The Sabbath and the Law

Notes

1. It may not seem essential to the student to place real study on these familiar texts, but it is most important that he should. There are two points established by the first division of the lesson, which are, by the enemies of God's law, so often disputed. The first is that the law which condemns sin and all unrighteousness, which is itself perfect righteousness, even God's righteousness, as it is God's law, is the law of ten commandments, or the Decalogue. These texts clearly prove this. Let the student study the Scripture till he knows this truth and can tell it to others. The second point is that this law, which is the rule of the judgment, which is the royal law, or law of the great King, is complete in itself, embraces our whole duty, and demands that we love God supremely, and our neighbor as ourselves.

2. We have no account of any other document that God ever wrote. Moses wrote laws of various kinds in a book. When Christ was upon earth He wrote men's sins upon the sand. But the writing of that document which embodied the eternal righteousness of God, which embraced in itself all duty, God left not to man. He engraved it by His own finger on the tables of enduring rock, showing the permanency of its character.

3. Note the testimony of the prophet. The people who know righteousness are the people in whose heart is God's law. His law is therefore the expression of His righteousness, and this He declares shall not be abolished. Men may die and earth may perish, but God's salvation and righteousness are eternal. This scripture ought to be a comfort to those who love God's law.

4. "Till All Be Fulfilled."—This certainly included the "prophets." But the prophets predicted things to come which are eternal, as, for instance, the everlasting kingdom of Christ. Dan. 7:27. Our Lord therefore would teach us that till eternity would pass "one jot [yod, the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet] or one tittle [the little points which distinguish between letters and so change the sense] shall in nowise pass from the law," till eternity shall end. The law is as eternal as its Author.

5. The position of the fourth commandment in the Decalogue is worthy of note. If it were placed at the beginning or end, it might have been said that it did not belong to the law; but God placed it in the very center, buttressed behind and before by the precepts over which man has no question. Thus God made known that the Sabbath law was of the same eternal nature as all the other laws with which it is connected.

6. What is said of the whole law is true of its every part. A morally perfect law could not be morally imperfect in its parts, for two or more wrongs can never make a right. When, therefore, it is said that the law is perfect, good, holy, just, righteous, spiritual, it declares that every command of that perfect law is of the same character. This, therefore, is true of the Sabbath.

Suggestive Questions.—In what receptacle were the tables of the law placed? What was this ark called, and why? Why is the law called testimony, and the commandments testimonies? Why is the law called the fear of the Lord? What has reverence or fear to do with the observance of the law? To what does the Sabbath commandment bear witness, or testify? What is said about rewards for keeping the law? How alone can we keep it?