SABBATH REFORMATION by G. E. Fifield

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Nov 8, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 45.

SABBATH REFORMATION.

By G. E. Fifield

THERE are several Sabbath reformations either recorded or foretold in the Scripture. We have already spoken of how Jesus magnified the Sabbath and made it honorable by ignoring the Rabbinical traditions which were contrary to the spirit of the Sabbath, and so made it of none effect. This was true Sabbath reformation.

When Israel were slaves in Egypt, driven by the lash of the taskmasters, many of them came to ignore the Sabbath. God sent Moses and Aaron to preach to them. And Pharaoh said: "Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? . . . Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens." Literally, Ye make them keep Sabbath. But Moses and Aaron said, "Thus saith the Lord, Let My people go, that they may serve Me." And the first we read of their religious observances after they left Egypt is where the Sabbath is plainly brought to view as separated from the other days of the week by the divine method of giving the manna. And when all did not faithfully observe the Sabbath, the Lord said, "How long refuse ye to keep My commandments and My laws?" Ex. 16:28.

The religion of Egypt was the most complex form of sun-worship. That Israel had been contaminated by this sun-worship is made certain by their worship of the golden calf, for this was but a representation of the life-giving power of the sun.

So here is a true case of Sabbath reformation. God, through Moses and Aaron, so preached His Word, and so gave the heavenly manna, the type of Christ, the true bread, that the Israelites were rescued from sun-worship and Sunday-keeping, and restored to the observance of the true Sabbath.

This is typical of the final proclamation of the truth and of the final work of deliverance, by which the Lord rescues His people from the Egyptian bondage of this world and opens for them the gates of the final Canaan of rest. Of this final work it is said, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people." Isa. 11:11.

At the consummation of that typical deliverance back there, Israel sang the triumphal song of Moses; but when the final deliverance is completed, the redeemed Israel sing the still more triumphal "song of Moses and the Lamb." Exodus 15; Rev. 15:3. Here, then, in the antitype, as back there in the type, we shall not be surprised to find a true Sabbath reformation. That there is need of such reformation here is most clear from the preceding papers. God’s Israel down here in their pilgrimage among the nations of the earth have been contaminated by their sun-worship. This paganism, as we have seen, has come into the church, bringing with it the sun festival, and driving out the Sabbath of the Lord. In support and justification of their false sabbath, the attempt has been made to falsify both history and the Bible, and yet its pagan origin can not be hidden.

But will the final church,—the church that shall meet the returning Lord and be translated

without seeing death,—will this church thus be contaminated with paganism? Will she be thus resorting to guile and deception to hide the pagan origin of her practises?—Ah, no! For Paul says Christ shall be presented with "a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Eph. 5:27.

John says of that final church, "In their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God." Rev. 14:5. Only one conclusion is possible from these texts,—there will be a true Sabbath reformation here, as back there. These pagan spots and wrinkles on the church’s garment of righteousness will be purged away. The guile and deception made necessary to support this pagan institution in the Christian church will have been swept away by the heavenly breezes of the Spirit. There will be those who will not have been defiled by the harlot woman, but who will follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. Rev. 14:4.

Of this final church which will be waiting to receive the Lord it is said, "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.

The very prophecies which foretell this pagan contamination, foretell also the final restitution in the true church. Of the "little horn," the Papacy, Daniel says, "He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time." Commentators quite generally agree that this period of time expired at about the beginning of this century. What inference could be more plain than that after this period of time these things should be taken out of the hands of this power? Indeed, we are not left to infer, for the next words are, "But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end." Dan. 7:25, 26.

In the age of types, the sanctuary was pitched in the center, and the hosts of Israel were encamped around. God’s sanctuary is now in heaven, "the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." Heb. 8:1, 2. But of the Christian, the true Israel of to-day, it is said, "God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, . . . hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Eph. 2:4-6. In God’s sight, who sees the end from the beginning, His children, the persecuted and forsaken of men on earth, are still the host of heaven, encamped around the throne.

In the sight of Daniel this same papal power is brought to view as magnifying itself against this host of heaven, and against this divine sanctuary; "and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered." Dan. 8:10-12. Here is another prophecy of this same persecution of God’s people and this same corruption of His truth by the Papal Church. No wonder an angel is heard saying, "How long shall be the vision to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?" The answer comes clear and plain, "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Dan. 8:13, 14. In interpreting this vision, the angel plainly says that this period of time begins at the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, which was 457 years before Christ. The Bible says of prophetic symbols, "I have appointed thee each day for a year." This makes this period end in A.D. 1844. If, therefore, there is any connection between that which caused the question to be asked and the answer of the angel, after 1844 A.D. there is to be a reformation. The truth which the Papacy has cast down to the ground is to be uplifted: the sanctuary is to be cleansed.

Israel frequently became contaminated with the paganisms around them. God in His mercy tolerated this for a time; but when the great day of atonement came, when the sanctuary was cleansed, then He said, "Whosoever shall not repent and afflict his soul on this day shall be cut off." While the high priest was in the sanctuary, Israel were confessing their sins and purifying themselves without.

As in the type, so in the antitype. The church here has, through the Dark Ages, become contaminated with paganism. The pagan sun festival has taken the place of the Sabbath of the Lord. God in His mercy, because of our ignorance, has tolerated this for a time. But let no man "lay the flattering unction to his soul" that because his fathers kept the Sunday instead of the Sabbath, it is all right for him to do the same. Truth is progressive. The Dark Ages are passed or passing. The day is dawning. The time of the cleansing of the sanctuary has come. As our High Priest enters that heavenly temple, unless we prostrate ourselves without, and confess our sins, and turn our faces and our hearts toward the light He sends us, we too shall be cut off from His true church that shall meet Him in peace when He comes. When thus cut off, we shall then belong only to that church which has on the Babylonian garment instead of the beautiful wedding robe of Christ's righteousness, and so shall we be destroyed by the brightness of His coming.

With these thoughts thus so solemnly brought before us, let us turn to that final book of Biblical prophecy, the Revelation. As might be expected, we find here this final reformation fully brought to view. As all Protestant commentators agree, in the thirteenth chapter, under the symbol of the beast, we have the work of the Papacy outlined, identical in every respect, in character and time of continuance, with the "little horn" of Daniel 7. Then, in the fourteenth chapter, the coming of the Saviour is set forth thus: "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle." Verse 14.

A Warning Message.

But before this a great threefold warning message of reformation and of protest against the papal beast is brought to view as going to every nation and kindred and tongue. The grand announcement begins: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come, and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."

The cleansing of the sanctuary was a work of judgment. The day of the cleansing of the typical sanctuary was understood to be typical of the great day of judgment. This announcement that "the hour of His judgment is come," immediately connects this message with the prophecy of the cleansing of the sanctuary, already referred to. The sanctuary was to be cleansed after the expiration of the twenty-three hundred days, or after 1844. The cleansing of that sanctuary is this work of judgment. This announcement, "the hour of His judgment is come," could not, therefore, be made until after A.D. 1844. Here, then, this message is definitely located.

This message is to preach the everlasting Gospel to every nation, kindred, and tongue. The great church to-day has lost sight of the fact that the Gospel of Christ is everlasting, the same in all ages. The false Sabbath the church has received has given them the false idea that the Old Testament, creation, and the giving of the law, were by the Father, and that Christ antagonized all these, and introduced a new age, a new Gospel. Instead, the Gospel is precisely the same in all ages, from everlasting to everlasting. That Gospel is the good news of the power and sufficiency of the divine love to cleanse the heart and make righteous the soul. "All Thy commandments are righteousness," and "love is the fulfilling of the law." Nothing, therefore, can make us righteous only that which can make us loving. And love is only born of love, the human of the divine.

This everlasting Gospel is the everlasting fact of God's unchanging love for sinners, and of the power of that love to redeem the soul. This great fact is to be proclaimed anew and more fully. The popular churches are losing this spirit of sacrificing love, and are so losing the Gospel, for this spirit and this only is the Gospel. As they grow loveless, they grow weak; and, conscious of this weakness, they resort to the power of the world. They are everywhere asking laws to compel people to be good according to their ideas. Becoming unwilling to serve as did the Master, they seek to rule. Thus the espoused bride of Christ allies herself with the world as did the church in the fourth century, and so becomes the adulteress, the harlot, Babylon.

So there follows "another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." Rev. 14:8. Truth is represented in the Bible by the pure wine, the juice of the grape. This intoxicating wine of Babylon is the false doctrines the church received from her unlawful connection with the pagan world. This wrath which comes with these false doctrines is the dragon spirit of force which seeks by the dungeons and the sword to enforce the false practices it has received. This, in short, is the beast power, instead of the Gospel, or love power.

Having reasserted the sufficiency of the Gospel, or love power, and proclaimed the sad fact that the churches are losing it, and are so becoming Babylon and fallen, then follows the solemn protest against the beast and his power and worship which is taking the place of the Gospel: "And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation." Rev. 14:9, 10.

Then the Spirit describes the people who are brought out by this protest against the papal beast: "Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Verse 12.

The beast, the Roman power, has "thought to change" God's law by introducing as a sign of its own power and authority the sun festival in the place of the Sabbath of the Lord. The papal beast has demanded that the church should keep its laws as thus changed, instead of the "commandments of God." She not only has demanded this, but by her "beast" power she has succeeded in compelling it for centuries, until, alas! the church has come to do it willingly.

But here is brought to view a great reformation, a world-wide, loud-voiced protest against the papal beast; and the result of this reformation is a people who "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Could anything be clearer than that here is prophesied a Sabbath reformation and a return to the faith once delivered unto the saints?

This threefold warning has been going to the world since 1844. It is repudiating all force, and appealing to the divine love alone as the power to save the soul. It is thus showing that the churches, by resorting to the civil law to enforce their decrees, are denying the everlasting Gospel, and so are becoming Babylon and fallen. It is making a mighty protest against the papal beast and his worship. The soul's supreme allegiance and religious obedience are the highest and only worship. Those who knowingly render this obedience to the papal law instead of to God's, do worship the beast. Says Father Enright: "Protestants, by their solemn act of keeping Sunday, acknowledge the power of the Catholic Church. The Bible says, 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy;' but the Catholic Church says, 'No; keep the first day of the week;' and the whole world bows in obedience."

Reader, in these papers this solemn message is coming to you. Will you "worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters," and keep His holy law? or will you be found worshiping the beast? "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are?" G. E. FIFIELD.