Sunday Laws and Sabbath Observance
By Daniel H. Kress, M.D.
Wrong Views of Sabbath-Keeping—Christ Himself Charged with Sabbath-Breaking—Man Must Be Converted to Keep the Sabbath
All Sunday legislation is based upon a wrong conception of what Sabbath observance is. The Sabbath was never designed as a day of physical rest or idleness. There is nothing in science, in nature, or in the law of God, which indicates that one day in seven, or some special day, is needed or has been set apart for physical rest. Idleness is a curse on any day of the week, for the devil always finds something for idle hands and minds to do. The day upon which most people are idle is the day upon which the most sin is committed as a rule. The day is usually given to excesses in eating and drinking and in gratifying the baser passions. To compel men to rest, or to enforce idleness, is therefore not a blessing to mankind, and is a hindrance rather than a help to the cause of Christianity. Some years ago, a patient of mine who had in his employ a great number of men in building railroads, said to me, “I find it necessary to employ my men seven days a week.” I inquired of him why this was so, and he replied, “If I give them a day off, they get drunk, and many of them can not work the next day, and some are of very little use the remainder of the week.” It was this incident that led me to investigate more fully the real purpose of the Sabbath. The Sabbath law demands that six days we shall labor and do our work. On the Sabbath our work should cease. This does not mean that men should be idle upon that day. While they should cease from their work, they should actively engage in the work of blessing the unfortunate and the needy. The fact is, the Sabbath is not kept holy if it is not set apart by the individual to holy and beneficent purposes and deeds. It is possible to rest on the Sabbath and be a Sabbath desecrater, and on the other hand it is possible to work hard upon that day and yet be a true Sabbath-keeper. Here is where the Jewish nation erred. They taught that the day was to be one of physical rest, a day to be spent in the synagogue and the home. Jesus, on the other hand, by precept and example taught that it was “lawful to do well on the Sabbath days,” and that “the Sabbath was made for man [to minister to his needs], and not man for the Sabbath.” The time for rest is during the hours of sleep. It is then that the repleted energy is to be replenished. He who observes a proper period of rest out of each twenty-four hours of the day, will not feel the need of one day in seven for physical rest; and he who enters upon the Sabbath physically or mentally exhausted, is in no condition to keep the day holy. The Sabbath is to be a day of worship, but not as the Jewish nation understood it, for the priest and the Levite passed by the injured man by the wayside on their way to the temple. The Samaritan who ministered to the man’s needs was the true worshiper, and not those who assembled in the synagogue. To bless the needy is the truest and most acceptable worship that can be rendered on the Sabbath. “The Father seeketh such to worship Him.” The controversy between Jesus and the Jews was not in regard to which day was “the Sabbath of the Lord,” for all were agreed concerning this; it was regarding the proper observance of the day. The Jews spent the Sabbath in the home and the synagogue. They demanded of every one else that the day should be spent in physical rest. They worshiped the day instead of worshiping upon the day. That which God designed as a blessing, not merely to them, but through them for the entire world, was by them converted into a curse to mankind. Jesus spent the Sabbath in arduous labor, apparently working harder on that day than upon any of the others. It was on the Sabbath that Jesus made an ointment of clay and opened the eyes of the man who was born blind. “Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This Man is not of God, because He keepeth not the Sabbath day.” Christ Healed on the Sabbath
It was on the Sabbath that Jesus healed the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, and commanded him, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” The Jews said, “It is the Sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.” “Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath day.” John 5:16. Had He remained idle on that day, they would not have molested Him. He was persecuted because He went about doing good on the Sabbath. Merely to get people to abstain from physical toil and spend the Sabbath in idleness does not disturb Satan very much. But when Sabbath-keepers engage actively in ministering to the needs of mankind, physically and spiritually, this disturbs him. On another Sabbath, the disciples who accompanied Jesus in His work, being wearied and hungry, in passing through a corn field, plucked the ears and ate. The Pharisees said, “Behold, Thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day.” On still another Sabbath, a man with a withered hand stood before Jesus. It was a chronic condition. There was no immediate need that he have attention. He could as well have been put off until the next day. The Pharisees knew this, and felt they had a strong case. They asked the question, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days? that they might accuse Him.” Jesus replied, “It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days,” and He healed the man. “Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against Him, how they might destroy Him.” Crucified for Sabbath-Keeping
Jesus was crucified because He kept the Sabbath day, by a people who considered themselves Sabbath-keepers, and Him a Sabbath desecrater. A great master mind instigated the law demanding physical rest on the Sabbath. His purpose in it was to destroy Christ, the only true Sabbath-keeper. When Jesus was accused of working on the Sabbath, He made no denial. He justified His course by referring to nature, and102saying, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” “What things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” God’s blessings are constant. Angels of God are constantly going to and fro ministering “for them who shall be heirs of salvation.” They do not cease their work on the Sabbath. The demands upon them are greater on that day than on any of the others, for more favors are asked of God upon the Sabbath than on other days of the week. God does not wait until the close of the Sabbath to grant these requests. Heaven’s work never ceases, and man should never cease doing good. The Only True Sabbath-Keeper
He who was accused of being a Sabbath-breaker, was in reality the only Sabbath-keeper, the true representative of the Father, the One who came “to magnify the law, and make it honorable.” The Jews, who claimed to keep the Sabbath, brought it into dishonor and disrepute. They had the Sabbath underneath their feet. All their fastings, and prayers in the temple, could not take the place of the service which God designed they should render the needy on the Sabbath. He called upon them to deal their bread, physical and spiritual, to the hungry; to bring the neglected ones to their homes; to cover the naked: This was a work that was in keeping with the Sabbath commandment. Promises for Sabbath-Keeping
The promise was given, “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.” On that day we are to do His ways and His pleasure and His works, as did Christ. “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.” “Then shalt thou call, and the Lord . . . shall say, Here I am.” “Then shall thy light rise in obscurity,” and “thine health shall spring forth speedily.” Isa. 58:8-14. “In blessing,” the Lord said, “I will bless thee.” Thus the Sabbath should be a blessing to all mankind. Must Be Converted to Keep It
The Sabbath can not be kept by men and women who are unconverted. To keep the Sabbath is to the child of God a delight. It is not a hardship for those who have the law of God written in the heart to keep the Sabbath. It is the most natural thing to do—not as a means of salvation, but as an evidence of it. “Moreover also 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.” The Sabbath is the sign of sanctification. It is that which is to distinguish those who are sanctified, or the worshipers of the Creator of the heavens and the earth, from all other worshipers, for all time. To attempt to compel others to keep the Sabbath will prove a curse instead of a blessing.