Christ and the Sabbath

WHO ARE CHRISTIANS?

Those who knowingly choose the sign of the other power, and who by their lives testify that they accept the mark of the rival power, thereby show that Christ is not dwelling in them, with his sanctifying power, but that they are depending upon some other power for their salvation. It is therefore necessary that the truth in regard to the Sabbath should be proclaimed to all men, that everywhere there might be an understanding choice in this matter; that everywhere men might know what is the sign of the power of God in Christ to save, and might hasten to yield themselves and to put their trust and their confidence in him for salvation, that everywhere it might be proclaimed that a rival power has sought to turn men away from the true God, that a rival power has come in, with the effort to steal away the confidence of men in Jesus ‘Christ as the only Saviour; that they might be shown who the true God is, and what his service really includes. CAS 36.1

But the question is asked at once, Are there no Christians except those who keep the seventh day? Have there not been Christians in all ages who never kept the seventh day? Are there not Christians now of every name and denomination who do not keep the seventh day?-Most certainly. Well, then, what difference does it make? and why call attention to this matter now? Notice this; it is the root of the whole matter. He is a true Christian who yields himself to God; he is a true Christian who follows all the light that God causes to shine upon his pathway. We are responsible for the use we make of the light given to us of God. Now when one is a true Christian, he has the desire, he has the disposition, to be conformed to the life of Jesus Christ, and every truth revealed to him concerning the life, the power, the work of Jesus Christ, is what he wants to know. But just as soon as the true Christian receives light which he has not known before, and refuses to obey it, that instant he ceases to be a true Christian. Just as soon as one who is a true Christian, a child of God, receives light, he welcomes that light. The disposition of heart is that he may be perfectly conformed to the image of God in Christ. But when light comes, and he refuses the light, he turns against God, and is no longer a true Christian; and although up to that moment he may have stood a justified child of God, yet when God reveals to him more light, and says to him, “This is the way, walk ye in it,” and he says, “No,” just then he loses his standing as a justified child of God; just then his Christian experience stops, and it does not make any difference whether the invitation of God to him is to observe the true Sabbath in the true meaning, or whether it is some other duty presented. CAS 36.2

Furthermore, the people who are to be prepared for the coming of Christ, who are to be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, who are to be translated without seeing death, are to have the character of Christ perfectly wrought in them, so that it shall be said of them, “And in their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God.” Revelation 14:5. What did Pilate say of Christ?-“I find no fault in him.” What is said of the people who are ready and are translated at the second coming of Christ?-“They are without fault.” That is to say, they are just like Christ; the character of Christ is wrought completely in them. But in order that this should be so, their lives must be in perfect harmony with the character of God, because Christ was a representation to the world of the character of God. He interpreted God to the world. But the law of God is a transcript of the character of God. It is a statement of what God is, and when the life of man is made in harmony with the law of God, it is then that he is without fault; it is then that he is like Christ. It is therefore necessary that the attention of the people who are to be translated should be called to the fact that in disregarding the Sabbath of the Lord they are, in that point, out of harmony with the life of Christ, and so out of harmony with the character of God; and if they are to be translated without seeing death, and if it is to be said of them that they are without fault before the throne of God, that defect in character must1 be remedied. CAS 37.1