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The Reformation Herald Online Edition

Wake Up Already!

Editorial
From Egypt to Eden
From Egypt to Eden

The Spirit of Prophecy refers to a glorious time when the Sabbath is to be proclaimed more fully. This will enrage those who end up rejecting the Sabbath as God’s holy day, but others who are honest in heart will be uplifted as they learn. These will bravely take their stand with God’s remnant.1

Yes, a special blessing is pronounced upon the new souls who will accept the present truth just before the Lord’s return: “Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. . . . For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off” (Isaiah 56:1, 2, 4, 5).

The joy experienced by new Sabbathkeepers need not be limited only to them. Our children can also share in this happiness if they continue in the faith and share the message with others. So the question comes: How can we help our children to continue in the faith? There are many factors, of course, but one key is to learn from the early patriarchs of faith.

“Abraham decided to obey the law of God. . . . He recognized that he was accountable for the instruction of his household and his children and commanded them after him to do justice and judgment. In teaching them the laws of God, he taught them that the Lord is our Judge, our Lawgiver and King, and that parents and children were to be ruled by Him; that on the part of parents there was to be no oppression, and on the part of children no unfilial disobedience.

“The Lord commanded Moses to go and speak unto Pharaoh, bidding him to allow Israel to leave Egypt. For four hundred years they had been in Egypt and had been in slavery to the Egyptians. They had been corrupted by idolatry, and the time came when God called them forth from Egypt, in order that they might obey His laws and keep His Sabbath, which He had instituted in Eden. He spoke the ten commandments to them in awful grandeur from Mount Sinai, that they might understand the sacred and enduring character of the law and build up the foundation of many generations, by teaching their children the binding claims of God’s holy precepts.

“This is the work that we are called upon to do. From the pulpits of the popular churches it is proclaimed that the first day of the week is the Sabbath of the Lord; but God has given us light, showing us that the fourth precept of the decalogue is as verily binding as are the other nine moral precepts. It is our work to make plain to our children that the first day of the week is not the true Sabbath, and that its observance after light has come to us as to what is the true Sabbath, is idolatry, and in plain contradiction to the law of God. In order to give them instruction in regard to the claims of the law of Jehovah, it is necessary that we separate our children from worldly associations and influences, and keep before them the Scriptures of truth by educating them line upon line and precept upon precept, that they may not prove disloyal to God.”2

With this sacred duty in mind, may the Lord help us to lead our children—and neighbors—away from the idols of Egypt to the true and living way as it was revealed at creation. What a wonderful privilege we have!

References
1 Early Writings, pp. 33, 261.
2 The Review and Herald, January 9, 1894.