Getting Ready for the Sabbath by T. E. Bowen

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

Getting Ready for the Sabbath

By T. E. Bowen

T. E. BOWEN

ALL down through the ages a sharp contest has centered about true Sabbath keeping. Before the question of a false day for the Sabbath was injected into the subject, the proper observance of the day, and what its desecration means, was a live question for the people of God.

When the hosts of Israel crossed the Red Sea, they were ignorant in a large degree of the sacredness of the Sabbath. These people had been slaves in Egypt. They had been made to forget God and his law and his Sabbath. The law was made in Eden and was given to man. The importance of obedience had been eclipsed, and the Sabbath especially had been disregarded in Egypt. So it was necessary for the children of Israel to be brought out of Egypt and taught the importance of honoring God by keeping his law, including the Sabbath. God, through Moses and Aaron, plainly and patiently taught them what they should do in preparing for the Sabbath, and how the day should be observed.

The Manna in the Desert, and the Sabbath

When the manna was given, a double portion fell on the sixth day. When the rulers told Moses that the people had gathered twice as much as usual, Moses said: “This is that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.” The next morning, speaking of the manna which had been kept from the day before, Moses said: “Eat that today; for today is a Sabbath unto the Lord: today ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none.” Ex. 16: 23-26

Instruction Regarding Sabbath Keeping

Moses continues: “The Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place . . . on the seventh day.” Verse 29.

Notwithstanding all this plain instruction from God, some went out into the field on the Sabbath to gather manna; but they found none.

One man thought the instruction to bake or seethe on Friday the manna for Sabbath unnecessary. In his home the food for Sabbath was not prepared on the sixth day, but was left to be prepared the next day.

A Sabbath Breaker Punished

“While the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died.” Num. 15: 32-36.

Under the theocratic form of Jewish government the punishment for Sabbath breaking was death by stoning. God made this man an object lesson. Had he not been severely punished, not only the whole congregation at that time would have had little regard for God's law and for his Sabbath, but all subsequent generations would have regarded violation of divine law a light matter. It was as much the violation of the Sabbath to gather up those sticks in defiance to what God had said, as to have gone out and worked all day before the congregation.

Getting Ready for the Sabbath Before It Comes

Our work is to close with the sixth day. We are to “remember” the Sabbath by getting ready for it before it comes. The Sabbath begins at the going down of the sun. Lev. 23: 32; Mark 1: 32. God's day begins then. What labor of our own we do after that, is a violation of the Sabbath. Our food should be prepared, our clothes should be in readiness, our baths taken, our shoes blacked, our shaving done, our fuel in readiness for use on the Sabbath— all before the setting sun. With our farm work done, our housework done, our families gathered into our homes, how appropriate to greet the Sabbath by all gathering around the family altar.

joining in songs of praise and the study of God's Word, and in humble, earnest prayer for Heaven's blessing, as we enter upon the day made holy by him who spread out the heavens and created for us our earthly home. What sight can be more pleasing to heavenly angels than this?

“Everything that can possibly be done on the six days which God has given to you, should be done. You should not rob God of one hour of holy time. Great blessings are promised to those who place a high estimate upon the Sabbath, and realize the obligations resting upon them in regard to its observance. . . .

“When the Sabbath commences, we should place a guard upon ourselves, upon our acts and our words, lest we rob God by appropriating to our own use that time which is strictly the Lord's. We should not do ourselves, nor suffer our children to do, any manner of our own work for a livelihood, or anything which could have been done on the six working days. Friday is the day of preparation. Time can then be devoted to making the necessary preparation for the Sabbath, and to thinking and conversing about it. Nothing which will in the sight of Heaven be regarded as a violation of the holy Sabbath, should be left unsaid or undone to be said or done upon the Sabbath. God requires not only that we refrain from physical labor upon the Sabbath, but that the mind be disciplined to dwell upon sacred themes. The fourth commandment is virtually transgressed by conversing upon worldly things, or by engaging in light and trifling conversation. Talking upon anything or everything which may come into the mind, is speaking our own words. Every deviation from right brings us into bondage and condemnation. . . .

“Those who are not fully converted to the truth, frequently let their minds run freely upon worldly business, and although they may rest from physical toil upon the Sabbath, their tongues speak out what is in their minds; hence these words concerning cattle, crops, losses, and gains. All this is Sabbath breaking. If the mind is running upon worldly matters, the tongue will reveal it; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. II, pages 702, 703.