Beyond space there would be no room for the moon, nor for the sun; neither would there be room for the resurrected saints, possessing bodies like their Lord’s resurrected, glorious body; and beyond the bounds of time, there would be no need of the sun and the moon which are God’s great time-keepers. We are not looking for a general smash-up in the universe, and then the creation of all new things, for immortal saints beyond the bounds of time and space. It is this planet that has revolted. And the Redeemer, who is coming to bring it back into allegiance to the government of God, says, “Behold I make all things new.” The revolt did not affect the sun, moon, and the other planets. Redemption will not affect these heavenly bodies. When the Restorer shall have established the immortal saints in the new earth, it will continue its revolutions, and the sun and moon will measure off days, and months, and years, as long as eternal ages shall roll. The redeemed will have right to the tree of life, which Adam lost through disobedience. That tree yields twelve manner of fruits each month. And why may not the words of the prophet in reference to all flesh appearing before the Lord from one new moon to another, be fulfilled when the entire family of the redeemed shall come each month to partake of the new fruit of the tree of life?
But to return to God’s memorial: The position taken in these pages presents the one-day-in-seven-and-no-day-in-particular, or one-seventh-part-of-time, theory, in its true light. If the Sabbath was made for man, for the simple reason that he needed rest from physical toil, and a day of worship, one day may answer as well as another. But if it be a memorial of Jehovah’s rest, the seventh, and no other day of the week, is the day of the Sabbath. Sabbatarians are charged with being great sticklers for the day. And so they are. Sabbath signifies rest. Man is required by the fourth commandment to celebrate the rest-day of the Lord, or the day on which the Lord rested. God rested on the seventh day. He hallowed the seventh day. Hence, the seventh day, and no other, is the day of the Sabbath. Change the day of the Sabbath, and you cease to celebrate the rest of the Lord. If God rested on one day in seven and no day in particular, man may do the same; but if God rested on the seventh day of the first week, acceptable Sabbath-keeping is the celebration of the seventh day of each succeeding week.
The passover was a memorial of an event that occurred on the fourteenth day of the first Jewish month. The celebration of the day of the passover became a statute in Israel from Moses to Christ. Remove this observance to a day on which the event commemorated did not take place, and the celebration would lose its significance. It would cease to be the passover.
The American people celebrate their national independence on the fourth day of July. And why? Because July 4, 1776, patriotic men signed the Declaration of Independence. The men of this nation are great sticklers for the day; and well they may be. Should they change our national celebration from the day on which the Declaration of Independence was signed, to a day on which it was not signed, it would lose its significance. It would cease to be a celebration of our independence. Let the people of this country celebrate their independence on the twenty-fifth day of December, and let the Declaration of Independence be read from every orator’s stand on that day, as is customary on the fourth of July, and the American people would be regarded as a nation of fools.
And what Jew ever thought of observing one three-hundred-and-sixty-fifth part of time, or one day in three hundred and sixty-five and no day in particular, and calling that the passover? And we might as well talk of celebrating our national independence on one day in three hundred and sixty-five and no day in particular, as to talk of celebrating the rest-day of Jehovah upon one day in seven and no day in particular. The veriest American idiot that can recollect of ever hearing about George Washington or the Declaration of Independence, might well laugh at the folly of changing the day of our national celebration. Verily, as our Lord has said, the men of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. It is only in matters of religion that people seem to be satisfied with that which, in regard to any other subject, would be considered consummate folly.
And do these men who use the one-day-in-seven-and-no-day-in-particular theory, advocate a change of the Sabbath from the rest-day of the Father, to the resurrection-day of the Son? Then I inquire of them, Who ever thought of celebrating the resurrection of Christ on one day in seven and no day in particular? If they say that this can be done, then I inquire again, Where is the change of the day of the Sabbath? Was it a change from one day in seven and no day in particular of the former dispensation, to one day in seven and no day in particular of the present dispensation? This would be “confusion worse confounded.”
And to those who assert that redemption, as a greater work, is to be celebrated on the first day of the week, as creation was anciently to be celebrated on the seventh day of the week, I would say, We only have your word for that. Please notice these facts:
1. The Bible is silent relative to redemption’s being greater than creation. Who knows that it is?
2. The Bible is silent as to the observance of a day to commemorate redemption. Who knows that a day should be kept for that purpose?
3. We have in the Lord’s supper, and baptism, memorials of the two great events in the history of the Redeemer’s work for man. These are appropriate.