On Day Six, Prepare for the Sabbath, May 6

"This is what the Lord has said: “Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.” Exodus 16:23, NKJV. BLJ 137.1 *************** On the sixth day, it was found that a double quantity [of manna] had been deposited, and the people gathered two omers for every person. When the rulers saw what they were doing, they hastened to acquaint Moses of this apparent violation of his directions; but his answer was “This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.”They did so, and found that it remained unchanged. And Moses said, “Eat that today; for today is a sabbath unto the Lord: today ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.” BLJ 137.2 *************** The Lord is no less particular now in regard to His Sabbath than when He gave the foregoing special directions to the children of Israel.He required them to bake that which they would bake, and seethe (that is, boil) that which they would seethe, on the sixth day, preparatory to the rest of the Sabbath. Those who neglect to make suitable preparation on the sixth day for the Sabbath violate the fourth commandment, and are transgressors of God’s law.In His instructions to the Israelites, God forbade baking and boiling upon the Sabbath. That prohibition should be regarded by all Sabbathkeepers as a solemn injunction from Jehovah to them. The Lord would guard His people from indulging in gluttony upon the Sabbath, which He has set apart for sacred meditation and worship.... BLJ 137.3 *************** God manifested His great care and love for His people in sending them bread from heaven. “Man did eat angels’ food”; that is, food provided for them by the angels.... After they were abundantly supplied with food, they were ashamed of their unbelief and murmurings, and promised to trust the Lord for the future.—The Signs of the Times, April 15, 1880. BLJ 137.4

Health is a Blessing Few Appreciate, May 6

"Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19. RC 140.1 Health is a blessing of which few appreciate the value; yet upon it the efficiency of our mental and physical powers largely depends. Our impulses and passions have their seat in the body, and it must be kept in the best condition physically and under the most spiritual influences in order that our talents may be put to the highest use. RC 140.2 *************** "Anything that lessens physical strength enfeebles the mind and makes it less capable of discriminating between right and wrong. We become less capable of choosing the good and have less strength of will to do that which we know to be right. RC 140.3 *************** The misuse of our physical powers shortens the period of time in which our lives can be used for the glory of God. And it unfits us to accomplish the work God has given us to do. By allowing ourselves to form wrong habits, by keeping late hours, by gratifying appetite at the expense of health, we lay the foundation for feebleness. By neglecting physical exercise, by overworking mind or body, we unbalance the nervous system. Those who thus shorten their lives and unfit themselves for service by disregarding nature’s laws are guilty of robbery toward God. RC 140.4 *************** And they are robbing their fellow men also. The opportunity of blessing others, the very work for which God sent them into the world, has by their own course of action been cut short. And they have unfitted themselves to do even that which in a briefer period of time they might have accomplished. The Lord holds us guilty when by our injurious habits we thus deprive the world of good. RC 140.5 *************** Transgression of physical law is transgression of the moral law; for God is as truly the author of physical laws as He is the author of the moral law. His law is written with His own finger upon every nerve, every muscle, every faculty, which has been entrusted to man. And every misuse of any part of our organism is a violation of that law. RC 140.6 *************** All should have an intelligent knowledge of the human frame that they may keep their bodies in the condition necessary to do the work of the Lord. The physical life is to be carefully preserved and developed that through humanity the divine nature may be revealed in its fullness. The relation of the physical organism to the spiritual life is one of the most important branches of education. It should receive careful attention in the home and in the school.... All should place themselves in the best possible relation to life and health. RC 140.7 *************** Our habits should be brought under the control of a mind that is itself under the control of God."—Christ’s Object Lessons, 346-348. RC 140.8

Condition of Jews in 3rd, 4th generations led to 70 A.D. It typifies Condition of SDAs in Last Days

We are to Reveal the Principles of Heaven, May 5

"Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean things; and I will receive you." 2 Corinthians 6:17. RC 139.1 *************** "Professed Christians yearly expend an immense sum upon useless and pernicious indulgences, while souls are perishing for the Word of life.God is robbed in tithes and offerings, while they consume upon the altar of destroying lust more than they give to relieve the poor or for the support of the gospel. If all who profess to be followers of Christ were truly sanctified, their means, instead of being spent for needless and even hurtful indulgences, would be turned into the Lord’s treasury, and Christians would set an example of temperance, self-denial, and self-sacrifice. Then they would be the light of the world. RC 139.2 *************** The world is given up to self-indulgence. “The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” control the masses of the people. But Christ’s followers have a holier calling. “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean.” In the light of God’s Word we are justified in declaring that sanctification cannot be genuine which does not work this utter renunciation of the sinful pursuits and gratifications of the world. RC 139.3 *************** To those who comply with the conditions, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate,... and touch not the unclean,” God’s promise is, “I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:17, 18). It is the privilege and duty of every Christian to have a rich and abundant experience in the things of God. “I am the light of the world,” said Jesus. “He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12).“The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18).Every step of faith and obedience brings the soul into closer connection with the Light of the world, in whom there is “no darkness at all.” The bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness shine upon the servants of God, and they are to reflect His rays. As the stars tell us that there is a great light in heaven with whose glory they are made bright, so Christians are to make it manifest that there is a God on the throne of the universe whose character is worthy of praise and imitation. The graces of His Spirit, the purity and holiness of His character, will be manifest in His witnesses.—The Great Controversy, 475, 476. RC 139.4 *************** Our work in this world is to reveal the pure principles that are current in heaven."—The Upward Look, 291.RC 139.5

Six Days for Us, Only One for God, May 4

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.... Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Exodus 20:8-11, NKJV. BLJ 135.1 ************* At the very beginning of the fourth precept, God said, “Remember,” knowing that men and women, in the multitude of their cares and perplexities, would be tempted to excuse themselves from meeting the full requirements of the law or, in the press of worldly business, would forget its sacred importance. “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work,” the usual business of life, for worldly profit or pleasure. These words are very explicit; there can be no mistake. BLJ 135.2 ************* Brother K, how dare you venture to transgress a commandment so solemn and important? Has the Lord made an exception by which you are absolved from the law He has given to the world? Are your transgressions omitted from the book of record? Has He agreed to excuse your disobedience when the nations come before Him for judgment? Do not for a moment deceive yourself with the thought that your sin will not bring its merited punishment. Your transgressions will be visited with the rod, because you have had the light, yet have walked directly contrary to it. “That servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.” BLJ 135.3 ************* God has given us six days in which to do our own work and carry on the usual business of life; but He claims one day, which He has set apart and sanctified. He gives it to us as a day in which we may rest from labor and devote ourselves to worship and the improvement of our spiritual condition. What a flagrant outrage it is for us to steal the one sanctified day of Jehovah and appropriate it to our own selfish purposes! BLJ 135.4 ************* It is the grossest presumption for mortal beings to venture upon a compromise with the Almighty in order to secure their own petty, temporal interests. It is as ruthless a violation of the law to occasionally use the Sabbath for secular business as to entirely reject it; for it is making the Lord’s commandments a matter of convenience.—Testimonies for the Church 4:249. BLJ 135.5

Day Pointing to God’s Power and Love, May 3

"Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." Genesis 2:3, NKJV. BLJ 134.1 ***************** "God looked with satisfaction upon the work of His hands. All was perfect, worthy of its divine Author, and He rested, not as one weary, but as well pleased with the fruits of His wisdom and goodness and the manifestations of His glory. BLJ 134.2 ***************** After resting upon the seventh day, God sanctified it, or set it apart, as a day of rest for humankind. Following the example of the Creator, dwellers on earth were to rest upon this sacred day, that as they should look upon the heavens and the earth, they might reflect upon God’s great work of creation; and that as they should behold the evidences of God’s wisdom and goodness, their hearts might be filled with love and reverence for their Maker. BLJ 134.3 ***************** In Eden, God set up the memorial of His work of creation, in placing His blessing upon the seventh day.The Sabbath was committed to Adam, the father and representative of the whole human family. Its observance was to be an act of grateful acknowledgment, on the part of all who should dwell upon the earth, that God was their Creator and their rightful Sovereign; that they were the work of His hands and the subjects of His authority. Thus the institution was wholly commemorative, and given to the entire human race. There was nothing in it shadowy or of restricted application to any people.... BLJ 134.4 ***************** God designs that the Sabbath shall direct the minds of all people to the contemplation of His created works.Nature speaks to their senses, declaring that there is a living God, the Creator, the Supreme Ruler of all.“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge” (Psalm 19:1, 2). The beauty that clothes the earth is a token of God’s love. We may behold it in the everlasting hills, in the lofty trees, in the opening buds and the delicate flowers. All speak to us of God. The Sabbath, ever pointing to Him who made them all, bids men and women open the great book of nature and trace therein the wisdom, the power, and the love of the Creator."—Patriarchs and Prophets, 47, 48. BLJ 134.5

The Sabbath Intended for All Humankind, May 2

"You made known to them Your holy Sabbath, and commanded them precepts, statutes and laws, by the hand of Moses Your servant." Nehemiah 9:14, NKJV. BLJ 133.1 ****************** "There are those who hold that the Sabbath was given only for the Jews; but God has never said this. He committed the Sabbath to His people Israel as a sacred trust; but the very fact that the desert of Sinai, and not Palestine, was the place selected by Him in which to proclaim His law reveals that He intended it for all humankind. The law of ten commandments is as old as Creation.Therefore the Sabbath institution has no special relation to the Jews, any more than to all other created beings.God has made the observance of the Sabbath obligatory upon all men and women. BLJ 133.2 ****************** “The sabbath,” it is plainly stated, “was made for man.” Let everyone, therefore, who is in danger of being deceived on this point give heed to the Word of God rather than the assertions of human beings. BLJ 133.3 ****************** In Eden, God said to Adam concerning the tree of knowledge, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Adam listened to the voice of Satan speaking through his wife; he believed another voice than that which spoke the law in Eden. BLJ 133.4 ****************** Every human being has been placed on trial, as were Adam and Eve in Eden. As the tree of knowledge was placed in the midst of the garden of Eden, so the Sabbath command is placed in the midst of the Decalogue. In regard to the fruit of the tree of knowledge, the restriction was made, “Ye shall not eat of it, ... lest ye die.” Of the Sabbath, God said, Ye shall not defile it, but keep it holy. “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” As the tree of knowledge was the test of Adam’s obedience, so the fourth command is the test that God has given to prove the loyalty of all His people. The experience of Adam is to be a warning to us so long as time shall last. It warns us not to receive any assurance from the mouth of mortals or of angels that will detract one jot or tittle from the sacred law of Jehovah."—The Review and Herald, August 30, 1898. BLJ 133.5