THE SABBATH A SEAL TO GOD’S LAW.
By William Covert
THE United States soldier who has borne arms in the service of his country, need not be told the signification of the two letters which marked his accouterments. He knew that the U. S. which he wore clearly defined the power that he represented. He will continue to remember the American Eagle, the shield, the Seal of Arms. He does not forget the feelings which bounded up in the loyal heart when he marched after the banner of his country. The stars and stripes meant something to him then. Now, if earthly powers have their banners, their badges, their signs, and their seals, and these are worn by those who are employed in their service, will it not be a pleasing thought for them to know that He who rules the universe has prepared a significant emblem of his power by which those who serve him can show themselves loyal to his throne? It is significant that just as soon as he had created the world he ordained, dedicated, and sanctified the Sabbath day to be the sign and seal of his power. “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. The fact that the one who worships truly, worships Him who made heaven and earth and all things therein, is constantly kept before the mind of him who studies the Scriptures. We give a few references. “The Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king. . . . The gods that have not made the heavens and earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power.” Jer. 10:10-12. The conclusion drawn from the two scriptures above quoted is that no power save the God that made the world can make a sabbath for the world. The Sabbath for the world must be the rest from creation of the God that created the world. Therefore to attempt to make a sabbath apart from the Sabbath of the Lord is to set up an idol to worship instead of worshiping the God that made the heavens and the earth. “For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens.” Ps. 96:5. “Worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Rev. 14:7. “God that made the world and all things therein . . . is Lord of heaven and earth.” Acts 17:24. The God in these scriptures described, is the only power to be worshiped. That person who sacredly regards the Sabbath which God made and blessed thereby shows his loyalty and reverence for the Creator of all things. In harmony with these propositions the Lord through his prophet inspired the following words: “Hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” “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. 20:20, 12. The commandment recognized the same truth in regard to the significance of the Sabbath. It tells who the author of the law is, what his power is, and how far his jurisdiction extends. He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. He made all in six days. He rested from the work of creation on the seventh day. Because he did this, he blessed the rest day and set it apart for man. It was therefore to be a badge of the authority of the power that did all this. He also makes it to be a seal of the law that embodies it. No other point in the whole law defines who the author is. The Lord says, “It [the Sabbath] is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Ex. 31:17. The declaration in the above text is equivalent to saying that God made the Sabbath to be a sign, or seal, to be worn by his people, as an emblem of their loyalty to him. It is a sign that marks them as the worshipers of Him who made heaven and earth. It constantly points to Him who made man in the beginning and sanctifies him in redemption. If the Sabbath commandment were taken from the law, the seal of that law would be gone. Then the authority by which it was enacted and by which it was to be administered would be nullified. As far as the law itself is concerned, if the Sabbath commandment were not in it, it might be claimed by the worshipers of the sun to have emanated from their God. If any other than the seventh day were inserted in the commandment it would tell a falsehood instead of the truth. It is therefore no wonder then that Satan tries to have the Sabbath changed, or else stricken from the law altogether. If he could succeed in having the badge of Baalism inserted in the law in place of the badge and seal of God’s authority, having it take the place of the Sabbath that God placed in the law, and could then have the change respected, who then would thereby be worshiped? The reputed change of the Sabbath, from the day that God sanctified and blest to the day that was dedicated through the influence of Baalism to the worship of the sun, is an effort on the part of the enemy of all righteousness to have himself worshiped instead of the God that made the world. His success for the present is measured by what is seen among the inhabitants of the earth, yet the change is not real. God’s law is neither changed nor abrogated, and until Satan can annul or change the statutes of Jehovah the Sabbath will not be changed. Yet as some honestly think it has been done and are therefore acting as though it were accomplished, it becomes necessary to set them right. It is for the purpose of helping those disciples of Christ who are trying to obey the law while they are wearing the enemy’s badge, that the following admonition was written: “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.” Isa. 8:16. The speaker is Christ, because Paul applies verse 18 to the Saviour. See Heb. 2:3. The speaker in both verses is the same. The expression “my disciples” must therefore refer to those who are learning from Christ. The connection and especially the subject discussed in verses 19, 20, shows that the instruction to bind up the testimony and seal the law among Christians applies especially at this time. It is when many professed Christians are seeking after those who have familiar spirits, and at the same time are rejecting the law. Nevertheless there are those who are ready to wear the seal of loyalty to God as soon as they can be made to see that Sunday is the adopted badge of another power. With this class the testimony may be bound up and the law sealed. Their hearts are loyal and they want the true ensign of the God that they worship. The original word for seal has the sense of finishing and sealing up authoritatively. See the following: “And she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal.” 1 Kings 21:8. “Because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.” Neh. 9:38. “Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring: for the writing which is written in the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, may no man reverse.” Esther 8:8. God has written his own law and combined his seal in the writing, and no power in the universe less than himself can reverse it. He has told what that seal is, and why it was chosen among all the other commandments to be his seal. The thing to be bound up or gathered together is the testimony, the evidence, which seals the engagement. The sealing of the law among the disciples of Christ will bind up the testimony for them, so that it will not condemn them in the judgment. Christ must present the testimony for them in the judgment. Paul testifies that the law does not justify; but he says that it is used as a witness in favor of those who have been justified by faith in Christ. Rom. 3:20-22. The righteousness which is to pass the justified through the judgment is in Christ. Christ fulfills all the requirements of the law. Those who surrender all to Christ that they may harmonize with all the requirements of the law in him, will be so related to the judgment that the law will witness to their righteousness. With the seal and ensign of God they can properly be said to be keepers of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Such will have a strait testimony in the judgment. Every one of the ten witnesses will testify to their loyalty, and in the name of their God they can set up their banners. Ps. 20:5. But what can a witness whose testimony is always truth, do for him who has a crooked case to present in court? Let loyalty to the kingdom of God be seen upon the banner of all who ask the Lord to defend their case in the judgment.