The Day of the Fourth Commandment.
THERE are many thousands of Christians in this land who believe in the binding obligation of the Decalogue. They believe it to be the law of the eternal Jehovah, perpetual, unchanging. The only question in their minds is, Is it a day that is commanded, or is it only a particular portion of time, which may fall upon any day of the week? It is an important question, affecting all within the scope of the law. Before God's judgment bar it is important to be right. What does the commandment say? Let us read: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Let us question this law: 1. What are we told to do?
"REMEMBER," that is, keep in memory. This must refer to something already in existence. 2. What are we told to remember?
"Remember the SABBATH day." 3. What does Sabbath mean?
"Sabbath," or "shabbath," is a Hebrew word meaning "rest." 4. What then are we told to remember?
"Remember the REST day to keep it holy." 5. What day is the rest day?
"The SEVENTH day is the rest day of Jehovah thy God." 6. What makes it the rest day of Jehovah?
"For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, . . . and RESTED the SEVENTH day." 7. What did Jehovah's resting on the seventh day make that day?
"The seventh day is the SABBATH [rest] of the Lord thy God." 8. What are we to remember to do to the Sabbath?
"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it HOLY." 9. Will the proper observance of the Sabbath day render it holy?
"Remember the Sabbath day to KEEP it holy." 10. Who only made and can make holy the day?
"Wherefore JEHOVAH blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it," that is, made it holy. 11. When did Jehovah do this?
In the first work of creation. "And God blessed the seventh day, and SANCTIFIED it"—made it holy, set it apart, separated it, to a holy use. Gen. 2:2, 3. 12. Are we told to remember the proportion of time?
"Remember the Sabbath DAY." 13. Did God bless a seventh part of time?
"Wherefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath DAY." 14. Did God hallow or set apart the seventh part of time?
"Wherefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath DAY, and hallowed IT." 15. What, then, are we to remember to do?
"Remember the Sabbath day to KEEP IT HOLY." We need not ring the changes more. God rested on the day, blessed the day, made the day holy, and commanded His people to keep the day holy, which He has made holy. We can not make holy by any act or acts of ours that which He has not made holy. Only people whom He has cleansed can keep holy His Sabbath. How unreasonable it is for puny man to assume to declare that God has given no day in particular for the Sabbath in the face of His own law! How preposterous it is to declare that God has set apart no day in particular, and then assume to set apart by the means of church dogma and human legislation a day which has received no divine blessing or sanction! Why charge God with the folly of leaving the world without a definite day, and so in confusion, and then exalt man with the wisdom of supplying the alleged defect in God's plan? O how infinitely better it would be to accept of God's Sabbath, clear, blessed, and definite, the day observed by Jesus Christ, and keep it holy unto Him, and partake of the double blessing to the obedient!