Questions Answered - Sabbath
Author: Pastor Ryan Bing
July 22, 2024
As a Seventh-day Adventist Church that meets each week on Saturday instead of the traditional Sunday we are often asked and questioned why we meet on Saturday and the meaning behind it. This makes it a good topic to start off our “Questions Answered” blog where we will take questions you may have about the Bible or the Seventh-day Adventist church and answer them as best we can.
The Sabbath is a biblical theme throughout the Bible starting at the very beginning in the Genesis account. From this Genesis account in Genesis 2:1-3 we find the initial start of the Sabbath for humans on earth. This was given not to a certain people group but to all humans.
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation."
-Genesis 2:1-3
We see the seventh day for Sabbath and resting again confirmed later at Mount Sinai with Moses and the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:8-11. This reaffirms the seventh day as the Sabbath on which we are to rest and glorify God in worship and community. If in some way humans had changed calendars or the days had gotten messed up or changed this would have been a time when God could have corrected the mistake, but instead he keeps with the seventh day giving us confidence in Saturday as the Sabbath.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to theLORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
-Exodus 20:8-11
The idea of God reconfirming Saturday, the seventh day, as the Sabbath continues throughout the Bible. In the second set of 10 commandments found in Deuteronomy 5, in Jesus and his disciples’ practices and life (Mark 1:21, Luke 4:16). Again, and again illustrating that the day of the Sabbath was not changed or messed up due to changing calendars or times. Forming the foundation for why we as the Seventh-day Adventist church continue to follow biblical teaching on the Sabbath and meeting for church on the seventh day as was the custom and tradition of Jesus and his disciples.
While this forms a very basic rudimentary understanding of the day of the Sabbath it does not begin to answer questions on what resting on the Sabbath looks like for us today. More importantly it doesn’t address the significance of the Bible and the reason for following it still today. We will answer the “Why” question in this article not necessarily the “How” but if the question of “How to rest on the Sabbath?” interests you feel free to ask and recommend it for a future article.
Why keep the Sabbath in general today, why set aside a specific day of our week dedicating it to God? Shouldn’t we dedicate our whole lives to God, spending time with him all days not just once a week? Why does it matter what day we spend with God as long as we are spending a day with him?
These are all valid questions and ones that can often be confusing for many to address. In short, the answer for most of these questions can be as simple as because God said so. But in growing up and often hearing the explanation of “because I said so” from parents, I know how unsatisfying of an answer that can be. So, to dive deeper into them let’s look back towards the verses mentioned earlier of Genesis 2:1-3, Exodus 20:8-11.
Genesis 2:3 shows that God blessed and set apart the seventh day as holy and a Sabbath where he rested from the work he had been doing. Pointing us to the significance of the Sabbath, as a day that is set apart, unique and special from all the other days. This does not mean that it should be the only day that we spend time with God. In fact, in continuing reading the Genesis account we see that is not the case, but instead it is showed that Adam and Eve regularly spent time with God walking through the Garden as Genesis 3:8 shows. The Sabbath is not meant to be the only day we spend with God but instead a blessing and a help for us to recenter our lives around God each week. Which helps us throughout the week spend more time with God instead of getting swept away in the craziness of the work week. The Sabbath isn’t an excuse to spend less time with God but instead motivator to spend as much time with him as possible.
Exodus 20:8-11 makes the point very clear for us, it is a day of remembrance, a reminder to us, a sign for us to come back to God every week. A day to remember all that God has done for us, honoring him as creator God, honoring him as our savior who died on the cross for us. As Jesus says in Mark 2:27 “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” This day was made special for us as a day of blessing and hope, a day of restoration and remembrance. A day that God set apart and blessed for us to spend time with him to reorient our lives to God, surrendering part of our time in recognition that all belongs to Him.
While this only begins to scratch the surface of the many facets and possible discussions on the Sabbath. Hopefully it can serve to inform and remind us of the significance and reason behind the Sabbath. If you have more questions that you would like answered, please fill out a Question form below for us to answer. If you would like to learn more about the Sabbath and have some deeper explanations on some of the verses mentioned today watch the sermon from our “In the Beginnings” Series linked below.
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