THE COMMANDMENTS.—PART 1.
By A. C. Spicer
Further Conclusions from the Foregoing.
III. The claim that the Sabbath was only a Jewish institution, as it was never commanded or known until it was given to the Jews from Mt. Sinai, however it may confuse and mislead, is based in error, is illogical, and has no weight whatever in reason. 1. The terms and manner in which the Sabbath was spoken of on the occasion of the fall of manna in the wilderness, the gathering of the same, the regulations in respect to the Sabbath (the narration of which occasioned the next record in respect to it after that of its creation), and God’s reproof of the people for not better observing it, and his making the keeping of it the test or proof of loyalty and obedience to him,—all not only imply the existence of the Sabbath then and there as a known institution with which the Israelites were entirely familiar at that time, but they authorize the conclusion as certain knowledge, that the Sabbath did then and there exist as an established and well-known institution which those people were not only obligated to honor but accustomed to keep. And more, it is a fact recorded in Ex. 16:30, as implied elsewhere, that it was then and there kept: “So the people rested on the seventh day.” 2. The septenary period—the division of days into periods of seven days each, called weeks (which is determined alone by the Sabbath as there is nothing in nature or reason to originate it or mark it, and no other event or institution but the Sabbath), which has appeared more or less definitely set forth all along during the 2513 years from creation to Mt. Sinai, necessitates the inference that the Sabbath had existed and been recognized during all that time, and also necessitates a reference back to Gen. 2:2, 3 to find its origin, which was in Eden. 3. There in Gen. 2:2, 3 is an account of its origin, with the reasons therefor just as definitely expressed as when it was formally re-enjoined by a commandment from Mt. Sinai. And its sanctification at that time means that it was ordained, given to man, a law established to govern in respect to it, and that that law was given to man then and there; that man was instructed in it, and commanded to “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” The pretense that the Sabbath was, in Eden, only elected, “blessed and sanctified,” prospectively or prophetically, in view of its being commanded from Mt. Sinai 2513 years afterwards and kept thereafter, and that it was not commanded to be kept nor any law given therefor till then, is neither logical, reasonable, nor founded in knowledge. The simple and true idea of sanctification is that above indicated. 4. Finally: The Sabbath is not man’s institution but God’s. It is not man’s Sabbath but God’s Sabbath. It is true “the Sabbath was made for man,” as said the Saviour. But that does not make it man’s Sabbath. And we belittle it, lower it down, and dishonor it, and dishonor the Lord who made it, when we consider it simply man’s Sabbath, to be bartered and traded at will, to be used as a matter of personal or conventional convenience, and employed according to popular taste or custom. It is God’s rest—the Sabbath of the Almighty. The sun was appointed to give us light by day. Is it therefore man’s sun? The moon was ordained to light up man’s earth-path-way by night. Is it therefore man’s moon? God’s word was given us to shed its moral light upon our pathway here and enable us to walk by faith in God and in “his Christ,” and in his commandments and statutes, and to be obedient, and hence to walk in assuring confidence in the promises of the gospel and a sustaining hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ. But is that word therefore man’s word? The Bible was inspired and given to man to be a concomitant and co-operating agent with the Sabbath directed by God’s ordained providence to aid, to enlighten, and sanctify, man, and to conduct him to immortality. Is it therefore man’s word? man’s Bible? Nay, verily; it is God’s word, God’s truth, God’s book. Its teachings are God’s teachings. Its prophecies are God’s prophecies. Its ordinances, institutions, and its laws, are God’s ordinances, institutions, and laws. Its commandments are God’s commandments, and its Sabbath God’s Sabbath. It was God’s rest before it was given to man to rest upon. In Ex. 16:23, it is called the “rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord;” and again in verse 25, it is said, “For to-day is a Sabbath unto the Lord”—a rest unto the Lord. And the Lord did rest from his works there in the wilderness on that day. On it he gave no manna. On it his cloud by day and pillar of fire by night rested. He never led them in journeyings nor directed them in labors on that day, but himself rested, an example to man. God called it “my holy day.” It is called the “Sabbath of the Lord.” And Christ said that he was “Lord also of the Sabbath day.” It may not be inappropriate to close this summary of deductions with an expression of the confident expectation that though the “man of sin” long years since made a “breach” in the law of God (as held by men), “thinking to change times, and laws” and has, for lo! these many centuries, trampled God’s holy Sabbath beneath his feet from the sight of men in general, yet the day shall come when that “breach” shall be “repaired” and God’s law be “magnified and called honorable” again; when “they that shall be of the Lord” shall rebuild the “old waste places,” and shall turn the foot from off the Sabbath, call it a delight, “the holy of the Lord, honorable,” and shall honor God by keeping it holy. Then there are glorious blessings promised to the “repairers of the breach,” even to the strangers (Gentiles) who “join themselves to the Lord,” keep his Sabbaths, and “take hold of his covenant.” These are encouraging. See Isa. 43:21; 56:1–8; 58:8–14; 61:4–6. A. C. Spicer.