Singular Facts about the Sabbath.
By D. A. Robinson
As THE claims of the Sabbath are presented, this question is frequently raised: "If the seventh-day Sabbath, which the Jews kept, is of so much consequence in the gospel age, why is the New Testament so nearly silent upon the question, while the Old Testament abounds with numerous references to that institution? The apparent sincerity with which the question is raised, together with the fact that it is often indulged in by the ministry, carries with it to the minds of many, all the weight of a scriptural argument. No matter if the Sabbath was made at creation, before the fall, before the ceremonial system was introduced, thousands of years before a Jew existed, yet they say that it is purely Jewish, and that when the typical system ended, the seventh-day Sabbath also ceased. If not, why this profound silence of the New Testament upon the subject? Let us carefully examine this pretended argument. 1. The New Testament emphatically enjoins the observance of the law of ten commandments as a whole, a part of which is the Sabbath commandment, which points out the day that man should observe. Paul in speaking of this law declares it is holy, just, and good (Rom. 7:12); that it is spiritual (verse 14); that it is the instrument which proves the guilt of the whole world (Rom. 3:19); and finally, that by it all will be judged. Rom. 2:12, 16. James calls it the law of liberty (Jas. 2:12); he further adds that he who offends in one point is guilty of all. Verse 10. Our divine Lord, he to whom the Sabbath belongs (Mark 2:28), declared that not a jot nor tittle of that law should pass away while heaven and earth remain. Matt. 5:17, 18. 2. The Saviour came to earth not as a lawgiver, but as a teacher. He was to magnify his Father's law and make it honorable. Isa. 42:21. Neither were the disciples or apostles legislators for the Christian Church, as some would have us believe. One of them who had walked and talked with our Saviour declared: "There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy" (Jas. 4:12); and the prophet Isaiah tells us who this one lawgiver is: "For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver" [margin, statute-maker]. Isa. 33:22. 3. From the foregoing, the logical conclusion follows that if the New Testament did not mention the seventh-day Sabbath once, this would not prove that it is not now binding. Such proof must rest upon the record of its abrogation; but in the absence of any such record, we are compelled to believe that the original Sabbath is still obligatory upon the race for whom it was made. Mark 2:27. Hence, if we should concede that the Old Testament abounds in references to the Sabbath, while, as it is claimed, the New rarely speaks of it, this would in no wise militate against the seventh-day Sabbath; but we will not admit even this. Taking into account the comparative size of the two Testaments, the following facts warrant the assertion that the New Testament speaks of the seventh-day Sabbath more than twice as often as does the Old. A little mathematical calculation will show the truthfulness of this. The weekly Sabbath is mentioned in the Old Testament seventy-five times. The Old Testament refers to the weekly Sabbath on an average of once in every ten pages. The New Testament mentions the weekly Sabbath fifty-nine times. The weekly Sabbath occurs in the New Testament on an average of once in every four pages, or two and a half times more frequently than it is found in the Old Testament. The apostle Luke alone, in his two little volumes of sixty-one pages, covering a period of only about sixty years, speaks of the weekly Sabbath twenty-seven times; while Moses, in his five books of 190 pages, which cover a period of over two thousand years, speaks of it only twenty-eight times. The Old Testament covers a period of more than three thousand years, while the New covers less than one hundred years. A plain command of God once stated, demands obedience as verily as though it were rehearsed on every page of the book of God. Why the profound—not silence but—ignorance on the part of those who talk about the New Testament being "profoundly silent" on the Sabbath question, when it refers to the day of God's rest two and one-half times oftener than the Old Testament does, and seven times oftener than its own pages refer to the first day of the week? The Saviour kept the Sabbath. He styled himself its Lord (Mark 2:28), and he recognized its obligation as late as the destruction of Jerusalem. Matt. 24:20. The followers of Christ observed the Sabbath this side of the cross. Luke 23:54-56. The typical or shadowy sabbaths were abolished at the cross, but the weekly Sabbath was observed this side of that point, consequently it survived the passing away of the typical system. Profound silence? No! profound ignorance! profound blindness! is manifested by those who talk of the silence of the New Testament upon the Sabbath question. D. A. ROBINSON.