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The Sabbath Was Kept Anciently, and Is Today, May 25
“Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come;
and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”
... “Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of
Jesus.”
Revelation 14:7-12
, NKJV.
The prophet ... points out the ordinance which has been forsaken: “Thou shalt
raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer
of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the
sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the
holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor
finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight
thyself in the Lord” (
Isaiah 58:12-14
)....
Hallowed by the Creator’s rest and blessing, the Sabbath was kept by Adam in
his innocence in holy Eden; by Adam, fallen yet repentant, when he was driven
from his happy estate. It was kept by all the patriarchs, from Abel to righteous
Noah, to Abraham, to Jacob. When the chosen people were in bondage in Egypt,
many, in the midst of prevailing idolatry, lost their knowledge of God’s law; but
when the Lord delivered Israel, He proclaimed His law in awful grandeur to the
assembled multitude, that they might know His will and fear and obey Him forever.
From that day to the present the knowledge of God’s law has been preserved
in the earth, and the Sabbath of the fourth commandment has been kept. Though
the “man of sin” succeeded in trampling underfoot God’s holy day, yet even in
the period of his supremacy there were, hidden in secret places, faithful souls who
paid it honor. Since the Reformation, there have been some in every generation to
maintain its observance. Though often in the midst of reproach and persecution,
a constant testimony has been borne to the perpetuity of the law of God and the
sacred obligation of the creation Sabbath.
These truths, as presented in
Revelation 14
in connection with “the everlasting
gospel,” will distinguish the church of Christ at the time of His appearing. For as
the result of the threefold message it is announced: “Here are they that keep the
commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” And this message is the last to
be given before the coming of the Lord. Immediately following its proclamation
the Son of man is seen by the prophet, coming in glory to reap the harvest of the
earth.—
The Great Controversy, 452-454
.
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