by

Stanley Harris

One of the greatest Bible illustrations is found in the book of Isaiah. It describes seven women taking hold of one man. While this prophecy applied to the Jews during a time when there was a shortage of men, and many women tried to take hold of one man, it also has application to the latter days. The prophecy says, "And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach." Isa. 4:1.

In Biblical prophecy a woman represents a church. The number seven represents completeness. Therefore the seven women represent the nominal Christian churches of today who all wish to take hold of one man (Christ), but according to the scriptures every church does not have the right to call themselves by the name of that man, Christ Jesus.

Our Lord said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15. While many Christians today claim to love Christ and take upon themselves the name of Christian they refuse to obey Him in all points. As the prophecy declares, "we will eat our own bread." In other words they will supply their own spiritual food. All they want is to take the name of Christ. The only way that we can tell If men are true followers of Christ is by their obedience to Him. As the Bible says in I John 2:3, "And hereby we do know that we know Him (Christ), if we keep His commandments." While there are many churches that claim the name of Christ, or call themselves Christians, the Lord says the only way we can tell those who know Him, and love Him, is by their obedience to His commandments. We read further in I John 2:6, "He that saith he abideth in Him (Christ) ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked." And John further declares in I John 2:4, "He that saith I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." So It is clear that while the churches all want to take the name of Christ and claim to be the followers of Christ, the Lord says that only those who keep His commandments are His true followers; that all the rest are liars or deceivers.

As we gaze upon the ten commandments in Exodus 20, we come to verses 8-11 where we read, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 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 question often arises, if the seventh day is the Sabbath, what day in the weekly cycle is it? In answer to this question all that we have to do is to look on our calendars, and immediately we find that Sunday is the first day of the week, and Saturday is the seventh day, or the Sabbath of the Lord according to the Scriptures.

Sometimes people say, "I know that the seventh day is the Sabbath in the Old Testament but the New Testament does not tell us to keep the seventh-day Sabbath." In answer to this statement I wish to say that this is not true, for in the New Testament God distinctly tells us that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and that He limits us to the keeping of that day as a holy day. Notice this definite command from God found in the New Testament, "And God did rest the seventh day from all His works . . . He (God) limiteth a certain day . . . There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God (keeping of a Sabbath -- margin) for he (the Christian) that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his." Heb. 4:4, 7, 9, 10. God particularly points out the fact that "He limited a certain day." If God therefore has limited man to the seventh day of the week, what right has he to take another day that God has not blessed, hallowed, nor sanctified. See Gen. 2:3; Ex. 20:11.

To illustrate my point more clearly, I shall call before me seven women, each one of these women is numbered and the seventh woman is my wife. You all know according to the scriptures that God limits a man to one woman. When I get ready to leave, can I take home with me the first woman instead of the seventh? You immediately answer no, the seventh woman is your wife. I ask what difference does it make which woman I take home with me, a woman is a woman? Again you would reply, God says that you are limited to one woman, and if you take any other woman besides your wife God will hold you accountable in the day of Judgment. True, that is correct. God also says that He limits us to one day which is to be kept holy as the Sabbath day. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament God says that the seventh day is the Sabbath. If I have no right to take any other woman than the one God has given me, you have no right to take any other day except the one that God has given you. Both a woman and the Sabbath have been set aside for you and you have no right to take any other woman or any other day except that which God has blessed, hallowed, and sanctified for you. The two institutions established by God in the garden of Eden were the Sabbath and marriage.

There are some who say that any day can be the Sabbath. I have often heard people say that they keep every day holy. The devil wants every day to be called the Sabbath, but as only one woman, a wife, can have only one man, a husband, and be called by his name, so only one day, the seventh day, can be called by the name of the Sabbath.

I have heard a great many sincere people say, "Sunday is the Lord's day." Occasionally one hears a minister call Sunday the Lord's day. Now if you will turn to Revelation 1:10, you will find it reads, "I was in the spirit on the Lord's day." It does not say which day of the week is the Lord's day. A lady one time asked me this question, "If it does not say so in the text, who has the right to decide that Sunday is the Lord's day? Now that is what I would like to know! The text says that the Lord has a day, does it not? John was in the spirit on the Lord's day. So the Lord has a day. In Mark 2:28 Jesus said, "The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." In Matt. 12:8, "For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." In Ex. 20:10, it tells us that "the seventh day Is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Now notice these three statements together.

First. The Lord has a day, "I was in the spirit on the Lord's day." Rev. 1:10.

Second. "The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath." Mark 2:28.

Third. "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord." Ex. 20:10.

In these texts it is certainly clear that the seventh day, or Sabbath, is the Lord's day. Read also Isaiah 58:12-14. Here the Lord calls the Sabbath "My holy day."

One time a man spoke to me and said, Don't you know that Paul said, ye are not under the law but under grace? I said, yes, but did you ever read the next verse? Now the question is, to whom was Paul speaking when he said ye are not under the law but under grace? Was he talking to a group of sinners? No. He made the statement to Christian people who had asked for forgiveness for their sins and bad received a pardon (or grace) from Jesus Christ. Please remember this, dear friends, you cannot separate grace from the law. It is the individual who is willing to acknowledge himself a sinner, and is sorry for his sins who gets a pardon (or grace) from God. Sin is the breaking of God's commandments. I John 3:4. He must be willing like the publican to say, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Luke 18:13.

I want to give you an illustration that I hope you will never forget. Think of two men. One has committed a terrible crime in this state (broken a law of the state) and be has been tried, proved guilty and is sentenced to die on a certain day. The other man, we will say, has broken God's law and has sinned against the government of heaven. "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23. He is headed for death too, is he not? Let us suppose that the governor of this state after considering the first man's case decides to give him a pardon. So the prisoner instead of having to die walks out of the penitentiary a free man. He has a pardon from the governor, something be does not deserve. Therefore he goes out under grace. He has been pardoned by the grace of the governor of the state. After he is set free through the kindness of the governor, what is his relation to the laws of the state? Would the pardon from the governor free him from any obligation to the laws of the state in the future? Why you say he is under double obligation to respect the laws of the state.

Now about the other man who has broken God's law and deserves to die. Let us suppose he hears about Jesus dying for him. His heart is touched and he becomes sorry for his sins and confesses them. Jesus gives him a pardon (grace). Instead of looking forward to a death that is eternal, he now has the hope of eternal life held out to him. He decides to accept the pardon that is offered. He realizes that he does not deserve it, but his heart responds to the kindness of Jesus and he cannot refuse the grace offered him. He is no longer under the penalty of the law, but is a free man under grace. Now let me ask you, what is his relation to God's commandments? Would you expect him to say now I am under grace and I do not have to keep that old law? No, you would say that he is doubly obligated to keep God's law. So you see friends, it is the person who is breaking any of the commandments who is under the law (the curse or condemnation). When he asks for forgiveness he gets grace and is no longer under the condemnation of the law unless he breaks it again. If grace will permit a person to break the fourth commandment, why would it not permit a person to break any of the other nine?

Some will say, Mr. Harris, I really believe that you are right, I believe the seventh day is right, but how can we tell if the seventh day of the ten commandments is the day we now call Saturday? This is an interesting question. It can be definitely traced out that Christ was crucified on the day that we call Friday, or good Friday, and that He rose on the day that we call Sunday. I will illustrate this for you. In speaking of when Jesus was crucified, Mark 15:42 says, "The preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath." He was crucified the day before the Sabbath. The next day was the Sabbath. The scriptures tell what His followers did on the seventh day which we call Saturday and which followed His crucifixion. You read in Luke 23:56 that they went home and rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandment. The next day was the first day of the week when the women came to the tomb. On the first day of the week they came unto the sepulchre bringing spices which they had prepared, and they found that Christ had risen. (Mark 16:1, 2.) Now this is what the Bible tells us. You can clearly see that the Sabbath came in between the crucifixion on Friday, commonly called good Friday, and the resurrection on Sunday, commonly called Easter Sunday. So if you know what day comes in between good Friday and Easter Sunday, you know for sure what day is the day you ought to keep. If anybody here does not know what day comes between Friday and Sunday, please see me privately after the meeting and I will try to help you.

Dear friends, the Sabbath is going to be kept in the earth made news. In Isaiah 66:22, 23 we read, "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." If the Sabbath is going to be kept in the new earth throughout eternity, then, beloved, let us begin to keep it here and now. Jesus says in Rev. 22:14, "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Now the question arises, who changed the Sabbath? In response to your question, I first read from the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, page 153, which says, "The Catholic church after changing the day of rest from Saturday, the seventh day of the week, to Sunday, the first day, made the third commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept as the Lord's day." Now here it is admitted point blank that the Catholic church changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.

Here is another statement from the Catholic Mirror that is published in Baltimore, Maryland. This is taken at the time when Cardinal Gibbons was there, September 23, 1893. Notice what it says, 'The Catholic church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday." It could not be any plainer than this. This is what they admit. This is what they acknowledge. They say the Sabbath was changed a thousand years before there was a Protestant. Here is another statement from the Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, page 50. It was written to Indoctrinate Catholic converts into Catholic teaching. This edition received the blessing of the pope in January, 1910.

"Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?" Notice what they say.

"Answer: Because the Catholic church in the Council of Laodicea transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday."

There could not be any plainer statement that they are responsible, and did change the day from Saturday to Sunday.

Here we have another witness from the Doctrinal Catechism, page 174, where it says, "Question: Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?

"Answer: Had she not such power she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of the Sabbath the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority."

Here it is admitted that there is no scriptural authority for the change of the Sabbath. It is claimed that the Roman Catholic church made the change.

Beloved, who are you going to follow, Christ, the Lord of the seventh day Sabbath, or anti-christ who claims that the first day, Sunday, is his sabbath? I for one will follow Christ. Because I love Him I shall keep His commandments. I shall keep the fourth commandment which tells us that the seventh day is the Sabbath. I have no right to take any other day of the week any more than I have a right to take any other woman for a wife except the one that God has given to me.

May God help each one of us to make our calling and election sure before it is too late. May God also help us that we may not harden our hearts to this truth. Satan will try to make us believe that these things are unimportant. He will try to deceive us into thinking that the Lord is too merciful to condemn anyone, even though that one may disobey one of God's commandments. But remember that the Lord says that we are going to be judged by His commandments and that if we keep the whole law and yet offend In one point, we are guilty of all. (James 2:10.) May God help us to take hold of Christ and His holy Sabbath. May we not procrastinate in this matter any longer, for we do not wish to bring down upon ourselves the displeasure of God. The Lord promises great peace to those who love His law, and nothing shall offend them. May we find that peace tonight by settling the question right now that we will serve the Lord in all points.