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Advent Lessons

Lesson 7 · August 17, 1895

The Apostasy and the Sabbath

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Scripture Readings.—; ; ; ; ; ; .

Review Questions.—(a) What is the distinguishing characteristic of the one true God? (b) What is His memorial and sign? (c) What was Christ's attitude toward the law and Sabbath? (d) What is the universal testimony of the apostles in regard to the law?

  1. 1.What was the standard of faith in the apostolic church? ; ; .
  2. 2.What was this word to them that received it? ; .
  3. 3.Whom did it place within? ; ; .
  4. 4.What therefore did each believer become? .
  5. 5.What did the entire church become when composed of such believers? ; ; .
  6. 6.What is that power in the heart called? ; , first clause. See also ; , and elsewhere.
  7. 7.What is its work? ; ; ; ; .
  8. 8.What therefore would be the proper name and character of that power which would take the place of Christ in the heart? ; .
  9. 9.Why was not this mystery of iniquity immediately manifested? . (See note 1.)
  10. 10.What charge did Paul give to elders and preachers? ; .
  11. 11.What did he say would soon come upon the church? ; . See also .
  12. 12.What was the prominent worship and prominent day in the pagan world in apostolic days? Ans. Sun worship and Sunday. See "The Lord's Day."
  13. 13.From what were the Galatian Christians converted? .
  14. 14.In their backslidden condition what did they desire to do? .
  15. 15.What evidence did they give of this? .
  16. 16.As they were formerly heathen and observed heathen times and days, to what times and days did the apostle refer?
  17. 17.How alone can the Christian oppose this? ; .
  18. 18.To what extent would this apostasy be manifest? .
  19. 19.By what is this apostasy symbolized? .
  20. 20.In what way was this apostasy to oppose God, and exalt itself above Him? . (See note 2.)
  21. 21.What change in God's law would a change in His appointed times produce?
  22. 22.In what commandment alone of the ten is there a difference between the papal code of morals and the Decalogue? (See note 3.)
  23. 23.What are the teachings of God's law in this respect? .
  24. 24.What is the teaching of the Papacy? (See note 4.)
  25. 25.What express claim does the Papacy make? (See note 4, and Bible Students' Library No. 134, "The Lord's Day.")
  26. 26.For how long were the saints, times, and laws to be given into the hands of the Papacy?
  27. 27.What may we conclude would then take place? See .

Notes

1. The Revised Version renders as follows: "And now ye know that which restraineth, to the end that he [the man of sin] may be revealed in his own season. For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work; only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way." "For the secret of lawlessness is already working, till only the one restraining for the present be out of the way." Diaglott. Others are similar. The old English word "let" means hinder; the Greek word means withhold, or restrain. Now there is but one power in the universe that can keep antichrist out of the church, and that is the power which keeps him out of each individual heart, and that is Jesus Christ. But Christ will not dwell therein unless we desire it. If we bid Him go, He will leave, and then we are left to the working of the mystery of iniquity.

2. In the apostate church is represented as committing fornication. She was formerly espoused to Christ. . She was bound to Christ by the law of God. To turn from Him and His law and to turn to others is to commit spiritual fornication, and become lawless. Paul refers to the same when he calls that apostasy "the man of sin." "Sin is the transgression of the law" (), and the man of sin would be the sinner above all others. This man of sin is also the mystery of iniquity, or lawlessness, pointing again to opposition to God's law. Daniel describes the work of this power more particularly. It would speak great words against God. It would wear out the saints of God, and "think to change the times and the law" (Revised Version), or, as Wintle and Spurrell render, "the appointed times and the law," and the saints and the law shall be given into its hands for 1,260 years. These specifications the apostasy has fulfilled. It has blasphemed God. It has put to death His saints. Its spiritual domination lasted 1,260 years, from A. D. 538 to 1798. It has changed the first appointed time, the beginning of the day, from sunset, God's time, to midnight, and it has changed the day of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, and in thus doing has changed God's law. It has changed God's law in that very part which reveals Him for what He is, the Creator and Redeemer.

3. The ten commandments as given in Roman Catholic catechisms are the same in substance as those given in , with the exception of the Sabbath commandment. The numbering is different, but in all other respects nine of them are essentially the same. The catechism calls the first two commandments one, and divides the tenth to make the full number, thus making the fourth commandment the third.

4. The teaching of the Papacy is as follows:—

"Question—Say the third commandment.

"Answer—Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.

"Q.—What is commanded by the third commandment?

"A.—To spend the Sunday in prayer and other religious duties."—Butler's Catechism.

"Q.—How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?

"A.—By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of."—Abridgment of Christian Doctrine.

Bible texts in this lesson

Daniel 7 · Acts 20:26-32 · 2 Timothy 4:1-5 · 2 Peter 2:1-3 · 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8 · Galatians 4:8-11 · Revelation 13:1-10 · 2 Timothy 3:16 · 2 Timothy 3:17 · John 17:8 · John 17:17 · 2 Timothy 4:1 · John 6:63 · 1 Thessalonians 2:13 · Colossians 1:25-28 · Ephesians 3:17 · Galatians 2:20 · 1 Corinthians 6:19 · 1 Corinthians 3:16 · 2 Corinthians 6:16 · Ephesians 2:19-22 · Colossians 2:2 · 1 Timothy 3:16 · Colossians 1:26 · Colossians 1:27 · Ephesians 3:3 · Ephesians 3:4 · Ephesians 3:9 · Titus 2:14 · 1 Thessalonians 4:3 · Romans 8:4 · 2 Corinthians 3:3 · 1 John 2:18 · 1 John 4:3 · 2 Thessalonians 2:7 · 2 Thessalonians 2:6 · Acts 20:26 · 2 Timothy 4:2 · Acts 20:29 · Acts 20:30 · 2 Timothy 4:3 · 2 Timothy 4:4 · 2 Peter 2:1 · 2 Peter 2:2 · Galatians 4:8 · Galatians 4:9 · Galatians 4:10 · Acts 20:32 · 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 · 2 Thessalonians 2:3 · 2 Thessalonians 2:4 · Revelation 17:1-6 · Daniel 7:25 · Exodus 20:8-11 · Acts 17:30 · Revelation 17 · 2 Corinthians 11:2 · 1 John 3:4 · Exodus 20:1-17

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