DID you ever notice that each commandment in God’s holy law is directed to the individual? It is God’s code addressed personally to every man that comes into the world.
It is "Thou shalt," "Thou shalt not." "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them." "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain."
Churches or communities are not addressed as such. The word of God is to each unit making up the multitudes. It lays the responsibility of obedience or disobedience upon every individual. The man who utters oaths is held responsible for the offense. "The Lord will not hold him guiltless." It is the man bowing down to idols or images who is responsible for idolatry. God’s index finger points to the one individual, saying, "Thou art the man."
The rest of the commandments are the same. Every man is made responsible by God for Sabbath observance in his own home. "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 manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates." When each man senses his own obligation to keep the Sabbath of the Lord his God in this manner, there is no need for human enactments to enforce Sabbath observance upon communities. All will be Sabbath keepers. But no one is a Sabbath keeper who does not keep God’s Sabbath day. And there is only one Sabbath — the day pointed out in the commandment itself.
The Reward for Obedience
"AND, behold, one came and said unto Him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" Here is a personal question addressed to the Master by the individual. What shall I do? The answer is, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Jesus makes obedience personal. The individual himself must obey, if he would enter into life. "If thou wilt enter into life, keep" that which is pointed out in the commandments. All is to be done through faith in the personal Christ. He died to save the individual — you and me; not to give any one license to go on in disobedience to His direct personal commands, but by His grace given, that each may obey every one of those divine precepts. And at last, each is to give account of himself before God.
The one who keeps thus God’s commandments shall hear, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant [singular] . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Individual obedience is rewarded by individual salvation. Thus the hosts of the saved shall be gathered when the harvest of the earth is reaped. It is the individual "thou" who has "been faithful over a few things," who hears, "I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." T. E. BOWEN.
