Did Christ Observe the Seventh-day Sabbath?
By E. Hilliard
SOME say that he did, others say that he did not. We have no other standard but the Bible by which to test these opinions, so let us see what it teaches respecting this question. After our Saviour had restored sight to the man who was born blind, the Jews accused him of desecrating the Sabbath. Many persons take sides with the Jews and claim that Christ did this miracle and others on this day, to show that he no longer regarded the Sabbath that the Jews observed, as holy time. They say that he was preparing the minds of the people for the reception of a new sabbath which he was about to institute. If those wicked Jews were the only ones who said that the day upon which this marvelous cure was effected was the Sabbath, there might be a deeper shade of reason in the above position; but there is better and clearer testimony. The apostle who penned this narrative some sixty-three years after Christ's resurrection, calls the same day the Sabbath. Hear his words: "And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes." John 9:14. He does not say that it was the day that the Jews called the Sabbath, or that it used to be the Sabbath, but plainly says it was the Sabbath day. Again: When Jesus was about to heal the man with a withered hand, the Pharisees kept their eyes on him to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, that they might accuse him. They asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days?" There was no dispute between Christ and the Jews respecting the day being the Sabbath, but it was in reference to whether healing was a work that was proper to be done on that day. After the Saviour had shown to them that it was a work of mercy, and therefore perfectly proper to be performed on the sacred day, he answered their question in the following words: "Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days." Matt. 12:10-12. We justly infer from Christ's answer here that the violation of the Sabbath consisted in going contrary to some law that enforced it. Webster defines lawful—"Constituted by law; conformable to law." From this we must conclude that Christ observed the Sabbath enjoined by the law given on Sinai, for this is the only instrument whatever, in the whole Scriptures, that enforces the Sabbath by lawful measures. Matthew, who wrote six years after the resurrection of Christ, mentions the first day of the week in contradistinction from the Sabbath: "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher." Matt. 28:1. We also learn in Acts 13:42 that some thirty years after the resurrection both the Jews and the Gentiles repaired to the synagogue on the Sabbath to hear Paul preach. After the Jews had gone out, the Gentiles went to Paul and invited him to preach the same words to them the next Sabbath. Nearly the whole city came together at the appointed time. "And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God." Verse 44. Some tell us that the reason these meetings were held upon the seventh-day Sabbath was that it presented a more favorable opportunity for Paul and Barnabas to preach Christ to the Jews. On this very occasion these people became envious and contradicted Paul and his fellow-laborer, and even blasphemed. Then these noble men waxed bold and addressed these wicked Jews in the following manner: "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." Acts 13:46. Now after they had rejected the gospel, and these apostles had turned to the Gentiles, there was no obstacle in the way of proclaiming a new sabbath, if, indeed, one had been instituted. But no hint is given of any such thing. We have learned, on the contrary, that Christ kept the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and that inspired writers called the same day the Sabbath many years after Christ was raised from the dead. Dear reader, let us obey the teachings of the word of God, and follow the example of our blessed Saviour, no matter if the whole world should stand against us. E. HILLIARD.
Medford, Minn.