Here are They That Keep the Commandments of God. Rev. xiv, 12.
By Isaac Sanborn
THIS is an acknowledged characteristic of a class of people living in the time when the warning is given, If any man worship the beast and his image or receive his mark in the forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God. Rev. xiv, 9, 10. The cause for this warning may be seen in Rev. xiii, 11, 12: "And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake like a dragon, and he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed." It is evident that the beast here referred to as the first beast is a symbol of the Papal church. Daniel speaks of the same power under the symbol of the little horn saying, "He shall think to change times and laws." Dan. vii, 25. Ques. What laws did the Papal church think to change? See Dr. Challoner's Catholic Christian Instructed, Chap. xxiii, p 252. There we read as follows: "Ques. What are the days which the church commands to be kept holy? Ans. 1. The Sunday or Lord's day, which we observe by apostical tradition instead of the Sabbath. Q. What warrant have you for keeping Sunday preferable to the ancient Sabbath which was the Saturday? Ans. We have for it the authority of the Catholic church." In this we see a perfect fulfillment of the prophecy of Dan. vii, 25: "He shall think to change times and laws." But the reader may inquire, What has all this to do with the worship of the beast? Ans. Says Paul, "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey?" Now mark carefully, God says, the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. The Papal church says, "Sunday is the Lord's day, instead of the Sabbath which was the Saturday." Now if I remember and keep Sunday whose servant am I? You answer, The servant of the Papal church. Well, if you remember and keep Saturday, the seventh day, whose servant are you? Ans. The servant of him whom you obey, that is, God; because he commanded you to do so. Ex. xx, 8. "Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath." &c. Now, dear reader, who are worshipers of the beast? You answer, All who keep Sunday for the Sabbath. Well, your answer is in harmony with the word of God. See Rev. xiii, 8. "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life." You see then how the beast is worshiped. Preachers are most all preaching that Sunday is the Sabbath or Lord's day. Sunday-school teachers are all teaching the same thing. The result is people are keeping Sunday instead of the Sabbath. Here then is the place for the warning of the third angel, If any man worship the beast, he shall drink the wine of the wrath of God. He closes his warning by saying, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God;" and one of these commandments says, The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. It will be seen by reading Rev. xiv, beginning with verse 9, that two previous messages had to be given before the third angel could follow. Ques. When were those first messages given? Ans. From 1840 to 1844. At that time the minds of the people were greatly agitated on the subject of the judgment-hour cry, which brought out a people looking for the coming of the Lord. This was prophesied of, in Isa. viii, 14–20: "And he shall be for a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel." Now all admit that the first house of Israel stumbled over the doctrine of the first advent of Christ; for he said unto them, If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. Did they believe? Let them answer. Then answered all the people, His blood be upon us and our children. Matt. xxvii, 25. Paul says that they were broken off because of unbelief. Rom. ii, 20. Again Paul says, Seeing you judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo we turn to the Gentiles. Acts xii, 46. This proves that the first house of Israel stumbled over the doctrine of the first advent of Christ. Here the second house began to be grafted in from among the Gentiles, that is, those that were converted from among the Gentiles. But says the reader, When did the second house stumble? Ans. In 1844, over the doctrine of the second advent of Christ. Did not the churches generally reject that message? Yes. Did they not disfellowship all their brethren and sisters who continued to believe that the Lord was near, notwithstanding 2 Peter iii, 3, 4, says that scoffers should come in the last days, saying Where is the promise of his coming? This has all followed the proclamation of the advent message, as given in 1844. Since then the third angel's message has been proclaimed, fulfilling Isa. viii, 16, where the Lord says, "Bind up the testimony and seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will look for him." When is the law to be sealed? Ans. When there is a people waiting for the Lord and looking for him. This work has been going on since 1844. It is during this time that they were to say "Seek unto them that have familiar spirits;" and Spiritualists have been saying this ever since 1848. But the Lord gives a standard by which we may try them: To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. The testimony here we understand to be the spirit of prophecy, and the sealing of the law among the disciples, the restoration of the Sabbath. Has such a work been going on since 1844 among a class of people who are looking for the Lord? I answer, Yes; and that class are known as Seventh-day Adventists. To show that the Sabbath is the seal of the living God, it is only necessary to refer to Ex. xxxi, 13–17, "Speak thou also unto the children of Israel saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Verse 17. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever." See Jer. xxxi, 35, 36. Thus saith the Lord which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar, the Lord of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever. Ques. Have the Jews ceased from being a nation before God? You answer, Yes; scattered to the four winds among all nations. Then who does the Lord refer to in Jeremiah? Ans. His people, or church called the second house of Israel, in Isa. viii, 14, and a holy nation by Peter. "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation. 1 Pet. ii, 9, So it will be seen that the Israel to whom the Sabbath is a sign have not ceased as a nation from before God. Therefore we conclude that the Sabbath has not ceased; and therefore again, that the Sabbath reform is spoken of by Isa. lviii, 1, "Cry aloud and spare not. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression."162 Ques. What does the transgression of God's professed people almost universally consist in? Ans. In Sabbath-breaking. This is just what we have been telling them for more than ten years, saying to them, Thus saith the Lord, keep ye judgment and do justice; for my salvation is near to come and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it, that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, &c. When are they to lay hold on the Sabbath? Ans. When the salvation of God, which is to be brought unto his people at the coming of Jesus, is near. And Jesus has said himself that we might know his coming was nigh at hand when we should not be following signs: Luke xxi, 25, 26. And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. When ye see these things come to pass, lift up your heads, for your redemption is nigh. Here we find ourselves in the time when a class of people are looking for their redemption and laying hold of the Sabbath. The Lord says, Thou shalt be called the restorer of paths to dwell in, 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, &c. Look at the seventh-day Advent people and you will see this prophecy having its fulfillment. And at the same time you can see another prophecy fulfilling; namely, Eze. xiii, 4–15. "O Israel thy prophets are like the foxes in the desert. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge, for the house of Israel to stand in the battle of the day of the Lord. They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith; and the Lord hath not sent them; and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word." What are the gaps or breaches here referred to? Ans. The Papal church has given a substitute for the Sabbath of the fourth commandment; and now the preachers called by Ezekiel, Israel's prophets, are all the time trying to make the people hope that they will confirm the word that the first-day is the Sabbath. In so doing they act like the foxes of the desert, which burrow in the ground, making a number of holes into the same den. The hunter approaches and puts a trap at one hole. The fox goes out at another. He then puts a trap at that, but the fox goes in at another. The hunter puts one at that, but the fox goes out at another, and finally forsakes the den. So God says of the prophets of Israel. We present before them the arguments for the perpetuity of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and they will tell us it was abolished at the cross. But not being able to sustain that position without being trapped, they will say it was changed by Christ and the apostles. But failing to prove this, and thus escape the trap, they will tell their hearers that it is the seventh part of time and no day in particular. And thus they go on multiplying their contradictory positions, dodging from one to another, till like the foxes that forsake their den, they will say of the Sabbath, We will not keep it if it is true. Again God says in Eze. xiii, 10–15. "Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace, and there was no peace; and one built up a wall and lo another daubed it with untempered mortar." That is, the Papal church gave, or built up, the Sunday wall, and the preachers are daubing it over with untempered mortar, that is, false doctrine. Verse 11. Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall. There shall be an overwhelming shower, and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall, and a stormy wind shall rend it. So I will break down the wall that ye have daubed, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof. Some may be disposed to inquire when these great hailstones will fall. See Rev. xiv, 9. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, the same shall drink of the wrath of God, &c. What is that? See Chap. xv, 1. "And I saw another sign in heaven great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them is filled up the wrath of God." Chap. xvi, 1–21. And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth, and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshiped his image." In verses 17–21, we have a description of the seventh vial and the great hailstones every one the weight of a talent or at least thirty pounds. Dear reader, may God help you and me to refuse the worship of the beast and to keep all God's commandments, and thus escape the seven last plagues and stand with the 144,000 and the Lamb on mount Zion.