THE KING’S BUSINESS
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the death of Christ is made dead to the letter of the law given through Moses (Rom. 7 :4)t But the principle of the Sab bath is older than the law of Moses and is as binding upon believers in Christ as the other moral precepts that underlie the Mosaic law. In its exact form, as the sev enth day of the week observance, the Sab bath belongs to the old creation, and we as Christians belong to the new creation, and so are joined to another than the law of Moses, even to Christ who arose from the dead (Rom. 7:4). But as joined to Christ, while we are not under obligation to the Mosaic law, we are under obligation to Christ, and there is a holy day for us as well as for Israel. Our holy day is the “Lord’s Day,” the resurrection day, thé first day of the week, (Rev. 1:10; John 20:1, 19-26; Acts 20:7), and the Lord’s Day with its privileges is even more sacred than the Sabbath day with ,its laws, and it is altogether a sign of spiritual declension when Christians grow lax in their regard for and use/of the Lord’s Day. The Jews in Nehemiah’s time showed their contempt for the Lord’s day by seeking their own personal profit, by laboring on that day; present day, professed Christians show their contempt for the Lord’s day by seeking not their personal profit so much as their own pleasure on that day.. The great enemy of thé Sabbath day in Nehemiah’s time was covetousness. The great enemies of the Lord’s day in our time are covetous ness (i.e., seeking more gain,) ahd seeking pleasure. Nehemiah, in the light of the plain teaching of God’s word, saw the peril and ruin that would come to the people he loved through their disregard of the Sab bath day ; and, therefore, he testified against'them. There is great need that the shepherd of God’s flock today and all loyal Christians testify against the disregard and neglect and wrong use of the Lord’s day among us. v. 16. " There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought (add, in) fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sab bath day unto the children of Judah, and
in Jérusalem." A large part of Judah’s trouble came from their contact with “men of Tyre,” i.e., with those who did not belong to the covenant people of God. A very large part of the trouble in the church today comes from the influence of the out side world. The “men of Tyre” today are causing trouble in the church by gaining influence in the church and corrupting both its doctrine and its life. v. 17. “ Then I contended with,the nobles of Judah and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?" Nehemiah was a man of dauntless courage. He feared the face of no man. He was ready to fight wrong doers among men in high position as well as among the lowly. He put to them % searching question, “What evil thing is this that ye do?” The same question needs to be put today to all evil doers, even though they be leaders in church and state. Most of us are brave enough to repudiate the sins of the common people, the people of no influence, but it is the “Godless” men and women of authority and influence that we need especially to contend with. We should face them as we face the common crowd with the searching question, “What evil thing is this that ye do?” v. 18. “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 was as wise as he was brave. He appeals to their history and their experience to show them the folly of their present course. He points out how their fathers had done the very thing that they did, and what appalling results they had brought upon them (Jer. 17:21-23, 27; c. f., Ez. 9:13-15; Zech. 1:4-6). Judah’s overthrow was due directly to Sabbath desecration, and it was madness upon the part of restored Judah to follow in the path that their fathers had trod to ruin. But in so- called Christian lands we are exhibiting the same folly today. There is no doubt that much of the awful calamity that has over taken England and France is, directly or
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