The
Perfect Storm Is Coming – Part VI
THE IMPENDING
CONFLICT
“God’s Law – The Focus of
Controversy”
2 of 2
A
THREEFOLD WARNING
The
fact that an angel is said to be the
herald of this warning, and his
flight “in the midst of
heaven,” the “loud voice”
with which the warning is uttered, and
its proclamation to all “that dwell
on the earth” – “to every
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and
people” – give evidence of the
rapidity and worldwide extent of the
movement. The first of these warnings
announces the approaching judgment.
This
prophecy, pointing forward to the time
for Christ to return, brings to view a
class that, as the result of the
threefold message, will be found keeping
the commandments of God. Revelation
14:12. The announcement, “The hour
of His judgment is come,” points to
the closing work of Christ’s
high-priestly ministry for the salvation
of men. It heralds a vital message which
must be proclaimed to ‘every nation,
kindred, tongue and people,” until
the Savior’s intercession shall
cease and He shall return to earth as
“King of Kings and Lord of
Lords.” Revelation 14:6; 19: 11-16.
By the first mighty
angel, men will be called upon to
‘fear God, and give glory to
Him,” and to worship Him as the
Creator of the heavens and the earth. In
order to do this, they must recognize and
obey His law.
A WORK OF REFORM
The call
to worship God is based upon the fact
that he is the Creator, and that to Him
all other beings owe their existence.
“All
the gods of the nations are idols; but
the Lord made the heavens.”Psalm
96:5.
“To
whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be
equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your
eyes on high, and behold who hath created
these things.” Isaiah 40: 25,26.
“Thus
saith the Lord that created the
heavens;…I am the Lord; and there is
none else.” Isaiah 45: 18.
“Thou
art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and
honor and power; for thou hast created
all things.” Revelation 4:11.
It
follows that the message in Revelation
chapter 14, which calls men to worship
God as the Creator and keep His
commandments, will especially call upon
them to observe the fourth commandment.
The Sabbath commandment uniquely
identifies God as the Creator.
God said,
“Remember,” then the world
forgot! But through the prophet Isaiah,
God promises that knowledge of His
“hallowed day” is to be revived
and restored in the last days.
This work of
reform to be accomplished in the last
days is foretold by the prophet
Isaiah: “Thus saith the Lord, Keep
ye judgment and do justice; for My
salvation is near to come, and My
righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is
the man that layeth hold on it; that
keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it,
and keepeth his hand from doing any
evil.” Isaiah 56: 1,2.
That
these words apply in the Christian age,
is shown by the context: “The Lord
God which gathereth the outcasts of
Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to
Him, beside those that are gathered unto
Him.” Isaiah 56:8.
Here
is foreshadowed the great gathering in of
the Gentiles by the gospel. And upon
those who then honor the Sabbath, a
blessing is pronounced.
Thus,
the obligation of the fourth commandment
extends past the crucifixion,
resurrection, and ascension of Christ, to
the time when His servants should preach
to all nations the message of glad
tidings.
The
claim so often put forth, that Christ
changed the Sabbath, is disproved by His
own words. In His Sermon on the Mount He
said: “
“Think
not that I have come to destroy the law,
or the prophets; I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfill. 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. Whosoever therefore
shall break one of these least
commandments, and shall teach men so, he
shall be called the least in the kingdom
of heaven; but whosoever shall do and
teach them, the same shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5: 17-19.
It
is a fact generally admitted by
Protestants, that the Scriptures give no
authority for the change of the Sabbath.
Catholic teachers acknowledge that their
church made the change of the Sabbath,
and declare that Protestants, by
observing Sunday, are recognizing
Rome’s authority:
“Protestants…accept
Sunday rather than Saturday as the day
for public worship after the Catholic
Church made the change…But the
Protestant mind does not seem to realize
that…in observing the Sunday, they
are accepting the authority of the
spokesperson for the church, the
Pope.” Our Sunday Visitor, February
5, 1950.
The prophet
Isaiah, addressing the forsaken Sabbath,
speaks of a time yet future when those
who serve God will restore this precious
truth:
‘Thou
shalt raise up the foundations of many
generations; and thou shalt be called,
the repairer of the breach, The restorer
of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away
thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy
pleasure on My holy day, and call the
Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord,
honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing
thine own ways, nor finding pleasure, nor
speaking thine own words; then shalt thou
delight thyself in the Lord.” Isaiah
58: 12-14.
That a breach has been
made in the Law of God is plain to see.
This divine institution is to be restored
– the breach is to be repaired. Had
the Sabbath been universally kept,
man’s thoughts and affections would
have led to the Creator as the object of
reverence and worship. Scarcely would
there have been an idolater, an atheist,
or an infidel.
“The
Sabbath therefore lies at the very
foundation of divine worship, for it
teaches this great truth in the most
impressive manner, and no other
institution does this. The true ground of
divine worship, not of that on the
seventh day merely, but all of worship,
is found in the distinction between the
Creator and His creatures. This great
fact can never become obsolete, and must
never be forgotten.” –J.N.
Andrews, History of the Sabbath, chapter
27.
“Blessed
are they that do his commandments, that
they may have the right to the tree of
life, and may enter in through the gates
in the city.” Revelation 22:14
Around the World,
Christians Are Rediscovering the Biblical
Sabbath! The bible Sabbath association, a
non-denominational organization opens to
all believers in the Seventh-day Sabbath,
lists more that 400 Sabbath-keeping
organizations and groups, numbering over
1,600 national and international
congregations.
In
the New testament, essential truths are
presented in Revelation chapter 14, in
connection with the everlasting
gospel.” They will distinguish the
people who serve God at the time of
Christ’s return. As a result of the
threefold message presented here, it is
announced, “Here are they that keep
the commandments of God, and the faith of
Jesus.” And this is the last message
to be given before the coming of the
Lord. Immediately following its
proclamation, The Son of Man is seen by
the prophet, coming in glory to reap the
harvest of the earth.
“The Lord
declares… those who honor Me I will
honor.” 1 Samuel 2: 30 NIV
“CATHOLICISM
SPEAKS
“Sunday is a Catholic
institution, and its claims to observance
can be defended only on Catholic
principles…From the beginning to the
end of Scripture there is not a single
passage that warrants the transfer of
weekly public worship from the last day
of the week to the first.”
-The
Catholic Press, Sydney,
Australia, August 1900.
“Protestantism,
in disregarding the authority of the
(Roman Catholic) Church, has no good
reasons for its Sunday theory, and ought
logically to keep Saturday as the
Sabbath.”
-John
Gilmary Shea, American Catholic
Quarterly Review, January
1883.
“It
is well to remind the Presbyterians,
Baptists, Methodists and all other
Christians, that the Bible does not
support them anywhere in their observance
of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of
the Roman Catholic Church, and those who
observe the day observe a commandment of
the Catholic Church.”
-Priest
Brady, in an address, reported in the
Elizabeth, N.J. “News,” Mar 18,
1903.
“Reason
and common sense demand the acceptance of
one or the other of these alternatives:
either Protestantism and the keeping holy
of Saturday, or Catholicity and the
keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is
impossible.”
-The
Catholic Mirror, December 23,
1893.
“The
observance of Sunday by the Protestants is
an homage they pay, in spite of
themselves, to the authority of the
(Catholic) Church.”
-Monsignur
Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestants
of Today, page 213.
“If
Protestants would follow the Bible, they
should worship God on the Sabbath Day. In
keeping the Sunday they are following a
law of the Catholic Church.”
-Albert
Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of
Baltimore, replying for the Cardinal in a
letter, February 10, 1920.
“God
simply gave His (Catholic) Church the
power to set aside whatever day or
days, she would deem suitable as Holy
Days. The Church chose Sunday, the first
day of the week, and in the course of
time added other days, as holy
days.”
-Vincent
J. Kelly, Forbidden Sunday and
Feast-Day Occupations, page 2.
“Protestants…accept
Sunday rather than Saturdayas the day
for public worship after the Catholic
Church made the change…But the
Protestant mind does not realize
that…in observing the Sunday, they
are accepting the authority of the
spokesman for the church, the Pope.”
-Our Sunday Visitor, February 5, 1950.
“We
observe Sunday instead of Saturday because
the Catholic Church transferred the
solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”
-Peter
Geiermann, CSSR, A Doctrinal
Catechism, 1957 edition, page
50.
“PROTESTANTISM
SPEAKS”
Baptist:
“there was and is a command to keep
holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath
day was not Sunday. It will however be
readily said, and with some show of
triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred
from the seventh to the first day of the
week, with all its duties, privileges and
sanctions. Earnestly desiring information
on this subject, which I have studied for
many years, I ask, where can the record
of such a transaction be found? Not in
the New Testament-absolutely not. There
is no scriptural evidence of the change
of the Sabbath institution from the
seventh to the first day of the
week.”
-Dr.
E.T.Hiscox, author of the Baptist
Manuel.
Congregationalist:
“It is quite clear that however
rigidly or devotedly we may spend Sunday,
we are not keeping the Sabbath…The
Sabbath was founded on specific, divine
command. We can plead no such command for
the observance of Sunday…There is
not a single line in the New Testament to
suggest that we incur any penalty by
violating the supposed sanctity of
Sunday.”
-Dr.
R.W. Dale, The Ten
Commandments, pages
106, 107.
Lutheran
Free Church: “For when there could
not be produced one solitary place in the
Holy Scriptures which testifies that
either the Lord Himself or the apostles
had ordered such a transfer of the
Sabbath to Sunday, then it was not easy
to answer the question: Who has
transferred the Sabbath, and who has had
the right to do it?”
-George
Sverdrup, A New Day.
Methodist:
“It is true that there is no
positive command for infant baptism. Nor
is there any for keeping holy the first
day of the week. Many believe that Christ
changed the Sabbath. However, from his
own words, we see that He came for no
such purpose. Those who believe that
Jesus changed the Sabbath base it only on
a supposition.”
Amos
Binney, Theological
Compendium, pages
180, 181.
Episcopalian:
“We have made the change from the
seventh day to the first day, from
Saturday to Sunday, on authority of the
one holy, catholic, apostolic church of
Christ.”
-Bishop
Symour, Why We Keep
Sunday.
Presbyterian:
“there is no word, no hint in the
New Testament about abstaining from work
on Sunday. The observance of Ash
Wednesday, or Lent, stands exactly on the
same footage as the observance of Sunday.
Into the rest of Sunday no divine Law
enters.”
-Canon
Eyton, in The Ten
Commandments.
Anglican:
”And where are we told in the
Scriptures that we are to keep the first
day at all? We are commanded to keep the
seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to
keep the first day.”
Isaac Williams, Plain
Sermons on the Catechism,
pages 334, 336.
Christian
Church: “Now there is no testimony
in all the oracles of heaven that the
Sabbath is changed, or that the
Lord’s Day came in the room of
it.”
-Alexander
Campbell, In The
Reporter, October 8,
1921.
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