The Perpetuity of the Sabbath
By H.
1. When God acts, for how long is it? “I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Eccl. 3:14. 2. Does this apply to His law? “All His precepts are sure.
They are established forever and ever.” Ps. 111:7, 8. “Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished.” Matt. 5:18. Note.—It is evident that ALL THINGS are not yet ACCOMPLISHED. We may therefore conclude that the law of God still stands, with neither jot nor tittle taken away. 3. The Sabbath, for the observance of which the eternal law of God provides, was instituted at Creation. “On the seventh day God finished His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.” Gen. 2:2. 4. The law was obeyed during the Patriarchal age. “Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” Gen. 26:5. 5. The children of Israel observed the Sabbath before reaching Sinai. When the manna fell in the wilderness, the people gathered a double portion on the sixth day, as instructed by Moses: “This is that which Jehovah hath spoken, To-morrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath unto Jehovah.” Ex. 16:23. 6. At Sinai the law of God was given to man in a specific, written form, the Sabbath with the rest. “And God spake all these words.” “And in all things that I have said unto you take ye heed.” Ex. 20:1; 23:13. 7. The law was not given to the Jewish nation alone. “Also the FOREIGNERS that join themselves to JEHOVAH [not to the Jews], . . . every one that keepeth the Sabbath from profaning it, and holdeth fast My covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain.” Isa. 56:6, 7. 8. Jesus kept the Sabbath. “He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and He entered, AS HIS CUSTOM WAS, into the synagog on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.” Luke 4:16. 9. The disciples also kept the Sabbath; there is not a text in the New Testament which speaks of any other day as a day of worship. Paul declared publicly, and undisputed, to “those that were the chief of the Jews”— “I, brethren, tho I had done nothing against the people, or the customs of the fathers [and no custom of the fathers was held to more strongly than Sabbath-keeping], yet was delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.” Acts 28:17, 18. 10. John was shown that in the last days of earth’s history the law of God would be observed by a loyal few. “Here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12. The very next verses tell of the coming of Christ to reap “the harvest of the earth.” 11. When the earth is purified and beautified, and becomes the eternal home of the redeemed, the Sabbath will still be kept. “As the new heaven and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith Jehovah.” Isa. 66:22, 23. NOTE.—Then tho “ALL THINGS BE ACCOMPLISHED,” the Sabbath will still endure, unchanged in observance, time, or purpose. The words of the psalmist therefore apply to time and to eternity as well: “Thy name, O Lord, endureth forever;
And Thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations.” Ps. 135:13. H.