FIFTY REASONS FOR SABBATH OBSERVANCE.
By D. T. Bourdeau
WE observe the seventh-day Sabbath because God sent His Son into the world that the righteousness of the law, of which the Sabbath precept forms an important part, might be fulfilled in us; in other words, that the righteousness of the Son of God, or His obedience to the law in question, might become our own, and that, with the Son of God dwelling and operating in us by His Spirit, we might obey the divine law of which the Sabbath is a part. The following are some of the numerous passages of Scripture that establish this truth: Rom. 8:3, 4: "For what the law could not do [justify and give us life], in that it was weak through the flesh [because we had transgressed it], God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 5:19: "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Gal. 2:17, last part: "Is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid." Verse 20, first part: "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I; but Christ liveth in me." Eph. 2:10: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Rom. 8:13, 6, 7: "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." We observe it because we can not approve the work of changing the times and the law of God, seeing it is written: "And he shall speak words against the Most11High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times ["time," the French by Ostervald] and the law" (Hebrew "law," and so the Revised versions). It is not our Lord Jesus Christ who is here referred to. He has never spoken against the Most High, nor destroyed the saints of the Most High. And the times and the law that some power was to think to change are not those of an earthly government. It would not at all be strange that an earthly government conquering another earthly government should change its times and its laws. How clear it is that the times and the law in question are those of Him against whom the power referred to was to speak, destroying the saints, and that the change of the Sabbath is here a subject of prophecy. What power professing Christianity has, through its teachings, changed two of God's times embraced in the Sabbath? Has it not substituted Sunday, the day formerly dedicated to sun-worship, for the Sabbath, and brought in the pagan Roman practise of commencing the day at midnight, thus setting aside the divine plan of having the day begin with the evening and at sunset? See Genesis 1; Mark 1:32; Luke 23:54-56; Neh. 13:19. We observe it, having it at heart to keep all the commandments of God, because the Spirit of prophecy apprises us of the fact that the adversary of God and of His law will make war with the remnant of the church which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ; and we prefer to be on the side of Jesus Christ and of Christians who are oppressed because they obey God and Jesus Christ than to be on the side of the great adversary and of those who oppress the innocent. Rev. 12:17: "And the dragon [Satan, verses 7 and 9] was wroth with the woman [the church, verses 1-5, etc.], and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." We observe it because prophecy sets forth as saints and as possessing patience those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus before the second coming of the Son of Man. Rev. 14:12-14: "Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. . . . And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle."