BOTH SIDES on the SABBATH and LAW - Part 02

Both Sides on the Sabbath and Law- Part 02
[ https://egwwritings.org/]

REVIEW OF T. M. PREBLE.

BY URIAH SMITH.

“He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbor cometh and searcheth him.” Proverbs 18:17.

Preble. - “OF WHAT IS THE SABBATH A SIGN OR TYPE? Should the inquiry be raised by the objector, whether I do not believe the seventh-day Sabbath of the Old Testament is a type of the seventh millennium, or thousand years; I answer, yes. Then, says the objector, How can you make out that the type will cease to be observed until the antitype is reached? I answer, the same as other types ceased to be observed, or kept, before the antitypes were reached: as for example, look at the ‘high priest’ who went into ‘the holy place’ once every year: {BSSL 22.5}

“‘The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing; which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Hebrews 9:8-12. {BSSL 23.1}

“This says, - ‘Having obtained eternal redemption for us.’ But we have not really obtained this redemption yet; neither can we, until Christ comes ‘the second time without sin unto salvation.’ {BSSL 23.2}

“‘For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear, the second time, without sin unto salvation.’ Hebrews 9:24-28. {BSSL 23.3}

“Thus, we see, that the Levitical priesthood was a type of the priesthood of Christ; but the Levitical priesthood has been ‘changed,’ and, hence, the type has ceased to be observed; as we read in Hebrews 7:11, 12; - {BSSL 24.1}

“‘If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.’ {BSSL 24.2}

“But let us examine this still more, and see how clearly we can establish the fact, that the priesthood of Christ is the antitype of the Levitical priesthood; and although the type has ceased to be observed, yet the antitype is not yet reached in its completion: - {BSSL 24.3}

“‘For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there ariseth another priest, who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.’ Hebrews 7:13-16. {BSSL 24.4}

“Mark this last expression: - Our ‘priest’ is made ‘not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of AN ENDLESS LIFE.’ But again:: - {BSSL 24.5}

“‘By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death; but this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.’ Hebrews 7:22-24. {BSSL 24.6}

“Yes, praise God: - ‘By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.’ (Verse 22.) {BSSL 24.7}

“And so it is with the Sabbath, it was a sign or type of that ‘rest’ - or ‘keeping of a Sabbath,’ (margin) - which ‘remaineth’ ‘to the people of God’ (Hebrews 4:9); but as ‘the body is of Christ’ (Colossians 2:16, 17), we cannot trace the ‘shadow’ beyond the ‘body:’ but Christ has become our ‘surety’ of that ‘rest’ the same as he was made ‘a surety of a better testament.’ And as Christ does not fulfill the type of the priesthood until he comes out of the holy of holies, or out of ‘heaven itself,’ to give ‘the people of God’ ‘an endless life;’ so the type of the Sabbath will not be fulfilled until Christ comes out ‘heaven itself’ to give ‘the people of God’ that ‘rest’ which ‘remaineth’ for them.’ And as the apostle says: {BSSL 24.8}

“‘Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices; wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle; for see, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount. But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.’ Hebrews 8:1-6.” {BSSL 25.1}

REPLY. - Of what, asks Eld. P., is the Sabbath a sign or type? Mark the expression, “a sign or type!” Here he is guilty of Fallacy No.4, by connecting the word type with the word sign, thereby covertly insinuating that they mean one and the same thing. We have already alluded to the distinction between a sign and a type. The word used for sign, where the Sabbath is called a sign, is (semeion), which is defined thus: “A sign; i.e., a mark, token, by which anything is known or distinguished; a token, pledge, assurance; a proof, evidence, convincing token,” etc. The word for type, is a very different word, namely, (tupos), which is defined, “A mark, impression, print of a stroke or blow; a form, image, effigy, i.e., a statue; pattern, model; a type, figure, emblem, that which exhibits a representation or likeness of anything,” etc. The word for shadow, as in the expression, “A shadow of things to come,” Colossians 2:17, is still another word, namely, (skia), and is defined as follows: {BSSL 25.2}

“A shade, a shadow; metaphorically, a shadow, i.e., a shadowing forth, adumbration, in distinction from the perfect image or delineation, and the reality.” From these definitions the reader will see the plain distinction there is between a sign, and a type or shadow, and how utterly erroneous it is to confound the one with the other. {BSSL 26.1}

But nevertheless Eld. P. has announced his belief that the Sabbath is a type. He considers it a type of the seventh millennium; though from some oversight, or perhaps from necessity, he has omitted to give us any evidence for that position. We do not believe the Sabbath is a type pointing forward to our future rest, but a memorial looking back to creation; for the Scriptures uniformly and expressly so represent it. Could he have given as good a reason for his position, would he not have produced it? There is an insuperable objection that lies against his view, which he has mentioned, but not removed. It is that if the Sabbath is a type of the future millennium, it reaches up to that time, and should be observed till then. No man can avoid this conclusion. Yet Eld. P.’s position that the Sabbath is abolished, obliges him to take the view that the type has ceased, before the antitype is reached. He endeavors, however, to extricate himself from this dilemma by the assertion that other types have ceased before reaching their antitypes, and that this is of the same nature with them. Here we meet his assertion with a universal and unqualified denial. No type can cease until its antitype is reached. Common sense forbids the idea. His lengthy quotations from Scripture to show that the priesthood of Christ is the antitype of the Levitical priesthood, so far as our belief in that doctrine is concerned, might have been omitted. There is no controversy on that. But how, then, shall we account for the fact that there are events in Christ’s ministration, still future, which were typified by especial ceremonies under the former dispensation? Easily enough. Paul has furnished us a key to this subject, and not to use it, is to inexcusably expose ourselves to confusion and error. He makes two plain and distinct statements, which set the matter in its true light. One of them occurs in Hebrews, and reads as follows: “For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect.” Hebrews 10:1. Paul shows by this language that the system of types and shadows is to be taken together as a whole. “The law,” he says, as a whole, “having a shadow of good things to come.” Hence we cannot take each individual type and consider it as something complete and distinct in itself, and trace it down till we reach the particular event in this dispensation which it typifies. But the law as a system, that whole dispensation with its typical work, foreshadowed the good things of the gospel. The dividing line then must come between the dispensations. No part of the former dispensation can lap over into this. None of the shadows which went to make up that system, can continue when that dispensation has given place to the new. The shadows there cease because the particular economy which gave them existence there closed; but in their appropriate places in this dispensation will be found the antitypes of all those shadows which composed that system, by which this, taken collectively, was foreshadowed. {BSSL 26.2}

The other statement referred to is Colossians 2:16, 17; “Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon or of the sabbath days; which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of christ.” It is the little word, of, which is important in this testimony for our present purpose, “The body is of Christ:” that is to say, the body or antitype of all these ceremonies is connected with the work of Christ, and will be found in something pertaining to his ministration. As in the text first quoted, Paul shows that it was the law system taken as a whole, that contained the shadow, he here shows that it is the ministration of Christ, taken as a whole, that contains the substance. And when the ministration of Christ commences, the typical dispensation has given place to the real, the shadow to the substance, and all things pertaining to the former must cease, or we should have two ministrations going on at the same time; which would be inadmissible. {BSSL 28.1}

The illustration often used on this subject, is, that the shadow of a tree can be traced up to the tree itself. And this illustration is a good one; for we must remember that every branch, or each individual ceremony was not a separate and independent shadow of itself, to be traced to a distinct tree in this dispensation; but that that dispensation as a whole was the shadow, and this as a whole the tree which cast it; and the shadow did reach down without interruption to the introduction of this dispensation, where the tree commenced. It is here that Eld. P. falls into Fallacy No.5, by making the types of that dispensation, instead of component parts of one great whole, separate and independent types of themselves. {BSSL 28.2}

But was not the Sabbath also a component part of that typical whole? By no means. And here Eld. P. is guilty of another Fallacy, No.6, by making the weekly Sabbath the same in nature, and a part of the same system, as the typical sabbaths of the Jews. The Sabbath was instituted, as we shall presently show, before ever the typical dispensation was ordained; it was never incorporated into that dispensation in such a manner as to be dependent on it for existence; and its supposed antitype, the glorious seventh thousand years, is no part of the antitypical ministration of Christ. There is nothing in the antitypical work of the Saviour of which the weekly Sabbath can be shown to be typical; hence it does not belong to that class of feasts and sabbaths, the body of which is “of” Christ. If therefore the Sabbath is a type, it stands out by itself, independent of everything else, and must consequently exist till its direct antitype is reached. Thus Eld. P. will find the laboring oar on this point still in his own hands. He will find the burden of proof resting down more heavily than ever upon his shoulders. We would that he had been prudent enough to avoid such a yoke which no man is able to bear; but we would remind him that he may yet cast it off by turning again to the truth; for the truth is long-suffering, and will still receive those who seek her presence, not withstanding they may have often unaccountably shut their eyes to her gracious light. {BSSL 29.1}

Preble. - “ORIGIN OF THE SABBATH. If my position be right in regard to the design of the Sabbath; that is, that it was a ‘sign’ to ‘the children of Israel throughout their generations;’ then the origin of the Sabbath has nothing to do with the particular point now under consideration, and we need not multiply words about the question whether it had its origin at the creation, or at the time of the Israelites’ coming out of Egypt. For be it remembered, that my point is this: that the seventh-day Sabbath being a sign, or type, it was only to be observed by a people under types and shadows; and the Gentiles not being a typical people, they are not required to keep the typical Sabbath; although it is their duty, as the duty of all Christians, to keep a Sabbath, as I have already stated. Before I close I intend fully to prove that the day for us to observe is ‘the first day of the week.’” {BSSL 29.2}

REPLY. - In relation to the Sabbath as a sign, also of the difference between a sign and a type, we have already spoken. A word now in reference to its origin. The question of the origin of the Sabbath presents perhaps a more formidable objection to Eld. P.’s position, than any other portion of the subject. We can all see therefore how fortunate it would be for him, could he by any means avoid meeting the issue here. He attempts this in a very novel and summary way, and one which would be vastly convenient, if it was only lawful. If the Sabbath be a sign or type, he says, here again confounding the word sign with type, then no matter about its origin. But hold, friend P.; for the origin of the Sabbath is the very point that determines whether the Sabbath is a type or not; and to ignore this, is begging the whole question. If the Sabbath originated with types, and rests on the same basis, and belongs to the same system with them, then it is a type, the controversy is ended, and we will never more take up our pen to argue its obligation upon gospel Christians. But if the Sabbath originated far back of all types and shadows, if it rests on a different basis altogether, and is infinitely higher in its nature, and sustains a universal relation to all the inhabitants of this earth, then verily it is not a type, and no man can rightfully attempt to degrade it into a typical office. In examining the claims of any institution, its origin is the first, if not the main, question to be considered. We are the more surprised, therefore, that so thorough a controversialist as Eld. P., in efforts apparently so sincere to spread light on the Sabbath question, should so entirely pass by this division of the subject. {BSSL 30.1}

When, then, and how, did the Sabbath originate? We answer, It originated in Paradise, before man had fallen, and before sin had entered into the world. It will be unnecessary to “multiply words” to prove this point. We need do scarcely more than quote the plain language of the inspired record. In the first chapter of Genesis, we have a plain, unvarnished narrative of the events of the first six days of time. It tells what was done on each successive day. The narrative goes right on, in the following chapter, in the same spirit, and same construction, and gives the events of the seventh day. Can we then on any ground claim that what is said of the seventh day is not a record of what then took place on that day, but of what was done to it 2500 years afterward in the days of Moses? The idea is unnatural, uncalled for, unreasonable, preposterous. Yet this is the only loop-hole of escape from the position that the Sabbath was instituted in Paradise. Set this down, then, as an indisputable fact, that what is said of the seventh day in Genesis 2, is a record of what was done on, and to, the seventh day in the beginning, and not at any subsequent period. {BSSL 31.1}

And what were those events. First God rested upon the day. Sabbath means rest; and any day to be a Sabbath, or rest day, must be a day on which some one has rested. The Sabbath of the Lord must be the day on which he rested. He did rest upon the seventh day. We have no record of his ever resting upon any other day. No other day therefore ever has been, or can be at the present time, the Sabbath of the Lord. But God does more than this to make it a Sabbath for man. He added his blessing. “And God blessed the seventh day.” We have no account of his ever blessing any other day. No other day therefore even has been, or can be at the present time, the blessed or holy Sabbath of the Lord. He then sanctified it, that is, set it apart to a holy or sacred use. No other day has ever been thus set apart for man, hence no other day ever has been, or can be at the present time, binding on man, as a divine institution. This blessing and sanctification were placed upon it after the first seventh day had passed. Hence this action had no reference to the day that had passed, but to the seventh days that were to come in the future, And the fact that the day was sanctified or set apart, clothes the institution with a divine command at the very beginning, and sends it forth with all the authority of Jehovah so long as that sanctification shall last. {BSSL 31.2}

The fact that the day was sanctified is the record that a command was given for its observance. This is at once apparent when we consider that it is utterly impossible to sanctify or set apart to a religious use, any institution without plainly giving directions or a command how it should be used. See instances in Exodus 19:12, 23; Joshua 20:7; Joel 1:14; 2:15; 2 Kings 10:20, 21; Zephaniah 1:7, margin. And when God in giving his law on Sinai, spoke of his rest-day, he declared it to be the Sabbath day at the time it was blessed of God. “Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” But it was blessed in the very beginning as we have seen, and hence was the Sabbath day at that time. We have no record that the blessing has ever been removed, or the sanctification taken off; hence it is the blessed and sanctified rest-day of Jehovah still. {BSSL 32.1}

We are now prepared to consider the bearing of this argument upon the question whether or not the Sabbath is a type. All types point forward to something connected with the work of redemption. They have no other design than this. Hence no type would ever have been introduced had not man fallen and needed a redemption. They all originate therefore this side of the fall. But the Sabbath was instituted before the fall, before man needed redemption, and before anything was, or could have been, reasonably, given to foreshadow that work. All the types that were ever instituted had no meaning except as they recognized the work of Christ in redemption; but the seventh-day Sabbath was from creation a holy day, and all the facts to which the fourth commandment points would have been just as true as they are now if Christ had never died. While the types, among which were the typical sabbaths of the Jews, recognized man’s guilt, and signified God’s willingness to save, the seventh-day Sabbath would have occupied the same place it now occupies, and ever has occupied, even if man had never sinned. The typical sabbaths were shadows of things to come; the seventh-day Sabbath was and is a memorial of things past. The two classes of sabbaths point in opposite directions, and hence cannot be classed together. The one pointed forward to redemption; the other points back to creation: “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” The seventh-day Sabbath therefore is not a type, if reason and revelation may decide this question. Had Eld. P. more carefully considered this point, we think he would have saved himself from the assumption that the Sabbath is a type, and of so coolly passing by, on that assumption, the question of its origin as having no bearing on the subject. {BSSL 33.1}

We request the reader to give special attention to the point now under consideration. Go back to the beginning. Behold Adam and Eve, in innocence and holiness in the garden of Eden. Behold God giving to them as the parents and representatives of the whole human family, his holy Sabbath, the memorial of his own great work, designed to ever keep in the mind of man his own origin, the knowledge of the true God, and the allegiance due from man to him. And who shall tell us which one of the descendants of Adam might first override this great memorial, and transgress this divine command? Are not all equally interested in the events of creation? Do not all the world need a memorial of the true God? Do they not all need the same great bulwark against atheism and idolatry? {BSSL 34.1}

There was another holy institution given to man at the same time with the Sabbath, the institution of marriage. It is well that this guardian institution of our domestic peace should be sacredly cherished; but why should the golden link that binds us to our Maker be trampled in the dust? We cannot better close these brief allusions to the origin of the Sabbath than with the following impressive language of J. W. MORTON: “Why is there now such bitter opposition to an institution that was once the delight of both God and man? Why do men hate with such perfect hatred what Jehovah made, and blessed, and sanctified, before sin had entered into the world? Why should this daughter of Innocence be spurned from every door, and loaded with the damning reproach of Judaism, while her twin sister, Marriage, sucks the breasts and is dandled upon the knees of Orthodoxy?” {BSSL 34.2}

[TO BE CONTINUE]