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Testimonies for the Church Volume 8
Our Message
The third angel’s message, embracing the messages of the first and
second angels, is the message for this time. We are to raise aloft the
banner on which is inscribed: “The commandments of God, and the
faith of Jesus.” The world is soon to meet the great Lawgiver over His
broken law. This is not the time to put out of sight the great issues
before us. God calls upon His people to magnify the law and make it
honorable.
When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy, the Sabbath was given to the world, that man might
ever remember that in six days God created the world. He rested upon
the seventh day, blessing it as the day of His rest, and gave it to the
beings He had created, that they might remember Him as the true and
living God. By His mighty power, notwithstanding the opposition of
Pharaoh, God delivered His people from Egypt, that they might keep
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the law which had been given in Eden. He brought them to Sinai to
hear the proclamation of this law.
By proclaiming the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel
with His own voice, God demonstrated their importance. In awful
grandeur He made known His majesty and authority as Ruler of the
world. This He did to impress the people with the sacredness of His
law and the importance of obeying it. The power and glory with which
the law was given reveal its importance. It is the faith once delivered
to the saints by Christ our Redeemer speaking from Sinai.
The Sign of Our Relationship to God
By the observance of the Sabbath the children of Israel were to
be distinguished from all other nations. “Verily My Sabbaths ye shall
keep,” Christ said, “for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your
generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify
you.” “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever: for
in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day
He rested, and was refreshed.” “Wherefore the children of Israel shall
keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations,
for a perpetual covenant.”
Exodus 31:13, 17, 16
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