What does EGW write about...
Ellen Gould White über: "Ellen White says that all commandments retain their validity, because there are Christians who claim that the Ten Commandments no longer have any validity. However, the Sabbath commandment only gained its significance for believers after the Great Disappointment, as they could not recognize it before 1844."
Answer
Ellen White confirms that the Ten Commandments represent an eternal obligation for all people and have never been abolished. The Sabbath commandment therefore acquired a special significance after the Great Disappointment of 1844, because in that year the door to the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary was opened, where the Ark of the Covenant containing God's law stands. Since that time the Sabbath commandment shines with special brilliance and serves as a specific test for God's people in the end times.
The Validity and Significance of the Sabbath after 1844
»I saw that the Sabbath commandment was not nailed to the cross. If it had been, then the other nine commandments would also be, and we would be free to break them all, just as the fourth. I saw that God has not changed the Sabbath, for He never changes. But the Pope changed it from the seventh to the first day of the week; for he was to change times and laws.«
»It was shown to me that God's commandments and the testimony of Jesus Christ concerning the sealed door could not be separated, and that the time when God's commandments would shine in all their importance and God's people would be tested on the truth of the Sabbath came when the door in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary was opened, where the Ark containing the Ten Commandments is. This door was not opened until the mediatorial work of Christ in the Holy of Holies was completed in 1844.«
»I saw that the present testing of the Sabbath could not occur before Christ's mediatorial ministry in the Holy was finished and He had passed behind the second curtain; therefore Christians who fell asleep before the door to the Most Holy Place was opened ... and who had not kept the true Sabbath now rest in hope; for they did not have the light and the testing of the Sabbath that we now have, since that door was opened.«
»The Ten Commandments are God's requirements for all time and are binding on every man, woman, and child, imposing upon them a continual obligation. They can never be revoked or have their binding power diminished as long as the human family exists... Obedience is required not only to one rule but to all. Whoever fails in one point is guilty of all.«
»In the Ark were ... the stone tablets that could be folded like a book. Jesus opened them, and I saw the Ten Commandments written on them with the finger of God. ... But the fourth, the Sabbath commandment, shone above them all; for the Sabbath was set apart to be kept to the honor of God's holy name. The holy Sabbath appeared glorious—a halo of glory surrounded it.«
- Sabbath after 1844
- Validity of the Ten Commandments
- Most Holy Place heavenly sanctuary Sabbath
Original Sources (English)
