〉 Chapter 14—God’s Call to Modern Apostates
Chapter 14—God’s Call to Modern Apostates
Through long centuries the record of Elijah’s life-work has brought inspiration and courage to those who have been called to stand for the right in the midst of apostasy. For us it has special significance. History is being repeated. The present age is one of idolatry, as verily as was that in which Elijah lived. No outward shrine may be visible, yet thousands are following after the gods of this world—riches, fame, pleasure, and the fables that permit man to follow the inclinations of the unregenerate heart. Multitudes have a wrong conception of God and are as truly serving a false god as were the worshipers of Baal. Many even of those who claim to be Christians have allied themselves with influences that are unalterably opposed to God and His truth. (SS 94.1)
The prevailing spirit of our time is one of infidelity and apostasy. Human theories are exalted and placed where God and His law should be. Satan tempts men and women with the promise that in disobedience they will find freedom that will make them as gods. There is seen a spirit of idolatrous exaltation of human wisdom above divine revelation. Men seem to have lost all power to discriminate between light and darkness, truth and error. They hold the opinions of a few philosophers, so-called, to be more trustworthy than the truths of the Bible. A faith such as actuated Paul, Peter, and John they regard as old-fashioned and unworthy of the intelligence of modern thinkers. (SS 94.2)
In the beginning, God gave His law to mankind as a means of attaining happiness and eternal life. Satan’s hope is to lead men and women to disobey this law; his constant effort is to misrepresent it and belittle its importance. His master stroke has been an attempt to change the law itself, so as to lead men to violate its precepts while professing to obey it. One writer has likened the attempt to change the law of God to an ancient mischievous practice of turning in a wrong direction a signpost where two roads met. The perplexity and hardship which this often caused was great. (SS 94.3)
A signpost was erected by God for those journeying through this world. One arm pointed out willing obedience to the Creator as the road to life, while the other indicated disobedience as the path to death. But in an evil hour for our race, the great enemy of all good turned the signpost around, and multitudes have mistaken the way. (SS 95.1)
Through Moses the Lord instructed the Israelites: “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.” “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.” Exodus 31:13, 17. (SS 95.2)
The Lord clearly defined obedience as the way to the City of God, but the “man of sin” has changed the signpost. He has set up a false sabbath and has caused men and women to think that by resting on it they were obeying the command of the Creator. When “the heavens and the earth were finished,” God exalted the seventh-day Sabbath as a memorial of His creative work. “God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.” Genesis 2:1, 3. (SS 95.3)
At the time of the Exodus the Sabbath was brought prominently before the people of God. While in Egypt their taskmasters had attempted to force them to labor on the Sabbath by increasing the amount of work required each week. But the Israelites were delivered from bondage and brought to a place where they might observe unmolested all the precepts of the Lord. At Sinai the law was spoken, and a copy of it, on two tables of stone, “written with the finger of God,” was delivered to Moses. Exodus 31:18. And through forty years of wandering the Israelites were constantly reminded of God’s appointed rest day by the withholding of the manna every seventh day and the miraculous preservation of the double portion that fell on the preparation day. (SS 95.4)
The Lord designed that by observance of the Sabbath command, Israel should continually be reminded of Him as their Creator and Redeemer. While they should keep the Sabbath in the proper spirit, idolatry could not exist; but should the claims of this precept be set aside, the Creator would be forgotten. Yet “they rejected My ordinances and did not walk in My statutes, and profaned My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.” Ezekiel 20:16, RSV. (SS 96.1)
In calling the attention of Judah to the sins that finally brought upon them the Babylonian Captivity, the Lord declared: “Thou hast profaned My Sabbaths.” “Therefore have I poured out Mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads.” Ezekiel 22:8, 31. (SS 96.2)
At the restoration of Jerusalem, in the days of Nehemiah, Sabbathbreaking was met with the inquiry, “Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” Nehemiah 13:18. (SS 96.3)
Christ, during His earthly ministry, emphasized the binding claims of the Sabbath. He showed reverence for the institution He Himself had given. In His days the Sabbath had become so perverted that its observance reflected the character of selfish men rather than the character of God. Christ set aside the false teaching which had misrepresented Him. Although followed with merciless hostility by the rabbis, He went straight forward, keeping the Sabbath according to the law of God. (SS 96.4)
In unmistakable language He testified to His regard for the law. “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets,” He said; “I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:17-19, RSV. (SS 97.1)
The great enemy of man’s happiness has made the Sabbath of the fourth commandment an object of special attack. Satan says, “I will work at cross purposes with God. I will set aside God’s memorial, the seventh-day Sabbath. I will show the world that the day sanctified by God has been changed. I will obliterate the memory of it. I will place in its stead a day that does not bear the credentials of God, a day that cannot be a sign between God and His people. Through my vicegerent, I will exalt myself. The first day will be extolled, and the Protestant world will receive this spurious sabbath as genuine. I will be the prince of this world. I will so control minds that God’s Sabbath shall be a special object of contempt. A sign? I will make the observance of the seventh day a sign of disloyalty to the authorities of earth. Human laws will be made so stringent that men and women will not dare to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. For fear of being without food and clothing, they will join the world in transgressing God’s law. The earth will be wholly under my dominion.” Through setting up a false sabbath, the enemy thought “to change times and laws.” But has he really succeeded in changing God’s law? He who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, has declared of the seventh-day Sabbath: “It is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations.” “It is a sign ... forever.” Exodus 31:13, 17. The changed signpost is pointing the wrong way, but God has not changed. He is just as jealous for His law now as in the days of Ahab and Elijah. (SS 97.2)
But how is that law disregarded! Behold the world today in open rebellion against God. Men neglect the Bible and hate truth. Jesus sees His law rejected, His love despised, His ambassadors treated with indifference. His mercies have been unacknowledged, His warnings unheeded. The temple courts of the human soul have been turned into places of unholy traffic. Selfishness, envy, pride, malice—all are cherished. (SS 98.1)
Many do not hesitate to sneer at the Word of God. Those who believe it just as it reads are ridiculed. There is a growing contempt for law and order, directly traceable to a violation of the plain commands of Jehovah. Violence and crime are the result of turning aside from the path of obedience. (SS 98.2)
Behold the well-nigh universal disregard of the Sabbath commandment. Behold also the daring impiety of those who, while enacting laws to safeguard the supposed sanctity of the first day of the week, at the same time are making laws legalizing the liquor traffic. They attempt to coerce the consciences of men while lending their sanction to an evil that destroys the beings created in the image of God. Satan inspires such legislation. (SS 98.3)
Almost the whole world is following after idols. But the Lord will not always suffer His law to be broken and despised with impunity. Skepticism may treat the claims of God’s law with jest and denial, the cause of God may hold its ground only by great exertion and continual sacrifice; yet in the end truth will triumph gloriously. (SS 98.4)
In the closing work of God on earth, the standard of His law will be again exalted. False religion may prevail, the cross of Calvary may be lost sight of, darkness may spread over the world, and the popular current may be turned against the truth; but in the hour of greatest peril the God of Elijah will raise up human instruments to bear a message that will not be silenced. In the places where men have gone to the greatest lengths in speaking against the Most High, the voice of stern rebuke will be heard. Boldly will men of God’s appointment denounce the union of the church with the world. Earnestly will they call on men and women to turn from a man-made institution to the observance of the true Sabbath. “Fear God, and give glory to Him,” they will proclaim to every nation, “for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth ... . If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation.” Revelation 14:7-10. The world will be arraigned before the bar of Infinite Justice to receive sentence. (SS 98.5)
His law will be again exalted. False religion may prevail, the cross of Calvary may be lost sight of, darkness may spread over the world, and the popular current may be turned against the truth; but in the hour of greatest peril the God of Elijah will raise up human instruments to bear a message that will not be silenced. In the places where men have gone to the greatest lengths in speaking against the Most High, the voice of stern rebuke will be heard. Boldly will men of God’s appointment denounce the union of the church with the world. Earnestly will they call on men and women to turn from a man-made institution to the observance of the true Sabbath. “Fear God, and give glory to Him,” they will proclaim to every nation, “for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth ... . If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation.” Revelation 14:7-10. The world will be arraigned before the bar of Infinite Justice to receive sentence. (SS 99.0)
Today, as in the days of Elijah, the line between God’s commandment-keeping people and the worshipers of false gods is clearly drawn. “How long halt ye between two opinions?” Elijah cried; “if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.” 1 Kings 18:21. And the message for today is: “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen.” “Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” Revelation 18:2, 4, 5. (SS 99.1)
The test will come to every soul. The observance of the false sabbath will be urged. The contest will be between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. Those who have yielded step by step to worldly demands and customs will then yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. At that time the gold will be separated from the dross. True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and tinsel of it. Many a star that we have admired for its brilliance will then go out in darkness. Those who are not clothed with Christ’s righteousness will appear in the shame of their nakedness. (SS 99.2)
Scattered in every land, there are those who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Like the stars of heaven, which appear only at night, these faithful ones will shine forth when darkness covers the earth. In Africa, in Europe, in South America, in China, in India, in the islands of the sea, and in all the corners of the earth, God has in reserve a firmament of chosen ones that will yet shine forth amidst the darkness, revealing clearly to an apostate world the transforming power of obedience to His law. In the hour of deepest apostasy, when Satan’s supreme effort is made to cause “all” to receive, under penalty of death, the sign of allegiance to a false day, these faithful ones, “blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish,” will “shine as lights in the world.” Revelation 13:16; Philippians 2:15, RSV. The darker the night, the more brilliantly will they shine. (SS 100.1)
Elijah could count only one on the Lord’s side when he said: “I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life.” But the word of the Lord surprised him: “Yet I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, ... which have not bowed unto Baal.” 1 Kings 19:14, 18. (SS 100.2)
Then let no man attempt to number Israel today, but let everyone have a heart like the heart of Christ, a heart that reaches out for the salvation of a lost world. (SS 100.3)