p. 6 | Our Example

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 9, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 28.

Our Example

THE SABBATH. NO. 6.

Christ and the Sabbath.

CHRIST was the active agent in the creation of the world. He is the Word by whom all things were made. John 1:1-3, 14. This is corroborated by Paul, who is equally explicit: "By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him." He not only created, but He maintains, as the apostle adds that "He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." Col. 1:16, 17.

We refer to the foregoing positive testimony because so much of modern theology, and especially of modern Sabbath theology, seems to reckon Christ as having first appeared on the stage of action when He was born in Bethlehem of Judea. Therefore, Christ being the active agent in the creation, it was He who rested on the seventh day, and "blessed" and "sanctified" it. He made it "for man," and thus it was that He became "Lord also of the Sabbath day." Mark 2:27, 28. Christ was the angel that was in the pillar of cloud to guide in the work of delivering Israel from Egypt. Ex. 13:20-22; 14:19, 20. He continued with them through the wilderness. This is established by the fact that this Angel was one which had power to forgive sins (Ch. 23:20-23); to which Paul adds that "they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them [margin, "went with them"]; and that Rock was Christ." 1 Cor. 10:4. These testimonies show that it was Christ who spoke through Moses to the children of Israel, saying, "Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you." Ex. 31:13.

It was Christ who spoke through the prophets (1 Peter 1:10, 11); therefore it was He who said to Israel: "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; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Isa. 58:13, 14.

Our Example.

When Christ took upon Him our human nature, that is, when "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us," He became a personal every-day example to all men. So we may safely follow His example and teaching in Sabbath observance. He, being Lord of the Sabbath day, would know the proper time and manner of its observance. Furthermore He came to do His Father's will, having the law in His heart (Ps. 40:7, 8), and His example would be the Father's will in the matter of Sabbath observance. He came to do His Father's will, and did do it. John 4:34; 15:10. Not only so, but He passed it on to His disciples. John 17:17.

Christ inaugurated a Sabbath reform, showing that He deemed it an institution of importance. He reproved

the Jews for disregarding the law, saying to them, "Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." Mark 7:9. This reproof had special reference to the fifth commandment, but their action in this respect was a violation of the whole law (James 2:10); and they had more burdensome tradition connected with the Sabbath than with any other institution. Christ ignored in His own practise the yoke of bondage which they had attached to the Sabbath, but He honored the day, and gave no hint that they observed the wrong day.

All the instances of controversy between Christ and the Jews regarding the Sabbath show that there was no conflict as to the day. Jesus and His disciples passed through a cornfield on the Sabbath day, and the disciples, being hungry, plucked some of the grain. The Pharisees complained that the act was unlawful; but Jesus referred them to an act of David, permitted by the priests, that was unlawful on any day, but was committed on the Sabbath day. Yet because of their hunger, David and his men ate the showbread from the sanctuary, and were not condemned. Luke 6:1-5.

When the Pharisees thought to accuse Him if He should heal a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, He asked, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?" Having thus enunciated the true principle of Sabbath-keeping, He healed the afflicted man. Verses 6-11. His doctrine was, and therefore is, that "it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days." Matt. 12:12. The inconsistency of His critics is shown in their willingness to relieve suffering animals on the Sabbath day while refusing a like kindness to their suffering fellow-men.

By the healing of the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5), and the man who was born blind (chapter 9), Jesus taught that works of necessity and mercy were of more importance than all the narrow traditions that selfish men, however good in their own estimation, could invent. While the Pharisees were seeking to kill Him for disregarding their mode of Sabbath-keeping, Jesus said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." John 5:17. But in all His words or deeds there is no intimation that He removed aught of the sanctity of the seventh day. He had not come to destroy "one jot or one tittle" of the law.

The Definite Day of the Sabbath.

Men who try to overthrow the Sabbath of the Lord by inducing people to observe some other day than that which the Lord blessed and sanctified and commanded, are wont to advance various pretexts for disobedience. They tell us that the real time of the Sabbath of the commandment is not known now; that the computation of time has been changed, and in the confusion of various styles of reckoning, it is impossible to know what day represents the original seventh day. But Christ has guarded that point by personal recognition of the day at different periods. He has given three points of such certainty that no one need be at a loss to know the right day. All that is necessary is to heed the word and example of Christ. These three points are:-

(1) The creation. There the day was set apart by divine example, by special blessing, and by formal sanctification. The seventh day of the first week of time as pertaining to the earth was chosen as the Lord's rest day, and as the seventh day should afterward recur it was to be observed in like manner by man. (2) The Sabbath day was again definitely located just after the deliverance from Egypt. Not only was the sanctity of the institution solemnly impressed upon the people, but the day was indicated in a miraculous manner every week for forty years. (3) During our Lord's sojourn on earth, another period of over twenty years after He is known to have realized His mission, He gave divine sanction to the day kept by the Jewish people. Thus it is clear that however they had perverted the Sabbath as to the manner of its observance, they had maintained the true day. Christ's example demonstrates that He recognized the day kept by the Jews of that period as the Sabbath, the day sanctified at creation and proclaimed at the exodus.

Having the definite seventh day fixed by the practise of the Lord of the Sabbath at that time, we need make no mistake as to the day in our time. The Jew is a continuous landmark from that day to this, in all parts of the civilized world; and there never has been any confusion on their part. And at the advent of Christ, and for a long time previous, the heathen made a special holiday of the first day of the week in honor of the sun as their chief deity, which holiday in time became recognized in the church. So that from the time of Christ's earthly ministry to the present day there has been special first-day observance of some character, which has invariably followed the seventh day as observed by the Jews and by such Christians as have chosen to regard the precept and example of Christ rather than the tradition of men. Thus by blessing, by commandment, by example, and by landmark, Christ has guarded the day of His holy Sabbath beyond the possibility of reasonable doubt as to its identity. G.