CHRIST AND THE SABBATH by William Warren Prescott

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 21, 1897

CHRIST AND THE SABBATH.

By William Warren Prescott

What It Is to the Believer.

The power of God revealed through Christ, who is “the Lord our Righteousness,” is the central thought and the hope of the Gospel. Compare Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 1:24; Jer. 23:6, and Col. 1:27. This power of God was first revealed through Christ, before the entrance of sin, and so before there was need of a Gospel of salvation in the creation of the world. “All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.” John 1:3, R. V., margin. “The hand of inspiration writes the name of Jesus where artists put theirs, beneath all things in heaven and on earth, visible or invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers.” See Col. 1:16.

Creative Power.

It was through Christ that God spake the world into existence. Ps. 33:6-9. God in Christ said, “Let there be light,” and it was in Christ and through Christ that he issued the ten creative commandments as recorded in the first chapter of Genesis. So it was God in Christ who “rested on the seventh day from all his work,” and it was God in Christ who “blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work.” Gen. 2:2, 3. Thus at the very beginning, and before sin entered into the world, God in Christ “made his wonderful works to be remembered,” or “hath made a memorial for his wonderful works.” Ps. 111:4. Since sin appeared in the world, this same power of God which had been revealed through Christ unto creation, has been revealed “unto salvation,” and he who had been the agent in creating became the agent in redeeming the world and man. It requires creative power to redeem, and the redemption of man is simply carrying out God’s original purpose in his creation, as expressed in the words, “Let us make man in our image.” It is for this reason that redemption is spoken of as a creative work. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” Eph. 2:10. So David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart.”

Converting Power Is Creative Power;

and unless creative power be displayed, there can be no genuine conversion, and hence no salvation. But creative power, which is redeeming power, is the mark of divinity. For this reason our attention is called to “the things that are made” as being evidences of “his eternal power and Godhead [divinity, R. V.]” Rom. 1:20. But Christ is “the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:24), and in Christ “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9); therefore it follows that the power revealed in creating and upholding all things is abundant proof of the divinity of Jesus Christ, who is the agent through whom all this has been, and is, wrought. Thus a ground of confidence is established that “he is able to save” by the fact that we have before us continually the evidences of his divine power.

The Sabbath a Sign.

When God embodied in his law the Sabbath which he had established at creation, he thus stated the basis upon which this institution rested: “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:8-11. The Sabbath is therefore designed to call our attention to the Creator. It is his memorial. But we have already learned that God created the heavens and earth through Jesus Christ; therefore it was Jesus Christ who rested on the seventh day, who blessed, hallowed, and sanctified the seventh day; and the purpose of this day, thus blessed, hallowed, and sanctified, is to call the attention of men everywhere to the Creator. But the Creator is Jesus Christ. Therefore, the purpose of the Sabbath is that we may be reminded of the power and the divinity of Jesus Christ. This is made clear by another scripture: “And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Eze. 20:20. But all we can know about God and his character is what is revealed to us in Jesus Christ. So the force of the scripture is this: That ye may know Christ, that thus knowing him, ye may know the Father. So the Sabbath institution is for the purpose of revealing Jesus Christ, of teaching us of his power, of his divinity. And it follows, therefore, that he who observes the seventh day, the day upon which God in Jesus Christ rested, the day upon which God in Christ let his blessing rest, the day which was thus hallowed and sanctified, acknowledges by this act before heaven and earth that he believes in the divinity of Jesus Christ.

The Sabbath is the sign to all the world that Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God; that it is through Christ that the power of God is manifested as it was in creation, when he made the heavens and the earth by the word of his mouth, as it is also in re-creation, or redemption, when we are created anew in Jesus Christ. The power that was manifested through Christ in the creation of the heavens and the earth is the power that is manifested through the same agency, that we may be created anew. And so the Sabbath is the sign, not merely of the power of God manifested through Jesus Christ in the creation of the heavens and earth, but it is also the sign of that power which saves, which redeems. And when we recognize the memorial which God himself has set up as the sign of that power in Jesus Christ, we thereby acknowledge that we believe in the divinity of Christ, and that we believe in the power of God through Jesus Christ unto salvation; that he who created us is also our Redeemer, and that our confidence and our trust for salvation are in the God of the heavens and the earth, who reveals himself to the world in Jesus Christ only.

The Sabbath always has been, and always will be, a sign of the power of God manifested through Christ. There is a striking example of this in the experience of the people of Israel:—

“For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?” Deut. 4:32-34.

This people were delivered by signs and wonders, which were a display of creative power. After the children of Israel had been delivered by such creative power, the Sabbath obligation was repeated, and the Lord said: “And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.” Deut. 5:15.

The Rest of the Sabbath.

The Sabbath rest is a spiritual rest, and it is therefore impossible for one to keep the Sabbath unless Christ, whose presence gives rest, dwells in his heart by faith. Matt. 11:28, 29. Every case of conversion is a display of the creative power of God in calling out of darkness into light; in delivering from the power of darkness, and translating into the kingdom of his dear Son; and the true Sabbath is a sign to every Christian of the creative power that has thus wrought for his deliverance, and which is to uphold him through all his varied experiences as he journeys toward the eternal kingdom. As the Israelites were enabled to keep the Sabbath after they were brought out of Egypt, so the Christian, who has been delivered from the bondage of sin, can enjoy the spiritual rest of Sabbath-keeping.

As the presence of Christ at the burning bush made the ground there holy (Ex. 3:4, 5), as the presence of Christ with Joshua made the ground in that place holy (Jos. 5:13-15), as his presence on Mount Sinai made that place holy, so the presence of Christ in the blessing which he has put upon the seventh day, makes that day holy.

What Sabbath-keeping Is.

When it is understood what the Sabbath really is, and Sabbath-keeping is, there is not a person who desires Jesus Christ, there is not a person who longs for the blessings and the rest that are in Jesus Christ, who would hesitate one moment as to what day it is. It is what it is rather than when it is that we must consider, because when we study what it is, we shall at the same time find out in the most emphatic way when it is. God in Christ has blessed the seventh day and no other day. He blesses man upon every day, but he has blessed only one day, and that is the seventh day. So when man, upon whom the blessing of God already rests, comes to the seventh day, upon which a blessing rests, there are two blessings, and both of them for man; and so it is possible upon the seventh day of the week to enjoy a blessing which can not be enjoyed upon any other day, because it is not there. There is only one day on which we can keep the Sabbath; there is only one day that has the blessing of the presence of Christ in this way.

Thus the Sabbath is the sign on God’s part of his power in Christ to create anew those who accept him, and, on our part, the keeping of the true Sabbath is the outward sign of our trust in God’s power in Christ for salvation from sin and our rest in him. No one who observes the true Sabbath in the true meaning of it, can ever turn away from Jesus Christ. It is the constant acknowledgment of his belief in the divinity, the authority, the saving power, and saving grace of Jesus Christ. As there has never been any change in “the power of God unto salvation,” as Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day, yea, and forever (Heb. 13:8), so there has never been any change of the true Sabbath, which is the sign of this power in Christ. Our hope can be well founded only when it is founded in Jesus Christ. And the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day, the

day instituted by Christ himself, blessed by him, sanctified by him, hallowed by him, is the sign to every Christian of his power to save. True Sabbath-keeping is the measure of his Christian experience, his growth in grace, and his knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Receive Jesus Christ, the only Saviour, and receive his Sabbath, the sign of what he is to every one who believes in him.

W. W. PRESCOTT.