“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:20 KJV.
“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.” Isaiah 58:1-2 KJV.
“The Lord commands by the same prophet, ‘Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.’ The seal of God’s law is found in the fourth commandment. This only, of all the ten, brings to view both the name and the title of the Lawgiver. It declares him to be the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and thus shows his claim to reverence and worship above all others. Aside from this precept, there is nothing in the decalogue to show by whose authority the law is given. When the Sabbath was changed by the papal power, the seal was taken from the law. The disciples of Jesus are called upon to restore it, by exalting the Sabbath of the fourth commandment to its rightful position as the Creator’s memorial and the sign of his authority.
‘To the law and to the testimony.’ While conflicting doctrines and theories abound, the law of God is the one unerring standard to which all opinions, doctrines, and theories are to be brought. Says the prophet, ‘If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.’ Again, the command is given, ‘Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.’ It is not the wicked world, but those whom the Lord designates as ‘my people,’ that are to be reproved for their transgressions. He declares further, ‘Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God.’ Here is brought to view a class who think themselves righteous, and appear to manifest great interest in the service of God; but the stern and solemn rebuke of the Searcher of hearts proves them to be trampling upon the divine precepts.
The prophet thus 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, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.’ This prophecy also applies in our time. The breach was made in the law of God when the Sabbath was changed by the Romish power. But the time has come for that divine institution to be restored. The breach is to be repaired, and the foundation of many generations to be raised up.
With peculiar fitness may the Sabbath be called the foundation of many generations. Hallowed by the Creator’s rest and blessing, it 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 the Sabbath under foot, yet even in the period of his supremacy there were, hidden in secret places, faithful souls who honored the Creator’s rest-day.
Since the Reformation, there have been in every generation witnesses for God to uphold the standard of the ancient Sabbath. Though often in the midst of reproach and persecution, a constant testimony has been borne to this truth. Since 1844, in fulfillment of the prophecy of the third angel’s message, the attention of the world has been called to the true Sabbath, and a constantly increasing number are returning to the observance of God’s holy day.” EGW, SOP, Vol 4, 1884, pp. 284-286.
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EG White and the SDA pioneers rejected the trinity doctrine, Sunday sacredness, and other unscriptural teachings. They believed in the One True God and His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. They published this truth in their Fundamental Principles of 1872 and 1889. They have no creed except the Scriptures alone. EG White never changed this original SDA faith. She died in 1915.
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Please include this ministry in your prayers and will be grateful for any changes you can suggest to improve our service for the honor of God and His Son, Jesus Christ. You can email your comments: journeymark@yahoo.com.
Will continue our Sabbath Service study today via Zoom at 11am US Eastern Daylight Saving Time.
Have a wonderful Sabbath day.
Thank you so much.
Sincerely in the Blessed Hope.