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THE ACCUSATION

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 21, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 3.

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THE ACCUSATION.

By A Little One of the Great Company

[By a little one of the great company. Ps. 68:11.]
Did you ever, dear reader, fellow Christian, realize that it was the question of the Sabbath day—how to keep it—that so enraged the Pharisees against Christ and formed the basis of their accusation against Him, which finally ended in His crucifixion?
“And they asked Him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days? that they might accuse Him.” Matt. 12:10.
“And they watched Him, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath day; that they might accuse Him.” Mark 3:2.
“And the scribes and Pharisees watched Him, whether He would heal on the Sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against Him.” Luke 6:7.
Just after Jesus had healed the woman who had been bound by Satan for eighteen years, “the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work; in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” Luke 13:14.
“Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. . . . And on the same day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the Sabbath day; it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.” “Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath day.” John 5:8–10, 16.
And in the eighteenth verse, we find added to that cause the claim that Christ made of His relationship to the Father: “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.”
Because He healed the blind man on the Sabbath, some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not of God, because He keepeth not the Sabbath day.” John 9:16.
But surely He who was with God from the beginning, when the Sabbath was made, He who was and is “Lord of the Sabbath,” (Matt. 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5), knows best how the day should be spent so as to most honor the God who gave it. And that way we learn from His own teachings and example to be by doing good. Mark 3:4.
And the Lord always intended that day—His day—to be a blessing spiritually and physically, a physical rest, not only to mankind but even to the beasts of burden; the law also providing for the necessary care and rescue from danger even on the Sabbath. Christ Himself taught this by His own reference to Deut. 22:4.
“What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.” Matt. 12:11, 12.
Praise the Lord for His light, for His plain teaching, for His wonderful example!
The Lord’s day—for such claim the Lord makes in the Old as well as in the New Testament—was made and blessed for man’s highest and best good.
“Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep, . . . that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.” Ex. 31:13.
“Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. Eze. 20:12. “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.” Matt. 12:8.
Yes, for his greatest good: “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27.
The Lord gave the Sabbath to be a blessing, but over and over again has it been so trampled underfoot that the profaning of it has brought death and destruction. Again and again has the Lord God been grieved by man’s pollution of His holy day.
“What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, 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.” Neh. 13:17, 18.
“I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, . . . because they despised My judgments, and walked not in My statutes, but polluted My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.” Eze. 20:15, 16. “They polluted my Sabbaths; then I said, I would pour out My fury upon them, to accomplish My anger against them in the wilderness.” Verse 21.
Did not the Lord care then how His day was treated? Does He not care now? Aye, verily!
There are two questions which naturally arise concerning the Sabbath day,—when to keep it, and how to keep it.
God’s when is to be found in Gen. 2:2, 3. “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all the work which God created and made.”
And again, from the commandment given in Exodus 20, we read: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.”
“The Sabbath was made for man.” Mark 2:27. “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord.” Ex. 35:2.
God’s how is to be found in many parts of His Word. Two or three citations will suffice, with our Saviour’s teachings and example:—
“Blessed is the man, . . . that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.” Isa. 56:2.
God says of certain ones that keep His Sabbaths, and choose the things that please Him, and take hold of His covenant, “Even unto them will I give in Mine house and within My walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.” Isa. 56:5.
“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath [it was and is trampled under foot], from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words. Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isa. 58:13, 14.
As it was in the days of the Old Testament, so it is now; as it was in the days of Christ, so it is now; a misunderstanding of the true Sabbath, and of the true meaning of it—in Christ’s time, and even to the end, leading to persecutions. Jesus said:—
“Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.” Matt. 12:12.
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.” Eccl. 12:13.
“Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12.
“Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Ch. 22:14.
Dear friend, let us follow our dear Saviour’s teachings and example. He is a safe Leader; none other is. For the when and the how look to Him.
May we be found on the Lord’s side of this and all other great questions; yes, even unto persecutions which will arise, or unto death, if need be, and He shall count us worthy.
Take heed, and the Lord be thy righteousness and thy strength. Isa. 45:24.