THE LORD'S DAY by MAX HILL

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Nov 7, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 43.

THE LORD'S DAY.

By MAX HILL

What the Prophets Testify.

"JOHN was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Was this the seventh or the first day of the week? Speaking of the Sabbath, by the mouth of Isaiah, the Lord Himself calls it "My holy day," "the holy of the Lord" (Isa. 58: 13); and Jesus declared: "The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Mark 2: 28. He spoke of the seventh-day Sabbath evidently, for the Jews knew no other; and this day is the day He calls His own.

There is further evidence in the Revelation. The long vision ended, John fell upon his face before the heavenly messenger. To him it seemed so wonderful—the message the angel bore—that he was impelled to worship the bearer; but the angel said: "See thou do it not; I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren the prophets, and with them that keep the words of this book; worship God." Rev. 22: 8, 9. He was a fellow-servant, serving the same Master. The aged seer and the heavenly messenger were thus classed together by the angel. More than that, the angel includes the "brethren the prophets," and "them that keep the words of this book." Then let us look to these prophets and those who keep the words of this book for some evidence as to the Sabbath, the law; for "servants" keep law.

What the Prophets Say.

Simple quotations will suffice: "Blessed is the man . . . that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it." Isa. 56: 2. "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.

Read the testimony of Jeremiah: "Thus saith the Lord unto me, Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; and say unto them, . . . Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. . . . And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently harken unto Me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein; then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David; . . . and this city shall remain forever." See Jer. 17: 19-25.

Ezekiel bore the same message: "I gave them My statutes, and showed them My judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover, 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." "And hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Eze. 20: 11, 12, 20.

After the return from the Babylonian captivity, many profaned the Sabbath. Nehemiah writes: "In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses, . . . and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. . . . Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath." Neh. 13: 15-18. In that day the Lord severely punished those who disregarded His law. Will He not do as much again when He sets His hand to cleanse the earth from all sin?

Many others speak of the Sabbath, all referring to the day observed by God's people throughout the history of the world. The angel referred to these prophets as fellow-servants with himself and John, who served the same Master, kept His law in every part. Surely if they were wrong in this the angel would not have mentioned them.

John himself also had much to say in regard to the law of God. "He that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him." 1 John 3: 24. "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." 1 John 5: 3. "And this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it." 2 John 6. That which those early Christians had heard from the beginning was the law of God from Sinai. They knew no other but that law of love,—love to God in having no other gods before Him, worshiping no graven images in His stead, taking His name not in vain, and keeping holy His Sabbath, the day on which He rested from the labors of Creation, the day which He blessed and sanctified; love to man by honoring parents, holding precious the life of fellow men, guarding sacredly the marriage relation, respecting the property of others, bearing no false witness, and coveting nothing belonging to a neighbor.

The Book of the Revelation.

Now as to the "words of this book." After a series of prophecies that bring us down to the present time, the time of the end, the prophecy designates a certain class of whom it is written: "Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14: 12. Now the only commandments of God, as yet delivered to men, are those He wrote on the tables of stone and gave to Moses on the Mount. None but the author or maker of a law can alter it in any way, by change or substitution; and Jesus said plainly: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matt. 5: 17, 18.

In the final words of the Revelation, the admonition is given to those who hear the words of this book, which contains repeated mention of the commandments of God, the Sabbath included: "If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words

of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." Rev. 22: 18, 19.

Again referring to the words of our Lord, we find the same thought regarding the commandments: "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." Matt. 5: 19. But on the other hand, "Whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Verse 19. Shall we be among the "great" in the kingdom of heaven, or shall we hear the words, "Depart from Me, I never knew you?" The time is coming, and speedily, when all the nations of the earth will stand before the Judge, to hear these words of doom, or the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant. . . . Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." These will be those who have kept the commandments, for no others are pronounced blessed. Rev. 22: 14.

MAX HILL.