Christ and the Sabbath

ONE PLAN OF SALVATION

God has always had only one plan of salvation, and that is through faith in the merits of Jesus Christ. “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:11. “For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and forever.” Hebrews 13:8 (R. V.). From the very beginning every one who has obtained salvation has done so through faith in Jesus Christ. We have the record in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews how that by faith Abel, by faith Noah, by faith Abraham, by faith the worthies-that company which makes so great a cloud of witnesses-accomplished all. And we learn from the twelfth chapter and the second verse that this faith was in Jesus Christ, for it speaks of him as the Author and the Finisher of our faith. So from the first it has been faith in Jesus Christ that has saved all who have been saved. CAS 4.2

It makes no difference in the general plan of salvation at what particular point of time Jesus Christ was manifested in the flesh. If he had been manifested in the first generation, it would have been the same. If he were not manifested until the last generation, it would be the same. From the time when that promise was made, the record of which we have in Genesis 3:15 (“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it [or he] shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel”), there has always been salvation in Jesus Christ. So that before Christ was literally lifted up on the cross, before the time of his manifestation at the first advent, there was the same power in him to save; and his general relation to the plan of salvation was the same then as now. Before his first advent there were certain ordinances introduced which were to occupy the same place and serve the same purpose as the ordinances of the church at the present time. With reference to these ordinances it is declared: “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come.” 1 Corinthians 11:26. And as often as they offered the sacrifices provided, as often as they performed any of those ceremonies in that time, it was always to show the Lord’s death, because that was the central point. CAS 4.3

“God’s work is the same in all time, although there are different degrees of development, and different manifestations of his power, to meet the wants of men in the different ages. Beginning with the first gospel promise, and coming down through the patriarchal and Jewish ages, and even to the present time, there has been a gradual unfolding of the purposes of God in the plan of redemption. The Saviour typified in the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish law, is the very same that is revealed in the gospel.” But it has always been faith in Jesus Christ, faith in “the blood of the everlasting covenant”-that covenant which was made with Adam (Genesis 3:15), renewed to Abraham (Genesis 17:7), and ratified by Christ-which has availed for salvation from sin. CAS 5.1