A Great Bulwark Against Apostasy
By T. E. Bowen
The Memorial of the Creator—It Guards Against Idolatry—Great Apostasies Have Been Marked by Sabbath Desecration—A Prophetic Call to Reform To apostatize is to depart from God, to forget Him. Man does the departing, the forgetting. “I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee,” is God’s promise. Heb. 13:5, A. R. V. He is faithful, but we forget and forsake Him. This is the tendency of sin. God knew it, and knew, before sin existed, what it would do in us. He planned to make it hard to forget His wonderful creative power, forget His wonderful love for us. The earth was fitted up by the Son of God because of His love for us. That love shines in the sunlight, is displayed in the showers, the landscape, the sky, earth’s verdure. In fact everywhere we look, the Creator’s loving hand is seen. That we might not forget God, through His Son He gave us the Sabbath. This blessed day comes often—once a week. Six days are ours, one day is God’s. At the close of creation’s week, the Sabbath was made for us. Remember God by Remembering the Sabbath
The opposite of forgetting is to remember. So the Sabbath commandment starts out, “Remember the Sabbath.” Forget it not. The Sabbath itself is a memorial. It is a memorial of creation. It stands for God’s creative power. No one but God can create. That men should not forget God, the Lord planned a way by which we might remember Him. “He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered: Jehovah is gracious and merciful. . . . He hath showed His people the power of His works. . . . The works of His hands are truth and justice; all His precepts are sure. They are established forever and ever.” “He will ever be mindful of His covenant.” Ps. 111:4-8. The enemy quickly saw that that which kept the Lord in mind must in some manner be obliterated and set aside, or his power would be small with men. So he began early to contest the law of God, particularly the Sabbath commandment, which made so prominent the true God. Sabbath Forgotten in Egypt
Israel in Egypt lost sight of the Sabbath. Moses and Aaron taught the obligation of the Sabbath as they attempted, at the end of the two hundred years of Israel’s sojourn there, to call the attention of the people back to the God of their fathers, preparatory to their deliverance. Pharaoh accused Moses and Aaron of teaching the people to rest, saying, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.” Ex. 5:5. Pharaoh then made their tasks still harder. God brought Israel out, that the people might worship Him by resting upon the Sabbath. And the Sabbath was one particular day, not a day, but the seventh day. Some one may ask, How do you know? Surely God was particular as to the day; because for forty years He demonstrated to that mighty host that every recurring Sabbath fell upon the last day of the week—the seventh, now called Saturday. They received from heaven no manna to pick up that particular day. On the other six days, including Sunday, they had to go out and get it or go hungry. Sabbath Keeping the Secret Link Between God and His People
Later God emphasized what the keeping of the Sabbath meant to His people. He was explicit, and definitely told them what great importance was attached to the keeping of the particular day He Himself had sanctified and made holy. “Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that profaneth it shall surely be put to death; for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to Jehovah. . . . Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me [the only true God, who created all things] and the children of Israel forever: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.” Ex. 31:14-17. This is as true to-day as on the day God said it. The Kingdom Departs from Israel
But Israel forgot. It was by not keeping the Sabbath given them that they departed into idolatry. They forsook God by forgetting the Sabbath. The call back to God included the revival of true Sabbath keeping. The two went together. Among the chief causes for the destruction of Jerusalem was idolatry. And Israel would not have gone into idolatry had they kept the Sabbath. This is made plain by what Nehemiah said as the people came back to their land from their seventy years’ captivity in Babylon. “In those days saw I in Judah some men treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses therewith; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals.” Let it be noted that this language was addressed to the people of God for that time, Israelites, who, so far as the proper day was concerned, observed the right day—the seventh day—but had profaned it by not keeping it as God commanded. “There dwelt men of Tyre [worldlings who did not profess to be religious at all] also therein, who brought in fish, and all manner of wares, and sold on the Sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers then, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath. “And it came to pass that, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark [at the going down of the sun on Friday, the sixth or preparation day] before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened till after the Sabbath: and some of my servants set I over the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the Sabbath day. So the merchants and sellers of all kind of wares lodged without Jerusalem once or twice. Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the Sabbath.” Neh. 13:15-21. This is an important scripture, as it reveals that Sabbath desecration was one of the chief sins of God’s people, and that because His people thus departed from Him He overthrew the kingdom of Israel, and told His people to be ruled by the nations of the world. This scripture quoted, telling of Sabbath breaking coming in again as Jerusalem was rebuilt, took place about 450 years before Christ. Jesus Restores True Sabbath Keeping
Jesus restored the Sabbath to its rightful place once more when He came. He showed that to do good on the Sabbath day was lawful and right. He performed some of His most wonderful works of healing on the Sabbath. The Jews contended with Him that He was thus profaning the Sabbath. Still He went right on with these good deeds. He showed that there is a wide difference between the restoration of a sufferer bound by sin, bound by Satan, on the Sabbath day, and the bringing in of fish to market, working the grain fields, and trafficking to get gain. One is the doing of God’s work on His own day, the other was the doing of our own common, everyday work on the Sabbath. One is an act of righteousness, the other sin. The one honored the Sabbath by exalting its Author, the other profaned the Sabbath by setting its Maker aside and being busied by the common cares of life. Thus Jesus kept the Sabbath, and taught His disciples true Sabbath keeping. They, too, kept it. Apostasy Again Sets Aside the Sabbath
Coming down about three centuries this side of Christ, we find apostasy again strong in the church, and the true Sabbath of Christ supplanted by a heathen feast day—a day used to honor the sun god. Soon the day was appropriately called Sunday. This usurpation of the true Sabbath of the Lord was by no means an easy task. It was not accomplished in a day; but with a well laid plot, Satan steadily pursued his purpose to set aside entirely the day that served as a memorial of the work of creation, the masterpiece of the Son of God. And his purpose was accomplished. Little by little that first day, Sunday, supplanted the Sabbath, the seventh day. The word of God ever stood in the way of the unholy men forming these new decrees. At last, in January, 1562, a man was bold enough to get up in a Roman Catholic council and put forth the claim that these rulings of their councils were above Scripture, and that the Scriptures were not so important as tradition. This helped matters out; and ever since that wicked decree was voted, violent disregard of the Sabbath has been common. And as Christ, His law, the Sabbath,71and the Word were eclipsed, the world experienced its spiritual midnight. The Decree Placing Human Authority Above Scripture
Here is the very important quotation telling us about exalting tradition above the Bible. Before the close of the Council of Trent, a further step was taken, which gave a new definition to tradition, and made it entirely independent of the Scriptures and of the so-called voice of the church in the past. This is clearly set forth by Dr. J. H. Holtzman, in “Canon and Tradition,” page 263: “The council agreed fully with Ambrosius Pelargus, that under no condition should the Protestants be allowed to triumph by saying that the council had condemned the doctrine of the ancient church. But this practice caused untold tribulation without serving as a safeguard. For this business, to be sure, ‘almost divine prudence’ was requisite—which was indeed awarded to the council on the sixteenth of March, 1562, by the Spanish ambassador. Really they could scarcely find their way in the many labyrinthian passages of an older and a newer comprehension of tradition, which were constantly crossing and recrossing each other. But even in this they were destined to succeed. Finally, at the last opening on the eighteenth of January, 1562, their last scruple was set aside; the archbishop of Rheggio made a speech in which he openly declared that tradition stood above Scripture. The authority of the church could therefore not be bound to the authority of the Scriptures, because the church had changed Sabbath into Sunday, not by the command of Christ, but by its own authority. With this, to be sure, the last illusion was destroyed, and it was declared that tradition does not signify antiquity, but continual inspiration.” Therefore to avoid this labyrinthian crossing and recrossing of their own canon laws, continually contradicting one another, they passed a law that the last one should stand secure against all preceding ones, and further that each and every one should be above the Scripture; for at all hazards, their Sunday sabbath program must stand. As now, everybody, nearly, Protestants and all, had acknowledged their power in this; but as the Bible upset this pet sabbath of theirs, as well as standing in their way regarding other traditions, the only thing to do was to place their rulings above all Scripture, above all former canon laws. This they did. A tottering foundation indeed. But such it is upon which Sunday sacredness stands. The Final Call of God to Sabbath Observance
Down near the end, when apostasy from God is again alarmingly great, when nearly the whole world has forsaken God by setting aside His word, His law, His Sabbath, He once more calls to repentance by calling people back to the keeping of the Sabbath: “And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having eternal good tidings to proclaim unto them that dwell on the earth, and unto every nation and tribe and tongue and people; and he saith with a great voice, Fear God, and give Him glory; for the hour of His Judgment is come: and worship Him that made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.” Rev. 14:6, 7. Here we have the call back to the true Sabbath keeping. You have here language almost identical with that of the Sabbath commandment. That commandment is based upon the fact that “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,” and that after this creative work, He “rested the *seventh day”; and that because of His resting, “wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” People are now invited to worship Him, the one God who created heaven and earth. Surely this call would be foolish were not all these people worshiping at some other shrine aside from Jehovah’s. No one can get out of all this apostasy, this departing from the true and living God, without coming back to true Sabbath keeping. The true worship of God is bound up with true Sabbath keeping. On the other hand, apostasy, the forsaking of God, is bound up with Sabbath desecration—from which spring many other works of darkness. Now the hour of God’s Judgment has come. The light of Sabbath reform has been shining since 1844, the very year the Judgment work began in heaven. Now with a strong voice—because many voices join in speaking the same thing—the call back to the worship of God is sounding in every nation, every land, and in nearly every tongue on earth. It is God’s mighty call, reader, back to the Bible, back to the safe paths, back to Himself. Have you heard the call? Has He not in some manner told you about this world apostasy? Have you not heard the Spirit’s voice saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it”? Why not obey God now? Why not stop profaning His holy Sabbath, the day in which He has placed His name? Why not keep the next one the Lord graciously permits to come to you? To obey means life and peace. “If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them.”