Early Persecution
The first Sabbath-keeping “Christian” to be persecuted was, if you will, Christ Himself. It is significant to note His case, as we may gain some insight into the nature of those that follow.
The Bible portrays Satan’s antipathy toward Jesus even before His birth. “And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”{‡‡‡‡‡‡‡} Yet before Christ’s ascension, God sent an angel to snatch His man child from the hungry jaws of the devil: “Behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”{§§§§§§§} From these passages we make three observations: 1) Just as our Maker anticipates the arrival of godly seed{********}, so does our enemy. 2) God makes provision for the preservation of his people.{††††††††} 3) The empire of Rome felt threatened by the influence of Christ (a point upon which we shall later expand).
One might argue that the death warrant against Christ pertained to His importance as man’s sacrificial substitute; not His Sabbath practices. Yet consider this reasoning: If Christ had sinned, He could not be Savior.{‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡} Sin is defined as “transgression of the Law.”{§§§§§§§§} The Sabbath is part of God’s Law.{*********} Christ’s Sabbath-keeping was therefore necessary to man’s salvation (which Satan despises); so the enemy sought to destroy Him whose life of obedience would mend the rift between earth and heaven.{†††††††††}
Furthermore, as Jesus came “to save his people from their sins,”{‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡} His intent is that His people should not transgress the Law either.{§§§§§§§§§} That His people should obey God’s Law is also evident at the end of the chapter from which we quoted earlier: “The dragon was furious with the woman and went off to fight against the rest of her descendants, all those who obey God’s commandments and are faithful to the truth revealed by Jesus.”{**********} This “woman” represents not merely the mother of Jesus, but God’s people{††††††††††} in general—whose Christian descendants would still keep the Commandments, including the Sabbath. Revelation 14 indicates such Sabbath-keeping Christians will endure until the return of Jesus.{‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡}
There seems to be something special about the Sabbath commandment that makes it the particular object of Satan’s scorn. It identifies God as having the power to create life—the chief characteristic which distinguishes Him from the gods of the heathen.{§§§§§§§§§§} It is the longest of the Ten Commandments. It is the only one beginning with the word, “Remember”—as though God foresaw Satan’s efforts obliterate the true Sabbath from man’s thinking. The most widely read history of Christ’s life—a book called The Desire of Ages—describes the controversy:
Satan was seeking to exalt himself and to draw men away from Christ, and he worked to pervert the Sabbath, because it is the sign of the power of Christ. The Jewish leaders accomplished the will of Satan by surrounding God's rest day with burdensome requirements. In the days of Christ the Sabbath had become so perverted that its observance reflected the character of selfish and arbitrary men rather than the character of the loving heavenly Father. The rabbis virtually represented God as giving laws which it was impossible for men to obey. They led the people to look upon God as a tyrant, and to think that the observance of the Sabbath, as He required it, made men hard-hearted and cruel. It was the work of Christ to clear away these misconceptions. Although the rabbis followed Him with merciless hostility, He did not even appear to conform to their requirements, but went straight forward, keeping the Sabbath according to the law of God.{***********}
First facing this friction within their own culture, Sabbath-keeping Christians then met the same spirit without. Through much of the Dark Ages, Rome commanded that every Saturday be observed with “a rigorous fast,” specifically intending to create distaste for the sabbath.{†††††††††††}
Many national belief systems showed distain for the God who made the earth in six days and rested the seventh. In Syria, “Manichaeism dethroned the first chapter of Genesis by rejecting creation and a miracle-working God, by demanding celibacy of its leaders, and by worshipping the sun as the supreme dwelling place of Deity. Imbued with the ancient Persian hatred of the Old Testament, it ridiculed the Sabbath of the fourth commandment and exalted Sunday.”{‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡} Meanwhile, “the Gnostic{§§§§§§§§§§§} theology of Alexandria which was followed by the Church of Rome, was hostile to anything Jewish, even Jewish Christianity.”{************}
Rome and Alexandria had a real problem with the religion of Christ. Fourth-century church historian Socrates observed: “Although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition [sun-worship], have ceased to do this.”{††††††††††††} Another contemporary, Sozomen, concurs: “The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria” (ibid).
Jealous of the unifying effect the weekly Sabbath rest had for Christians, the crumbling empire of Rome thought to transfer it to her pagan holy day. Emperor Constantine decreed in the year 321: “Let all judges and people of the town rest, and the trades of various kinds be suspended on the venerable day of the sun.”{‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡} When this did not suffice to maintain her supremacy, Rome went a step further. Emperor Justinian decreed in 532, “by an edict which he issued to unite all men in one faith, whether Jews, Gentiles, or Christians, such as did not, in the term of three months, embrace and profess the Catholic faith, were declared infamous, and, as such, excluded from all employments both civil and military.”{§§§§§§§§§§§§}
Rome felt she had compromised long enough. A few years later, Augustine threatened the Sabbath-keepers of Wales: “If you will not join with us in unity, you shall from your enemies suffer the vengeance of death.”{*************} The pope then encouraged William the Conqueror to eradicate those Celtic Christians,{†††††††††††††} when the Normans overthrew England.
For many centuries there were Sabbath-keeping Christians in Ireland, including Saint Patrick.{‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡} And the brethren in Scotland worshipped likewise, unmolested until the year 1130, when King David confiscated their Lock Leven lands. “He ordered them to conform to the rites of the Sunday-keeping monks, on whom he had conferred the dispossessed property, or to be expelled. Needless to say, they were expelled.”{§§§§§§§§§§§§§} Near this same period, the Albigenses of Southern France and the Waldenses of Northern Italy were slaughtered by order of the pope. Among their other differences with the Church of Rome, these groups were fundamentally Sabbath-keepers.{**************} To deprive one first of material goods and then of his mortal life—these are two chief tactics employed in the persecution of our study group.{††††††††††††††}
Less violent, but perhaps even more deadly, is the persecution of the mind. Jesus said that we must worship God “in spirit and in truth.”{‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡} Therefore the Dragon has waged a propaganda campaign, attempting to obscure the truth of God. We do well to remember the Jesuit{§§§§§§§§§§§§§§} motto of the Roman Church: “Where we cannot convince, we will confuse.”{***************} For example, the pagan church early hoped to lend credence to it’s tradition by pilfering St. John’s words “The Lord’s Day” and attaching them to Sunday. After centuries of reiterating this assertion, the fallen church has persuaded many to think of Sunday when they read Revelation 1:10, though there is nothing Biblical to suggest John was referring to other than the seventh-day Sabbath.
Name-calling was another tactic. In 602, Pope Gregory I issued a bull declaring that “when antichrist should come, he would keep Saturday for the Sabbath”{†††††††††††††††}—this coming from the very institution which itself has for centuries born the odious appellation. (See Appendix C.) Moreover, a multitude of monikers were given to belie the actual size and unity of the Sabbath-keeping body. “As each new apostle arose, Rome at first was content to treat him and his followers as a ‘new sect,’ for by so doing she aimed to cover up the fact that the renewed evangelical wave sweeping over Europe was another manifestation of the Church in the Wilderness.”{‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡} (This church title is given to Sabbath-keeping Christians in our key text, Revelation chapter twelve.)
Sabbath-keeping Christians hear the same a put-down as did their Lord{§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§}—of holding a religion for the common people; not the educated classes. In A. D. 791, a Roman church counsel remonstrated the last day of the week, “which also all peasants observe”{****************} (Thus it is acknowledged how widely the unaltered religion was practiced.)
Observers of the first day also falsely charged their counter-parts with Judaizing. Baptist historian David Benedict writes: “The account of their practicing circumcision is undoubtedly a slanderous story forged by their enemies, and probably arose in this way. Because they observed the seventh day, they were called, by way of derision, Jews, as the Sabbatarians are frequently at this day”{††††††††††††††††}
On the other hand, documents were contrived for the legalistic observance of Sunday.{‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡} Around A. D. 600, the infamous Letter from the Lord, puts these peculiar words in Christ’s mouth:
Remember the tables of Moses My servant, and the law and precepts which I gave him to preach to the peoples, that they might fear Me and keep My law…. If you do not correct your ways I will send you worms and locusts that will eat your harvests and rapacious bulls that will devour you, because you did not keep the holy day of the Lord. Anyone who does not keep it will be accursed. On the Lord’s day you must not wash your clothes nor wash or cut your hair. Whoever does so, let him be accursed. I tell you once more that I was…resurrected on the Lord’s day. …Be very faithful in keeping the day of the Lord, not even gathering vegetables from your gardens on the day of the Lord. If you women dare to do such things, I will send upon you winged snakes to beat and devour your breasts.{§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§}
Specious and sensational, such ploys were not uncommon.{*****************}
The Dragon’s campaign is often a war of words. After eight hours of interrogation, before being burned at the stake, one of the faithful replied:
You may narrate these doctrines to others, who are wise in worldly wisdom, and who believe the figments of carnal men written upon animal parchment. But to us who have the law written in the inner man by the Holy Ghost, and who know nothing else save what we have learned from God the Creator of all things, you vainly propound matters which are superfluous and altogether alien from sound divinity.{†††††††††††††††††}
Preferring the sound doctrine of Scripture to the philosophies of men, those who honored the seventh-day memorial of God the Creator were imbued with implicit trust in His power. Our martyr continues:
Put therefore an end to words: and do with us what you list. We clearly behold our King reigning in heavenly places, who with His own right hand, is raising us to an immortal triumph;{‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡} and he is raising us to the fullness of joy celestial. (Ibid.)
Thus we see a devotion born in full confidence of Christ’s saving work in man’s behalf. In gratitude for this, men rendered obedience. A Waldensian remarked, “The Lord God commanded us to rest on the seventh day and with that I let it be; with God’s help and His grace, we all would stand by and die in the faith, for it is the right faith and the right way in Christ.”{§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§}
What motivated these Christians endure such hardship? Like Jesus, they were willing to endure mistreatment, if their stand for truth might have a reformatory influence within the ailing church.{******************} Following the history of Sabbath-keeping Anabaptists, Mennonite author Daniel Liechty observes that many theologians “turned to the Bible seeking an answer to the question of where the church had gone wrong.” Some, “located the fall of the church at the point where the church stopped observing the Sabbath, where the church stopped following the moral law.”{††††††††††††††††††} Thus, they took their stand—though not with harsh defiance. “They sought, without any surrender of their own historic past which reached back to the apostles, to cultivate a fraternal attitude as far as possible.”{‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡} Sixth-century Sabbath-keeper Catholicos Aba demonstrated this spirit, saying, “I preach my own faith, and I want every man to join it; but of his own free will, and not of compulsion. I use force on no man; but I warn those who are Christians to keep the laws of their religion.”{§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§} Indeed, such was the attitude of Christ Himself.{*******************}