The Biblical Truth About Sabbath Keeping

Sunday, the first day of the week, is almost universally observed today by “professing Christians.” Yet, the Bible teaches that the only day that is holy to God is the seventh day of the week, called the Sabbath day in the Word of God.

The Roman calendar used today in the United States shows the seventh day of the week as Saturday. Throughout Europe, however, calendars have been changed to show Sunday as the seventh day of the week. In spite of that change, Saturday remains the true biblical Sabbath day, holy to God. The Bible clearly commands: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God…” (Ex. 20:8-10).

Here are 36 profound reasons from Scripture why we should be observing the seventh-day Sabbath today, as the weekly day of worship to God:

1. In the beginning God created the Sabbath day (Gen. 2:3).

2. God rested from His labors on the seventh day (Gen. 2:2).

3. The Sabbath was made for man, that is, for all mankind (Mark 2:27).

4. God blessed the seventh day because, on it, He rested from the work of His creation (Gen. 2:2; Ex. 20:11).

5. God blessed the seventh day and named it the Sabbath (Ex. 20:10-11).

6. God not only blessed the seventh day, He also sanctified it—that is, made it holy by His presence and declaration (Gen. 2:3).

7. There is no record in all the Scriptures that God ever removed His blessing from the Sabbath and placed it upon another day of the week.

8. God’s people kept the Sabbath before the Ten Commandments were given at Mount Sinai (Ex. 16:22-26).

9. God ordained that man should keep the Sabbath (Ex. 20; Heb. 4:3-9).

10. God forbade work on the Sabbath day even in harvest time (Ex. 34:21).

11. God promised the Gentiles, those of all nations, a blessing if they kept the Sabbath (Isa. 56:2).

12. God promised to bless anyone who keeps the Sabbath (Isa. 56:2).

13. Nowhere in the Bible do we find a command to observe any other day of the week as holy, as a substitute or replacement for the seventh-day Sabbath.

14. God calls the Sabbath His holy day (Ex. 20:10; Lev. 23:2-3; Isa. 58:13; Mk. 2:28).

15. The keeping of the Sabbaths, weekly and annually, is a sign between God and His people (Ex. 31:12-17).

16. The Sabbath commandment, one of the longest of the ten, is given to God’s people so that they might show their love and obedience towards God (Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12-15; Matt. 22:37-40).

17. Jesus kept and observed the Sabbath as a habit, which expressed His love and obedience toward God the Father (Luke 4:16).

18. Jesus Christ is Lord of the Sabbath—and as such, the Sabbath is the TRUE LORD’S DAY (Mk. 2:28; Isa. 58:13; Matt. 12:8).

19. Jesus Christ recognized the Sabbath commandment as binding (Matt. 12:12; 5:17-18; Mk. 3:4).

20. Jesus Christ kept His Father’s commandments, which included the seventh-day Sabbath (John 15:10; 8:29; 5:46-47).

21. The Sabbath was observed at the time of the crucifixion (Luke 23:56).

22. The observance of the Sabbath was Paul’s practice years after the crucifixion (Acts 17:2).

23. Paul recognized and observed the Sabbath during his ministry, about AD 45 (Acts 13:27).

24. Paul taught the Gentiles on the Sabbath day, at their own request (Acts 13:42).

25. Paul preached to an entire city on the Sabbath day (Acts 13:44).

26. Paul attended a prayer meeting on the Sabbath day, when no synagogue was available (Acts 16:13).

27. It was Paul’s custom to preach Jesus Christ on the Sabbath day (Acts 17:2-3).

28. At Corinth, Paul preached every Sabbath for eighteen months (Acts 18:1-4, 11).

29. James recognized the seventh-day Sabbath many years after the resurrection of Christ (Acts 15:21).

30. The seventh-day Sabbath will be observed during the Millennium (Isa. 66:23).

31. The apostle Paul made it clear that the day of rest, the seventh-day Sabbath, was to be observed as a holy day (Heb. 4:4-9).

32. The sanctity of the seventh day was never transferred by Jesus Christ, nor by the apostles, to the first day of the week. Neither was it changed by Jesus’ resurrection—for Christ rose “in the end of the Sabbath” and not on Sunday (Matt. 28:1-6).

33. Sabbath-keeping is a requirement for eternal life—as the Christian must be keeping all of God’s Ten Commandments (Matt. 19:17; Rev. 22:14).

34. The seventh-day Sabbath remains as the day of rest for God’s people (Heb. 4:9).

35. Jesus warned that in the end time, as the great tribulation is beginning, we should pray that we would not have to flee on the Sabbath (Matt. 24:20).

36. The sign of God’s people in the end time is that they would be keeping the commandments of God (Rev. 12:17; 14:12).

 

(Adapted from the Bible Sabbath Association, Fairview, Oklahoma.)