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Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers
for immortality, and the Lord took these precautions lest men should
eat of that tree “and live forever”—become immortal sinners.
Death entered the world because of transgression. But Christ
gave His life that man should have another trial. He did not die
on the cross to abolish the law of God, but to secure for man a
second probation. He did not die to make sin an immortal attribute;
He died to secure the right to destroy him that had the power of
death, that is, the devil. He suffered the full penalty of a broken law
for the whole world. This He did, not that men might continue in
transgression, but that they might return to their loyalty and keep
God’s commandments and His law as the apple of their eye.
A Sign of Obedience
The sign of obedience is the observance of the Sabbath of the
fourth commandment. If men keep the fourth commandment, they
will keep all the rest. It was no human voice that spoke to Moses,
giving him the Sabbath as a sign. “The Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily
My Sabbaths ye shall keep: 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. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is
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holy unto you: everyone that defileth it shall surely be put to death:
for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul be cut off from
among his people.”
The Lord does not leave so important a precept as this without
definite specification. “Six days may work be done; but in the
seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any
work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore
the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath
throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.”
Human Philosophy Versus Divine Revelation
Human philosophy declares that an indefinite period of time
was taken in the creation of the world. Does God state the matter
thus? No; He says, “It is a sign between Me and the children of
Israel forever: for in six days [not six indefinite periods of time; for
then there would be no possible way for man to observe the day