Two Sabbath Reforms—Which?
By T.
THE first part of the thirteenth chapter of the book of Revelation describes the great "beast" power that has been the strong persecutor of righteousness all down the ages. This "beast" has appeared at different times under various guises or "heads," and in this chapter under consideration, it is said that the prophet saw one of his heads apparently doomed to destruction. His words are: "And I saw one of his heads as tho it had been smitten unto death; and his death stroke was healed; and the whole earth wondered after the beast; and they worshiped the dragon, because he gave his authority unto the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? and who is able to war with him? . . . And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; and there was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, every one whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb that hath been slain. If any man hath an ear, let him hear." Rev. 13:3-9. All agree in saying that the great beast power of the Apocalypse is the persecuting force that Satan has exercised against the true church of God. The sixteenth century Reformation that swept Europe carried with it a spirit of freedom and liberty that every one said would destroy the "beast" power of persecution from the face of the earth. Our "civilization of the twentieth century" is one of the outgrowths of that mighty Reformation. And men are saying that we can never have persecution and its horrors as in the days of old. Those who are saying this the most strongly are the evolutionists, who believe that the race is developing irresistibly toward a higher plane. But God has spoken right into the face of this strong evolutionist sentiment, that the "death stroke" of the beast is to be healed, and all the world is to wonder after him; all will worship him who are not standing with the Lamb that has been slain. We will see erelong who knows best—the infinite God who sees the end from the beginning, or finite, erring, mortal man. Such, in brief, is one of the prophecies that tell of the restoration of the beast, or the persecuting power. And that restoration is to be right at the end of time; for the most solemn warning in all the Bible is directed against it, and that warning prepares a people to stand ready for translation at the coming of Christ. The words of the warning are these:5 "And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, If any man worshipeth the beast and his image, and receiveth a mark on his forehead, or upon his hand, he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of His anger; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment goeth up forever and ever; and they have no rest day and night, they that worship the beast and his image, and whoso receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:9-12. Three leading things are warned against in this text. There is the "beast," his "image," and his "mark." The last part of the thirteenth chapter of Revelation tells the story of the "image" and the "mark." There is another beast introduced there which helps on the beast that had the death stroke, and causes all the world to worship the wounded beast and to receive his mark. Now we have the issue fairly before us in the language of the prophetic Scriptures. A beast power comes forward demanding homage. All the world are told that they must worship him and receive his mark. If they do not do this they will have to suffer death, as is shown by the latter part of the thirteenth of Revelation, which we have not taken the space to quote. And while these combined beast powers are demanding worshipful allegiance (which, by the way, shows that they will be religious powers), the mighty God is sending a strong message against this destructive apostasy. It is not necessary to say that no combination can be formed that will finally win against the infinite Jehovah. But you ask, What is this "mark" that the beast power is demanding shall be received, and against which God sends such a strong warning? A little thought will enable one to see how to avoid receiving it. It is said of those who are developed under the message that God sends, "Here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus"—three great distinguishing characteristics, "the patience of the saints," keeping "the commandments of God," and "the faith of Jesus." They are Christians, for they have the faith of the Christ. But they also keep the commandments of God, and they have the patience of the saints. They seem to have a well rounded out Christian character. Until very recent years, there was not much controversy in the Christian world concerning the commandments of God. All agreed that they should be kept. But while all are still agreed concerning nine of the Ten Commandments, yet it has been pointed out clearly in recent years that the Sabbath commandment does not call for Sunday keeping. There is no evading the fact that it calls for the observance of the day the world calls Saturday. And while this commandment calls so plainly and explicitly for the observance of the seventh day, which the world names Saturday, there is not to be found in all the Bible a single whisper of evidence that God had ever transferred the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. God is not the author of this apparent change of the Sabbath. In recent issues of this paper, we have shown, however, that a power was pointed to in prophecy that would think to change God’s law. The issue, then, is over the commandments of God, because the ones who triumph with God are found keeping His commandments. And the mark of apostasy would have to be, from the very nature of the controversy, an institution that would set up a rivalry to God’s commandments. And see how strikingly the facts harmonize with the prophecy. The prophecy foretells a controversy that was to involve God’s commandments. And we have right before us in the world to-day two rival sabbaths. One is plainly required by the commandment of God, and the other has only the authority of man. A world-wide movement is gaining ground and momentum, which seeks to make the observance of Sunday universal by the enactment of human law. They tell us that man’s physical and spiritual natures both require it, and that we can not advance to the highest civilization till we have Sunday laws everywhere, and have them rigidly enforced. All through the past, when men have sought to compel the consciences of their fellows by demanding something of them that was contrary to the plain teaching of the God of the Bible, they have found that men who really believe God will not yield. They stand ready for any persecution or any suffering, but to yield a conscience that remains truly connected with God is an impossibility. This unyielding spirit over purely matters of conscience and religion is taken by men to be nothing more than stubbornness, and all the governmental machinery is set to work to break the stubborn will. Is it possible that such a bitter struggle confronts the men of this generation? We have these two rival sabbaths. One of them rests on a divine command, and the other on human law only. And we have the prophecy which tells of the fierce conflict that will be waged with the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus as the issue. Where do we stand? Are we with God and His plain Word, or will we take the awful risk of trusting to the sheer force of numbers that depends on human enactment for a divine institution?