The Watchtower, February 15, 1945
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WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY 117 Adams Street - - Brooklyn 1, N.Y., U.S.A.
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N. H. Knorr, President W. E. Van Ambubgb, Secretary “And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” - luiah 54:13.
THE SCRIPTURES CLEARLY TEACH
THAT JEHOVAH is the only true God and is from everlasting to everlasting, the Maker of heaven and earth and the Giver of life to his creatures; that the Logos was the beginning of his creation, and his active agent in the creation of all other things, and is now the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, clothed with all power in heaven and earth, as the Chief Executive Officer of Jehovah;
THAT GOD created the earth for man, created perfect man for the earth and placed him upon it; that man willfully disobeyed God’s law and was sentenced to death; that by reason of Adam’s wrong act all men are born sinners and without the right to life;
THAT THE LOGOS was made human as the man Jesus and suffered death in order to produce the ransom or redemptive price for obedient ones of mankind; that God raised up Jesus divine and exalted him to heaven above every other creature and above every creature’s name and clothed him with all power and authority;
THAT GOD’S CAPITAL ORGANIZATION Is a Theocracy called Zion, and that Christ Jesus is the Chief Officer thereof and is the rightful King of the world; that the anointed and faithful followers of Christ Jesus are children of Zion, members of Jehovah's organization, and are his witnesses whose duty and privilege it is to testify to the supremacy of Jehovah, declare his purposes toward mankind as expressed in the Bible, and to bear the fruits of the Kingdom before all who will hear;
THAT THE OLD WORLD ended in A. D. 1914, and the Lord Jesus Christ has been placed by Jehovah upon his throne of authority, has ousted Satan from heaven and is proceeding to the establishment of the “new earth" of the New World;
THAT THE RELIEF and blessings of the peoples of earth can come only by and through Jehovah’s kingdom under Christ, which has now begun; that the Lord’s next great act is the destruction of Satan's organization and the complete establishment of righteousness in the earth, and that under the Kingdom the people of good-will that survive Armageddon shall carry out the divine mandate to “fill the earth" with a righteous race.
“THEOCRATIC SERVANTS” TESTIMONY PERIOD
The testimony periods of 1945 have opened up with the “Theocratic Servants” Testimony Period, during this month of February. This is also the second month of the special campaign to obtain more subscriptions for the Theocratic magazine The Watchtower. The attractive campaign offer will therefore continue to be extended by all Theocratic servants, namely, a year’s subscription for this magazine, together with a premium of a bound book and a booklet, all on the contribution of the regular subscription rate, which is $1.00. Where possible, “The Kingdom Is at Hand" should be the premium book offered. During this Testimony Period the new booklet One World, One Government is being released, and this should be the premium booklet. This midwinter month should not be let retard the Watchtower campaign because of cold and storm, but countermeasures should be arranged to keep on pressing this important educational effort. We are anxious to help all who want to serve the great Theocrat by a part in this gospel-preaching work, and we urge those without contact with local service groups to write in for necessary references. One important item not to be overlooked is to fill in report slips on the month’s work.
“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES
Week of March 18: “The Kingdom Sabbath and Its Lord,” fl 1-21 inclusive, The Watchtower February 15, 1945.
Week of March 25: “The Kingdom Sabbath and Its Lord,” fl 22-43 inclusive, The Watchtower February 15, 1945.
ITS MISSION
HIS journal is published for the purpose of enabling the people to know Jehovah God and his purposes as expressed in the Bible. It publishes Bible instruction specifically designed to aid Jehovah’s witnesses and all people of good-wilL
It arranges systematic Bible study for its readers and the Society supplies other literature to aid in such studies. It publishes suitable material for radio broadcasting and for other means of public instruction in the Scriptures.
It adheres strictly to the Bible as authority for its utterances. It is entirely free and separate from all religion, parties, sects or other worldly organizations. It is wholly and without reservation for the kingdom of Jehovah God under Christ his beloved King. It is not dogmatic, but invites careful and critical examination of its contents in the light of the Scriptures. It does not indulge in controversy, and its columns are not open to personalities.
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MEMORIAL CELEBRATION
The time to celebrate the Memorial this year is after 6 p.m , Standard Time, on Wednesday, March 28. At an agreed hour, let each company assemble on that night, and the anointed ones thereof partake of the emblems, their companions the “other sheep” being present as observers. Before the Memorial emblems are partaken of, let a competent brother deliver a brief discourse extemporaneously or read paragraphs selected from past Watchtower articles on the Memorial to those assembled. Since the breaking of bread and drinking of wine both symbolize the death in which Chnst’s body-members share, both the bread and the wine should be served together at partaking, the bread being unleavened and the wine red. Most certainly Jesus and his disciples used red wine to correspond with his blood poured out in death, and we should harmonize with them. Let all companies or groups report their celebration, showing both the total attendance and partakers.
USE RENEWAL SUBSCRIPTION BLANK
The blank sent you one month before expiration of your Watchtower subscription should be filled out and returned to the Brooklyn office or to the Branch office in the country where you reside. Servants in the companies, and individuals, when sending in renewals for The Watchtower, should always use these blanks. By filling in these renewal blanks you are assured of the continuation of your Watchtower from the time of expiration, and without delay. It will also be a great help if you sign your name uniformly, and note any recent change of address, on the renewal slip.
ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM
Vol. LXVI February 15, 1945 No. 4
THE KINGDOM SABBATH AND ITS LORD
“The Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day."—Matt. 12:8.
JEHOVAH God, the Creator of this earth, found I great refreshment on the seventh day of his J creative period. The six preceding days of continual creative activity had not wearied or fagged him, so that he needed to halt, rest up and recuperate. “Hast thou not known! hast thou not heard! The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength.”—Isa. 40: 28, 29, Am. Stan. Ver.
2 There must, then, be a reasonable explanation of Jehovah’s being refreshed, when he states: “In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” (Ex. 31: 17) His resting was because he had brought to pass his creative work as he had purposed, and hence he ceased from his creative work as respects the earth. At such height of accomplishment it was that he surveyed his finished work; and “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good”. (Gen. 1: 31) For such reason, then, Jehovah God could feel refreshed, that is, he could enjoy the exhilarating pleasure of having accomplished his will. At that time, he tells us, “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” (Job 38: 4-7) What a joy must have been God’s own as he saw brought to a finished state his creative work that so delighted his heavenly sons and caused them to sing his praises I They acknowledged him as the Universal Sovereign, the Master and Owner of all He surveyed.
’ Why did the Creator divide up the time of creative work into six days! And did he consider that the number six marked a complete cycle of time or a complete round of conditions and developments! Or just when did he consider the great time period with regard to our earth as completed and come to the full! Showing that he did not stop with six
1. What was the Creator a personal experience on the seventh day of the creative period?
2. What ie the reaaonaDie explanation of the expression that Be “was refreshed”?
3. (a) How do we know that Jehovah did not consider the six days as being the complete cycle of developments? (b) In what respect did be desist from ail his work on the seventh day? epochs, his divine Record says: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 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.” Because rest sometimes carries the thought of laying off and taking it easy for bodily recovery, the modern translation (Smith -Goodspeed) of Genesis 2:1-3 reads better in saying: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their host. On the seventh day God brought his work to an end on which he had been engaged, desisting on the seventh day from all his work in which he had been engaged. So God blessed the seventh day, and consecrated it, because on it he had desisted from all his work, in doing which God had brought about creation.” It must be that only as regards our earth did Jehovah desist from creative activity, having finished his work to the extent desired. It is neither reasonable nor Scriptural to think he halted operations as respects all the rest of his universe.
‘The “seventh day” on which God desisted from his work toward this planet is not to be understood as a 24-hour day. This seventh day stands related to the preceding six days of creation; and all the evidence is to the effect that all of those six days were much longer than 24 hours each; in fact, they were great periods of time thousands of years long. Just consider the following physical fact:
• During the flood of Noah’s time it took forty days and nights of continuous rainfall for the water canopy to be dissolved that had been enveloping the earth and revolving about it. That water canopy was but the last of the great rings of vaporizable matter that the terrific heat of the molten earth had caused to be thrown off and to ascend to the skies and form stupendous rings. One outside the other, aU these rings encircled the earth at the equator like wheels
4. Why, evidently. la the "seventh day" not a 24-hour day?
B. How long was the rainfall in Noah's day? and bow bad the natural conditions been built up tor such a thing? within wheels. In the course of creation, by the controlling power of the Creator, these rings fell one after another toward the earth and spread out over it like swaddling bands. They were later precipitated to earth’s surface in devastating deluges.
• It was on the second creative day that “God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament [or expansion] from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so”. (Gen. 1:6, 7) If it took forty days for the waters of the last remaining ring aloft above the firmament to be deluged down upon this globe, in what must have been a swift descent, then it must have taken a much longer time for those vaporizable elements to be raised from the seething earth to the skies to form the many vast rings, rings like those encircling the planet named “Saturn”. How many of such rings were precipitated to the earth as global deluges during the second creative day the Bible does not disclose. It does indicate, however, that the second day and the other working days were each of seven thousand years’ duration, because the seventh day, on which God desisted or rested and was refreshed, is likewise seven thousand years long. Hence, man being created toward the close of the sixth day, he was put upon this earth toward the end of 42,000 years of earth’s preparations. So the grand cycle of seven “days” adds up to 49,000 years. The Bible time-schedule indicates that slightly more than a thousand years of this great cycle remains yet to be run.
DAY CONSECRATED
’ The particular Hebrew word used at Genesis 2:1-3 which is translated “rested” is the word sha-bath', from which the word sab'bath is drawn. Certain religionists insist that there at the very beginning of man’s creation God fastened the sabbath-day law upon his human creatures; and they call Genesis 2: 1-3 to their aid as proof. Let such religionists and all others note that the “day” which God blessed and sanctified or consecrated back there was not a 24-hour day. It was and is the “seventh day” of equal duration with each of the six preceding days of creative work. According to the reckoning of the seventh-day sabbath-observing religionists, they claim man was created after the animals on the sixth 24-hour day of creation. Had that been so, then the first full day of man’s existence would have had to be a sabbath rest-day for man without having begun or completed a week’s work. However, the
6 (a)What waa created on the second day, and how long, evidently, wan the day? (b) How long, then, la the complete creative cycle, and how much of this remains yet to be run?
7 . From what is the word ''rested” translated? and what difficulties nrise from claiming the seventh day to be 24 hours long?
Scriptures make it plain that God’s “seventh day’ is longer than from sunset to sunset, just as the word day could not mean a 24-hour period when Genesis 2: 4 says: “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.” (Am.Stan. Ver.) According to the Scriptures the “seventh day” is still continuing on the part of the Creator, Jehovah God.
• Seeing that the day has been marked by the rebellion of the great sabbath-breaker, the Devil, and by the invasion of sin and death among the ranks of men and thereby great reproach has been heaped upon Jehovah’s holy name, how, then, has God blessed and sanctified this day! In this way: At the beginning of the “day” Jehovah blessed it, pronouncing it good and to his glory and for the benefit of faithful creatures. At its ending in His due time the “day” will likewise be blessed, for the cursed conditions will then be entirely removed. He sanctified or consecrated this “day” to his holy purpose, in that from its very beginning he ordained that it should vindicate him as the Creator of that which is good and as the Maintainer and Preserver of such. And the end of this “seventh day” will yet prove that his original purpose in creating this earth and putting man upon it has not been thwarted but has been gloriously realized in proof of his Godship, his supremacy and his all-power. By the end of this “seventh day” the earth will be a beauteous paradise, everywhere like the garden of Eden. It will be filled with righteous human creatures all in harmony with the Creator and acting as his representatives in having dominion over the birds and fishes and othei living things which creep about upon the earth. Hence this very fact that Jehovah blessed and sanctified this “seventh day” proves that the “end of thr-world”, of which his Word speaks, does not mean and could not mean the destruction of this earthly globe and the starry heavens above.
* The foregoing facts are not meaning to say that Jehovah God did not in process of time establish by law a 24-hour sabbath-day toward certain men on earth. He did enjoin such a sabbath observance; but toward whom, and to continue how long? That which is written at Genesis 2:1-3 cannot be taken to mean that God made the perfect Adam and Eve subject to sabbath-day regulations in Eden. When God put man in the garden of Eden to work at dressing and keeping it and warned him against taking the road that would lead to sure death, God made no mention about breaking any sabbath-dax requirement, but did forbid his eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When God blessed 8. In view of the entrance of rebellion, win and death, how could it be that Jehovah baa bleaaed and sanctified the nexentb day?
9. Why are there do grounds fur taking Genesis 2 * 1-3 io mean that God subjected Adam and Eve to aabbatb-day regulations? the perfect Adam and Eve and gave them the divine mandate to fill the earth with righteous offspring and to subdue the earth and have dominion over the lower living creatures, God included no command with reference to a sabbath-day observance. The temptation by Satan, and the sin by Adam and Eve, were not in regard to breaking any sabbath-day law. If Jehovah God did not state such a law to them in Eden before they sinned, then certainly he did not issue such a law to them after they were driven out of Eden as sinners. And there is no record that He did so.—Gen. 2:15-17; 1: 28.
10 What, then, about the number seven, which occurs 61 times in the book of Genesis alone! Just how much Jehovah God disclosed to Adam in Eden regarding the earth’s creation is not recorded, and it does no good to guess. But that the Lord God early brought to man’s notice a special significance attaching to the number seven is certain. His decree concerning the murderer Cain said: “Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” That the significance of seven as denoting completeness was grasped by men is seen in the fact that Cain’s great-grandson Lamech caught up and applied the number and said: “I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy7 and sevenfold.”—Gen. 4: 15, 23, 24.
11 The number seven became more prominent with events connected with the great flood. God told Noah: “Take to thee by seven seven, the male and his female,” of clean beasts, but two each of the unclean beasts; “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.” After Noah and his family and the animals went into the ark during this seven-day period, “it came to pass after seven days [(margin) on the seventh day], that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.”—Gen. 7:1-10, with marginal readings.
" This divine consideration for seven was not lost upon Noah, for in the ark he observed it. Noah’s ship log showed that the ark grounded on the mountains of Ararat the seventeenth day of the seventh month of the year. After allowing time for the waters to subside Noah sent forth a raven and a dove. On the dove’s return Noah pulled it to him into the ark. “And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark.” After the dove returned with an olive leaf in its beak, Noah “stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the
10. How. then, about the number “seven” in the book of Genesis, and the first application of the number to man and by man?
11 How did the number “seven" become more prominent In connection with the Flood?
12. How did Noah show regard for the number “seven”* and yet why are there no grounds for thinking him to be placed under sabbath>day law regulations? dove; which returned not again unto him any more”. Then, a full solar year after having been shut up in the ark, Noah and his family and the animals went forth from the ark of preservation. (Gen. 8:4) While the foregoing does reveal that God’s faithful witness Noah divided up the time into periods of seven days, it does not show that Noah and his family kept a strict sabbath-day rest on the seventh day, doing no work thereon. In the everlasting covenant which God made immediately afterward and which he signalized by the producing of the rainbow, there is no reference to any sabbath-day observance; and the repeating of the divine mandate to Noah and his sons does not include any command as to sabbath observance. This lack of reference to a sabbath-law is not to be interpreted to be because they had already been keeping such down till then and the law needed no repeating; but it was certainly because no such sabbath regulation had been put upon men till then. There is no Bible record contrariwise.—Gen. 9:1-17.
” Religionists argue that Abraham was under a sabbath-keeping law. In support of this they quote Genesis 26:4,5, namely, God’s words to Abraham’s son Isaac, saying: “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” This, however, is no proof that the “commandments” included a commandment concerning a seventh-day sabbath-keeping. God’s commandments to his obedient creatures are not the same at all times, but some are commanded to do certain things and others are not. Only Abraham was commanded to offer up his beloved son for a burnt-offering, and Abraham proceeded to the limit to obey this commandment. But none of God’s faithful servants since Abraham have been so commanded. Abraham was commanded to be circumcised first when he was 99 years old; but no followers of Christ Jesus are under divine commandment to be so circumcised.—Genesis, chapters 17 and 22.
“ The later evidence is against any argument that Abraham was under a sabbath-day obligation by express commandment of Jehovah God. Nor is it any proof to the contrary of this that Abraham’s grandson Jacob said to Laban his father-in-law: “I will work seven years for you in return for Rachel, your younger daughter.” When the marriage time came and Laban substituted his older daughter Leah, and Jacob objected, Laban said: “Finish the week’s festivities for this one, and then I will give you the other also, in return for another seven years’ service with me.” “Jacob did so; he finished her week’s
13 From what Scripture statement do religionists argue Abraham was under a sabbath commandment? but why is this argument not valid? 14. What dealings between Jacob and Laban are need to argue to the contrary of the above?
festivities, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel in marriage; . . . Thus he had to work with Laban another seven years.”—Gen. 29:18,27-30, Smith-Goodspeed; Douay.
1J The use of the word week, while allowing for the dividing up of the year into weeks of seven days each, does not prove a sabbath observance on the seventh day. By using the word week Laban surely did not mean that Jacob was to rest the seventh year of the week of seven years; neither did Jacob take such a year-long rest or sabbath. Nevertheless, the number seven was understood as marking completeness. Doubtless for this reason the Hebrew word for “swear” (sha-ba') really meant “to seven”. Hence, the well beside which King Abimelech and Abraham swore over seven ewe lambs was called “Beer-sheba”, meaning “well of the oath”.—Gen. 21:28-33; also 26:32,33.
l“ Now, although the seventh day of the week may have been looked upon as specially marked by the Lord with his favor, that does not prove he had enjoined a seventh-day commandment upon Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Their faithful keeping of the commandments of Jehovah God did not require sabbathkeeping, any more than it required Jacob, who married two living sisters Leah and Rachel, to keep God’s commandment later given to Jacob’s greatgrandchildren, namely: “You must not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival wife, having intercourse with her as well as with the other, while she is alive.” (Lev. 18:18, Smith-Goodspeed) When the sabbath-day law did not apply, it was no lawbreaking not to keep sabbath. Hence Abraham’s righteousness toward God was no more dependent upon sabbath keeping than it was upon first being circumcised.—Rom. 4: 3-13.
INTRODUCTION OF REST DAY
1T The Hebrew word shab-bath', meaning “cessation; rest”, first occurs in Scripture at Exodus 16: 23, and it marks the time of the introducing of the sabbath law. Observe that this putting in force of a sabbath law was not toward all mankind in general, but toward a special nation, Jehovah’s chosen people of Israel. Through Moses as mediator with God, the children of Israel had entered into covenant relationship with Jehovah God over the shed blood of the passover lamb slain in Egypt. Hence Jehovah God redeemed and delivered them from oppression in Egypt and they were a nation subject to his Theocratic law. He speaks of the “covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt”.
15 Why does Laban’s use of the word “week” not necessarily mean a seventh-day rest back there? but how is it further shown that “seven” was understood to mean completeness?
16. Why was it no lawbreaking for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob not to keep weekly sabbath ?
17. Where, how, and to whom was the weekly sabbath law first given? (Jer. 31:32) While leading these Israelites through the wilderness toward Mount Sinai in Arabia, where he purposed to inaugurate the law covenant toward them, Jehovah miraculously provided food to sustain them, in the form of “manna”. On the sixth day of its falling he commanded the Israelites to go out in the morning and gather in twice as much as on each preceding day. Why! Moses tells us, saying: “This is that which the Lord hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.” It did not spoil by next morning, the sabbath morning.
““And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the Lord: to day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there 'shall be none. And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather [indicating no sabbath observance up till then], 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; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day.” (Ex. 16:23-30) Thus by miraculously withholding manna on the seventh day, Jehovah God enforced this seventh-day sabbath law upon the Israelites. Down in Egypt was no place to institute the sabbath upon the Jews. Especially not, when they were the slaves of demon-worshiping Egyptians and when Pharaoh as king objected to interference by Moses and Aaron and said: “Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works! get you unto your burdens. . . . Behold, the people of the land now are many, and.ye make them rest [shd-bath'] from their burdens.” (Ex. 5:4,5) But now, out in the wilderness as a delivered people, the Jews were free to begin observing the sabbath law which Jehovah God introduced to them through Moses.
” While informally given out in the wilderness, the sabbath-day law was embodied in the code of laws which Jehovah God formally gave to the Jews through Moses when inaugurating the law covenant at Mount Sinai. It was made the fourth of the Ten Commandments there given, and was stated in these words: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, 18. Why there, ana not down in Egypt, was It fitting to Introduce the sabbath law?
19. (a) In what was that saboath law incorporated, and how was It stated? (b) What la the significance of the word “Bexnember” Ln that commandinent ?
nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” (Ex. 20:8-11, Am. Stan. Ver.) The command “Remember” did not mean they had kept the sabbath day prior thereto, except it be in the wilderness, from the time of giving the manna onward, but “Remember” was a command warning them lest they forget in the future to hold the day sacred. The day was to be a reminder of Jehovah’s great rest-day after preparing the earth and putting man upon it; and now his covenant people must refrain from labor upon that day just as Jehovah desisted from his works of creation respecting our earth when his great seventh “day” began.
10 The weekly sabbath was to be commemorative of even more than that. It was to remind them of how Jehovah had delivered them from the continual toil in the furnace of affliction as slaves of the demonized Egyptians. “And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, 0 Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and observe to do them. Jehovah our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Jehovah made not this covenant with our fathers [Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob], but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. Jehovah spake with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire . . . , saying, I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. . . . Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as Jehovah thy God commanded thee. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm: therefore Jehovah thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.”—Deut. 5:1-15, Am. Stan. Ver.
’* In the above words it is distinctly stated that the forefathers of the Israelites, including most prominently of all Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the twelve sons of Jacob, were not under this law covenant. This fact joins in arguing that they were not under obligation to do what is stated in the Fourth
20 As stated by Moses, in Deuteronomy, of wbat else was the weekly sabbath to remind the Israelites?
21. (a) What pro*»f does Moses thus give that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not under a sabbath law? (b) Why Is it certain that the Gentiles were under no such law?
Commandment, namely, keep the weekly sabbathday holy by a complete rest thereon. But, as Moses further said to God’s chosen people of Israel: “And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. And Jehovah commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.” (Deut. 4:13,14, Am. Stan. Ver.) Thus the commandment concerning the sabbath was a component part of the covenant (ten being a numerical symbol of earthly completeness), and it could not be separated from the covenant. It is certain, therefore, that the Gentile or non-Jewish nations were not under the sabbath obligation, even as they were not taken into this law covenant. They were not held responsible in this regard; for which reason Jehovah said to the Israelites alone: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” (Amos 3:1, 2) Commenting on Jehovah’s exclusive favor to this offspring of Jacob, the psalmist said: “He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord [Jehovah].”—Ps. 147:19,20.
DISTINGUISHING SIGN
12 Furthermore, that the non-Jewish nations were outside the sabbath arrangement, but that this was a distinguishing feature of Jehovah’s covenant arrangement with his nation, he said to the Israelites at Mount Sinai: “Verily ye shall keep my sabbaths: for it is a sign [not a seal] between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am Jehovah who sanctifieth you. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that profaneth it shall surely be put to death; for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to Jehovah: whosoever doeth any work on the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 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 Jehovah made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." (Ex. 31:13-17, Am. Stan. Ver.) Through the prophet Ezekiel Jehovah repeats that he gave the Israelites his “sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them” (Ezek. 20:12); and in added support of such sign of favor as to the Jews exclu-
22. How was it pointed out bs God's propbets that the sabbath distinguished the Israelites alone of all peoples? sively Nehemiah 9:13,14 says: “Thou earnest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: and madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and command-edst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant.”
" These divinely inspired declarations, therefore, show when the law of the sabbath was instituted, and also that its observance was a sign that distinguished and sanctified Israel from all the rest of the nations of the earth. This shows that Jehovah God did not hold the Gentile nations accountable to keep the seventh day as a sabbath. They were never under such obligation, even if descended from righteous Noah. The seventh-day sabbath of 24 hours’ duration was only the first of a set of sabbaths, by which Jehovah made the Israelites an outstanding nation.
M There were sabbath days on other than the seventh day of the week; for example, on the day next after the passover; on the first day of the .seventh month; also on the annual day of atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month; also on the fifteenth and twenty-second days of the seventh month in connection with the feast of tabernacles^ (Lev. 16:31; 23:3,11,15,24,32,39) Moreover, every seventh year counting from their time of entry into the Promised Land was a sabbatical year. Also after a series of seven such sabbath years, the fiftieth year was likewise a sabbath year, known as the Jubilee. On the atonement-day sabbath of that fiftieth year, the jubilee trumpet was to be sounded, and they were to “proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof” and to “return every man unto his possession”. During all such sabbath years the land was to rest from being cultivated and reaped. (Lev. 25:1-13) The entire system of sabbaths hung together, and all the other sabbath periods had to be observed as faithfully as and at the same time with the seventh-day weekly sabbath. —Lev. 26:2.
” There is no question that the sabbath-keeping was mandatory upon the Jews after the flesh, who were in the law covenant through Moses. The question of particular interest at this end of the world is, Are Christians under the law of the seventh-day sabbath! Terrible destruction came upon the Jewish nation because of failure to keep Jehovah’s sabbaths and related laws, which destruction was symbolic of the final war of Armageddon. Hence this is a question of instant importance, now when the battle of Armageddon is impending over “Christendom”. Many religionists, who profess to be Christians, 23. What does this tact show as respects the Gentile* and their obligations9 24 What other sabbath days were to be observed, and how was the sabbath system inclusive of more than days?
25 What question is therefore of interest to Christians now? and why is it of Instant importance? make a pretense at keeping a sabbath, but do so on the first weekday known as “Sunday”. The Roman Catholic sect claims that it changed the day from the seventh day (Saturday) to the first day (Sunday) and did so with the authority of Christ. The Roman Catholic Hierarchy claims that God’s law through Moses “includes two elements; one essential, that one day in seven should be dedicated to God; the other ceremonial, that the particular day should be chosen. The Jews selected Saturday”. Without taking time to discuss the obvious Roman Catholic error, that the Jews were the ones to select Saturday, when the Jews had nothing to do with God’s withholding manna on Saturday that the Jews might rest on that day, we consider the main question, which is, Are Christians obligated to observe a weekly sabbath-day at all!
ANSWERING THE QUESTION
” In answer, religious contenders for a weekly observance on the seventh day or Saturday point to the fact that Jesus observed the day, especially in that he went to the synagogue on that day and preached. (Matt 12: 1, 9; Mark 1:21; 3:1; 6:2; Luke 4:16,31; 13:10) These religionists harp also on the fact that the apostle Paul is reported as going into the synagogue on the sabbath days, “as his manner was,” and preaching and reasoning with the Jews there. (Acts 13:14,44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4) This testimony is brought forward as evidence that the seventh-day sabbath is binding upon Christians. But is that the import or intent of such Bible testimony! In arguing in such manner upon these Scriptural facts, the religionists have overlooked certain determining things, which we must now consider, lest it appear that there is contradiction in the Scriptures.
” Why Christ Jesus observed the seventh-day sabbath is clear from the Scriptures. According to the flesh he was an Israelite, a Jew, and was charged with being the “King of the Jews”. It is written: “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.” (Gal. 4:4,5) Hence Jesus was obliged to keep that law, as long as he was in the flesh. He was circumcised in the flesh. He kept the passover feast and other feasts. He said: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." (Luke 2:21, 41, 42; John 2:23; 7:2,10; Matt. 5:17) Hence Jesus’ keeping sabbath and attending synagogue can no more be argued in favor of Christians’ being bound to keep sabbath than Jesus’ being circumcised and observing 26. What evidence a* to Jesus and Paul is brought forth by religionists to argue that the weekly sabbath is binding on Christians?
27. Why was it proper for Jeans to observe such law? but why may Jesus’ observance not be argued as binding Christians thereto? these feasts and the sabbaths in connection therewith can be argued as binding Christians to be circumcised and to celebrate such Jewish feasts.
” By the expression ’‘the law” Jesus meant the first five books of the Bible written by Moses, which includes the account of the law covenant and its commandment concerning the Jewish sabbath-day. And by “the prophets” Jesus meant the books of the other prophets, the earlier and the later'.' He meant also the Psalms, which are prophetic. (Luke 24: 27,44-46) But his saying he came not to destroy the law or the prophets is not saying that the law covenant and its sabbath-day would continue in force and be binding upon his disciples after his death. In fact, his coming to fulfill such law and the prophets proves that the law covenant and the sabbath obligation are not thus binding upon his footstep followers.
” Destroying the law by breaking God’s law covenant is far different from fulfilling it and thus moving it out of the way and lifting its obligations from his disciples. Certainly the fulfilling of the prophets or their prophecies made such prophecies a thing of the past and no longer applying or requiring fulfillment. Likewise the fulfilling of the law makes it a thing of the past and relieves his followers from its requirements. Hence, in order to fulfill the law and the prophets, Jesus by Jewish birth was “made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law”. For illustration: The law commanded the yearly celebration of the passover over a slain lamb. Christ Jesus did not destroy the passover celebration, but moved it out of the way by fulfilling it, in that he became the antitypical passover Lamb, “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”—1 Cor. 5:7; John 1:29,36.
"It is manifest, therefore, that Jesus attended synagogue on the sabbath not simply because he was a Jew according to the flesh. He did it also in order that he might fulfill his anointing, his commission to preach the kingdom of God to the Jews who were free on the sabbath day to congregate in the synagogue. (Luke 4:16-22) When he died as the antitypical passover Lamb, Jehovah his Father caused a new covenant to be established toward Jesus’ disciples, just as the old law covenant with its sabbath feature was established over the blood of the typical passover lamb down in Egypt. Hence at the memorial supper Jesus said respecting the cup of wine: “This cup is the new testament [covenant] in my blood, which is shed for you.” (Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; Matt. 26:28; Mark 14:24) For such reason Paul, who was one of Jesus’ foremost apostles,
2<>. What did Jesus mean by his expressions “the law" and “the prophets*'? Aid does his refusal to destroy bind the law covenant and its sabbath x>n his disciples?
2<». How does fulfilling the law and propbeta differ from destroying such? 3 > Why, other than because a Jew. did Jesus attend synagogue on the sabbath’ and what change of covenant was accomplished at his death as stated both by him and by the apostle Paul? writes to his fellow Christians: “Our sufficiency is from God; who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of’the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written, and engraven on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look stedfastly upon the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which glory was passing away: how shall not rather the ministration of the spirit be with glory!”—2 Cor. 3:5-8, Am. Stan. Ver.
,l Mind you, it was the Ten Commandments, including the fourth one concerning the seventh-day sabbath, that were written in letters engraved on two stone tablets; and the glory in Moses’ face when delivering those commandments was temporary and duly passed away. The new covenant has the eternal glory of the immortal Christ Jesus and it does not include the Ten Commandments in letters cut in stone. Instead of having ten such commandments and other laws to command and to forbid Christians what to do, the new covenant is the ministration of the spirit of God, which active force of God rests upon his consecrated, Christlike ones and moves them in the doing of the will of Jehovah God. The religionists who insist on the seventh-day sabbath and other practices of the old law covenant are blinded by the veil of religion; as Paul goes on to say: “Their minds were hardened: for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remaineth, it not being revealed to them that it is done away in Christ. But unto this day, whensoever Moses is read [including the Fourth Commandment], a veil lieth upon their heart. But whensoever it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”—2 Cor. 3:14-16, Am. Stan. Ver.
“ It is the same apostle, Paul, who was inspired to tell us what became of the old law covenant, with its sabbaths. Speaking of the law covenant as a wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles, the apostle, who was a Jew according to the flesh, writes to Christians from among the Gentiles: “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off [from God] are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain [of believing Jews and Gentiles] one new man, so making peace."—Eph. 2:13-15.
“ That is to say, by permitting his perfect flesh in which he kept the law covenant to be nailed to the 31. As to commandments, bow doe* the old covenant and its delivery differ from that of the new covenant? and why cannot some grasp this1 32. In writing to the Ephesians, what did Paul say became of that old law covenant?
33. In writing the ColoMlana, what did Paul say about the law covenant and about being judged In regard to its features? cursed tree, Christ Jesus brought about the abolition of the old covenant of commandments contained in ordinances. So it is written to “the saints and faithful brethren in Christ”, at Colossians 2:12-18: “Ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility.”
44 In harmony with the above are also Paul’s words to the Christians in Galatia. After stating that God sent his Son at the due time, “made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” of God, the apostle says: “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage! Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.”—Gal. 4: 4, 5, 9-11.
44 Christ Jesus having redeemed those believers who were once under the law covenant through Moses, it was improper for such believers to try to put themselves under that law covenant again and carry on the typical things thereof, including observing the sabbath days, weekly and otherwise. Such conduct would be a holding onto a shadow and valuing and respecting it more than the substance, the reality. For Gentiles, who were never under the law covenant, it would be still more improper for them to try to put themselves under such old covenant no more in operation because nailed to Christ’s tree of death. For that reason, when the question confronted the apostles and elder brethren at Jerusalem whether the believing Gentiles were required to be circumcised, Peter objected to putting the Gentiles under the yoke of the law covenant, and James was of like mind. Then the apostles and elder brethren wrote to the Christians abroad, saying: “Forasmuch as we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to
34 On that account why did the apostle express fear concerning the Galatian Christiano?
35 . fa) What din such conduct of the Galatians mean, and why was it specially Improper for Gentiles? (b) What instructions, therefore, did the council at Jerusalem write to Gentile believers as to requirements? whom we gave no such commandment: . . . For it seemed good to the holy [spirit], and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled [hence not drained of blood], and from fornication [impure sex relations]: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.”—Acts 15:1-29.
*’ Let all those who attach the highest importance to Christians’ keeping the seventh-day sabbath take note that the above letter of all the apostles and their associates said not one word about keeping either Saturday or Sunday as a sabbath. It reminded them of the everlasting covenant of universal application, namely, that made with Noah concerning bloodshedding and bloodeating. It also admonished against religion or demonism, and insisted upon the pure worship of God as Jesus had taught. Such letter of instructions was written under guidance of the holy spirit of God; and the apostle Paul had the privilege of carrying it about and circulating its information. Hence, when Paul entered synagogues on the Jewish sabbath, it was not in observance of the day as a sabbath but in order to reach with the Kingdom message the Jews congregated there. As Paul said concerning himself: “Unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; . . . And this I do for the gospel’s sake.”—1 Cor. 9:19-23.
SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE
" What, then, shall be done with the apostle Paul’s assertion: “There remaineth therefore a sabbath rest for the people of God,” as recorded at Hebrews 4:9 (Am. Stan. Ver.)l In the surrounding verses the apostle makes no reference to keeping a 24-hour seventh-day sabbath. Instead, he quotes Genesis 2:2: “And God did rest the seventh day from all his works”; which applied over 4,000 years before Christ. He also refers to God’s words at Numbers 14: 28-35, to the effect that the unbelieving, rebellious Jews should die in the wilderness and not enter and find rest in the Promised Land; which sworn declaration of God was made over 1,500 years before Christ. Then the apostle quotes the psalmist David’s words at Psalm 95: 7-11: “To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, . . . unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest”; which psalm of David was written about 1,077 years before Christ. Thus from about 4,000 B.C. down to 1077 B.C. Jehovah God is still speaking
38 What bearing do those instructions have od the sabbath question? and why therefore did Paul co into the synagogues on the sabbath day? 3? What reference doe* the psalmist David make to God's rest, and how long had it continueo by the time of David’s writing? about his rest, which in David’s day was already almost 3,000 years long.
” Then the apostle Paul himself writes, still speaking about entering into God’s rest; which makes God’s resting down to the apostle’s day more than 4,000 years long, inasmuch as Paul wrote Hebrews more than 40 years after Christ. And the apostle Paul’s words about Christians’ entering into God’s rest still apply, that is, apply now and today, A.D. 1945, which is nearly 6,000 years from the time of Genesis 2:2. And now the kingdom of God is at hand, and during the 1,000-year reign of Christ the redeemed humankind will be given the privilege of entering into God’s rest. All of this, therefore, extends God’s rest to a length of 7,000 years. And this constitutes the length of the seventh day on which he rests and which he sanctified for vindicating his name and his work as Creator.
"From this standpoint Hebrews 3:13-19 and 4:1-11 can be understood, particularly the apostle’s words: “For we who have believed do enter into that rest; even as he hath said [about 1500 B.C.], ‘As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world [about 4000 B.C.]. . . . He again defineth a certain day, To-day, saying in David [about 1600 B.C.] so long a time afterward (even as hath been said before), To-day if ye shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Joshua [Moses’ successor] had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward [in David’s time] of another day. There remaineth therefore a sabbath rest for the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest [God’s rest] hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example [given by the unbelieving Jews] of disobedience.” (Am. Stan. Ver.) Hence Christians, during all the days they exercise faith and obedience through Christ, are keeping sabbath, God’s sabbath or rest; and they do not esteem one day of a week above another. (Rom. 14:4-6) They must give diligence to hold their faith and to keep faithful in God’s active service as His witnesses, lest they fall away and fail to enjoy complete rest with God during his Jay, which is not yet over.
40 Finally, bear in mind that the law covenant with the Jews set forth a “shadow of good things to come, and not the very image lor reality] of the things”. (Heb. 10:1) Of what good things to come was the Jewish weekly sabbath a shadow! Being the seventh day of a week, the weekly sabbath foreshadowed the seventh period in man’s history during God’s rest day s How long wa« God’s rest-day by the time of the apostle's writing? nd how U it then figured ou. that it will be 7,000 years long?
> How, then, are we to understand Paul’s words at Hebrews 4:1-11? nd. therefore, when and bow do Christians keep sabbath?
i being the seventh day of the week, what did the weekly sabbath reshadow? of 7,000 years; that is, it foreshadowed the last 1,000 years thereof. That thousand years Jehovah God has assigned to the Lord Jesus Christ, to reign then without disturbance or interference from the Devil’s organization in either heaven or earth. Such 1,000-year reign of Christ Jesus, as foretold at Revelation 20:1-6, begins after the binding of Satan the Devil; in other words, after the battle of Armageddon, which battle, everything indicates, will begin inside this generation.—Rev. 16: 14-16.
“ That will be a glorious sabbath-day for humankind, both for "men of good-will" today living, whom God will favor with preservation through the battle of Armageddon, and also for the billions of dead ones in the graves who will hear the voice of the reigning Son of God and will come forth to a resurrection of judgment. (John 5:28,29, A.S.V.) This is the sabbath of which Jesus spoke in a prophetic way when he was answering his religious critics. “And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.” (Mark 2 : 27, 28) Christ Jesus was greater than the temple at Jerusalem, in which the priests under the old law covenant seemingly profaned the sabbath day by carrying on their sacrificial duties and yet were blameless. (Matt. 12:1-8) Christ Jesus is the Head of the spiritual temple of God made up of living stones, his disciples. Hence the Most High God has appointed Christ Jesus to be Lord of the antitypical sabbath day, the 1,000-year period of the Kingdom.
41 Because the typical Jewish sabbath was a foreshadowing of this Kingdom sabbath, therefore Jesus performed many works of healing and of delivering believing persons from the bondage due to the Devil’s work. He healed the blind, raised up the crippled, and, when objected to by the religionists because of curing an infirm woman, he said: “Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day!” (Luke 13:16) Thus Christ Jesus foreshadowed what wondrous works of deliverance and relief he will perform on the 1,000-year sabbath-day when he reigns as Lord, raising even the dead from their graves. God made or ordained that coming sabbath day for man, for man’s benefit, and not for man’s oppression. Hence the believing and obedient ones then on earth will enter into a rest from slaving toil and bondage of sin, the Devil, and totalitarian rule and religion. And since God commanded breakers of the sabbath day of the old law covenant to be killed, so those refusing to keep the Kingdom sabbath by faith and obedience and ceasing from their selfish works of sin and reli-41 For whom will that period be a glorious sabbath-day? and who will be its Lord?
42 . How did Jesuj foreshadow what works be would do on that coming sabbath-day? and how will sabbath-breakers then be dealt with? gion will surely be executed by the Lord of the sabbath and be destroyed eternally.—Ex. 35: 2.
43 Then, at the close of Jehovah’s rest-day or sabbath of 7,000 years, his earthly creation and humankind upon it will be perfect, clean, and fully enjoying His blessing, just as when he finished his work at the end of the sixth creative day. Foreknowing this, he 43 Whin, then win be the net result at the end of Jehovah’s great rest day, and win will He reach It greatly refreshed? could keep on resting all during this long sabbath day. (Gen. 3:15) And thus, by his kingdom under Christ, all his earthly works will show forth Jehovah’s glorious handiwork and be for an eternal vindication of His name. His glorious purpose in his earthly creation will not have failed, and in this triumph of vindication he will reach the end of his 7,000-year sabbath day greatly refreshed.
HOW FAITH COUNTS TODAY
THOSE who are today the “men of good will” about whom the angels sang about two thousand years ago must be persons of faith, which faith is manifested in works and a clear-cut course of action. To foreshadow such persons and their present-day course the Almighty God used some outstanding characters of olden time. Take, for example, that woman Rahab of Jericho, and the members of her family relationship. These played their parts in one of God’s prophetic dramas for the special benefit of “men of good will” now on earth.
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