A TESTING TRUTH by D. E. Scoles

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 23, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 25.

A TESTING TRUTH.

By D. E. Scoles

BY D. E. SCOLES.

LAST week it was shown that, even as in the days of Noah, God has now a special message. This message is to separate his people from the world. The central testing question, around which all others revolve, is that of the Sabbath. A few considerations will show this.

God's law is the eternal and unchangeable rule of his government. In the very nature of it, it must necessarily stand forever, because it is the only thing which reveals sin; and so long as the gospel is preached, it is manifest to every thinking mind that the law is still in existence and binding, else there would be no need of the gospel, which is the remedy for sin. Sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4); without the law there is no sin (Rom. 4:15); and if there be no sin, Christ died in vain. Therefore, the law must stand with binding force, and require universal obedience to-day. The Sabbath is a part of this great eternal and unchangeable law of the great Jehovah.

Christ said heaven and earth could pass away easier than a tittle of the law could fail (Luke 16:16), much less a whole commandment. The Sabbath was not made merely for the Jews, but was for all men, in all ages of the world. Mark 2:27.

Christ created the world (John 1:1–3; Col. 1:13–16; Heb. 1:8–10); and as the Creator of the worlds, he set up a monument of his creatorship. Creation is a proof of divinity. Only two beings in the universe can create—God the Father and God the Son. The Jewish translation gives Ps. 111:4 as follows: "He hath made a memorial for his wonderful works;" and in Ps. 135:13 God says that his "memorial" shall endure "throughout all generations." The Sabbath is that memorial, as the Lord tells us in Ex. 20:8–11. In Eze. 20:12 he says that the Sabbath is a sign between him and his people, that they may know that he is the Lord who sanctifies them, because it is the same One who sanctifies us that made the world. 1 Cor. 1:30.

Christ, having made the world, must necessarily have made the Sabbath. In Heb. 1:10 God the Father calls Christ, Lord, and says that he (Christ) made the earth and the heavens. In Gen. 2:2, 3 we learn that the One who made the world also made the Sabbath; hence Christ could truthfully say that he was "Lord of the Sabbath." Mark 2:28.

Now, what have we learned?—First, that Christ made the heavens and the earth, and set up the Sabbath as a monument to commemorate the fact—the very reason given in the fourth commandment of the Decalogue.

His creative power proved him divine. The proof of that power was that he made all things, and that which kept this creation in mind was the Sabbath. Therefore, as long as the Sabbath was observed, it kept in mind the true God. But Satan has had the most intense hatred toward God ever since he was cast out of heaven, and has sought to thwart and ruin God's plan in Christ. In no other way could his fiendish malice find such satisfaction, and his own plots of darkness succeed so well, as to dishonor Christ and hide him from view as a divine being—one worthy of worship; and in no way could this be done so well as to tear down the monument—the Sabbath—which Christ established as a proof of divine power. Hence, the Sabbath must stand, and is of necessity in full force and of universal obligation just so long as salvation comes through Christ and he remains a being worthy of worship, which will be forever. Rev. 5:13; Isa. 66:22, 23.

That the Sabbath of the Lord has been almost entirely lost from view none can deny. The steps by which it has been accomplished do not enter into the discussion at present. The principal thing to consider now is what is our duty just before Christ comes. The Lord tells us, in Isa. 56:1, 2, "Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice; for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed." What is the special message when his coming is "near"?—"Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that LAYETH HOLD on it; that KEEPETH the SABBATH from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil." "And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. 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; then shalt thou delight thy-self in the Lord." Isa. 58:12–14.

This message finds its way to the hearts of all the honest searchers after truth, and gathers out the last church, the "remnant," and thus fits them for the end. "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. 12:17. And the last thing before the Saviour appears, seated on the white cloud, is a company of whom it is said: "Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12. This company have heeded the message, "have purified" their "souls in obeying the truth," have taken hold of the Sabbath reform, and have their "Father's name written in their foreheads." And the pearly gates swing wide, "that the righteous nation which keep the truth may enter in," and they "stand upon the sea of glass, having the harps of God."

Who will accept God's call, engage in the reform, bear the reproach of the world, and a little way in the future share in the everlasting victory?