THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL AND THE UNCHANGEABLE SABBATH.
By W. W. Prescott
Christ's Example and Instruction.
The Word versus Tradition.
IN the life and teaching of Christ while upon this earth we have the Gospel in its fulness. He was the Gospel. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Thus the Gospel which had been preached through him as God's agent in creation, was, in his life and teaching, preached through him as God's agent in redemption. Thus every act in the life of Christ becomes invested with a special interest as showing God's own idea of what it is to live the Gospel. At the time of the first advent the real principles of the Gospel had become largely obscured in a mass of traditions and forms and ceremonies. To such an extent was this true that Christ said to the Sadducees, who occupied a prominent place as religious leaders and teachers (Acts 5:17), "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." Matt. 22:29. It was Christ's work to brush aside this mass of tradition, through which the Gospel had become utterly falsified in "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men," and to reveal old truths in a new light. He did not break down a single principle of the Gospel, for he said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Matt. 5:17. But he did clearly reveal the utter worthlessness of mere ceremonies, and unsparingly rebuke the hypocrisy of those who were great sticklers for merely outward observances but failed to practise the principles of vital godliness. To them he said, "Ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God." And then to show that it was not the tithing system as he himself had given it, but its abuse which he rebuked, he continued, "These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." Luke 11:42. This condition of things in Christ's time was but the climax of a struggle which had been going on for centuries. Since the first revelation of the Gospel to Adam the question had been whether man should worship God according to God's revealed will or according to man's idea. Of course to worship God after man's idea is not to worship God at all, but is the essence of idolatry, which is really self-worship; but it is often easier to lead men away from God under the pretense of zeal for him, rather than under the open profession of idolatry, while the effect is the same. The True Worship and Gospel Perverted.
The difficulty between Cain and Abel, out of which grew the first murder, arose from the fact that Cain persisted in his effort to worship God according to his own idea, rather than in harmony with God's instructions, while Abel would not be turned aside from the true worship. In thus following God's way implicitly, Abel showed that he believed the Gospel, and so we read: "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous." This was righteousness by faith. From that time until the coming of the Redeemer to this earth, a constant effort was being made by the enemy of all righteousness to lead men either into open idolatry or into a pretended worship of God through a multiplication of forms and ceremonies which God had never enjoined. In Christ's time the religious teachers of the day had turned the service of God into the most terrible bondage, had lost sight of the substance in their zeal for their own traditions, and had thus largely shut away the blessings of the Gospel from the people. Their teaching was dry and hard, and the people were not blessed in listening to them; but when they heard Christ, they "were astonished at his doctrine; for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." Matt. 7:28, 29. The scribes and Pharisees were extremely tenacious of their position and authority, and while they could but recognize Christ's power in his teaching and in his miracles, yet because he would not submit to their control and teach according to their traditions, and because the people left them and sought after the new Teacher, they were bitterly jealous of him and "watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words." Luke 20:20. The Question Then As to the Sabbath.
All this has an important bearing upon the question of the Sabbath, for in that time there was no question as to which day was the Sabbath, but the whole question was as to how the Sabbath should be observed. God in his Son had "blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it," that it might be a channel of blessing and sanctification to all who would receive it as he gave it, but men had made it a hard thing by the rigorous requirements which they themselves had added to it. By his example and his teaching Christ cast aside these man-made and burdensome exactions and restored the Sabbath to the people as a day of blessing and true rest in him. Thus he showed the true idea of the Sabbath and its observance, as opposed to merely human traditions. So blinded to the truth were these zealous guardians of their own traditions, that they actually condemned as a Sabbath-breaker him who was "Lord also of the Sabbath," whose example was Sabbath-keeping, because he would not give up the freedom and blessing of real Sabbath observance for the bondage of their own customs and requirements. This showed that they did not know the Gospel, because they did not recognize it when it was revealed in the life of him "who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." The Sabbath-keeping of Christ.
Let us now consider the record of Christ's Sabbath-keeping as set forth in the scripture:— "At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungered, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungered, and they that were with him; how he entered into the house of God, and did eat the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." Matt. 12:1-8. Note carefully the nature of Christ's reply: The charge is that he is permitting in his disciples "that which is not lawful," but he shows that it is lawful so far as God's instruction is concerned, that there is nothing in any requirement of God which is contrary to the principles of mercy, and that in disregarding the traditions of men he is "guiltless." Since this reply was based upon the Scripture, there was nothing to be said against it by those who claimed to believe the Bible, but it is easy to see what an outcry would have been made8against him if he had given the least ground for the charge that he was making any change in the Sabbath. But, altho there was nothing which could be said consistently in reply to what Christ had said, yet they did not cease their opposition, and another opportunity soon offered itself for further criticism. "And he entered again into the synagog; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day; that they might accuse him. And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out; and his hand was restored whole as the other. And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him." Mark 3:1-6. This is a lesson in genuine Sabbath-keeping. The Sabbath is the sign and the channel of the power of God in delivering "from the power of Satan," and the Saviour teaches this in the miracle. In the Sabbath is the presence of him "who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases," and this was presented in the object lesson of the miracle. But in addition to this, by performing this miracle on the Sabbath day, when he knew that they were watching him, he set forth, in a manner to attract the most public attention, that the opinions of men on the Sabbath question are of no value whatsoever, and that Sabbath-keeping is something more than mere conformity to the traditions of men; that only God's thought concerning the Sabbath is to have weight with us. The Pharisees could not "destroy" the eternal principle of truth upon which Christ's lesson to them was based, but they did take counsel "how they might destroy him." This plan has often been followed since. It is bigotry's answer to the truth. In all this there is nothing to indicate a lack of regard for the Sabbath. In fact, since it was God in Christ who established the Sabbath by his own experience of resting upon the seventh day and by the blessing of his own presence in Christ in the day, and since Christ was so completely expressing to the world the thought of God that he was able to say, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father," Christ's experience in Sabbath-keeping was simply the revelation of God's idea of true Sabbath-keeping and of what he intended the Sabbath to be to man. The same lessons are taught in the facts recorded in Luke 13:10-17, and so convincing was the instruction that "all his adversaries were ashamed." Read also Luke 14:1-6, where it is stated that "they could not answer him again to these things." The question of proper Sabbath observance is also brought into prominence by the healing of the blind man on the Sabbath day, as recorded in the ninth chapter of John. In this case the Pharisees went so far as to say, "This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath day," and, "We know that this man is a sinner;" and yet the only ground for such a charge was because he refused to be governed by their traditions with reference to Sabbath observance, but chose rather to reveal God's idea of the Sabbath. These Principles Applied to Our Day.
These experiences with reference to the Sabbath are given such a prominent place in the Scriptures because the Sabbath itself occupies such a prominent place in the Gospel which Christ was thus preaching. Christ was sent "to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound" (Isa. 61:1), and in carrying out his mission he said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28. But divine, creative power was necessary thus to release men from the slavery of sin and to bring to them the rest of God in genuine Sabbath-keeping. But of this divine, creative power the Sabbath was the sign and true Sabbath-keeping the experience. But if the true idea of Sabbath-keeping is lost in following the traditions of men, then, instead of being the sign and the experience of God's power, it becomes the sign of man's power; and in this power is no deliverance from sin. This is the Gospel as presented in the Sabbath. The application of these principles to the Sabbath question at the present time can be made in a few words. In Christ's time the true idea of the Sabbath had been lost by substituting man's idea for God's idea in the way in which the day should be observed, but in our time the true idea of the Sabbath has been lost by following the authority of man in substituting another day, the first day of the week, for the day which God set apart as the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. But the principle established by Christ has the same meaning now as in that day, and "we ought to obey God rather than men." Christ taught the truth in regard to the Sabbath in his time in opposition to the traditions of men, in order that it might be the blessing to men which God intended it to be, and we, as "ambassadors for Christ," are seeking to do the same thing, not for the purpose of raising a controversy, but in order that, as "the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in," we may be able to bring to men a larger experience in the blessings of the Gospel of Christ. Those who love the truth above tradition, and who desire to "follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth," will see light in the example and teaching of Christ with reference to the Sabbath, and will understand more clearly the place which the unchangeable Sabbath occupies in the everlasting Gospel.