Peter and John hasten to tell the other disciples that Christ has risen. That is the message that Peter would preach to-day if he were alive and among us.
If Peter were here to-day, he would be an Adventist. No doubt you will smile at this, but listen: the longing of Peter’s heart was for the coming of Jesus. “When the chief Shepherd shall appear,” said Peter, “ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” For the new heavens and the new earth, for the everlasting reign of righteousness, for the end of sin and sorrow, Peter looked forward. Moreover, he warned us against the “scoffers” of “the last days” who would deny the truth of the second coming of Christ. Do you believe in the personal, literal, visible coming of Jesus? If so, you, too, are an adventist, for an adventist is one who believes in the second advent of Christ. All the prophets and all the apostles were adventists. Jesus gave to us the promise of His second coming, and was an adventist. All true Christians are adventists.
CHARACTER OF PETER REVEALED
The character of Peter after his conversion is portrayed for us in his appearance before the Sanhedrin, which was “the board of bishops” of all Judea. They commanded him not to teach or preach in the name of Jesus. What a transformation of character from precrucifixion days! Then he denied his Lord; now he exalted Jesus as a prince and a savior, and was willing to follow Him even unto death. “We ought to obey God rather than men” was Peter’s fearless reply to the demands of the Sanhedrin. Jesus was the perfect pattern for Peter. “Leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps,” were the words of inspiration from Peter’s epistle. Walking as Jesus walked led Peter in the path of God’s commandments. The way of fellowship with Christ is the way of obedience. Obedience is life; disobedience is death. If Peter were in your town to-day, he would walk in the footsteps of Jesus, he would walk in the way of God’s commandments; and, friends, that way would lead him to the church that exalts every one of the Ten Commandments. It would lead him to the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
“The word of the Lord,” said Peter, “endureth forever.” “The word of God,” he declared, “liveth and abideth forever.” The word of the Eternal One established the seventh day as a memorial of creation. The Lord Himself wrote that word into the Ten Commandments. There it stands, eternal, unchangeable, as the fiat of the God of the universe. The Sabbath is the battle ground of truth and error, the Bible and tradition. Sunday is the child of tradition, the mark of apostasy. The Sabbath is the Lord’s day and His royal seal of sanctification. The church that exalts the truth of the Bible must, of necessity, repudiate every error, expose every deception. The relics of paganism and the falsisms of modernism must be cast aside, and the Bible exalted as the one standard of truth. The veneration of images, infant baptism, Sunday worship, and all other customs that were born in paganism have no place in the church of Christ. If the word declares that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,” the true church will not seek, by hook or crook, to make “seventh” mean “first.”
OUT AND OUT FOR JESUS
“We ought to obey God rather than men.” Would Peter, if here to-day, follow the crowd in bowing to the traditions of Rome, or would he, as in days of old, keep the Sabbath of the Bible? Would Peter be out and out for Jesus and His truth, or would he step into the ring of popularity with the majority and with Rome? Peter felt the sting of the Roman lash and suffered the hardships of the Roman dungeon because he sought to obey God. Can you imagine Peter, if he were in your town to-day, saying, “Well, I know the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Bible, but I don’t like to lose a good job and starve to death; so I guess I’ll keep Sunday instead”? No, we can hear the words of that man of faith, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”
The apostle Peter was not negligent in declaring the principles of “present truth.” 2 Peter 1:12. If he were here to-day, his voice would ring out against traditional error and in defense of Bible truth. He would call the world to commandment keeping and to preparation for the coming of Christ. In these dark days of apostasy and forsaking of God, every man’s loyalty must be tested. God has preserved for Himself a church, which, in its repudiation of error, its exaltation of every truth, marches forward under the banner bearing the inscription, “The commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” God will have a converted people, a praying people, a command-keeping people. “The just shall live by faith.” Will you step out with Peter upon the platform of truth? Will you yield your life in obedience to God? Will you walk in the way of His commandments?
