The Royal Law by F. C. Gilbert

Pacific Press Publishing Association

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 29.

The Royal Law

By F. C. Gilbert

BY F. C. GILBERT. (A Hebrew Christian.)

THE SABBATH LAW AND THE ATONEMENT.

ONE of the great charges the Lord preferred against ancient Israel was that the people were destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6. The Hebrew word meb-le, translated "lack," really means deficient. They had some knowledge of God and His law, but it was a deficient one. The result was that they were cut off, which is the full meaning of the word need-moo, translated "destroyed." By not having the correct knowledge of God they did not worship the Lord properly; this cut many off from God. It brought to them backsliding, coldness, formality, alienation. Is this not a true picture of the condition of the religious world to-day? Is there not an alienation from God, a coldness, a backsliding, an increase in formality? There must be a reason for this. The world is not a chance one; for whatsoever is sown, a harvest of the same kind will be produced. Gal. 6:7, 8.

Wrong Ideas of the Sabbath.

Among the things the professed church of God is deficient in to-day is the relation of the law of God to the Sabbath truth. The Bible has but one Sabbath. Luke 23:56. This is true from Genesis to Revelation. Gen. 2:2, 3; Rev. 1:10. But the tradition for some time has been, and it is a growing one to-day, that the seventh day is the Jewish Sabbath, a day that was given to the Jews when the law was given to them on Sinai; that when Christ died on the cross the law was abrogated and the Sabbath was changed to the first day of the week; and that the first day was observed by the apostles and the early Christian church during the first centuries, and has been handed down to the religious world till the present time.

Inasmuch as the real idea of the abrogation of the law and what was involved in it has been shown in previous articles, we will pass this by for the present, and proceed to examine the Sabbath law as it is in the Bible. The record of it is given in Ex. 20:8-11. We will give a word for word translation from the original Hebrew: "Remember the day which is the Sabbath to set it apart for a holy purpose. Six days thou mayest serve, and perform all kinds of labor, and the day which is the seventh is Sabbath to Jehovah thy God. In it thou shalt not perform any work; thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and thy cattle, and the sojourner who is in thy gates. Because in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested in the day which is the seventh. For this reason Jehovah blessed the day which is the Sabbath, and set it apart for holy purpose."

How Man Can Keep the Holy Sabbath.

In this command, as we read it, we find God telling us just why this Sabbath was made. To begin with, it states that the Sabbath must be observed for a holy purpose. Can every body do this? Can every one observe a holy day? The answer must be in the negative, because all mankind is not holy. Man sinned, and came short of the glory of God. Rom. 3:23. And all mankind is as an unclean thing, and this uncleanness is true both of within and without. Isa. 64:6; 1:5, 6. It is absolutely necessary, therefore, that a person become holy before he can observe the Sabbath according to the commandment. But one can not become holy of himself. John 15:5. He can be made holy only through partaking of the holiness of Jesus Christ. "Be ye holy; for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:16. Therefore to observe the Sabbath of the Lord as given in the law, one must be converted, be born again, know the power of the holy life, know the transforming grace of Jesus Christ. Matt. 18:1-3; John 3:3-5. No one, then, but a Christian can keep the Sabbath of Jehovah. Any one may observe any other day, but only a child of God can rightly keep the Sabbath of Jehovah.

There is nothing, however, in this law said about the Jews. It can be read and reread, and still not a single line nor a single word in it, from beginning to end, is said about the Jews. The Sabbath is said to be that of Jehovah; it is the Lord's holy day. Isa. 58:13. Then the Sabbath of the law belongs to Jehovah. But this Sabbath day is the seventh day, definite, clear, specific. In fact, all through the command the definite article is used, either for the seventh day or the day which is the Sabbath. The Sabbath of Jehovah is therefore the seventh day; and it is this definite seventh day which is Jehovah's Sabbath. It is not any other day; He never mentions any other day; therefore it can be no day save the one which He gave. There can be no Jewish Sabbath, no Gentile Sabbath; there was and is the Sabbath of Jehovah. This is the day that Jehovah gave to man. And why? He tells us the reason—because that in six days He made the heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.

Christ and Creation.

This, therefore, brings us to the matter of creation. In the first two chapters of Genesis it is plainly stated that God made this world in six days, and rested on the seventh. But the word "God" in Genesis 1 is invariably in the plural form. In no case is the word in any other form. (For a fuller discussion of this subject, see "Practical Lessons from the Experience of Israel for the Church of To-day," pages 136-139; 350-352.)

When the world was created God had a Co-worker. Who was the Co-worker? Here is the answer: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. ALL THINGS were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made." "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." John 1:1-3, 14.

This Word was Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God. It was therefore Jehovah Jesus who made this world. It was He, therefore, who made the Sabbath; for the Sabbath was made. Mark 2:27. Then when He had finished creating the world in six days, He made the seventh day the Sabbath. This Sabbath therefore became Jehovah Jesus' rest day. It was made by Him; it was made for Him. 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16.

When He came to earth He said that He was Lord of the Sabbath day. Mark 2:28. And why?—Because He was the one who, as Jehovah, made it. But He made it for man. Then from the time the first man was made, as long as there shall be man on the earth, for every such person the Sabbath was made. The first man Adam, however, became unholy by sin. God promised the second Man Adam, who was the Holy Man. 1 Cor. 15:45, 47. When the Holy Man imparts the new life to the unholy man, the latter becomes a new man in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17); and only in this way can the Sabbath of Jehovah Jesus be observed.

He made the Sabbath, originally, as soon as He could. In fact, the Sabbath could not be made any sooner than it was, unless the earth had been made in shorter time than He made it. As soon as the heavens and the earth were finished, He immediately made His blessed rest day for this earth. Gen. 2:1-3.

Christ the Re-Creator.

When He came to earth as the God-Man, He continued yet to do His work. John 10:30; 5:17. He came to earth as the Re-Creator; for "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." When a man accepts Jesus he is created in Christ Jesus anew, a recreation. After the Saviour had finished His work in this earth as the Re-Creator, in the afternoon of the sixth day, between the two evenings, just before the setting of the sun, He gave up His life for the sins of men, and as the Sabbath was about to begin, He was laid to rest. Luke 23:54-56. As at Creation, He rested again from His labors on the seventh day. So what the Sabbath was to Creation—the rest of Jehovah Jesus—it became to the work of recreation—the rest of Jehovah Jesus.

When on the cross, the last words the Saviour uttered were, "It is finished." His work in providing a ransom for sinners was done, and full and ample provision had now been made for man's sins. The blood was shed, the sacrifice offered. It will be freely admitted, however, that at this time the observance of any other day but the seventh was not known nor believed nor accepted. The Jews observed this seventh day; it was part of the divine law for which Jehovah Jesus died. It is then evident when He cried, "It is finished," and His blood was shed, there was no provision made for the observance of any other day in the Gospel plan for sinners, than the seventh day. There can, therefore, be no blood for non-observance of the first day, Sunday, or for any other day, save the day which is in the law for which Jesus Christ shed His own precious blood. Christ died to save men from violating the law; every command in the law; the law of seventh day breaking as for every other precept.

First-day observance having been introduced after the resurrection, it must be something for which there is no provision in the blood of Jesus; and where there is no law, there is no transgression. Rom. 4:15. Then the observance of any other day for the Sabbath must be

the same kind of doctrine the Jews originally believed, the doctrine of justification by works. But they were deficient in knowledge then, and were cut off. Should we not therefore learn some valuable lessons from their experience?