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THE SABBATH CONTROVERSY

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 9, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 2.

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THE SABBATH CONTROVERSY.

By W. N. Glenn

BY W. N. GLENN.

Brief Argument for the Seventh Day.

THE Sabbath is a memorial of creation. “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 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 his work which God created and made.” Gen. 2:1–3.
Christ was the Creator of all things (see John 1:1–3, 14; Col. 1:14–17); therefore the seventh day was sanctified as a memorial of Christ and his work. “The Sabbath was made for man; . . . therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27, 28.
The Sabbath is a memorial of redemption. “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. Redemption is creation over again. “We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:13. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” Eph. 2:10. The redemption of Israel from Egyptian bondage was a type of the greater redemption from sin. But the Sabbath is not a type; all types have been instituted because of sin and the plan of redemption. The Sabbath was instituted as a memorial of creation before sin entered; therefore the Sabbath is the appropriate memorial of re-creation, or redemption.
The Sabbath is a sign between God and his people. “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; also verse 20. Some will say that this means Israel; so it does, but who are Israel?—“They are not all Israel, which are of Israel; neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Rom. 9:6–8. “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Gal. 3:29. “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Phil. 3:3. Then the seventh-day Sabbath, which Christ, the Creator, sanctified in the beginning, is and ever will be the sign between him and hispeople.
The Sabbath is the seal of the law of God, the only commandment which designates the Author of the law. It is thus an essential part of the law, of which Christ said, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17. The Sabbath “according to the commandment” is the seventh day, and was kept by Christ and his disciples. See Luke 4:16; 23:56; Acts 13:42; 17:2; 18:3, 4.

Some Stock Arguments for the First Day.

  1. It is said that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, because Christ rose from the dead on that day.
  2. It is thought that Christ inaugurated the change and left his disciples to carry out the purpose.
  3. It makes no difference which day we keep, so we keep the seventh part of time.
  4. Sunday is the true seventh day, and therefore it is the day designated in the commandment.
  5. We can not tell which is the seventh day.
  6. The seventh day is the Jewish Sabbath, and therefore done away.
  7. The Sabbath was “blotted out,” “nailed to the cross;” therefore there is no sacred time.
  8. The majority observe the first day.
  9. The law of the land recognizes Sunday, therefore we ought to keep it.
  10. My father and mother kept the first day, and they have gone to heaven.
  11. The workingman needs to rest one day in seven, therefore he ought to rest on Sunday.
  12. The right of rest for each requires a law of rest for all, therefore all should rest on the first day of the week.
  13. The long day, when Joshua commanded the sun and moon to stand still, carried the seventh day forward to the first day. (This is the latest pretext, as far as we have heard.)
Many other so-called arguments of a like nature are advanced but none of them are based on the authority of the Scriptures. The word of God is silent on the subject of a change of the Sabbath, excepting as a matter of prophecy that an attempt would be made to change the law. Of a certain arrogant power the prophet Daniel wrote: “And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times and the law.” Chapter 5:25, R. V. In Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians this same power is called the “mystery of iniquity,” the “man of sin.” And this is the power (Rome) that set up the first day of the week as a substitute for the Sabbath. “But,” says Daniel, “the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.” Paul also adds, “And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to naught by the manifestation of his coming.” 2 Thess. 2:8, R. V.