Practica Prophetica

Jesus Christ is the one only example for men to follow. To every man He commands absolutely,

Mark 8
³⁴ …follow Me.

Matthew 11
²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me.

John 10
⁹ I am the door…by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved…
¹ …He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

The Lord Jesus is the one only person whom this world ever saw who met perfectly, in the fullest measure, every requirement of the perfect law of God.

He was made flesh, and He in the flesh and form and nature of man, stood in every place and met every temptation that any man can ever meet, and in every place and in everything He met all the demands of the perfect law of God. He did it from infancy to the prime of manhood, and never failed.

Hebrews 4
¹⁵ …[He] was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.

Therefore, as He is the only person whom this world ever saw who ever met to the full all the perfect requirements of the law of God, it follows that He is the only person whom the world ever saw, or ever shall see, who can be an example for men, or whose example is worthy to be followed by men.

Therefore, when preachers and leaders of theological thought anywhere, present before men any other example, even though it be the example of the apostles, and seek to induce men to follow any other example, even though it be proposed as apostolic example, such conduct is sin against God, and treason against our Lord Jesus Christ.

And that there are men in this day, Protestants too, who are doing that very thing only shows how far from Christ the religious teachers of the day have gone. It is time that they and all men should be told, that the law of God is the one perfect rule of human duty; that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one perfect example that has been worked out, in this world, under that rule; and all men who will correctly solve the problem of human destiny must solve it by the terms of that rule as exemplified in, and according to, that example.

Whoever attempts to solve the problem by any other rule, or according to any other example, will utterly fail of a correct solution: and whoever teaches men to attempt to solve it by any other rule, or according to any other example, even though it be by “the example of the apostles,” both acts and teaches treason against the Lord Jesus Christ.

What then is the example of Christ in regard to keeping the first day of the week? There is no example about it at all. He never kept it. But where there is no example of Christ there can be no example of the apostles. Therefore there is not, and cannot be, any such thing as the example of the apostles for keeping the first day of the week.

When then is the example of Christ in regard to keeping the seventh day? He kept the first seventh day the world ever saw, when He had finished His great work of creation. When He came into the world, everybody knows that He kept it as long as He lived in the world. And

1 John 2
⁶ He that says he abides in Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked.

Therefore, those who walk as He walked will have to keep the seventh day. His steps led Him to the place of worship on the seventh day for thus “His custom was” (Luke 4:16), and He taught the people how to keep the seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord (Matthew 12:1-12). And He has left “us an example that you should follow His steps.” And all who follow His steps will be led by those steps to keep the seventh day, and to turn away their feet from desecrating the Sabbath, for such is His example.

Paul said,

1 Corinthians 11
¹ Be you followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

Now was Paul a follower of Christ in the matter of the seventh day? Let us see:

Luke 4
¹⁶ And He [Christ] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

And of Paul it is said, by the same writer,

Acts 17
¹ They came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews,
² And Paul, as his manner [custom] was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.

Paul did follow Christ in his “custom” of keeping the Sabbath day—the seventh day—therefore, if any man will obey the word of God by Paul, and will be a follower of Paul as he followed Christ, it will have to be his “custom” to go to the house of God, and to worship God, on the seventh day.

For the keeping of the seventh day we have the commandment of God and the example of the living God (Exodus 20:8-11; Genesis 2:3), and of the Lord Jesus Christ, both in Heaven and on earth, both as Creator and Redeemer. And there is neither command nor example for the keeping of any other day.

Will you obey the commandment of God, and follow the divine example in divine things? Or will you instead obey a human command and follow human examples in human things, and expect the divine reward for it? Answer now as you expect to answer in the Judgment.

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 5th, 2015 at 2:46 pm and is filed under Sabbath. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.