A Word of Warning to the Children of God
It is because I see a subtle and dangerous attack made upon the truth of God, that I would seek to help my brethren in Christ, in the endeavor to uncover the evil connected with these doctrines. The very foundations of Christianity are assailed by doctrines which at once set aside the truth as to the Person and work of our blessed Savior, and seek to overthrow the faith of God’s people. This is my only apology for having to say to these doctrines in any way. I do so for the sake of the truth itself, and for the sake of my brethren and fellow members in the body of Christ, whose spiritual comfort and blessings are endangered by this attack of the enemy.
We cannot close our eyes to the fact that we are face to face with this evil. Seventh Day Adventism is not something in the far distance. It is in our midst. It has made an invasion upon the people of God in this city. The city is being canvassed by its missionaries. Its claims are being pressed in many households. And the Word of God is loudly appealed to in support of its doctrines. Surely, then, it is not a matter of indifference to the flock of Christ whether these new doctrines come as the voice of the Good Shepherd, or as the voice of a stranger. Let us, then, examine some features of this new system of teaching that we may be able to discern, if possible, its origin, whether it be of God or whether it be of the enemy.
It has been given out here that the main practical difference between the Seventh Day Adventists and Christians in general is that they keep the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath while others keep the first. I would beg my brethren not to be deceived by such statements, for it is simply not true. Their position as to the Sabbath involves the whole question of the Christian’s relationship to the law, to say nothing of many other things which they teach and which are utterly subversive of Christianity. The question is at once raised: What is the principle of the believer’s relationship to God in this dispensation? Is it law? or is it grace? Romans 6:1414For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14), alone ought to be sufficient to answer this question: “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” But we will look at this further on. I refer to it now only to show that it is not merely a question of keeping the seventh day or the first.
Now I agree with them that the law has not been changed, and that there is no authority in Scripture for saying that the Sabbath has been changed from the seventh day of the week to the first. I believe furthermore that in every instance where the Sabbath is mentioned in the New Testament it refers to the seventh day and never the first.
But they lay hold of these facts to prove that Christians in apostolic days observed the seventh day as the Sabbath. This conclusion I entirely deny. There is not a single instance given of a Christian assembly meeting on the seventh day to worship or break bread; nor is there one intimation of their observing the seventh day as a Christian institution. All their reasonings to prove that the seventh day was observed are based upon the boldest assumptions. I will quote from one of their tracts entitled, “The Sabbath in the New Testament.”
“But was the Sabbath Paul’s regular preaching day? Was this his manner? Let Acts 17:22And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, (Acts 17:2) answer, ‘And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.’
“Chapter 18:1-11, contains important testimony on this subject. Paul at Corinth abode with Aquila and Priscilla, and worked with them at tentmaking. ‘And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.’ (vs. 4). How long did he remain at Corinth? ‘And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them’ (vs. 11). Here is apostolic example for seventy-eight successive Sabbaths. And it will be seen by verses 5-8, that the Apostle occupied the synagogue a part of these Sabbaths, until the Jews opposed and blasphemed, and then he went into the house of Justus, where he preached to the Gentiles the remaining number of Sabbaths.”
Now, my reader, if you would see an example of handling the Word of God deceitfully, you need only to read attentively the quotation I have here given. These passages in Acts are brought forward to prove that “the Sabbath was Paul’s regular preaching day”; and that in one place he preached seventy-eight successive Sabbaths. Perhaps I may be pardoned if I say they prove neither one nor the other. We learn from Acts 17:22And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, (Acts 17:2), that it was Paul’s manner to go into the synagogue, the Jews’ meeting place, to reason with them out of the Scriptures. This was on the Sabbath, the seventh day, because that was the day on which Paul could find the Jews assembled to read the Scriptures. And chapter 18 shows us that he did this at Corinth until the Jews opposed and blasphemed, and then he left them. On what day he preached to the Gentiles or taught the Christians after he left the synagogue, the passage says absolutely nothing. To say that Paul preached the remaining seventy-eight Sabbaths in the house of Justus is an unwarranted assumption. The fact is, there is not a thought about Christian Sabbath-keeping in any of these passages. Paul went into the synagogue in order to reach the Jews with the gospel; and he went there habitually on the Sabbath because they regularly assembled on that day. And this is the whole matter. It is just what will be found in every case in the Acts where preaching on the Sabbath is spoken of. Acts 16 is no exception. Here too, it is a Jewish meeting on the Sabbath day, and at the riverside because they had no synagogue. So then we have not a single instance in the Acts of a Christian assembly convened on the Sabbath day; and thus their whole reasoning from apostolic example is utterly false.
Another passage they lay much stress upon is Luke 23:5656And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. (Luke 23:56): “And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.” On this passage the writer already quoted, remarks: “The Marys returned and prepared the spices. The Sabbath came on as the sun went down. They rested. How? `According to the commandment.’ The Sabbath and the commandment guarding it lived after the death of Christ; and Luke, writing, as is supposed, twenty-eight years after the crucifixion, records the observance of the Sabbath, according to the commandment, by Christians after the death of Christ as an important fact for the Christian Church.”
It is rather difficult to see what this can have to do with the Christian dispensation. We are told it was after the death of Christ. So it was; but it was also before His resurrection, and before the Christian dispensation began. It is true Luke recorded this perhaps twenty-eight years after, but was this to prove that the Sabbath was a Christian institution? Certainly not; but simply to show the godly character of these women who could turn aside from the dearest object that could occupy their hearts in order to obey the commandments of God. We are told they were Christians. This only shows that these people do not know what a Christian is. Christianity had not yet been inaugurated. All was still connected with the Jewish nation, and under the law, which regulated the Jewish economy. They were pious women of the Jews, who had become disciples of Jesus, but they had not yet been introduced into the position of Christians. For this it was necessary to await the resurrection of Christ and His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and the coming down of the Holy Ghost. Christianity is founded on the death and resurrection of Christ; but it is connected with an exalted and glorified Christ, not a Christ upon earth. And it takes its character, not from the law which formed the constitution of the Jewish nation, but from the presence of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven by that glorified Christ to unite all believers with Himself as the Head of the Church which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. (Acts 2; 1 Cor. 12:12-1312For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:12‑13); Eph. 1:22,2322And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:22‑23).) No one who knows what Christianity is would ever think of citing Luke 23:5656And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. (Luke 23:56), as an example of Christian Sabbath-keeping.
I call attention to one other passage which may present a real difficulty to some. It is Matt. 24:2020But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: (Matthew 24:20): “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day.”
Now if this passage be applied to the flight of the Christians when Jerusalem was destroyed by the armies of Titus, it would prove either that the seventh day was “the Christian Sabbath,” or else that the first day was to be called the Sabbath. But the mistake is in applying it to that event at all.
Many have confounded what the Lord says in Matthew 24. with what He says in Luke 21. But a close examination of the two passages will show that while there is much in common there are also striking differences of the greatest importance. Both chapters speak of a flight from Jerusalem, and a signal for the flight is also given in each; but the two flights are different and the two signals are different. In Luke it is the flight of the Christians when Jerusalem was destroyed in the year A.D. 70; in Matthew it is the flight of a godly remnant of Jews to escape the great tribulation just before the appearing of the Son of man in glory after the Church period is over. Luke gives the destruction of Jerusalem and its desolation till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. In Matthew 24 there is no mention of the destruction of Jerusalem. The destruction of the temple is foretold in verse 2, and that is all. In chapter 23:38, the Lord leaves their house (the temple) desolate, and tells them in the next verse: “Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord”; then in chapter 24, He tells the disciples the temple should be utterly destroyed. The disciples then “came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world [age]?” The Lord had already mentioned the destruction of the temple and does not refer to this again, but passes on to speak of the state of things that will exist just previous to His “coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (vs. 30). He mentions the signs that will mark the end of the age. False Christs and false prophets will arise, and there will be wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes, the killing of the faithful, abounding iniquity, and the love of many waxing cold.
Let it be noted here that the Lord passes over the whole period of Church history from Pentecost to the rapture, when the saints will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and speaks only of the things connected with Jerusalem and His coming in glory to set up the millennial kingdom. The Church comes in, in a parenthetical way, between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks of Daniel’s prophecy during the period of Jerusalem’s desolation. During this period God is calling out a heavenly people to the name of His Son, from both Jews and Gentiles, forming them into one body by the Holy Ghost, a body of which Christ is the Head. This is in no way taken account of in Matthew 24.
Now it will be seen from Daniel 9:2727And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:27) that one week (or seven years) of the seventy weeks determined upon Daniel’s people remains to be fulfilled after the desolation of Jerusalem. This will take place after the Church, the body of Christ, is removed from the scene, according to 1 Thessalonians 4:1717Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17). When the Church is gone (or possibly before) the Jews will return to their own land. Their body politic will be revived, and then the seventieth week will run its course in order to fulfill the prophecy and bring in the end of the Jewish age. During this short period of Jewish history the things mentioned in Matthew 24 will have their fulfillment. The Jews will be in the land and the antichrist will be there too. They will enter into a wicked covenant with a prince who is yet to come, who will re-establish the ancient Jewish worship, but who will break his covenant with them in the middle of the week, and cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. An idol will then be set up in the holy place and the people compelled to worship this instead of God. This idol is “the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet.” Compare 2 Thessalonians 2:3-43Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. (2 Thessalonians 2:3‑4); Rev. 13:14-1514And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 15And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. (Revelation 13:14‑15).
Now, while the mass of the Jews will return to the land in unbelief and accept the antichrist, there will be a remnant in whom God will work for blessing. These will refuse the antichrist and bear testimony against the wickedness of the apostate mass and proclaim the coming of the King of Israel to reign. This is what is called “this gospel of the kingdom,” in Matthew 24:1414And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14). It is a kind of John the Baptist testimony taken up again and proclaiming the kingdom at hand, and which will reach out to the whole world “for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come”; that is, the end of the Jewish age of law, to be succeeded by the age of the Messiah’s glorious reign.
When the “abomination” is set up in the holy place God will bring a desolator against Jerusalem with its wicked mass of apostate idol-worshipers. This will bring in the “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Compare Jeremiah 30:5,75For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. (Jeremiah 30:5)
7Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. (Jeremiah 30:7); Daniel 12:11And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. (Daniel 12:1).
When once it is seen that all this is connected with a brief period of Jewish history after the translation of the Church it will easily be seen that the mention of the Sabbath in Matthew 24 has a Jewish and not a Christian application.
The signal in Luke is “Jerusalem compassed with armies.” The Christians, when they saw this, were to flee so as to escape “the days of vengeance” that came upon Jerusalem in the year A.D. 70.
The signal in Matthew is, “the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place.” This is the signal for the godly remnant to flee so as to escape the great tribulation that will come upon the apostate Jews at the close of the age. And the Lord tells them to pray that their flight be not in the winter nor on the Sabbath day. It is His tender care for those whose thoughts and feelings will be formed according to the law.
It is clear, then, that wherever the Sabbath is mentioned in the New Testament it is the seventh day of the week and always connected with what was distinctly Jewish. And it is just as clear that never once is it imposed upon Christians as the day of rest.
It remains now to be seen what light the New Testament throws upon the observance of the first day of the week.
I think no simple Christian will have any difficulty in seeing that the day is marked in a very special way. Only it will be seen that it has not the legal character attached to it that characterized the Sabbath. The observance of the day has the character of privilege rather than legal command, a feature which in general characterizes Christianity.
Let us now see how the day is marked in the New Testament.
1. It is the day on which the Lord Jesus arose from the dead as the Head and beginning of the new creation. The seventh day celebrated God’s rest from His work in the first creation. But sin had come in and spoiled all, and God’s rest was broken. Sin brought suffering and sorrow into the world, and infinite love could not rest in the midst of suffering. So Jesus said to the Jews (who sought to slay Him because He had healed a man on the Sabbath day), “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” John 5:1717But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. (John 5:17). The Father and the Son both wrought to relieve suffering where sin had come in. These were works of mercy, no doubt, but they would not have been needed had not sin come in and ruined all.
We come now to the death and resurrection of Christ and what do we see? In the cross the first man is set aside. The old creation is condemned. The end of all flesh comes up before God, and He condemns it all judicially in the sacrifice of His Son; and Christ risen from the dead becomes “the beginning of the creation of God.” (Col. 1:1818And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:18); Rev. 3:1414And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; (Revelation 3:14).) The first creation was ruined through sin, and God ended it all judicially on the cross, so as to begin anew in Christ, the second Man and last Adam. Christ, “the firstborn from the dead” is “the beginning of the creation of God.” But it is Christ who died in atonement on the cross, and who, through His death, accomplished eternal redemption. This was necessary in order that men might be redeemed and brought into the new creation. Christ, though absolutely perfect as a man, remained alone until redemption was accomplished. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:24). Christ was that corn of wheat. He must die, or abide alone. Redemption must be accomplished through His atoning death on the cross, or none could be identified with Him in the new creation. The corn of wheat brings forth its fruit in resurrection. So it is a risen Christ that becomes the Head of a new creation. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:1717Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)).
All this shows that the resurrection of Christ is the beginning of a new era. In the cross the “old things are passed away.” The old creation with which the Sabbath was connected was judicially ended there. A new era dawned in the resurrection of Christ, the Firstborn from the dead. In His resurrection a new creation sprang into being by the power of God. The first day of the week celebrated the completion of this wonderful work of God; and it is thus marked as a day never to be forgotten.
In keeping with this, we find also in John 20, that Christ presented Himself to the disciples on that day, conveying to them the “peace” He had made through the blood of His cross (vs. 19) and breathing on them the “life more abundant,” life in the Spirit, His own triumphant resurrection life (vs. 22). And then, eight days after, that is, on the next first day, He appeared again in the midst of the disciples. I refer to this Scripture just to show in how striking a manner the first day of the week is marked in connection with the bringing in of the new creation.
The first day of the week is marked most strikingly by the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. Leviticus 23:16-,1717Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord. (Leviticus 23:17) shows clearly that this feast began on “the morrow after the Sabbath”; that is, on the first day of the week. This event was the bringing in of the full character and power of Christianity. The presence of the Holy Ghost in and with the saints is the great characteristic feature of this dispensation. By His indwelling the believer is anointed and sealed. He is also “the earnest of our inheritance,” “the Spirit of truth,” “the Spirit of life,” “the Spirit of adoption,” and the divine bond of union among all believers, uniting all in one body, of which Christ is the Head. His presence in and with the saints gives them their character as Christians, and He is their only power for testimony. The disciples could do nothing till He came; they must tarry at Jerusalem until endued with power from on high. All this shows the immense importance attached to His presence on earth. But His coming was on the first day of the week; and thus the first day witnessed the inauguration of Christianity in its fullness and power, when believers were baptized into one body by the Holy Ghost.
Again, the first day is distinguished by the assembling of the disciples to break bread. Acts 20:77And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. (Acts 20:7), is clear proof of this, “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow.” It may be said they came together to hear Paul preach. But the passage does not say this. It says they “came together to break bread.” The mode of expression and the context alike show that this was their habitual custom. Verse 6 shows that Paul was with the disciples at Troas seven days. He had arrived on Monday, and tarried till the next Monday morning; and it would seem he tarried with them the seven days in order to be present with them on the Lord’s day at the breaking of bread. Their coming together was for this purpose; but being assembled, Paul embraced the opportunity of discoursing to them.
It is said, however, that at the beginning the disciples broke bread “daily.” (Acts 2:4646And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, (Acts 2:46)). This is true; but it was only at the beginning when the whole time of the saints was apparently given up to these things, at the time of the feast of the Pentecost. It is easy to be seen this could not be continued as a permanent custom; and so we see afterward from Acts 20, that “the first day of the week” was set apart for this. Then again we see this day marked by this custom of the disciples.
In 1 Corinthians 16:1-21Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. 2Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. (1 Corinthians 16:1‑2), the first day is again marked by an order from the Apostle to the assemblies in Galatia, and that at Corinth, concerning the collection for the saints. “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him, that there be no collections when I come.” I do not dwell upon this, save only to remark the significance of the first day of the week being set apart as the day on which these offerings were to be made, as the Lord had prospered.
In Revelation 1:1010I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, (Revelation 1:10), the first day of the week is called “the Lord’s day.” This we know is denied by the Seventh Day Adventists, who claim that this was the seventh day, or Sabbath. But if the Sabbath had been meant, who can doubt that the statement would have been, “I was in the Spirit on the Sabbath”? For everywhere else in the Scriptures the seventh day is called “the Sabbath”; and there is no reason why it should have been otherwise here, had that day been meant. But here it is the day so wonderfully marked by the Lord’s triumph over all the power of Satan, sin and death, and now called “the Lord’s day” — a day peculiarly belonging to Him. The word translated “Lord’s” is an adjective, and used in only one other place in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 11:2020When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. (1 Corinthians 11:20), “The Lord’s supper.” This was a supper distinguished from all others as belonging to the Lord; and we have seen it was observed on the first day of the week. So here in Revelation 1:1010I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, (Revelation 1:10), we have a day distinguished in the same way as belonging to the Lord. And everything in the New Testament goes to show that the supper and the day, are not only characterized alike, but also associated together. “The Lord’s supper” was habitually observed on “the Lord’s day,” although it might also be observed on any other day. Both the supper and the day are marked as specially belonging to, and connected with the authority of the Lord Jesus, whose claims were established in His triumphant resurrection.
We conclude, then, that in Scripture the Sabbath is always the seventh day of the week, while “the Lord’s day,” is the first, and marked by the resurrection of Christ, the descent of the Holy Ghost, and by the saints assembling on that day to break bread in remembrance of the Lord Jesus. And a happy privilege it is for Christians on that day to rest from their secular employments and to be free to remember their once crucified, but now risen and exalted Lord and Savior, and to serve Him in spiritual things.
I add here my full conviction that in Scripture “the Sabbath” and “the Lord’s day” are never confounded. They are ever kept distinct; and if Christians had maintained this distinction, calling the first day of the week “the Lord’s day” and not “the Sabbath” it would have saved much confusion in the minds of the great mass of Christians.
As has already been said, however, much more is involved in this Sabbath question than the mere matter of keeping the first or seventh day. The whole question of the Christian’s relationship to the law is raised. The aim of the enemy is to bring Christians under the law as men in the flesh, and thus rob them of the holy liberty into which grace brings them. In fact, the aim is to destroy the whole fabric of Christianity and substitute for it a lifeless form of Judaism which can only plunge the soul into darkness, and rob it of all divine certainty as to either life or salvation.
Now the New Testament teaches, in the most distinct and unequivocal manner, that Christians are not under the law. “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:1414For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14)). This statement is absolute. And here it is not a question of justification, but of power against the working of sin. Under the law sin had dominion. The law was “the strength of sin.” It “entered, that the offense might abound.” “Sin by the commandment” became “exceeding sinful.” The law was holy, just and good, and forbade sin, but it gave no power against it, and in forbidding it provoked it. And so the Apostle says: “The commandment, which was ordained unto life, I found to be unto death.” Under grace all is changed. The law required righteousness from one who was already a sinner, and gave no strength for it. But grace gives. It gives righteousness to a sinner who has none; and it gives life too, and power for holy living. Under grace the believer has Christ as righteousness, Christ as life, Christ as an object filling the heart, and the Holy Ghost as power to live the life of Christ; and consequently sin does not have dominion over him. And all this is the fruit of redemption. To go back under the law is to go back of this redemption, and practically to lose all the blessedness and power which grace gives. This is just where Seventh Day Adventism puts its victims. It puts them under the law which can only curse and condemn them, for they do not keep it, though vainly hoping to “be found worthy of eternal life”; only they can never know till the day of judgment whether they will be saved or damned. All is dark uncertainty; and the blessed gospel of the grace of God is robbed of its glory, and shorn of that sweet peace that it gives to all who receive it in simplicity of heart.
As we have seen, Romans 6:1414For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14), assures us that we “are not under the law, but under grace.” Romans 7 will tell us how we reach this new position and relationship. The first verse tells us that “the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth.” The next two verses give us an illustration. Death dissolves the relationship existing between husband and wife, and frees the wife from the law of her husband. In verse four the Apostle applies this to show how the believer is delivered from the law. “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” This puts the matter in the plainest way. The believer accounts himself to have died with Christ, and thus he is delivered from the law; but it is to be connected with a new husband, Christ risen from the dead. One who is thus set free belongs to Christ, is in Christ, and has the Holy Ghost, and walks not after the flesh but after the Spirit, and so fulfills the righteous requirements of the law while not under it. (Rom. 8:44That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:4).)
The Galatians got “bewitched” by Judaizing teachers, and were giving up the principle of grace to be perfected in the flesh under the law; and the Apostle rebukes them in the sharpest way. It was practically giving up Christianity. In the end of chapter 2, he states the truth in connection with himself: “I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” Paul had died under the law through the death of Christ, and now he lived, but it was Christ who lived in him. He lived, not as under the law, but by faith which had Christ as its daily object, so that the life of Christ was reproduced in him in a practical way in the power of the Spirit. The Galatians, too, had received the Spirit, not “by the works of the law,” but “by the hearing of faith.” They had “begun in the Spirit,” and now in their folly they were turning to the law to be made perfect in the flesh; and in so doing they were putting themselves under the curse: “for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse” (Gal. 3:1010For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. (Galatians 3:10)).
Thus the Apostle exposes their folly; then develops the reason why the law was given, the way of deliverance from its curse, and the new position in Christ where all fleshly distinctions are lost, and where all are sons by faith, and receive the Spirit of the Son in their hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Then, in chapter 5, he calls on them to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free, and not to be entangled again in the yoke of bondage. They had been called to liberty, only they were not to use this liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love to serve one another. Doing this they would fulfill the law, though not under it, “for all the law is fulfilled in one word,... Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Gal. 5:1414For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (Galatians 5:14)). The power against evil was to walk in the Spirit. “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law” (Gal. 5:16-1816This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. (Galatians 5:16‑18)).
Nothing could be plainer than these simple statements of God’s Word. They show in the clearest way that the believer is not under the law. And yet the Christian fulfills the law’s righteous requirement — love — not by being under the law, but by walking in the Spirit.
Judaizers had come among the Galatians, seeking to bring them under the law. They were “troublers,” and Paul wished them “cut off.” They brought “another gospel” (chapter 1), and Paul says: “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.” This is strong language, but it shows how much was at stake, and how deeply the Apostle felt when he saw Christianity being corrupted by another gospel.
And let me say, brethren, we too, have Judaizers in our midst at the present moment. They bring “another gospel” which robs Christ of His glory and the saints of their portion in Him. I may be charged with want of charity in thus writing, but when the gospel of Christ is attacked as it was among the Galatians, and as it now is in this city, it is no time to talk of charity. Paul said: “Let him be accursed.” This will hardly be called charity; yet none knew what charity is better than Paul.
Let anyone carefully read Ephesians 2:1515Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; (Ephesians 2:15); Colossians 2:1414Blotting 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; (Colossians 2:14); and 2 Corinthians 3, and he will easily see that the whole legal system is set aside as the principle of relationship between God and His people in this dispensation. The law which was “written and engraven in stones” was “the ministration of death,” and “the ministration of condemnation” (2 Cor. 3:7,97But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: (2 Corinthians 3:7)
9For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. (2 Corinthians 3:9)). “The ministration of the Spirit” is put in direct contrast with this. The latter is a ministration of “life” and “righteousness” instead of “death” and “condemnation.” And verse 11 shows that the former ministration is “done away” while the latter remains. This is in full accord with what we have seen both in Romans and Galatians.
We can say with the Apostle, “We know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient,” etc. (1 Tim. 1:5-115Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: 6From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; 7Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. 8But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; 9Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; 11According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. (1 Timothy 1:5‑11)); but we also know from the same Scripture that those “desiring to be teachers of the law, understand neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.”
We will now notice one point on which they lay great stress, and which, on account of its plausibility, may present a difficulty to some.
They say all the commandments hang together, and we have no right to take out the fourth and leave the other nine in force; nor have we any right to change the fourth by substituting the first day for the seventh.
All this is freely admitted. No one, surely, has any right to tamper with this part of God’s Word more than any other part.
But then they also reason thus: Must we not keep the law? Yes. Then we must keep the fourth commandment. Must we break the law? No. Then we must not break the fourth commandment. And the conclusion is, we must keep the seventh day.
Now the folly of all this is that it practically denies the truth of the cross by setting man up in the flesh as alive under the law. It denies the gospel that declares that the believer is dead to the law. It is simply nonsense to speak about one who is dead to the law either keeping it or breaking it. If I am dead to the law, it has nothing to say to me nor I to it. I am not under it, having died to it in the death of Christ who bore its curse for me and thus met all its claims. Thus all this reasoning about keeping or breaking the law is the sheerest folly, and shows utter ignorance of the gospel and of the extent of the redemption accomplished through the death and resurrection of Christ.
But if these people put themselves under the law as alive in the flesh they are under the curse. They are bound to keep the whole law or die. They must keep the law or be cursed by it. There is no middle ground. “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Gal. 3:1010For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. (Galatians 3:10). But blessed be God, there is a way of deliverance. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” “When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Gal. 3:13;4:4-613Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (Galatians 3:13)
4But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:4‑6)). This is deliverance indeed from bondage under the law; and instead of legal bondage it is the holy liberty of the Spirit in the relationship of sons with the Father. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised [circumcision was the door of entrance to Judaism under the law, and if these Seventh Day Adventists were consistent they would also practice circumcision], Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace” (Gal. 6:1-41Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 2Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. 3For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. 4But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. (Galatians 6:1‑4)).
Here, then, we have the dreadful consequences of adopting this legal system. It means giving up the whole ground of the gospel. It means giving up grace, the only principle on which a poor sinner can stand before God.
Brethren, are you ready to give up grace? Are you ready to turn aside to “another gospel,” which is only a system of bondage and of dark uncertainty to all who are in it? If not, I pray you beware of this system which would bring you into bondage and rob you of the holy liberty and power which grace gives, as well as of all present certainty of salvation or possession of eternal life, and which would leave you in darkness and uncertainty until your fate is determined in the day of judgment. May we rather cleave to the blessed gospel of the grace of God which brings present pardon, salvation, life, and peace to all who believe it, and which sets us in the light of God’s presence without a cloud and without a veil, made whiter than snow through the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, which cleanseth us from all sin (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)); and may we walk in the light of that Presence in the power of the Spirit by which we have been anointed and sealed, and by whom the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts in the consciousness of a present and eternal relationship with Him who is both Light and Love.
I have dwelt at length on this question of the Sabbath and the law, because with them it is a cardinal point, in connection with which is bound up the weal or woe of all who hear their testimony. They believe that their testimony is that of the third angel in Revelation 14. All who receive their testimony are sealed with “the seal of the living God” (Rev. 7), and are numbered among the 144,000 who are sealed of the twelve tribes of Israel. And those who refuse their testimony are doomed to the judgment announced by the angel in chapter 14:9-11. The keeping of the seventh day is the seal that marks the faithful. The rest are doomed as the worshipers of the beast. (See “Thoughts, etc., on the Revelation,” by U. Smith.)
Reader, do you not see that this is “another gospel”? a gospel that has no Christ, no Savior in it? a system that must leave the soul barren and cold as an iceberg, as well as destitute of all true knowledge of God?
I had thought to review somewhat in detail their views on the nature of man and kindred questions; but this paper has already grown long, and so I will little more than mention a few points. The mere mention of these will be sufficient to show how gross their doctrines are, and how they belong to the lowest order of materialism.
1. They deny the immortality of the soul. With them the soul is not capable of any distinct or conscious existence apart from the body.
2. They hold that death is “the cessation of existence.” When a man dies his soul dies. In other words, the soul, which is nothing more than the animal life, ceases to exist, and there remains nothing but the body which goes to dust in the grave.
3. It follows, also, that when believers die, there is no intermediate state for the soul between death and resurrection. Every Scripture bearing upon this subject is persistently wrested and tortured in order to set aside its force. When the Lord says: “Fear not them which kill the body, but cannot kill the soul” (Matt. 10:2828And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)), this has no meaning. When He draws aside the veil to reveal the condition of men in the unseen world, after death, where the rich man is seen in hades, in torment, and pleading for a drop of water to cool his tongue, they say it is only a parable! It means nothing! Or, if it mean anything, it is the burning up of the wicked after the resurrection! We may ask, Will the burning up of the wicked take place in hades? They know that the punishment of the wicked after the resurrection is in hell (gehenna, not hades). Besides, the rich man had “five brethren” who had not yet died, and who, he thought, would listen to one who should rise from the dead, showing most clearly that the passage describes a state of existence between death and resurrection. No doubt there are figures of speech in the passage. “Abraham’s bosom,” I suppose, is a figure, as well as the “eyes” and “tongue” and tormenting flame. But one thing is certain; these figures mean something, and they certainly do not mean a state of unconsciousness or non-existence, but the contrary. The parable distinctly teaches a state of blessedness for the righteous and of torment for the wicked, in the unseen world between death and resurrection. Lazarus was “comforted,” the rich man was “tormented.”
Luke 20:3838For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. (Luke 20:38), is also carefully explained away. The Lord had proclaimed Himself “the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”; and Jesus, meeting the Sadducean form of unbelief says, “He is not a God of the dead, but of the living; for all live unto Him.” The Sadducees, like these Adventists, believed that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had no present existence, and they reasoned consistently enough from this that there would be no resurrection. The Lord answered the root of their error. He tells them Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the dead were alive to God, though dead to us. “All live unto Him,” that is, the dead as well as the living. And this was proof of the intermediate state, and also of resurrection to complete the imperfect state existing when the soul is separate from the body. But the Lord’s words are made to mean “all shall live unto Him” as if the blessed Lord knew not how to use words correctly. Will the Adventist correction be accepted? I leave my reader to judge of such folly. But this is not the only instance in which they change the force of words. The Lord says in John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24): “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” This is made to mean that the life is now only in the Son, and that we will get it by and by if found worthy of it. This is a positive denial of the gospel, but in keeping with their doctrine that we get eternal life by keeping the commandments. “There is no other way,” they say. For this they must answer to the Lord Jesus who Himself says “He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life” (John 6:4747Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47)).
Again, when the Lord said to the repentant thief, “Verily, I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise,” they tell us this does not mean that the thief would be with Christ in paradise that day. It only means that the Lord said it that day! Thus they stultify the words of the blessed Lord and make Him use an expression which would falsify the hopes of millions of His people by leading them to suppose that they would not be with Him in paradise as soon as death set the soul free from the body. This may do for those who have a false system that the Word of God must be trimmed to fit: but an honest soul who feels the power of truth shrinks back with horror from such mockery.
In the same heartless way the earnest longings and hopes of the Apostle Paul are treated. They say that when he expressed the “desire to depart, and to be with Christ,” he only meant to depart like Elijah, body and all! Yet he had just spoken of living or dying, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Phil. 1:20-2420According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. 21For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. (Philippians 1:20‑24). But this is no matter. It must be made to square with this evil system. The system must stand though the Word of God be torn to pieces.
Again when Paul says, “Absent from the body... present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:88We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8)), “absent from the body,” is made to mean “absent from this terrestrial existence!” How “the body” can be made to mean “this terrestrial existence” is hard to see. But, perhaps, we only need to be initiated a little more fully into the dark mysteries of Adventism, in order to see it! Yet surely Paul could not have written for those not thus initiated, else he would have used plainer language.
In 2 Corinthians 12, also, where he says “whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth,” they say he only meant he did not know whether he was in his head, or not! This is utter wickedness, and the author of it might well blush for shame at such perversion of God’s Word. If Paul did not know whether he was “in his head, or not,” how could he have known that he had been “caught up to the third heaven,” “into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it was not possible for man to utter”? But why pursue this wretched wresting of the Scriptures and mockery of the hopes and experience of the people of God? Are we prepared for such interpretations? For myself I can only say, I have no language by which I can express my horror of such irreverent and deceitful handling of God’s Word.
4. It is hardly needful to say that they hold the annihilation of the wicked after the resurrection. They believe that the wicked will be raised up and consumed into nonexistence amid the dissolving elements when the earth is destroyed. On this point the Scriptures again are tortured in the same ruthless way that we have already seen.
5. After all this it would be strange if the atoning work of the Lord Jesus were not directly attacked. And this we find to be the case. In Lev. 16 we have in type the great atoning work of Christ. Among other things in that chapter, we find two goats were chosen-one whose blood was shed to make propitiation before Jehovah, and the other to bear away the sins of the people. The latter was called the “scapegoat.” Both were types of the Lord Jesus; one as making propitiation, according to Romans 3:2525Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:25), “whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood”; the other as the sin-bearing Substitute, according to Romans 4:2525Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25), “Who was delivered for our offenses,” and 1 Peter 2:2424Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24), “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.”
Now these Adventists make Satan to be the scapegoat; and thus one most blessed aspect of the Lord’s atoning work is attributed to Satan, and the blessed Lord is robbed of one half of His glory.
Their theory is this: there is a sanctuary in heaven like the one that was on earth, to which all the sins of God’s people are being transferred, and where they have been accumulating for ages past. This sanctuary is to be cleansed. In fact, they believe the cleansing began in the year 1844, and must be nearly completed. These sins will all be removed from the sanctuary and laid upon Satan as the scapegoat at the coming of the Lord, when the wicked will be “given to the slaughter and their putrefying flesh and bleaching bones lie unburied, ungathered and unlamented, from one end of the earth to the other end thereof.” The earth will then be a scene of desolation where Satan will be confined a thousand years.
I will quote from “Thoughts, etc., on the Revelation,” page 779. “We behold in the type: 1. The sin of the transgressor imparted to the victim. 2. We see that sin borne by the ministration of the priest, and the blood of the offering into the sanctuary. 3. On the tenth day of the seventh month we see the priest with the blood of the sin offering for the people, remove all their sins from the sanctuary and lay them upon the head of the scapegoat. 4. The goat bears them away into a land not inhabited.
“Answering to these events in the type, we behold in the antitype: 1. The great offering for the world, made on Calvary. 2. The sins of all those who avail themselves of the merits of Christ’s shed blood, by faith in Him, borne, by the ministration of Christ while pleading His own blood, into the new covenant sanctuary. 3. After Christ, the minister of the true tabernacle (Heb. 8:22A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. (Hebrews 8:2)), has finished this ministration, He will remove the sins of His people from the sanctuary, and lay them upon the head of their author, the antitypical scapegoat, the devil. 4. The devil will be sent away with them into a land not inhabited.”
Such is their theory as to the cleansing of the sanctuary, and the bearing of sins by the scapegoat. According to this the work of atonement is not yet complete. It was only on the day of atonement that the high priest entered the holiest, and so according to their theory Christ could not have entered the holiest till 1844. The whole thing is a horrid absurdity, denying the finished work of the Lord Jesus. Hebrews 10 shows us that the way was opened into the holiest by the death of Jesus, and that for eighteen hundred years the saints have had access into the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus. But this is completely denied by the system we have been examining.
6. The reader will scarcely be surprised now when told that these Adventists deny the eternity of the Son of God. In the late discussion, Mr. M. was forced to say that the Son of God had a beginning. He said He was God, because God was His Father, but He was the Son-God, not the Father-God. And when He expired on the cross, the divine part died as well as the human. He ceased to exist save that flesh that was nailed to the cross. Thus they bring another Christ than the Christ of God, a Christ that will fit their system.
7. One point more I will mention. In the discussion already referred to, it was said, “The thing that was made in the image of God was dust”; and again, “the thing that was made in the image of God had blood.” Mr. M. was then charged with holding that God had a body which was dust, and which had blood, and was asked to correct it, if the charge was wrong. It was neither denied nor corrected. Thus they have another God, as well as another Christ and another gospel, and the whole fabric of truth is gone.
Need more be said to show the wickedness and blasphemy of such a system? I leave it to the reader to judge of its character. Surely, every right-minded Christian must turn away from it with horror, avoiding the snare that is spread to catch the unwary. I trust the snare has been uncovered and that none who see it shall be taken in its toils. Let the reader ponder the words of Paul in 2 Tim. 3:8,98Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. 9But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. (2 Timothy 3:8‑9), “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.” The whole movement is distinctly of the enemy, and not of God. Such is the deeply rooted conviction of the writer of this paper.