The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, vol. 78

February 5, 1901

“The Keeping of the Commandments” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 78, 6, p. 88.

WHEN the Lord visited and redeemed His people, to take them into the land of promise, the land which He sware to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give to them: when He took them unto himself to swerve Him only in the keeping of His holy law, He said, first of all: “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” etc. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.1

Israel missed God’s call; they believed Him not, and therefore could not enter into His rest. These fell in the wilderness. And the generation that went into the land of Canaan did not in that go into “the land” and the “rest” to which the Lord would have taken the people when they first left Egypt, had they only believed. They drifted further and further away from God until they actually rejected Him, that they might be like the nations. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.2

And they became like the nations. They failed exactly as had their fathers before them. For, in the days of David, the Lord said still: “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 always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.” Hebrews 3:7-11; 4:7, 8. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.3

But still they hardened their hearts, and went further away from the Lord, until they got into such darkness that it was the very darkness of “the shadow of death,” which is “darkness, as darkness itself, and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.” And there the people sat, when there shined unto them a “great light,” even the light of God, in which darkness itself is light. Isaiah 9:2; Job 10:21, 22; Matthew 4:16. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.4

Christ came. Again God visited to redeem His people, to make them not simply servants, but sons of God, that we “might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life.” And at that time again God said: “Our of Egypt have I called my Son.” ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.5

Why was it necessary that the infant Jesus should be taken into Egypt at the time of the slaughter of the innocents by Herod? It was not alone to escape the decree of Herod, that Jesus was taken into Egypt; for that decree could have been easily escaped by a much shorter journey. This was done to teach all people forever the deep spiritual lesson of the true deliverance from Egypt. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.6

Jesus came into the world to take the place of man, to be our substitute and surety. Mankind is overwhelmed in the darkness and bondage of sin—Egyptian darkness, a darkness that may be felt. He was made to be sin; upon Him was laid the iniquity of us all; He was numbered with the transgressors; He was made in all things like those whose substitute He became. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.7

Therefore He was taken into Egypt, and was brought out again, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my Son;” and that by this object lesson there might be emphasized anew, and forever, the great lesson taught from of old to all people, the great truth that men become the sons of God only by their being called out of Egypt. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.8

The Ten Commandments express the whole duty of man. All that ever a man ca do, in deed, word or thought, in righteousness, is covered by the Ten Commandments. All man’s service to God is in the keeping of this His Law. And when it was written of Christ, and it was fulfilled in Christ, as the Example of all mankind, that “out of Egypt have I called my Son,” this was simply speaking anew to all mankind the words which, that great day, God spoke from heaven, as the preamble to the whole Ten Commandments and their keeping: “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.9

This is the universal lesson: that no man can serve God, that no man can keep a single one of the Ten Commandments, except he is first delivered, by the power of God, from the darkness of Egypt, from the darkness of the shadow of death, from the realm and bondage of sin. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.10

This is the lesson of the whole Bible. Look, for instance, at Ephesians 2:1-10: how men are dead in trespasses and sins, in the darkness of this world; walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the ruler of the darkness of this world (Ephesians 6:12), the spirit that works in the children of disobedience. But God, who is rich in mercy, has quickened us together with Christ, and has raised us up together with Him, to live and walk with Him. And this He did, not by our works, nor because of our works, but of His own mercy and grace: “for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Thus is the lesson taught, that no man can do good works except he is created unto it by the power of God. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.11

How strongly this lesson is emphasized in the book of Galatians, which is just now the subject of the Sabbath-school studies. What are generally regarded as the practical things of the Christian life are not mentioned until the end of the book—brotherly kindness; bearing one another’s burdens; communicating in all good things; the sowing and the reaping, whether to the flesh or to the Spirit; doing good to all men, especially to the household of faith. These things come only in the few verses of the very last chapter. After men have been delivered from this present evil world, into the glorious liberty of the children of God, and are standing fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,—the liberty by love to serve one another,—filled with the Spirit, so that all the fruits of the Spirit are shining in the life, reflecting the sunshine of righteousness,—only THEN it is that the generally considered practical things of the Christian life are enjoined. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.12

Why is this? It is the same universal, divine lesson, that no man can do good works, no man can possibly do the “practical things of the Christian life,” who has not first the Christian life as a practical thing. And, therefore, it is made perfectly plain that deliverance from the darkness and bondage of sin; the finding of the sonship of God; the ability to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free; the receiving of the fullness of the Spirit of God in the life,—these things are the practical things of Christianity, equally with the others. Indeed, in a sense these are the more practical things; because so certainly must these precede the others that, without these, the other practical things of the Christian life can never be seen at all. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.13

Therefore when, from Mount Sinai, God would speak, with a voice that shook the earth, the practical things of the life of man, He spoke first of all this original practical thing of the life of man—deliverance from the realm and bondage of sin:— ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.14

“I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” Exodus 20:2. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.15

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.16

Yet this is not the preamble of only the first commandment, but of the whole law, as if it were as follows:— ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.17

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.18

“I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.19

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.20

“I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.21

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 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. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.22

“I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.23

“Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.24

“I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.25

“Thou shalt not kill.” ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.26

“I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.27

“Thou shalt not commit adultery.” ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.28

“I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.29

“Thou shalt not steal.” ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.30

“I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.31

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.32

“I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.33

“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.” Exodus 20. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.34

And since, when He sent His only begotten Son to redeem us indeed, He renewed and emphasized this preliminary thought, in the words, “Out of Egypt have I called my Son,” it is as if this were the preamble and the whole law—is expressed in the great of the whole law of God. And all of it—the preamble and the whole law—is expressed in the great thought of the Third Angel’s Message: “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” ARSH February 5, 1901, page 88.35

“What Are You Studying?” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 78, 6, p. 89.

EDITORS OF THE REVIEW AND HERALD: The members of our Sabbath-school have been studying, or trying to study, the book of Galatians all through the quarter, and do not know what we have been studying about. Some of us think we have studied both laws together; others think we have studied the moral law; while others say it is the ceremonial law all through the book of Galatians, and nothing else. Now I wish you would tell us what law we have studied this quarter. Please answer through the REVIEW. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.1

We publish this letter and answer it in the REVIEW, because it is a sample of a number that we have received; and we fear that it tells the experience of a great many persons, and, indeed, a good many whole Sabbath-schools throughout the United States. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.2

The letter asks us to tell what law these folks have studied the past quarter, in the Sabbath-school lessons. We can not tell. For when they themselves can not tell what law they have been studying, who are the very ones who have been doing the studying, how can we be expected to tell, when we were not there at all to know what they were studying? Perhaps even if we ourselves had been among them, it would have been as difficult for us to tell what law they were studying, as it is for them to tell. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.3

One thing we do know; that is, that no law at all has been the subject of study in the Sabbath-school lessons themselves; but the gospel only. We know that in the Sabbath-school lessons as written and as published in the Sabbath-school lesson books, papers, etc., the sole subject for study, from the first verse of Galatians unto the last one that has been before the schools, and even to the end of the book, has been and is the gospel, and the gospel only. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.4

It could not be otherwise, and be a study of the book of Galatians; for the gospel is the only subject of the book. This is made plain at the very outset of the book itself. The very first words of actual address in the book are: “Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” And that is the gospel, and the gospel alone. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.5

The very next words of the book are: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.6

That shows emphatically that the only subject that was in the mind of the writer of the book of Galatians, is the gospel. There is, indeed, a question as to whether it is the true or the false gospel, the genuine gospel or the perverted gospel; yet, for all that, the only subject is the gospel. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.7

The following verses in the first chapter (11-14) show that the subject is still the gospel; that the gospel is received by the “revelation of Jesus Christ,” and that it delivered Paul from the false gospel, the traditions of the Jews’ religion. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.8

The next verses (15, 16) still emphasize the fact that it is only the gospel that is treated, showing how the revelation of that gospel is Christ in you the hope of glory: “It pleased God ... to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen.” And that is the gospel. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.9

The narrative of Paul’s experience, in the remaining part of the first chapter and the greater part of the second chapter, is all given as a means of demonstrating how he stood firmly, and even alone, and alone against even Peter himself, for “the truth of the gospel,” and in order that “the truth of the gospel might continue with you.” ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.10

Then the book takes up the thought of what this gospel is, and demonstrates by every possible consideration, with all the intensity of the Spirit of God, that it is righteousness by faith—justification, salvation, redemption, sanctification, by faith of Jesus Christ and the power of the Spirit of God. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.11

And so it continues throughout the whole book. There is no other subject, there is no other thought in the whole book, than the gospel, and “the truth of the gospel,” and the salvation that is wrought in those in whom that “truth of the gospel” shall find a place. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.12

We say that the letter at the beginning of this article is a sample. And, indeed, it is only a fair sample of a number of letters that have come to this Office, with respect to the Sabbath-school lessons of the book of Galatians. But what a sad story it tells: that there are people, professing to be Christians, who are studying Sabbath after Sabbath, and week in and week out, for six months, and more, a book of the Bible that deals wholly with the gospel, and yet have not been able to find any gospel at all! but only questions, disputations, and strivings about some law, or what law! ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.13

This is astonishing, and as painful as it is astonishing. We are exceedingly sorry to have to print such a letter. And if this had been the only one, or a sample of only two or three, or half a dozen, we should not have printed it. But when it is only a fair sample of a considerable number, and simply reveals a condition that, though indeed not general, is far too widespread, it is only proper that it should be printed, and that some endeavor be made to better the condition. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.14

We are glad to say that we do not believe this condition is general. We know that there are thousands upon thousands of persons who, in the study of the Sabbath-school lessons, have found, from the beginning, and have studied from the beginning, that which is the true subject of the book, and of all the studies—the gospel, “the truth of the gospel.” And we know that these have been made glad with the joy and the fullness of the great salvation that is revealed in that gospel, as it is in this precious book of Galatians. These have found a great improvement and a general advancement in their experience in Christ and the power of the gospel. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.15

But what can be done for these others who have wholly missed the subject of the lessons, from beginning to end? What can be done to help these who have been studying the gospel for more than six months, and yet “do not know what we have been studying about”? The studies in this book are almost ended; there remain but four lessons. And since these have gone through the whole series of more than six months without discovering the subject, and, so, without having really studied the lessons at all—how can these now be helped to find it, and to have the benefit of it? ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.16

We know what will supply this loss: we know what will accomplish in these the purpose of the book of Galatians. It is this: Let each one read, carefully and prayerfully, the book of Galatians THROUGH, each day, praying constantly: “Lord, show me thy gospel, the true gospel, the truth of the gospel.” Put away forever all discussions and “strivings about the law,” even as saith the Scripture: “Avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.” Titus 3:9. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.17

Ask only for the gospel, study only for the gospel. And once find in your life the revelation of that gospel; and, in one minute, by that revelation, you will know ten thousand times more about the law and all laws than you could ever possibly know, to all eternity, by any questions, discussions, and “strivings about the law,” or as to which law, or whether it is one law or another, or whether it is all together. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.18

It is not the law at all, but the gospel, that saves, and that gives light on all the law. ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.19

“The kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe the gospel.” ARSH February 5, 1901, page 89.20