Bible Readings for the Home Circle Part 117

Mt. Sinai--Where The Law Was Given. "That ye may know that I am the Lord your G.o.d." Eze. 20:20.

1. What is the one great feature by which the true G.o.d is distinguished from all false G.o.ds?

"The Lord is the true G.o.d, He is the living G.o.d, and an everlasting king.... _The G.o.ds that have not made the heavens and the earth_, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. _He hath made the earth by his power_, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion." Jer. 10:10-12.

2. When Paul wished to preach the true G.o.d to the idolatrous Athenians, how did he describe Him?

"Whom therefore ye ignorantly wors.h.i.+p, Him declare I unto you. _G.o.d that made the world and all things therein._" Acts 17:23, 24.

3. What did the apostles say to the idolaters at Lystra?

"We ... preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto _the living G.o.d, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein_." Acts 14:15. See also Rev. 10:6; 14:6, 7.

4. What reason is given in the fourth commandment for keeping the Sabbath day holy?

"For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day." Ex. 20:11.

NOTES.-The Sabbath is the great memorial of creation and of G.o.d's creative power, a constant reminder of the true and living G.o.d.

G.o.d's design in making the Sabbath, and in commanding that it be kept holy, was that man might never forget Him, the Creator of all things.

"The original Sabbath being a perpetual memorial of G.o.d, the Creator calling man to imitate G.o.d in the observance of the same, man could not keep the original Sabbath and forget G.o.d."-_Prof. E.

W. Thomas, M. A., in Herald of Gospel Liberty, June 19, 1890._

When we remember that two thirds of the world's inhabitants today are idolaters, and that since the fall, idolatry, with its train of a.s.sociated and resultant evils, has ever been a prevailing sin, and then think that the observance of the Sabbath, as G.o.d ordained it, would have prevented all this, we can better appreciate the value of the Sabbath inst.i.tution, and the importance of Sabbath-keeping.

5. What does G.o.d say the Sabbath will be to those who hallow it, or keep it holy?

"And hallow My Sabbaths; and _they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your G.o.d_." Eze. 20:20.

6. How important is it that we know G.o.d?

"And _this is life eternal_, that they might know Thee the only true G.o.d, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." John 17:3.

7. Is there any danger of G.o.d's chosen people forgetting Him?

"_Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy G.o.d_, in not keeping His commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes." Deut. 8:11.

8. What other reason is given for keeping the Sabbath?

"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_." Ex. 31:13.

NOTE.-To sanctify is to make holy, or to set apart for a holy use.

The sanctification, or making holy, of sinful beings can be wrought only by the creative power of G.o.d through Christ by the Holy Spirit. In 1 Cor. 1:30 we are told that Christ is made unto us "sanctification;" and in Eph. 2:10 it is said that "we are His workmans.h.i.+p, _created_ in Christ Jesus unto good works." The Sabbath, therefore, is a sign of sanctification, and thus of what Christ is to the believer, because it is a reminder of the creative power of G.o.d as manifested in the work of regeneration.

It is the sign of the power of G.o.d, therefore, in both creation and redemption. To the believer, it is the evidence, or sign, that he knows the true G.o.d, who, through Christ, created all things, and who, through Christ, redeems the sinner and makes him whole.

9. What special reason did the Israelites have for keeping the Sabbath?

"_And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy G.o.d brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm_: therefore the Lord thy G.o.d commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day." Deut. 5:15.

NOTE.-In their bondage the Israelites had to some extent lost the knowledge of G.o.d, and departed from His precepts. The Sabbath came to be greatly disregarded by them; and in consequence of the oppression of the Pharaohs, especially the Pharaoh of the exodus, as witnessed by the rigorous exactions made upon them by this latter king through their taskmasters, its observance was made apparently impossible. See Ex. 5:1-19. The special point, both of reform and of conflict, just preceding their deliverance from bondage, was over the matter of Sabbath observance. Moses and Aaron had shown them that obedience to G.o.d was the first condition of deliverance. Their efforts to restore the observance of the Sabbath among the Israelites had come to the notice of Pharaoh; hence his accusation against them, "Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, _let_ [hinder] the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.... Behold, the people of the land are many, and ye make them _rest_ [Heb., _Shabbath_] from their burdens." Ex. 5:4, 5. Deliverance from this oppression was indeed, therefore, an additional and special reason for their keeping the Sabbath. But Egypt and Egyptian bondage simply represent sin and the bondage of sin. See Rev. 11:8; Hosea 11:1; Matt. 2:15; Zech. 10:10. Every one, therefore, who has been delivered from sin has the same reason for keeping the Sabbath as had the Israelites who were released from Egyptian bondage.

10. What does the psalmist say was the reason why G.o.d brought His people out of Egypt, and placed them in Canaan?

"And He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen with gladness: and gave them the lands of the heathen: ... _that they might observe His statutes, and keep His laws_." Ps. 105:43-45.

NOTE.-Their deliverance from Egyptian bondage was a reason for the keeping not only of the fourth commandment, but of every precept of G.o.d's law. This is indicated by the preface or preamble to the law as given on Sinai: "I am the Lord thy G.o.d, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other G.o.ds before Me," etc. Ex. 20:2, 3. See also Lev. 19:35-37; Deut. 10:19; 15:12-15; 24:17, 18. Likewise, every one who, through Christ, has been delivered from the bondage of sin, G.o.d calls to obedience, not only in the matter of Sabbath-keeping, but to every precept of His holy law. "Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that _keepeth the Sabbath_ from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing _any_ evil." Isa. 56:2.

11. What is the meaning of the word sabbath?

Rest.

NOTE.-Previous to the fall, G.o.d designed that man's time should be occupied with pleasant, invigorating, but not wearisome labor.

Gen. 2:15. Laborious, wearisome toil came in consequence of sin.

Gen. 3:17-19. While under the fall the Sabbath, therefore, may bring physical rest to both man and the beasts of burden (Ex.

23:12) in a way not originally intended, physical rest was not its original and primary design or purpose. Cessation from the ordinary labors and occupations of the week was ordained, not because these are wrong or sinful in themselves, but that man might have an appointed time and a frequently recurring period for the contemplation of the Creator and His works. Under the gospel, the Sabbath is a sign of spiritual rest and freedom from sin. So we read, "For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as G.o.d did from His." Heb. 4:10.

12. Who gives this rest from sin?

"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and _I will give you rest_. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Matt. 11:28, 29.

NOTE.-The Sabbath, then, is the sign of the soul-rest which Christ gives to the weary and ladened with sin.

13. Was the Sabbath intended as a day for public wors.h.i.+p?

"Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, _an holy convocation_." Lev. 23:3.

NOTE.-A convocation is an a.s.sembly of people.

14. Does the New Testament teach the same duty?

"Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: _not forsaking the a.s.sembling of ourselves together_, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Heb. 10:24, 25.

15. What does Malachi say of those that fear the Lord?