Is Sunday the True Sabbath of God?

11/11

V

Another of Mr. Gamble’s errors is in endeavoring to make the keeping of Sunday as the Sabbath the fulfilment of the word in Hebrews 4, that “there remaineth therefore a Sabbath-keeping to the people of God.” He does not enlarge upon this, as upon the thoughts which we have already examined; but it is the same character of capricious inventiveness as is that of the others; and the true thought in Hebrews 4 is enough of a key to justify our dwelling upon it at length. STSG 53.1

First, however, as to Mr. Gamble’s scheme in this. In Hebrews 4:8, there can be no fair question, that reference is made to Joshua in the Greek form of that word,—“Jesus.” This, because the thought is definitely, to the “rest” that was spoken of, and not received, before David lived and spoke; and of which David in his day spoke because the people had not received the rest which had been waiting for them all those days. This is so evident that in the margin, with a reference from the word “Jesus,” it is said, “That is, Joshua.” But Mr. Gamble makes this verse refer to Jesus Christ, and says:— STSG 53.2

“Those wicked, murderous Jews did not believe on Christ, but were doing all they knew how to do, to obtain His crucifixion. Hence, they found no rest of soul. Therefore, they had no hope of the rest eternal, and had no right to a day commemorative of the rest present and eternal. Therefore, Christ spoke of ‘another day.’” STSG 53.3

And again:— STSG 54.1

“Paul, about thirty-three years later, in teaching the converted ones of those Jews about the Christian Sabbath’s not being identical with the Jewish Sabbath, reminded them that if Jesus had given them rest, then the Lord would not afterward have spoken of another day.” STSG 54.2

Then again:— STSG 54.3

“Paul continued the explanation of that ‘other day,’ and said, ‘There remaineth, therefore, a Sabbath-keeping to the people of God. For he that is entered into His (Jesus Christ’s) rest, he also hath ceased from his works, as God did from His.’” Pp. 189, 190. STSG 54.4

Upon this he claims that Christ’s “work reaches its completion on Sunday morning, when He burst the bonds of death, and rose triumphant over the grave.” And “there remaineth therefore a Sabbath-keeping to the people of God.” P. 191. STSG 54.5

It is easy to discover that this Sabbath-keeping that remains to the people of God is the same Sabbath-keeping that there was before; the same Sabbath-keeping that God pointed out in the wilderness; the same Sabbath-keeping as that of the fourth commandment of the “Patriarchal Decalogue;” the same Sabbath-keeping that was given to Adam; identical with the creation Sabbath; and the same Sabbath-keeping that there was at creation, and onward. STSG 54.6

In order to find the full thought of Hebrews 4, it is essential that Hebrews 3 shall be studied in connection therewith. STSG 54.7

Sabbath is rest. The Sabbath of the Lord is the rest of the Lord. And the Sabbath day of the Lord is the rest day of the Lord. The word of the Lord is, “The seventh day is the Sabbath [the rest] of the Lord thy God.” It is not man’s rest, it is God’s rest. And so it is written, “In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, ... and rested the seventh day.” Exodus 20:11. “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.” Genesis 2:2. And “He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into My rest.” Hebrews 4:4, 5. STSG 55.1

Thus in Hebrews 4 the subject is the same precisely as in Genesis 2:2, 3, and in Exodus 20:8-11, the fourth commandment. That subject is the Sabbath of the Lord, God’s rest of the seventh day, and being addressed directly to Christians, and in the New Testament, too, it is definite instruction to Christians as to the true Christian observance of the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day. And this subject in the fourth chapter of Hebrews is simply the continuation of the same subject from the third chapter of Hebrews; and that subject is God’s rest of the seventh day. This shows that the Sabbath of the seventh day, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and its observance, are distinctly treated in the greater part of at least two chapters in the New Testament, and are there addressed directly to Christians. STSG 55.2

Let us study the third and fourth chapters of Hebrews, and see what is there taught in the Word of God. STSG 55.3

In exhorting Christians to faithfulness, thus it is written:— STSG 56.1

“As the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known My ways. So I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter into MY REST. STSG 56.2

“Wherefore take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; while it is said, To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. STSG 56.3

“For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was He grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. STSG 56.4

“LET US therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed DO enter into rest, as He said, As I have sworn in My wrath, if they shall enter into My rest [‘they shall not enter into My rest”]: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into My rest [“They shall not enter into My rest”]. STSG 56.5

“Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: again, He limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so long a time; as it is said, To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus [‘Joshua,” margin] had given them rest, then would He not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore A REST [‘The keeping of a Sabbath,” margin] to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.” Hebrews 3:7-19; 4:1-10. STSG 57.1

Now note carefully the story as it is thus told:— STSG 57.2

It is GOD’S REST into which, by the Holy Ghost, men are exhorted to enter to-day “while it is called To-day.” STSG 57.3

This rest was prepared at the foundation of the world. For that “the works were finished from the foundation of the world,” is proved by the fact that God “spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works.” That this rest of the seventh day is God’s rest into which men are to enter, is proved by the further fact that “in this place again” He spoke of the seventh day on this wise, “They shall not enter into My rest.” STSG 57.4

God’s rest is eternal rest. When God made man, He made him that he might enter into and enjoy God’s eternal rest, with God. However, this could be only upon the man’s personal choice, freely made. The Lord therefore placed him on a season of probation. And in this probation, God prepared for the man, and gave to the man, the introduction to, yes, the very beginning of, this eternal rest, in order that in his probation the man might choose and enjoy God’s rest with God. STSG 58.1

When God’s rest was prepared for man at the foundation of the world, it was in the seventh-day Sabbath that it was prepared. For the seventh day is the Sabbath, the rest, of the Lord thy God, and “the Sabbath was made for man.” STSG 58.2

So, the seventh day being the Sabbath; the Sabbath being God’s rest; and the Sabbath being made for man at the foundation of the world; it is certainly true that it is in the Sabbath that God’s rest was prepared for man at the foundation of the world. STSG 58.3

The works were finished from the foundation of the world. When the works were finished, the rest was prepared; for then “God did rest ... from all His works.” This rest was prepared in the seventh day; “for God did rest the seventh day from all His works.” This rest of God’s was at that time prepared for man; for the seventh day is the rest of the Lord thy God; and the rest was made for man. STSG 58.4

But through unbelief the man failed to enter into God’s rest. He did not abide in God’s work, and so he could not enter into God’s rest. Through unbelief he entered into Satan’s works, and so missed God’s rest. God’s rest never can accompany Satan’s works; God’s rest accompanies only God’s work. STSG 58.5

Then, though the man had failed, the rest remained. And in the offering of Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, to the man was given again the opportunity to believe and so find God’s rest,—the opportunity to believe, and so to forsake Satan’s works and find God’s work; and, finding God’s work, so also to find God’s rest. STSG 59.1

God’s work is found only in Christ. God’s work is righteousness, “even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:22, 23. Accordingly it is written, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” John 6:29. STSG 59.2

No man can find God’s rest, who has not first found God’s work; for “he that is entered into His [God’s] rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.” Hebrews 4:10. And the only way in which any man can cease from his own works is by finding God’s work; and God’s work is found only in Christ by faith. Accordingly it is not only written, “This is the work of God that ye believe;” but also, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” And “we which have believed do enter into rest.” Matthew 11:28; Hebrews 4:3. Thus the Sabbath of the Lord is the very seal of righteousness by faith in Christ. STSG 59.3

And so God’s rest still remained till the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham and his Seed, which is Christ (Acts 7:17; Galatians 3:16); till the time when God would deliver His people from Egypt, from the world of sin: then He called Israel to enter into His rest,—into this rest which He had prepared for man at the foundation of the world; but into which, man, through unbelief, had failed to enter, and which yet remained for the people of God. For it is written: “Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation.” “Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for Thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established.” Exodus 15:13, 17; Hebrews 8:1, 2; 9:11, 24. STSG 60.1

And so God called Israel to enter into His rest,—to enjoy and observe His Sabbath. For the Sabbath is the Lord’s, it is God’s rest; and “the seventh day is the Sabbath.” STSG 60.2

But Israel also failed to enter into God’s rest; Israel would not believe, and so could not enter in. For “I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest.” But “to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” STSG 60.3

What! did Israel not keep the Sabbath?—No; how could they, when they did not believe? But did they not rest on the seventh day?—Oh, yes, they rested on the seventh day; but for all that they did not keep the Sabbath. There is a great difference between resting on the seventh day, and keeping the Sabbath. A person might rest on the seventh day all his life, and yet never keep the Sabbath. The seventh day is not the Sabbath because it is the seventh day. The seventh day is the Sabbath because GOD MADE IT THE SABBATH. STSG 60.4

The Sabbath of the Lord is God’s rest: only he who finds God’s rest finds the true Sabbath; and only he who keeps God’s rest can truly keep the Sabbath. True Sabbath-keeping depends altogether upon whether a person finds God’s rest, instead of his own, on the seventh day. Israel rested on the seventh day, it is true; but it was only their own rest that they found, and entered into, on the Sabbath day; because they did not believe in Christ, that, by finding in Him God’s work, they might also find in Him God’s rest, which they might keep. They “saw” His “works forty years;” but they “believed not,” and entered not into His works; and so could not enter into His rest. STSG 61.1

God’s rest is spiritual; only he who is spiritual can enter into it, and only he who is of faith is spiritual: therefore only he who is of faith can enter into God’s rest; only he who is of faith can keep the Sabbath of the Lord. And, though it is true that a person might rest on the seventh day all his life without once truly observing the Sabbath, yet he can not truly observe the Sabbath without resting on the seventh day; for “God did rest the seventh day,” and it is in the seventh day that God’s rest is found. STSG 61.2

But Israel did not believe, and so could not enter into God’s rest; “howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses,” but with the vast majority it was so. And thus Israel, like man at first, through unbelief missed God’s rest, which was prepared at the foundation of the world, and which had waited so long for men to enter. And the vast majority of the Jews in the day when Jesus was on earth in the flesh, did the same. But the Christian Sabbath-keepers, to whom the book of Hebrews was written, knew what a fearful mistake Israel had made. And so do the Christian Sabbath-keepers of to-day know it. STSG 61.3

Yet though Israel failed to enter into God’s rest, that rest did not fail: it still remains, and waits for men to enter it. Though Israel failed to discern in the seventh day God’s rest, and so missed it; that rest, that Sabbath, of the seventh day did not vanish away: it still, even to-day, “remaineth,” and waits for man to enter into it. For “seeing ... that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: again, He limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so long a time; ... to-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God;” and this rest is God’s rest, which Adam missed, and which Israel missed; but which, in the Lord’s mercy, still remains for all people to enter, and for God’s people to enjoy. STSG 62.1

This rest that remains is the Sabbath; for the margin of the verse gives the literal Greek: “There remaineth therefore a keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God.” And this Sabbath that remains is the creation seventh-day Sabbath; for in this place it is written, in direct connection: “He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works. And in this place again [He spoke of the seventh day on this wise], They shall not enter into My rest.” Then seeing that some must enter into that rest, and seeing that man at the beginning, and Israel at the time of the promise and at the time of Christ in the flesh, did not enter in, there remains therefore to the people of God this same Sabbath, which is “the seventh day.” STSG 62.2

Again: It is written that there “remaineth ... a rest”—the keeping of a Sabbath—“to the people of God.” Now that which remains is something left over, something continued of what was before. But the only Sabbath that there was before, in which was God’s rest, was the creation seventh-day Sabbath,—Saturday. And as there remains a Sabbath; as whatever remains is something continued of what was before; and as the seventh-day Sabbath is the only Sabbath that there was before, in which was God’s rest; it is therefore the very certainty of truth that the Sabbath which remaineth is the Sabbath of the seventh day; for “God did rest the seventh day.” STSG 63.1

Yet again: Whatever remains is something left over, something continued, of what was before. The remainder is not the beginning of a thing. “That which remaineth” can not correctly be spoken of anything newly begun, of something only just now being set up. Now the most extreme claim for the origin of Sunday, the first day of the week, as a “day of rest,” or “the Christian sabbath,” is that it was in “the primitive church” “in the apostolic times.” Therefore as, according to their own claim, that time was but the beginning of Sunday observance as a day of rest; and as what remains is something left over, something continued, of what was before, it is the very certainty of truth that this “rest,” this “keeping of a Sabbath,” that “remaineth to the people of God,” is NOT the rest of the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday, which, according to their own claim, was just then having its beginning; but IS the rest of the seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord, commonly called Saturday, which was prepared at the foundation of the world, which waited for Israel to enter in, and which, thank the Lord! yet “REMAINETH to the people of God.” STSG 63.2

Does any one say, “The Sabbath was abolished”?—God says it remaineth. STSG 64.1

Does any one say, “The Sabbath of the seventh day was changed in the days of the apostles, and by the apostles”?—The Word of God, written in the days of the apostles, and by an apostle, declares that it “remaineth.” STSG 64.2

Does any one say that the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath is not for Christians?—The Word of God, with direct reference to the keeping of the Sabbath, “the seventh day” on which “God rested,” says that it “remaineth” “to the people of God.” Are not Christians the people of God? As certainly therefore as Christians are the people of God, so certainly the keeping of the Sabbath, “the seventh day,” God’s rest, “remaineth” to Christians. The Word of the Lord says so. Whether “Christians” will have it or not, that is for them to say; but the Lord says it “remaineth” to them. Why should “Christians” refuse to have it remain? When God says it “remaineth” “to the people of God,” how can they refuse to have it remain, and still be the people of God? STSG 64.3

And this “rest,” this “Sabbath,” of the seventh day, which “remaineth,” is God’s rest, is God’s Sabbath; for “He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day.... And in this place again [He spoke of the seventh day on this wise], they shall enter into My rest.” STSG 65.1

God is the eternal God. His rest is, therefore, eternal rest. And the seventh day is the rest, the Sabbath, of the Lord thy God. Therefore, the Sabbath, the rest of the seventh day, being God’s rest, is eternal rest. STSG 65.2

It was prepared for man to enter into and enjoy, at the foundation of the world. Through unbelief the man failed to enter into it. It waited till the time which God had sworn to Abraham; yet, through unbelief, the people then failed to enter in. It waited then till the day of Christ in the flesh; and still through unbelief, the people then failed to enter in. And still, “to-day,” it remains; for “some must enter therein.” “Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, ... Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” For He has limited a certain day, saying, still, “To-day, after so long a time; ... to-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” STSG 65.3

It is the indisputable truth that in the greater part of at least two chapters of our New Testament there is an explicit treatise on the Sabbath,—the seventh day,—and the obligation of God’s people to observe it, covering all time “from the foundation of the world” unto “to-day, while it is called To-day.” STSG 66.1

Yet, sad to say, even to-day, as at the foundation of the world, as at the time of the coming out of Egypt of old, and as in the days of Christ in the flesh, the great mass of God’s professed people still will not hear His voice, but harden their hearts and tempt Him, and grieve Him, and do err in their heart, and have not known His ways: and thus still by their unbelief He is compelled to swear in His wrath, “They shall not enter into My rest,”—this blessed rest which from the foundation of the world has remained, and still remains, to the people of God. STSG 66.2

How long shall it be before God’s people will believe Him? Come, Brother Gamble; come, all God’s people, everywhere, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” “To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” Let us enter into God’s rest,—that holy rest of the blessed seventh day. For God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it; because that in it He had rested. STSG 66.3

Why should Christians, professing to be “followers of God,” refuse to do on the seventh day what God did on the seventh day, simply because it is the seventh day? They are all willing to rest-yea, they are not only willing to rest, but also to compel everybody else to rest; but they are not willing to rest the day on which God rested. They are not willing to enter into God’s rest. Is that loyalty? Is that the way of God which they choose? or is it their own way? “Take heed, brethren, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” STSG 66.4