11.8.08
SABBATH REFORM
430 years is a long
time. A lot can happen in 430 years,
when your great-great-grandfather is finally laid to rest, and your
great-great-grandmother follows close behind.
And little by little through the years, one by one the pillars of faith
are removed from your life. And with
them go the distinctive teachings of Almighty God. 430 years is a long time. And a lot can happen in 430 years.
We don’t know exactly when,
but not too terribly long after the Pharaoh of Joseph’s time, there arose
another Pharaoh WHO KNEW NOT THE GOD OF ISRAEL, AND KNEW NOT JOSEPH.
And this new pharaoh looked
at the vast numbers of Israelites, and he became nervous. So he decided that he would make SLAVES out
of the people of
Now, people created in the
image of God were never meant to be SLAVES of anyone, let alone a heathen
nation. So this was odd; this was a
STRANGE situation in which God’s people found themselves.
For several centuries the
people of God endured the rigors of slavery.
And as generation after generation passed, they FORGOT that they were
God’s possession. They FORGOT that they
were called by HIS NAME. They FORGOT
that they were made in HIS IMAGE. They
FORGOT about the sacredness of the Sabbath, because it became just another work
day; just another day of slavery in the hot sun; just another day to try to
survive.
Fast forward to the time of
Moses, and the deliverance of God’s people.
God sends a humbled, meek Moses back to
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to
Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he
will drive them out of his land.”
2 And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am
the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God
Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them. 4 I
have also established My covenant with them, to give them the
God was in the business of
RESCUING HIS PEOPLE from slavery, from anguish of spirit, from despair, from
bondage. It was REDEMPTION in action.
The Lord God afflicts
At last God’s people are set
free from bondage, and they are free.
Then they come to a very large OBSTACLE in their path of freedom. And Pharaoh hardens his heart, and pursues
them. GOD INTERVENES between His people
and the Egyptian army. GOD ONCE AGAIN
PROVIDES A MIRACLE TO BRING FREEDOM TO HIS PEOPLE: HE PARTS THE
The song of Moses is
meaningful, because in it the true gratitude of Moses for God’s deliverance is
expressed:
Then Moses and the children of
“I will sing to the LORD,
For He has triumphed gloriously!
The horse and its rider
He has thrown into the sea!
2 The LORD is my
strength and song,
And He has become my salvation;
He is my God, and I will praise Him;
My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
3
The LORD is a man of war;
The LORD is His name.
4
Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea;
His chosen captains also are drowned in the
Exodus
15:1-4
IT IS COMPLETE AND UTTER
DELIVERANCE THAT GOD HAS PROVIDED FOR HIS PEOPLE! He leads them safely out of bondage in
I say REMIND because there wasn’t
really anything new in the Ten Commandments. Their forefathers had been taught for years
about right and wrong; about true and false worship; about the dangers of idol
worship; about the sacredness of the Sabbath, etc.
God DELIVERS His people out of
the servitude of man, and into the service of the living God. They had forgotten what it meant to be a
God-follower. So God had to REMIND
them. They needed, at this time, to
REMEMBER the ways of righteousness; the ways of God; the lifestyle that pleased
God.
Turn with me to the fourth
commandment, in Exodus 20:8-11.
Remember the
Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it
you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male
servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is
within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the
earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.
Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Exodus 20:8-11
REMEMBER.
REMEMBER.
REMEMBER.
REMEMBER THAT I HAVE SAVED
YOU. REMEMBER THAT I HAVE DELIVERED YOU
FROM YOUR ENEMIES. REMEMBER THAT I HAVE
RESCUED YOU FROM BONDAGE, FROM SLAVERY, FROM CALAMITY, FROM DESPAIR. REMEMBER THAT I AM YOUR GOD—I ALONE CAN HELP
YOU—I ALONE DESERVE YOUR COMPLETE LOYALTY AND WORSHIP.
The Sabbath is about
DELIVERANCE. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made
for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27
No work is to be done. God delivers us from the need to work and to
support ourselves, on the Sabbath.
The Sabbath draws us into a close
relationship with our Creator. The
Sabbath brings deliverance and healing into our lives, because we are OPEN to
God, and GOD IS PRESENT in a powerful way on Sabbath, like no other day. He has FILLED the Sabbath with His presence
and power. You can’t say that for any
other day of the week. IF YOU MISS OUT
ON SABBATH, YOU’VE MISSED OUT ON GOD!!
ALL THAT DELIVERANCE, ALL THAT POWER, ALL THAT PRESENCE, ALL THAT
HEALING—YOU MISSED OUT ON IT, BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T ENTER IN WITH GOD ON HIS DAY!
Time and time again throughout
the years, God’s people would neglect the Sabbath; they would disrespect the
sacredness of the Sabbath; and their relationship with God would suffer,
sometimes forever.
And God called His people back to
Him. Because He was not able to bless
them, to bless their efforts, when they were desecrating His Sabbath. And when God called His people back to
Himself, He called them back to the deliverance available only through the
Sabbath experience.
And I
commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should
go and guard the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath
day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the
greatness of Your mercy! Nehemiah 13:22
Blessed is
the man who does this, And the son of man who lays hold on it; Who keeps from
defiling the Sabbath, And keeps
his hand from doing any evil.” Isaiah
56:2
“Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the LORD, to
serve Him, And to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants— Everyone who
keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant.” Isaiah 56:6
“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,
From doing your pleasure on My holy
day,
And call the Sabbath a delight,
The holy day of the LORD honorable,
And shall honor Him, not doing your own
ways,
Nor finding your own pleasure,
Nor speaking your own words,
Then you shall delight yourself in the
LORD;
And I will cause you to ride on the high
hills of the earth,
And feed you with the heritage of Jacob
your father.
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.” Isaiah 58:13, 14
God won’t turn
our feet away from doing our own thing on Sabbath. The Bible says that WE have to turn our own
feet away from doing our own pleasure.
It’s our choice. Nobody’s putting
a gun to our heads. Do we want to honor
God and get close to Him, or not?
‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of
When His people responded to
His invitation to enter in again to the relationship with Him, through the
Sabbath experience, they were blessed.
When they put aside their worries, and relied fully on God and His
power, they no longer needed to work for a living on God’s sacred day.
They learned that GOD IS
BIGGER THAN OUR PROBLEMS. GOD IS BIGGER
THAN OUR INCOME SHORTAGE. AND HE IS
QUITE ABLE TO GET US ANOTHER JOB, IF OUR CURRENT JOB WON’T ALLOW US TO HAVE
SABBATH OFF!
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who
called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a
people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now
have obtained mercy.
1 Peter 2:9, 10
Once again, God has rescued
us from an evil situation. He has
rescued us from bondage, from slavery to sin.
He has done this through HIS SON—THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
We are a
We are God’s own special
people, and we have the privilege of SHINING in this dark world. And it is now going to become darker and more
evil, more sin-loving than we have ever seen it. We are really in for it. It’s a real OPPORTUNITY to LIVE OUT God’s
principles—God’s teachings—in such a way that the people around us NOTICE A
DIFFERENCE—A REAL DIFFERENCE in the way we live—the way we eat, the way we
recreate, the way we spend our time, the places we go, the way we dress, the
way we worship. THERE OUGHT TO BE A REAL
DIFFERENCE IN THE PEOPLE OF GOD THESE DAYS—AND THERE’S NOT!!
That has to change. God wants the people of this world to know
that He has something better to offer them.
We can be a part of that. We don’t
have to be afraid to be different. As
the world around us becomes darker, our actions and behavior will be noticeably
different—even the little things we do will be different. That’s good, because people are curious by
nature, and they will ask questions.
This gives us an opportunity to explain why we do what we do. THUS, THE LIGHT BREAKS INTO THE DARKNESS,
JUST LIKE THAT . . .
Deliverance. It’s about deliverance. It has always been about deliverance. Deliverance from bondage. THERE IS STILL POWER AVAILABLE ON THE SABBATH
TO HEAL, TO RESTORE, TO MAKE NEW, TO REJUVENATE, TO EMPOWER US.
We shortchange ourselves when
we do not keep the Sabbath holy; when we do other things that detract from the
Sabbath experience, like work, athletic events as a partaker or a
spectator. These things are all very
good and they have their place—in the other six days of the week.
Today God is calling us to
leave behind the activities that desecrate His Sabbath. He is asking us to stop buying things on the
Sabbath. He is asking us to stop
watching the football games on the Sabbath.
He is asking us to have enough faith in Him to stop working on the
Sabbath—to explain to our bosses that this is the Sabbath of the Lord, and we
can’t work on it, and let the chips fall where they may. God is calling us to refrain from going to
athletic events on His Sabbath. He’s
calling us to refrain from going to restaurants on Sabbath, like the rest of
the world does. God is calling us to be
done with these things, and He’s watching to see if we are serious about
following Him.
The Sabbath, God says, is a
SIGN of His sanctifying POWER for His people.
“Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them
and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.” Ezekiel 20:12
That sanctifying
power of God is available in a special way on the Sabbath, and when we busy
ourselves with other activities, WE MISS OUT ON THIS SANCTIFYING PROCESS; GOD
WANTS TO MOLD US, TO CHANGE US, TO TRANSFORM US INTO HIS LIKENESS, BUT HE
CANNOT DO IT IF WE ARE DESECRATING HIS SABBATH, AND IGNORING HIM ON HIS
SABBATH. THE SABBATH IS GOD’S SPECIAL
APPOINTMENT WITH US.
Isaiah tells us
plainly in chapter 58 of his book, that we should not allow our feet to seek
our own pleasure on the Sabbath. We are
to delight in the Sabbath experience. We
are to honor it, to safeguard it. We are
to seek HIS WAYS, not our own ways, on the Sabbath. Then he promises us that if we do this, God
will cause us to ride on the high hills; He will truly bless us.
True REFORM
throughout history has involved a returning to SABBATH SACREDNESS. This is true for
This is exactly
how our church—the
Sabbath Reform is
important, not only because WE DESPERATELY NEED THE LORD AND HIS HEALING POWER,
but also because GOD CANNOT BLESS OUR EFFORTS UNLESS WE ARE TAKING HIM
SERIOUSLY; UNLESS WE ARE ENTERING IN WITH HIM TO THE SACREDNESS OF THE SABBATH,
WHICH HE GIVES TO US.
The implications
of these truths are immense. First the
personal impact of not keeping the Sabbath holy, and taking it seriously:
If we are in the
habit of working on the Sabbath, watching games on the Sabbath, and basically
being careless about the Sabbath, WE ARE SETTING OURSELVES UP FOR THE MARK OF
THE BEAST.
SATAN WANTS US TO
BE FLIPPANT OR CARELESS ABOUT THE SABBATH.
WHEN THE TRUE ISSUES OF WORSHIP SURROUNDING THE SABBATH BECOME FULLY
KNOWN BY THE WORLD, AND THE THREAT OF DEATH OR IMPRISONMENT IS ISSUED FOR THOSE
WHO OBSERVE THE SABBATH, IT WILL NOT BE HARD FOR US TO GO ALONG WITH THE LAWS
OF THE LAND, BECAUSE THE SABBATH HAS NEVER BEEN A REAL ISSUE, A REAL EXPERIENCE
FOR US. WE WILL RECEIVE THE MARK OF THE
BEAST, AND BE LOST FOREVER, DUE TO NEGLECT—NOT DUE TO LACK OF KNOWLEDGE.
The corporate
impact of not keeping the Sabbath holy, and God intended, are equally profound.
GOD CANNOT, AND
WILL NOT BLESS A CHURCH THAT DOES NOT OBEY HIM, AND KEEP THE SABBATH HOLY. HE WILL NOT BRING NEW MEMBERS INTO A CHURCH
THAT IS IN OPEN SIN BEFORE HIM. SUCH A
CHURCH IS
True Reform.
Are we open to
it? Many of God’s people are currently
in Laodicea, and have no clue that they are wretched, and miserable, and in
need of spiritual vision and spiritual healing.
God is looking
for a people who will thrive in His Word and in His presence. He is looking for a people who are
reform-minded and who take Him seriously.
When you love God, it’s not hard to keep His Sabbath holy. The Holy Spirit will lead you and show you
just what to do on His day. He will lead
you to talk to people about the Lord and His ways. He will lead you to read and study the Word
of God, and to feast on the incredible insights that are in the Bible. He will lead you to pray on Sabbath, to walk
outside and learn from the book of nature.
He will lead every one of us on the Sabbath, if we are willing to be
led.
I saw that we sensed and realized but little of the importance of the Sabbath,
to what we yet should realize and know of its importance and glory. I saw we
knew not what it was yet to ride upon the high places of the earth and to be
fed with the heritage of Jacob. But when the refreshing and latter rain shall
come from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power, we shall know
what it is to be fed with the heritage of Jacob and ride upon the high places
of the earth. Then shall we see the Sabbath more in its importance and glory.
{3SM 388.1}
But
we shall not see it in all its glory and importance until the covenant of peace
is made with us at the voice of God, and the pearly gates of the New Jerusalem
are thrown open and swing back on their glittering hinges, and the glad and
joyful voice of the lovely Jesus is heard richer than any music that ever fell
on mortal ear bidding us enter.--Letter 3, 1851.
We
must take a firm stand that we will not reverence the first day of the week as
the Sabbath, for it is not the day that was blessed and sanctified by Jehovah,
and in reverencing Sunday we should place ourselves on the side of the great
deceiver. The controversy of the Sabbath will open the subject to the people,
and an opportunity will be given that the claims of the genuine Sabbath may be
presented. . . . {3SM 388.3}
The
God-fearing, commandment-keeping people should be diligent, not only in prayer,
but in action, and this will bring the truth before those who have never heard
it. . . . {3SM 388.4}
When
the law of God has been made void, and apostasy becomes a national sin, the
Lord will work in behalf of His people. Their extremity will be His
opportunity. He will manifest His power in behalf of His church. . . .
There
is now need of earnest working men and women who will seek for the salvation of
souls, for Satan as a powerful general has taken the field, and in this last
remnant of time he is working through all conceivable methods to close the door
against light that God would have come to His people. He is sweeping the whole
world into his ranks, and the few who are faithful to God’s requirements are
the only ones who can ever withstand him, and even these he is trying to
overcome. . . . {3SM 389.3}
Go
to God for yourselves; pray for divine enlightenment, that you may know that
you do know what is truth, that when the wonderful miracle-working power shall
be displayed, and the enemy shall come as an angel of light, you may
distinguish between the genuine work of God and the imitative work or the
powers of darkness. . . . {3SM 389.4}
A
world is to be warned, and when the third angel’s message goes forth with a
loud cry, minds will be fully prepared to make decisions for or against the
truth. The great change is to be made by Satan and his evil angels, united with
evil men who will fix their destiny by making void the law of God in the face
of convincing evidence from His Word that it is unchangeable and eternal. {3SM
389.5}
Never need anyone fear that
observance of the true Sabbath will result in starvation. [Isa. 58:11, 12;
Prov. 7:2; Isa. 58:14.] These promises are a sufficient answer to all the
excuses that man may invent for refusing to keep the Sabbath. Even if, after
beginning to keep God’s law, it seems impossible to support one’s family, let
every doubting soul realize that God has promised to care for those who obey
His commandments.--Manuscript 116, 1902. {Ev 240.1}
Others who are well
acquainted with the Bible evidences that the seventh day is the Sabbath, enter
into partnership with men who have no respect for God’s holy day. A
Sabbathkeeper cannot allow men in his employ, paid by his money, to work on the
Sabbath. If, for the sake of gain, he allows the business in which he has an
interest to be carried on on the Sabbath by his unbelieving partner, he is
equally guilty with the unbeliever; and it is his duty to dissolve the
relation, however much he may lose by so doing. Men may think they cannot
afford to obey God, but they cannot afford to disobey Him. Those who are
careless in their observance of the Sabbath will suffer great loss.-- Review
and Herald, March 18, 1884. {Ev 245.2}
The Lord would have the
subjects of His kingdom represent the character of their Sovereign. His
commandments are not left for man to trim down to suit his ideas or his
convenience. God’s great moral standard is His ten precepts, the foundation of
the faith of prophets and apostles. The Sabbath is the great test question, and
He has made precious promises to those who keep His Sabbath from polluting it.
His infinite wisdom and power and love are engaged in our behalf. The heavenly
host are registering our names as among the loyal and the true. It is safe
always to be on the Lord’s side, and by faith to commit our whole interest,
temporal and eternal, into the hands of Him who reigns over all in heaven and
on earth. {2MR 119.2}
Those
who, from whatever cause, are obliged to work on the Sabbath, are always in
peril; they feel the loss, and from doing works of necessity, they fall into
the habit of doing things on the Sabbath that are not necessary. The sense of
its sacredness is lost, and the holy commandment is of no effect. A special
effort should be made to bring about a reform in regard to Sabbath observance.
The workers in the sanitarium do not always do for themselves what is their
privilege and duty. Often they feel so weary that they become demoralized. This
should not be. The soul can be rich in grace only as it shall abide in the
presence of God. . . . {MM 215.3}
If
the rush of work is allowed to drive us from our purpose of seeking the Lord
daily, we shall make the greatest mistakes; we shall incur losses, for the Lord
is not with us. We have closed the door so that He cannot find access to our
souls. But if we pray, even when our hands are employed, the Saviour’s ear is
open to hear our petitions. . . . God takes care of you in the place where it
is your duty to be. But be sure, as often as possible, to go where prayer is
wont to be made.--C.H. 422-424. {MM 216.1}
God
is merciful. His requirements are reasonable, in accordance with the goodness
and benevolence of his character. He claims the Sabbath as his own, and will
not let his blessing rest upon those who disregard his holy day; yet the
Sabbath institution was designed as a blessing to mankind. Man was not made to
fit the Sabbath; the Sabbath was made after his creation, to meet the
necessities of his nature. The Sabbath should stand before the people in its
moral power, answering its original design--to keep in remembrance the living
God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. But the Sabbath has been treated
with great disrespect. Men have dared to detract from its dignity; they have
ventured to remove the sanctity placed upon it by the Creator himself. {ST, May
13, 1886 par. 12}
Temporal
affairs must come under divine restrictions. The Sabbath is not to be moulded
to meet men’s business arrangements, but business affairs are to be arranged to
meet God’s great standard of righteousness. But the god of this world has
confused the minds of many on this subject. They need to come into the divine
presence, and listen to the voice of the great I AM. {ST, May 13, 1886 par. 13}
We Should Expect That Jobs
Might Be Lost for the Sake of Jesus, and His Sabbath
We are commanded to "do
good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of
faith." Galatians 6:10. In our benevolent work special help should be
given to those who, through the presentation of the truth, are convicted and
converted. We must have a care for those who have the moral courage to accept
the truth, who lose their situations in consequence, and are refused work by
which to support their families. Provision should be made to aid the worthy
poor and to furnish employment for those who love God and keep His
commandments. They should not be left without help, to feel that they are
forced to work on the Sabbath or starve. Those who take their position on the
Lord’s side are to see in Seventh-day Adventists a warmhearted, self-denying,
self-sacrificing people, who cheerfully and gladly minister to their brethren
in need. It is of this class especially that the Lord speaks when He says:
"Bring the poor that are cast out to thy house." Isaiah 58:7. {6T
85.1}