THE EVANGELISTS AND THE SABBATH.
By W. L. Iles
I WISH to show first what the evangelists have taught concerning the Sabbath by teaching the law, and so we give the Sabbath command in full:— "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; 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; 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." Will this command enforce upon the Jews one day, and upon the Gentiles some other day? If not, and the Jews keep the commandment by resting upon the seventh day, or Saturday, how can we keep the commandment by resting upon the first day, or Sunday? Christ kept the commandment as it should be kept, but he kept it by resting upon the seventh day. The commandment says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath." How, then, can the first day be the Sabbath? As long as the commandment exists, the seventh day is the Sabbath. The apostles taught that the law should be kept in the new dispensation; therefore they taught that the seventh day is the Sabbath. The commandment says, "In it [the seventh day] thou shalt not do any work;" but this day is the busy day of the week. In the time7of Christ it was not so. The world has turned away from the Sabbath of the Lord, and has been trampling under their feet one of God's holy commandments. "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 thyself in the Lord." Isa. 58:13, 14. Then turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, if thou desirest to delight thyself in the Lord; for God will fulfil his promise. The New Testament recognizes the seventh day as the Sabbath. "And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes." John 9:14. This is a clear, plain statement, and if we can determine what day it was that Jesus healed the blind man, then we may know which day is the Sabbath. The Jews condemned Christ for healing the man on the Sabbath. If it had been any other day than the seventh day, they would not have condemned him. In this text, therefore, the seventh day is recognized as the Sabbath. "And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun." Mark 16:1, 2. It will be seen that the "Sabbath was past," before the "first day of the week" came. It is true that Christ was raised from the dead upon the first day of the week, but the Sabbath "was past" before his resurrection. The expression "first day of the week" proves that it is not the Sabbath. The Sabbath is the last of the week, and not the first. When the evangelists used the expression "first day of the week," it is evident they did not consider it the Sabbath day. "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher." Matt. 28:1. In this text, we have two days mentioned. One is called the Sabbath, and the other is called first day of the week. It is impossible for the first day of the week to be the Sabbath, if it "began to dawn towards the first day of the week," "in the end of the Sabbath." The apostle in this text recognizes the seventh day as the Sabbath. "And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counselor; and he was a good man, and a just. . . . This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulcher that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulcher, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them." Luke 23:50 to 24:1. In this text we have three days mentioned. One is called the "preparation day;" the second is called "the Sabbath day according to the commandment;" the third is called "the first day of the week." We now give the events that occurred on each of these days. The preparation day is the day before the Sabbath. The day that Christ was crucified was the preparation day, for the Sabbath drew on. "And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath." Mark 15:42. This day is called "preparation day," because it is the day that God had directed should be used to prepare for the Sabbath. "And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow 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." Ex. 16:23. On this day our Lord was crucified and buried. The day following the crucifixion day was the Sabbath day according to the commandment. We could justly infer that some other day would not be the day according to the commandment. We are told in the commandment to "remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." "The seventh day is the Sabbath." Why shall we remember it?—"For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day." The Sabbath day of the commandment is the rest day of creation. When the holy women kept the day "according to the commandment," they rested upon the day that God rested upon when he created the heavens and the earth, and afterward blessed and sanctified it. We have but very little said concerning the events that occurred while Jesus was resting in the tomb. It is simply called the "Sabbath day according to the commandment." It was upon this day that the chief priests and Pharisees came unto Pilate, and desired him to make the sepulcher sure, for they remembered what Jesus had said, "After three days I will rise again." And "so they went, and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch." Matt. 27:62-66. We now give the events of the "first day of the week." The women, after seeing Jesus laid in the tomb, on preparation day, or Friday, started for their home, but stopped on their way in the city, and bought sweet spices, intending to come to the sepulcher and anoint Jesus at some future time. They rested the Sabbath day, and came to the sepulcher early the first day of the week, expecting to anoint the body of Jesus. The stone was rolled away, and Jesus had risen. "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue; neither believed they them. Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen." Mark 16:9-14. It would seem from the events that transpired upon this day, that the disciples considered it a common working day. The women expected to anoint Jesus, a thing they would not do on the Sabbath. The two disciples walked to Emmaus from Jerusalem, a distance of seven and one-half miles. Luke 24:13, 14. This is more than a Sabbath day's journey. Acts 1:12. After a day of mourning, of doubts, and fears, the eleven apostles met in their home, in an upper chamber. Acts 1:13. They had closed the door, and were eating supper, when Jesus appeared in the room, and upbraided them because of their unbelief. This could not be a meeting to commemorate the resurrection, for they did not believe he was risen, and, at the close of the day, they were reproved for unbelief. It is evident, from an examination of the texts, that the Sabbath of the New Testament is bounded by the crucifixion day and the resurrection day. On the sixth day Jesus was offered as a sin-offering. On the Sabbath day he quietly rested in the tomb. On first day he took up his work again, in active life, convincing his disciples of his resurrection.