Sanctify the Lord’s Day
2 Peter 1:12 “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.”
What is Present Truth?
In Peter’s time there was PRESENT TRUTH, or truth that was applicable at that time. God’s church has always had PRESENT TRUTH. This was true in the beginning and it is true today.
What was PRESENT TRUTH in Noah’s day? A flood was coming, his assignment was to warn the world. That was PRESENT TRUTH then. But is it PRESENT TRUTH today? No; it is truth, but it is not PRESENT TRUTH. It is PRESENT TRUTH that the flock needs now.
PRESENT TRUTH is that which shows present duty. It is the position that we are to occupy at the present time. According to 2 Peter 1:12 PRESENT TRUTH must be often repeated. Peter says, “I’m not going to be negligent, I’m going to tell you about these things. Even though you know them, I’m going to keep repeating them because it is important. Even though you are already established in the truth, these same truths need to be repeated all the time.” Don’t we learn by repetition? If we want to memorize something we have to go over it again and again. It is so easy to forget the truths that God wants us to remember.
This was true in Peter’s day, and is no less important today, because we are on the very verge of the end of this world. Jesus is coming soon. We must not become tired of hearing PRESENT TRUTH.
There are several subjects we could discuss that would be PRESENT TRUTH today, but the one I would like to mention has been PRESENT TRUTH as far back as creation week, and it is still PRESENT TRUTH today.
This subject has been widely agitated in the past, but many people have failed to understand it, even though the Bible has made it very clear.
In Genesis 2:2, 3 it says, “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.”
At creation God instituted the weekly Sabbath. It was the seventh day. Today it is known as Saturday. God blessed and sanctified that day of the week, and no other, therefore the seventh day, and no other day of the week is holy, sanctified time. And God gives the reason for this in verse 3. He says, “because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.”
So, God rested and ceased from His work and set an example for man. He blessed and set apart the seventh day for man to rest from his labor, just like God rested from His. And we are to follow the example of our Creator.
The Sabbath was made for Man
In Mark 2:27, the Lord of the Sabbath said this, “The Sabbath was made for MAN.” Not for the Jew only. There were no Jews around at creation. The word MAN in this text, has the same meaning as it does in, Genesis 1:27. “So God created MAN in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Man here simply means, mankind, or human beings.
No one would say that man here means Jew, or Christian; but the whole human race. The Sabbath was made for MAN, for all human beings. Adam, Noah, and Abraham were all men, therefore the Sabbath was made for them; as well as for Moses and the Jews. And we are all men and women, and boys and girls, human beings; and the Sabbath was made for us, because we are a part of mankind.
In Exodus 20:11 God gives the reason why man should keep His holy Sabbath day. It says: “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord BLESSED the Sabbath day, and HALLOWED it.”
Sabbath before Sinai
From the time the Ten Commandments were written with God’s finger our minds are directed back 2500 years to creation week, the origin of the Sabbath. God did not bless and hallow the Sabbath day at Mt. Sinai, as a lot of people believe. There are many Christians who think that when God uttered the Ten Commandments from Sinai, that was the first time people knew anything about the Sabbath or the law of God. Not true, the Sabbath itself was instituted at Eden 2500 years before God spoke it from Mt. Sinai.
Bread from Heaven
Remember the story about the manna? In the 16th chapter of Exodus God gave instructions to the Israelites regarding the manna, and beginning with verse 22 it says: “And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe {boil}; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. 24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. 25 And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the Lord: to day ye shall not find it in the field. 26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. 27 And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather {disobedient, weren’t they?}, and they found none. 28 And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.”
Departing from Egypt
Now, here is the interesting point about this story. The children of Israel departed out of Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month.
Numbers 33:3, “And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.”
When Israel left Egypt, it was the first month, the fifteenth day.
In Exodus 16:1 it says, “And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.”
So Israel came out of Egypt on the first month, fifteenth day, and then they came to the wilderness of Sin on the second month, the fifteenth day, just a whole month later.
Now, read Exodus 19:1: “In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.”
Now we have the picture. They came out of Egypt first month, fifteenth day. They came to the wilderness of Sin where God gave them the manna on the second month, fifteenth day. And now they are before Mount Sinai, the first time they had ever seen Mount Sinai, on the third month, fifteenth day.
So, God gave the children of Israel manna and reminded them of His Sabbath thirty days before they ever saw Mt. Sinai. And then on the third day after that, the Lord descended upon the mount and spoke the Ten Commandments (Ex. 19:11).
So here we have God giving the children of Israel directions about the seventh-day Sabbath thirty-two days before God spoke the law from Mount Sinai. To say the Sabbath and the law of God wasn’t given until Mount Sinai is not right. We just read a moment ago in Exodus 16:28, 29 where God said, “How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.”
Forgetful Slaves
The Sabbath is not mentioned here as a new institution, but an old one that they had not kept while they were in slavery in Egypt. They had forgotten about it.
The principles contained in the Ten Commandments as spoken from Sinai were nothing new. Right from the beginning, God’s government has always operated under law. He is a God of order.
God’s people have always known that He was to have first place in their lives; that they were not to take His name in vain; that the seventh day is God’s holy day. They have always known that to honor their parents was the right thing to do. That adultery, and killing, and stealing were wrong. God’s people knew this long before the law was given at Sinai. But the children of Israel, while in slavery in Egypt, forgot the law, and the giving of the law at Sinai was simply God’s method of restating His law to the people who had just come out of slavery. A people, for the most part, who had forgotten who they were, and the mission they had as God’s chosen people.
The Sabbath a Sign
In Exodus 31:12-15 it says, “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.”
Now we don’t put people to death if they don’t keep the Sabbath day, today, do we? No. But the final outcome will be the same. God says that sin is the transgression of His law (1 John 3:4). And if we willfully violate one of God’s commandments, what’s going to happen to us? Ezekiel 18:20 says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
Exodus 31:16, 17, “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”
Now, I can hear someone say after reading this, “See there, it is a sign between God and the children of Israel! And since we are not Old Testament Jews, but New Testament Christians, we are not obligated to keep the seventh day Sabbath.” To such a person I would say, “Do you realize that everyone who accepts Jesus as their Saviour are spiritual children of Israel?”
In Romans 2:28, 29 it says, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly.” In other words, A real Jew is one whose heart is right with God, regardless of his physical birth.
Romans 9:6-8: “. . . For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.”
Galatians 3:29, “And if ye be Christ’s {if you have accepted Him as your master and your Saviour}, then are ye Abraham’s seed {spiritual Israel}, and heirs according to the promise.”
If we belong to Christ we are the true descendents of Abraham, and all of God’s promises, and all of His blessings belong to us. And there is a blessing for those who “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
The Sabbath then is a sign, or seal between God and His people forever. It is a perpetual covenant or agreement between God and His people. One that is going to endure, even in the earth made new.
Sabbath Observance in New Earth
In Isaiah 66:22, 23 it says, “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.”
In Matthew 5:17 Jesus said something very interesting when He was here on earth.
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law {the Ten Commandment law}, or the prophets {I haven’t come to speak against what the prophets said}: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”
To fulfil does not mean to do away with. It means that Jesus kept the law perfectly. And He set an example that we should follow in His steps (1 John 2:6).
In verse 18, Jesus said: “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
Has all been fulfilled? No, it hasn’t. Jesus said until all is fulfill, not the dotting of an “i” or the crossing of a “t” is going to pass from the law. It is not going to be changed, it is still binding today.
Many people try to use the apostle Paul’s writings to prove the Sabbath is no longer binding upon Christians today, but what did he himself say 32 years this side of the cross? Acts 28:17, “And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they came together he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.” If Paul had kept any other Sabbath than the seventh-day Sabbath, he would have departed from the customs of his fathers.
Sabbath Observance a Prerequisite
Do you have a desire to walk through the pearly gates of the “New Jerusalem”? I know you do or you wouldn’t be reading this booklet.
The apostle John, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says this in Revelation 22:14,
“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
Sounds to me like keeping the commandments, of which the Sabbath is a part, is a prerequisite for entering the New Jerusalem.
Two Errors
Does that mean then that we are saved by what we do? I’d like to answer that question by quoting from the book Steps to Christ, p. 59-61.
“There are two errors against which the children of God–particularly those who have just come to trust in His grace–especially need to guard. The first, already dwelt upon, is that of looking to their own works, trusting to anything they can do, to bring themselves into harmony with God. He who is trying to become holy by his own works in keeping the law, is attempting an impossibility. All that man can do without Christ is polluted with selfishness and sin. It is the grace of Christ alone, through faith, that can make us holy.
“The opposite and no less dangerous error is that belief in Christ releases men from keeping the law of God; that since by faith alone we become partakers of the grace of Christ, our works have nothing to do with our redemption.
“But notice here that obedience is not a mere outward compliance, but the service of love. The law of God is an expression of His very nature; it is an embodiment of the great principle of love, and hence is the foundation of His government in heaven and earth. If our hearts are renewed in the likeness of God, if the divine love is implanted in the soul, will not the law of God be carried out in the life? When the principle of love is implanted in the heart, when man is renewed after the image of Him that created him, the new-covenant promise is fulfilled, ‘I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.’ Hebrews 10:16. And if the law is written in the heart, will it not shape the life? Obedience–the service and allegiance of love-is the true sign of discipleship. Thus the Scripture says, ‘This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.’ ‘He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.’ I John 5:3; 2:4. Instead of releasing man from obedience, it is faith, and faith only, that makes us partakers of the grace of Christ, which enables us to render obedience.
“We do not earn salvation by our obedience; for salvation is the free gift of God, to be received by faith. But obedience is the fruit of faith.”
Doesn’t that make it clear? We don’t receive eternal life by keeping the commandments. We keep the commandments because we have eternal life. When we accept Jesus as our Saviour, eternal life begins on this earth.
Eternal Life vs. Immortality
Now there is a difference between eternal life and immortality. When we accept Jesus, we have eternal life. The Bible says, “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:12). But when Jesus comes, He’s going to change us “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: . . . for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:52, 53). When we accept Jesus we don’t become immortal, that will happen when He comes, if we are faithful to the end.
IT’S JEWISH
By Uriah Smith
When we present God’s holy law
And arguments from Scripture draw,
Objectors say, to pick a flaw:
“It’s Jewish!”
Though at first Jehovah blessed
And sanctified His day of rest,
The same belief is still expressed:
“It’s Jewish!”
Though with Creation this rest began
And thence through all the Scriptures ran,
And Jesus said ’twas made for man–
“It’s Jewish!”
Though not with Jewish rites which passed,
But with the moral law ’twas classed,
Which must exist while time shall last–
“It’s Jewish!”
If from the Bible we present
The Sabbath’s meaning and intent,
This answers every argument:
“It’s Jewish!”
Though the disciples Luke and Paul
Continued still this rest to call
The Sabbath day, this answers all:
“It’s Jewish!”
The Gospel Teacher’s plain expression
That sin is of the Law transgression
Seems not to make the least impression;
“It’s Jewish!”
They love the day of man’s invention,
But if Jehovah’s rest we mention
This puts an end to all contention:
“It’s Jewish!”
Oh ye who thus God’s day abuse
Simply because ’twas kept by Jews,
The Saviour, too, you must refuse–
“He’s Jewish!”
The Scriptures, then, we may expect
For the same reason you’ll reject.
For if you’ll stop to recollect,
“They’re Jewish!”
Thus the apostles, too, must fall,
For Andrew, Peter, James and Paul,
Thomas, Matthew, John, and all
Were Jewish.
So to your hapless state resign
Yourself to wretchedness to pine;
Salvation surely you’ll decline–
“It’s Jewish!”
Who Changed the Sabbath?
Since there is no Biblical authority for Sunday sacredness, why does nearly the whole Christian world worship on that day? Let’s let those who changed it answer for themselves.
“The Catholic Church, for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday. . . The Christian Sabbath is therefore to this day, the acknowledged offspring of the Catholic Church. . . without a word of remonstrance from the Protestant world.” —The Catholic Mirror, Cardinal Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893.
“We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (336 A. D.), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.” – Rev. Peter Geiermann, C.Ss.R., The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p. 50, 2nd edition, 1910, a work which received the “apostolic blessing” of Pope Pius X, Jan. 25, 1910.
“Sunday as a day of the week set apart for obligatory public worship of Almighty God. . . is purely a creation of the Catholic Church.” —American Catholic Quarterly Review, January, 1883.
“Question.–Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?
“Answer–Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her;–she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.” —A Doctrinal Catechism, p. 174, by the Rev. Stephen Keenan.
“You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.” -Cardinal Gibbons, in Faith of Our Fathers, edition of 1917, pages 72, 73.
Do you comprehend the audacity and blasphemy of these statements? This was all predicted in Daniel chapter 7, but that’s not all. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-7 tells of the “man of sin” who would show himself to be God.
Who is the man of sin?
“All the names which in the Scriptures are applied to Christ, by virtue of which it is established that He is over the church, all the same names are applied to the pope. – Bellarmine, On the Authority of Councils, book 2, Chap. 17
“Thou art the shepherd, thou art the physician, thou art the director, thou art the husbandman; finally, Thou art another GOD on earth.” Christopher Marcellus, quoted in Labbe and Cossart’s History of the Councils, Vol. 14, Col. 109.
“The Pope is the supreme judge of the law of the land. He is the vicegerent of Christ, who is not only a priest forever, but also King of kings, and Lord of lords.” -From the Civilita Cattolica, quoted in Vatican Council, p. 220
“We hold upon this earth the place of GOD ALMIGHTY.” –The Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII. p. 304.
Listen to what the Master says
Matthew 15:9 “In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
John 9:41 “Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.”
Acts 17:30 “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.”
Won’t you remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy?