During the first period, the family was the unit of worship. In divers manners and various portions God communicated with the heads of the families, such as Adam, Noah, Abram, et al. These men were known as patriarchs (Heb. 7:4; Acts 2:29; 7:8, 9) and accordingly this period is known as the patriarchal dispensation. At Mt. Sinai God gave another law to the Jewish nation which continued in force until Christ died on the cross. This law was given through Moses and applied to the Jews only. Hence the second period is known as the Mosaic dispensation. Throughout this period the patriarchal regulations continued to apply to the Gentile families and nations but the Jews were governed by the law given at Sinai. There were two laws in force simultaneously but applying to different peoples. God never had two different laws applying to the same people at the same time.
During the third period, or Christian dispensation, we have, of course, the will or the law of Christ. In Hebrews 1:1-2 we read, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these days spoken unto us by his son.” That makes a distinct break at the cross. Before Christ came God spoke unto our fathers by the prophets in dreams, visions, etc., but unto us he hath spoken through his Son, Jesus Christ. In the New Testament we have the will of Christ which went into effect when he died on the cross (Heb. 9:15-17).
III
The Adventist Claim
The advocates of the seventh day sabbath make a very broad claim. They claim that the command to remember the sabbath day and keep it holy (the fourth commandment of the Decalogue given at Sinai) has been binding on all people throughout all ages and will continue to be in force as long as time shall last. In other words, they claim that it has been binding throughout each of the dispensations already mentioned. With the diagram ([p. 144]) to keep these three periods before our minds, let us examine the claim in the light of the Bible.
IV
No Sabbath for Man During First 2,500 Years
First of all, I emphatically deny that God commanded anyone to keep the sabbath before the children of Israel were led out of Egypt. According to the Seventh Day Adventists, the “fourth commandment” was in force at least 2,500 years before it was made known. This could not be. Moses wrote the book of Genesis. He probably wrote it after the law was given at Sinai. It covers almost the entire patriarchal period. In this book the word “sabbath” is not found at all! Genesis 2:2 says that God rested on the seventh day, but it does not say that he told Adam and Eve to rest; neither does it call the seventh day the sabbath. “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.” Please note that that is not a commandment; it is a statement of facts. It is a statement of the fact that God rested on the seventh day and a statement of the further fact that (at some later date) he sanctified and blessed the seventh day. There is no commandment in that Scripture.
Furthermore, the very tense of the verb used in verse 3 shows that he did not sanctify the day at the time he rested. Note this tense: “because in it he had rested.” It does not say “because he was resting” but “because he had rested” on that day. The very tense of the verb shows that after God himself had rested on the seventh day, at some later time, when he could refer to the fact that he had rested in the past tense, he sanctified that day. Genesis does not say when he sanctified it. Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 reveal that he sanctified it as a day of rest for the Jews in the wilderness when he gave the law at Mt. Sinai, after he had led them out of Egypt. The seventh day was sanctified at the close of the patriarchal dispensation, at least 2,500 years after the world began.
The mentioning of the sanctification in Genesis 2:3 has been called a case of prolepsis, or joining together in statement two events that were separated in time. Other examples of prolepsis may be found in Genesis 3:20, 4:20, and Matthew 10:4. No one can show where God sanctified the seventh day, much less where he commanded anyone to keep it, until after the deliverance of the Jews from Egypt.
The seventh day of the week is first called the sabbath in Exodus 16, in connection with the giving of the manna to the Jews in the wilderness. In anticipation of the law soon to be given at Sinai, God instructed the people to gather two days’ supply on the sixth day and warned them not to expect any on the seventh day. The manner in which the sabbath is thus introduced shows that they were not accustomed to keeping it. In spite of these special instructions, some went out to gather manna on the seventh day and found none. This shows their lack of familiarity with the seventh day sabbath. The sabbath was a new institution soon to be established. Here it was first introduced. At Mt. Sinai a few days later it was made known. “Thou camest down also upon Mt. 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 commanded them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant ...” (Neh. 9:13, 14; see also Ex. 20:8-11, and Deut. 5:12-15). If they were already familiar with the sabbath, how could God have made it known to them at Mt. Sinai?
Soon after the sabbath command was given at Sinai, a Jew went out and picked up sticks on the sabbath day (Num. 15:32-36). That this ceremonial institution was new is shown by the fact that Moses put that man in jail until he could inquire from God what should be done. Don’t you know that if God’s people had been keeping the sabbath 2,500 years, they would have known what to do with a man who violated it? (Incidentally, God commanded that he be stoned to death. I have not heard of any modern Sabbatarians thus punishing the violation of their favorite law. If the seventh day sabbath were still in force, the death penalty for violating it would also still be in force.)