WHICH DAY DO YOU KEEP?
By A. Smith
God declares Himself to be "I AM" (Ex. 3:14), not I Was, or I Will Be. Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." He existed before Abraham, and ever after. What He speaks, therefore, or commands, is the truth coexistent with Himself, unless He expressly declares limitations to His Word. He spoke all the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai. "He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law." James 2:11. So, also, He that said, "Thou shalt not steal," said also, "The seventh day is the Sabbath." "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10. When we read in the Bible that the seventh day is the Sabbath, it is God's Word to us; but if it is no longer the Sabbath, that Word is not true. It is daring presumption for man to attempt to stultify or contradict the Word of God. God is competent to proclaim His own law, and quite intelligent enough to make His meaning understood without the medium of human interpretation. After the crucifixion and burial of Jesus certain holy women (Christians) "rested the Sabbath day according to the [fourth] commandment." Luke 23:56. They could not have rested according to the commandment if the moral law had been nailed to the cross the day before, and thereby been abolished. Those, therefore, who read the fourth commandment on that Sabbath day read the Word of God,—"The seventh day is the Sabbath;" and it has read that way ever since. But professing Christians and people of no religious profession say that the first day of the week, or Sunday, is the Sabbath. Will God yield His judgment to theirs? In this matter they just as certainly contradict God as did the serpent who tempted our first parents in Eden. The commandments of God and the commandments of men, in this matter, stand in antagonism. It is not difficult to understand what the issue will be. Reader, where stand you? A. SMITH. Grandville, Kent Co., Mich.