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Advent Lessons

Lesson 5 · August 3, 1895

Christ and the Sabbath

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Scripture Readings.—; ; .

Review Questions.—(a) What is the Sabbath to those who have been redeemed by Christ? (b) What has been the great rival to the worship of the true God? (c) What day has been especially devoted to this false worship? (d) What noted king of Judah was preëminently given to this worship? (e) What reform took place upon the Sabbath during the Levitical dispensation?

  1. 1.What relation did the prophet say Christ would sustain to God's law? .
  2. 2.How did our Lord through the psalmist speak of His regard for the same law? .
  3. 3.When Christ came, what testimony did He bear of the same import? .
  4. 4.What did He say of His relation to God's law? .
  5. 5.What did He say of its unchangeableness and perpetuity? ; .
  6. 6.What did He say of those who taught and kept the law? .
  7. 7.What did He tell the young man to do that he might have eternal life? .
  8. 8.How only may we do the works of God, or keep His law? .
  9. 9.What did He say of His own life? .
  10. 10.What is the testimony of the apostle to Christ's life? .
  11. 11.What was the nature of Sabbath observance among the Jews when Christ came? (See note 1.)
  12. 12.What was it the custom of our Lord to do on the Sabbath? .
  13. 13.When His teaching was over, what did He do? .
  14. 14.Till what time were the greater part of the sick kept from Him? ; .
  15. 15.What occurred on another occasion? .
  16. 16.What fault was found with this? .
  17. 17.How did our Lord show their inconsistency and endeavor to enlighten them? . (See note 2.)
  18. 18.What did He declare Himself to be? .
  19. 19.In what way did they endeavor to condemn His manner of Sabbath keeping? . See also .
  20. 20.How far did they go in this condemnation? .
  21. 21.By what illustration did our Lord show the merciful righteousness of His works on the Sabbath? and first part of . See also .
  22. 22.What relation did Christ's Sabbath work sustain to the Sabbath law? .
  23. 23.What duty is ours in respect to the Sabbath and its observance? .
  24. 24.What may we expect from those who will not follow Christ? , first part. (See note 3.)

Notes

1. The Sabbath of the Lord, properly kept when the people were devoted to God, was now, in their backslidden condition, buried under the tradition of the rabbis. Certain knots could not be tied or untied; two letters could not be written so as to be read together and so form a word; no more food than the weight of a fig could be carried; fire could neither be kindled nor extinguished; an emetic could not be given, nor a broken bone set, nor a dislocated joint righted; one kind of sandals might be worn, and another kind might not be; one could not lawfully carry a loaf, yet two could. Thus were the people burdened by many foolish restrictions, while the rabbis and priests with subtle casuistry justified actual breaches in God's law of the Sabbath on their own part.

2. In the illustrations used by our Lord, the sheep falling into the pit, and the case of David, He did not present them to justify Himself. His own deeds justified Him. He said what He did to show them by their practice, and by the Scripture, which they professed to believe, that they were inconsistent, and so help them to become willing to learn what God had so long before told them, that He would have mercy and not sacrifice. Adding to God's commandments is will worship. He desires that we shall have the spirit of the Sabbath as well as its form.

3. The Jews had the right day of the Sabbath, but their traditions and spirit had made it a burden instead of a blessing. Jesus placed it back where God ever designed it should be, a boon of life to man. Here came the test,—the Sabbath, a blessing as kept by Jesus and enjoined in the law, or the Sabbath as interpreted by human tradition, and enforced by human law upon men's consciences. To reject the first was to reject Christ. To reject the second was to suffer persecution (see ), and finally, as in the case of Jesus, death (). In these days the circumstances are the same with one exception,—the sabbaths are different,—but it is still tradition against the word of God.

Bible texts in this lesson

Matthew 12:1-12 · Luke 4:16 · Luke 4:31-44 · John 9:1-38 · John 5:1-18 · Isaiah 42:21 · Psalms 40:7 · Psalms 40:8 · John 5:30 · John 6:38 · Matthew 5:17 · Matthew 5:18 · Luke 16:17 · Matthew 5:19 · Matthew 5:20 · Matthew 19:17 · John 6:28 · John 6:29 · John 8:46 · John 15:10 · 1 Peter 2:22 · Luke 4:31 · Luke 4:33-39 · Luke 4:40 · Matthew 8:16 · Matthew 12:1 · Matthew 12:2 · Matthew 12:3-7 · Matthew 12:8 · Matthew 12:10 · Luke 13:14 · Luke 14:1-3 · John 9:16 · John 5:16 · Matthew 12:11 · Matthew 12:12 · Luke 13:15 · Luke 13:16 · Luke 14:5 · 1 John 2:6 · John 15:18-20 · John 9:14 · John 9:23 · John 9:34 · John 5:16-18

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