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ferer—a thing which the Saviour would not do. The unbelief of the people awak ened His compassion and their sin aroused His indignation. He revealed that their objection to healing on the Sabbath was merely an excuse to vent their determined hatred and bitter enmity against the Person of the Son of God. Thus they were in sincere in their supposed keeping of the Sabbath. Points and Problems 1. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Ex. 20?8). There are three seventh-éfay Sabbaths referred to in the Scriptures. These need to be carefully distinguished in order to have a proper understanding of the subject. There is (1) the Sabbath of God referred to in Genesis 1:31 to 2:3. At the end of the creation, God rested, in consequence of His perfect work. From creation to the Exodus, or for approximately 2500 years, the Sab bath is not once mentioned, since through sin God’s rest was broken. (2) But after redemption had been accomplished typically in the Pass- over (Ex. 12: 12, 13), God gave to Israel the Sabbath rest for the benefit of man and beast, and at Sinai it be came incorporated in the Mosaic law and invested with the character of a “sign” between Jehovah and Israel, a perpetual reminder to Israel of their separation from the world unto God (Ex. 31:13-17). Then (3) in the New Testament we see another Sabbath surrounded and perverted by the tra ditions of men. It possessed restric tions and ceremonies wholly unknown to the law. This is the Sabbath pic tured in Mark 2:23 to 3:6. Christ broke this perverted Sabbath of the Pharisees, but In no sense did He break the true Sabbath, as the prece dent of David (Mk. 2:25, 26), the inner purpose of the Sabbath (2:27), and the teaching and example of Christ show (2:28 to 3:6). 2. "Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath" (Mk. 2:28). Being the “Lord of the s a b b a t h,” Christ had the authority to interpret its true meaning and purpose. This He did by showing that it was meant not to be a burden to man, but a blessing. When the “Lord of the sab bath” arose from the dead, the au thority of His Person and work availed to change the day of Worship from the seventh to the first day of the week which came to be known as the Lord’s day. On the very day of the resurrection, He met with the disci ples, and on the following “first day” as well. Ever after this, the first day of the week was set aside as the proper day of worship for believers. Thus not only on Easter Sunday, but also fifty-two times a year, Christians
celebrate Christ’s resurrection and the new creation. It should be noted as a matter of great importance that in all of the Epistles which were written especially for the church there is not one exhor tation to believers to keep the Sab bath. Every fundamental principle of righteousness embodied in the Mosaic legislation is found also in these Epistles, but there is no exhortation to Sabbath observance. As a natural consequence of Christ’s rising from the dead and of the meaning of that rising, Christians began to observe the Lord’s day and should continue to do so. Teaching as to how this day should be observed 'is found in the memorable experiences of that first Lord’s day. —:------ Golden Text Illustration M a r k 2 :27 George M. Mackie in an article in The Sunday School Times told the fol lowing: “Some time ago when study ing this incident (Mk. 3:1-5) in the Hebrew New Testament with a class of Jewish schoolboys, I asked them what they thought about Christ’s ac tion. One boy said that as the man’s infirmity had likely been of long standing, he could easily have waited one day more. Another said it would have saved trouble if Jesus had de ferred the cure until the next day. A third maintained that there had been no infringement of the sabbath law because the act of healing had not i n v o l v e d any manual operation. Finally, the discussion was broken up by the question of a blind boy of the class, ‘What would you have pre ferred if you had had the withered hand?’ ”—Mary E. Watson. God's Holy Day E xodus 20:8-11; M a r k /2:23 to 3:6 MEMORY VERSE: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Ex. 20 : 8 ). AIM: To give suggestions for mak ing the Lord’s day a, happy occasion. APPROACH: All of us enjoy special days : Thanksgiving, C h r i s t ma s , birthdays, etc. They are happy times, and they usually remind us of some
Sabbath day. But they were not al ways glad about it. By what He did Himself on that day, the Lord Jesus showed how to make the day a pleas ant one. He will' show us how to make our Sundays happy, too. This is what He did: First, He went to God’s house (Mk. 3:1). To have joy all day, this is the best way to begin Sunday. Then, He was kind to people who were poor or ill. Once, when He went into God’s house, He saw a man who had a withered hand, and Jesus made him well again. -Only God can heaL people, but each of us can do helpful deeds for those who suffer. " On God’s day, and always, the Lord Jesus said kind words to others. There were people who hated Him, and who tried to harm Him, but the Bible shows Us 'that He did not answer back angrily, not even once. When our Sundays are filled with loving thoughts about the Lord Jesus and about other people, they will be sure to be happy days. Object Lesson S tolen F r u it OBJECTS: Seven apples. (Potatoes may be substituted if necessary.) LESSON: If I were to ask whether any of you boys and girls ever stole apples, some might say “Yes,” and some might say “No.” But before we are through with this lesson, I think you will all realize that you have been guilty of stealing. Look at these seven beautiful ap ples! They remind me of the seven golden days of each week which God gives us. Let’s name them after the days of the week. This largest one we shall name “Sunday.” God gives us six days in which to labor and do all our work, and He asks us to give Him the first day of the week—“the Lord’s day.” We shall separate the Sunday apple from the rest. . It belongs to God in a special way. Let’s peel it, and see whether it is a good apple or not. Yes, it looks delicious. If we want ‘to go on a picnic, shall we go on God’s day or on one of the week days? Some boy says, “I go on Sunday, because I can mow lawns on the other days and earn money.” We shall cut off a piece of this apple to remind us of how he is stealing a part of God’s day.
thing we should not f o r g e t . God has given to us Christians one spe cial d a y e a c h we e k . It is the Lord’s day, or Sun day, and it is to remind us that on that day our Lord Jesus arose f r o m
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the grave, alive forever. Surely ev ery Sunday should be a happy day! LESSON: When the Lord Jesus was here on earth, the Jewish people were careful to keep thd rules about the
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