Christ and the Sabbath
Christ and the Sabbath
1972 Quater 3
AND
THE
SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON OUARTERLI JULY - AUGUST - SEPTEMBER -1972 Thirteenth Sabbath Overflow Offering September 30, 1972 Southern Asia Division
On September 30 the Southern Asia Division will benefit from the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering Overflow. According to General Conference policy, the overflow is 25 percent of the total offering taken for Thirteenth Sabbath. The Southern Asia Division plans to use this money for the addition of much needed facilities at the following educational institutions: Burma Union Bible Seminary Kottarakara High School, India Roorkee High School, India Recognizing that the future of the work in Southern Asia is de- pendent to a large extent on the proper education of the young people of the church, for a number of years this division has de- voted most of the overflow offerings to education. This has already begun to pay off. For the generosity of Sabbath School members the world around, Southern Asia is indeed very grateful. Now again in this time of great need we anticipate that you will come to the aid of the young people of the church. For this September 30 overflow, Southern Asia thanks you in advance. W. F. Storz Sabbath School Secretary Southern Asia Division
Lessons for the Fourth Quarter of 1972
Sabbath School members who have not received an adult Lesson Quarterly for the fourth quarter of 1972 will be helped by the following outline in studying for the first les- son. The title of the series is "Awaiting the Advent." The title of the first lesson is "The Christian's Hope." The mem- ory verse is Titus 2:13.
The outline is as follows: (1) The Redeemer. Matt. 24:1, 2. (2) The Restorer. Acts 3:20, 21. (3) The Lifegiver. 1 'Mess. 4:16, 17. (4) The King. Rev. 19:11, 16. (5) The Rewarder. Rev. 22:12. (6) The Son of Man. Matt. 24:30.
Litho in U.S.A.
Christ and the Sabbath THIRD QUARTER, 1972 INTRODUCTION Regardless of what a person’s religious views are, he knows that a wave of lawlessness, rebellion, and strife is sweeping over the world. This is a prelude to that climactic, world-ending time of trouble spoken of in Daniel 12:1. This in turn should make Sabbath keepers keenly aware that now is the time to proclaim the Sabbath more fully, as mentioned in Early Writings, page 33: “At the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully.” (Italics supplied.) The Sabbath truth must be preached more extensively and in more and more geographical areas. Also it should be proclaimed in its fuller spiritual significance, in relationship to the Lord Jesus and His righteousness. There is a connection between observing the Sabbath as a seal of righteous- ness by faith, and the glory of Christ’s righteousness, which shall enlighten the entire world (Rev. 18:1) and complete the proclamation of the gospel. Then multitudes of true Christians in the various religious bodies will see that the Lord of the Sabbath is Christ our Creator and Saviour-Sanctifier. They will recognize that keeping the true Sabbath of Christ is the natural expression and fruitage of having Him as one’s personal Saviour. They will see that true Sabbath observance is the divinely appointed sign of a Christian’s continuing, progressive sanctification. Then many sincere hristians, includ- ing some ministers and other leaders, will take their stand under the banner of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Rev. 18:1-4. Concerning last-day movements, Selected Messages, Bk. 2, p. 55, says that God’s people “will find their power in the sign spoken of in Exodus 31:12-18.” The Sabbath bears the stamp of Christ as our Creator and Sanctifier. This should motivate God’s people to present the Sabbath more fully everywhere as the sign of our allegiance to God’s will. The Sabbath truth is part of the setting of the threefold message of Reve- lation 14:6-12 for the last days. Before Seventh-day Adventists were in ex- istence as a separate body of Christian people, this message came, and it has made them what they are today. Hence an understanding of this truth for our time is basic and vital. We shall receive help and be blessed during this quarter as we study Christ in the Sabbath and the Sabbath in Christ.
1-A3QT.72 The Blessing of Daily Study “Every day some portion of time should be appropri- ated to the study of the lessons, not merely in learning to mechanically repeat the words, while the mind does not comprehend the meaning; but to go to the very founda- tion, and become familiar with what is brought out in the lesson.”—Counsels on Sabbath School Work, page 53.
My Pledge
As one who greatly desires to improve his knowledge of the Scriptures, I pledge myself to the careful and prayerful study of some portion of my Sabbath School lesson each day of the week.
(signed)
The regular Sabbath School senior division lessons and reg- ular Sabbath School World Mission Report are available free each month in Braille and 16 2/3 rpm records to blind and phys- ically handicapped persons who cannot read normal inkprint. This includes individuals who because of arthritis, multiple sclerosis, paralysis, accidents, old age, and so forth, cannot hold or focus on normal inkprint publications. Contact the Christian Record Braille Foundation, Box 6097, Lincoln, Nebraska 68506.
Lesson Titles for the Quarter
1. Christ's Sign
2. Christ's Everlasting Memorial
3. A Link of Love
4. A Bulwark of Truth
5. The Missing Text
6. The Attempted Change
7. Why Not Any Day?
8. Right Day—Wrong Way
9. Receiving the Double Blessing
10. A Sign of Righteousness by Faith
11. The Predicted Restoration
12. Truth for Today
13. The Final Test
14. The Forgotten Blessing
Sabbath School Lesson Quarterly (regular edition), No. 309, July-September, 1972. 35 cents a single copy, $1.40 a year (four issues); no additional charge to countries requiring extra postage. Published in the U.S.A. by Pacific Press Publishing Association (a corporation of S.D.A.), 1350 Villa Street, Mountain View, California 94040. Second-class mail privileges authorized at Mountain View, California. Form 3579 requested. When a change of address is desired, please be sure to send both old and new addresses.
Copyright, 1972, by Pacific Press Publishing Association
Illustrations by James Converse
LESSON 1
June 25 to July I
God Rests on the Sabbath Day CHRIST’S SIGN 1 “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.” Ex. 31:13.
When a person truly hallows the Sab- LESSON OUTLINE bath of Christ, he displays in the affairs of his daily life a sign inscribed, “The seventh 1. Christ the Creator day is the Sabbath of the Lord. Remember John 1:10 your Creator and Saviour.” In direct op- position, the god of this world has erected 2. Creator Existent From Eternity a sign inscribed, “Sunday is the Lord’s John 1:1, 3, 14 day.” In these last days God is sending the final 3. Redemption Is Re-creation call of the gospel to every people. Rev. 2 Cor. 5:17, RSV 14:6-12. Where heeded, it leads people to 4. A Predetermined Plan make the right choice between these two 2 Tim. 1:9 opposing signs of authority. This message from heaven for our day enables the obe- 5. A Sign of the Creator dient to decide in favor of the Lord Jesus Ex. 31:15-17 Christ and take their stand among those “that keep the commandments of God, and 6. A Sign of the Saviour the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12. Ezek. 20:12
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Christ’s Sign LESSON 1 ❑ Sunday June 25 Part 1 “He [Christ] was in the world, and the world was made CHRIST THE by him, and the world knew him not.” CREATOR John 1:10 Here is a positive declaration that the Lord Jesus Christ, who walked among men at His first advent, is the One who made this world. Millions of professed Christians apparently are unaware of the role of Christ as the Creator. They think of Him only as the Saviour. It is essential that a person be fully committed to Christ as his only Saviour. Acts 16:30, 31; 4:12 ; John 14:6. But the adequacy of Christ as the only true Saviour rests upon two everlasting foundation truths of the gospel: (1) The eternity of Christ as God the Son and as the Son of God; (2) The role of Christ as the Creator-God of Genesis 1 and 2.
What indicates that Christ the Saviour is also the Crea-
tor of all? Col. 1:13-16.
Most assuredly we are saved by the perfect life of Christ,
His atoning death, His resurrection, His ascension, and His
intercession as our High Priest. If He had not been one with
God from eternity and co-Creator in the beginning, He could
not be man's Saviour.
How does the Word of God show further that Christ
was associated with the Father as the co-Creator of all
things? 1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 3:9; John 1:1-3.
THINK IT THROUGH Why have all the Father's dealings with this world
been through His Son?
“It was Christ that spread the heav- He made it.’ Ps. 65:6; 95:5. It was He ens, and laid the foundations of the that fulled the earth with beauty, and earth. It was His hand that hung the the air with song. And upon all things worlds in space, and fashioned the in earth, and air, and sky, He wrote the flowers of the field. ‘His strength setteth message of the Father’s love.”—”The fast the mountains.”The sea is His, and Desire of Ages,” page 20.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Patriarchs and Prophets,” chapter 2.
6 Christ’s Sign LESSON 1 ❑ Monday June 26 Part 2 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was CREATOR with God, and the Word was God.” EXISTENT FROM “All things were made by him; and without him was ETERNITY not any thing made that was made.” John 1:1, 3, 14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”
The Gospel of John is an outstanding Biblical presentation
of Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God and the Saviour of
men. How does it begin? Christ is introduced as one with God
from eternity and as the Creator of the universe. He is pre-
sented as the Word, who was with God the Father in the be-
ginning, and as one who was God. Christ is coeternal and
coexistent with God the Father.
Another tremendous truth is the fact that Christ is the
Creator of the universe. "All things were made by him; and
without him was not any thing made that was made." John 1:3.
How do we know that this Word, the Creator, is also
Christ our Saviour? John 1:10, 14.
John presents Christ as our Creator and Saviour, and as
existing with God from the beginning. Preaching Christ must
not omit presenting Him as God the Son from eternity and as
the Creator of all. To preach Christ without making this clear
would be like trying to build a house without a foundation.
Notice that in Heb. 1:1-3 the One who has purged us from
our sins is the Son of God by whom the worlds were made.
How does God the Father attest that Christ is the
Maker of heaven and earth? Heb. 1:8-12.
THINK IT THROUGH Why did the Father allocate to the Son an active role in creation? What bearing does this have on our salva- tion through Christ?
“The Son of God had wrought the He would not seek power or exaltation Father’s will in the creation of all the for Himself contrary to God’s plan, but hosts of heaven; and to Him, as well as would exalt the Father’s glory and ex- to God, their homage and allegiance ecute His purposes of beneficence and were due. Christ was still to exercise love.”—”Patriarchs and Prophets,” page divine power, in the creation of the 36. earth and its inhabitants. But in all this FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Patriarchs and Prophets,” pages 33, 34.
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Christ’s Sign LESSON 1 ❑ Tuesday June 27 Part 3 “Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new crea- REDEMPTION IS tion; the old has passed away, behold, the new has RE-CREATION come.” 2 Cor. 5:17, RSV Salvation is effected, in part, by a work .of creation in the sinner by the same Christ who made man in the beginning. Christians are declared to be Christ’s workmanship, created in Him unto good works. Eph. 2:10. He imparts His character to us. Heb. 8:10, 11. This is why every soul is dependent upon Christ for salva- tion. This shows also that Christ is our Saviour, because He is the Creator. For the salvation of man it is essential that both creation and redemption be accomplished by the Son of God —the Lord Jesus Christ.
t). Why does salvation from sin require more than for-
giveness? John 3:3; Eph. 4:22-24.
When the believer truly receives Christ as his personal Sav-
iour, not only is free and full pardon granted to him, but he
is trar211=zied into a new person. He is born again, born of
God. John 1:12, 13. Christ creates within him a new heart,
a new_ mind. --
Then by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit the believer is
enabled to live a life of obedience to Christ and His command-
ments. Ezek. 11:19, 20; Gal. 2:20. This is how Christ brings
the believer into harmony with God and keeps him right. Thus
Christ as our Creator cannot be detached from Christ as our
Redeemer.
THINK IT THROUGH Why does the acceptance of Christ as our Saviour nec-
essarily include honoring Him as our Creator? What are
the main reasons why millions of professed Christians
have lost sight of Him as Maker of the worlds?
“The angels prostrated themselves at theirs, and they were to minister to the feet of their Commander and of- Him, to strengthen and soothe Him un- fered to become a sacrifice for man. der His sufferings. They were also to But an angel’s life could not pay the be ministering spirits, sent forth to min- debt; only He who created man had ister for them who should be heirs of power to redeem him. Yet the angels salvation. Hebrews 1:14. They would were to have a part to act in the plan guard the subjects of grace from the of redemption. Christ was to be made power of evil angels and from the dark- ‘a little lower than the angels for the ness constantly thrown around them by suffering of death.’ Hebrews 2:9. As He Satan.”—”Patriarchs and Prophets,” should take human nature upon Him, pages 64, 65. His strength would not be equal to
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Patriarchs and Prophets,” chapter 4.
a Christ’s Sign LESSON 1 El Wednesday June 28 Part 4 “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy call- A PREDETERMINED ing, not according to our works, but according to his own PLAN purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 1:9 before the world began.”
God's plan for the salvation of believers antedates the crea-
tion of this world. He has saved us according to His own pur-
pose given us in Christ before the world began. See also Eph.
1:4, 5 ; Titus 1:2.
This helps us understand why God the Father allocated the
creation of all to the Son—the Lord Jesus Christ. Our salvation
was at stake. Only He who can create can save from sin and
death. The fact that Christ was the Creator meant that salva-
tion was available in Him when it should be needed.
When Adam sinned, his Creator began to function as his
Saviour. Thus Jesus Christ is "the Lamb slain from the foun-
dation of the world." Rev. 13:8. See also 1 Peter 1:18-20.
When man sinned, no created being could satisfy the claims
of the broken law of God. Only one equal with God could make
atonement for the transgression. Hence no one but the Lord
Jesus Christ, as Creator, could offer Himself as a sufficient ran-
som for sinful man. This thought should kindle a deeper love
in our hearts for the Father and the Son for Their predeter-
mined plan by which our omnipotent Creator became our
all-sufficient Creator and Saviour.
When was the gospel first outlined? Gen. 3:15.
How have millions of believers deprived themselves
of much by limiting their concept of Christ to what hap-
pened during His earthly life? Rom. 11:33; Eph. 1:18;
3:18-21.
THINK IT THROUGH In what ways do we demonstrate our faith in Jesus as our Creator and Saviour? Has His ministry on behalf of man been lost sight of by the vast majority of Chris- tians? How is this truth being restored to its rightful place in the gospel?
“The broken law of God demanded atonement for its transgression. None the life of the sinner. In all the universe but Christ could redeem fallen man there was but one who could, in behalf from the curse of the law and bring of man, satisfy its claims. Since the him again into harmony with Heaven.” divine law is as sacred as God Himself, —”Patriarchs and Prophets,” page 63. only one equal with God could make
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Desire of Ages,” chapter 1.
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Christ’s Sign LESSON 1- ❑ Thursday June 29 Part 5 “Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the A SIGN OF sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord…. It is a sign between THE CREATOR me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day Ex. 31:15-17 he rested, and was refreshed.”
The Lord declares that the seventh-day Sabbath is a sign
between Him and His people because He made the world in
six days and rested on the seventh day. The New Testament
shows that this Lord who made the world in six days and
rested on the seventh day is our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus Ex.
31:16, 17 and Mark 2:27, 28 show that the seventh-day Sabbath
is a sign of Christ as our Creator.
Sunday is not the Sabbath of Christ, nor the Lord's day.
It is the first day of the week. The Lord Himself says, "The
seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord." Ex. 20:10. Hence the
seventh day, or Saturday, is Christ's Sabbath for man.
How does the Bible imply that the command in Ex.
20:8-11 to keep the seventh day is a command from the
Lord Jesus Christ? Compare Neh. 9:12, 13 with 1 Cor.
10:1-4.
The Lord who in the Ten Commandments commands the
keeping of the seventh day is our Creator. See Ex. 20:10, 11.
The New Testament declares that Christ is our Creator, and
the precept recorded in Ex. 20:8-11—to keep the seventh day
holy—is a commandment from our Lord Jesus Christ. The ob-
servance of the seventh day is one step in our accepting Christ.
How important is it for us to obey Christ's command-
ments? Heb. 5:9.
Christ has appointed the keeping of the seventh day as a
sign whereby we honor and worship Him as our Creator and
Saviour. What a high privilege it is to keep His Sabbath ! THINK IT THROUGH What makes Sabbath keeping an appropriate way to
honor and worship the Lord Jesus?
“Since He made all things, He made created all things in heaven and in the Sabbath. By Him it was set apart earth, and by whom all things hold to- as a memorial of the work of creation. gether, is the head of the church, and It points to Him as both the Creator and that by His power we are reconciled to the Sanctifier. It declares that He who God.”—”The Desire of Ages,” page 288.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Desire of Ages,” pages 281-283.
10 Christ’s Sign LESSON 1 ❑ Friday June 30 Part 6 “Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign A SIGN OF between me and them, that they might know that I am THE SAVIOUR the Lord that sanctify them.” Ezek. 20:12 The Bible shows that creation and redemption are insepa- rably united in the Lord Jesus Christ. Ex. 31:16, 17 presents the seventh-day Sabbath as a sign between us and our Creator. See also Ezek. 20:20. Ezek. 20:12 shows that the Sabbath is a sign of sanctification. The heart of the Sabbath truth is Christ our Creator and Redeemer. Every soul who receives Christ as his Lord and Saviour should receive also His seventh-day Sabbath as a sign that He is his Creator and Saviour.
What will they know who truly keep the Sabbath of
the Lord? Ex. 31:13; Ezek. 20:12.
Why is it that so many Christians are not keeping Christ's
seventh-day Sabbath, but prefer to observe the first day, or
Sunday, which Christ has not commanded us to keep?
History shows that during the centuries which followed the
apostolic age, there developed a widespread departure from the
truth as taught by the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result of this
apostasy, the keeping of Sunday was introduced and estab-
lished as a man-made substitute for the observance of Christ's
seventh-day Sabbath. This custom has been handed down by
ecclesiastical and civil laws through the centuries to our day.
This is why the majority of Christians keep Sunday instead
of observing Christ's seventh-day Sabbath which is com-
manded in the Ten Commandments.
In setting aside Christ's Sabbath, men did not realize that
they were, in a sense, setting aside their Creator and Saviour.
Bible prophecy foretold this departure from the truth and
predicted that there would be a restoration in the closing age.
So the call of God today is in substance: "Give Christ's Sab-
bath its rightful place in your life, as a sign that He is your
Creator and Saviour-Sanctifier." THINK IT THROUGH How may we show our love for Christ? John 14:15,
21; 1 John 5:3.
“The Sabbath given to the world as power that re-creates the soul in His the sign of God as the Creator is also own likeness. To those who keep holy the sign of Him as the Sanctifier. The the Sabbath day it is the sign of sancti- power that created all things is the fication.”—”Testimonies,” Vol. 6, p. 350.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Desire of Ages, “ pages 288, 289.
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I Answers: (1) only the Creator can save; (2) True; (3) He rested on and blessed the seventh day. Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 31:16, 17; (4) Creator, Saviour; (5) for a sign that He was their Lord, and Sanctifier.
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LESSON 2
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CHRIST'S EVERLASTING MEMORIAL 2 "He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered." Ps. 111:4.
The two outstanding works of the Lord LESSON OUTLINE for humanity are creation and redemption 1. Divinely Appointed Commemo- —life for man in this world, and life eternal ration in the hereafter. Ex. 20:8; 31:17 Christ has appointed certain memorials to help us keep in remembrance His creative 2. The Everlasting Foundation and redemptive works. One of the most Mark 2:28 significant of these is His Sabbath, a weekly 3. Blessed Forever reminder that He is our Creator and Re- Gen. 2:3 deemer. Hence the proper observance of Christ’s Sabbath is one way whereby we 4. The Only Right Day may honor, exalt, and worship Him as our Ex. 20:10, 11 Creator and Saviour. Salillicfhe high value 5. Relevant to Christianity of true Sabbath keeping. On the other hand, Luke 23:56 to dishonor or repudiate the Sabbath is to dishonor and repudiate Him as our Creator 6. Honored Throughout Eternity and Saviour. Isa. 66:22, 23
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Christ’s Everlasting Memorial LESSON 2 ❑ Sunday July 2 Part 1 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” DIVINELY “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for APPOINTED ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, COMMEMORATION and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Ex 20:8; 31:17 It was noted in last week’s lesson that the Creator, in whose honor the Sabbath is observed, was Jesus Christ. Just as long as this is true, the seventh day remains the Sabbath. The fact that the New Testament neither records nor au- thorizes any transfer of the Sabbath from the seventh day (Saturday) to the first day (Sunday) of the week manifests the falsity of the claim that Sunday should be kept as the Lord’s day in honor of Christ’s resurrection on the first day of the week.
What is the significance of baptism? Rom. 6:4; Col.
2:12.
In true baptism the believer is buried and rises with Christ.
Baptism by immersion is a God-appointed way whereby we
are to show our faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of
Christ as our Saviour.
Notice how the Word presents a record that the same
seventh day which was the Sabbath before Christ's resurrection
(Luke 23:54-56; Mark 16:1, 2) was still observed as the Sab-
bath by God's people after the Saviour's resurrection. Acts
13:14, 27, 42, 44; 15:21; 16:13; 17:1, 2; 18:4. In the absence
of any command to change this day, the seventh-day Sabbath
as the sign of the Creator-Redeemer continues for all Chris-
tians.
To what vitally significant events does the ordinance of
the Lord's Supper point? 1 Cor. 11:26; Luke 22:17-20.
THINK IT THROUGH Do I observe these memorials—baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the Sabbath—for which Christ calls? If I omit any of them, how can my life be what He wants it to be?
“Though sin has entered the world a knowledge of Himself. He desires to mar His perfect work, God still gives that the Sabbath shall direct our minds to us the Sabbath as a witness that One to Him as the true and living God, and omnipotent, infinite in goodness and that through knowing Him we may mercy, created all things. Our heavenly have life and peace.”—”Testimonies,” Father desires through the observance Vol. 6, p. 349. of the Sabbath to preserve among men
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Great Controversy,” pages 437, 438. 14 Christ’s Everlasting Memorial LESSON 2 El Monday July 3 Part 2 “Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.” THE EVERLASTING FOUNDATION Mark 2:28 Christ made the seventh day the Sabbath at creation. In the Ten Commandments He declares that the seventh day is the Sabbath, because He made the world in six days, rested upon the seventh day, and then blessed and hallowed it. Ex. 20:8-11.
tfr Why did Christ as Creator rest upon this last day of the
first week of this world's time? Compare Isa. 40:28 with
Gen. 2:3.
He sanctified the seventh day because in it He had rested
(Hebrew, "ceased," that is, from creating). Gen. 2:3; Ex. 20:11.
His rest was preparatory to His blessing and sanctifying; or
setting apart, the seventh day of the week as the Lord's day
for man. The relation between creation and redemption is so
close that it affects every day of the week, for during the
labors of the six working days we must remember that we are
to prepare to observe the seventh. Ex. 20:8-11; Ezek. 46:1.
The word "Sabbath" is a transliteration of the Hebrew word
shabbath, which signifies cessation or rest. The Hebrew cognate
verb shabath means to cease, to rest, to sabbatize, or to keep
a sabbath. This verb is used twice in Gen. 2:2, 3, where it is
translated as "rested." This is evidence that Christ's rest on
the seventh day at the close of His creative work made this
day the Sabbath day of sacred rest in the beginning.
How does Christ, in the fourth commandment, identify
the seventh day as the Sabbath day as it relates to His
work of the creation of our world? Ex. 20:11.
Note how this precept refutes the notion that Sabbath ob-
servance was not instituted until the Exodus of Israel from
Egypt. THINK IT THROUGH Does Jesus become my personal Saviour before I begin
to obey Him? Why is the Sabbath not a sign of the Crea-
tor-Redeemer in my life until I have been born again and
Christ has begun to sanctify me?
"The true ground of divine fact that He is our Creator continues to . .. is found in the distinction between be a reason why we should worship the Creator and His creatures. . . . It Him, so long the Sabbath will continue was to keep this truth ever before the as its sign and memorial."—"The Great minds of men, that God instituted the Controversy," pages 437, 438. Sabbath in Eden; and so long as the
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Patriarchs and Prophets,” page 307.
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Christ’s Everlasting Memorial. LESSON 2 ❑ Tuesday July 4 Part 3 “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: BLESSED FOREVER because that in it he had rested from all his work which Gen. 2:3 God created and made.”
There is nothing in the Bible to indicate that Christ has
transferred His blessing and sanctification of the seventh day
to any other day Therefore the seventh day still is His blessed
and sanctified day for all people.
In the New Testament there is not a word directing Chris-
tians to observe the first day of the week.
How does Christ confirm the Old Testament revelation
of which the Sabbath was a part? Matt. 5:17-19.
Christ ordained the seventh-day Sabbath as a perpetual
memorial of His creative and redemptive power. Hence there
was no valid reason for uninspired men in postapostolic times
to introduce Sunday keeping to commemorate the resurrection
of our Lord on the first day of the week.
Christ cannot be divided. His role as Redeemer cannot be
separated from His role as our Creator.
The Bible clearly shows that the keeping of the seventh day
is a sign of Christ as our Creator and our Redeemer. The keep-
ing of Sunday to commemorate redemption in Christ is in
effect an attempt to deny that our Saviour is also our Creator.
The very doctrine on which men have based their keeping
of Sunday is, as a matter of fact, contrary to Christ in His dual
and inseparable role as both our Creator and our Saviour.
Gladly we keep the Sabbath, which gives to Christ honor due
to Him as Redeemer and Creator. THINK IT THROUGH Can any person really make a day holy or truly bless
it? What else then cart we do but keep holy the seventh
day as sacred to Christ, who has blessed and hallowed
it for us?
“In Eden, God set up the memorial on the part of all who should dwell of His work of creation, in placing His upon the earth, that God was their blessing upon the seventh day. The Creator and their rightful Sovereign; Sabbath was committed to Adam, the that they were the work of His hands father and representative of the whole and the subjects of His authority.”— human family. Its observance was to “Patriarchs and Prophets,” page 48. be an act of grateful acknowledgment,
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Christ’s Object Lessons,” pages 25, 26.
16 Christ’s Everlasting Memorial LESSON 2 ❑ Wednesday July 5 Part 4 “The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: THE ONLY . . . for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, … RIGHT DAY and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed Ex. 20:10, 11 the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
This is why the Lord commands the'observance of the sev-
enth day instead of any other day of the week.
Thus Christ Himself, in Ex. 20:8-11, has made it clear that
the seventh day is the only right day of the week for man to
observe as the Sabbath.
Christ, as our Creator, put His blessing and sanctification
on the last day of the week because He had rested upon it.
Gen. 2:3. Hence it is impossible for man to transfer these two
things to any other day of the week.
These God-given reasons for keeping the seventh day holy
—because He made the world in six days, and rested upon the
seventh day, and then blessed and sanctified it—have an im-
portant meaning.
Some declare that the obligation to keep the seventh day
is merely a Jewish ordinance which did not originate until the
Israelites came out of Egypt. But Christ based His command
to keep the seventh day on what He did when the world was
created.
How did Christ show that the Sabbath is not for the
Jews only? Mark 2:27. See also Isa. 56:2, 6, 7.
As every soul today needs Jesus as his Creator-Sanctifier,
even so he needs the Sabbath as a sign of this acceptance of
Him as such. THINK IT THROUGH Since Christ blessed and sanctified the seventh day for
me, what should I do about it? Heb. 5:9; Luke 6:46.
“It [the Sabbath] is to be remem- enth day signify by this act that they bered and observed as the memorial are worshipers of Jehovah. Thus the of the Creator’s work. Pointing to God Sabbath is the sign of man’s allegiance as the Maker of the heavens and the to God as long as there are any upon earth, it distinguishes the true God from the earth to serve Him.”—”Patriarchs all false gods. All who keep the sev- and Prophets,” page 307.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Great Controversy,” pages 451-455.
17 2—A3QT.72
Christ’s Everlasting Memorial LESSON 2 ❑ Thursday July 6 Part 5 “And they returned, and prepared spices and oint- RELEVANT TO ments; and rested the sabbath day according to the com- CHRISTIANITY mandment.” Luke 23:56 Many Christians think that the keeping of the Saturday Sabbath was a religious obligation only under the Mosaic dis- pensation, which ended at the crucifixion of Christ. They believe that after Christ’s death on the cross, the first day of the week became the Lord’s day to commemorate redemption through Christ’s death and resurrection. The New Testament does not substantiate this. Christ’s seventh-day Sabbath of the fourth commandment continued to be applicable to men in the new Christian age, even as did the other nine precepts. This Sabbath commandment is specifically referred to in Luke 23:56, as being binding the day after the crucifixion. See also Heb. 4:10.
What laws were abolished at the cross? Eph. 2:15.
The Ten Commandments, as God's eternal rule of right,
continued to be binding after the crucifixion of Christ. Thus
the keeping of the seventh day is as relevant today as is the
command, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," or
"Thou shalt not steal," or any of the other precepts of the
Decalogue.
It is significant that Christ sanctified the seventh day
for man before he sinned. This shows that the keeping of
the seventh day cannot be reckoned as one of the sabbaths
referred to in Col. 2:16, 17, as "a shadow of things to come."
This is evident from the fact that, in the world to come, "all
flesh" will come to worship before Him "from one sabbath to
another." Isa. 66:22, 23.
These Scriptural considerations indicate that the keeping of
the seventh day is one link in the chain of the truth as it is
in Jesus. It is a part of a full commitment to Christ. THINK IT THROUGH If man had never sinned, how many in this world
would observe the seventh-day Sabbath? How much
crime, sickness, strife, trouble, sorrow, and death would
there be? When will God's ideal in this matter be real-
ized?
“The sign of obedience is the obser- upon to restore it [the seal] by exalting vance of the Sabbath of the fourth the Sabbath of the fourth command- commandment. If men keep the fourth ment to its rightful position as the commandment, they will keep all the Creator’s memorial and the sign of His rest.”—Ellen G. White Comments, “SDA authority.”—”The Great Controversy,” Bible Commentary,” Vol. 7, p. 981. page 452. “The disciples of Jesus are called
18 Christ’s Everlasting Memorial LESSON 2 ❑ Friday July 7 Part 6 “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which HONORED I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so THROUGHOUT shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come ETERNITY to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship Isa. 66:22, 23 before me, saith the Lord.”
All of the saved will honor the Sabbath as a day of worship
throughout eternity in the new earth. It will continue to be
remembered forever in that coming perfect world. Says the
Eternal One: "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the
thing that is gone out of My lips." Ps. 89:34.
When we compare Gen. 2:1-3 with Isa. 66:22, 23, we see
that the Sabbath spans the arch of time from the creation of
this world past its re-creation in the future. Thus the seventh
day is Christ's Sabbath for His people in all ages.
How does the Lord speak of Sabbath observance as a
perpetual practice? Ex. 31:16, 17.
The Sabbath was here before sin entered our world. It will
be here after sin has been banished from it. It spans the gulf
from Paradise lost by man's lack of faith in God and its result-
ant disobedience to Paradise regained by man's faith in Him
and his resultant obedience. The Sabbath is a continuing sign
pointing to Christ as the Way to Eden restored.
Every Sabbath, as it comes at the end of each week, brings
to us a double, delightful outlook. It points us back to the
time when the earth was perfect and happiness reigned su-
preme. It points forward to the time when the earth will be
perfect again and filled with everlasting happiness. THINK IT THROUGH What decision will everyone have made who is ad-
mitted through the gates of the City of God? Isa. 26:2.
“The Sabbath was not for Israel long as the heavens and the earth merely, but for the world. It had been endure, the Sabbath will continue as made known to man in Eden, and, like a sign of the Creator’s power.”—”The the other precepts of the Decalogue, it Desire of Ages,” page 283. is of imperishable obligation. . . . So
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Testimonies,” Vol. 7, pp. 105-109.
19
Christ’s Everlasting Memorial LESSON 2
Part 7 <> SUMMARY QUESTIONS <> TO TEST YOUR STUDY POWER
I. According to the Scriptures, how many major memorials has Christ estab- lished for His people to observe? 2, 3, 4, 5.
-
Indicate what these memorials are:
-
Sunday keeping is not a true memorial of Christ’s resurrection, because
there is no for it in the New Testament.
-
Why couldn’t the churches, by common agreement, transfer Christ’s sanc- tification from the seventh to the first day of the week?
- The Sabbath is a memorial of Christ’s and power. f)
-
“The Sabbath was not for merely, but for the
- Christ has shown that the seventh day is the true Sabbath because He
made the world in , and rested on the
- Where does the Bible show that the seventh day will be honored in the
new earth)
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20 A LINK OF LOVE
“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father.” John 14:21.
LESSON OUTLINE The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit 1. Sealed by the Cross have bound Themselves to humanity with Rom. 5:8 an everlasting love. Jer. 31:3 ; John 3:16.
2. Love Spells Obedience When a soul responds to this love in obe- dience to God, it makes love a link uniting 1 John 5:3 him with God. 3. An Example of Love Christ's seventh-day Sabbath is a symbol 1 Peter 2:21 of His love as our Creator-Saviour. Thus 4. For Our Good true Sabbath keeping is a link of love, bind- Deut. 6:24 ing the believer to his Lord. It bestows
5. The Right Motivation the joys and delights of divine love. But trying to keep the Sabbath without the love Ps. 40:8 of Christ in your heart is drudgery, restric- 6. Day of Delight tion, and a burden. Isa. 58:13, 14
21
A Link of Love LESSON 3 ❑ Sunday July 9 Part 1 “God commendeth his love toward us in that, while SEALED BY we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” THE CROSS Rom. 5:8 Creation and redemption are manifestations of the love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for man. The Sabbath, as a sign of our Creator-Redeemer, is a link of love, extended by Him to bind our hearts to His heart. It is said of the Ten Commandments: “The fourth is the connecting link between the great God and man.”—The Story of Redemption, page 141.
What relationship is there between the hallowing of
the Sabbath on your part and having a personal knowl-
edge of God? Ezek. 20:20.
What connection is there between obedience to Christ
and abiding in His love? John 15:10.
Christ the Creator was manifest as Christ the Redeemer in
His all-sufficient sacrifice at Calvary. A wooden cross is a per-
pendicular post with a crossarm extending in each direction.
The creative power of Christ may be likened to the upright
post, by which all things are upheld. Heb. 1:2, 3. His redemp-
tive power may be likened to the crossarm, extended to all
and reaching from the entrance of sin to the close of probation.
The Sabbath, as a sign of Christ's creative and redemptive
power, bears the imprint of His cross.
Think how this links true Sabbath keeping with the grand
center of all attraction—Christ and Him crucified. It reveals
its inseparable relationship to Christian living. The cross of
Christ casts the halo of Heaven's redeeming love around His
Sabbath. THINK IT THROUGH Is my Sabbath keeping a link of love binding my heart
close to that of Christ? Does it bring to me joys and de-
lights of His love and presence?
“The Sabbath points then to the Saviour. And every object in nature re- works of creation as an evidence of peats His invitation, ‘Come unto Me, all His mighty power in redemption. While ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and it calls to mind the lost peace of Eden, I will give you rest.’“—”The Desire of it tells of peace restored through the Ages,” page 289.
22 A Link of Love LESSON 3 ❑ Tuesday July II Part 3 “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also AN EXAMPLE suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should OF LOVE follow his steps.” 1 Peter 2:21 The Son of God took upon Himself our human nature. Thus He forever linked His divinity with our humanity. When He lived on earth, He kept the seventh day. Mark 1:20, 21; Luke 4:16, 31. This makes the keeping of the seventh day one of Christ’s “steps” for us.
How do we know that Jesus has not changed? Heb.
13:8.
Since He has not changed and He kept' the Sabbath when
He lived here, what day would He observe if He lived on earth
today?
Sunday keeping was introduced among Christians by some
church leaders after the apostles Paul, Peter, and John had
died. The call of God for our day is to turn from tradition to
His way.
What made the ground around the burning bush holy?
Ex. 3:2-6.
The presence of Christ in the burning bush made the very
ground surrounding it holy. Likewise He has hallowed the sev-
enth day by putting His own presence into it. He Himself kept
it first as our Creator in the beginning and later when He came
to live here as our Redeemer. We should walk in His steps by
keeping it, too. The Sabbath observance hallowed by His ex-
ample affords us a deeper consciousness of His presence.
The consciousness of the Saviour's abiding presence is one
of life's greatest joys and imperatives. THINK IT THROUGH If Jesus were here on earth today, what would He do
on Sabbath? What must I do to follow in His steps?
“It [the Sabbath] was a memorial of nature, and brings us into communion the work of creation, and thus a sign with the Creator. In the song of the of God’s power and His love. . . . bird; the sigl,;.sg of the trees, (-And the “And since the Sabbath is a memo- music of the sea, we still may hear His rial of the work of creation, it is a token voice who talked with Adam in Eden in of the love and power of Christ. the cool of the day.”—”The Desire of “The Sabbath calls our thoughts to Ages,” pages 281, 282.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Desire of Ages,” pages 281, 283, 288, 289.
24 A Link of Love LESSON 3 ❑ Tuesday July 11 Part 3 “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also AN EXAMPLE suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should OF LOVE follow his steps.” 1 Peter 2:21 The Son of God took upon Himself our human nature. Thus He forever linked His divinity with our humanity. When He lived on earth, He kept the seventh day. Mark 1:20, 21; Luke 4:16, 31. This makes the keeping of the seventh day one of Christ’s “steps” for us.
How do we know that Jesus has not changed? Heb.
13:8.
Since He has not changed and He kept the Sabbath when
He lived here, what day would He observe if He lived on earth
today?
Sunday keeping was introduced among Christians by some
church leaders after the apostles Paul, Peter, and John had
died. The call of God for our day is to turn from tradition to
His way.
What made the ground around the burning bush holy?
Ex. 3:2-6.
The presence of Christ in the burning bush made the very
ground surrounding it holy. Likewise He has hallowed the sev-
enth day by putting His own presence into it. He Himself kept
it first as our Creator in the beginning and later when He came
to live here as our Redeemer. We should walk in His steps by
keeping it, too. The Sabbath observance hallowed by His ex-
ample affords us a deeper consciousness of His presence.
The consciousness of the Saviour's abiding presence is one
of life's greatest joys and imperatives. THINK IT THROUGH If Jesus were here on earth today, what would He do
on Sabbath? What must I do to follow in His steps?
“It [the Sabbath] was a memorial of nature, and brings us into communion the work of creation, and thus a sign with the Creator. In the song of the of God’s power and His love. . . . bird, the sighing of the trees, and the “And since the Sabbath is a memo- music of the sea, we still may hear His rial of the work of creation, it is a token voice who talked with Adam in Eden in of the love and power of Christ. the cool of the day.”—”The Desire of “The Sabbath calls our thoughts to Ages,” pages 281, 282.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Desire of Ages ,” pages 281, 283, 288, 289.
24 A Link of Love LESSON 3 ❑ Wednesday July 12 Part 4 “And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, FOR OUR GOOD to fear the Lord our God, for our good always.” Deut. 6:24 When we truly love God, we know in our inmost soul that all of His commandments are for our good always. We also understand that he who sins against God wrongs his own soul. Prov. 8:36. Then our uppermost desire is to obey Christ. This leads to a lasting decision to follow Him faithfully all the way to the end. Then we understand that the keeping of the Sab- bath is not ordained to deprive us of time for our own activ- ities. It is enjoined to provide us time to maintain in a special way a closer fellowship with Christ.
How are we blessed both spiritually and physically by
keeping the Sabbath? Ise. 58:13, 14.
The best experiences in this life and in the never-ending
life to come are bound up in remembering the Lord in all the
affairs of our life.
Why do not the boundaries of Saturday, as reckoned
by man, coincide exactly with the seventh day of the
fourth commandment? Gen. 1:23, 31; Mark 1:21, 32;
Lev. 23:32.
The observance of the seventh day, as Christ commands, is
from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday.
Remembering the Sabbath projects its spirit into the other
days of the week. The Sabbath must be remembered in our
plans, appointments, and transactions, so that nothing will
conflict with the proper keeping of God's holy day when it
comes to us. Thus it is designed to keep the will of .the Creator
and Redeemer prominent in our life. It helps us to set the
Lord always before us as did the psalmist. Psalm 16:8. THINK IT THROUGH Do I keep the Sabbath in mind all during the week? Is
my Sabbath keeping truly a sign that the Creator has
made me into a new person and is sanctifying me?
“If the people of God would appre- sunlight of heaven. Truth would be in- ciate His word, we should have a terwoven with their lives, and its heav- heaven ir-t-ih -W-Church here below. Chris- enly principles would be as a fresh, tians would be eager, hungry, to search running stream, constantly satisfying the word. . . . the soul.”—”Testimonies,” Vol. 8, p. “Weariness would be forgotten in the 193.
25
A Link of Love LESSON 3 ❑ Thursday July 13 Part 5 “I delight to do thy will, 0 my God: yea, thy law is THE RIGHT within my heart.” MOTIVATION Ps. 40:8 Do we obey God because we “have to”? Or because we desire to? The answer may reveal whether we are living under the old covenant or the new.
What is the primary purpose of God in giving us a new
mind? Ezek. 11:19, 20; Rom. 8:7.
Some ask, "Isn't it hard to keep Saturday as the Sabbath?"
The answer is Yes or No according to whether or not Christ
is living His life in you. The keeping of the Sabbath is a spir-
itual experience.
It is good to obey God from a realization of our obligation;
but it is better to have the love of God in our hearts to the
extent that we obey because we truly wish to do it. True Sab-
bath keeping is a token of mutual love between our best Friend
and us. John 14:21.
In the performance of every duty it should be that "the love
of Christ constraineth us." Then His yoke is easy. In fact, we
find true rest in having His yoke upon us. Matt. 11:28-30.
Love makes it easy to do what otherwise would be difficult
and burdensome. Does mother love find it hard to keep a try-
ing night vigil at the bedside of a sick child?
A devout Christian has raised and answered this question,
"Why is it so hard to lead a self-denying, humble life? Be-
cause professed Christians are not dead to the world. It is easy
living after we are dead."—Messages to Young People, page 127.
It is easy to live in accordance with God's law when we
are "crucified with Christ" and He "liveth" in us. Gal. 2:20.
On the other hand, it is hard to do if we are not dead. So
each of us decides whether or not he will cooperate with the
Holy Spirit in order to enter into and maintain the right
Christian experience. THINK IT THROUGH Do I keep the Sabbath because I love God or from a
feeling of duty? Have we been remiss in urging the
Sabbath upon people, from the law, without letting the
gospel arouse love's desire to keep it?
“If we consent, He will so identify Him we shall be but carrying out our Himself with our thoughts and aims, so own impulses.”—”The Desire of Ages,” blend our hearts and minds into con- page 668. formity to His will, that when obeying FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Messages to Young People,” pages 27-32.
26 A Link of Love LESSON 3 ❑ Friday July 14 Part 6 “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from DAY OF DELIGHT doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath Isa. 58:13, 14 a delight, . . . then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.”
The Sabbath of Christ has in it today the love and joy of
the original in a perfect creation and of the future in a perfect
restoration. It is an indication of eternal love and joy.
The keeping of the seventh day originated in Eden when all
was perfect. Each Sabbath brings to us a breath from Eden. It
is also a foretaste of Eden restored in the earth made new,
where sin, sickness, sorrow, and death will be no more. The
successive Sabbaths are like lights along the highway to that
better world.
The perfect delight of the first Sabbath in Eden may be
recaptured to some degree by true Sabbath keeping now. It
will be fully recaptured by God's redeemed in the new earth
as we come to worship before Him from one Sabbath to an-
other.
How is keeping the Sabbath linked with delighting
oneself in the Lord? Isa. 58:13, 14.
How is pleasing the Lord linked with keeping the Sab-
bath? Isa. 56:1, 2, 4, 5.
The Sabbath is not merely a day of physical rest. Any day
would do for that. It is not exclusively a day for spiritual
renewal. It is both of these and more. It is a sign of allegiance
to Christ as our Creator and Saviour.
The seventh-day Sabbath has lost none of its Scriptural -sig-
nificance as a memorial of 'Christ's creative and saving power.
Every soul who receives Christ as his personal Saviour needs
to keep His Sabbath as a sign of his acceptance of Christ as
both his Creator and Saviour. THINK IT THROUGH Is Sabbath observance truly a delight to me? If it was
essential before man sinned, is it not more so in this
present world of sin?
“Great blessings are enfolded in the that now distinguishes God’s people as observance of the Sabbath, and God they come out from the world to enter desires that the Sabbath day shall be the heavenly rest.”—”Testimonies,” Vol. to us a day of joy. . . . It is the sign 6, p. 349.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Testimonies,” Vol. 6, pp. 349-352.
27
8Z Answers: (1) “The Story of Redemption,” page 141; (2) Matt. 22:35-40; Rom. 13:8-10; (3) God’s presence; (4) Friday sunset, Saturday sunset; (5) because of the lack of the love of Christ in the heart; (6) by keeping Sabbath he reaffirms his belief in God as Creator of heaven and earth.
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A BULWARK OF TRUTH 4 “His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.” Ps. 91:4.
LESSON OUTLINE True Sabbath keeping has been wisely designed as a sign of allegiance to Christ 1. Mark of True Worship and as an effective barrier against error and Ex. 31:17 false worship. There is a direct relationship between keeping the true Sabbath and hon- 2. Preventive of False Worship oring the true Christ by following the truth Rev. 14:7 as it is in Christ. 3. Worldwide Witness The author of all error (John 8:44) is Ex. 20:9, 10 aware of this. Hence it has been his studied purpose from the beginning to pervert, dis- 4. Precludes Evolutionary Theory tort, set aside, conceal, and repudiate the Heb. 11:3 Sabbath truth. The result is that it is the 5. A Sign Between Us and God most misunderstood, opposed, and disre- Ezek. 20:20 garded of the doctrines of Christ. This is a call to search out its significance as "The 6. Truth Sanctifies Bulwark of Truth." John 17:17
29
The Bulwark of Truth LESSON 4 ❑ Sunday July16 Part 1 “It [the Sabbath] is a sign between me and the children MARK OF of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven TRUE WORSHIP and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was Ex. 31:17 refreshed.”
There can be no house without a builder. Every house is
proof that a builder has made it. Thus the Bible points to the
existence of the world and the objects therein as evidence that
there is a Creator-God (Rom. 1:20) and that He is the only
true God. Ps. 96:5 ; Jer. 10:10-12.
1). What did Christ, as our Creator, give man to be his
continual means of acknowledgment of the only true God,
and as a sign of his supreme allegiance to Him? Ex. 20:
8-11; 31:16, 17.
Those who truly keep the Sabbath show thereby that they
worship the Creator as the only true God. This makes Sab-
bath keeping a mark of true worship. In the Decalogue the
Sabbath command (Ex. 20:8-11) is the only precept in which
the Lord (YHWH) is identified as the Creator and therefore
the only One to whom we should render worship and supreme
allegiance. Thus Sabbath keeping is a distinguishing mark be-
tween true and false worship.
How does the Word of God emphasize that supreme,
heart-motivated obedience to God is true worship? 1 Sam.
15:22; Ps. 40:6-8.
True Sabbath keeping shows our commitment to obey God
supremely. A person cannot keep the Sabbath as Christ directs
if he serves other gods. A true Sabbath keeper is a true wor-
shiper of the Father and the Son. True Sabbath observance
must not be omitted if we would worship God in spirit and
in truth as Jesus directs. John 4:24. THINK IT THROUGH Do I have any gods before the Creator? Am I allow-
ing anything or any person to hold me back from render-
ing full and supreme obedience to the Lord?
“‘The importance of the Sabbath as dation of divine worship, for it teaches the memorial of creation is that it keeps this great truth in the most impressive ever present the true reason why wor- manner, and no other institution does ship is due to God’—because He is the this.’ “—J. N. Andrews, as quoted in Creator, and we are His creatures. ‘The “The Great Controversy,” page 437. Sabbath therefore lies at the very foun-
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “SDA Bible Commentary,” Vol. 7, pp. 980, 981 (Ellen G. White Comments on “The Mark of Distinction”).
30 The Bulwark of Truth LESSON 4 ❑ Monday July 17 Part 2 “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his PREVENTIVE OF judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, FALSE WORSHIP and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Rev. 14:7 These words are a part of the message given in the final phase of the gospel, which God has foreordained shall be pro- claimed to every nation shortly before the second advent of Christ. Rev. 14:6-15. This message restores forgotten and ne- glected truths to their rightful place in the preaching of the gospel of Christ.
What kind of Christian people are raised up by ac-
ceptance of this heaven-sent message?
This last-day message provides certainty amid uncertainty.
The way of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus
is the Lord's true way in the midst of all the confusing and
conflicting doctrines of the last days.
This call to "worship Him that made heaven and earth"
requires that men recognize Christ and His rightful place as
our Creator and Lord. This in turn calls for the keeping of
the Sabbath as His appointed sign that He is our Creator and
Redeemer. Ezek. 20:12, 20. Since Sabbath observance is a mark
of true worship, it is one test for distinguishing truth from
error.
What will the observer of the Sabbath know? Ezek.
20:20.
If Christ's Sabbath had been kept by all men from the
beginning, there would be no infidel, atheist, or idolator. And
there would be neither Buddhism, Confucianism, Mohamme-
danism, nor pantheism. Neither would there be materialism
or humanism, which leave God out of their reckoning.
Honoring the Sabbath as the sign of loyalty to our Creator-
Redeemer sweeps the foundation from under every false sys-
tem of worship. Is it any wonder that the devil's chief target
has been the Sabbath? THINK IT THROUGH Do I keep the Sabbath in such a spirit that it signifies
that Christ is Lord in all the affairs of my life?
“Had the Sabbath been universally keeping of the Sabbath is a sign of kept, man’s thoughts and affections loyalty to the true God, ‘Him that made would have been led to the Creator as heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the object of reverence and worship, the fountains of waters.’ “—”The Great and there would never have been an Controversy,” page 438. idolater, an atheist, or an infidel. The
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Great Controversy,” pages 436-438.
31
The Bulwark of Truth LESSON 4 ❑ Tuesday
July Z8
Part 3 "Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but
WORLDWIDE the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it
WITNESS thou shalt not do any work."
Ex. 20:9, 10
There are twenty-four hours in a day. The period of rota-
tion of the earth upon its axis determines the length of the
day. The period of a revolution of the moon around the earth
is the natural measure of the month. The revolution of the
earth around the sun in a little over 365 days is the basis of
the common year of 365 days and the leap year of 366 days.
But whence came the seven-day week? It cannot be ac-
counted for from nature.
What connection is there between Christ's instituting
the Sabbath and commanding its observance, and the
reckoning of the days by the recurring cycle of seven?
Ex. 20:8-11.
To what inspired account must men turn for the origin
of the week? Gen. 1:1-31; 2:1-3; Ex. 20:11; 31:17; Heb.
4:4.
Christ the Creator established the seven-day week when
He made the world in six days and rested on the seventh. Then
He sanctified the Sabbath, or set it apart as sacred for man to
keep holy on every seventh day thereafter. He directed man
to confine his secular affairs to the first six days of the week
and to devote the seventh day to the worship of the Lord. This
is the origin of the seven-day week.
The universal use of seven days for a week reveals how the
Sabbath has influenced our world. Each week ending with the
Sabbath points to the Creator-God of Genesis 1 and 2, who is
Christ. The week bears its own witness that the days of crea-
tion week were not long and indefinite periods of time but were
evening-and-morning days, seven of which made up the week
of creation like every week since that time. The calendar, with
its weeks of seven days, bears witness to the identity and con-
tinuity of Christ's Sabbath for our age. THINK IT THROUGH How did the Lord identify the true week and the right
Sabbath for forty consecutive years in connection with
the wilderness journey of the Israelites? Ex. 16:4, 5, 16-
30, 35.
“I . was shown that the first week, creation and day of rest, measured off in which God performed the work of the first cycle as a sample for succes- creation in six days and rested on the sive weeks till the close of time.”—”Spir- seventh day, was just like every other itual Gifts,” Vol. 3, p. 90. week. The great God in his days of
32 The Bulwark of Truth LESSON 4 ❑ Wednesday July 19 Part 4 “Through faith we understand that the worlds were PRECLUDES framed by the word of God, so that things which are EVOLUTIONARY seen were not made of things which do appear.” THEORY Heb. 11:3 “The weekly cycle of seven literal .days, six for labor, and the seventh for rest, which has been preserved and brought down through Bible history, originated in the great facts of the first seven days.”—Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 3, p. 90.
1( How does the fourth commandment indicate that the
six days of creation are the same kind of days as those
which precede the Sabbath each week? Ex. 20:8-11.
The Lord commands all people to keep the seventh day be-
cause He made the world in six days and rested on the seventh,
as set forth in Genesis 1 and 2. The keeping of the Sabbath, as
Christ directs, commits a person to the acceptance of the doc-
trine of the direct creation of the world in six literal days of
twenty-four hours each.
Can those who believe in the Bible Sabbath, as commanded
by Christ, accept the theory that it took millions of years to
make the earth as a home for man and that man evolved from
the lower forms of life? If professed Christians had kept the
true Sabbath, then millions of them would not have been over-
taken and ensnared by the evolutionary theory.
Christ our Saviour is Christ our Creator. Rejection of Christ
as our Creator in Genesis 1 and 2 is a serious mistake on the
part of a professed Christian.
The introduction of the man-made Sunday sabbath by early
ecclesiastical leaders, as a substitute for Christ's seventh-day
Sabbath, deprived Christendom of one of the Lord's major
barriers against the errors of the theory of evolution. THINK IT THROUGH Why is it in vain for a person to claim to be a Sabbath
keeper and at the same time declare that he does not
believe what is written in Genesis 1 and 2?
“God created man in His own image. level of man’s narrow, earthly concep- Here is no mystery. There is no ground tions. Men are so intent upon exclud- for the supposition that man was ing God from the sovereignty of the evolved by slow degrees of develop- universe that they degrade man and ment from the lower forms of animal defraud him of the dignity of his ori- or vegetable life. Such teaching lowers gin.”—”Patriarchs and Prophets,” page the great work of the Creator to the 45.
33 3—A3QT.72
The Bulwark of Truth LESSON 4 ❑ Thursday July 20 Part 5 “And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign A SIGN BETWEEN between me and you, that ye may know that I am the US AND GOD Lord your God.” Ezek. 20:20 In seven places in the New Testament Jesus is presented as the Creator of this world and also of all the worlds in the universe. Only Deity can create a world. The true and living God is set forth as the Creator of all, in contradistinction to the vast array of false gods, none of whom have made the heaven and earth. Jer. 10:10-12; Acts 17:23, 24. God sets forth His seventh-day Sabbath as a sign that He is this Creator. Ex. 31:16, 17. Therefore it becomes a sign of His incomparable standing as God, in addition to His becom- ing man. The Sabbath, as it relates to His deity, is especially relevant to Christianity today. Why? Because many professed Chris- tians in various religious denominations which were formerly fully committed to the deity of Christ are now openly express- ing their disbelief in this. They laud Him as the best man and the greatest teacher. But they do not regard Him as being truly God as He was truly man.
Why is the acceptance of Christ as being truly God as
He was truly man essential to a full appreciation of sal-
vation?
No one can truly hallow Christ's Sabbath and at the same
time deny His deity. No one can keep the Sabbath as the
Lord's command requires in Ex. 20:8-11 and be committed to
the evolutionary theory.
Among the myriads of true Sabbath keepers there are none
who deny the deity of Christ or who disbelieve the Biblical
account of creation. The true Sabbath is a barrier against cer-
tain errors. It is an important link in that interlocked chain
of truth as it is in Jesus. THINK IT THROUGH What should all Sunday-keeping Christians who still
believe in the deity of Christ do to manifest greater faith
in His lordship? Ezek. 20:20; James 2:20, 26.
“In the fourth commandment God is object of reverence and worship. Satan revealed as the Creator of the heavens strives to turn men from their allegiance and the earth, and is thereby distin- to God, and from rendering obedience guished from all false gods. It was as to His law; therefore he directs his ef- a memorial of the work of creation that forts especially against that command- the seventh day was sanctified as a rest ment which points to God as the Crea- day for man. It was designed to keep tor.”—”The Great Controversy,” pages the living God ever before the minds 53, 54. of men as the source of being and the
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Testimonies,” Vol. 8, pages 197, 198.
34 The Bulwark of Truth LESSON 4 [I] Friday July 21 Part 6 “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” TRUTH SANCTIFIES John 17:17 The adequacy of the Sabbath truth is the adequacy of Christ, because true Sabbath observance is a sign of loyalty to Christ as our Creator and Saviour. Everything that every person ever needs for time and eternity is enfolded in Christ as the Creator and Saviour and Sanctifier.
Why can no person earn merit and thereby save him-
self by his good works? Eph. 2:8-10.
The Sabbath is a sign that Christ can sanctify any penitent
sinner. Ezek. 20:12. True Sabbath keeping is an acknowledg-
ment that He alone can make such a person righteous. Hence
no one who keeps the Sabbath as Christ directs is a legalist.
Why not? Because true Sabbath keeping is a part of the fruit-
age of His righteousness as it has been received by faith in
Him.
Why does salvation by grace not set aside obedience
to the Ten Commandments through Christ? Rom. 3:31;
6:14, 15.
Note what an effective barrier true Sabbath keeping is
against error. No false religions. No theory of evolution. No
false philosophy substituting its dicta for the truths of God's
Word. No legalistic attempt by man to lift up himself by pull-
ing at his own bootstraps. No antinomians 'advocating that
faith in Christ frees a Christian from the obligation to obey
the precepts of the Decalogue. No false system of salvation by
works. But all honor, and glory, and love, and obedience to
the Creator-Saviour-Sanctifier.
He who truly keeps the Sabbath as Christ directs is ready
to do everything else that He commands. Why is this? Be-
cause the Sabbath, when kept in the manner that God has
appointed, is a sign that Christ is sanctifying and saving one
from sin (the transgression of His law) by His indwelling
presence. THINK IT THROUGH Do I experience sanctification every day by Christ liv-
ing His life in me so that I can truly keep His sanctified
day at the end of each week?
“In the fourth commandment, God is providence of God, for the world to be revealed as the Creator of the heavens tested upon the truth for that time, and the earth, and is thereby distin- minds will be exercised by His Spirit to guished from all false gods. … It was search the Scriptures . . . until link designed to keep the living God ever after link is searched out and united in before the minds of men.”—”The Great a perfect chain.”—”Testimonies,” Vol. Controversy,” pages 53, 54. 2, p. 692. “When the time shall come, in the
35
The Bulwark of Truth LESSON 4
Part 7 0 SUMMARY QUESTIONS 0 TO TEST YOUR STUDY POWER
-
The God of the Bible is the only true God because He is the
-
True Sabbath keeping is a mark of true worship because, according to (list references) the Sabbath is a of God as the
-
The week of seven days is a continuing worldwide witness to the and of the seventh-day Sabbath.
-
True Sabbath keeping precludes acceptance of the evolutionary theory, because it commits the observer to belief in the direct creation of our world in
-
No one who truly hallows the Sabbath denies the deity of Christ, because such observance is a sign of belief that He is
-
Salvation only by grace through faith: (a) releases a Christian from keeping the Ten Commandments. (b) supersedes obedience to the law. (c) is contrary to obeying the law. (d) leads one to obey the Decalogue by having Christ live in him.
-
According to Rev. 14:12, God’s true people in our day are distinguished by the and the
-
A true Sabbath keeper will not be a legalist, because his Sabbath keeping
is a continual acknowledgment of his utter dependence upon to and him
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36 LESSON 5 July 23-29
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THE MISSING TEXT 5 "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed." Acts 17:11, 12.
They maintained the right attitude sanctioned by the New Testament. This toward truth. They tested Paul’s preaching situation demands that a search be made by what the Scriptures taught. When they to see if there is such evidence in the New found that his teachings were according to Testament. the Word, they gladly moved forward to accept them. The apostles and the primitive Christians LESSON OUTLINE regarded the Scriptures as the ultimate au- thority for the determination of what is 1. Resurrection on Sunday truth. Protestantism was founded upon this Mark 16:9, NEB safe and sure foundation: that the Bible, and the Bible only, is the authoritative 2. Resurrection’s Relationship to rule of faith and practice. Sabbath The Christian princes in the Diet of Luke 23:54-56; 24:1, NEB Spires of 1529 declared concerning the Bi- ble, “`This word is the only truth; it is 3. Doubting Disciples Convinced the sure rule of all doctrine and of all life, John 20:19, NEB and can never fail or deceive us. He who builds on this foundation shall stand against 4. An All-night Meeting all the powers of hell, while all the human Acts 20:7 vanities that are set up against it shall fall before the face of God.’“—The Great Con- 5. Sunday Provision for Needy troversy, page 203. 1 Cor. 16:2 Today millions of Protestants, who tradi- tionally accept the Bible as their only guide, 6. A Man-made Predicament believe that the keeping of Sunday is Matt. 22:29
37
The Missing Text LESSON 5 ❑ Sunday
July 23
Part 1 "When he had risen from the dead early on Sunday
RESURRECTION morning he appeared first to Mary of Magdala, from
ON SUNDAY whom he had formerly cast out seven devils."
Mark 16:9, NEB
This is a definite statement that Christ arose early on
Sunday morning. But there is not a hint that Sunday is to be
honored because the Lord arose on that day.
How does Mark show that the Lord's holy day is the
one which precedes Sunday? Mark 16:1, 2.
Regardless of how earnestly one may try, it is impossible to
keep the Lord's holy day on Sunday. Why? Because Mark 16:
1, 2 shows that the Sabbath was past when the women came
to the tomb at daybreak on Sunday.
How does John refer to the day when Mary found the
tomb empty? John 20:1.
John wrote this account about sixty years after the resur-
rection of Christ. Some claim that during these sixty years the
keeping of Sunday by Christians was established in the place
of that of the seventh-day Sabbath. If this were true, wouldn't
John have mentioned this when he spoke of the first day in
direct connection with our Lord's resurrection?
The fact is that Christians in the days of the apostles kept
Saturday and not Sunday. In Acts 18:4 the record declares
that at Corinth Paul reasoned in the synagogue every Sab-
bath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. This happened
about A.D. 54, or twenty-three years after Christ's resurrection.
The Jews assembled in their synagogues according to their
custom every week upon the seventh day, or Saturday. The
Holy Spirit, speaking through Luke in Acts 18:4, identifies
their meeting days as being every Sabbath. This indicates that
this day on which they met for worship was observed as the
Sabbath twenty-three years after the resurrection of Christ. THINK IT THROUGH Why can no one adequately harmonize Sunday keep-
ing with Mark 16:1, 2?
“Protestants now urge that the resur- given to the day by Christ or His apos- rection of Christ on Sunday made it the tles.”—”The Great Controversy,” page Christian Sabbath. But Scripture evi- 54. dente is lacking. No such honor was
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Great Controversy,” pages 51-54. 38 The Missing Text LESSON 5 ❑ Monday July 24 Part 2 “It was Friday, and the Sabbath was about to begin. RESURRECTION’S “The women who had accompanied him from Galilee RELATIONSHIP followed; they took note of the tomb and observed how TO SABBATH his body was laid. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes; and on the Sabbath they rested in obedience to the commandment. But on the Sunday morn- Luke 23:54-56; ing very early they came to the tomb bringing the spices 24:1, NEB they had prepared.”
These verses present three notable facts:
1. Christ was crucified on Friday, the day before the Sab-
bath. Mark 15:42 designates the day of the crucifixion as "the
day before the Sabbath."
2. Christ arose from the dead on Sunday, the day after the
Sabbath. Mark 16:1, 2, NEB, declares that "the Sabbath was
past" when the women went to the tomb on Sunday at day-
break. Matt. 28:1, NEB, says, "The Sabbath was over, and it
was about daybreak on Sunday, when Mary of Magdala and
the other Mary came to look at the grave."
3. The day in the middle between the Friday of the cruci-
fixion and the Sunday of the resurrection was "the sabbath day
according to the commandment" of the Lord. Luke 23:56;
Ex. 20:8-11. Thus everyone can be sure, according to Luke
23:54-56; 24:1, that the seventh day—Saturday—is the day
which the Lord asks us to keep holy.
What evidence do you see in Luke 23:54-56; 24:1 that
the followers of Jesus came to the tomb to do on Sunday
what they would not do on Saturday?
Some think that changes in the calendar have made it un-
certain whether or not Saturday is the true seventh day of the
week now. The calendar changes have pertained to the num-
bering of days in certain months. There has been no change of
the fixed order and number of the seven days in the weekly
cycle. THINK IT THROUGH Since the followers of Jesus were expected to keep the
Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset on the
weekend of the crucifixion, what does the law of God
requir'e of me every week?
“Each Sabbath institution [the true particle of sanctity. It is the production Sabbath and the false sabbath] bears of the man of sin, who strives in this the name of its author, an ineffaceable way to counterwork God’s purposes.” mark showing the authority of each. —Ellen G. White Comments, “SDA Bible The first day of the week has not one Commentary,” Vol. 7, p. 981.
39
The Missing Text LESSON 5 ❑ Tuesday July 25 Part 3 “Late that Sunday evening, when the disciples were DOUBTING DISCIPLES together behind locked doors, for fear of the Jews, Jesus CONVINCED came and stood among them.” John 20:19, NEB It is claimed that the apostles had gathered together to be- gin the keeping of Sunday in honor of Christ’s resurrection. But note there is not a word in the text to indicate this.
How do we know that when they came together on
that occasion, they did not believe that Jesus had risen
from the dead? Mark 16:9-14.
Why is it wrong to read into a text something different
from what it says? Prov. 30:6; 2 Peter 3:16.
In John 20:26 the apostle records that after eight days
from this Sunday-night meeting, Jesus appeared again to His
apostles. According to Jewish method of reckoning days, this
second meeting took place on the next Sunday. Some claim
that this was the setting apart of Sunday as the Lord's day
for worship instead of the seventh day. But there is no hint
of such a purpose in this text. Jesus came to convince doubting
Thomas.
The first recorded Christian council convened at Jerusalem
about A.D. 52, or approximately twenty-one years after Christ's
resurrection. See Acts 15. It is worthy of note that in the offi-
cial letter of this council to all the churches, the day observed
by the Jews was recognized as the Sabbath. It referred to the
reading of the Scriptures in the synagogues "every Sabbath
day." Acts 15:21. There was then no other Sabbath than the
seventh day of the week. So it is today and forevermore. Isa.
66:22, 23. THINK IT THROUGH If it was the Lord's plan for Christians to keep Sun-
day, wouldn't the New Testament so declare it? Since
such a thing is not mentioned at all, is it according to
Christ's plan?
“Christ rested in the tomb on the Sab- work of teaching His disciples. But this bath day, and when holy beings of fact does not consecrate the first day of both heaven and earth were astir on the week, and make it a Sabbath.”— the morning of the first day of the week, Ellen G. White Comments, “SDA Bible He rose from the grave to renew His Commentary,” Vol. 5, p. 1113.
40 The Missing Text LESSON 5 ❑ Wednesday July 26 Part 4 “And upon the first day of the week, when the dis- AN ALL-NIGHT ciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto MEETING them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his Acts 20:7 speech until midnight.”
Many claim that this passage shows that it was a regular
practice there for Christians to assemble on every Sunday for
worship. We must not read into the Scriptures something that
is not there.
How do we know that, according to Biblical mode of
reckoning of the twenty-four-hour day, this meeting at
Troas was held on what we call Saturday night? Gen.
1:19; Mark 1:32; Acts 20:7, 8, 11.
The celebration of the Lord's Supper on the first day of the
week at Troas would not sanctify Sunday for Christians to
keep as the Lord's day. The celebration of the first Lord's
Supper by Jesus and His disciples on a Thursday night did
not make that a holy day.
This first-day meeting at Troas does not represent regular
Christian practice. It lasted all night long. Acts 20:7, 8, 11.
No church customarily holds regular meetings during the entire
night.
This meeting was not held because it was Sunday, but be-
cause Paul was "ready to depart" early the next morning.
Verses 7 and 11. He went on foot on Sunday morning to Assos.
Verses 13, 14.
It was logical that he would hold this farewell meeting on
the night previous to his departure, a Saturday night doubtless,
and celebrate the Lord's Supper with them.
What New Testament Christian leaders speak of the
day on which devout Jews and some Gentiles assembled
for worship as the Sabbath? Acts 13:27; 15:21; 18:4.
THINK IT THROUGH Why does it take more than the holding of a meeting on Sunday to make it a divinely appointed weekly holy day for Christians? Gen. 2:3; Ex. 20:8-11.
“The simplest way to view this pas- experience of Eutychus, and that his sage would seem to be that the meet- note that it was ‘the first day of the ing was held, not because it was Sun- week’ is merely a part of his continuing day, but because Paul was ‘ready to chronological record of Paul’s journey.” depart,’ . . . that Luke includes an ac- —”SDA Bible Commentary,” on Acts count of the meeting because of the 20:7.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “SDA Bible Commentary,” on Acts 20:7.
41
The Missing Text LESSON 5 ❑ Thursday July 27 Part 5 “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you SUNDAY PROVISION lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there FOR NEEDY be no gatherings when I come.” 1 Cor. 16:2 Some declare that this means that a collection was taken every Sunday at the church in Corinth. Evidence indicates, however, that the believers at Corinth were Sabbath keepers. See Acts 18:1-4, 11. But 1 Cor. 16:2 does not say anything about a weekly church collection.
What words in our text indicate that Paul is not here
calling for a public collection to be taken up in a church
service?
The money was to be laid aside perhaps at home. The RSV
rendering: "Each of you is to put something aside and store
it up." NEB: "Each of you is to put aside and keep by him a
sum." Phillips: "Let everyone put so much by him." Today's
English Version: "Each of you must put aside some money."
The Roman Catholic New Testament Confraternity Version:
"Let each one of you put aside at home and lay up whatever
he has a mind 10." The Jerusalem Bible: "Each one of you must
put aside what he can afford."
Paul was then gathering funds to help the needy saints at
Jerusalem. He planned to stop at Corinth for this purpose, and
he advised the believers there to lay aside some money on the
first day of each week for this relief fund which he would take
to Jerusalem.
Why is it unscriptural to assume that "the Lord's day"
in Rev. 1:10 is Sunday?
The Bible repeatedly states that the seventh day is the
Lord's special day for man. Ex. 20:8-11. God calls it spe-
cifically "my holy day." Isa. 58:13. Jesus declared that He
is the Lord of the Sabbath. Matt. 12:8. THINK IT THROUGH Do I show by the way I use it that from Friday sunset
to Saturday sunset is the Lord's holy day?
“It was on the Sabbath that the Lord was preaching to the people in the of glory appeared to the exiled apos- towns and cities of Judea.”—”The Acts tle. The Sabbath was as sacredly ob- of the Apostles,” page 581. served by John on Patmos as when he
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Testimonies,” Vol. 3, p. 413; “SDA Bible Commentary,” Vol. 6, p. 815.
42 The Missing Text LESSON 5 ❑ Friday July 28 Part 6 “Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not A MAN-MADE knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” PREDICAMENT Matt. 22:29 This statement was made in reference to the Sadducees’ ignorance of the resurrection. It could well portray the condi- tion of those who endeavor today to defend Sunday observ- ance by the Bible. If there is Scriptural authority for keeping Sunday, then we would expect to find it in connection with the eight passages which specifically mention the first day of the week. But they contain no Scriptural evidence in favor of the observance of that day.
What is the decisive test as to what we should follow
in matters of religion? Isa. 8:20.
What six things can be said concerning the lack of Biblical
evidence for keeping Sunday?
1. Christ and His apostles never changed the Sabbath from
the seventh day to the first day of the week.
2. Jesus and His apostles never observed the first day of
the week as the Sabbath or Lord's day.
3. There is in the New Testament no divine command to
keep holy the first day of the week.
4. In the Bible there is no indication that the first day is
to be kept as sacred for any reason.
5. There is no indication that Sunday observance took the
place of the keeping of the seventh day of the week as holy
during Bible times.
6. Neither God, Christ, holy angels, nor divinely inspired
men have ever said one word in favor of SundaSr as a holy day.
In direct contrast, the keeping of the seventh day is plainly
commanded by Christ in the Ten Commandments. Ex. 20:8-11.
It is inseparably connected with the acceptance of Christ as
Creator (Ex. 31:16, 17), Saviour (Ezek. 20:12) , and Lord
(Ezek. 20:20; Matt. 12 :8) . THINK IT THROUGH When a person who is keeping Sunday or any other
day finds that there is no Bible authority for it, what
should he do?
“It is the first and highest duty of walk in the light and encourage others every rational being to learn from the to follow his example.”—”The Great Scriptures what is truth, and then to Controversy,” page 598.
43
The Missing Text LESSON 5
Part 7 <> SUMMARY QUESTIONS <> TO TEST YOUR STUDY POWER
-
The first day of the week is mentioned times in the New Testament.
-
How many of these first-day texts say anything about Christians keeping
the first day as a weekly holy day)
-
How many times in Acts is the Sabbath identified as the day on which Jews and Gentiles assembled for worship? 5? 8? 7? 6?
-
What day was kept as a rest day after Christ died, and how careful were
His followers in its observance?
- Which day of the week is spoken of as the Sabbath in the statement of the
presiding elder at the first recorded Christian council)
- In how many places in the Bible is it said that the first day of the week
is the Lord’s day)
- Where does the Bible show that Christ is inseparably connected with the
keeping of the seventh day)
-
If a person follows the Bible, and the Bible only, what day will he keep?
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44 LESSON 6 July 30 to August 5
THE ATTEMPTED CHANGE 6 "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." Heb. 13:8.
Christ never changes. He established the Sabbath for man upon the seventh day as LESSON OUTLINE an everlasting sign that He is the Lord, the Creator, and the only Saviour. Therefore 1. Not Changed by God His Sabbath cannot be changed by man, Ps. 89:34 even as Christ cannot be changed from being the Lord and the Creator-Saviour. 2. Unchanged Under New Men can change and have changed the Covenant practice of the people with regard to the Jer. 31:31-33 day of rest. But Christ’s Sabbath is still the last day of the week, as originally estab- 3. Not Changed by Apostles lished by Him. Those who have attempted Acts 15:21 to change the Sabbath have by so doing tried to exalt themselves above the Lord. 4. The Attempt Foretold Today the vast majority of the followers Dan. 7:25, ARV of Christ are keeping the first day of the week, instead of the seventh day which 5. History Confirms Prophecy Christ has appointed in the Decalogue. This Isa. 48:3 practice raises questions: Who was respon- sible for this attempted change? When was 6. A Decisive Test it changed? Why was it changed? Rom. 6:16
45
The Attempted Change LESSON 6 ❑ Sunday July 30 Part 1 “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that NOT CHANGED is gone out of my lips.” BY GOD Ps. 89:34 There is in this world only one code of moral law that came direct from the lips of God to man. It is the law of Ten Commandments, which God also wrote with His own finger on tables of stone. In the fourth commandment God has said, “The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Ex. 20:10. Texts such as Ps. 89:34 declare that God will not alter, or change, the thing that is gone out of His lips. This implies that God is not the one who has attempted to change the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first of the week. Christ, as the Creator-God (John 1:1-3, 10), made the seventh day the Sabbath by resting on it, blessing it, and de- claring it holy. Ex. 20:11; Gen. 2:2, 3. It is unalterably estab- lished on the last day of the week. Those who attempt to make Sunday the Christian sabbath are in effect exalting themselves above God by planning to do what He Himself has not done or authorized anyone else to do. The jot (yod) is the smallest character in the Hebrew alpha- bet. A tittle (the tiniest part of a letter of the Greek alphabet) is even smaller; it is the hook or point of such a letter. It is small like the dot on the “i” or the cross on the “t.” Christ teaches in Matt. 5:18 that the Ten Commandments cannot be changed in the least as long as heaven and earth stand. This shows that Christ did not change the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first to honor His resurrection. Christ foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, and it occurred thirty-nine years afterward, in A.D. 70. He said, “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day.” Matt. 24:20. Thus he indicated that the same seventh-day Sabbath which His disciples were keeping before His death would still be the Sabbath of the Lord in A.D. 70, or thirty-nine years after His resurrection.
How has the Lord forbidden men to attempt to change
His commandments? Deut. 4:2; 12:32.
THINK IT THROUGH Is it my steadfast purpose that by the grace of God I will obey His commands without any additions or sub- tractions?
“Here [in Matt. 5:17, 18] He [Christ] main. The law of God is as immutable teaches, not merely what the claims of as His throne. It will maintain its claims God’s law had been, and were then, upon mankind in all ages.”—”Patriarchs but that these claims should hold as and Prophets,” page 365. long as the heavens and the earth re-
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Desire of Ages,” pages 281-289. 46 The Attempted Change LESSON 6 ❑ Monday July 31 Part 2 “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, UNCHANGED UNDER and with the house of Judah: . . . I will put my law in NEW COVENANT their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will Jer. 31:31-33 be their God, anetthey shall be my people.”
"The same law that was engraved upon the tables of stone
is written by the Holy Spirit upon the tables of the heart.
Instead of going about to establish our own righteousness we
accept the righteousness of Christ. . . . Through the grace of
Christ we shall live in obedience to the law of God written
upon our hearts. Having the Spirit of Christ, we shall walk
even as He walked."—Patriarchs and Prophets, page 372.
This shows that under the new covenant God writes upon
the renewed hearts of converted persons the same law of His
Ten Commandments which, in connection with the old cove-
nant with Israel, He had written upon the two tablets of
stone. Thus Christ's seventh-day Sabbath stands unchanged
in the very heart of the Decalogue under the new covenant.
What is the attitude of a converted person toward
God's commandments? Ps. 40:8; Ezek. 11:19, 20; Rom.
7:22.
Some ask, "If the keeping of the seventh day is binding on
Christians, then why is there no command concerning it in the
New Testament?"
"The New Testament does not reenact the law of the tithe,
as it does not that of the Sabbath; for the validity of both is
assumed, and their deep spiritual import explained."—Counsels
on Stewardship, page 66. THINK IT THROUGH Do I continually maintain so full'a surrender to Christ
that Ps. 40:8 is true every day with me?
Dwight L Moody, the great evange- and it has been in force ever since. list, expressed strong convictions on the This fourth commandment begins with fourth commandment. Here are his ,fhe word 'remember,' showing that the words: sabbath already existed when God
"I honestly believe that this coma wrote this law on the tables of stone mandment is just as binding to-day C1-- at Sinai. How can men claim that this it ever was. I have talked with men one commandment has been done who have said that it has been abro- away with when they will admit that gated, but they have never been able the other nine are still binding?"— to point to any place in the Bible where "Weighed and Wanting," pages 46, 47, God repealed it. When Christ was on quoted in "SDA Source Book," page earth, He did nothing to set it aside.... 860.
"The sabbath was binding in Eden,
47
The Attempted Change LESSON 6 ❑ Tuesday August 1 Part 3 “For Moses of old time hath in every city them that NOT CHANGED preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath BY APOSTLES day.” Acts 15:21 There are still those who say that the apostles introduced the keeping of Sunday in the place of the seventh day. But the book of Acts shows that the apostles regarded the seventh day as the only weekly Sabbath. There are eight places, in the Acts of the Apostles, where reference is made to the seventh-day Sabbath: Acts 13:14, 27, 42, 44; 15:21; 16:13; 17:1-4; 18:4. If the apostles had changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, they could not have correctly called the seventh day the Sabbath day. These references in the Acts show that the apostles did not change the Sabbath. In three of these references—Acts 13:27; 15:21; 18:4—three Christian leaders—Paul, James, and Luke—refer to successive Sabbaths on which devout Jews and Gentiles assembled for worship as “every Sabbath day.” Some ask, “If the keeping of the seventh day is still binding, how is it that all of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament except the Sabbath commandment?” Only three of the Ten Commandments are repeated verbatim in the New Testament: the sixth, seventh, and eighth. Does this mean that the other seven are not binding? Not at all. It was not necessary for them to be repeated verbatim, or reenacted, in the New Testament to make them binding. None of them ever was repealed. None expired by limita- tion. Hence all of them, including the Sabbath, are binding.
What texts show that the apostles taught that all the
Ten Commandments are to be obeyed by Christians?
James 2:8-12; Rom. 7:7; 13:8-10; Eph. 6:2.
THINK IT THROUGH Since it was contrary to the will of God for men to at- tempt to change the true Sabbath, what should be my attitude toward it?
“Through the setting up of a false declared of the seventh-day Sabbath: sabbath, the enemy thought to change ‘It is a sign between Me and you times and laws. But has he really suc- throughout your generations.’ ‘It is a ceeded in changing God’s law? The sign . . . forever.’ Ex. 13:13, 17. The words of the thirty-first chapter of Ex- changed signpost is pointing the wrong odus are the answer. He who is the way, but God has not changed.”— same yesterday, today, and forever, has “Prophets and Kings,” pages 184, 185.
48 The Attempted Change LESSON 6 ❑ Wednesday August 2 Part 4 “He shall speak great words against the most High, THE ATTEMPT and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think FORETOLD to change times and laws.” Dan. 7:25 The context reveals that this prediction refers to a religio- political power that ruled over Western Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. No other power fits the specifications of the prophecy except the papacy.
What one word in Dan. 7:25 indicates not only a delib-
erate attempt to change the law of God, but also an
inability to change it in reality?
One important measurement of time is the seven-day week,
as stated in the Sabbath command. Changing the times and the
law points to an attempt to change God's Sabbath command-
ment. Roman Catholic spokesmen plainly declare that their
church has changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.
In a popular Catholic book we read:
"Q. Which is the Sabbath day?
"A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.
"Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
"A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the
Catholic Church . . . transferred the solemnity from Saturday
to Sunday."—Peter Geiermann, The Convert's Catechism of
Catholic Doctrine, 1957 ed., page 50.
Thus the Catholic Church admits making this change, as
was forecast in Dan. 7:25. Many have noted that in practice
the churches keep Sunday, the first day, when the Ten Com-
mandments say, "The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord
thy God." THINK IT THROUGH How can a person keeping Sunday correct this dis-
crepancy between his practice and God's commandment?
“The soul who keeps the Sabbath is of the City of God who does not bear stamped with the sign of God’s gov- the signet of the faithful, His govern- ernment, and he must not dishonor this ment mark. . . . sign. By closely examining the Word of “God will never insure a man for God, we may know whether we have everlasting life whose anchor is not the King’s mark, whether we have been securely fastened to heaven’s unalter- chosen and set apart to honor God…. able law.”—”Medical Ministry,” page “God will never, never allow any 123. man to pass through the pearly gates 49 4—A3QT.72 The Attempted Change LESSON 6 ❑ Thursday August 3 Part 5 “I have declared the former things from the beginning; HISTORY CONFIRMS and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; PROPHECY I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.” Isa. 48:3 We find light on future events in the prophecies of the Bible for our day. This prophecy, “He . . . shall think to change the times and the law” (Dan. 7:25, RSV), is one key for unlocking the Sabbath truth as it pertains to our day. “The change in the fourth commandment exactly fulfills this prophecy.”—The Great Controversy, page 446. History confirms this prophecy. The establishment of Sun- day observance instead of that of the Sabbath was accom- plished principally under the leadership and domination of the Roman power. Dr. Nicholas Summerbell, a founding father of the denomi- nation known as the Disciples of Christ, wrote a History of Christians, in which he says: “The Roman Church . . . has reversed the fourth commandment, by doing away with the Sabbath of God’s word, and instituting Sunday as a holiday.” —Pages 417, 418. Some ask, “When was the Sabbath changed?” No exact date can be given, for in its effect it was a gradual change that took place most significantly from about A.D. 150 to 400. Christians generally did not refrain from ordinary labor on Sunday until the first Sunday law was issued by Constantine the Great in A.D. 321. The church Council of Laodicea a little later decreed that Christians should not be idle on the Sabbath and, if possible, should abstain from work on Sunday.
What does Christ say about those who follow tradi-
tion in violation of His commandments? Mark 7:7-13.
Every Christian should reject this unscriptural change of
Christ's Sabbath commandment. In love for Him he should
say, "As for me, I will take my stand for Christ's seventh-day
Sabbath as commanded in the Ten Commandments." THINK IT THROUGH Why is it vain to believe in the validity of the Ten
Commandments and not keep the seventh day? James
2:10.
“Satan says, . . . ‘Thus I will show that cannot be a sign between God and the world that the day sanctified and His people. I will lead those who ac- blessed by God has been changed…. cept this day to place upon it the sanc- I will obliterate the memory of it. I tity that God placed upon the seventh will place in its stead a day that does day.’ “—”Prophets and Kings,” pages not bear the credentials of God, a day 183, 184. FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Prophets and Kings,” pages 179, 180.
50 The Attempted Change LESSON 6 ❑ Friday August 4 Part 6 “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves A DECISIVE TEST servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righ- Rom. 6:16 teousness?”
This is a decisive statement. It reveals that all people by
their own choice arrange themselves on one of two sides, either
for the Lord Jesus Christ or for Satan.
What, according to Rom. 6:16, shows whose servants
we are?
Every soul settles his eternal destiny, for heaven or hell,
by whether his faith in Christ leads him to choose to obey
Christ. The real test is submission to the rightful supremacy
of the Son of God versus the assumed supremacy of Satan.
In this closing age God has ordained that this test concern-
ing the Sabbath truth shall come to every soul. Christ has ap-
pointed His Sabbath as a sign of His supremacy as our Creator
and God and our only Saviour. The attempted change of the
Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday stands as a sign of the
unwarranted attempt by the papal power to assume supremacy
in religious matters.
This presents a decisive test to every soul. Will your faith
lead you to accept the sign of Christ's authority by keeping
the seventh day as He commands? Or will you in unbelief fol-
low the sign of the papal authority by keeping Sunday as it
directs?
This issue of whether a person keeps the seventh day or the
first means far more than whether a person rests on Saturday
or Sunday. It involves a choice between acceptance of the
rightful supremacy of the Son of God over one's life and sub-
mission to the assumed supremacy of the papal power. It
means a decision for or against Christ as our supreme Lord.
On what basis should we decide this Sabbath ques-
tion? Acts 5:29.
THINK IT THROUGH Why should a person not halt between two opinions in this matter? 1 Kings 18:21.
“Only by changing God’s law could which the change was made. Such an the papacy exalt itself above God; act of obedience to papal laws would whoever should understandingly keep be a mark of allegiance to the pope in the law as thus changed would be giv- the place of God.”—”The Great Con- ing supreme honor to that power by troversy,” page 446.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Prophets and Kings,” pages 180-184.
51
The Attempted Change LESSON 6
Part 7 <> SUMMARY QUESTIONS 0 TO TEST YOUR STUDY POWER
- What two statements of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew indicate that He
did not change the Sabbath? (a) (b)
- The seventh day is still the Sabbath for Christians under the new
because God the Ten Commandments upon their
-
How many times is the seventh day referred to as being the Sabbath in the Acts of the Apostles? Circle the correct figure. 10? 6? 5? 7? 8?
-
Where is the prophecy involving the attempted change of the Sabbath?
-
How does the Catholic Church admit that it changed the Sabbath from
Saturday to Sunday?
- The Sabbath presents a test to every soul whether he will obey Christ and
keep the day, or keep and thus obey
-
My lasting decision should be to obey by faith.
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vvv ,WHY NOT ANY DAY? 7 "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you." Deut. 4:2.
The Word of God by precepts, promises, LESSON OUTLINE and illustrations repeatedly stresses the fact that God requires implicit obedience to His 1. Creator Settles It commands. They were given for our good Ex. 20:10, 11 both here and hereafter. These divine guide- lines are needed more than ever in this time 2. Optional Yearly Sabbaths of permissiveness and situation ethics. Rom. 14:5, 6 It is commonly believed that it makes no difference which day in the week a Chris- 3. Typical System Abolished tian observes as the Lord’s day, and that Col. 2:16, 17 the main thing is that he keep one day in the seven as sacred. Many declare that it 4. Situation Ethics Inadequate matters not whether one keeps any day. Prov. 16:25 It is true that the Lord does not compel a person to observe the true Sabbath. He 5. God Is Particular has left every man free to choose whether Matt. 7:21 or not he will obey God. But let none con- clude that God has left it to man to deter- 6. Judged According to Light mine which is the right day to keep. John 9:41
53
Why Not Any Day? LESSON 7 ❑ Sunday
August 6
Part 1 "The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God:
CREATOR in it thou shalt not do any work . : for in six days the
SETTLES IT Lord made heaven and earth, .. . and rested the seventh
day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and
Ex. 20:10, 11 hallowed it."
The Lord commands us to keep holy the same day of the
week on which He, as our Creator-God, rested after He had
made the world in six days. This cannot apply to any except
the seventh and last day of the week.
The idea that it makes no difference which day a person
observes is directly contrary to the Lord's Sabbath command-
ment. The concept that keeping any day in the seven is suffi-
cient contradicts the Creator.
- The reasons why Christ asks man to observe the Sabbath do
not apply to any other day in the week except the seventh. He
has so designed this Sabbath command that only the proper
keeping of the seventh day will meet its requirement.
May we expect the Lord to take• notice when men set
aside the Sabbath command or any other divine law?
Ps. 119:126.
The substitution of any other day than the last day of the
week for the Sabbath is disobedience to our Lord Jesus Christ.
The difference between keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, when
we perceive its validity, and a man-made sabbath on any of
the other six days is the vital difference between obedience to
the Lord and disobedience to Him. This involves one's eternal
destiny.
What solemn warnings given in the last chapter of
the Bible stress the importance of following God's Word
exactly as He has given it? Rev. 22:18, 19.
THINK IT THROUGH Do I follow Christ’s commandments exactly as He has stated them?
“Let no one deceive himself with the His word no command which men may belief that a part of God’s command- obey or disobey at will and not suffer ments are nonessential, or that He will the consequences.”—”Patriarchs and accept a substitute for that which He Prophets,” pages 360, 361. has required. . . . God has placed in
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “SDA Bible Commentary,” Vol. 1, pp. 604, 605.
54 Why Not Any Day? LESSON 7 ❑ Monday August 7 Part 2 “One man esteemeth one day above another: another OPTIONAL YEARLY esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully per- SABBATHS suaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, re- gardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the Rom. 14:5, 6 day, to the Lord he doth not regard it.” Does this text mean that Christians need not keep any fixed day in the week as the Lord’s day? Is Paul sanctioning thereby the keeping of any day that a person may choose? Not at all. Why not? Because this interpretation would make Rom. 14: 5, 6 contradict the Lord’s command in Ex. 20:8-11. Also it would make Paul contradict his own teachings that the Ten Commandments are to be obeyed by Christians. See Eph. 6:2; Rom. 7:7; 3:31; 13:8-10. In addition to the weekly seventh-day Sabbath of the Decalogue, the Lord gave to the •Jews seven yearly sabbaths in the ceremonial law. These are listed in Leviticus 23. The requirement for their observance ended when Christ was cruci- fied. No one needed to honor them thereafter. Many of the Jewish believers continued to observe some of these yearly sabbaths after their conversion to Christianity. Some also observed certain fast days, and some urged that the Gentile Christians should observe them too. Paul sought to end this dissension and establish Christian tolerance on minor differences not vital to salvation. He urged that the religious observance or nonobservance of a ceremonial feast day was not a matter on which one should judge another. However, the weekly seventh-day Sabbath (Ex. 20:8-11) is another matter altogether. The Lord requires every soul to keep the Sabbath of the Decalogue. He has not left it to others to decide what day we are to keep.
Discuss the distinction between the weekly seventh-day
Sabbath and the yearly rest days of .Leviticus 23 with
regard to time of origin, reasons given for observance,
and continuity. See Gen. 2:3; Ex. 20:8-11.
THINK IT THROUGH Do I practice in my life the main lesson of Romans 14, of not judging others?
"Those believers whose faith enables And what God expects of each of His them immediately to leave behind all servants is that he shall 'be fully per- ceremonial holydays should not despise suaded in his own mind' and conscien- others whose faith is less strong..Nor, tiously follow 'his convictions in accord- in turn, may the latter criticize those ance with the light he has received and who seem to them lax. Each believer is understood so far."—"SDA Com- responsible to God (Rom. 14:10-12). mentary," on Rom. 14:5..
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “SIDA\ Able •Commentary,” on Romans 14. 55 Why Not Any Day? LESSON 7 ❑ Tuesday August 8 Part 3 “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, TYPICAL SYSTEM or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of ABOLISHED the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; Col. 2:16, 17 but the body is of Christ.”
Some have used this scripture in attempting to prove that
the obligation to observe the seventh-day Sabbath ended at
the cross. Such an interpretation is unsound. Why? Because the
Bible does not actually teach such a thing.
In a former lesson we noted eight places in the book of
Acts where the seventh-day Sabbath is spoken of during the
decades that followed Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. If
the seventh-day Sabbath had been abolished at the cross, then
the Word of God would not thereafter refer to the seventh day
as the Sabbath.
" 'Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on
the Sabbath day,' Christ said. He who made the Sabbath did
not abolish it, nailing it to His cross. The Sabbath was not
rendered null and void by His death. Forty years after His
crucifixion it was still to be held sacred. For forty years the
disciples were to pray that their flight might not be on the
Sabbath day."—The Desire of Ages, page 630.
How does the context of Col. 2:16, 17 show that it
applies to the abolition of the Jewish typical system at
the cross? Col. 2:14, 16, 17.
Paul is dealing in part with a similar problem in Rom.
14:5, 6. The yearly holy days of the ceremonial law are not
binding on Christians. The Jewish ceremonial system met its
fulfillment in Christ. Therefore Christians are not obligated
to present the burnt offerings, the meal and drink offerings, to
observe the new moons, the annual feast days, and the yearly
sabbaths. THINK IT THROUGH How does the origin of the Sabbath in Eden show that
it cannot be included among those typical, yearly Sab-
baths which were a shadow of things to come?
“There is no evidence from this pas- He had his eye on the great number of sage that he [Paul] would teach that days which were observed by the He- there was no obligation to observe any brews as festivals, as a part of their holy time, for there is not the slightest ceremonial and typical law, and not reason to believe that he meant to teach to the moral law, or the ten command- that one of the ten commandments had ments.”—Dr. Albert Barnes, quoted in :eased to be binding on mankind. . . . “SDA Bible Commentary,” on Col. 2:17.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “SDA Bible Commentary,” on Col. 2:14-16.
56 Why Not Any Day? LESSON 7 ❑ Wednesday August 9 Part 4 “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the SITUATION ETHICS end thereof are the ways of death.” INADEQUATE Prov. 16:25 Many people make their decision concerning the Sabbath question by a form of situation ethics. They think the keeping of Sunday, motivated by love, is proper under present-day cir- cumstances. Hence they deem it unnecessary to make any Biblical investigation of the subject. Prov. 16:25 shows the danger in deciding our course by principles of situation ethics, and the fatal results of following such a course. The way may seem right to a person, but it ends in destruction.
Can he who depends entirely upon his own reason-
ing find the right way? Jer. 10:23.
The notion behind situation ethics is not new. To a degree
Eve made the first human experiment with it in Eden. It
seemed right to her understanding of love, under the circum-
stances, to eat the fruit from the Lord's reserved tree. Yet it
was the worst thing she could have done.
Six thousand years of misery and suffering have come upon
humanity because Eve reasoned that it wouldn't do any harm
to eat the fruit of the Lord's reserved tree. "She disbelieved
the words of God, and this was what led to her fall."—
Patriarchs and Prophets, page 55.
In matters of clear-cut moral duty, God has dealt with the
inadequacy of situation ethics. He commanded, "Ye shall not
do . . . every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes." Deut.
12:8. This verse of scripture overthrows the philosophy of
situation ethics insofar as our duty to God is concerned.
Some ask, "If I am not to do what I think is right, what
shall I do?" The Lord tells you what to do: "Observe . . . all
these words which I command thee, that it may go well with
thee, . . . when thou doest that which is good and right in
the sight of the Lord thy God." Deut. 12:28. When the appli-
cation of His law seems impossible, He will guide us if we
are willing. THINK IT THROUGH Am I fully committed to follow only what is right in
the sight of God, as defined in His Word?
“We may disguise poison by min- awares. It is one of Satan’s devices to gling it with wholesome food, but we combine with falsehood just enough do not change its nature. On the con- truth to give it plausibility.”—”The trary, it is rendered more dangerous, Great Controversy,” page 587. as it is more likely to be taken un-
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Patriarchs and Prophets,” pages 71-73, 359-362.
57
Why Not Any Day? LESSON 7 ❑ Thursday August 10 Part 5 “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall GOD IS PARTICULAR enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the Matt. 7:21 will of my Father which is in heaven.”
The Lord is particular about how we cooperate with His
plan to work in us for true obedience to all His commandments.
The Bible shows that admittance into heaven calls for this.
Jesus says that many who perform wonderful works in His
name will be denied entrance into heaven because they have
disobeyed some of His commandments. Matt. 7:22, 23.
Many are unaware of what is involved in their own in-
dividual cases in this matter of the Sabbath versus Sunday.
It is not merely a choice as to which day one shall observe as
God's holy Sabbath.
The real issue is obedience versus disobedience, faith versus
unbelief. Shall I obey the Lord in keeping the seventh day as
He directs in Ex. 20:8-11? Or shall I obey man in keeping the
first day? In this case the only right decision for a Christian
to make is to obey Christ.
What is the difference in the end between obeying
Christ and disobeying Him? Heb. 5:9; Rev. 22:14; 21:8.
What does Christ want us to do above all else? Deut.
5:29; 10:12, 13; John 14:15, 21.
The idea that it makes no difference which day one keeps,
just so he observes a day, lacks validity, even as does the false
proposition that it makes no difference which god a person
worships, just so he worships a god. The underlying issue in
each case is obedience to God versus disobedience. Whom shall
I obey as supreme?
Christians need to realize from the Scriptures how the keep-
ing of the seventh day is Christ's appointed way whereby we
show our faith in Him as our Creator-Saviour. This shows
that making a lasting decision to keep His Sabbath is one of
the best things any person can do. THINK IT THROUGH Why does Christ want to see obedience in me above
all else? John 15:14; Deut. 6:24.
“It is the grossest presumption for to occasionally use the Sabbath for mortal man to venture upon a com- secular business as to entirely reject promise with the Almighty in order to it; for it is making the Lord’s command- secure his own petty, temporal interests. ments a matter of convenience.”—”Tes- It is as ruthless a violation of the law timonies,” Vol. 4, p. 249.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Testimonies,” Vol. 4, pp. 247-251.
58 Why Not Any Day? LESSON 7 ❑ Friday August 11 Part 6 “Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should JUDGED ACCORD- have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin ING TO LIGHT remaineth.” John 9:41 God judges every soul according to the light and oppor- tunities he has had for obeying the truth. If a person has had no opportunity to learn about the true Sabbath, he will not be condemned for keeping the wrong day through ignorance. Acts 17:30. Condemnation comes when a person willfully re- fuses to obey the truth. John 3:19.
What is the situation when a person knows what is
right and fails to do it? James 4:17.
The true Christian obeys the truth when the Word of God
points it out. John 8:47; Luke 8:15. God's eye is on every
honest soul in every country. 2 Chron. 16:9. He will lead such
ones into a fuller knowledge of truth.
How is the vital matter of our cleansing from sin af-
fected by our walking in the light, obeying truth as it
comes to us? 1 John 1:7.
What plain Biblical evidences show the inseparable connec-
tion between keeping the seventh day and obeying Jesus
Christ?
1. The seventh day is the only day of the week that Christ, as
our Creator, ever sanctified, or set apart as holy, for man to
observe.
2. The seventh day is the only day of the week that the
Son of God ever blessed or hallowed for man.
3. The seventh day is the only day of the week that Christ,
as the Lord of the Ten Commandments, has ever commanded
any Christian to keep as holy.
4. The seventh day is the only day of the week that the
Lord has appointed us to keep as the sign that He is our
Creator-God and only Saviour. THINK IT THROUGH If a person is determined to do what the Lord wants
him to do, which is the only day he will honor?
“As the tree of knowledge was the people.”—Ellen G. White Comments, test of Adam’s obedience, so the fourth “SDA Bible Commentary,” Vol. 1, p. command is the test that God has 1106. given to prove the loyalty of all His 59 09 Answers: (1) rested, hallowed, seventh; (2) obedience or loyalty, to Satan or papacy or man; (3) sabbaths, sacred obligation; (4) cross, binding; (5) a. our, God; b. Prov. 16:25; (6) a. obedience versus disobedience; b. seeking God with whole heart; (7) a. only day sanctified and set apart by Christ; b. only day hallowed for man; c. only day commanded by Christ to be kept by man; d. only day appointed as a sign of God’s presence.
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RIGHT DAY-WRONG WAY
“And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.” Mark 2:27.
When Christ lived among the Jews at His first advent, the Sabbath they were keeping LESSON OUTLINE corresponded to the day which ‘the Romans called the day of Saturn (or Saturday). 1. Senseless Restrictions Christ’s example made it clear that this is Luke 13:14 the right day to observe. He kept it and defended it against those who misused it. 2. A False Charge It is the Lord’s day for man—the day John 9:16 blessed and sanctified, or set apart as holy, by Christ our Creator when He made the 3. Remedy for Legalism world. Gal. 2:16 The Gospels contain no record of any disagreement between Jesus and the Phari- 4. Letter or Spirit sees concerning which day of the week is Rom. 7:6 the right day to observe. He and His dis- ciples observed the same seventh day of 5. Grace Produces Obedience the week that the Jews did. The contro- Rom. 3:31 versy between Him and His opponents was concerning the manner in which this Sab- 6. A Continuing Sign bath day should be kept. They were observ- Ex. 31:17 ing the right day in the wrong way. 61 Right Day—Wrong Way LESSON 8 ❑ Sunday August 13 Part 1 “And the ruler of the synagogue answered with in- SENSELESS dignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath RESTRICTIONS day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and Luke 13:14 be healed, and not on the sabbath day.”
The Jewish religious leaders considered it a sin to heal a
crippled person on the Sabbath. Isn't this surprising? It shows
the senseless extremes to which people will go when they lose
the spirit of true religion in a sterile system of righteousness
by works. They had buried the proper keeping of the right
day under a long list of senseless restrictions of their own
devising. Jesus swept away these burdensome man-made ex-
actions. He restored to men the true objective of Sabbath
keeping.
How did Christ refute their charge that He and His
disciples broke the Sabbath? Luke 13:14-17; 14:1-6; Matt.
12:1-8.
How did He sweep away their exacting man-made
regulations concerning the Sabbath? Matt. 12:12, last
part.
Jesus was a Sabbath reformer, not by changing the day
which is to be kept, but by showing how it is to be observed.
Today God's remnant are called by Him to be Sabbath re-
formers, both as to the identity of His true Sabbath and as
to the manner of true Sabbath keeping. THINK IT THROUGH In the case of the Jews, how did their burdensome
restrictions concerning Sabbath observance reveal their
wrong concept of God?
"As the Jews departed from God, flected the character of selfish and arbi- and failed to make the righteousness trary men rather than the character of of Christ their own by faith, the Sab- the loving heavenly Father. The rabbis bath lost its significance to them. Satan virtually represented God as giving was seeking to exalt himself and to laws which it was impossible for men draw men away from Christ, and he to obey. They led the people to look worked to pervert the Sabbath, because upon God as a tyrant, and to think it is the sign of the power of Christ. The that the observance of the Sabbath, as Jewish leaders accomplished the will He required it, made men hardhearted of Satan by surrounding God's rest day and cruel. It was the work of Christ to with burdensome requirements. In the clear away these misconceptions."— days of Christ the Sabbath had become "The Desire of Ages," pages 283, 284. so perverted that its observance re-
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Desire of Ages,” pages 281-284. 62 Right Day—Wrong Way LESSON 8 ❑ Monday August 14 Part 2 “Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not A FALSE CHARGE of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day.” John 9:16 This does not prove that Christ broke the Sabbath. It does say that His enemies accused Him of doing that. It simply records the false charge of Sabbath breaking that the Pharisees brought against Him. He who accuses Christ of breaking the Sabbath arrays the Saviour against Himself. Why? Because He, as the Creator, set it apart as holy for man in the beginning. Gen. 2:2, 3; Mark 2:27. He is the Lord God who requires in the Ten Com- mandments that we keep it holy. He did break the burden- some regulations which the Jewish leaders had made concern- ing Sabbath observance. But He rightly kept the Sabbath as required in the Old Testament.
How do we know that Christ kept the Sabbath ac-
cording to God's commandments? 1 Peter 2:21; John
15:10.
What did His enemies decide to do when Christ re-
fused to keep the Sabbath according to their ideas?
John 5:16-18.
The Orthodox Jew today reckons the Sabbath from sunset
Friday evening to sunset Saturday evening. But he does not
keep this right day in the right way, because he does not have
the Lord of the Sabbath. One cannot keep the Sabbath of the
Lord correctly unless he has this Lord living in him. And no
one can have the Lord living in him until he has been born
again as a result of believing in Christ as his personal Saviour. THINK IT THROUGH Consider John 5:16 in the light of Rev. 13:15. What
test will the remnant finally face as a result of refusing
to keep the counterfeit sabbath?
“Those who hold that Christ abol- followers broke the law of the Sabbath. ished the law teach that He broke the Christ was a living representative of Sabbath and justified His disciples in the law. No violation of its holy pre- doing the same. Thus they are really cepts was found in His life. Looking taking the same ground as did the upon a nation of witnesses who were caviling Jews. In this they contradict seeking occasion to condemn Him, He the testimony of Christ Himself, who could say unchallenged, ‘which of you declared, ‘I have kept My Father’s com- convicteth Me of sin?’ John 8:46, R.V.” mandments, and abide in His love.’ —”The Desire of Ages,” page 287. John 15:10. Neither the Saviour nor His
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Desire of Ages,” pages 285-287.
63
Right Day—Wrong Way LESSON 8 ❑ Tuesday August 15 Part 3 “Khowing that a man is not justified by the works of REMEDY FOR the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have LEGALISM believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for Gal. 2:16 by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”
It has been widely proclaimed that those who keep the
seventh day according to the Ten Commandments are legalists
trying to save themselves by their own works.
Under the new covenant of grace, he who truly accepts
Christ receives a new heart (or mind). Christ writes His com-
mandments upon the believer's heart. Heb. 8:8-10. In doing
this, He does not omit the precept concerning His Sabbath.
"The fourth commandment is the only one of all the ten in
which are found both the name and the title of the Lawgiver."
—Patriarchs and Prophets, page 307.
When Christ lives His life in the enlightened, sur-
rendered, born-again believer, how many of His com-
mandments will the believer obey? 1 John 2:3, 4; Ps.
40:8.
How does true faith in Christ manifest itself in rela-
tionship to the requirements of God's law? Rom. 3:31;
Rev. 14:12.
Keeping the Sabbath as Christ directs does not make a
Christian a legalist, even as obedience to the other nine pre-
cepts of the Decalogue does not make him a legalist. John
Wesley was right when he said that after his conversion he
wanted the law to keep him to Christ, as he ever wanted it to
bring him to Christ. (Sermons, Vol. 1, p. 314.) THINK IT THROUGH How am I reacting to my greatest need of letting
Christ live His life in me? Is Gal. 2:20 true in my life?
“Christ, during His earthly ministry, teaching by which those who claimed to emphasized the binding claims of the know God had misrepresented Him. Al- Sabbath; in all His teaching He showed though followed with merciless hostil- reverence for the institution He Himself ity by the rabbis, He did not even had given. In His days the Sabbath had appear to conform to their require- become so perverted that its obser- ments, but went straight forward keep- vance reflected the character of selfish ing the Sabbath according to the law and arbitrary men rather than the char- of God.”—”Prophets and Kings,” page acter of God. Christ set aside the false 183.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Prophets and Kings,” pages 185-189.
64 Right Day—Wrong Way LESSON 8 ❑ Wednesday August 16 Part 4 “But now we are delivered from the law, that being LETTER OR SPIRIT dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in Rom. 7:6 newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”
Some claim that living in the newness of the spirit, and not
in the oldness of the letter, means that one may violate the
letter of the Decalogue while obeying it in spirit. They apply
this false reasoning to the Sabbath commandment; they insist
that living in the newness of the spirit means that they need
not keep the exact seventh day as specified in the letter and
that keeping Sunday is carrying out the spirit of the law.
1). How did Christ show that a person may obey the
commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," according to the
letter, but be living in violation of the spirit of that com-
mand? Matt. 5:21-23, 43, 44.
He who is honest according to the spirit of the command,
"Thou shall not steal," will not act contrary to the letter of it.
A person may follow the letter of the law and yet not obey
the spirit of it. But no person who obeys the law in spirit will
live contrary to the letter of it. Let no one deceive himself in
this. There is no such thing as keeping the Sabbath in spirit
while directly violating the letter of the Sabbath precept.
The spirit of true Sabbath keeping is a manifestation of
supreme love to Christ as our Creator and Saviour. By His
creative power a penitent sinner is made into a new person.
Then he must let Christ sanctify him by His indwelling pres-
ence every day. Thus his Sabbath keeping becomes a real sign
that Christ the Saviour is his Creator-Sanctifier.
THINK IT THROUGH Does my Christianity go beyond the letter of the law and into the deeper, inner spirit of it for true obedience?
“In the new birth the heart is brought ciliation, of faith and love, has begun. into harmony with God, as it is brought Then ‘the righteousness of the law’ will into accord with His law. When this ‘be fulfilled in us, who walk not after mighty change has taken place in the the flesh, but after the Spirit.’ Ronians sinner, he has passed from death unto 8:4. And the language of the soul will life, from sin unto holiness, from trans- be: ‘0 how love I Thy law! it is my gression and rebellion to obedience and meditation all the day.’” Psalm 119: loyalty. The old life of alienation from 97.—”The Great Controversy,” page God has ended; the new life of recon- 468.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Desire of Ages ,” pages 309, 310. 65 Right Day—Wrong Way LESSON 8 ❑ Thursday
August 17
Part 5 "Do we then make void the law through faith? God
GRACE PRODUCES forbid: yea, we establish the law."
OBEDIENCE
Rom. 3:31 A doctrine that is half true and half false is very dangerous.
The citing of a few Scriptures to support such a doctrine mis-
leads many who do not know the real teachings of the Bible.
It is for our eternal good that we know what is the real truth
in Christ.
Some say, "A Christian is not under the law, but under
grace. Hence he doesn't need to keep the seventh day as speci-
fied in the Ten Commandments." The first part of this state-
ment is true; but the second part is false. This is an example
of the way many are led to accept doctrines that are half true
and half false.
How does Paul in Rom. 3:31 show that salvation by
grace only, and justification by faith only, do not su-
persede the obligation to keep God's commandments?
What positive evidence is there to show that being
under grace does not mean that a person is free to live
contrary to God's moral law? Rom. 6:14, 15.
A converted person is not under the condemnation of the
law, but under grace. This is the case only when sin—the trans-
gression of God's law—is no longer the ruling factor in his
life. Notice the word "for" in verse 14.
Does being under grace give a person license to steal, lie,
swear, commit adultery, or worship false gods? Certainly not.
God's Ten Commandments forbidding these things are binding
forever upon all. So being under grace does not release a be-
liever from keeping the seventh-day Sabbath which God or-
dained in the Ten Commandments.
When a believer receives Christ for his justification, then by
grace the work of sanctification begins. Christ has appointed
the keeping of His Sabbath as a sign of this continuing process
of sanctification. Ezek. 20:12. THINK IT THROUGH Is my Sabbath keeping such that it is an outward
sign of the operation of God's grace working in me for
my progressive sanctification?
“The claim that Christ by His death men from the penalty of sin. The death abolished His Father’s law is without of Christ, so far from abolishing the foundation. Had it been possible for law, proves that it is immutable.”—”The the law to be changed or set aside, Great Controversy,” page 466. then Christ need not have died to save
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Great Controversy,” pages 466-468.
66 Right Day—Wrong Way LESSON 8 ❑ Friday August 18 Part 6 “It [the Sabbath] is a sign between me and the chil- A CONTINUING dren of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made SIGN heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, Ex. 31:17 and was refreshed.”
This scripture says distinctly that the Sabbath is a sign
between God and the children of Israel forever. Some have
concluded from this that the Sabbath pertained to the Jewish
people solely and exclusively. However, the text shows that
the Sabbath is such a sign because God is the Creator of heaven
and earth. And this basic reason is applicable to every soul on
earth.
The Bible repeatedly refers to the only true God as the
God of Israel. Does this mean that the true God is exclusively
for the Jews? He is certainly the only true God for every soul.
So the observance of God's true Sabbath by the Jews does
not preclude its being the only true Sabbath for every soul.
God committed His system of truth—including His Ten
Commandments, His Sabbath, and the entrance of His Son into
human form—to the Jews because the Hebrew people had
been called to witness for Him to all people.
How does the Word point out that all Gentiles and
Jews who truly accept Christ are counted as Israelites
by the Lord? Gal. 3:29, 7; Rom. 9:6-8.
What shows that the twelve tribes of spiritual Israel
continue throughout eternity? Rev. 21:12; Matt. 19:28.
Thus the Lord's declaration that His Sabbath was made for
man (Isa. 56:2, 5, 6) and is a sign between Him and Israel
forever is conclusive evidence that it is a continuing sign of
allegiance to Christ as our Creator throughout eternity in the
earth made new (Isa. 66:22, 23).
The Sabbath rests on one immutable, unshakable, indivisi-
ble, and everlasting pillar—Christ our Creator and our Sanc-
tifier. Ex. 31:17, 13 presents such a pillar. THINK IT THROUGH Does my Sabbath keeping reveal that I am a true
subject of Christ's creative and redemptive power?
“Speaking of Israel, He said, ‘I gave power to make us holy. And it is given them My Sabbaths, to be a sign be- to all whom Christ makes holy. As a tween Me and them, that they might sign of His sanctifying power, the Sab- know that I am the Lord that sanctify bath is given to all who through Christ them,’—make them holy. Ezek. 20:12. become a part of the Israel of God.” Then the Sabbath is a sign of Christ’s —”The Desire of Ages,” page 288.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Desire of Ages ,” pages 287-289. 67 89 Answers: (1) right, wrong; (2) the Ten Commandments, burdensome regulations on how to keep it; (3) sanctified by the Lord; (4) spirit, letter; (5) Rom. 6:14, 15; (6) Christ the Creator, Christ the Sanctifier; (7) spiritual (or both, because literal could also be spiritual).
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LESSON 9 August 20-26
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RECEIVING THE DOUBLE BLESSING 9 "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it." Gen. 2:3. "Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil." Isa. 56:2.
A blessed day and a blessed person meet LESSON OUTLINE in true Sabbath keeping. The Creator placed a special blessing on the seventh day 1. Sabbath Reform after He had rested at the close of the first Isa. 56:6 week. The seventh day in each of succes- sive weeks to come was blessed for man. 2. Protecting the Edges And this blessing is still on every seventh Lev. 23:32 day of the week for everyone who keeps it holy. 3. Preparation Day Then there is God’s promise: “Blessed is Mark 15:42 the man . . . that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it.” We need this double Messing 4. Safe Guiding Principles as never before to fulfill His plan for our Josh. 1:8 lives. Christ’s Sabbath is His meeting point for 5. Dominates the Week bestowing His double blessing upon the Ex. 20:8-10 faithful believer. Each person determines the measure of this divine blessing for himself 6. Great Promises by how he meets Christ in His Sabbath. Isa. 58:13,14
69
Receiving the Double Blessing LESSON 9 El Sunday August 20 Part 1 “Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves SABBATH REFORM to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sab- Isa. 56:6 bath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant.”
This prophecy of Isaiah is quoted in The Great Controversy,
page 451, where this statement is made: "The work of Sabbath
reform to be accomplished in the last days is foretold in the
prophecy of Isaiah."
The substitution of Sunday keeping in place of the seventh
day of the Ten Commandments makes a breach in one's full
commitment to his Creator-Saviour and His law. Also, it takes
away the seal from His law. This makes a God-appointed Sab-
bath reform movement a necessity in this closing period of
time. His remnant will restore the seal to His law. Isa. 8:16, 17.
What does prophecy say about God's people repair-
ing this breach by keeping the right day in the right
way? Isa. 58:12, 13.
Note that being a repairer of the breach, as stated in verse
12, is expressly conditioned upon the 'Sabbath reform of verse
13.
In this age of permissiveness and lukewarmness there is a
growing trend among many Sabbath keepers to keep the sev-
enth-day in a careless manner as most others keep Sunday.
They make it a holiday rather than the Lord's holy day. Every
Sabbath keeper is called to resist such a departure from Christ's
way. Carelessness in Sabbath keeping begets carelessness in
obedience to God's other requirements, in talking, eating,
drinking, dressing, associations, recreation, et cetera.
What is the sad result when a believer's actions con-
tradict his profession? Rom. 2:21-24; 2 Tim. 3:1-5.
THINK IT THROUGH Is my Sabbath keeping such that it bears the right testimony for the Lord of the Sabbath?
“It [the fourth commandment] de- changed by the papal power, the seal clares Him [God] to be the Creator of was taken from the law. The disciples the heavens and the earth, and thus of Jesus are called upon to restore it shows His claim to reverence and wor- by exalting the Sabbath of the fourth ship above all others. Aside from this commandment to its rightful position precept, there is nothing in the Deca- as the Creator’s memorial and the sign logue to show by whose authority the of His authority.”—”The Great Contro- law is given. When the Sabbath was versy,” page 452. FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Great Controversy,” pages 451-455.
70 Receiving the Double Blessing LESSON 9 ❑ Monday August 21 Part 2 “It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall PROTECTING afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, THE EDGES from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.” Lev. 23:32 This was the rule for the reckoning of the yearly ceremonial sabbath of the Day of Atonement. But the same rule—from evening unto evening, or from sunset to sunset—applies also for beginning and ending the weekly seventh-day Sabbath. Christ’s Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday.
What did Nehemiah, as governor of Jerusalem, do
to protect the edges of the Sabbath? Neh. 13:19.
Those who wait until Saturday morning to begin their
observance of the Sabbath have only a partial Sabbath, which
really is not right. No one can keep the Sabbath unless he
begins its observance when it commences at sunset. If he begins
its observance one or two hours after sunset, he is lagging
behind the Lord's schedule. Those who go through the gates
into the New Jerusalem at the end will not lag behind His
schedule.
There is no better way to protect the edges of the Sabbath
than to gather around the family altar for worship at sunset
on Friday and again at sunset on Saturday. How fitting it is,
at the moment of sunset on Friday, to welcome the Sabbath
with praise and,prayer as it arrives.
This sets the 'tempo for closer fellowship with God during
the Sabbath day. It serves to instill a spirit of reverent regard
for its sacred hours.
Then how fitting also at sunset on Saturday to have a season
of special worship, to thank God for the blessings of this Sab-
bath and to ask for His special help to live right during each
day of the next week until we welcome another Sabbath at
the next Friday sunset. Thus special prayer at sunset at the
commencement and again at its close serves to mark off each
Sabbath as Christ's holy day in closer fellowship with Him. THINK IT THROUGH Do I protect the edges of the Sabbath in my way of
life?
“God is very particular, and all who bless them as it would be His pleasure think that they are saving a little time, to do, for His name is dishonored by or advantaging themselves by infring- them, His precepts lightly esteemed.” ing a little on the Lord’s time, will meet —”Testimonies,” Vol. 1, p. 532. with loss sooner or later. He cannot
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Testimonies,” Vol. 1, pp. 531-533.
71
Receiving the Double Blessing LESSON 9 ❑ Tuesday August 22 Part 3 “And now when the even was come, because it PREPARATION DAY was the preparation, that is, the day before the sab- Mark 15:42 bath.”
This text, in conjunction with Luke's testimony (Luke 23:54
to 24:1), gives New Testament evidence that Friday, "the day
before the Sabbath," was the day of preparation for keeping
the Sabbath holy on the following day. God is particular about
how we observe His Sabbath. Unless certain matters are cared
for on Friday, we cannot keep the Sabbath holy. Hence the use
of Friday to prepare for beginning the Sabbath at sunset is
God's provision to help us rightly observe His hallowed day.
How did the Lord point out this duty to His people in
ancient times? Ex. 16:22-26.
If one does not prepare for the Sabbath on Friday, can
he really keep the Sabbath? Ex. 16:27, 28.
Suppose a dear friend or loved one, in a far distant place,
notified you that he would arrive at your house for a one-day
visit beginning at six o'clock on Friday evening. Wouldn't you
have everything in readiness to welcome him upon arrival?
How much more, then, we should be ready to welcome Christ's
precious Sabbath at Friday sunset, and then enter into a closer
fellowship with Him.
The right use of Friday as the preparation day ,enables us to
welcome the Sabbath immediately when it arrives. Also, it
prevents certain worldly cares from causing us to mar God's
plan for our Sabbath keeping. THINK IT THROUGH How shall I prepare for the Sabbath?
- Friday’s work should be planned before sunset. (“Ibid.,” p. 355.) with reference to the Sabbath. (“Testi- 7. Believers should put away their monies to Ministers,” page 272.) differences before sunset. (“Ibid.,” p.
- Mending of clothes should be 356.) cared for. (“Child Guidance,” page “Far more sacredness is attached to 528.) the Sabbath than is given it by many
- Baths should be taken, shoes professed Sabbathkeepers. The Lord has polished, the preparation of food fin- been greatly dishonored by those who ished. (“Testimonies,” Vol. 6, p. 355.) have not kept the Sabbath according
- Clothing for Sabbath wear should to the commandment, either in the let- be made ready. (“Ibid.”) ter or in the spirit. He calls for a reform
- Children should share in making in the observance of the Sabbath.”— the preparation. (“Ibid.,” p. 356.) “Ibid.,” p. 353.
- Secular work should be laid aside
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Testimonies,” Vol. 6, pp. 353-368.
72 ieceiving the Double Blessing LESSON 9 ❑ Wednesday August 23 Part 4 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy SAFE GUIDING mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, PRINCIPLES that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way pros- Josh. 1:8 perous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
t$. Does the Bible show that there should be no buying
or selling on God's holy day? Neh. 13:15-18.
What example did Christ leave for us in regularly
attending divine worship on the Sabbath? Luke 4:16, 31;
Mark 1:20, 21. See also Lev. 23:3.
It was a part of the life of Jesus to attend p_itlalic worship
every Sabbath. So it will be a part of our way onifr;r ien
we closely follow His way,
Jesus doubtless walked out tch see the beauties of nature on
the Sabbath, but not at the time of the Sabbath worship
service.
All that is permissible on the Sabbath is wrapped into
doing well, which was His guiding principle. Matt. 12:12. Re-
lieving the afflicted and doing deeds of kindness and acts of
mercy are in accord with this principle. A safe rule is this: Do
not leave any secular work to be done on the Sabbath that
can be done during the six working days. THINK IT THROUGH Do I plan my Sabbath observance in accordance with
these counsels?
The Sabbath should be the most joy- thing special as a treat (“Ibid.,” Vol. 6, ful day of the week (“Testimonies,” p. 357). Vol. 6, p. 359), the sweetest and most The Sabbath is desecrated by plea- blessed day of the week (“Child Guid- sure seeking (“Ibid.,” Vol. 2, p. 584), ance,” page 532), the most interesting hurrying, jostling, and impatience day of the week at home (“Testimo- (“Ibid.,” Vol. 6, p. 357), pursuit of nies,” Vol. 2, p. 584). school studies (“Ibid.,” Vol. 4, p. 114), Mind and body should be withdrawn or by reading secular papers or books from worldly business before the Sab- (“Ibid.,” Vol. 6, p. 355) or by being in bath begins (“Ibid.,” Vol. 6, p. 356). a hurry for the sun to set in order to Allow no burdens and business trans- resume business or sports (Amos 8:5). actions to divert the mind upon the Work neglected until the commence- Sabbath (“Ibid.,” Vol. 2, p. 583). ment of the Sabbath should remain Overeating on the Sabbath dishonors undone until the Sabbath is past (“Pa- God. Sabbath meals should be simple, triarchs and Prophets,” page 296). palatable, and attractive, with some-
73
Receiving the Double Blessing LESSON 9 ❑ Thursday August 24 Part 5 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days DOMINATES shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh THE WEEK day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt Ex. 20:8-10 not do any work.”
One main objective of the Sabbath observance is that man
may continually remember the Lord Jesus Christ as his Crea-
tor-Saviour. Thus remembering the Sabbath is not limited to
the twenty-four-hour period of its observance during the end
of the week. It projects itself into the entire week, as a part
of our everyday commitment to our Creator-Saviour.
Your paper boy tells you on Sunday, "This month ends on
Saturday. I will stop then to collect." But you say, "Saturday
is for me the Lord's Sabbath. Please be so kind as to call either
Friday or Sunday and I will pay you." Or, "Let me pay you
now, and avoid a special trip." Thus you are remembering the
Sabbath on the first day of the week.
On Monday your dealer telephones that the refrigerator
which you ordered will be delivered next Saturday morning.
But you tell him that you are a Seventh-day Adventist and
that you don't transact any business on Saturday because you
observe it as the Lord's Sabbath. Suggest he bring it out Friday
morning or Monday or on the dealer's next convenient day.
In this you are remembering the Sabbath on Monday.
Perhaps on Wednesday a neighbor calls to say, "My little
girl has a birthday Saturday. We will have a picnic at the
park to celebrate it with a lot of games and a big dinner. We
invite you to come along." But you say, "Thanks for remem-
bering me in your plans. But Saturday is the Lord's Sabbath
for me, and although I appreciate the invitation, I must de-
cline your kindness." You are remembering the Sabbath on
Wednesday.
"All through the week we are to have the Sabbath in mind
and be making preparation to keep it according to the com-
mandment."—Testimonies, Vol. 6, p. 353.
What great importance did the Lord attach to the
keeping of the Sabbath in reference to the fate of Jeru-
salem in Jeremiah's day? Jer. 17:21-27.
THINK IT THROUGH Does my “remembering” the Sabbath all through the week bring me daily closer to God?
“Friday is the day of preparation. of Heaven be regarded as a violation Time can then be devoted to making of the holy Sabbath should be left un- the necessary preparation for the Sab- said or undone, to be said or done upon bath and to thinking and conversing the Sabbath.”—”Testimonies,” Vol. 2, about it. Nothing which will in the sight pp. 702, 703.
74 Receiving the Double Blessing LESSON 9 ❑ Friday August 25 Part 6 “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from GREAT PROMISES doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 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 Isa. 58:13, 14 the Lord hath spoken it.”
Here God makes three promises to those who truly hallow
His Sabbath. (1) "Then shalt thou delight thyself in the
Lord"—true and abiding happiness. (2) "I will cause thee to
ride upon the high places of the earth"—spiritual prosperity.
(3) "I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father"
—an eternal home in the new earth.
The word "heritage" means an estate that a person receives
by descent or as an inheritance. The inheritance of Jacob is
that of Isaac his father, whose inheritance is that of his father
Abraham. The real inheritance of Abraham is the new earth.
Rom. 4:13; Heb. 11:13-16. Those who are truly Christ's are
fellow heirs with them to this inheritance. Gal. 3:29.
What greater promise could God make to those who hallow
His Sabbath than to give them the heritage of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob—an eternal home in the new earth? It will be free
from all sickness, sorrow, trouble, and death. How much is it
worth? What an encouragement for every true Sabbath keeper!
"It means eternal salvation to keep the Sabbath holy unto the
Lord."—Testimonies, Vol. 6, p. 356.
What three things does God specify that we are not
to do on the Sabbath, if we would have His three prom-
ises fulfilled to us? Isa. 58:13, 14.
THINK IT THROUGH Am I doing my part in regard to all that God asks of me in keeping the Sabbath?
“God requires not only that we re- versation. Talking upon anything or frain from physical labor upon the Sab- everything which may come into the bath, but that the mind be disciplined mind is speaking our own words. Every to dwell upon sacred themes. The fourth deviation from right brings us into commandment is virtually transgressed bondage and condemnation.”—”Testi- by conversing upon worldly things or monies,” Vol. 2, p. 703. by engaging in light and trifling con-
75
Receiving the Double Blessing LESSON 9
Part 7 <> SUMMARY QUESTIONS <> TO TEST YOUR STUDY POWER
-
Sabbath reform is indicated in Isa. and Isa. , and Isa.
-
There is no better way to begin the observance of the Sabbath at sunset
than
- The use of Friday as preparation day is necessary for keeping the Sabbath,
because
-
If we follow Jesus in keeping the Sabbath, where will we go every Sabbath?
-
A good rule is: Refrain from doing anything on the Sabbath which could
be cared for on
-
What does the word “heritage” mean?
-
(a) In Isa. 58:13, 14 God asks us on the Sabbath to refrain from:
(b) Then God promises• ; and
and
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76 LESSON 10
August 27 to September 2
A SIGN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH 10 "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Phil. 3:9.
Man may take either of two roads in LESSON OUTLINE seeking righteousness: (1) righteousness by faith in Christ as the Lord’s true way of 1. Summary of Gospel obtaining it, or (2) righteousness by works Rom. 1:16, 17 as the counterfeit way. These point up the differences between true and false worship. 2. Fruitage of Faith The two classes were exemplified at the James 2:17, 18 gate of Eden when the world’s first two young people came to worship the Lord. 3. Self-righteousness Exposed Abel’s offering signified righteousness by Rom. 10:3 faith in Christ. See Heb. 11:4. Cain’s offer- ing represented an attempt to make himself 4. Christ’s Rest righteous by his own works. He substituted Matt. 11:28 a way of his own devising for the way of Christ. 5. True Sabbath Keeping It is important that everyone understand Isa. 58:13 that the keeping of the Sabbath day in the right way is a sign of true righteousness by 6. Test of Obedience faith operating in the life. Ex. 16:4
77
A Sign of Righteousness by Faith LESSON 10 111 Sunday August 27 Part 1 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: … for SUMMARY OF therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith GOSPEL to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Rom. 1:16, 17 The gospel is the power of God unto salvation because it is “God’s way of righting wrong, a way that starts from faith and ends in faith.” Rom. 1:17, NEB. The gospel of Christ is summed up in righteousness by faith in Him. Some have declared that keeping the seventh day is related to righteousness by works. Such is not the case, even as obe- dience to the other nine commandments by the born-again believer is not. In true Sabbath keeping the faithful believer does not keep the Sabbath to make himself righteous. He keeps the seventh day because he has received the righteousness of the Lord of the Sabbath. The righteousness of Christ leads to full obedience to God’s commandments. See Rom. 8:3, 4.
In what words does Paul set forth Christ as both Re-
deemer and Creator? Col. 1:14-16.
Of what is the Sabbath declared to be a sign? Ex.
31:16, 17; Ezek. 20:12.
The Sabbath, as the appointed sign of loyalty to Christ as
our Creator, signifies that He alone can re-create a penitent
sinner into a righteous person. Thus it signifies that man cannot
save himself by his own works. He must depend wholly on
Christ to save and sanctify him. Thus true Sabbath keeping
stands as a Christ-appointed sign of the all-essential experience
of righteousness by faith. THINK IT THROUGH Is my Sabbath keeping merely a formal, legal trans-
action, or the natural fruitage of my justification and
sanctification by the righteousness of Christ?
“We are not merely to observe the They will bring into daily practice the Sabbath as a legal matter. We are to laws of His kingdom. Daily it will be understand its spiritual bearing upon their prayer that the sanctification of all the transactions of life. All who re- the Sabbath may rest upon them. Ev- gard the Sabbath as a sign between ery day they will have the companion- them and God, showing that He is the ship of Christ and will exemplify the God who sanctifies them, will repre- perfection of His ch’Eir-acter.”—”Testi- sent the principles of His government. mofire-s7”-Vb17-67pp:—351-,-354.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Desire of Ages,” pages 281-289.
78 A Sign of Righteousness by Faith LESSON 10 ❑ Monday August 28 Part 2 “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being FRUITAGE OF FAITH alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will James 2:17, 18 shew thee my faith by my works.” God has appointed various ways whereby we may show our faith in Christ. True faith always manifests itself in ap- propriate works. So the true Christian does not keep the Sab- bath to make himself righteous. An apple tree does not become an apple tree by bearing apples. First, it had to be an apple tree in order to bear such fruit. Then the apples came as a natural fruitage of the tree.
What really counts for a true Christian experience,
according to Gal. 5:6?
How will love for God manifest itself? 1 John 5:3;
1 Cor. 7:19.
A Christian who is keeping Sunday may find the real truth
for himself by accepting the Biblical answers to certain ques-
tions.
Do I believe that Jesus is my Creator and only Saviour?
Since I believe what the Bible says about Him, my answer
is in the affirmative. In fact, such an answer is essential to my
salvation.
"Every soul in our world is the Lord's property, by creation
and by redemption. Each individual soul is on trial for his
life. Has he given to God that which belongs to Him? Has
he surrendered to God all that is His as His purchased pos-
session? All who cherish the Lord as their portion in this life
will be under His control, and will receive the sign, the mark
of God, which shows them to be God's special possession.
Christ's righteousness will go before them, and the glory of
the Lord will be their rereward [rear guard]. The Lord pro-
tects every human being who bears His sign."—Ellen G. White
Comments, SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, p. 969. THINK IT THROUGH Do I show my faith in the various and appropriate
ways that the Lord has appointed?
“The Sabbath is a golden clasp that working day has been exalted in its unites God and His people. But the stead. A breach has been made in the Sabbath command has been broken. law, and this breach is to be repaired. God’s holy day has been desecrated. The true Sabbath is to be exalted to its The Sabbath has been torn from its rightful position as God’s rest day.” place by the man of sin, and a common —”Testimonies,” Vol. 6, pp. 351, 352. 79 A Sign of Righteousness by Faith LESSON 10 ❑ Tuesday August 29 Part 3 “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and SELF- going about to establish their own righteousness, have RIGHTEOUSNESS not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” EXPOSED Rom. 10:3 What indicates how the Pharisees followed the wrong prin- ciple in attempting to make themselves righteous by their works? Luke 18:11, 12; Matt. 6:1-5. “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:20. No person can make himself righteous by means of his own good works. When the Pharisees kept the Sabbath in order to make themselves righteous, their Sabbath keeping became a part of a false righteousness by works. It was not a sign of righteous- ness by faith. True Sabbath keeping is a continual acknowledgment of a person’s dependence and reliance upon our Creator for the gift of life day by day, and upon our Redeemer for the gift of salvation. The Sabbath can be kept holy only as one has re- ceived righteousness by faith and continues in this experience; for “the just shall live by faith.”
Why does the substitution of ecclesiastical tradition in
place of the Lord's commandments constitute righteous-
ness by works? Mark 7:1-13.
The final issue upon which men must decide for or against
Christ will be the worship of the Creator versus the worship
of the beast and hini nage—the reception of the seal of God
versus the acceptance of the mark of the beast. Rev. 14:6-12;
7:1-3. The basic issue is righteousness by faith versus righ-
teousness by works. In keeping with this thought, we have been
told that righteousness by faith is the third angel's message in
verity. THINK IT THROUGH Does the Sabbath truly stand in my life as a sign of
righteousness by faith?
“As the Sabbath was the sign that from the world to enter the heavenly distinguished Israel when they came rest. The Sabbath is a sign of the rela- out of Egypt to enter the earthly Ca- tionship existing between God and His naan, so it is the sign that now distin- people, a sign that they honor His law.” guishes God’s people as they come out —”Testimonies,” Vol. 6, pp. 349, 350.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Desire of Ages,” pp. 302-310.
80 A Sign of Righteousness by Faith LESSON 10 ❑ Wednesday August 30 Part 4 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy CHRIST’S REST laden, and I will give you rest.” Matt. 11:28 This promise never fails when we comply with the condi- tion. Everyone who comes to Christ in true penitence enters into His rest. He alone can bring us rest from the guilt and dominion of sin.
How does the Lord show that rest to the soul is the
fruitage of loving obedience to Him? Jer. 6:16; Isa.
32:17.
What is the token of Christ's rest for the believer?
Ex. 20:8-10.
The Lord of this commandment is Christ the Creator. Ex.
20:11.
The word "sabbath" is a transliteration of the Hebrew
word shabbath, which means a cessation, rest, or sabbath. The
expression "the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord" really
signifies for the Christian that the seventh day is the sacred
rest day of Christ the Lord.
The Sabbath, then, is primarily a day of spiritual rest in
Christ. It is our Saviour's loving provision for the believer to
enter more fully into His rest. This is true Sabbath keeping.
The fourth chapter of Hebrews mentions that God "spake
in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God
did rest the seventh day from all his works." Heb. 4:4. Then
from this comes the conclusion that "he that is entered into
his [God's] rest, he also bath ceased from his own works, as
God did from his." Heb. 4:10. THINK IT THROUGH Am I making the Sabbath merely my own rest, and
not entering into Christ's rest?
“And if the Sabbath was thus appro- him to the heavenly world. The flood priate, thus necessary, in Eden, what of sin and crime has rolled broader shall we say of it since the fall? With and deeper with each succeeding year; sin came man’s estrangement from and the further we come from Paradise, God, and his proneness to forget his the weaker and more prone to sin do Maker, and wander away from him. we find the race, and hence more in How much more needful the Sabbath, need of God’s great memorial.”—James then, that he might not entirely break White, “Signs of the Times,” Nov. 15, away from the moorings which held 1877.
81
A Sign of Righteousness by Faith LESSON 10 ❑ Thursday August 31 Part 5 “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from TRUE SABBATH doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath KEEPING a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine Ise. 58:13 own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words.”
God declares that we are not to speak our own words upon
His holy day. Conversation that is proper concerning secular
matters on the other days is to be avoided on the Sabbath.
The conversation of the true Sabbath keeper will be centered
upon sacred themes during the Sabbath hours.
Without Christ's righteousness within, no person can refrain
from speaking his own words on the seventh day regardless
of his resolutions. He will talk upon secular matters that come
into his mind. He is unable to bring the thoughts and intents
of his heart into harmony with the sacredness of the Sabbath.
Why is an unconverted person unable to keep Christ's
Sabbath? Rom. 8:7.
What must a person have before he can receive Christ's
rest? Phil. 2:5.
No one can keep Christ's Sabbath unless he first has Him
living within to control his mind and affections. This experience
can make true Sabbath keeping a manifestation of righteous-
ness by faith.
There is an important difference between being a nominal
Saturday keeper and a real Sabbath keeper. An unconverted
person can lay aside his ordinary work and attend church
regularly on Saturday. But to be a real Sabbath keeper, one
must experience progressive sanctification as aresult of Christ's
living inliiin:ev-e. ry-day.
The mere acceptance of the Biblical evidences showing that
the seventh day is the only right day to keep can make a per-
son a Saturday keeper. But nothing except the sonyerting
power of_christ_can make us Christian Sabbath keepers. THINK IT THROUGH Am I merely a Saturday keeper, or a true Sabbath
keeper?
“All who love God should do what much to exalt the Sabbath in their fam- they can to make the Sabbath a delight, ilies and make it the most interesting holy and honorable. They cannot do this day of the week.”—”Testimonies,” Vol. by seeking their own pleasure in sinful, 2, pp. 584, 585. forbidden amusements. Yet they can do
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Testimonies,” Vol. 6, pp. 349-353.
82 A Sign of Righteousness by Faith LESSON 10 ❑ Friday September I Part 6 “Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain TEST OF bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out OBEDIENCE and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove Ex. 16:4 them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.”
God brought a test upon the Israelites, whereby each one
by his own choice demonstrated whether or not he would obey
the law of God. The context shows that the test was how he
would regard God's holy seventh day as the Sabbath. Ex.
16:4-28.
In this closing age God is calling His people to come out
of the false religious sisterhood led by Babylon the Great and
to unite with the remnant of His true church. Rev. 18:4;
12:17. God's test for all today is how each one, by his own
choice, will regard His commandments. The keeping of Christ's
Sabbath is to be the sign of loyal obedience to Him, the Lord
of the Sabbath.
On what twofold basis is every person obligated to
render supreme obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ? Acts
14:15; Ise. 43:11.
In these lessons we have learned from the Bible that Christ's
seventh-day Sabbath has a twofold significance: first, as a
sign of loyal allegiance to Him as Creator of all (Ex. 20:8-11)
and, therefore, the only true God (Ezek. 20:20) ; and, second,
as only Sanctifier, or Saviour (Ezek. 20:12). This makes the
Sabbath a precious sign of His authority by requiring of us
supreme obedience to Him above all others.
The Sabbath stands for supreme obedience to the Lord Jesus
Christ. The keeping of the Sabbath on our part signifies sub-
mission to His supreme authority. Its proper observance means
that we accept His control over our lives. True Sabbath keep-
ing is inseparably connected with living for Christ.
What does a presumptuous refusal, or neglect, to
keep the Sabbath mean concerning one's attitude toward
Christ? Ezek. 20:13.
THINK IT THROUGH Does my Sabbath keeping mean the control of Christ in the other areas of my life?
“To those who keep holy the Sabbath chciracter. And the Sabbath is the sign day it is the sign of sanctification. True of obedience. He who from the heart sanctification is- harmony with God, obeys the fourth commandment will oneness with Him in character. It is obey the whole law. He is sanctified received—tK—Tr— r-c igh—csbe—cife-r ice — to those through obedience.”—”Testimonies,” principles that are the transcript of His Vol. 6, p. 350. 83 A Sign of Righteousness by Faith LESSON 10
Part 7 0 SUMMARY QUESTIONS 0 TO TEST YOUR STUDY POWER
-
The heart of the gospel is Christ as the and
-
Christ has appointed His as a that He is the Creator-
Redeemer.
-
True faith will always manifest itself in
-
Sabbath keeping is primarily a rest in
-
No one can truly keep Christ’s Sabbath unless he first has living
within for the of his mind and affections.
- Where is the text that indicates that the keeping of the Sabbath was a
testing point in Israel for obedience to God’s law)
- True Sabbath keeping signifies our continual to the supreme
authority of
- When a person truly understands the Sabbath, a refusal or a neglect to
keep it is against Christ.
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84 LESSON 11 September 3-9
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THE PREDICTED RESTORATION 11 "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." 2 Peter 1:19.
LESSON OUTLINE
1. The Falling Away
The sure word of prophecy has indicated
Acts 20:29, 30 that there would be a widespread departure from the way of truth by professed Chris- 2. Need for Restoration tians in postapostolic times. This makes restoration a necessity. Dan. 8:12
Prophecy has pointed out also that a full 3. Time of Restoration restoration of lost and neglected truths Dan. 8:14 would come in this closing age in which we are living. These prophecies are designed to 4. Message of Restoration give us an understanding of our times so Rev. 14:12 that we may know what God wants us to do in such a time as this. This is of utmost 5. The Restoration Movement importance. Rev. 14:6, 7
6. Sabbath Restorers
Isa. 58:12
85
The Predicted Restoration LESSON 11 ❑ Sunday September 3 Part 1 “For I know this, that after my departing shall griev- THE FALLING AWAY ous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking per- Acts 20:29, 30 verse things, to draw away disciples after them.”
What departure from the truth would take place after
Paul's oversight of the churches should cease? Acts 20:29,
30.
How did Peter and John counsel Christ's followers to
remain true to the teachings of Jesus? 1 Peter 2:21;
1 John 2:6.
After the apostles passed away, certain church leaders be-
gan to mingle erroneous teachings with the pure religion of
Jesus. Rites, ceremonies, and customs which Jesus and His
apostles never taught crept into use. Soon men urged these
upon the believers as being of divine authority by tradition.
One of these innovations was the honoring of Sunday in
commemoration of the resurrection of Christ.
Some Christians began to meet at about sunrise on Sunday
for a brief religious service, after which they went about their
regular work. But as the second and third centuries passed,
Sunday began to take on more and more of the aspect of a
regular day of worship. The result was that Sunday keeping
gradually became widely established and preferred above the
seventh-day Sabbath of the Ten Commandments.
This general apostasy from the truth called for a divinely
inaugurated reformation. This began in earnest in the sixteenth
century under Martin Luther and other Reformers. What they
did in restoring certain lost truths was only a good begin-
ning. Bible prophecy indicates that this great work of reforma-
tion and restoration would continue in successive generations
until every error would be exposed and the full truth in Jesus
for His people would be restored. Rev. 14:6-11. This does not
mean that all professed Christians would fully accept the re-
stored truths, but a "remnant" would. Rev. 12:17; 14:12. THINK IT THROUGH Do I follow the teachings of Jesus without subtrac-
tions or additions?
“The spirit of concession to paganism aside the ancient Sabbath, the day opened the way for a still further dis- which God had blessed and sanctified regard of Heaven’s authority. Satan, . , and in its stead to exalt the festi- working through unconsecrated leaders val observed by the heathen as ‘the of the church, tampered with the fourth venerable day of the sun.’ “—”The commandment also, and essayed to set Great Controversy,” page 52.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Great Controversy,” Chapter 3.
86 The Predicted Restoration LESSON 11 ❑ Monday September 4 Part 2 “And an host was given him against the daily sacri- NEED FOR Lice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the RESTORATION truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.” Dan. 8:12 This refers to the same power that is set forth in Dan. 7 under the symbol of the little horn—the papacy. Paul spoke of this power, too, as the one who would exalt himself above God, “so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” See 2 Thess. 2:3, 4.
What does Dan. 8:12 declare this power would do
with the truth?
"The truth" in this case means the pure gospel preached by
the Lord Jesus and His apostles. They designated their teach-
ings as "the truth" (John 8:45, 46, 31, 32; Gal. 3:1; 2:14).
The Sabbath of Christ our Lord, as the sign that He is the
Creator-Sanctifier, is an essential part of the gospel truth cast
down to the ground by the little horn.
Dan. 7:25 (RSV) declares that this power would attempt
to "change the times and the law." In fulfillment of this
prophecy, this power attempted to change the fourth com-
mandment. It gradually set aside the keeping of the seventh-
day Sabbath as the Lord's day (Matt. 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke
6:5) and set up the keeping of Sunday in its place.
Why is the truth of God that is cast down to the ground
sure to rise again? Ps. 100:5; 111:7, 8.
God's truth was destined to be restored from being buried
under the false teaching of man. This same prophecy of Daniel
8 pointed out the time when God would inaugurate a reforma-
tory movement to restore His downtrodden truth.
"In every age there were witnesses for God—men who
cherished faith in Christ as the only mediator between God
and man, who held the Bible as the only rule of life, and who
hallowed the true Sabbath. How much the world owes to
these men, posterity will never know."—The Great Contro-
versy, page 61. THINK IT THROUGH Do I appreciate this line of witnesses, many of whom
suffered death to preserve gospel truth for generations
to come?
“As foretold by prophecy, the papal churches that were under the rule of power cast down the truth to the the papacy were early compelled to ground. The law of God was trampled honor the Sunday as a holy day.”— in the dust, while the traditions and “Ibid.,” p. 65. customs of men were exalted. The
87
The Predicted Restoration LESSON 11 ❑ Tuesday
September 5
Part 3 "And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three
TIME OF hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."
RESTORATION
Dan. 8:14 This is God's answer to the question in the preceding verse.
"How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice,
and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary
and the host to be trodden under foot?" Dan. 8:13.
How long shall the truth be cast down to the ground? The
answer in Dan. 8:14 implied that new light would appear—
particularly concerning God's sanctuary—at the end of the
2,300-day period. These symbolic days represent 2,300 literal
years. See Ezek. 4:6.
1). What shows that the seventy weeks, or the first 490
days of the 2,300, were allotted to the Jewish nation?
Dan. 9:24.
What, according to Gabriel, is the beginning point
for the 2,300 days? Dan. 9:25.
This decree for the restoration of Jerusalem to the Jews
is recorded in Ezra 6:14 and 7:11-28. It was issued in the
seventh year of Artaxerxes I, king of Persia (Ezra 7:6-9),
which was 457 B.C.
This is the beginning date for the seventy weeks (or 490
years), the first part of the 2,300 day-years. The 490 years,
beginning in 457 s.c., extend to AD. 34, the end of the seventy
prophetic weeks. The remaining 1,810 day-years of the 2,300
extend from AD. 34 to 1844, the terminal date of the period
of 2,300 prophetic day-years. See The Great Controversy, page
328. THINK IT THROUGH What should be my attitude toward the truth once
cast down to the ground but now breaking forth upon
all mankind?
“Then I was shown that the com- mandments. This door was not opened mandments of God and the testimony until the mediation of Jesus was fin- of Jesus Christ relating to the shut door ished in the holy place of the sanctuary could not be separated, and that the in 1844. Then Jesus rose up and shut time for the commandments of God to the door of the holy place, and opened shine out with all their importance, and the door into the most holy, and passed for God’s people to be tried on the within the second veil, where He now Sabbath truth, was when the door was stands by the ark, and where the faith opened in the most holy place in the of Israel now reaches.”—”Early Writ- heavenly sanctuary, where the ark is, ings,” page 42. in which are contained the ten com-
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Great Controversy,” pages 324-328.
88 f’: he Predicted Restoration LESSON 11 [1] Wednesday September 6 Part 4 “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that MESSAGE OF keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” RESTORATION Rev. 14:12 This is the concluding statement of God’s last-day message which restores lost and neglected truths. Three angels are repre- sented as heralding the three parts of this final gospel message for all the world as recorded in Rev. 14:6-12. The preaching of the gospel to all people has been com- mitted to Christ’s followers. Mark 16:15. Hence these three angels prefigure the raising up of a special people, in this clos- ing period of history, who will proclaim the everlasting gospel, accompanied by certain special truths, to all the world.
What are the two chief points identifying the remnant
people of God in this closing age? Rev. 14:12.
God's true people keep the commandments of God and the
faith of Jesus. This shows that they are a people who keep the
seventh-day Sabbath, for the fourth precept of Christ's Ten
Commandments requires it. Ex. 20:8-11. Thus Rev. 14:12 is
a forecast of the restoration of the observance of the true
Sabbath under this final proclamation of Christ's everlasting
gospel.
What essential of true worship is called for in the
very first part of this last heaven-sent message? Rev.
14:6, 7.
The Bible shows that the worship of Christ as our Creator
is inseparably connected with-the- keeping of the seventh-day
Sabbath. Ex. 20:8-11; 31:16, 17. He has ordained the keeping
of His seventh-day Sabbath as a distinguishing sign that we
recognize Him as our Creator. Hence this last-day call to "wor-
ship him that made heaven, and earth" (Rev. 14:7) is another
evidence that His true Sabbath, the memorial of the creation
of earth (Gen. 2:2, 3; Ex. 20:11), will be restored among His
followers in the time of the end. THINK IT THROUGH Is my life such that the Lord includes me among those
who keep the commandments of God and the faith of
Jesus?
“When God sends to men warnings person endowed with reasoning powers ;o important that they are represented to heed the message.”—”The Great Con- 3s proclaimed by holy angels flying in troversy,” page 594. the midst of heaven, He requires every
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “SDA Bible Commentary,” Vol. 7, pp. 827-832.
89
The Predicted Restoration LESSON 11 ❑ Thursday September 7 Part 5 “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, THE RESTORATION having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that MOVEMENT dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, Rev. 14:6, 7 and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”
These words, "for the hour of his judgment is come," pin-
point the time when God's Sabbath-restoring movement would
commence. Related Biblical evidences establish that the hour
of God's judgment in Rev. 14:7 arrived in the year 1844, when
the prophetic period of 2,300 days in Dan. 8:14 ended.
In 1844 a small company of Christians, some at Washing-
ton, New Hampshire, and others elsewhere, turned from keep-
ing Sunday and began to observe the seventh-day Sabbath
Soon Christians in other places accepted the Sabbath and the
other special truths of the threefold message. In 1860 these
Sabbath keepers chose the denominational name, "Seventh-day
Adventist."
From this small beginning in 1844, this divinely appointed
movement for restoring the true Sabbath and other lost truths
has spread into all the world. There are now more than twc
million people in this movement which began in answer tc
prophecy. It is a part of God's predetermined plan to enlighten
the whole world with His last message of truth.
Behold, then, the fulfillment of Rev. 14:6-12 in the rise
teachings, and worldwide extension of the movement for Sab-
bath reform as carried forward by the Seventh-day Advent-
ists. This movement is here in response to the sure word of
prophecy. It represents what the Lord has planned to be done
at this time.
How has the Lord cautioned men against rejecting the
work He is doing before their very eyes? Acts 13:40, 41
THINK IT THROUGH Do I appreciate the prophetic implications of being Sabbath keeper in this great advent movement?
“In the time of the end every divine dation of all enduring reform and tha- institution is to be restored. The breach the Sabbath of the fourth command made in the law at the time the Sab- ment is to stand as a memorial of crea bath was changed by man, is to be re- Lion, a constant reminder of the power paired. God’s remnant people, standing of God.”—”Prophets and Kings,” page before the world as reformers, are to .678. show that The jaw of God is the foun-
90 The Predicted Restoration LESSON 11 ❑ Friday September 8 Part 6 “And they that shall be of thee shall build the old SABBATH waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of RESTORERS many generations; and thou shalt be called, The re- Isa. 58:12 pairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.”
"This prophecy also applies in our time. The breach was
made in the law of God when the Sabbath was changed by the
Roman power. But the time has come for that divine institu-
tion to be restored. The breach is to be repaired and the
foundation of many generations to be raised up."—The Great
Controversy, page 453.
What shows that the prophecy of Isa. 58:12, 13, in-
cludes the restoration of the true Sabbath?
The phrase, "the restorer of paths to dwell in," is rendered,
"restorer of paths leading home," in Rotherham's translation
of Isa. 58:12. The path of obedience to Christ's command-
ments does lead men closer to God and to their everlasting
home.
Where does the path of obedience to God's com-
mandments lead the faithful? Rev. 22:14; Isa. 26:2.
"If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath." Isa. 58:13.
God has appointed a special vindication and revelation of His
downtrodden Sabbath in these closing days. The world at
large has had its foot on Christ's Sabbath by using it as an
ordinary working day instead of honoring it as His holy rest
day. Now it must be removed.
Those whom God designates as His chosen restorers in
Isa. 58:12 are those who observe the Sabbath as He specifies
in Isa. 58:13. They keep the right day in the right way. In this
closing age, the Sabbath is to be presented by a people who
place righteousness by faith first in their way of life and in
their teachings to others. THINK IT THROUGH Do I meet the conditions laid down in Isa. 58:13 for
being one of God's restorers?
“If ever a memorial of the great God nest hearts we breathe the prayer, and a golden link to bind man to “‘Let earth, 0 Lord, again be thine, heaven, was needed, it is needed now. As ere with vengeance cursed; And the necessity of this institution will And let the holy Sabbath shine even yet increase through the few re- As glorious as at first.’” maining days of peril. Can we dispense —James White, with it? Never. More and more sacredly “Signs of the Times,” should we cherish it, while with ear- Nov. 15, 1877.
91
Z6 Answers: (1) cast down; (2) 2,300; (3) 457 B.C., A.D. 1844; (4) observe the seventh-day Sab- bath, Creator; (5) 1844, small company; (6) world, two million; (7) the sight, all.
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LESSON 12 September 10-16
TRUTH FOR TODAY 12 "Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth." 2 Peter 1:12.
LESSON OUTLINE
The Bible contains both timeless mes- 1. Prophetic Certification sages and messages particularly applicable John 1:21, 22 at certain times. There are general teachings which apply to every soul in every genera- 2. The Truth of the Advent Near tion. They include such doctrines as faith, Matt. 24:33 repentance, conversion, love, obedience, righteousness by faith, et cetera. 3. The People of God Identified In addition to these, there are special Rev. 17:14 truths applicable only to the particular time for which God has appointed them. 4. The Needed Certainty Examples of these are: Noah’s 120-year Luke 4:21 warning of the coming of the Flood, Jonah’s forty-day warning to Nineveh, John the 5. God’s Called-out Ones Baptist’s message of preparation to re- Acts 15:14 ceive the Messiah at His first advent. 6. Remnant Identified Rev. 12:17
93
Truth for Today LESSON 12 ❑ Sunday September 10 Part 1 “And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And PROPHETIC he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he an- CERTIFICATION swered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest John 1:21, 22 thou of thyself?”
There were at that time various religious sects among the
Jews. The Bible mentions some of them: Pharisees, Sadducees,
Herodians, Zealots. John the Baptist had arisen as a new
preacher proclaiming a new and startling message.
Questions naturally arose concerning his teachings. What
divine authority did he have for his message? How could his
listeners be sure that his teachings presented the right way for
them to follow, in preference to the currently popular reli-
gious ways?
What evidence did John cite to certify that his teach-
ings were God's present truth for the people of his day?
John 1:23.
John cited Isa. 40:3 as the prophecy which his work and
teachings were fulfilling. If the message of Isa. 40:3 had not
been proclaimed at that time, the Bible would not be a true
book. The Lord had raised up John the Baptist at the right
time, to preach the right message, to show the right way, to
men at that time. His work and teachings were a remarkable
fulfillment of prophecy.
Strong evidence that God has ordained certain religious
teaching is shown when that message is indicated in prophecy
and it is proclaimed according to the prophetic timetable.
The Sabbath reform advocated by Seventh-day Adventists
may be compared to the work of John the Baptist. "In this
age, just prior to the second coming of Christ in the clouds
of heaven, such a work as that of John is to be done."—
Testimonies, Vol. 8, p. 332. THINK IT THROUGH How can I be sure which way the Lord wants me to
go when there are so many conflicting messages pro-
claimed by so many different religious denominations?
“As a prophet, John was ‘to turn the way for Christ’s first advent, he was a hearts of the fathers to the children, representative of those who are to pre- and the disobedient to the wisdom of pare a people for our Lord’s second the just; to make ready a people pre- coming.”—”The Desire of Ages,” page pared for the Lord.’ In preparing the 101.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Desire of Ages ,” Chapter 10.
94 Truth for Today LESSON 12 L Monday September 11 Part 2 “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, THE TRUTH OF know that it is near, even at the doors.” THE ADVENT NEAR Matt. 24:33 The Bible shows that John the Baptist prepared the way for the arrival of the Messiah at His first advent by proclaim- ing the God-appointed message for that time. Matt. 3:1-3. Simi- larly, the Scriptures have designated the Heaven-sent message that is preparing the way for the second advent of this same Lord.
How is Christ's second coming portrayed in Rev.
14:14?
Rev. 14:6-14 plainly reveals that the preaching of the three
angels' messages to every people, as set forth in verses 6-12,
leads directly to the second advent described in verse 14. This
threefold message is the one that God wishes all people to
accept in this closing age preceding the second coming of Christ.
It is His present truth for this time.
Such is the prophetic certification from God for this modern
Sabbath-reform movement. Candid investigation reveals that
Seventh-day Adventists are the only people publishing these
special truths to all the world.
The prophecy of Rev. 14:6-12 is being fulfilled in the rise,
work, and teachings of Seventh-day Adventists, even as Isa.
40:3 was fulfilled in the teachings of John the Baptist. The
Adventists are proclaiming the divinely appointed and fore-
told message to prepare the way for Christ's second advent,
The Sabbath is today "present truth" and has been since
1844. The obligation is clear now to keep the seventh day holy.
"I saw that the present test on the Sabbath could not come
until the mediation of Jesus in the holy place was finished and
He had passed within the second veil; therefore Christians
who fell asleep before the door was opened into the most
holy, when the midnight cry was finished, at the seventh
month, 1844, and who had not kept the true Sabbath, now
rest in hope; for they had not the light and the test on the
Sabbath which we now have since that door was opened. I
saw that Satan was tempting some of God's people on this
point. Because so many good Christians have fallen asleep
in the triumphs of faith and have not kept the true Sab-
bath, they were doubting about its being a test for us now."
—Early Writings, pages 42, 43. THINK IT THROUGH Can anything else be more vital to me than to heed
God's truth for this day?
“The Lord gives a special truth for of mercy to the world. They cannot re- the people in an emergency. Who dare main silent, except at the peril of their refuse to publish it? He commands His souls.”—”The Great Controversy,” page servants to present the last invitation 609.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Early Writings,” pages 258-261.
95
Truth for Today LESSON 12 ❑ Tuesday September 12 Part 3 “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lapb THE PEOPLE OF shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King GOD IDENTIFIED of kings: and they that are with him are called, and Rev. 17:14 chosen, and faithful.”
The worldwide Sabbath-reform movement fostered by Sev-
enth-day Adventists owes its existence to the Heaven-sent
threefold message of Rev. 14:6-12.
Seventh-day Adventists are not merely another church or
religious denomination. They represent God's last-day plan
for the restoration of the original gospel work of Jesus.
How does Rev. 15:2, 3 mark out the glorious destiny
of those who have won the victory over the beast, its
image, and its number?
Can we be sure that the particular people described in Rev.
15:2, 3 passed through the period of the preaching of the last-
day threefold message of Rev. 14:6-12? Most assuredly, for
they had gotten the victory over the beast and his image
mentioned in the third message. Thus it is established by Rev.
15:2, 3 and 14:6-15 that the advent movement of the three-
fold message will go through to eternal victory and to heaven.
The sure word of prophecy has marked it through to the sea
of glass before the throne of God.
These scriptures show that the same movement by which
the threefold message is proclaimed to every nation will sweep
forward without a break to eternal victory at the coming of
the Lord. This is the divinely appointed destiny of the advent
movement for a sure and everlasting triumph. THINK IT THROUGH Isn't this a most impelling and decisive reason for
accepting this message and staying by it to the end?
“God is leading out a people and of Bible truth, clear and connected. This establishing them upon the one great truth is of heavenly origin and has been platform of faith, the commandments searched for as for hidden treasure.” of God and the testimony of Jesus. He —”Testimonies,” Vol. 3, p. 447. has given His people a straight chain
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Great Controversy,” Chapter 26.
96 Truth for Today LESSON 12 ❑ Wednesday September 13 Part 4 “And he began to say unto them, This day is this THE NEEDED scripture fulfilled in your ears.” CERTAINTY Luke 4:21
To what scripture did Jesus refer? Compare Luke
4:16-21 with Isa. 61:1, 2.
Some 700 years before Christ preached in the synagogue of
Nazareth, Isaiah had foretold what the Messiah would do and
say when He appeared. Christ opened the book of Isaiah to this
prophecy and read it to the assembled worshipers. Then He
said, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." Christ
cited the fulfillment of Isa. 61:1, 2 in His work and teachings
as a sure evidence of the right way for His day.
D. How did Apollos show that Jesus is the true Messiah?
Acts 18:28.
Note how truth was substantiated in the first sermon by
the apostles after Jesus ascended. Peter cited the particular
prophecy in Joel which foretold the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. "This is that which' was spoken
by the prophet Joel." See Acts 2:14-21; Joel 2:28-32. He cited
also the particular prophecies which foretold the resurrection
of Christ. Acts 2:24-36.
John the Baptist preached present truth in announcing his
own teachings as the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isa. 40:3.
During Christ's ministry present truth involved the fulfill-
ment of such prophecies as Isa. 61:1, 2.
So the question for our day is this: In what teachings and
movement is God's appointed message for our day, as foretold
in Rev. 14:6-12, being fulfilled? In answering this, we see
that Heaven's seal of certainty rests upon the message and
work of Seventh-day Adventists. THINK IT THROUGH Since this threefold message is the one which God has
appointed to be preached, believed, and obeyed at this
time, what else should I do but stand by it to the end?
“We do not go deep enough in our reason of the hope that is in him. . . . search for truth. Every soul who be- They must know that they do know lieves present truth will be brought what is truth.”—”Testimonies to Min- where he will be required to give a isters,” page 119.
97
Truth for Today LESSON 12 ❑ Thursday September 14 Part 5 “Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit GOD’S CALLED-OUT the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.” ONES Acts 15:14 Since the time of the fall of Adam and Eve, God’s purpose has been manifested in calling out from the world a people fully committed to obey Him. The great masses have walked in the ways of their own devising. But in every generation God has had a remnant people who have remained true to His commandments and kept His Sabbath. This is how the knowl- edge of God and His truth have been preserved through the centuries.
How many faithful souls did God have in His remnant
church when the Flood came in the time of Noah? 1 Peter
3:20. And how many in the time of Elijah? Rom. 11:3,
4; 1 Kings 19:18.
Paul declared that in his day God had a remnant according
to the election of grace. Rom. 11:5. The vast majority of the
professed people of God had departed from the truth by fol-
lowing their traditions and doctrines instead of the word of
God. But there were many faithful ones in the Jewish church
who gladly accepted God's truth for that time. The Lord
gathered them out in many lands and used them to form His
true church at the beginning of the Christian age.
Likewise the Bible prophecies foretell what will happen in
the closing age. All the world, except a small remnant, will
obey the apostate power by keeping the false sabbath. Rev.
13:8, 12-17. This false system is spoken of as Babylon the
Great. Rev. 14:8; 17:5; 18:1-4. Many of God's people are in
the various religious bodies which compose the great family
of spiritual Babylon today.
That Babylonian coalition has set aside God's seventh-day
Sabbath and instituted the Sunday sabbath in its place. Those
who respond to the call of God to come out of Babylon will
help to restore the Sabbath to its rightful place in the gospel
message.
The Lord is searching in every nation, kindred, tongue,
and people for those who will rightly represent Him. "For the
eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth,
to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is
perfect [or truly sincere] toward him." 2 Chron. 16:9. THINK IT THROUGH Will God find in me the object of His quest?
“The story of … the carrying out of theme of God’s messengers to His the plan of the ages by a goodly rem- church throughout the centuries that nant to whom are to be fulfilled all the have passed.”—”Prophets and Kings,” covenant promises—this has been the page 22.
98 Truth for Today LESSON 12 ❑ Friday September 15 Part 6 . “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and REMNANT went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which IDENTIFIED keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony Rev. 12:17 of Jesus Christ.”
By the symbol of a pure woman, Revelation 12 has foretold
the story of the true church during the centuries from the
ascension of Christ to the end of the 1260 years of papal su-
premacy in 1798. And Rev. 12:17 foretold the remnant, the
last segment of Christ's church in the closing age. These are
identified as those "which keep the commandments of God."
One of God's commandments pertains to the keeping of the
seventh day. Ex. 20:8-11. Since this remnant of the true
church would keep the commandments of God, they would
have to be a Christian people observing the seventh-day Sab-
bath.
The people of this same remnant are designated in Rev.
14:12 as follows: "Here are they that keep the commandments
of God, and the faith of Jesus." The context shows that they
are the people of the threefold-message movement of Rev.
14:6-12. They go into all the world to proclaim the everlast-
ing gospel, including certain special truths. They began to
appear in 1844, the year when the judgment-hour message was
due to be given.
Rev. 12:17 declares that this remnant "have the testimony
of Jesus." Rev. 19:10 says, "The testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy." Theirs is a six-point pattern:
1. They keep the commandments of God and the faith of
Jesus. 2. They keep the seventh-day Sabbath. 3. They
preach the message of Rev. 14:6-12. 4. They began to ap-
pear in 1844, when the judgment-hour message was due. 5.
They became a worldwide movement. 6. They have the
spirit of prophecy.
Where do you find a Christian people who conform to this
six-point pattern? There is only one group that fulfills these
prophetic specifications. Since you desire to belong to Christ's
true church, doesn't this confirm the group with whom you
should be identified? THINK IT THROUGH Will I , by the grace of God, be one of Christ's remnant
people to the end?
“Let all be careful not to make an mandments of God and have faith in outcry against the only people who are Jesus, who are exalting the standard of fulfilling the description given of the righteousness in these last days.”— remnant people who keep the corn- “Testimonies to Ministers,” page 58.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Early Writings,” pages 277-289.
99
Truth for Today LESSON 12
Part 7 G SUMMARY QUESTIONS G TO TEST YOUR STUDY POWER
-
(a) John the Baptist’s teachings were a fulfillment of the prophecy of (b) This was a proof that his message was the way for every person at that
-
(a) The Sabbath-reform message of the Adventist people is fulfilling Rev. 14: (b) This is the strongest that their teachings are the way for every to follow at this
-
What sure evidence is there that this Sabbath-reform movement is going through to eternal victory in heaven..?
-
What evidence did Jesus cite in His sermon at Nazareth as the basis for the acceptance of His message?
-
The Bible identifies Christ’s remnant in this closing age as (a) They keep the and the according to (b) They keep the day Sabbath according to God’s commandment in (c) They teach the special truths mentioned in Rev.
-
Who are the only people who fit into this pattern?
-
Am I determined by the grace of God to be one of this remnant to the end)
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100 LESSON 13
September 17-23
Defendent declares
THE FINAL TEST 13
"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." Rev. 22:11.
LESSON OUTLINE • These words constitute a fateful decree of the heavenly Intercessor, which will 1. Seal of God mark the close of human probation. Shortly Rev. 7:2, 3 before this there will be a final test of de- cision for or against Christ. 2. Mark of Rejection The book of Revelation indicates this Rev. 14:9, 10 final test will be the true seventh-day Sab- 3. Issue of Destiny bath of the Lord Jesus Christ versus the Jer. 21:8 spurious Sunday-sabbath of the papal power. A world-dominating church-state 4. The Master Deception coalition will enforce this spurious sabbath Rev. 13:8 upon all by boycott and the death penalty. 5. The Supercrisis Rev. 13:15-17. The acceptance of God's Rev. 13:15 message for this time will prepare the obe- dient for this final test. 6. Moment for Decision
1 Kings 18:21
101
The Final Test LESSON 13 ❑ Sunday
September 17
Part 1 "And I saw another angel ascending from the east,
SEAL OF GOD having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a
loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to
hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth,
neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the
Rev. 7:2, 3 servants of our God in their foreheads."
In the final phase of the gospel work, God warns every soul
against receiving the mark of the beast. Rev. 14:9-12. The
acceptance of God's message will result in placing the seal of
God upon God's servants as stated in Rev. 7:2, 3.
The final test involves the reception of the seal of God
versus the reception of the mark of the beast. Hence it is of the
utmost importance to find out from the Bible what is meant
by the seal of God and the mark of the beast.
How does 1 Kings 21:8 show that the seal of a ruler
is the sign of his authority?
What has Christ, as the Creator, appointed as a sign?
Ex. 31:16, 17; Ezek. 20:12, 20.
The Sabbath commandment is the only precept in the Deca-
logue which identifies the Lord as the Creator of all and, there-
fore, the rightful Ruler of all. This imparts validity to the
other nine precepts. This makes the Sabbath commandment
the seal of God's law and the sign of the rightful supremacy
of Christ.
There are four places in the Bible where the Sabbath is
spoken of as a sign that He is the Lord. This is fourfold evi-
dence that the true Sabbath stands as the sign or seal of God.
When you yield yourself to Christ in full understanding and
obedience and keep the Sabbath holy, then it becomes a sign,
or seal, in your life, indicating that the true God is your God
and that you are His loyal child. Ezek. 20:20.
"God's claim to reverence and worsliIp, above the gods of
the heathen, is based iiiicTritliefact that He is the Creator, and
that to Him all other beings owe their existence."—Patriarchs
and Prophets, page 336. THINK IT THROUGH Is the character of Christ beingj_v_pced in me more
completely every day?
“The fourth commandment alone of commandment take upon themselves all the ten contains the seal of the great His name, and all the blessings it in- Lawgiver, the Creator of the heavens volves are theirs.”—”Testimonies,” Vol. and the earth. Those who obey this 6, p. 350.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Testimonies,” Vol. 6, pp. 349-352.
102 The Final Test LESSON 13 ❑ Monday September /8 Part 2 “And the third angel followed them, saying with a MARK OF loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, REJECTION and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indigna- tion; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of Rev. 14:9, 10 the Lamb.”
A comparison of this scripture with Rev. 7:1-3 shows that
the mark of the beast is the opposite of the seal of God. It
has been shown in Part 1 of this lesson that the seal of God is
connected with the keeping of Christ's seventh-day Sabbath.
The mark of the beast, as the opposite of the seal of God, is
connected with the keeping of the Sunday sabbath as a man-
made substitute for the true Sabbath.
What is the only way any person can escape receiv-
ing the mark of the beast? Rev. 14:12.
When the final test comes, all will obey the apostate power
and receive the mark of the beast except the remnant who
keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Be-
cause they keep the commandments of God, they observe the
seventh-day Sabbath according to His law.
Those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath as the Lord com-
mands are distinguished as His true followers. But those who
disobey Him and keep the first-day sabbath of the papacy in
opposition to the truth are distinguished as followers of apos-
tasy. Thus a final test will come when all men will have to
make a choice between Christ's true Sabbath and the man-
made sabbath ; between whose authority they will accept—
God's or man's; between who they will obey—Christ or Satan.
"The Sabbath question is to be the issue in the great final
conflict in which all the world will act a part."—Testimonies,
Vol. 6, p. 352.
What shows that those who keep the commandments
of God and the faith of Jesus will obtain the victory over
the mark of the beast? Rev. 15:2, 3.
THINK IT THROUGH Will I, by the grace of God, keep the true Sabbath and be victorious over the mark of the beast?
“Since those who keep God’s com- the one hand, and its violation, on the mandments are thus placed in contrast other, will make the distinction be- with those that worship the beast and tween the worshipers of God and the his image and receive his mark, it fol- worshipers of the beast.”—”The Great lows that the keeping of God’s law, on Controversy,” pages 445, 446.
103
The Final Test LESSON 13 ❑ Tuesday September 19 Part 3 “And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the ISSUE OF DESTINY Lord; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the Jer. 21:8 way of death.”
How, according to 1 John 2:3, 4, does every believer
show whether he is a real Christian or a make-believe
Christian?
According to Rom. 6:16, what shows which side I am
on in conflict between Christ and Satan?
"To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants
ye are." Rom. 6:16. Anyone who applies this Scriptural prin-
ciple to the Sabbath-versus-Sunday issue will see for himself
what identifies the worshipers of the Creator and only true
God. He will see, also, what identifies the worshipers of the
beast and his image. Too, he will know what he ought to do
about this question.
When a Christian faithfully keeps the seventh-day Sabbath
as the divinely appointed sign that Christ is his Creator and
Redeemer, to whom is he rendering service? He is obeying his
Lord Jesus Christ. This marks him as a worshiper of Christ,
his Lord, Creator, and Saviour. His servant he is, to whom
he obeys.
When a Christian knows the Sabbath truth, but still keeps
Sunday, whom is he obeying in this respect? Many Sunday
keepers honestly think that they are obeying Christ because
He arose from the dead on this day. But according to the
Bible, Jesus has never required anyone to keep the first day
of the week as sacred for any reason whatsoever.
When a Christian keeps Sunday after he has been enlight-
ened about it, he is obeying the apostate power, which has
attempted to make Sunday, instead of the Sabbath, God's holy
day of rest for man. His servant he is to whom he obeys. He
is honoring the papacy above the Lord Jesus Christ, "Lord
even of the Sabbath." Matt. 12:8. In such a case, the only
safe decision that a Christian can make is to obey Jesus by
keeping the holy day as He has commanded. THINK IT THROUGH Do I renew my decision every day to obey all of God's
commandments?
“While the worshipers of God will the worshipers of the beast will be dis- be especially”diitingUished by their tinguished by their efforts to tear down regard for the fourth commandment,— the Creator’s memorial, to exalt the since this is the sign of His creative institution of Rome.”—”The Great Con- power and the witness to His claim troversy,” page 446. upon man’s reverence and homage,—
104 The Final Test LESSON 13 ❑ Wednesday September 20 Part 4 “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, THE MASTER whose names are not written in the book of life of the DECEPTION Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Rev. 13:8 This refers to one of Satan’s overwhelming deceptions. Countless millions of professed Christians are observing Sunday as the Lord’s day without knowing that it is an institution of antichrist and without Biblical authority. They sincerely be- lieve that in so doing they are obeying and worshiping Christ. But in this they are actually rendering homage and obedience to the system of counterfeit Christianity.
Why will God's true people not be deceived by Satan's
masterful deceptions? Matt. 24:24, 25.
How will Satan work to enlist, if possible, all men on
his side? Rev. 13:13, 14; 16:13, 14.
Christ, as our Creator, made the seventh-day Sabbath to be
a sign of allegiance and loyalty to His true system of worship.
In direct opposition to this, Satan introduced, in ancient times,
the worship of the sun upon the first day of the week as a
sign of adherence to his false system of worship. This is how
the first day of the week got its name "Sunday."
Satan knew that one of the most telling blows that he
could strike against the Son of God would be to turn all people
away from keeping His seventh-day Sabbath, because it is
the sign of the rightful sovereignty of Christ as our Creator
and Redeemer. Thus he has succeeded in establishing his "day
of the Sun" in the place of the day of the Son. See Matt. 12:8.
Millions have been misled to believe that by keeping Sunday
they acknowledge the supremacy of our blessed Saviour. But,
in reality, this practice denies His rightful supremacy, for by
substitution of the observance of Sunday for that of the sev-
enth-day Sabbath, the Roman Church has placed papal author-
ity above the word of Him who is the Lord of the Sabbath. THINK IT THROUGH Am I so fortifying my mind with the truth of God's
Word that I will be able to stand fast amid these master-
ful deceptions?
“The substitution of the false for the for God to work. He will arise in His true is the last act in the drama. When majesty, and will shake terribly the this substitution becomes universal, God earth. He will come out of His place to will reveal Himself. When the laws of punish the inhabitants of the world for men are exalted above the laws of their iniquity.”—Ellen G. White Com- God, when the powers of this earth try ments, “SDA Bible Commentary,” Vol. to force men to keep the first day of 7, p. 980. the week, know that the time has come
105
The Final Test LESSON 13 ❑ Thursday September 21 Part 5 “And he had power to give life unto the image of THE SUPERCRISIS the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image Rev. 13:15 of the beast should be killed.” Satan attempted through the agency of pagan Rome to destroy the Saviour as soon as He was born. Rev. 12:4, 5; Matt. 2:16. He worked later through civil and religious powers of the earth to destroy millions of Christians during the Dark Ages. In these closing days Satan will work through a church- and-state collaboration to impose observance of the false Sun- day sabbath upon all. Rev. 13:16, 17.
How has God pledged His word that He will deliver
His remnant? Dan. 12:1; Joel 2:32.
What will it take, on my part, to share in this deliver-
ance? Rev. 3:10; Luke 21:34, 35.
Everyone will be compelled to choose between the seal of
God and the mark of the beast. If a person will not volun-
tarily surrender his all to Christ, keep His true Sabbath, and
receive the seal of God, he will yield to compulsion by civil
law to honor the false sabbath and receive the mark of the
beast, THINK IT THROUGH Will I be one of the overcomers whose name will be
retained in the book of life for a home in the better world
to come? Rev. 3:5.
“Fearful is the issue to which the the law of God enjoining the Creator’s world is to be brought. The powers of rest day demands obedience and threat- earth, uniting to war against the com- ens wrath against all who transgress mandments of God, will decree that its precepts. ‘all, both small and great, rich and “With the issue thus clearly brought poor, free and bond’ (Revelation 13: before him, whoever shall trample 16), shall conform to the customs of the upon God’s law to obey a human enact- church by the observance of the false ment receives the mark of the beast; sabbath. All who refuse compliance he accepts the sign of allegiance to the will be visited with civil penalties, and power which he chooses to obey in- it will finally be declared that they are stead of God.”—”The Great Contro- deserving of death. On the other hand, versy,” page 604.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Great Controversy,” pages 603-612.
106 The Final Test LESSON 13 ❑ Friday September 22 Part 6 “And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How MOMENT FOR long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, DECISION follow him.” 1 Kings 18:21 God confronts men continually with moments of decision. This is for our own eternal good if we make the right responses.
What moment of decision came to God's professed
people in the golden calf apostasy? Ex. 32:19-26.
In the final test preceding the close of probation, every soul
will have to decide between the worshi.gf Christ as our
Creator-Redeemer and the worship of the beast and his image;
between the observance of the true Sabbath of Christ and the
observance of the counterfeit sabbath of the papacy.
How did Christ show that no one can be neutral?
Matt. 12:30.
Observing Christ's seventh-day Sabbath is a sign of recog-
nition of His authority as sovereign Lord of all, the Creator
of all, and the only Saviour of man. Observance of the Sun-
day institution, after light has come, is a sign of recognition
of the alleged authority of the papacy to rule over all God's
people. Thus each of us must decide which of these two signs
of authority he will accept for himself. This is the basic issue
in this impending conflict of Sabbath versus Sunday.
The issue is, in brief, this: Whom shall I obey as supreme?
Shall I decide for Christ? Shall I obey Him in keeping His
Sabbath as a sign that I choose Him as my Lord-Creator-
Saviour? Or shall I obey the papal power in keeping Sunday? THINK IT THROUGH As I come to the end of these lessons, shall I pray,
"Lord, help me to have Christ in the Sabbath and the
Sabbath in Christ?"
“The Sabbath will be, the great test that is in opposition to God, the keep- of loyalty, for it is the point of truth ing of the true Sabbath, in obedience to especially controverted. When the final God’s law, is an evidence of loyalty to test shall be brought to bear upon men, the Creator. While one class, by accept- then the line of distinction will be ing the sign of submission to earthly drawn between those who serve God powers, receive the mark of the beast, and those who serve Him not. While the the other, choosing the token of alle- observance of the false sabbath in com- giance to divine authority, receive the pliance with the law of the state, con- seal of God.”—”The Great Controversy,” trary to the fourth commandment, will page 605. be an avowal of allegiance to a power
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Great Controversy,” pages 448-450.
107
The Final Test LESSON 13
Part 7 0* SUMMARY QUESTIONS 0 TO TEST YOUR STUDY POWER
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In which commandment is the seal of God found)
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The mark of the beast is the to the of God.
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How can you avoid receiving the mark of the beast?
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Why is the deliberate keeping of Sunday instead of the seventh day a
mark of obedience to the Rome power above Christ)
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Who are the only ones who will not be deceived by Satan)
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Between what will each person be compelled to make a decision)
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Each one must choose between keeping the day, as sign of
the of , and the keeping of the
day, as a sign of the of
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108 LESSON 14
September 24-30
The purpose of this review is to ask these Otherwise, we can know the truth of Christ personal questions: (1) What have we and yet be lost because we do not know learned or relearned about the Sabbath and Him. Sabbath observance? (2) How will this knowledge be translated into a more vic- LESSON OUTLINE torious daily experience? For example, we have spoken of the Sab- 1. The Sabbath and Redeeming bath as a sign of divine creatorship and Love redemption. Are we, as a consequence, con- scious of renewal and victory in daily life? Gen. 2:1; Job 38:7 Reference has been made to a “missing 2. Eternal Love and Man’s Obe- text.” Is that just a point for controversy, or does it strengthen your faith in New Tes- dience tament seventh-day Sabbath observance? Deut. 33:2, 3 We know there is a true and there is a 3. Creation and Re-creation false sabbath day. But do we ask what the divine judgment might be between a really Heb. 1:2; 2 Cor. 5:17, RSV sincere person who unknowingly observes 4. The Divine Forethought the wrong day, and the man who well knows the true day of rest and yet observes Eph. 1:4, 5 it legalistically and lives an inconsistent 5. Mark of the Maker life? In other words, this review is intended Ezek. 20:20 to stress the supreme importance of truly living our religious beliefs motivated by 6. Evidence of the Saviour’s the love of Christ, of practicing what we Presence profess, of being what we claim to be. Lev. 21:23
109
The Forgotten Blessing LESSON 14 ❑ Sunday September 24 Part 1 “The heavens and the earth were finished, and all the THE SABBATH AND host of them.” REDEEMING LOVE “The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of Gen. 2:1; Job 38:7 God shouted for joy.”
Notice how these verses are used in The Desire of Ages in
the context of Christ's finished work of creation as a type of
His finished work of redemption while He rested in the tomb
on the Sabbath day:
"In the beginning the Father and the Son had rested upon
the Sabbath after Their work of creation. When 'the heavens
and the earth were finished, and all the host of them' (Gen.
2:1), the Creator and all heavenly beings rejoiced in contempla-
tion of the glorious scene. 'The morning stars sang together,
and all the sons of God shouted for joy.' Job 38:7. Now Jesus
rested from the work of redemption; and though there was
grief among those who loved Him on earth, yet there was joy
in heaven. Glorious to the eyes of heavenly beings was the
promise of the future. A restored creation, a redeemed race,
that having conquered sin could never fall,—this, the result to
flow from Christ's completed work, God and angels saw. With
this scene the day upon which Jesus rested is forever linked.
For 'His work is perfect;' and 'whatsoever God doeth, it shall
be forever.' Deut. 32:4; Eccl. 3:14. When there shall be a
`restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth
of all His holy prophets since the world began' (Acts 3:21),
the creation Sabbath, the day on which Jesus lay at rest in
Joseph's tomb, will still be a day of rest and rejoicing. Heaven
and earth will unite in praise, as 'from one Sabbath to another'
(Isa. 66:23) the nations of the saved shall bow in joyful
worship to God and the Lamb."—Pages 769, 770.
Make a list of some of the "things" that will someday
be restored. Acts 3:21.
THINK IT THROUGH Should we expect the kind of world that knew not Christ during His life on earth to know and observe now the seventh-day Sabbath that He observed?
110 The Forgotten Blessing LESSON 14 ❑ Monday September 25 Part 2 “And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up ETERNAL LOVE AND from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, MAN’S OBEDIENCE and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy Deut. 33:2, 3 feet; every one shall receive of thy words.”
What relation has always existed between God's love
and His laws?
Is divine love temporary or eternal? Jer. 31:3.
The controversies of the Pharisees with Christ show how
they magnified the first four commandments of the Decalogue
as of much greater importance than the other six because they
reveal the duty of man to His Maker. Consequently "they
greatly failed of practical godliness. Jesus had shown the people
their great deficiency, and had taught the necessity of good
works, declaring that the tree is known by its fruits. For this
reason He had been charged with exalting the last six com-
mandments above the first four."—The Desire of Ages, page
607.
What is the relation between God's love and man's
obedience?
THINK IT THROUGH In what way does Christ’s part in creation prove that He possesses divine attributes? What are some of them? John 1:1, 3, 14.
“The principles of righteousness em- adapted to all mankind, and they were bodied in the Decalogue are as immu- given for the instruction and govern- table as the eternal throne. Not one ment of all. Ten precepts, brief, com- command has been annulled, not a jot prehensive, and authoritive, cover the or tittle has been changed. Those prin- duty of man to God and to his fellow ciples that were made known to man man; and all based upon the great in Paradise as the great law of life will fundamental principle of love. . . . exist unchanged in Paradise restored. Luke 10:27. See also Deuteronomy 6:4, When Eden shall bloom on earth again, 5; Leviticus 19:18. In the Ten Command- God’s law of love will be obeyed by all ments these principles are carried out beneath the sun.”—”Thoughts From the in detail, and made applicable to the Mount of Blessing,” pages 50, 51. condition and circumstances of man.” “The precepts of the Decalogue are —”Patriarchs and Prophets,” page 305.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: See “Redeeming Grace,” H. W. Lowe, Chapters 2 and 6.
111
The Forgotten Blessing LESSON 14 ❑ Tuesday September 26 Part 3 “His Son . . . by whom also he [God] made the CREATION AND worlds.” RE-CREATION “If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation.” Heb. 1:2; 2 Cor.5:17, RSV. God’s eternal purpose in Christ Jesus our Lord (Eph. 3:11) has been to reveal both creation and re-creation as beneficent and redemptive acts. How can man have the experience of conversion and the new creation? By the grace of God in Christ we may put off the corruption and deceitfulness of sin and thus find in Him new spiritual hope and courage. Eph. 4:20-22. “Not through controversy and discussion is the soul enlight- ened. We must look and live. Nicodemus received the lesson, and carried it with him. He searched the Scriptures in a new way, not for the discussion of a theory, but in order to receive life for the soul. He began to see the kingdom of heaven as he submitted himself to the leading of the Holy Spirit.”—The Desire of Ages, page 175. Just as creation was a gift of God, so is the new creation. In what way must man accept both God’s creation and His re- creation? “Through faith we receive the grace of God; but faith is not our Saviour. It earns nothing. It is the hand by which we lay hold upon Christ, and appropriate His merits, the remedy for sin. And we cannot even repent without the aid of the Spirit of God. The Scripture says of Christ, ‘Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.’ Acts 5:31. Repentance comes from Christ as truly as does pardon.” —Ibid. THINK IT THROUGH Does acceptance of Christ as our Redeemer necessitate recognition of Him as our Creator?
“The law given upon Sinai was the living church is seen in the fact that we enunciation of the principle of love, a are practicing the Word. A living testi- revelation to earth of the law of mony goes forth to the world in consist- heaven.”—”Thoughts From the Mount of ent Christian action.”—Ellen G. White Blessing,” page 46. Comments, “SDA Bible Commentary,” “The daily evidence that we are a Vol. 6, p. 1071.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Desire of Ages,” pages 167-177.
112 The Forgotten Blessing LESSON 14 ❑ Wednesday September 27 Part 4 “He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of THE DIVINE the world, that we should be holy and without blame FORETHOUGHT before him in love: having predestinated us unto the Eph. 1:4, 5 adoption of children by Jesus Christ.”
Various expressions are used in the New Testament to reveal
to us divine initiative and forethought in providing for the
salvation of man. This was to ensure that the world would
eventually be populated by holy beings. Titus 1:2 speaks of
the "hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised
before the world began." True acceptance of Christ and loyalty
to Him assure salvation.
The existence of Christ before the foundation of the world
(Eph. 1:4) is clearly seen in various Biblical passages. He was
the creator of all things. John 1:1-3, 10. "For by him were
all things created . . . : and he is before all things, and by
him all things consist." Col. 1:16, 17. This includes the Sab-
bath, for "the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day."
Matt. 12:8. It provides for all other things essential to the
welfare and full redemption of man. THINK IT THROUGH Is it more logical to think that in the event of man's
fall, (1) his redemption would be accomplished by his
beneficent Creator, or that (2) man would in time work
his own way out of this tragic situation?
“I was shown that the law of God tified it, because that in it He had rested would stand fast forever, and exist in from all His work. The Sabbath was the new earth to all eternity. At the instituted in Eden before the fall, and creation, when the foundations of the was observed by Adam and Eve, and earth were laid, the sons of God looked all the heavenly host. God rested on with admiration upon the work of the the seventh day, and blessed and hal- Creator, and all the heavenly host lowed it. I saw that the Sabbath never shouted for joy. It was then that the will be done away; but that the re- foundation of the Sabbath was laid. At deemed saints, and all the angelic host, the close of the six days of creation, will observe it in honor of the great God rested on the seventh day from Creator to all eternity.”—”Early Writ- all His work which He had made; and ings,” page 217. He blessed the seventh day and sanc-
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Patriarchs and Prophets,” pages 63-65.
113
The Forgotten Blessing LESSON 14 ❑ Thursday September 28 Part 5 “And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign MARK OF THE between me and you, that ye may know that I am the MAKER Lord your God.” Ezek. 20:20 Four things should be noted in Ezek. 20:5-12: (1) God’s choice of His people; (2) His deliverance of them from heathen abomination and bondage; (3) His desire that His name should not be polluted among the heathen, and (4) the laws He gave to His people as peculiar signs of His presence with them. In Ex. 31:15-17 the weekly Sabbath is given as one of the marks of God’s sovereignty over His people. According to Neh. 9:14, one of the signs of God’s presence with them was His holy Sabbath. In 1 Cor. 10:1-4 His guidance and training of them in the desert are attributed to Christ, who is thus indicated as the Lord of both His people and His Sabbath. See The Desire of Ages, page 288.
What is meant by the statement in Ex. 31:17 that the
Creator "rested, and was refreshed" on the seventh day?
Did He need physical rest?
"All was perfect, worthy of its divine Author, and He
rested, not as one weary, but as well pleased with the fruits
of His wisdom and goodness and the manifestations of His
glory."—Patriarchs and Prophets, page 47.
Can we find "rest" in the fullest sense if God's bless-
ing is not with us?
THINK IT THROUGH What alone can make our obedience to God’s com- mandments acceptable in spirit and in truth? Would a deeper acknowledgment of Christ as our Creator and Sanctifier solve our problem of giving proper service to Him?
“The Israelites placed over their of the Hebrew dwellings, to preserve doors a signature of blood, to show the people from the general ruin. God that they were God’s property. So the declares, ‘I gave them my Sabbaths, children of God in this age will bear to be a sign between me and them, the signature God has appointed. They that they might know that I am the will place themselves in harmony with Lord that sanctify them.’“—Ellen G. God’s holy law. A mark is placed upon White Comments, “SDA Bible Commen- every one of God’s people just as verily tary,” Vol. 7, pp. 968, 969. as a mark was placed over the doors
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “The Desire of Ages,” pages 286-288.
114 The Forgotten Blessing LESSON 14 ❑ Friday September 29 Part 6 “For I the Lord do sanctify them.” EVIDENCE OF THE SAVIOUR’S This expression is often used in the Old Testament, and we have seen in Ezek. 20:12 that it is connected with Sabbath PRESENCE observance. Lev. 21:23 From the lessons of this quarter, what have we learned as the paramount thing in all religious observances? “No other institution which was committed to the Jews tended so fully to distinguish them from surrounding nations as did the Sabbath. God designed that its observance should designate them as His worshipers. It was to be a token of their separation from idolatry, and their connection with the true God. But in order to keep the Sabbath holy, men must themselves be holy. Through faith they must become partakers of the righteousness of Christ.”—The Desire of Ages, page 283. Does history show that the observance of Sunday, the day substituted for the seventh day, has declined into formalism? Was it ever anything else?
Does formal observance of a day inhibit the vital
experience of Christ's righteousness by faith? Ex. 31:13.
Should Seventh-day Adventists constantly seek Christ in
daily experience in order to witness effectively for truth, espe-
cially the Sabbath truth? "God's remnant people, standing
before the world as reformers, are to show that the law of
God is the foundation of all enduring reform and that the
Sabbath of the fourth commandment is to stand as a memo-
rial of creation, a constant reminder of the power of God.
. . . Constrained by the love of Christ, they are to cooperate
with Him in building up the waste places. They are to be
repairers of the breach, restorers of paths to dwell in."—Proph-
ets and Kings, page 678. THINK IT THROUGH Do we show God's love by obvious, aggressive effort,
or by constancy to Him under all circumstances? See
1 John 5:3. (Moffatt's translation says that "his commands
are not irksome.")
“The Sabbath is a sign of Christ’s “To all who receive the Sabbath as a power to make us holy. And it is given sign of Christ’s creative and redeeming to all whom Christ makes holy. As a power, it will be a delight. Seeing sign of His sanctifying power, the Sab- Christ in it, they delight themselves in bath is given to all who through Christ Him.”—”The Desire of Ages,” pages become a part of the Israel of God…. 288, 289.
FOR FURTHER STUDY: “Testimonies,” Vol. 6, p. 350.
115
The Forgotten Blessing LESSON 14
Part 7 <> SUMMARY QUESTIONS <> A TEST OF YOUR STUDY POWER
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True or False: The entrance of sin posed the following situations: a. Man must find a way to get back what he had lost b. God sought a good angel to save this world c. Only the Creator could become man’s Redeemer
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Multiple choice: a. Is law more important, equally important, or less so than love) b. If we love, can we ignore obedience) c. Which comes first: love or obedience?
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Multiple choice: Does the new birth mean a. new manners? b. new cul- ture? c. an entirely new Christian way of life)
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Was the Creator caught unawares by sin, or had He provided for such a contingency, and, if so, how)
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What mark of our Maker have these lessons indicated)
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Multiple choice: Real evidence of Christ’s presence in us is seen in a. sin- cerity; b. love; c. an ascetic life and strict observances of God’s laws
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What is the best answer to the charge of legalism)
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Do you think the charge of being self-centered legalists is sometimes justified>
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116 “In God’s word we behold the power that laid the foundation of the earth and that stretched out SIGN THE the heavens…. In the reverent contemplation of the truths presented in His word, the mind of DAILY the student is brought into communion with the infinite mind. Such a study will not only refine LESSON and ennoble the character, but it cannot fail STUDY to expand and invigorate the mental powers.” —Patriarchs and Prophets, p.596. PLEDGE Cfurisi %moor ephorani Iaeenn Not all love letters are meant to be tied up in a pink bow and tucked away in the attic. Some love letters should be kept near and read often. Not all of them say the things we want them to say. Be- cause, sometimes, when we truly love people, we have to say things that hurt in order to help. Ellen White understood love. She wrote many let- ters. Some of them hurt very much. But they were all written in a true spirit of love and were de- signed to help us. Ellen White’s love letters are the kind that should be kept near. And read often. • •
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THE SABBATH “The sabbath was made for man.” Mark 2:27. God designed it with you in mind. It is just one of His THIS DAY IS YOURS reflects on the many gifts. spiritual beauty of the Sabbath. The Biblical background, the Jewish Sab- Kenneth Holland, editor of These bath traditions, and the change from Times, has written these two books Sabbath to Sunday are related in de- for you, so you can love and enjoy tail, yet in a clear and simple style. the Sabbath more than you ever have The second part of THIS DAY IS before. YOURS tells how God planned for THOSE SABBATH HOURS is a col- man to enjoy the Sabbath. One of the lection of stories and articles that will author’s key thoughts is this: “God make happier Sabbaths for the entire intended that you and He get to know family. The poems and illustrations each other. . . . On the Sabbath He will give variety to your family wor- wants you for Himself.” Hardback, ships. Hardback, white and gold white and gold cover, $4.95. cover, $6.95.
SOUTHERN PUBLIS NG ASSOCIATION No. Church S.S. Population Churches Memb. Memb.
Burma 28,518,000 5,185 Central India 152,552,807 15,245 Ceylon 14,000,000 1,518 Northern 313,266,899 8,411 Pakistan 128,346,000 4,181 South India 92,922,239 22,846