Sabbath Day
The Seventh Day
The Bible tells us clearly that the Sabbath is the seventh day of the week. In the western world, we call this day Saturday. Actually, the concept of the weekly cycle came from the first week in history, the creation week, which consists of seven days, including the day of rest. God set apart the last day of every week as the Sabbath.
From the time of their forefathers, the Israelites have acknowledged that Saturday is the Sabbath. The Lord Jesus kept the seventh-day Sabbath, and so did His disciples. Sunday worship, which is widely practiced by Christians today, originated when the Roman emperor Constantine officially changed the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday. God never commanded Sunday worship.
Since God did not change the Sabbath day, we should still keep the Sabbath on Saturday, the seventh day, rather than on Sunday, the first day. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not do away with Sabbath observance. Being one of the Ten commandments, the Sabbath is still a day that all Christians must keep. Blessed are those who hold true to God’s commandments!
A Day of Remembrance
On the Sabbath day, we are to remember God’s mighty work of creation, and that He made the seventh day holy. Therefore, this weekly day of rest is a time for us to remember our origin. We are from God, and he made us to be like him.
With this in mind, we can live another week in obedience to God’s word. When commanding the Israelites to keep the Sabbath day, God also asked the people to remember how God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. “And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day” (Deuteronomy 5:15).
Likewise, God has also delivered us, the believers, from a sinful lifestyle under the hands of Satan into the promise of God’s eternal kingdom. Through the Sabbath, God furthermore reminded the Israelites that they belonged to God. “Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them” (Ezekiel 20:12). The Sabbath is God’s way of telling us how special we are–that we are His people.
A Day of Hope
The Sabbath rest is a prefiguration of the rest we will receive when we enter into heaven. “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:9-10).
Just as God rested from work of creation, and just as we rest from our weekly tasks, one day the believers of God will also rest in His arms. When we reach that home, we will rest from all the toils and sorrows of this life and enjoy true rest forever. Today, we have found that rest in Jesus Christ. By His sacrifice, He has opened the gates of heaven; through His power, we can live like the citizens of heaven; with His assurance, we have peace amid troubles. He will guide us all the way to that eternal rest if we always trust and obey Him.