THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL AND THE UNCHANGEABLE SABBATH.
By W. W. Prescott
The Sabbath and Righteousness by Faith.
THE Gospel “is the power of God unto salvation; . . . for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.” It is “not by works of righteousness which we have done,” but “we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” This has been the only hope of salvation in all the ages. It was by faith that Abel “obtained witness that he was righteous,” and thus all the saints of old “through faith . . . wrought righteousness.” The experience of the Christian is wholly of faith. He receives Christ by faith, through believing on his name (John 1:12), and as he has received him by faith so he walks (Col. 2:6), and Christ dwells in his heart by faith (Eph. 3:17), and the life which he now lives in the flesh, he lives by the faith of the Son of God (Gal. 2:20), and indeed without faith it is impossible to please God. But this life of faith is none the less a real life. It is a life of the most earnest activity, in which all the works are “wrought in God.” In Christ we see this experience in its perfection. He said, “I live by the Father” (John 6:57), “I do nothing of myself” (John 8:28), and, “The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself; but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John 14:10). This was righteousness by faith, a life in which self did not appear at all. Revealing ourselves in our lives, or living unto ourselves, is sin, but Christ has “died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” 2 Cor. 5:15. Thus “he shall save his people from their sins.”
Entering into His Rest.
So it is evident that to be saved from sin is to be saved from our own works, and to cease from sin is to cease from our own works, that the works of God may be made manifest. We become wearied with our own works, and sin is a heavy burden, but the gracious invitation is spoken to us: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt. 11:28-30. But this is the very heart and soul of Sabbath-keeping, entering into his rest. This is made very clear by a consideration of this subject as presented in the fourth chapter of Hebrews. And first let it be noted that the chapter is dealing with the seventh day. “For he spake in5a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.” Heb. 4:4, 5. Thus when the Lord speaks of his rest he is talking about the seventh day. This also appears in the fourth commandment, where it is said, “But the seventh day is the Sabbath [rest] of the Lord thy God.”
What Is His Rest?
Let us now read the scripture: “And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest; altho the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief; again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so long a time; as it is said, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus [Joshua] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his [God's] rest, he also hath ceased [“rested,” R. V.] from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” Heb. 3:18 to 4:11.
It is easy to see that God's rest here spoken of, which is found in the seventh day, is righteousness by faith. They could not enter in because of unbelief, they came short of it because of a lack of faith, and there is the same danger that for the same reason we “should seem to have come short of it” (R. V.). “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), and have come short because of sin, but “whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23), and so through this lack of faith we are not saved from our own sinful works, and therefore come short of entering into his rest. But “this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:29), and “we which have believed do enter into rest,” since we enter into a completed work which has already been wrought out for us in Jesus Christ, just as “the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” But this is righteousness by faith, “even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference.” Rom. 3:22.
In the scripture quoted above two things are said to remain: First, “That some must enter therein” (into his rest), and second, “A rest [“keeping of a Sabbath” margin] to the people of God.” A careful reading of the context will show that these two things are one and the same experience, for the entering into his rest remains because “they to whom it [margin, “the Gospel”] was first preached entered not in because of unbelief,” and therefore a keeping of a Sabbath remains. Furthermore, “The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it can not rest. . . . There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isa. 57:20, 21), but “thou wilt ordain peace for us; for thou also hast wrought all our works in us” (Isa. 26:12); “for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). All this is the experience of Sabbath-keeping, “for he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased [rested] from his own works, as God did from his.”
What the Keeping of the Sabbath Is.
The keeping of the seventh day Sabbath is therefore the very opposite of righteousness by works, but is rather righteousness by rest, entering into his rest by faith. Instead of being the bondage of the law it is the freedom of the Gospel, the good news of release from all our own works and their consequences through the acceptance of his work in our behalf.
It is perfectly evident that no one can enter into God's rest except where that rest is, and as the seventh day is the only day on which he has thus rested and therefore declared to be his rest (Sabbath), so we can not enter into his rest by keeping any other day than the seventh day, but the rest into which we thus enter in the real keeping of the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week enables us to rest in the Lord during all the other days of the week. The Sabbath is thus like the spring whence flows the water of life, but without the fountain the stream would be impossible. The inquiry would naturally arise in many minds whether those who have never heard of the seventh-day Sabbath have therefore been cut off from the blessing of rest in the Lord. It is sufficient to say that, while rest in the Lord would have been impossible for any one had it not been for the Lord's rest which he has inseparably connected with the seventh day of the week, yet God holds man responsible only for the light which he gives to him. But when new light shines upon us we are to walk in the light. No one who has never received the light of the Sabbath truth in days past, needs to throw away any of his past experience because this new truth is revealed to him, but should gladly accept the blessing in it for him, saying with the apostle Paul, “I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly.” And so by the experience of Sabbath-keeping the righteousness which was before imputed by faith is now imparted by the same faith, and so one enters more fully into the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ.
Since there is only one rest and that is God's rest, and since he rested on the seventh day of the week and on no other day, it is evident that there has been and can be only one Sabbath. There has been only one Gospel through6all the centuries, the Gospel of righteousness by faith, the acceptance of the work of God in Christ for us in the place of our own works, and this Gospel is constantly preached to us in the ever-recurring and unchangeable Sabbath.
