Christ and the Day

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 25, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 25.

Christ and the Day.

Not long since we heard a prominent preacher in the Christian denomination, while speaking on the first day of the week and the grounds for observing it, ask the question, “Is not Christ worthy of a day?” Yes, truly; but what day?—Surely we must learn what day from that Book which teaches us about the Being worthy of the day. In that word we find that God created all things through Jesus Christ, and that he will recreate all things by him. We are therefore made new creatures in him, “created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” The power by which all this is wrought is creative power, the creative power of the word of God. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.” “For he spake, and it was; he commanded, and it stood fast.” This is what the psalmist sings with reference to the power of God in the creation of the earth. By the same power he said to the leper, “Be thou clean; and immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” By the same power he could say to the disciples, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” By the same power he lived his life of righteousness, and rose from the grave a triumphant conqueror. What day, therefore, is more worthy of honoring Christ, of calling to remembrance his goodness and his power, than the day which God has given as memorial of his power, the seventh day, “the Sabbath of the Lord thy God”? This the seventh day is declared to be. Jesus is said to be “lord of the Sabbath.” By the “Gospel prophet” he calls it “my holy day.” See Ex. 20:8–11; Mark 2:27; Isa. 58:13. According to the Lord’s own Book, therefore, “the Lord’s day” (Rev. 1:10) is the seventh-day Sabbath. Christ is worthy of a day; God has promised and commanded the day through Christ. He says, “Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.” Christ is worthy of a day. Why not take the day that God has given, his memorial of creation, his sign of sanctification? Eze. 20:12, 20.