Many of our readers will recall the story of little Mary and old Jacob, the charcoal carrier, which appeared in June 25 issue of MESSAGES. On a Sunday afternoon in summer little Mary was sitting under a tree reading her Bible. Old Jacob came along with his donkey carrying charcoal, for the old man worked as hard on Sunday as week days. He stopped and asked Mary to read him something and it so happened that her Bible was open at the scripture, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy...” This she read to him and then he asked what it meant. Her reply was: “It means you mustn’t carry charcoal on Sunday.” The old man took it to heart, gave up working on Sundays and went to Sunday school instead. It resulted in his conversion.
We regret if the printing of this little story has resulted in confusing in any one’s mind the two distinct lines of truth in Scripture, namely the Sabbath, and the Lord’s day. Little Mary’s explanation was merely that of a little child, devoted, though incorrectly taught. In spirit she was surely right, though in doctrine she was wrong. However, God, “who looketh on the heart,” overruled for old Jacob’s blessing.
The Sabbath was the seventh day; it was connected with the first creation, and with the law as given to Israel, God’s earthly people. It is typical of God’s rest, the seventh day looking on to the millenium. But this first order of things has been completely set aside by God in the death of Christ. “He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second.” Heb. 10:99Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. (Hebrews 10:9). When He died, the rending of the veil signified the passing of the old order of worship, and all that stood connected with the law, to be replaced by the “new and living way”; while the rending of the rocks was a token of the passing away of the old creation.
The Lord’s day, on the other hand, represents a new order of things altogether, and is as distinct from the Sabbath as Grace is from law. It is the first day of the week, the day on which the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, and marks an entirely new beginning. It is not connected with the old creation, but with the new, which is founded upon the resurrection of Christ. Christ in resurrection is “the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:1414And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; (Revelation 3:14)), and every believer in Him is part of it. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (creation): old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Cor. 5:1717Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17). The Lord’s day is characteristic of Christianity.
It was God who sanctified the Sabbath and gave the law to Israel. It was He who has put special honor on the first day of the week, speaking, as it does, of redemption accomplished in the death and resurrection of His Son. From Acts 20:77And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. (Acts 20:7) we learn that on the first day of the week the disciples came together to break bread. And we believe that it is the desire of our blessed Saviour now that His own should be found, if possible, on this day partaking of the Lord’s supper, in grateful, loving remembrance of His body given in death, and His blood shed, for us.
The Sabbath day was to be a day of rest for an Israelite. He must do no servile work, and we also hear of travel on that day limited to “a Sabbath-day’s journey” (about 5/8 mile). But for the Christian, as another has remarked, if he were enabled on the Lord’s day to walk twenty Sabbath-day’s journeys in special service for the Lord, he would not only be at liberty to do that work, but it would be most acceptable to the Lord.
The picture of a little girl, like Mary in our story, sitting on a Sunday afternoon reading her Bible, may well serve as an example to many in our day, when the Holy Scriptures are so little appreciated, and when this vain world’s pleasures and the passing things of time occupy so many young hearts.
ML 10/15/1961