The Signs of the Times
November 22, 1899
The Sign of God's People
The enemy has worked in the religious world to deceive men into the belief that the law of God can be set aside. He has had long years of experience in this work, for he began with our first parents, using his powers to cause them to distrust God. If he could interpose himself between their souls and God, he knew that he would succeed. The prospect of becoming gods, knowing good and evil, was pleasing to Adam and Eve, and they yielded to the temptation. In receiving a knowledge of good and evil, men feel that they are gaining much; but they do not understand the purposes of Satan. They do not understand that they are taken in his snare when they tamper with the law of God. The enemy knows that if the church can be controlled by political enactments, if she can be led to unite with the world, she virtually acknowledges him as her head. Then the authority of man-made commandments will work to oppose the rule of the government of heaven. Under the leadership of Satan men will dispense with the righteous, holy enactments of God concerning the Sabbath, the observance of which is to be a sign between God and His people forever. ST November 22, 1899, par. 1
Satan's plan has taken with the religious world. He has created an order of things entirely his own, making void the law of God. Through his deceptive working he has gained in the professedly Christian world that which he thought to gain in heaven,—an abrogation of the laws of Jehovah. Through the Roman power he has worked to remove God's memorial, and has erected a memorial of his own to sever God from His people. Today the Protestant world is estranged from God by its acceptance of a spurious sabbath. Not one iota of sacred authority can they find for doing this; yet, full of zeal, they assert that the Lord's memorial given at creation should be ignored, despised, trampled upon, and the first day of the week take its place. ST November 22, 1899, par. 2
No deeper wound could be inflicted on God than to ignore His holy day, and place in its stead a spurious sabbath that bears no mark of sanctity. God gave the Sabbath to the world to be set apart for His name's glory. He says: “It is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.... Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.” ST November 22, 1899, par. 3
And who are Israel? The Holy Spirit by the apostle Paul declares, “If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed.” Upon all who through Christ become a part of the true Israel, the observance of the Sabbath is enjoined. ST November 22, 1899, par. 4
Those who disregard a plain “Thus saith the Lord,” are casting off their allegiance to God, and exalting human power in His stead. By thus placing themselves in opposition to the God of heaven, men are failing to receive the mark, or sign, by which the people of the world are to know God's true followers. There is no justification for those who, having the light, close their eyes and their ears to a plain “Thus saith the Lord.” They have taken up the weapons of their warfare against God, and their guilt is made manifest. ST November 22, 1899, par. 5
A Specific Reform
God calls His people to a special work for these last days. “They that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places,” He says; “thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.” What is this breach?—It is the broken Sabbath of the Lord. “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath,” He continues, “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; 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.” But there must be no assumption of power on the part of God's chosen people. Those who take their orders from Christ must not seek to compel others to obey the law of Jehovah. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” ST November 22, 1899, par. 6
Even Christ, as the Prince of Life, did not seize the scepter of power and enforce His laws of righteousness. Patiently has He waited in the heavenly courts in behalf of His people who have suffered for their loyalty to Him. Patiently has He waited for the Gospel of the kingdom to be preached in all parts of the world, until every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people shall have received the light of God's Word. And man, too, must wait patiently until the time when the work shall be accomplished, and every human being has had opportunity to decide for himself. Decisions will be made for and against God; and every man will decide his own case by his decision in regard to the law of Jehovah. Then both classes will be developed; the sentiment of every heart will be revealed. Each party will gather under its chosen leader, as loyal to God and His commandments, or as transgressors of the law, with the first great rebel at its head. ST November 22, 1899, par. 7
God declares: “Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.” “It is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.” We are not merely to observe the Sabbath as a legal matter; we are to be intelligent in regard to its spiritual bearing upon all the transactions of life. ST November 22, 1899, par. 8
Christ's prayer to His Father for His disciples was, “Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth.” The sign of God is sanctification through obedience to the truth. This sanctification makes the loyal subject like his great Head, Jesus Christ. He is brought into peculiar and eternal relations to the Saviour on condition that he maintains his allegiance to the end. When we are thus sanctified, we shall not have a spurious faith, a spurious doctrine, a spurious experience. In coming out from the world and accepting the Sabbath of creation, which God has blessed and sanctified, we give evidence of true conversion. We are stamped with the mark of God's government. As we accept the Sabbath to keep it holy unto the Lord, we are sanctified, soul, body, and spirit. ST November 22, 1899, par. 9
All who earnestly desire to know whether they have the King's mark will examine His Word critically. A spurious sabbath is now exalted before the people. This is the mark, the sign, of a ruler who stands in opposition to the King of kings, the Lord of hosts. This ruler has sought to show his power and authority by taking a common working day, a child of the Papacy, and giving it to the world as the Sabbath of the Lord. He has sought to destroy the sign which God has said should be preserved to a thousand generations. ST November 22, 1899, par. 10
The observance of the Sabbath, the seventh day by God's people, is the sign to the world that they are linked to the God of heaven as His loyal subjects, who trust in His everlasting veracity and His power as the Creator of the heavens and the earth; and it is the sign that God recognizes them as His chosen people. Those who understand that the Sabbath is a sign between them and God will represent the principles of His government by bringing into their daily practise the laws of His kingdom. They will live in constant submission to His will, having the words of His law written in their hearts. His injunctions will be regarded as the spring of their existence. Faithful and true, they will heed every command given, and reveal in their daily lives the religion that emanates from God. ST November 22, 1899, par. 11
Mrs. E. G. White