The Sabbath in Revelation 13:12
A Sabbath rest for both the land and man
By Elder D. H. Lamson
It is said that the beast with two horns like a lamb (see Revelation 13:11) causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. How can the earth worship? Only by keeping a sabbath. The land must rest as well as those who dwell upon it. This is really a Bible truth. In Leviticus 26, where Moses spoke the words of the Lord, and the most terrible judgments were threatened upon those who walked contrary to the law of God, there were brought against them the sabbaths in which the land did not rest. The Lord said that when they were scattered among the heathen, “Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.” Verses 34, 35. This, then, is the way the land or earth can worship, by keeping a sabbath. The special reason, as given by the prophet of God, why this great desolation should come upon the people, had direct reference to the Sabbath of the Lord: “But if ye will not hearken unto me to hollow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” Jeremiah 17:27. The greater crime included the less; if they would not keep the Sabbath of God, they would not let the land keep its sabbaths.
The two-horned beast will have a sabbath fore the earth as well as for its inhabitants; and both the land and the men must rest upon it. The workshop must close, the places of business, and the marts of trade. The plow must stand still in the furrow, the cattle in the stalls, and private and public enterprise must bend the knee; and even the two-horned beast itself, our nation, must be a worshiper of the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. The nation is the lawmaking power, and its laws will be worship in the highest degree. The law says we shall regard as the Sabbath, Sunday, the first day of the week. The beast with ten horns and the beast with two horns both say this, and the speaking image will enforce it. Revelation 13:15.
What, then, will be the duty of all? If any man shall worship the beast (i.e., keep his sabbath) and his image (the power that will enforce that sabbath) the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God. But, “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him [not the beast nor his image], not doing thine own ways, not finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob the father: for the mouth of the lord hath spoken it.” Isaiah 58:13-14. “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Exodus 20:10. Review and Herald, Jan. 12, 1886.