Soon after the sabbath command was given at Sinai, a Jew went out and picked up sticks on the sabbath day (Num. 15:32-36). That this ceremonial institution was new is shown by the fact that Moses put that man in jail until he could inquire from God what should be done. Don’t you know that if God’s people had been keeping the sabbath 2,500 years, _they would have known_ what to do with a man who violated it? (Incidentally, God commanded that he be stoned to death. I have not heard of any modern Sabbatarians thus punishing the violation of their favorite law. If the seventh day sabbath were still in force, _the death penalty for violating it would also still be in force_.)
And so, my friends, I boldly declare that there is no verse of Scripture in the Bible which shows that any man ever kept the sabbath during the period from Adam to Moses. In the history that covers this period of approximately 2,500 years there is no commandment to keep the sabbath; there is no example of man’s resting on the seventh day; there is no promise of reward for his doing so; there is no threat of punishment for his failing to do so. Those who teach that the seventh day sabbath was in force during this period are urgently requested to cite the text that says so. Since they cannot do so, the first pillar in the foundation of the seventh day sabbath theory is completely destroyed. _It is simply nonexistent._
Coming now to the second part of the diagram (p. 144), I emphatically deny that there is any place in the Bible to show that God ever commanded the Gentile nations to keep the sabbath day, even during the Mosaic dispensation. Seventh Day Adventists are obligated to furnish the text which says that he did so, but they cannot furnish it. In fact, there are plenty of Scriptures to show that this ceremonial institution was not in force among the Gentiles.
Speaking of the sabbath, God said, “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever ...” (Ex. 31:17). If the other nations had been observing the seventh day sabbath also, it could not have been a sign between God and the Jews. Down in the country where I was reared each farmer had a certain mark which he used to distinguish his livestock in the woods from that of others. For instance, one fellow split his hogs’ ears at two places. That was his mark, but if every other farmer used the same mark, it would cease to be a sign of the stock which belonged to that particular man. If every ranchman in the West used the same brand for his cattle, it would not be a sign of that which belonged to any one in particular. _Yet the sabbath was a sign between God and the children of Israel._ Therefore, it was peculiar to that law which applied to them, and was not a part of any other law given by Jehovah to any other people or at any other time.