Seventh Day Adventists and the Sabbath

BY THE LATE REV. WALTER SCOTT, CHESLEY,
ONTARIO.

1. Adventists say, God “blessed the seventh day,” but when they represent these words as quoted from the Fourth Commandment, they are incorrect. The language there is—”God blessed the Sabbath Day and hallowed it.” Nor does the Commandment say, Remember the Seventh Day, but “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.” This is important on account of the change in view; else, as the Apostle takes notice, “would He not afterward have spoken of another day?”

2. The Feast of Tabernacles was appointed to be observed for seven days: The first day, God said, was to be a Sabbath, and the eighth day was to be a Sabbath: that is, the first day of the succeeding week, which is the Christian Sabbath. And we find from the New Testament that God so blessed the Sabbath on the first day of the week, that this, the last, was “the great day of the feast” (John vii. 37).

3. At the institution of the Passover, God changed the beginning of the year to the Israelites: the seventh became the first month. This was typical. So when Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us, the beginning of the week was changed to the Christians: the seventh day was exchanged for the first.

4. Adventists refer to the connection of the Seventh Day with the completion of creation. But they ignore the fact that Christ, who claims to be Lord also of the Sabbath, has said—”Behold I make all things new.” On the First Day of the week, a much more glorious work was finished: hence the Christian Sabbath, or Lord’s Day, which celebrates the new creation.

5. The Psalmist rejoiced to see this New Testament Day in honour of our Lord’s resurrection; and he saw it and was glad. As Christ himself showed, it was of Christ’s resurrection day the Psalmist spoke when he said:—”This is the day which the Lord hath made.” And speaking for the Church to the end of time, he adds—”We will rejoice and be glad in it”—that is, in the Lord’s Day—the day on which Christ, as the stone which the builders rejected, was declared to be the headstone of the corner, by the resurrection from the dead (Psalm cxviii. 24).

6. Many do not know that in the Gospels, in the original Greek, the first day of the week is designated “the first of the Sabbaths.” Any one, by referring to a Greek Testament, may verify this. Take as an example, Matt. xxviii. 1. Literally translated, this verse reads thus:—”In the end of the Sabbaths, as it began to dawn toward the First of the Sabbaths.” That seems plain enough; its significance seems equally plain to any one open to the truth, the meaning being—”In the end of the Jewish or seventh day Sabbaths, as it began to dawn towards the first of the Christian Sabbaths.”

7. All these things explain the conclusive fact that after His resurrection, it was on the first day of the week that Christ met with His disciples (John xx. 19-26). Here we are informed that He appeared twice to His disciples on the first day of the week. When He ascended to heaven it was on the first day of the week that He poured out His Spirit in a remarkable manner. Moreover, it was the first day of the week which the Apostles and first Christians observed above every other day for the special worship of God (Acts xx. 7). From this it appears that it was customary for the disciples to “come together” on that day (verse 6), where we are informed the Apostle abode with them seven days. It is not said, however, that He was with them in a church capacity on any of these days, but on the First Day of the week; thus it is expressly stated that it was on the First Day of the week that Paul preached to the disciples assembled at Troas. How can we explain the first day thus singled out and especially mentioned in such connections if not to distinguish it from the seventh day as the Christian Sabbath? The same Apostle directed the Corinthian Church to prepare the collection for the saints against the first day of the week. And it is this day in which John, in the Book of Revelation, tells us he “was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day,” by which it appears that the first day of the week was universally known among Christians under that designation.