CHRIST AND THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH.
By J. Ernest Bond
Showing the Attitude of Christ toward the Law of God and the Sabbath which that Law Enjoins.
FOR Moses truly said unto the fathers, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto Me, Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people." Acts 3:22, 23. First, let us listen while He proclaims His relation to the law. "I delight to do Thy will, O My God, yea, Thy law is within My heart." Ps. 40:8. This the apostle Paul quotes in Heb. 10:7-10, and applies to Christ when He came into the world, offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin, and established, or confirmed, the second or new covenant by His own blood. Verses 9, 10. He delighted to do the will of God, because the law was in His heart. This could be none other than the law of Ten Commandments, for that was the only law given to man which made known the will of God. But this law commands the seventh-day Sabbath. Again it is declared of him (Isa. 42:21): "The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness' sake, He will magnify the law, and make it honorable." And this Christ did. When beginning His life as a public minister, in almost the first discourse, as recorded in the fifth chapter of Matthew, He defines very clearly His attitude toward the law. Verse 17 reads as follows: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." He did not come to destroy it, but to demonstrate before the universe that the law could be lived out in sinful flesh, when that flesh is fully surrendered to God. No, He did not destroy it, but fulfilled every precept, and declared concerning it: "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle [the smallest particle of a letter] shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matt. 5:18. That law is the will of God to man, and the keeping of that law is man's "whole duty." Eccl. 12:13, 14. He further declares concerning it: "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven [another version says, "farthest from the kingdom of heaven"]; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5:19. Our introductory text says if we do not hear Him, "we shall be destroyed from among the people." He says if we do not obey the law and teach it, we shall be called "the farthest from the kingdom of heaven." But if we do and teach it, we will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. But this law says the seventh day is the Sabbath. Will we hear Him and be saved? To hear is to obey. In verses 21-32, Christ magnifies the law, and thus fulfils Isa. 42:21. It is not only the overt act which is a violation of God's command, but whosoever is angry with his brother is a murderer, and "whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." And so we may reason in regard to every command of the Decalogue. The man who meditates on his business or pleasure on the Sabbath violates that command. Isa. 58:13. Christ kept the seventh-day Sabbath, and not only kept it, but taught the people how to keep it. It was a memorial of creation, designed to keep before the people the Creator, the true God, and, being a memorial of creative power, it was to be a sign to His people that He could make of them "new creatures." "I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." Eze. 20:12. The Jews had almost hidden this memorial from the people by their traditions. But Christ tore away this rubbish and caused the Sabbath to stand out in bold relief. When accused of Sabbath-breaking, He replied that He was guiltless. Thus He did not break the Sabbath. Matt. 12:7. Luke 4:16 reads thus: "And as His custom was, He went into the synagog on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read." It was His custom, not a happen-so nor an unusual thing. In Matt. 12:12 we read, "It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days." So we find Christ doing deeds of kindness, and many of His miracles were wrought on that day. It is very important that we follow Him strictly, "walk even as He walked." For "he that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk; even as He walked." But He kept the seventh-day Sabbath. The First Day Not Included in His Will.
The New Testament does not mention the first day of the week until after the death of Christ, and then not in any way that would indicate He ever intended it as a Sabbath. Therefore it could not be included in His will. While He lived it was His privilege to add to or take away from it. Heb. 9:16, 17. But after His death it could have nothing added to it, nor anything taken away. Paul, in speaking of this in Gal 3:15, says: "Brethren, I speak after the manner of men: Though it be but a man's covenant [margin, testament], yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto." Much less could the will, or testament, of our Saviour be altered after it was confirmed by His death upon the cross. In Christ's will, or testament, the law is written in the heart, and becomes an abiding principle in the life. Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10. This was spoken to the Jews, and must refer to the law of Ten Commandments, as there was, and is, no other law known to man which was a rule of life. It was written in the heart by the Spirit of God, and was the same law that was written on the tables of stone. 2 Cor. 3:3. Everything pertaining to His will was given before His death. Even the Lord's Supper, which was to commemorate His death, was given before He died, in order that it might be confirmed with the other articles of His will. But the first day (which Matthew does not mention until we come to the last chapter) Christ is in the tomb. The covenant is ratified. So it is with Mark. Read to chapter 16, which records the death of Christ, and you find no mention of the first day. Luke, like the others, does not mention the first day. The twenty-third chapter closes with the Testator in the sepulcher, and the holy women keeping the Sabbath, which is the seventh day, according to the commandment. Read carefully John's gospel to ch. 19:30, where Jesus said, "It is finished." He dies without adding the first day to His will. Why, O why, was it not put in along with the Lord's Supper?—Evidently because it did not belong there, and He did not want it there. He had placed one Sabbath in the week (Mark 2:27); it was perfect (Ps. 19:7); and it was to last forever (Ps. 111:9). The Testator was pleased with it, and refreshed by it (Ex. 31:17); and when the law is written on the heart, stating that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work" (Ex. 20:10); any other Sabbath would only be a rival, and opposed to the writings of the Holy Spirit. After the resurrection, Christ met with His disciples but one time on the first day, and that was when they were assembled for fear of the Jews. John 20:19. But this was not a meeting in honor of the resurrection; for Mark, referring to the same event in ch. 16:12-14 says they did not then believe He was risen. See Luke 24:33-38 and John 20:26. "After eight days" He went with them again; but this could not be the first day of the week. It must reach over to Tuesday at least. So we find the seventh-day Sabbath and nothing but the seventh-day Sabbath in either Christ's teachings or His life. Paul always utilized that day to teach the people. It was "his manner." Acts 17:2. In one village, as recorded in Acts 18:1-11, he spoke seventy-eight times. Christ, the prophets, and the apostles all observed the seventh day. We are to build on them. Eph. 2:19, 20. Christ is the chief corner-stone. Verse 20. He had the law in His heart (Ps. 40:8), and delighted to do God's will. If we build on Him, we will have the law in our hearts (Jer. 31:31-33; Heb. 8:10), and we also will delight to do His will. If we do not build on Him, our worship is vain (Matt. 15:9), and all of our teaching will eventually be rooted up. Matt. 15:13. "And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people." Acts 3:23. "IF YE LOVE ME, KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS." John 14:15.