Were the Christians of Past Centuries Sealed without the Sabbath?
By A. Delos Westcott
(Continued from Last Week.) EVERYTHING that Christ did, He did for us. He was baptized for those, like the thief on the cross, who were unable to be baptized for themselves. He kept the Sabbath for the Sabbath-breakers. He was sanctified that we might be sanctified. John 10:36; 17:19; 1 Cor. 1:30. By observing the true Sabbath, He had the sign of sanctification, "the seal of the living God;" "For Him hath God the Father sealed." See John 6:27; Eze. 20:12. As our High Priest, He is "One who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way." During the past centuries of ignorance and superstition, many did not understand the nature and mode of baptism. Thousands never heard anything concerning the seal of God. They only knew what they were told by their religious teachers, but they earnestly desired to do God's will. For such persons Christ was baptized, and for them He was sealed. Their baptism, therefore, and their sealing were exactly like Christ's. Nay, Christ's baptism and His sealing were theirs. "The times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent." Acts 17:30. There are times in earth's history when God ceases to excuse ignorance, when He sends special light and warning, and calls upon all men everywhere to repent. Such a time came when Noah was sent to warn the world of the coming flood. Such a time came when Christ and His disciples preached the Gospel in power "to every creature which is under heaven." Col. 1:23. Said Christ, "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." A person who prefers popular error to unpopular truth has no proper claims to honesty or loyalty to God. To reject truth is to reject its Author. Again Christ said, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin." Noah was sent of God to pull off the cloak of ignorance, that the people might be brought to a knowledge of their sins. John the Baptist was sent to begin the work of pulling off the cloak. It was continued by Christ and His disciples with wonderful success. During the Dark Ages, the people became so closely wrapped in the cloak of ignorance that the light of God's word was almost entirely shut out. Once more God raised up men to pull off the cloak. But the work was not completed. A great deal was accomplished, but reforms were still left for succeeding generations. God's last message of reform to this world is recorded in Rev. 14:6-12. The next event is the second coming of Christ and the end of the world. It is distinctly stated that this Threefold Message is "the everlasting Gospel," and that it is to be preached "unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." Who of those professing to believe the Bible will dare to say that the message is of little importance, or that it was not intended for them? The message begins with the announcement of the judgment, which must be readily recognized as pertaining to the Gospel. When Paul preached the Gospel, "he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come." Acts 24:25. In view of the impending judgment, the message calls upon men to "fear God, and give glory to Him; . . . and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." The last part of verse 7 is almost identical with the closing words of the fourth commandment, and suggests to our minds that just as our national independence is celebrated by the appropriate observance of the Fourth of July, so God's work of creation is celebrated by the observance of His sign, or memorial, the seventh day. See Ex. 20:8-11; 31:16, 17. "Fear God, and give glory to Him" suggests the exhortation, "Fear God, and keep His commandments;" and in Rev. 14:12 we read of the people who receive this Threefold Message, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Will not the faith of Jesus lead us to do just as Jesus did? He feared God, and glorified Him by keeping His commandments. See Heb. 5:7, 8; John 17:4; 15:10; 4:34; Ps. 40:7, 8. The second part of the message proclaims the fall of Babylon. Babel-builders named their work Bab-il, "the gate of God"—just what every church, or religious body, professes to be. But the people who coined the word had fallen into corruption and error, so that their creed was a confused mixture of error and truth. Their Bab-il, their "gate of God," was Babylon, confusion. Such an organization could not be the "gate of God;" it was only "confusion," "a mixture." From that day to this, any people who were confused and disagreed in their understanding of truth are classed in the Bible under the name of Babylon. Why are there hundreds of creeds in the world to-day? Is it not because they can not agree on what constitutes truth? If they were taught by the "Spirit of Truth," would He not teach all alike? Will the Holy Spirit enter one home and tell them that the seventh day is the true Bible Sabbath? then enter another home and say that the first day, or Sunday, is the day to be observed? Is God the author of hundreds of contradictory creeds? "God is not the author of confusion." 1 Cor. 14:33. Jesus prayed that His followers might all be one, and Paul speaks about "the unity of the faith." He says, "I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment." 1 Cor. 1:10. The apostles did not hesitate to say, "We have the mind of Christ," and, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." Surely Babylon is a flourishing organization to-day, and will be until the end of the world. Many of the Lord's people are in Babylon, but He is calling them out. Rev. 18:1-5.