1872 Fundamental Principles

#12 “The Fourth Commandment,” Part 21

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How can we prove from the Bible that evening means sunset (when applied to the Sabbath)?

Andrews came up with eleven texts.

The word even . . .

• The period of decreasing daylight from late afternoon until nightfall.

• This word represents the time of the day immediately preceding and following the setting of the sun.

• Sunset

• Mark 1:32 connects evening with the setting of the sun

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Mk 1:32; Lev. 23:32; Gen. 1:5

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On the Friday evening in November 1855 before the conference session opened, those assembled commenced the Sabbath at six

o’clock, but the next evening, Saturday night, they closed the Sabbath at sunset. What made the difference? Between those two times they studied J. N. Andrews’ paper on the time the

Sabbath should commence.

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In June 1854, James White requested D. P. Hall in Wisconsin to give study to the matter

and come up with an answer.

April 28–29, 1855, Elder White held his first public meetings in Battle Creek with D. P.

Hall.

History of SDA Work with Soyfoods, Vegetarianism, Meat Alternatives, Wheat Gluten, Dietary Fiber and Peanut Butter (1863–2013): Extensively Annotated; Bibliography and Sourcebook; Compiled by William Shurtleff & Akiko Aoyagi;

2014; p.

• In 1854 the Advent Review Office in Rochester, NY, published a book he authored, entitled Man Not Immortal: The Only Shield Against the Seductions of Modern Spiritualism

• A minister in Wisconsin who later defected to the Messenger party and believed in the ‘age to come’ theory of the millennium

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Then James White asked J. N. Andrews to study the issue. Andrews prepared a paper on the

matter, and the reading of this paper became the Sabbath morning Bible study at the conference in Battle Creek. From nine texts in the Old Testament

and two from the New, Andrews demonstrated that “even” and “evening” of the Sabbath were

identical with sunset. (See Arthur White, volume 1 of the EGW biography.)

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“November 20, 1855, while in prayer, the Spirit of the Lord came suddenly and powerfully upon me, and I was taken off in vision.”—Testimonies for the Church, 1:113. In this vision the time to commence the Sabbath was addressed. “I saw

that it is even so: ‘From even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.’ Said the angel: ‘Take the Word of God, read it, understand, and ye cannot err. Read carefully, and ye shall there find what

even is and when it is.’ (See 1BIO 324.3)

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A thorough Bible investigation of the question was made by Elder J. N. Andrews, who wrote a paper setting forth the Biblical reasons in favor of the

sunset time. This paper was introduced and discussed on Sabbath, November 17, 1855, at the

Conference in Battle Creek, Michigan, with the result that nearly, but not quite, all present were convinced that Elder Andrew’s conclusion was correct. The presentation of the subject to Mrs.

White in this vision, given two days later, answered the questions lingering in some minds and effected unity among the believers. (Appendix, 1T 713.3)

What were the texts Andrews used to support

that the even or the evening of the Sabbath

were identical with sunset (9 in OT and 2 in NT)?

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“Time for Commencing the

Sabbath”

R & H, December 4, 1855

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Was the Sabbath nailed to the cross?

How do we know that the Sabbath was kept by the

early Christians?

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“Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter; neither on the Sabbath day,” Christ said. He who made the Sabbath did not abolish it,

nailing it to His cross. The Sabbath was not rendered null and void by His death. Forty years after His crucifixion it was still to be

held sacred. For forty years the disciples were to pray that their flight might not be on the

Sabbath day. (DA 630.4)