The Sabbath the Seal of God by I. A. CRANE

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 4, 1915

The Sabbath the Seal of God

By I. A. CRANE

I. A. CRANE

The Sabbath is a sign by which we may know the only true God. See Eze. 20: 20. The gods that have not made heaven and earth are false gods. The only true God is the Creator of heaven and earth. Jer. 10: 10-12. The Sabbath is the seal of the law, the Sabbath command being the only command in the law which makes known the Author of the law, the true God, the Creator of “heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.” Ex. 20: 8-11.

We learn from Isa. 43: 1, 3, 11, that he who “formed” and “created” is the only “Saviour.” Paul says that Christ, “through whom we have redemption,” is the one who created all things “that are in heaven, and that are in earth.” Col. 1: 14-17. The same One who created all, is also said to be the “head of the body, the church,” and the one upon whom it “pleased the Father” to bestow the fullness of power. Verses 18, 19; Matt. 28: 18.

When we know Jesus as the Mighty One who spoke the worlds into existence, then we can trust in his power to save. We keep this power in mind when we remember the Sabbath day. But it is not only a sign, or seal, of a finished work in creation; it is a sign of a finished work in redemption,—a sign “that I am the Lord that doth sanctify [or save] you.” Ex. 31: 13; Eze. 20: 12. In keeping the Sabbath, the memorial of his power to create, we know him as Creator; and can never give honor to false gods. In being able to enter into rest on the Sabbath we must know him as a Saviour; for how clearly he tells us that no one can rest on the Sabbath who has not been saved from the bondage of sin. “The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest. There is no place, saith my God, to the wicked.” Isa. 57: 20, 21. A slave to sin will never be allowed to rest from sin so long as his master rules within him. One who is guilty of sin cannot rest at any time, much less is he able to enter into the rest of the holy Sabbath. The peaceful, quiet rest of the Sabbath belongs only to those who find rest and deliverance in Christ. We are told that God's seal will never be placed upon an impure man or woman, that “no one can share the refreshing who has not gained the victory over pride, selfishness, love of the world, and over every wrong word and action.” In harmony with this thought we know that no one can keep the Sabbath in its fullest sense while breaking any other commandment, or while in any way under condemnation. The transgression of any one of God's commands, at any time during the week, makes the transgressor wholly unfit to keep the Sabbath when its sacred hours arrive. To be able to keep the Sabbath is indeed a sign that we have been regenerated and are now keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

The Sabbath rest is not abolished, however much Satan may declare it is and desire its abolition. It still “remains” for the people of God. Heb. 4: 9. It will be continued for a perpetual covenant from Sabbath to Sabbath in the new earth. Isa. 66: 22, 23. “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” In these closing days of probation may we seek that preparation that will fit us to receive the seal of God. The time has come for us not only to receive but to preach the Sabbath more fully.

Waurika, Okla.