he, with the Father, set apart this seventh day of rest for the benefit of man, and for the purpose of being remembered by him throughout all coming ages as the Creator of the universe.

And since the Son of God, who was in the beginning with the Father, must have known all about the Sabbath, let us reverently listen to what he says: “And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark ii, 27. Man was created first, then the Sabbath was instituted by the Father in conjunction with the Son; and hence the propriety of the language of the 28th verse: “Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” The Sabbath then is the Lord’s day. He claims one day in seven; and he claims none but the seventh. Let us now go to the Isle of Patmos. Here we find that devoted disciple in vision. He says, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” Which day is the Lord’s? We turn back to Exodus xx, 10, where we are told that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. John, then, was in the Spirit on that most appropriate of all days, the quiet, holy Sabbath.

There is a marked distinction kept up through all the Gospels between the Sabbath and other days of the week. We find this in Matt. xxviii, 1: “In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, &c. Again, in Mark xvi, 1–2; also in Luke xxiii, 56: “And they returned and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke xxiv, 1: “Now upon the first day of the week,” they commence their labors by bringing the spices and ointments. They made the first day a laboring day, while upon the seventh they rested. It was God’s command that they should do so. Jesus came not to do his own will, but the will of Him that sent him. It was his mission to make known the will of the Father; and James perfectly understood the teaching of Christ when he said, This is the love of God that ye keep his commandments. And he that says he loves God and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him.

Does Jesus say anything in commendation of those who are trying to do the will of God? Matt. xii, 50: “For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in Heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. Reader, do you wish to obtain a relationship with Jesus Christ? You may do so by doing the will of God, in the keeping of his commandments, and the faith of Jesus. This will place us in a state of fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

E. JONES.

Dryden, Mich.