Our Day: In the Light of ProphecySpicer, William Ambrose
Religion
Our Day: In the Light of Prophecy
Spicer, William Ambrose
Bible -- Prophecies
Thus throughout the inspired record of the Old Testament the seventh-day
Sabbath appears as a plant of the heavenly Father's own planting.
The New Testament Record
_The Example and Teaching of Jesus._--It was Christ's "custom" to
worship on the seventh day. Luke 4:16.
Jesus, who Himself made the Sabbath at creation (John 1:3), taught that
it was "made for man,"--for the human race,--and declared, "The Son of
man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Mark 2:27, 28. It is, therefore, "the
Lord's day." Rev. 1:10.
He did on the Sabbath only that which was "lawful," or according to the
law of God's holy day. Matt. 12:12.
He kept His Father's commandments throughout His earthly life. John
15:10.
And giving instruction regarding events to take place many years after
His ascension, He showed that He recognized the continued existence of
the Sabbath in the command, "Pray ye that your flight be not in the
winter, neither on the Sabbath day." Matt. 24:20.
[Illustration: CHRIST HEALING THE MAN WITH A WITHERED HAND
"It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days." Matt. 12:12.]
_Among New Testament Disciples._--The women, after the crucifixion,
"rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke 23:56.
Inspiration says that the apostle Paul's custom was to preach the gospel
publicly Sabbath after Sabbath. Acts 13:14; 16:13; 17:1, 2; 18:4. When
the Gentiles of Antioch heard the gospel preached by the apostle one
Sabbath, they "besought that these words might be preached to them the
next Sabbath." Acts 13:42.
Throughout the New Testament, written years after Christ's ascension,
the Holy Spirit, speaking of the seventh day, calls it "the Sabbath"
upwards of fifty times. "Sabbath" means rest; therefore when the Holy
Spirit, in the Christian age, calls the seventh day the rest day, it
must infallibly be the day of rest for Christians, the Christian
Sabbath.
In the Levitical or sacrificial ordinances of the sanctuary services
there were annual sabbaths and feasts, associated with meats and drinks
and ceremonial observances. But in appointing these the Lord
specifically distinguished between them and the one and only weekly
Sabbath, which was from the beginning. "These are the feasts of the
Lord," He said, "beside the Sabbaths of the Lord." Lev. 23:37, 38.
The annual festivals and sabbaths, like all the ordinances of the
Levitical service, were shadows of things to come, and found their
fulfilment in the great sacrifice of Calvary. Col. 2:16, 17.
But the Sabbath of the Lord was made blessed and holy by God at the
creation, before sin had entered the world, before any sacrificial or
shadowy service was instituted to point to a coming Redeemer. It is a
fundamental and primary institution, a part of the moral order of God's
government for man, the same as the obligations set forth in each of the
other commandments.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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