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Chapter
95
Sabbath
Reform
*** Speaking
of those who substitute a man made commandment for one of God’s
commandments, what kind of worship does Christ say they render?
“But in vain they do worship Me, teaching
for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matt. 15:9.
*** Concerning
what commandment did Christ reprove the Pharisees on that occasion?
“For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother; ...but
ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by
whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honor not his father or
his mother, he shall be free.” Matt. 15:4-6.
*** What was
the result of their course?
“Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by
your tradition.” Matt. 15:6.
*** What
question did the disciples soon afterward ask Christ concerning what He
had said?
“Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?” Matt. 15:12.
*** What
answer did the Saviour make?
“But He answered and said, Every plant which My heavenly
Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” Matt. 15:13.
*** Where and
by whom was the Sabbath of the fourth commandment planted?
“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.” Ex. 20:11.
*** Who claims
to have planted the Sunday institution?
“Question - Has the church power to make any alterations in the
commandments of God?
“Answer - Instead of the seventh day, and other festivals appointed
by the old law, the church has prescribed the Sundays and holy days to be
set apart for God’s worship; and these we are now obliged to keep in
consequence of God’s commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath.”
Catholic Christian Instructed, page 204, ed. Kelly, Piet and Co.,
Baltimore.
*** When is
salvation to be brought to the people of God?
“Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:5 (Isa. 25:9) (Isa. 35:4).
*** When God’s
salvation is near to come, and the advent doctrine is being preached, for
what will God pronounce a blessing on the people?
“My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be
revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that
layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth
his hand from doing any evil.” Isa. 56:1, 2.
*** Is this
promise to be confined to the Jews at that time?
“Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord,
to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants,
everyone that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My
covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful
in My house of prayer.” Isa. 56:6, 7.
*** What other
promise has He given to the Gentiles who will then keep the Sabbath?
“Even unto them will I give in Mine house and within M¥ walls a
place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an
everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.” Isa. 56:5.
NOTE. It is evident
from these scriptures that in the last days, when men are waiting for the
Saviour to appear, there will be a call for those who really love the Lord
to separate themselves from the world by observing the Lord’s Sabbath.
*** What does
God call upon His ministers to say to His professed people at this time?
“Cry aloud, and spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show
My people their transgression, and
the house of Jacob their sins.” Isa. 58:1.
*** After
speaking of their lack of devotion in certain directions, and offering a
corrective, what other wrong does He point out and offer a remedy for?
“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 thine own
pleasure, nor speaking thine own words.” Isa. 58:13.
NOTE. The Sabbath of
Jehovah is not now, by the majority, called holy and honorable. It is by
many stigmatized as “Jewish.” The prophet undoubtedly saw how
this would be in this age, and was moved to speak as he did because of
this. “Turn away thy foot from the Sabbath.” This is a strong
expression to show that many would trample upon God’s day, and do their
own pleasure upon it, instead of seeking God’s honor.
*** To those
who will have courage to heed the appeal here given, what does the Lord
promise?
“Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause
thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the
heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it.” Isa. 58:14.
*** And what
will those be called who turn from their transgressions?
“And thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, the
restorer of paths to dwell in.” Isa. 58:12.
*** What does
another prophet say that God’s professed teachers will do?
“Her priests have violated My law, and
have profaned Mine holy things; they have put no difference between the
holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean
and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am
profaned among them.” Eze. 22:26.
*** What does
He say they have done to maintain their theories?
“And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar,
seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord
God, when the Lord hath not spoken.” Eze. 22:28.
*** What does
the Lord say will become of this wall thus daubed with untempered mortar?
“Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it
shall fall; there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great
hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend.” Eze. 13:11.
*** When are
these hailstones to fall?
“Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou
seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time
of trouble, against the day of battle and war?” Job 38:22, 23.
*** Under
which of the seven last plagues will this battle take place?
“And the seventh angel poured our his vial into the air; ...and
the cities of the nations fell; ...and every island fled away, and the
mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of
heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent.” Rev. 16:17-21.
*** In order
to prepare His people for that terrible time, what does God expect His
ministers to do?
“Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for
the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.” Eze. 13:5.
*** Instead of
their trying to close the breach made in God’s law (the loss of the
Sabbath), and to make up the hedge, what will they do?
“They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying The Lord saith:
and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that
they would confirm the word.” Eze. 13:6.
*** During
these closing scenes, what message will God send forth to call attention
to His commandments?
“And the third angel followed them, saying
with aloud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive
his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine
of the wrath of God... Here is the patience of the saints; here are they
that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
Rev. 14:9-12.
*** How are
those of the remnant church treated?
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war
with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and
have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12:17.
*** And when
the earth is made new, and God’s people are saved therein, how often will
they all come to worship Him?
“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.” Isa. 66:23.
*** Will the
tree of life also be restored to the saints?
“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.” Rev. 22:14.
NOTE. Everything
pure and holy will then be restored, and the obnoxious weed planted by the
Roman Church to take the honor of the plant started by the hand of
Jehovah, will then be rooted up. That time is near. All may now heed the
word of God, and accept the closing message of the third angel to the
world, and so be counted among those who will be called the Repairers of
the breach, and the Restorers of paths to dwell in.
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