THE SABBATH UNIVERSAL AND PERPETUAL.
By G.
HARDLY any one would think of trying to serve an earthly government by deliberately disobeying its laws, and teaching men that its constitution was of no force or importance. Even the most worldly critics are ready to censure any professed citizen or servant of the government who seems to act on that principle. But many professed Christians use every means and take every opportunity to belittle the law of God and make it of no effect. A contributor to a paper much given to weak attempts to undermine the law of Him whom it professes to serve, in referring to God’s holy day as “the Jewish Sabbath” says it “was wholly unique in Moses’ day.” As this writer cites Ex. 16: 22–30 and Eze. 20: 10–12, we know that he refers to the Sabbath of the Lord. But the day which the Lord calls His Sabbath—the seventh day, which He blessed and sanctified in the beginning (Gen. 2: 2, 3), which He commanded at Sinai (Ex. 20:8–11), and which He and His apostles observed, is in no sense a “Jewish sabbath.” It was appointed at Creation, when no such designation as “Jew” or “Jewish” was known. Adam was not a Jew, and the Creator says “the Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27), not for any particular race, or class, or nation. Such distinctions were as yet unknown when the Sabbath memorial was instituted. Moreover Moses, as will be seen in Exodus 16, reminds the people of Israel of the Sabbath day as an institution already established, altho this was several weeks before they arrived at Sinai. The “Jewish,” or ceremonial sabbaths, such as pertained to “the law of commandments contained in ordinances” (Eph. 2: 15), were abolished with all the other ceremonials that ended by limitation when Christ was offered on the cross. But the Sabbath of God’s “perpetual covenant,” which is a sign between Him and His people “forever” (Ex. 31: 16, 17),—the Sabbath which lies at the very heart of the law of which Christ will not destroy even a jot or tittle while heaven and earth shall stand,—is not to be abolished. That law, of which the Sabbath is an essential part, being the seal, is all the more established by the faith of the Gospel. Rom. 3: 31; Rev. 14: 12. The Sabbath is not only of perpetual obligation, but it is of universal application. Isa. 66: 22, 23.