Which day is God's Sabbath?

God's Seal Of Approval

The Sabbath is an arbitrary arrangement of God that serves a powerful purpose. It is His claim - His seal - over the world and all human life. It is also a sign of the redemption He offers to every single one of us.

Surely this is why God will preserve Sabbath keeping throughout eternity. We find this described in Isaiah 66:

Isaiah 66:22-23 "22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. 23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD."

The Sabbath is so precious to God that He will have His people observe it throughout all time in the beautiful new earth to come. If it is so precious to Him, should it not be precious to us? If we are going to keep it through all eternity, why not keep it now as our pledge of obedience to Him?

It is easy to understand why the devil has waged a continuing, desperate battle against the seventh-day Sabbath. He has worked through the pride of tradition, misinformation, and religious bigotry to destroy the sanctity of God's special sign of authority - the Sabbath.

God made it very clear that, regardless of feelings, those who abuse the Sabbath are guilty of breaking His law. James explains that it is a sin to break even one of the Ten Commandments:

James 2:10-11 "10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law."

Most of the commandments begin with the same words: "Thou shalt not". But the fourth commandment is introduced with the word "Remember". Why? Because when God spoke these commandments from Sinai He was telling the people that you used to keep the Sabbath day but in captivity for 400 years in Egypt they had forgotten the Sabbath and had kept the many religions of the Egyptians, so this was commanding them to recall something to their memory that already existed but had been forgotten.

Why did God bless the seventh day as a day of worship? Because He had just created the world in six days. It was a memorial to the birth of the world, a reason to remember that mighty act.

So could the Sabbath memorial be changed? No, because it points backward to an accomplished fact. For instance, could Armistice Day be changed (also known in the UK as Poppy Day) which occurs on the 11 November each year to commemorate those members of the armed forces who were killed during World War 1? No, because that was the day the Armistice was signed between the Allies in Word War 1.

Our birthday cannot be changed either. It is a memorial of our birth, which happened on a set day. So, we can call another day Armistice Day, or give another date for our birthday but it won't change it, and by calling Sunday the Sabbath, does not make it so either.

To find out how the change of Sabbath to Sunday came about, click on this link for a study on the Mark of the Beast:

www.666-mark-of-the-beast.info

It might be a duty to keep the seventh-day holy, but it should not be a burden. In an age of false gods and spirituality, of atheistic evolution, and the stubborn traditions of men, the world needs the Sabbath more than ever. It is more than just a test of our loyalty to the Creator. It is more than just a sign of our sanctification through His power. It is His promise of a lasting, eternal gift of restoration.

Keeping the Sabbath, even the true seventh-day Sabbath, is an operation in futility if it does not proceed from a heart full of love and devotion to God. Without love, all law keeping becomes mechanical and miserable, but with love, every commandment becomes a joy and delight. Make this kind of personal love relationship the basis of your Sabbath keeping, and it will be the happiest day of your week, for the rest of your life!

With these Sabbath facts in hand, may God grant every Christian the courage to honour the Sabbath commandment as His special test of our love and loyalty to God.