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Truths About the Sabbath, Simply Stated

There are religions whose name indicates that they believe that we must observe the Sabbath on Saturday and that there is no authority to worship God on the first day of the week. Then, there are many who say that we must observe the Ten Commandments and that God has changed His teachings, and now Sunday is the “Christian Sabbath.” Keep in mind that the Bible always identifies Saturday as the Sabbath and nowhere is the Sabbath identified as being Sunday. Consider the following truths, simply stated, that may help us as we study His word.

The Sabbath was not sanctified by God in the Garden of Eden on the day He rested. We have not read Genesis 2:2-3 carefully. “He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.  Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work…” God had completed His resting and because He had rested, He blessed that day. He could have blessed it on the next day, but He had completed His rest, then He blessed it. Read the next point to see precisely when He revealed that He had blessed that day.

Neither Adam and Eve, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, nor the Jews in Egypt ever observed the Sabbath. Just days before Moses died, he spoke to the Jews about the Ten Commandments and the keeping of the Sabbath. He called those commands the covenant God made with Israel (Deut. 4:13). Then, he said to the Jews who had been at Mt. Sinai (Horeb) when the Ten Commandments were given, “The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive” (Deut. 5:2-3). The Bible clearly and simply states that God did NOT make the covenant with anyone before Mt. Sinai.

The Sabbath was a sign between God and the Jews, not all mankind. How much clearer can God state the truth that the Gentiles were NOT part of the keeping of the Sabbath.  Regarding the Sabbath God said, “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel” (Ex. 31:17).

The Sabbath was given to the Jews, who as slaves had no rest, to be remembered BECAUSE they had been slaves. They were told to remember the Sabbath day. How did they do this? “And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out from there…therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath” (Deut. 5:15). Gentiles were not slaves in Egypt, so the Sabbath was not designed for them!

As you study the Bible, never overlook truths God states clearly and simply.