p. 118 | The Two Prophecies by J. M. McLellan

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 10, 1856

The Two Prophecies.

By J. M. McLellan

Protestants generally believe in a change of the Sabbath, and believe that Jesus Christ did change the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week. Now to all such I would submit the two following prophecies and their fulfillment, for their candid consideration. Says Paul, “Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.” 1 Thess. v. 21.

These prophecies are found in the books of Isaiah and Daniel. They are concerning two different men and their work with the law of God. The first is concerning the man Christ Jesus; 1 Tim. ii. 5; the second is concerning the Man of Sin, Papacy. 2 Thess. ii. 3-8. One is the head of the Christian Church, and the other is the head of the Antichristian Church.

With these remarks I will submit the first of these prophecies. Isaiah in chapter xlii. 21, speaks as follows: “The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake, he will magnify the law and make it honorable.” This prophecy was spoken over 700 years before the first advent; and with this prophecy before us we will turn to the New Testament and see if the teachings of the Son of God are in harmony with this prophecy. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Matt. v. 17. To fulfill what? The work of magnifying the law and making it honorable; and in doing this he fulfilled the prophet. Let me here ask if the Son of God had destroyed a part of the law, would he not have destroyed one of the prophets, or prophecies?

See the testimony of Mark and Luke. “And they went into Capernaum and straightway on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught.” Mark i. 21. “And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.” “And he came down to Capernaum . . . and taught them on the Sabbath days.” Luke iv. 16-31. “Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” Mark ii. 28.

We will also examine the other prophecy concerning the Man of Sin and see what his work was to be with the law of God. Daniel in Chap. vii. is giving a history of the four universal monarchies of the earth; and in describing the fourth with all its changes, he says, “After this I saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces and stamped the residue with the feet of it, and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. . . . I considered the horns and behold there came up among them another little horn before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots, and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.” Dan. vii. 7, 8.

In verses 23-25 the angel gives Daniel an explanation of verses 7 and 8 as follows: “Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth and shall tread it down and break it in pieces. . . . And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that should arise; and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first and he shall subdue three kings.” The Heruli, the Ostrogoths and the Vandals were subdued to make way for the rise of the little horn, the Papacy, which was accomplished A. D. 538. For farther particulars see the Pamphlet entitled, “Four Universal Monarchies,” &c. published at the Advent Review Office. “And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hands until a time and times and half a time.”

Here we have before us the work of the Man of Sin. Papacy, with the law of God. He was to “think to change times and laws;” evidently the laws of the Most High; for his work was to oppose God’s work.

Now to the fulfillment of this prophecy. Dr. Chambers says, “By Constantine’s laws, made in 321 it was decreed that for the future the Sunday should be kept a day of rest in the cities and towns, but he allowed the country people to follow their work. In 538 the council of Orleans prohibited this country labor.” Enc. Art. Sun. London, 1791.

Here we find that the first blow against the law of God in relation to the Sabbath, was struck by a Roman Emperor, A. D. 321, and finished by the Papacy in 538. “From this time (538) the observance of the first day was gradually but forcibly urged upon the people, and the Sabbath dismissed wherever he owed allegiance to the Pope as head of the church and in England and Scotland as late as the thirteenth century; then it was decreed that it should be holy time from Sunday noon until Monday.”

Gibbon says, “The liberty of choice which the christians had, was succeeded by a law which compelled the Abysinians to do all manner of servile work on the Sabbath day. And during ten centuries of blindness and servitude Europe received her religious opinions from the oracle of the Vatican; and the same doctrine already varnished with the rust of antiquity was admitted without dispute into the creed of the reformers.”

Says the Revelator, [Rev. xiii. 4.] “And they worshiped the dragon (Pagan Rome) which gave power unto the beast; (Papacy;) and they worshiped the beast; (Papacy;) saying, ‘Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?’” To worship God is to keep his commandments; then we conclude that to worship the dragon and beast is to keep their commandments; for we have already seen that the dragon and the beast, the emperors and popes, both had a hand in effecting the change; and the Revelator says that they worship both powers.

We will here give an extract from the Catholic Catechism on his Christian Religion.

Question. What is the third commandment? Ans. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, thou shalt do no work on it, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy beast, nor thy stranger, that is within thy gates, &c. Ex. xx. 8, &c.

Ques. Why does God commence this commandment by the words, Remember, &c.? Ans. To remind the Jews that this commandment is only a confirmation of one that had been always observed by his order since the beginning of the world. Gen. ii. 3; Ex. xvi. 23.

Ques. What does God ordain by this commandment? Ans. He ordains that we sanctify in a special manner that day on which he rested from the labor of creation.

Ques. What is this day of rest? Ans. The seventh day of the week, or Saturday; for he employed six days in creation and rested on the seventh. Gen. ii. 2; Heb. iv. 1, &c.

Ques. Is it then Saturday we should sanctify in order to obey the ordinance of God? Ans. During the old law, Saturday was the day sanctified; but the church instructed by Jesus Christ, and directed by the Spirit of God has substituted Sunday for Saturday; so we now sanctify the first and not the seventh day. Sunday, means, and now is the day of the Lord.

Ques. Had the church power to make such change? Ans. Certainly. Since the Spirit of God is her guide, the change is inspired by that Holy Spirit. The uniform, universal, and perpetual tradition of all ages and nations, attest the antiquity of, and consequently the divine assent to, this change. Even the bitterest enemies of God’s church, admit and adopt it.

Ques. Why did the church make this change? Ans. Because Christ rose from the dead upon Sunday, and rested from the work of redemption, and because on this day the Holy Ghost descended on the apostles, and on the church.”

Reader, believest thou all this? We have here briefly set forth the two prophecies concerning the Son of God and the Papacy, with the fulfillment of each. The Son of God was to make the law “honorable,” and the Papacy was to “change” it. The testimony of the apostles proves that the Son of God did make the law honorable; and the testimony of historians, together with the admissions of the Catholic Church, prove that the Papacy did change the law of God.

Do you want to “be called a repairer of the breach, a restorer of paths to dwell in?” If you do, the Prophet tells you what you must do in order to be called a repairer of the breach. The breach is made in God’s law by destroying the Sabbath.

Therefore “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,” &c. [Isa. lviii. 13.] then thou shalt “be called a repairer of the breach.” Verse 12. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. “If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.”

J. M. McLELLAN. Hastings, Mich., Jan 1st, 1856.