Luke 21:8

Christian, Be Not Deceived!

CHAPTER XI.

THE SABBATH—THE "SIGN" BETWEEN GOD AND SPIRITUAL ISRAEL—IS A SPIRITUAL INSTITUTION.

The Third Angel's Message is a call from the Lord Jesus Christ to His people to show their loyalty to Him by obedience to all His Commandments. The Sabbath is the "sign" of this obedience. The Scriptures teach that when the seventh-day Sabbath is faithfully observed it is proof that the heart is spiritually united to Christ. "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 for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed." Ex. 31:13-17; Ezek. 20:12, 20; Rev. 7:1-4, etc. In the Scriptures the Sabbath is in- separable from the sanctuary. Lev. 19:30; 26:2; Rev. 1:10, etc. The books of the Bible particularly explaining the sanctuary and its services, invariably mention the Sabbath. In this connection study Heb. 4 and 10:25; Rev. 1:10 and its contexts, etc.

When God's last-day Message brought light concerning the ministry of Jesus in the "true tabernacle which the Lord pitched," it also brought light concerning the importance of the Sabbath in the plan of God. The Third Angel's Message is based upon the spiritual interpretations of the typical services of ancient Israel. The Lord and His Sabbath were the central features of the Old Testament; they are also the central features in the New Testament. In the Book of Revelation, a solemn warning is sounded against "the mark of the beast" (Rev. 13:17, etc.), which is Satan's counterfeit of "the seal of God." Rev. 7:2-4. Both are spiritual signs or marks: one the sign of loyalty to God, the other the sign of disloyalty to God. In picturing the scenes of "the final conflict," John applies terms familiar in the history of ancient Israel to describe spiritual Israel; and her enemies are designated by terms only understood because of their opposition to Israel—hence "the mark of the beast" is mentioned only because it is the spiritual counterfeit of the "sign" (the Sabbath) between God and His people.

Israel's literal deliverance from 'the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" (Ex. 20:2, etc.), was typical of the spiritual deliverance from Satan's kingdom of bondage. Sabbath-keeping was a sign of gratitude for the deliverance God had wrought. Deut. 5:12-16. Spiritual Israel observes the Sabbath as a "sign" of deliverance and sanctification. Ex. 31:13.

The Sabbath was not intended to be confined to Palestine, but being a spiritual institution, it is for all time, and for all people. See Mark 2:27, 28; Isa. 66:22, 23. By its very nature it must be as universal, and as enduring as the unseen things, which are eternal. 2 Cor. 4:18. Time is both intangible and universal. The seventh day, continually recurring in our material existence, lifts our minds beyond the things of sense, to the invisible Creator of all. This invisible memorial of the Creator's power and goodness appeals to our spirituality. It is presented as the crucial test of obedience to the spiritual. By observing the Sabbath, we subordinate the demands of the material world to those of the invisible and spiritual.

Grasping after material things will not satisfy the craving for the spiritual which God, the infinite Spirit, has placed within us. While there is a fever for material things, there will be unrest of heart and mind. The Israelites established their hopes upon material things, and could not enter into God's "rest." In Hebrews 3 and 4 Paul shows the relationship between Sabbath observance, present spiritual rest, and eternal rest. Journeying to the promised land, the Israelites looked forward to a physical rest from the toils of the pilgrimage and the trials of the desert. Many were materially minded, and lived for the things of sense and, consequently, did not enjoy rest o f spirit, while looking forward to the rest o f body to come. After all their anxious expectancy, most of the pilgrims, because of unbelief or disobedience, did not enter the promised land.

Through faith and obedience we obtain present rest of heart and mind, while looking forward to eternal rest. This "rest" is illustrated by Sabbath-keeping: physical toil is laid aside, and the heart and mind commune with God, being lifted beyond earthly things to contemplate the invisible, and the eternal. The Sabbath is the trysting time of the spirit of man with his Creator. The Sabbath rest is the consummation of that spiritual rest enjoyed throughout the week.

The Israelites' pilgrimage across the desert is employed in the New Testament to picture the saints' pilgrimage across life's desert to the promised land. 1 Pet. 2:10, 11. The Sabbath rest, which is the weekly entering into "that rest" of God by both body and spirit, foreshadows the eternal rest awaiting the tired pilgrims at the end of the journey. What the Sabbath is to the week, so eternity is to a life's journey. The certainty of eternal rest is assured by the rest of spirit which comes through faith and a life of obedience. "Rest" begins the moment we believe. Matt. 11:28, 29. As spiritual rest must precede the physical rest of Sabbath keeping, so must there be spiritual rest on earth before the eternal rest of body, soul and spirit in the future kingdom.