Your ShelfYour Projects

THE LAW OF GOD

4%

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 12, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 31.

Read the full edition

THE LAW OF GOD.

The Seventh Day the Lord's Day.

(Lesson 19.—Sabbath, August 28.)
1. WHERE were the children of Israel forty-five days after they left Egypt? "And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt." Ex. 16:1.
2. How long was this before the giving of the law from Sinai? Compare Ex. 16:1 with Ex. 19:1, 10, 11.
3. What did the Lord there promise to give them? "Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no." Ex. 16:4.
4. In so doing, concerning what did he design to prove them?—He designed to prove them to see whether they would walk in his law or not.
5. How often were they to gather the food?—"Every day."
6. Did this include the Sabbath also? "Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none." Ex. 16:26.
7. If they gathered more than they needed, what was the result? "And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank; and Moses was wroth with them." Ex. 16:19, 20.
8. How then were the people provided with food on the Sabbath? "And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily." "And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man; and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord; bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade; and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein." Ex. 16:5, 22-24.
9. How long was this kept up? "And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan." Ex. 16:35.
10. By thus miraculously providing food for the people, and by a miracle preserving it over the Sabbath, when none fell, what did the Lord indicate?—He showed how highly he regarded his Sabbath.
11. What else was also proved?—That the Sabbath was not any seventh part of time, but the seventh day of the week, and that only.
12. Is there a day that belongs specially to the Lord? "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet." Rev. 1:10.
13. To what day does the Lord apply the title "my holy day"? "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words." Isa. 58:13.
14. And which day is the Sabbath? "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates." Ex. 20:10.
15. Then which day is the Lord's day?—Since the Lord claims the Sabbath as his "holy day," and "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord," it necessarily follows that the seventh day is the Lord's day.
16. What honor should be given to Christ? "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son;" that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him." John 5:22, 23.
17. How does God tell us to honor him? Isa. 58:13.
18. Then can we honor Christ as we ought, if we do not keep the Sabbath?—Certainly not.
19. Since the Sabbath is the memorial of creation, why should we keep it in honor of Christ, the same as in honor of the Father? "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds." Heb. 1:1, 2. "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist." Col. 1:16, 17.
20. If Christ made the worlds, how many days did he work in the beginning? "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. 20:11.
21. On what day must he also have rested? "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. 2:3. "For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works." Heb. 4:4.
22. As a consequence, of what does Christ declare himself to be Lord? "Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Mark 2:28.
23. Then when we say that the seventh day is the Lord's day, to whom do we refer by the word "Lord"?—To both the Father and the Son. See John 1:1-3. Note the following points made above: 1. The Sabbath is the memorial of God's creative power. 2. It is "the Lord's day." 3. Jesus Christ is Lord, and is one with the Father. 4. It was by the Son that the worlds were made. 5. Therefore we are told that the Son should receive equal honor with the Father. 6. And since we are told to honor God by keeping his holy day, the Sabbath (compare Isa. 58:13 and Ex. 20:8-11), it follows (7) that we cannot honor Christ as we honor the Father, without keeping the Sabbath.