The Sabbath

and the Lord's Day

The Old Sabbath Repealed*

*This chapter is taken from "The Sabbath" by D. S. Warner.

  By reading Rom. 2:12, 14 16, it is seen that there are two kinds of precepts: those that exist in man's consciousness, independent of law to enforce them, and those duties that are wholly created by the code that enjoins them. The former are commanded because they are inherent principles of right; the latter are right only because they are commanded. The former are unchangeable; the latter rest wholly on the will of the lawgiver, and may be changed whenever his wisdom dictates. The law stamped by the Creator upon our inner being is that which Paul says we "establish by faith." Therefore, with the exception of the few positive monumental ordinances of the new testament, it is simply the reimpress of that holy law of our being which was stamped upon us by the Creator, and which was partly obscured by sin, but is fully restored to the soul in entire sanctification (Heb. 10:14, 15), while the written New Testament is an expression of the same perfect law. The passage in Rom. 13:9 asserts that there is nothing of the law system carried over into the new covenant but that which love itself dictates, that which existed as a principle of right back of all outward legislation. Now the question to be settled and upon which the perpetuity of the seventh day Sabbath depends is this Was this institution written in man's inward conscience? or was it wholly the product of positive legislation ? If the former, it remains unchangeable; if the latter, it has passed away. We shall now prove that that seventh day Sabbath was created wholly by legislation; belonged to the monumental and shadowy rites of the Jew's religion; was for a temporary purpose, and was therefore repealable, and actually was abolished.

  First, we prove that its object was to serve as a sign between God and the Israelite nation. "And the Lord [91] spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that cloth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done, but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath Day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever" (Exod. 31:12 17).

  Here we are twice told that the Sabbath of the law was a sign between God and the Jewish nation throughout their generations. It is strictly confined to them, and there is not a word indicating that God would ever make it anything else than a national statute in Israel. It was a sign of the redemption of that nation from Egyptian bondage; for that deliverance is called a redemption in Exod. 15:12, 13. We have positive proof that the Sabbath was instituted to commemorate that event. After the repetition of the command to keep the seventh day. thus we read: "And remember that thou west a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath Day" (Deut. 5:15). Can anything be plainer? The Sabbath was given as a remembrancer to the Jews, a monument of their bondage in a strange land and their deliverance therefrom. To deny this is to dispute the Bible. But if that be the object of that rest day no one else has any" thing to do with it, nor it with them. In Neh. 9:9 14 this redemption out of the land of bondage, and the Sabbath, as a sign and monument of the same, are again seen coupled together.

  Now let us show you a parallel sign, or monument of the same redemption from bondage. "Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened [92] bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon shine hand, and for a memorial between shine eyes, that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt" (Exod. 13:7 9). The Passover was instituted for a "sign," a "memorial" of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt. And we have seen that the Sabbath was given expressly for the same object and to the same people, throughout their generations. If, therefore, the Passover feast belonged only to the Jewish rites, so did the Sabbath. If the Passover feast is abolished —and no Adventist denies it—so is its like sign, the Jewish Sabbath. These conclusions cannot be gainsaid.

  That the Sabbath was a sign of redemption out of Egypt we again prove, by Ezek. 20 :10, 12, as follows: "Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness." "Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." Here we have again the redemption out of Egypt followed by the Sabbath as a sign or monument of that deliverance. "A sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them;" namely, separated them from the heathen among whom they were in bondage. How could that Sabbath have been designed for all nations, which was given expressly as a sign or mark of separation of the Jews from all other nations? In fact, it could not be universal and at the same time the peculiar badge of one nation. We leave it classified just where the Bible places it—among the I signs and rites of the Jews, and as such it has passed away. I But says the Saturday keeper, "That Sabbath must yet be in force; because God said, 'The children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant,' and 'It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever' (Exod. —':16,17)." While the word "forever," speaking of spiritual things and of future destinies, etc., means unending.[93] it is also used in speaking of laws to indicate that they are in continuous force, standing, permanent. In such case it indicates a law unchangeable and unrepealable while the system of which it is a part lasts. This we shall now prove by the Bible. When the Passover was first instituted in Egypt, God said, "Ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever" (Exod. 12: 24). After giving directions for the use of olive oil in the lamps of the tabernacle, he said. "It shall be a statute forever unto their generation" (Exod. 27:21). Following directions for the high priestly garments that Aaron and his sons were to wear in their ministration, it is written "It shall be a statute forever unto him and his seed after him" (Exod. 28:43). And the same thing is affirmed of nearly every ceremonial precept of the law. So, then, the Sabbath was to be a "sign forever" just as the Passover and other types and shadows were. They have passed away long ago; so also has that Sabbath. The Bible leaves no peg upon which to hang its perpetuity.

  As we have proved that both the Passover and the law Sabbath were signs and memorials of the deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt and from the slaying angel, we shall now prove that the Sabbath as well as the Passover was a type and shadow of things to come in the dispensation of Christ. That the Passover pointed back to Egypt, and also cast its shadow forward to Christ upon the cross, all see and admit. So was the Sabbath a sign of things past and things to come. The very fact that it commemorated the exodus from Egypt makes it a type of our redemption for that deliverance sustains a typical relation to our salvation from the bondage of sin.

  "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross" (Col. 2:13, 14). The law, with all its ordinances and shadowing rites, expired with Christ upon the cross. "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but [94]

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