Genesis 2:2-3 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.
NOTE-SDA-Bible Commentary,Vol 1.pp,1081–2 (Exodus 20:8-11). Seven Literal Days.—The weekly cycle of seven literal days, six for labor, and the seventh for rest,which has been preserved and brought down through Bible history, originated in the great fact of the first seven days(SpiritualGifts 3:90
What important division of time is marked off by the Sabbath?
The week. Two thousand five hundred years after creation, the Sabbath was proclaimed, with the other moral commands, from Mount Sinai.
NOTE–Second Advent Review, and Sabbath Herald, vol.1—WHEN WAS THE SABBATH INSTITUTED?–
Some have contended that the Sabbath was not instituted until the law was given to Moses at Mount Sinai. But there are serious difficulties in the way of this belief. In the second chapter of Genesis, after having given an account of the creation, the sacred historian says: “On the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Now, if any part of this narrative is to be construed literally, the whole of it must be; and if we may not venture to deny or explain away the account which Moses has given of the creation, then we may not deny or explain away this unequivocal statement respecting the original institution of the Sabbath in Paradise.
The blessing and sanctifying of the seventh day is mentioned in connection with the first seventh day in the order of time, and it is so mentioned as most forcibly to impress the reader that the Sabbath was then instituted. God’s resting on the day is given as the reason for its sanctification; and it cannot be supposed that this reason existed two thousand five hundred years before the institution. We conclude, therefore, that the Sabbath was enjoined immediately after the close of the work of creation.ARSH November 1850, p. 1.2
This opinion is corroborated by some facts recorded in the Scriptures. There are frequent and early notices of reckoning by sevens. Noah observed a period of seven days in sending the raven and dove from the ark; the term week is used in the contract between Jacob and Laban; Joseph mourned seven days for his father; and Job and his friends observed the term of seven days.ARSH November 1850, p. 1.3
Nor is it in the sacred volume or among the Jews alone that such facts are found. Nearly all the nations of antiquity were acquainted with the weekly division of time. The Assyrians, Egyptians, Indians, Arabians, and, in a word, all the nations of the East, have in all ages made use of a week of seven days.-And we find that these nations not only divided time thus, but that they regarded as holy the very day which had been sanctified as a Sabbath, although they had forsaken the true worship of God. Homer, Hesiod, and Callimachus, say,
“The seventh day is holy.” Theophilus of Antioch says, respecting the seventh day, “The day which all mankind celebrate.” Josephusasserts that, “no city of Greeks or barbarians can be found, which does not acknowledge a seventh day’s rest from labor.” And Philo says, that “the Sabbath was a festival not peculiar to any one people or country, but so common to all mankind, that it might be called a public and general feast of the nativity of the world.”
These authors, who lived in different ages and were of different nations, cannot be supposed to have written thus in order to please the Jews, who were generally despised and persecuted; and this universal reverence for the seventh day cannot be accounted for upon any other supposition than that the Sabbath was instituted at the close of creation, and handed down by tradition to all the descendants of Adam.ARSH November 1850, p. 1.4
If additional proof of this early institution of the Sabbath is needed, it may be drawn from the manner in which it was revived in the wilderness. Before the children of Israel came to Mount Sinai we find them voluntarily making provision for the Sabbath, by gathering on the sixth day a double portion of manna. “And all the rulers came and told Moses. And he said unto them, this is that which the Lord hath said: to-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord.” “And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day to gather, and they found none.
And the Lord said unto Moses, how long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you, on the sixth day, the bread of two days.”-The rebuke, how long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? implies the previous appointment of the Sabbath; and the positive assertion, the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, ought to settle the question in any mind disposed to understand the sacred historian.ARSH November 1850, p. 1.5
Why would God say Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy if he had change it ?
Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy
The Word Remember Means--1. To have in the mind an idea which had been in the mind before, and which recurs to the mind without effort.
2.We are said to remember any thing, when the idea of it arises in the mind with the consciousness that we have had this idea before.
7. To bear in mind with praise or admiration; to celebrate. 1 Chronicles 16:12.
NOTE–Patriarch and Prophet,pp.307—The Sabbath is not introduced as a new institution but as having been founded at creation. It is to be remembered and observed as the memorial of the Creator’s work. Pointing to God as the Maker of the heavens and the earth, it distinguishes the true God from all false gods. All who keep the seventh day signify by this act that they are worshipers of Jehovah.
Thus the Sabbath is the sign of man’s allegiance to God as long as there are any upon the earth to serve Him. The fourth commandment is the only one of all the ten in which are found both the name and the title of the Lawgiver. It is the only one that shows by whose authority the law is given. Thus it contains the seal of God, affixed to His law as evidence of its authenticity and binding force. God has given men six days wherein to labor, and He requires that their own work be done in the six working days. Acts of necessity and mercy are permitted on the Sabbath, the sick and suffering are at all times to be cared for; but unnecessary labor is to be strictly avoided.
“Turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and . . . honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure.” Isaiah 58:13.
Nor does the prohibition end here. “Nor speaking thine own words,” says the prophet. Those who discuss business matters or lay plans on the Sabbath are regarded by God as though engaged in the actual transaction of business. To keep the Sabbath hol y, we should not even allow our minds to dwell upon things of a worldly character. And the commandment includes all within our gates. The inmates of the house are to lay aside their worldly business during the sacred hours. All should unite to honor God by willing service upon His holy day.
Why did God say He had put His blessing upon that day?
Exodus 20:11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
NOTE–Lift Him Up,Page 52–For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exodus 20:11.
The weekly cycle of seven literal days, six for labor, and the seventh for rest, which has been preserved and brought down through Bible history, originated in the great facts of the first seven days.
When God spake His law with an audible voice from Sinai, He introduced the Sabbath by saying, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” He then declares definitely what shall be done on the six days, and what shall not be done on the seventh. He then, in giving the reason for thus observing the week, points them back to His example on the first seven days of time.
“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.”
This reason appears beautiful and forcible when we understand the record of Creation to mean literal days. The first six days of each week are given to man in which to labor, because God employed the same period of the first week in the work of creation. The seventh day God has reserved as a day of rest, in commemoration of His rest during the same period of time after He had performed the work of creation in six days.
But the infidel supposition, that the events of the first week required seven vast, indefinite periods for their accomplishment, strikes directly at the foundation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. It makes indefinite and obscure that which God has made very plain….
Infidel geologists claim that the world is very much older than the Bible record makes it. They reject the Bible record, because of those things which are to them evidences from the earth itself, that the world has existed tens of thousands of years.
And many who profess to believe the Bible record are at a loss to account for wonderful things which are found in the earth, with the view that Creation week was only seven literal days, and the world is now only about 6000 years old….
Without Bible history, geology can prove nothing. Relics found in the earth do give evidence of a state of things differing in many respects from the present. But the time of their existence, and how long a period these things have been in the earth, are only to be understood by Bible history…. When men leave the Word of God in regard to the history of Creation, and seek to account for God’s creative works upon natural principles, they are upon a boundless ocean of uncertainty. Just how God accomplished the work of Creation in six literal days He has never revealed to mortals. His creative works are just as incomprehensible as His existence (Spiritual Gifts 3:90-93).
What befell the city of Jerusalem when it was captured by the king of Babylon?
2 Chronicles 36:18, 19 And all the vessels of the house of God… he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces there of with fire.
NOTE–Prophets and king ,pp.456-–The weakness of Zedekiah was a sin for which he paid a fearful penalty.
The enemy swept down like a resistless avalanche and devastated the city. The Hebrew armies were beaten back in confusion. The nation was conquered. Zedekiah was taken prisoner, and his sons were slain before his eyes. The king was led away from Jerusalem a captive, his eyes were put out, and after arriving in Babylon he perished miserably. The beautiful temple that for more than four centuries had crowned the summit of Mount Zion was not spared by the Chaldeans.
“They burnt the house of God,and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.” 2 Chronicles 36:19.
Of what prophecy was this a fulfillment?
Jeremiah 17:27 But if ye will not hearken unto Me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then I will kindle a fire in the gates there of, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
NOTE-Christ in Sanctuary,pp.53–The Impact of Bible Chronology-“Another kind of evidence that vitally affected my mind,” he says, “was the chronology of the Scriptures. … I found that pre-dicted events, which had been fulfilled in the past, often occurred within a given time.
The one hundred and twenty years to the flood (Genesis 6:3); the seven days that were to precede it, with forty days of predicted rain (Genesis 7:4); the four hundred years of the sojourn of Abraham’s seed (Genesis 15:13); the three days of the butlers and baker’s dreams (Genesis 40:12-20); the seven years of Pharaoh’s (Genesis 41:28-54); the forty years in the wilderness (Numbers14:34);
the three and a half years of famine (1 Kings 17:1) [see Luke 4:25;]…the seventy years’ captivity (Jeremiah 25:11); Nebuchadnezzar’s seven times (Daniel 4:13-16); and the seven weeks,threescore and two weeks, and the one week, making seventy weeks,determined upon the Jews (Daniel 9:24-27),—the events limited by these times were all once only a matter of prophecy, and were fulfilled in accordance with the predictions.”—Bliss, pages 74, 75.
Fulfilled Prophecy
The one hundred and twenty years to the flood—Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
NOTE–SDA-Bible Commentary.vol 1,pp.1088-3 (1 Peter 3:18-21). God Preached Through Methuselah,Noah, and Others—God granted them one hundred and twenty years of probation, and during that time preached to them through Methuselah, Noah, and many others of His servants. Had they listened to the testimony of these faithful witnesses, had they repented and returned to their loyalty, God would not have destroyed them (The Review and Herald, April 23, 1901).
Enoch Bore Testimony Unflinchingly—Before the destruction of the antediluvian world, Enoch bore his testimony unflinchingly .Voices of Noah and Methuselah Heard—God determined to purify the world by a flood; but in mercy and love He gave the antediluvians a probation of one hundred and twenty years. During this time, while the ark was building, the voices of Noah, Methuselah,and many others were heard in warning and entreaty, and every blow struck on the ark was a warning message .
Some Believed; Some Backslid—For one hundred and twenty years Noah proclaimed the message of warning to the antediluvian world; but only a few repented. Some of the carpenters he employed in building the ark believed the message, but died before the Flood;
others of Noah’s converts backslid (Manuscript 65, 1906).Many of the believing ones kept the faith, and died triumphant(Manuscript 35, 1906).
Enoch’s Experience a Convincing Sermon—[Jude 14, 15 quoted.] The sermon preached by Enoch, and his translation to heaven was a convincing argument to all living in Enoch’s time. It was an argument that Methuselah and Noah could use with power to show that the righteous could be translated (Manuscript 46, 1895).
Association With Unbelievers Caused Loss—Those who believed when Noah began to build the ark, lost their faith through association with unbelievers who aroused all the old passion for amusement and display (The Review and Herald, September 15,1904).
(1 John 3:8). Christ in Warfare in Noah’s Day—“For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” Christ was engaged in this warfare in Noah’s day.
It was His voice that spoke to the inhabitants of the old world in messages of warning, reproof, and invitation. He gave the people a probation of one hundred and twenty years, in which they might have repented. But they chose the deceptions of Satan, and perished in the waters of the Flood.
the seven days that were to precede it, with forty days of predicted rain —Genesis 7:4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
NOTE–Patriarch and Prophets,pp.97–As time passed on, with no apparent change in nature, men whose hearts had at times trembled with fear, began to be reassured.
They reasoned, as many reason now, that nature is above the God ofnature, and that her laws are so firmly established that God Himself could not change them. Reasoning that if the message of Noah were correct, nature would be turned out of her course, they made that message, in the minds of the world, a delusion—a grand deception.
They manifested their contempt for the warning of God by doing just as they had done before the warning was given. They continued their festivities and their gluttonous feasts; they ate and drank, planted and builded, laying their plans in reference to advantages they hoped to gain in the future; and they went to greater lengths in wickedness,and in defiant disregard of God’s requirements, to testify that they had no fear of the Infinite One.
They asserted that if there were any truth in what Noah had said, the men of renown—the wise, the prudent, the great men—would understand the matter.Had the antediluvians believed the warning, and repented of their evil deeds, the Lord would have turned aside His wrath, as he afterward did from Nineveh.
But by their obstinate resistance to the reproofs of conscience and the warnings of God’s prophet, that generation filled up the measure of their iniquity, and became ripe for destruction.
the four hundred years of the sojourn of Abraham’s seed–Genesis 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
NOTE-Patriarch and Prophets,pp.281--That day completed the history revealed to Abraham in prophetic vision centuries before: “Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.”Genesis 15:13, 14.
[See Appendix, note 3.] The four hundred years had been fulfilled. “And it came to pass the self same day, that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.”
In their departure from Egypt the Israelites bore with them a precious legacy, in the bones of Joseph, which had so long awaited the fulfillment of God’s promise, and which, during the dark years of bondage, had been a reminder of Israel’s deliverance.Instead of pursuing the direct route to Canaan, which lay through the country of the Philistines, the Lord directed their course south-ward, toward the shores of the Red Sea.
“For God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt.” Had they attempted to pass through Philistia, their progress would have been opposed; for the Philistines, regarding them as slaves escaping from their masters, would not have hesitated to make war upon them.
The Israelites were poorly prepared for an encounter with that powerful and warlike people. They had little knowledge of God and little faith in Him, and they would have become terrified and disheartened. They were unarmed and unaccustomed to war, their spirits were depressed by long bondage, and they were encumbered with women and children, flocks and herds. Inleading them by the way of the Red Sea, the Lord revealed Himself as a God of compassion as well as of judgment
the three days of the butlers and baker’s dreams–Genesis 40:12,20 And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days:
20 And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.
Ref–Genesis 40:18 And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days:
19 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee. 20 And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. 21 And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand: 22 But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them
the seven years of Pharaoh’s–Genesis 41:28-54 This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh. 29 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: 30 And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land; 31 And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous. 32 And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. 33 Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. 34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. 35 And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. 36 And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine. 37 And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. 38 And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?
the forty years in the wilderness–Number 14:34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
Note–The Great Controversy,pp.681–Page 54. Prophetic Dates.—An important principle in prophetic interpretation in connection with time prophecies is the year-day principle, under which a day of prophetic time is counted as a calendar year of historic time. Before the Israelites entered the land of Canaan they sent twelve spies ahead to investigate. The spies were gone forty days, and upon their return the Hebrews, frightened at their report, refused to go up and occupy the promised land. The result was a sentence the Lord passed upon them: “After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years.” Numbers 14:34.
A similar method of computing future time is indicated through the prophet Ezekiel. Forty years of punishment for iniquities awaited the kingdom of Judah. The Lord said through the prophet: “Lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.” Ezekiel 4:6. This year-day principle has an important application in interpreting the time of the prophecy of the “two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings” (Daniel 8:14, R.V.) and the 1260-day period, variously indicated as “a time and times and the dividing of time” (Daniel 7:25), the “forty and two months” (Revelation 11:2; 13:5), and the “thousand two hundred and threescore days” (Revelation 11:3; 12:6).
the three and a half years of famine) 1 King 17:1 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
NOTE–Review and Herald,pp.0.0,chapt 573,May 26, 1891.—Elijah was a worshiper of the living God, and his soul was stirred within him as he saw apostasy prevail, and the people of God follow the customs of the nations around them. He was a man of prayer, and he sent up fervent petitions that God would arrest the tide of evil that seemed about to sweep Israel into perdition.
God regarded his prayer, and he was commissioned to announce to Israel, in the presence of the king, that God would bring chastisement upon his people. They had dishonored God in the sight of the nations, and as a result, darkness as a thick cloud enveloped them, and abominations accumulated within their borders. In every direction they had reared the temple of idolatry, the altar of profanity, before which prophets and loyal men, servants of the God of heaven, had poured out their blood. Satan swayed his scepter over Israel, and the moral atmosphere was clouded with the smoke of national idolatry.RH May 26, 1891, par. 2
In this time of great depravity, Elijah made his way to Ahab, the leader of the apostasy. In his presence he reached forth his hand to heaven, and declared, “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” In making such an announcement it might seem that Elijah was taking great risk. If dew or rain had come with no command from Elijah, the king would have represented him as a false prophet, and the priests of Baal would have attributed the blessing to a deliverance wrought by their idol, and would have exalted Baal as triumphant over Jehovah.RH May 26, 1891, par. 3
The judgment threatened was so unexpected, so terrible, so sudden, that Ahab seemed paralyzed, and he did not realize that the prophet had left his presence unrebuked, until the man of God had gone beyond recall. Then the king roused his servants, and called for the man who had declared that heaven was shut up according to his word. But Elijah was not to be found, and neither dew nor rain fell upon the land of Israel for three years and a half.RH May 26, 1891, par. 4
The object of this affliction was to arouse Israel to a realization of their sin, to bring them to repentance, and turn them to God, that they might honor Jehovah as the only true and living God. After three years and a half of drought, the Lord said to Elijah, “Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the
earth.” “And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?
And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.”
The king obeys this command as though he were the servant, and Elijah the king. Then Elijah orders them to bring two bullocks, one for the prophets of Baal, and one for himself, and he bids the prophets dress their bullock and put it on the altar, and call upon Baal for fire. He says, “Call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well.
The priests of Baal called aloud, and cut themselves, even unto the going down of the sun, but there was no response from their idol; for “there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded. And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord.” Then he had the people pour on twelve barrels of water.
“And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.
Before the sacrifice, Elijah had said, “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.”
After the destruction of the prophets of Baal, Elijah said to Ahab, “Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.” After the king’s departure, Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; “and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees.” When he had bidden Ahab go up and eat and drink, did he have an evidence that the showers were about to fall?
Did he see the clouds in the heavens? Did he see the rain, or hear the thunder?—No; he spoke these words because the Spirit of the Lord moved upon his mind, and led him to believe that his prayer would be heard. He had done all that was possible to make manifest his faith, and now he began to pray for the outpouring of the abundance of rain.
He “said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.” The servant watched while Elijah prayed. Six times he returned from the watch, saying, There is nothing, no cloud, no sign of rain. But the prophet did not give up in discouragement. He kept reviewing his life, to see where he had failed to honor God, he confessed his sins, and thus continued to afflict his soul before God, while watching for a token that his prayer was answered. As he searched his heart, he seemed to be less and less, both in his own estimation and in the sight of God.
It seemed to him that he was nothing, and that God was everything; and when he reached the point of renouncing self, while he clung to the Saviour as his only strength and righteousness, the answer came. The servant appeared, and said, “Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.
And it came to pass in the meanwhile, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. And the hand of the Lord was upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.”
See.Luke 4:20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
the seventy years’captivity ) Jeremiah 25:11-13 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. 13 And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
NOTE–SDA-Bible Commentary,pp.1158.vol,4–11, 12 (chs. 28; 29:14). Punishment in Proportion to Intelli-gence and Warnings Despised—“In the fourth year of Jehoiakim,”very soon after Daniel was taken to Babylon, Jeremiah predicted the captivity of many of the Jews, as their punishment for not heeding the Word of the Lord. The Chaldeans were to be used as the instrument by which God would chastise His disobedient people.
Their punishment was to be in proportion to their intelligence and to the warnings they had despised. “This whole land shall be a desolation,and an astonishment,” the prophet declared; “and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass,when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
”In the light of these plain words foretelling the duration of the captivity, it seems strange that any one should hold that the Israelites would soon return from Babylon. And yet there were in Jerusalem and in Babylon those who persisted in encouraging the people to hope for a speedy deliverance.
God dealt summarily with some of these false prophets, and thus vindicated the truthfulness of Jeremiah,His messenger.To the end of time, men will arise to create confusion and rebellion among the people who profess to obey the law of God.
But as surely as divine judgment was visited upon the false prophets in Jeremiah’s day, so surely will the evil workers of today receive their full measure of retribution, for the Lord has not changed. Those who prophesy lies, encourage men to look upon sin as a light thing.
When the terrible results of their evil deeds are made manifest, they seek, if possible, to make the one who has faithfully warned them responsible for their difficulties, even as the Jews charged Jeremiah with their evil fortunes.Those who pursue a course of rebellion against the Lord can always find false prophets who will justify them in their acts, and flatter them to their destruction.
Lying words often make many friends, as is illustrated in the case of these false teachers among the Israelites. These so-called prophets, in their pretended zeal for God,found many more believers and followers than the true prophet who delivered the simple message of the Lord.
In view of the work of these false prophets, Jeremiah was directed by the Lord to write letters to the captains, elders, priests, prophets,and all the people who had been taken captive to Babylon, bidding them not to be deluded into believing their deliverance nigh, but to submit quietly, pursue their vocations, and make for themselves peaceful homes among their conquerors.
The Lord bade them not to allow so-called prophets or diviners to deceive them with false expectations. Through His servant Jeremiah He assured them that after seventy years’ bondage they should be delivered, and should return to Jerusalem. God would listen to their prayers and show them His favor, when they would turn to Him with all their hearts[Jeremiah 29:14 quoted] (RH March 14, 1907
Nebuchadnezzar’s seven times (Daniel 4:13-16 I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven; 14 He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches: 15 Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth: 16 Let his heart be changed from man’s, and let a beast’s heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him.
and the seven weeks,threescore and two weeks, and the one week, making seventy weeks,determined upon the Jews (Daniel 9:24-27 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And 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.
After the restoration of Israel from the Babylonian captivity, what was said to have been the reason of their punishment?
Nehemiah 13:17,18.Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath.
NOTE–Prophet and King,pp.671.chapter ,57.Reformation-–Another result of intercourse with idolaters was a disregard of the Sabbath,
the sign distinguishing the Israelites from all other nations as worshipers of the true God. Nehemiah found that heathen merchants and traders from the surrounding country, coming to Jerusalem, had induced many among the Israelites to engage in traffic on the Sabbath.There were some who could not be persuaded to sacrifice principle, but others transgressed and joined with the heathen in their efforts to overcome the scruples of the more conscientious. Many dared openly to violate the Sabbath. “In those days,” Nehemiah writes, “saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. . . .
There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the Sabbath unto the children of Judah.”
This state of things might have been prevented had the rulers exercised their authority; but a desire to advance their own interests had led them to favor the ungodly. Nehemiah fearlessly rebuked them for their neglect of duty. “What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day?” he sternly demanded.
“Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” He then gave command that “when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath,” they should be shut, and not opened again till the Sabbath was past;and having more confidence in his own servants than in those that the magistrates of Jerusalem might appoint, he stationed them at the gates to see that his orders were enforced.
How did Christ regard the Sabbath during His earthly ministry?
Luke 4:16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
NOTE–The Desire of Ages,pp.244-chapt,24–When a rabbi was present at the synagogue, he was expected to deliver the sermon, and any Israelite might give the reading from the prophets. Upon this Sabbath Jesus was requested to take part in the service. He “stood up to read. And there was delivered unto Him a roll of the prophet Isaiah.” Luke 4:16, 17.
The scripture which He read was one that was understood as referring to the Messiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To preach deliverance to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Jesus stood before the people as a living expositor of the prophecies concerning Himself. Explaining the words He had read, He spoke of the Messiah as a reliever of the oppressed, a liberator of captives, a healer of the afflicted, restoring sight to the blind, and revealing to the world the light of truth.
His impressive manner and the wonderful import of His words thrilled the hearers with a power they had never felt before. The tide of divine influence broke every barrier down; like Moses, they beheld the Invisible. As their hearts were moved upon by the Holy Spirit, they responded with fervent amens and praises to the Lord.
Matthew 24:20 How did He wish to have it regarded by His disciples at the siege of Jerusalem, nearly forty years after His death? “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.
What was the first effort of the Roman Church in behalf of the recognition of Sunday?
NOTE–In A.D. 196, Victor, Bishop of Rome, attempted to impose on all the churches the Roman custom of having Easter fall every year on Sunday.” Bower’s History of the Popes, vol.2, page 18.
What was one of the principal reasons for convoking the Council of Nice?
The question relating to the observance of Easter, which was agitated in the time of Anicetus and Polycarp, and afterward in that of Victor, was still undecided. It was one of the principal reasons for convoking the Council of Nice, being the most important subject to be considered after the Arian Controversy.” Boyle’s Historical View of the Council of Nice, page 22, ed. of 1839.
How was the matter finally decided?
NOTE--Easter day was fixed on the Sunday immediately following the new moon which was nearest after the vernal equinox.” Idem. page 23.In urging the observance of this decree on the churches,
what reason did Constantine assign for it?
“Let us then have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews.” Idem, page 52.
What had Constantine already done, in A.D. 321, to help forward Sunday to a place of prominence?
He issued an edict forcing “the judges and town people and the occupation of all trades” to rest on the “venerable day of the sun.” See Encyclopedia Britannica, art. Sunday.Eusebius was bishop of Caesarea, and one of Constantine’s most trusty supporters.
Who did he say had changed the obligations of the Sabbath to Sunday?
All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these WE have transferred to the Lord’s day.”Eusebius’s Commentary on the Psalms, quoted in Cox’s “Sabbath Literature,” Vol. 1, page 361.
What did the Council of Laodicea decree in A.D. 364?
The Council of Laodicea… first settled the observation of the Lord’s day, and prohibited the keeping of the Jewish Sabbath under an anathema.” Dissertation on the Lord’s Day Sabbath, pages 33, 34, 44.
But did the Christians of the early church keep the Sabbath?
NOTE–Down even to the fifth century, the observances of the Jewish Sabbath was continued in the Christian church.” Coleman’s Ancient Christianity Exemplified, chap. 26, sec. 2.
What day was observed in the Dark Ages by some of the Waldenses?“They kept the Sabbath day, observed the ordinance of baptism according to the primitive church, instructed their children in the articles of the Christian faith and the commandments of God.” Jones’s Church History, vol. 2, chap. 5, sec.
4.We have seen that paganism brought Sunday to the forefront as a “venerable” day, and popery gave it the title of “Lord’s day .”
What claim is now made by the Roman Church concerning the change of the Sabbath to Sunday?
Question. – Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept? “Answer. -Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her, she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.” Doctrinal Catechism. This is also taught in nearly all Catholic books of instruction. Among the early Reformers, were there any who observed the seventh day?“Carlstadt held to the divine authority of the Sabbath from the Old Testament.” Life of Luther, page 402,
What did Luther say of Carlstadt’s Sabbath views?
“Indeed, if Carlstadt were to write further about the Sabbath, Sunday would have to give way, and the Sabbath that is to say, Saturday must be kept holy.” Luther, against the Celestial Prophets, quoted in the Life of Martin Luther in Pictures, page 147.
NOTE. – Through the efforts of those who opposed the Sabbath during the Reformation,Sunday was brought from Catholicism into the Protestant church, and is now cherished as an institution of the Lord. It is clear, however, that it is none of His planting, but rather that of His enemies. The Lord sowed different seeds in the field; but “an enemy hath done this,” to lead God’s people away from the truth.
A proclamation is now going forth, however, to revive the truth on this point. Some will heed the call, and when the message closes, God will have a people who are willing to recognize Him fully by keeping His down trodden Sabbath. To these He will say, “Well done.
HOW THE SABBATH WAS CHANGED TO SUNDAY“
There is scarcely anything which strikes the mind of the careful student of ancient ecclesiastical history with greater surprise than the comparatively early period at which many of the corruptions of Christianity, which are embodied in the Roman system, took their rise; yet it is not to be supposed that when the first originators of many of these unscriptural notions and practices planted those germs of corruption, they anticipated or even imagined they would ever grow into such a vast and hideous system of superstition and error as is that of popery.” John Dowling, History of Romanism,” 13th Edition, p. 65.
“It would be an error to attribute [‘the sanctification of Sunday’] to a definite decision of the Apostles. There is no such decision mentioned in the Apostolic documents [that is, the New Testament].” Antoine Villien, “A History of the Commandments of the Church,” 1915, p. 23.”It must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first
day.” McClintock and Strong, “Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature,” Vol. 9, p. 196.”Until well into the second century [a hundred years after Christ] we do not find the slightest indication in our sources that Christians marked Sunday by any kind of abstention from work.” W. Rordort, “Sunday,” p. 157.”The ancient Sabbath did remain and was observed… by the Christians of the Eastern Church [in the area near Palestine] above three hundred years after our Saviour’s death.”
“A Learned Treatise of the Sabbath,” p. 77.“Modern Christians who talk of keeping Sunday as a ‘holy’ day, as in the still extant ‘Blue Laws,’ of colonial America, should know that as a ‘holy’ day of rest and cessation from labor and amusements Sunday was unknown to Jesus… It formed no tenet [teaching] of the primitive Church and became ‘sacred’ only in the course of time. Outside the Church its observance was legalized for the Roman Empire through a series of decrees starting with the famous one of Constantine in 321, an edict due to his political and social ideas.”W. W. Hyde, “Paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire,” 1946, p. 257.
“The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a Divine command in this respect, far from them, and from the early apostolic Church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday.” Augustus Neander,
“The History of the Christian Religion and Church,” 1843, p. 186.“The Church made a sacred day of Sunday… largely because it was the weekly festival of the sun;
for it was a definite Christian policy to take over the pagan festivals endeared to the people by tradition, and to give them a Christian significance.” Arthur Weigall, “The Paganism in Our Christianity,” 1928, p. 145.”Is it not strange that Sunday is almost universally observed when the Sacred Writings do not endorse it? Satan, the great counterfeiter, worked through the ‘mystery of iniquity’ to introduce a counterfeit Sabbath to take the place of the true Sabbath of God.
Sunday stands side by side with Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Holy (or Maundy) Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Corpus Christi, Assumption Day, All Soul’s Day, Christmas Day, and a host of other ecclesiastical feast days too numerous to mention.
This array of Roman Catholic feasts and fast days are all man made. None of them bears the divine credentials of the Author of the Inspired Word.” M. E. Walsh.“Sun worship was the earliest idolatry.” A. R. Fausset, “Bible Dictionary,” p. 666.Sun worship was “one of the oldest components of the Roman religion.” Gaston H. Halsberghe, “The Cult of Sol Invictus,” 1972, p.26.”
‘Babylon, the mother of harlots,’ derived much of her teaching from pagan Rome and thence from Babylon. Sun worship that led her to Sunday keeping, was one of those choice bits of paganism that sprang originally from the heathen lore of ancient Babylon: ‘The solar theology of the “Chaldeans” had a decisive effect upon the final development of Semitic paganism…
[It led to their seeing the sun the directing power of the cosmic system. All the Baals were thence forward turned into suns; the sun itself being the mover of the other stars, like it eternal and ‘unconquerable.’ …Such was the final form reached by the religion of the pagan Semites, and, following them, by that of the Romans... when they raised ‘Sol Invictus’ [the Invincible Sun] to the rank of supreme divinity in the Empire.”
195 Franz V. M. Cumont, “The Frontier Provinces of the East,” in ‘The Cambridge Ancient History,” Vol. 11, pp. 643, 646-647.
“The power of the Caesars lived again in the universal dominion of the popes.” H. G. Gulness, “Romanism and the Reformation.””From simple beginnings, the church developed a distinct priesthood and an elaborate service. In this way, Christianity and the higher forms of paganism tended to come nearer and nearer to each other as time went on. In one sense, it is true, they met like armies in mortal conflict, but at the same time they tended to merge into one another like streams which had been following converging courses.” J. H. Robinson,
“Introduction to the History of Western Europe,” p. 31.”Unquestionably the first law. either ecclesiastical or civil. by which the Sabbatical observance of that day is known to have been ordained, is the edict of Constantine, 321 A.D.” Chamber’s Encyclopedia,” article, “Sabbath.””This [Constantine’s Sunday decree of March, 321] is the ‘parent’ Sunday law making it a day of rest and release from labor. For from that time to the present there have been decrees about the observance of Sunday which have profoundly influenced European and American society. When the Church became apart of State under the Christian emperors, Sunday observance was enforced by civil statutes, and later when the Empire was past, the Church in the hands of the papacy enforced it by ecclesiastical and also by civil enactments.” Walter W Hyde,
“Paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire,” 1946, p. 267.”Constantine’s decree marked the beginning of a long, though intermittent series of imperial decrees in support of Sunday rest.” Vincent J. Kelly, “Forbidden Sunday and Feast Day Occupations,” 1943, p. 29.”Constantine labored at this time untiringly to unite the worshipers of the old and the new into one religion.
All his laws and contrivances are aimed at promoting this amalgamation of religions.He would by all lawful and peaceable means melt together a purified heathenism and a moderated Christianity… Of all his blending and melting together of Christianity and heathenism, none is more easy to see through than this making of his Sunday law:
The Christians worshiped their Christ, the heathen their Sun-god… [so they should now be combined].” H. G. Heggtveit, “Illustreret Kirkehistorie,” 1895, p. 202.”Down even to the fifth century the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was continued in the Christian church, but with a rigor and solemnity gradually diminishing until it was wholly discontinued.” Lyman Coleman, “Ancient Christianity Exemplified,”chap. 26, sec. 2, p. 527.“Constantine’s [five Sunday law] decrees marked the beginning of a long though intermittent series of imperial decrees in support of Sunday rest.” “A History of the Councils of the Church, ” Vol. 2, p. 316
Ambassadors of Christ 