June-July 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel
A Great MEMORIAL Day
by John Quincy Adams
Mrs. Mary Adams Tweedy of Pocahontas, Arkansas is a Lifetime
Member of the Bible Sabbath Association. The year 1921 was the
last year that her father, John Quincy Adams, was a Pastor and
high-ranking officer for the Southern Baptists. That same
year, Mr. Adams came to the Biblical TRUTH of the 7th-Day
Sabbath. In the years following, he traveled extensively
proclaiming the Sabbath TRUTH. His writings spanned the globe
on the subject. Following is a portion of an address he gave
about the 7th-Day Sabbath that was subsequently published in
1944.
"There are two kinds of
Memorials. Physical ones such as postage stamps, coins, the
founding of universities and hospitals, or the giving of some
simply physical token as a mere rose. Then there are Spiritual
ones such as setting apart a day or days as with wedding
anniversaries, baby dedications, and the like in memory of some
event.
God has called upon men to memorialize holy things in both the
physical and Spiritual realms. In the physical, for 4,000 years,
there was the offering-up of certain clean animals in sacrifice,
to memorialize the truth that "the wages of sin is death", and,
that "without the shedding of blood there is no remission of
sin". Then, when the perfect sacrifice came, that which was
imperfect was done away (1st Cor. 13:10).
Other divinely instituted physical memorials are the symbolical
partaking of the broken bread and the fruit of the vine, to
portray symbolically the broken body of our Lord Jesus Christ
and His shed blood which is to be observed "till He come" (1st Cor. 11:26). There is
also the watery burial which is to memorialize the death of our
Lord Jesus, and His burial and resurrection. Thus this baptism
sets forth in symbol-form our own belief as well, in that as
surely as Death lay the body one-day in the grave, yet there
shall at last be a resurrection for the body.
MEMORIAL DAYS
But there is another kind of memorial that has nothing of the
physical about it. We now refer to the setting apart of special
Memorial Days or seasons, in memory of some event or
circumstance. These, as we have just stated, abound in the lives
of both individuals and in the careers of Nations.
The one sole fact with which I am concerned in this address is
the fact that Jehovah God has instituted and designated Day
Memorials not simply for one race of men but for mankind. For
part of my life on this point I thought these Memorial Days were
for Jews only.
There is not a thing about the weekly 7th-day Sabbath that is
Jewish or racial, nor yet dispensational. It memorializes
Jehovah God as Creator-not of the Jewish earth but of the whole
human race, our entire earth, and everything that is upon or
within it! Where do we get such? From Jehovah God's description
of the day itself in Exodus 20:8-11.
"On six days shall work be done: but on the seventh day is a solemn rest and a holy convocation." … "Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the 7th-day is a Sabbath UNTO JEHOVAH … FOR"
(and now comes the Reason Why)
"in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the 7th-day; wherefore"
(the reason pointed out again)
"Jehovah"
(not Moses or the Jews or any race but "Jehovah")
"blessed the Sabbath Day and hallowed it"!
Thus indisputably the one sole basis for the 7th-day Sabbath is
to memorialize Jehovah God as Creator of the whole earth and of
all mankind! Oh, how this is needed today! The human race has
greatly multiplied and grown wise and extremely skilful,-as God
intended. Shamefully, it has forgotten its origin! Today,
multitudes teach that we came from the amoeba (a-me-ba) by way
of the monkey. They do not know that "In the beginning, God!"
In the closing book of the Holy Classics (Revelation 14:6) we
are warned that when "the hour of judgment is come" at the end
of the present Church-age, THEN we surely shall need to be found
worshipping "Him that made Heaven and Earth, the Sea and
Fountain of Waters." That is, at end of the World or Age the
Divine warning is make sure that we are found worshipping That
God Who made the Earth and all Mankind, as Creator of all
Things! Now faithful observance of the 7th-day Sabbath is badge
of just such worship,-according to the Divine statement itself
from the Scripture quoted above.
The full passage of Exodus 20:8-11 takes in our "son" and our
"daughter". This means it is not enough that merely the head of
the family comply with the Divine Requirement. If they are
living with us, it must extend to sons and daughters.
Following this is "thy manservant, nor thy maidservant" which
tells us it is not sufficient if the entire family observes the
Sabbath but hire others to work on this day. That is forbidden.
Then follows "nor thy cattle" which means we cannot loan a horse
to a neighbor to plow a garden or work for him, though a
non-Sabbath-keeper, on this day.
Finally "nor, thy stranger that is within thy gates" means those
who are only guests in our home,- must observe the 7th-day
Sabbath while in our home!
Oh, how clean-sweeping! We must be known and read of all men
that we are not in darkness as to our origin, whence we came,
whither we go, and WHO is God,-Jehovah, the Creator, the Giver
of the Bible as written in the Book of Genesis!
The phrase "in it, thou shalt not do any work", is interpreted
by Jesus Christ (the one only God himself come in male human
flesh-veil). When people in His day tried to pretend that
nothing at all could be done on the Sabbath, on any Sabbath, He
said it is lawful to do work of two types on Sabbath Days: Works
of Mercy, and, Works of Necessity. "Necessity" does not mean,
"It is necessary for me to make a living-therefore I shall clerk
in a store, or plow my garden on the Sabbath". He illustrated
what is meant by necessity.
We read a "Christian" paper's answer to a woman about keeping
the Sabbath and that editor told her if she would keep the
Sabbath as the Scriptures required it to be kept, she could not
pick up a pin or open a Letter on the Sabbath day! What willful
misrepresentation! Picking up a pin, or opening a Letter, is not
"work".
Yes, we may do needful things on this day, tidy our rooms,-but
not scour them; eat our meals,-but not cook them; visit and
go,-but not make it a day of travel. He who pretends that the
observance of this day is "burdensome" or forbids picking up a
pin, opening a Letter, visiting, or tidying,-was called
"Pharisee" in Jesus' Day and, oh, how He rebuked them for their
interpretation of manner of Sabbath "rest"!
"Turn away thy foot from the
Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My Holy Day"
(Isa. 58:13) does not mean we cannot eat
our meals on the Sabbaths for to do so is pleasure. Nor does it
mean we cannot walk in the park, or the country, or ride in the
country on such days,-but these words mean we must not make the
Sabbaths merely holidays,-days of vacationing from work merely
and leave off the Divine Contact of worship on such Days!
By this sign shall all men (and Jehovah God in Heaven) know that
of the gods many,-we worship as God Him Who created all things!
THE UNIVERSALITY OF EACH
The 7th-day Sabbath memorializes God's contact with the planet,
our universe and all mankind as Creator. Its observance
signifies our knowledge of whence we came, whither we go, that
we believe in the Divine origin of the natural creation, and
that it is the great Creator that we worship and not some petty
man set up as God.
God created more than Jews-so the 7th day Sabbath is more than a
Jewish matter. As Jesus said, "It is for man"-note the
universality, all mankind. "The
Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath."
Mark 2:27.
More writings from the first half of this century by John
Quincy Adams on Sabbath and other related Biblical subjects
are available from the group he began at Little Children of
JESUS CHRIST, 89 Homeplace Trail, Pocahontas, AR 72455 -
http://www.childrenofjesus.org
TSS
June - July 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel
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