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 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 doth 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 wast 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 anything 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 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 thine hand, and for a memorial between thine 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 signs and rites of the Jews, and as such it has passed away.
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. 31:16, 17).” While the word “forever,” speaking of spiritual things and of future destinies, etc., means unending, 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 the body of Christ” (Col. 2:16, 17). Let no man judge you by the laws of that code which had served its time and purpose, and vanished away. The laws respecting meats are no longer to be bound upon our consciences, neither “holy day,” law feast-days, etc., nor yet monthly feasts determined by the moon; yea, and let no man judge you of the “sabbath-days.” These “sabbath-days” cannot be specially referred to annual or monthly sabbaths, for such are included in the former specifications. They must, therefore, have special reference to the round of weekly Sabbaths. They are all nailed to the cross and taken away.
The Sabbath was a “shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ”; that is, it had typical reference to things “of Christ.” So we see that the Sabbath was an exact parallel of the Passover. Both were signs between God and the Jews; both were memorials of the deliverance out of Egypt; both pointed forward to Christ; and both have met their antitype and passed away. The Passover foreshadowed the offering of the body of Christ upon the cross. Of what was the Sabbath a shadow? Its distinguishing feature was rest, absolute cessation from labor. And just as certainly as “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us,” Christ is our rest. Hear his gracious words: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest…And ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matt. 11:28, 29). This beautiful rest in Christ will be more fully considered further on. There is scarcely an important item in the entire law system that does not shadow some fact in the plan of salvation.
Just as all works were peremptorily excluded on that Sabbath, so must men utterly cease from their own works in taking Christ our rest. The law said, “Do no work, but rest and live.” The gospel says, “Believe in God, without bringing a single meritorious work, and in Christ you shall find rest, and your soul shall live.” And even more certain than the penalty of death for Sabbath work is death to the soul that would seek or maintain justification before God on the ground of good works.
Yes, “the sabbath-days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [the substance] is of Christ.” This inspired testimony is true. The Sabbath was a striking shadow of a condition in our salvation, and, with all other types and shadows, passed away when the type met its antitype—when Christ our salvation appeared.
Under this head, “The Old Sabbath Repealed,” we now, with the weapons of truth, attack and demolish one of the strongholds of the law-wrangling sect; namely, the relation of the Sabbath to creation. “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed” (Exod. 31:17). Along with the other memorial and typical elements of the Sabbatic institution, it was commemorative of the work of creation. Upon this fact Adventists base an argument that it was universal, for all mankind. But we accept the uniform statements of Jehovah that he gave that Sabbath law exclusively to the Israelites through their generations, as an all-sufficient refutation of this argument.
Again, Adventists tell us that the Sabbath’s being commemorative of creation proves it unchangeable. They quote Alexander Campbell as saying that before God could change the day of the Sabbath he would have to make a new creation. Such talk is very natural, and doubtless very plausible with the wisdom of this world; but to the spiritual it only betrays spiritual ignorance. Salvation would reveal to such reasoners that a “new creation” has indeed taken place. Accordingly, we read, “The first man Adam was made a quickening spirit” (1 Côr. 15:45).
Two Adams suggest a new creation. The first man Adam was the head of the original creation of God; but falling into sin, his race became disqualified for the lofty end of their existence. But in due time appears another, an “heavenly” Adam, a “quickening spirit,” the life-giving power of God. He defeats Satan and sin, and works a new creation. As the first Adam stands at the head of the spoiled creation, so the second Adam heads a new creation. All in this new creation are of heavenly character.
How did we come into the creation headed by the first Adam? By natural birth. How do we enter the new and heavenly race? By being “born again.” “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” This was an incomprehensible mystery to Nicodemus, and it is not better known by the earthly today. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them.” John testifies that “as many as received him [Jesus] ““were born…of God” (John 1:12, 13). “Being born again” is the testimony of 1 Pet. 1:23. John gives us the heavenly character of all who are thus inducted into the new creation. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9). Lest some might conclude that John had drawn the standard too high, he repeats with an emphasized assurance, “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and the wicked one toucheth him not” (1 John 5:18).
Comparing their own lives with this standard, the Adventists, Russellites, and other modern legalists found themselves far beneath it. Therefore they have concluded and do teach that only spiritual conception takes place, and that in the resurrection, or in some other event of the future, the birth will take place. This is another new doctrine of devils. Both John and Peter in the passages quoted above testify that the birth has taken place in all who believe in Christ.
“Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures” (Jas. 1:18). The apostles, having been begotten of God, were a kind of first-fruits of his creatures—first in the new creation. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:…And all things are of God”
(2 Cor. 5:17, 18). Five different translations render, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” “So that if any one be in Christ there is a new creation.”
A wonderful fact. As God created the physical world himself, without the aid of creatures, so, we are told, in “the new creation” “all things are of God.” “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Eph. 2:10). God first created man in his own image; and “the new man, which is after God [after the pattern of his moral image] is [again] created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. 4:24). In Col. 3:10 we are plainly told that the new creation restores the soul to the image of the Creator. “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision but a new creature” (Gal. 6:15). By seven translations it is very properly translated, “A new creation.”
In many places redemption is compared to the creation. Take, for instance, the creation of light. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).
They who are of the first Adam are earthly; they of the second Adam are heavenly. The law, including the seventh day, was not given for the righteous, but for the ungodly, the earthly. Will God translate us from the earthly into the heavenly and yet leave us under the Sabbath that was made for the earthly? How utterly ridiculous the idea that the second Adam should come into this sin-lost world, start a new creation, and leave us under a Sabbath that identifies us with the fallen Adam and the world that lieth in iniquity!
Behold the striking analogy. When God completed the work of creation, “he rested from his labors, and was refreshed.” And twenty-five hundred years later, when he saw fit to command a day of utter abstinence from labor, he chose that day which commemorated the finishing of creation, so that in its observance the children of Israel not only commemorated the miraculous hand of God which had brought them out of Egypt, but also kept before their eyes the fact that God is the Creator of all things. Such a remembrancer was needed by a people only born after the flesh, and who were soon to enter a land flooded with gross idolatry, where God was not known as the Creator. But how ridiculous the idea that redeemed and illuminated Christians, who know God, even the one true and living God, need a Sabbath to keep them from deifying some other object besides the Creator.
The seventh-day Sabbath, therefore, embodied no element that made it unchangeable and unrepealable. It was a positive statute, created wholly by the decree of the divine Law-giver, and was therefore subject to removal by his decree. when. with the rest of the code in which it was embodied, it had served its time and object, and when God moved forward in the order of his plan, and the new dispensation and creation sprang forth. It was a sign that God had sanctified Israel, that is, separated them from the heathen nations. It was a sign or memorial of that nation’s deliverance out of Egypt, and it passed away when that nation forfeited their place as the chosen people of God, soon to be dispersed again among all nations. It was a shadow of things to come and was nailed to the cross with all the other shadows and types. It was a part of the covenant written on stone; and the New Testament teaches in the most positive manner, and by a large number of passages, that that covenant was abolished; that Christ himself, the mediator of the new testament, took away the first that he might establish the second. Therefore it not only was repealable, but actually was repealed by authority of Him who has all power in heaven and earth; and in so doing he showed that he is “lord of the Sabbath also.”
And should any law-teacher attempt to argue that the Sabbath of the Jews survived that Sinaitic law because it was introduced before the general giving of the law, as seen in Exodus 16, we answer, So was the Passover instituted prior to the ministration of the law on Sinai, even before Israel came out of Egypt (Exodus 12), and yet it passed away with the death of the first covenant and its shadows. It and its sister “sign,” the Sabbath, were both incorporated in the law system given on Sinai, and both passed away with it. The old Sabbath, then, is dead and gone. And is there any occasion for mourning over its decease? Have we lost anything in the death and decay of the old covenant, since Christ is the “mediator of a better covenant, established upon better promises”? Is there anything mournful in the death of that “wherein we [the Jews] were held,” since we are married to Christ?
Those desiring to be teachers of the law now tell us that “we are not under the law, only in the sense that we obey the law, and therefore do not come under its condemnations.” How directly this conflicts with the Word of God. It teaches that we are “not under the law,” and are “delivered from the law,” just as a woman is no longer under the obligations of the marriage covenant after her husband is dead. The law that bound her in obedience has passed away. “She is freed from that law.” His lips are silent. He issues no commands; she obeys none from him. Thus, by the plain illustration God teaches us that the converted Jew is not under the law, nor under obligations to obey it.
All chapters from The Sabbath and the Lord’s Day.
The Sabbath and the Lord’s Day. By H. M. Riggle, 1922. Life Assurance Ministries, Inc.
- The Sabbath and the Lord’s Day - October 2, 2021
- 27. Sunday-Keeping is Not the Mark of the Beast - July 8, 2020
- 26. The Pope and the Sabbath - July 2, 2020