May We Know Which the True Sabbath Day Is?
INQUIRIES frequently come to us like the above. They are put into the minds of the honest-hearted by the suggester of doubts, often through learned men who know differently. It is said (1) that the Sabbath can not be kept at the north pole; (2) that we can not tell which is the original seventh day; (3) that the same day can not be kept on the round world. Let us consider these objections in the light of the Word and of facts. 1. It is said that the Sabbath of the Lord can not be kept at the north pole, where there are six months’ day and six months’ night. But who was ever at the north pole and found this out? Certain it is that as far north as men can live they can keep account of the days; and if they can keep account of the days, they can keep the day. The day is clearly marked in its beginning and ending in the habitable regions of earth, and is kept far north to-day. Moreover, the charge, the doubt, is against the wisdom of God, not against a theory of man. It was God who created man; it was God who made for man the Sabbath, and gave it to him, and commanded him to keep it. Gen. 2:2, 3; Mark 2:27; Ex. 20:8–10. It is possible through Jesus Christ to obey God, and witnesses in every generation and in every land of the world have proved it. 2. It is said that we can not tell which the original seventh day is. But why? We do not have to go back to creation to learn this. We do not need to trace the day through the Deluge, or the Egyptian period of slavery, or the overthrow of Jerusalem. The Lord gave the day in the beginning, and marked it by His rest, blessing, and sanctification. He knew the day; and man, for whom the Sabbath was made, and to whom it was given, also knew it. Two thousand five hundred years this side of creation, as runs the general Biblical chronology, was the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. God again commanded His day, for the very reasons He gave in the beginning. Compare Ex. 20:8–11 with Gen. 2:2, 3. God knew the day at creation; He knew it at the Exodus. For forty years He pointed out that day by the threefold weekly miracle of the manna, so that none could mistake it. Fifteen hundred years this side of the Exodus came the divine Teacher. He knew the Sabbath, and kept the Sabbath. And after His death the women who accompanied Him during His life “rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56. That day was the seventh day; it was the day just before “the first day of the week” (Matt. 28:1; Luke 24:1), and hence was the seventh day of the week. Since that time—A.D. 31—there has been no dispute of account with reference to the day. The Jews have been scattered into every habitable land, but they have carried with them the seventh-day Sabbath, whether they have always kept it or not. They are everywhere agreed as touching the day. The facts are that the day is known; that it has ever been known and admitted even by those who despised it; that it has ever been kept by some of God’s faithful children. 3. But it is said that it can not be kept on a round world. Why? Did not God know the shape of the earth? Did He not make the Sabbath in the beginning to be kept on this earth? Nowhere does He command that man shall keep the identical twenty-four hours as measured by the astronomical clock at Greenwich. God made the sun “to rule the day.” Gen. 1:16. Man has naught to do with the day till it comes to him, or till the earth rolling on comes to the day. If it comes to the American twelve hours later than it comes to the Chinese, it matters not. He does not need to keep it till he meets it. If it were true that man could occupy two different places at the same time, the doctrine of the “round world” would be a difficult one; but as man can be in only one place at one time, he need only to keep the day as it comes. There never has been trouble with the devoted Christian follower in past generations; there is now no trouble among Sunday people over “the first day of the week,” enforced oftentimes by civil law from Hongkong to San Francisco. There need be no more trouble over the seventh day. He who wishes may know with absolute certainty that he is keeping the Lord’s rest if he keep it from sunset Friday night to the sunset following. Once more, dear reader; here are two texts from the Word of God. How will you harmonize your flimsy objections with them? “The Sabbath was made for man.” Mark 2:27. “God that made the world . . . hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.” Acts 17:24–26. ‘Listen again: Jesus Christ kept the Sabbath; and He says, “Follow Me.” “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” 1 John 2:6.