Why I Cherish the 7th Day Sabbath

There are many ways to research this biblical truth.  I pray that you'll open your Bible and enjoy this study of God’s Word.


Let me preface this by saying that I’m not Jewish, Seventh-day Adventist, or Seventh-day Baptist.  In fact, I choose not to affiliate myself with any denomination because I believe that we can knock down the walls that doctrine puts up between believers if we look to the Bible for all of our answers.  Scripture was given to us as our life instruction manual, and it's our final authority.  I simply love Jesus because of the fact that He took my punishment for everything that I ever did, or will ever do, wrong.

When I first heard of the 7^th day Sabbath in the Spring of 2011, I thought, “But, church is on Sunday.”  I doubted that Saturday could have possibly been kept throughout the ages.  I then realized that Jewish history proves that they have kept this day sacred from Bible times until now, but I was perplexed.  So, I started doing research.  All of my research sent me straight back into my Bible, exactly where I belong.  :-)

I knew that Exodus 20:10 said to keep the 7^th day holy, but that’s not what we do today.  It’s tradition to worship on Sunday.  Who’s tradition though?  God’s or man’s?  Everything I do now, I bounce off of the notion of:  WWJD – What Would Jesus Do? 

"If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love." John 15:10 (NRSV)

It can’t be more clear than that.  Jesus kept the 10 Commandments, so I will too!

Jesus himself honored the Sabbath.  One of the things that he was criticized for was breaking the Sabbath by healing people on it: 

“Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath.  But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.”   For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.” John 5:16-18 (NRSV)

Jesus also says, “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?” Luke 14:5 (NRSV)

So, I looked further into what the Bible tells us to do, and not do, on the day that God set aside and made holy.

Exodus 20:8-10 (NRSV) tells us: “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work.  But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work”. 

Nehemiah 10:31 (NRSV) says: “and if the peoples of the land bring in merchandise or any grain on the sabbath day to sell, we will not buy it from them on the sabbath or on a holy day”.

Isaiah 58:13-14 (NRSV) reads: “If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;  then you shall take delight in the LORD”. 

The Bible is pretty clear that we don’t buy, sell, work, or just do whatever pleases ourselves on the Sabbath.

When I first thought of putting these things into practice, I was nervous.  I thought: “What if I’m too sick or tired during the week to do laundry, errands, housework, etc., and the only day I have to do it is Saturday?”  It was a struggle at first, but now I plan my week around being able to forget about these things on Sabbath.  Exactly what God intended the day for, so that I can focus on Him, His creation, and His love for every single one of us.  He doesn’t love the Sabbath keeper any more than someone who chooses not to keep it, but He certainly rejoices when we follow His commandments.

So this leads to: Why do I choose to do this?  Am I trying to work my way into heaven?  Absolutely not!  We’re saved by God’s Grace.  He loves His creation so much that He put a sacrifice in place for our sins so that we’re not bound by the law of: “For the wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23 (NRSV)

Jesus took the fall for every sin we’ll ever commit.  He will blot out our sins in front of our Father if we use our free will to follow His example.  We choose by Faith to accept this Grace.  The fruits of Faith are repentance, obedience, and love.  Our love for God and what He’s done for us compels us to find out exactly what He expects of us, and to live according to His will, and not our own.  What compels us is the Holy Spirit that we invite to live inside of us and take direction from.  I know that my own will has not worked out well at all, so it was simple for me to put my trust in God.

So, every week from sundown Friday night until sundown Saturday night, I look forward to my time with God, my time with my family, and the beautiful rest that fills my soul and fuels me for the upcoming days.  I devote that time to God and forget about the world’s greed, hatred, violence, and evilness.

Leviticus Chapter 23 talks about “The Sabbath” along with other festivals or ceremonial sabbaths.  In verse 32, it can be seen that: “from evening to evening you shall keep your sabbath”. (NRSV) 

In Mark 1:32 (NRSV), we see that the Jewish people did not want to bring their sick to be healed by Jesus until after the Sabbath had ended: “That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.” 

In John 19:31(NRSV), we learn that it was against Jewish law for bodies to be left on the cross during the Sabbath: “Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity.  So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed.”

The women that were going to anoint Jesus’s body, as was the custom, did not buy or prepare their spices on the Sabbath.  This can be seen in Mark 16:1-3 (NRSV): “When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.  And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.  They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 

There are many of Paul’s writings that are taken out of context in regards to Sabbath keeping.  2 Peter Chapter 3 is wonderful reading, but pay special attention to verses 16-18 (NRSV) where it talks about Paul’s writings: 

“speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.  You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability.  But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” 

So when we look at Paul’s letter to the Colossians, who were new Christians being pressured to follow the Jewish Law, we get a much different perspective than what some individuals use the scripture for, which is FAR out of context.  Colossians 2:16-17 (NRSV) reads: “Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths.  These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”  What Paul was telling these new Christians is to not feel pressured to follow the customs of the Jewish people.  Their ceremonial sabbaths and food & drink offerings, as can be seen in the Old Testament, were a shadow of things to come.  That THING to come was Christ!  He was the living sacrifice.  Therefore, old ceremonial laws were only for people that didn't believe that Jesus was the Lamb of God.  To continue to sacrifice would denounce Jesus as the sacrifice that God made to reconcile us to Him.  What we need to understand in this scripture is that it says “sabbaths”, not “THE sabbath” like the others that refer to the 7^th day Sabbath.

The 7^th day Sabbath could not be a shadow of things to come, as it was created by God to commemorate His work.  It’s something given to us to help us to look back on creation and thank God for everything He has done for us.  A commemoration is the opposite of a shadow.  The shadow looked forward to Christ.  Those shadows were the perfect lambs of sacrifice, something that Jesus fulfilled when He chose to die for our sins.  No longer was there a need for the High Priest to atone for sins through ceremonies and sacrifices.  In John 19:30 (NRSV), Jesus said this for a reason: “It is finished.”  He didn’t say, “The 10 Commandments are null and void.” 

In fact, Revelation 14:12 (NRSV) shows us what God will be looking for in the final days: “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus.” 

Once this was made clear to me through my own research, I couldn’t consciously choose to throw out this knowledge.  That would be hearing God’s message and refusing it because it’s inconvenient or because uninformed people would think less of me.  Only God's opinion matters!  "We must obey God rather than any human authority." Acts 5:29 (NRSV) 

We have to ask ourselves these questions: 

How much did Jesus endure for us?

Could we set aside a 24 hour period of time of selflessness to honor Him for the pain and mockery that He took for us?

Is our world in disarray because we don’t spend time in our Bible?

Should we worship Jesus on a day that a majority of our churches have deemed appropriate for worship, instead of the day that HE honored?

Does the Bible say that Satan will try to change times and laws?  (Daniel 7:25)

Does the Bible say that God “does not change”?  (Malachi 3:6)

The Need for Jesus

A Life with God

Straddling the world and The Word

I spent many years with one foot in the world and one foot in The Word.  Can you live a life fully connected to God if part of you embraces the world and its guilty pleasures?

Amongst other ways to embrace sin, I had an addiction to television, during which my mind was being taken on a journey far from where God wanted it.  It wasn’t until I conquered this affliction that I saw how much it was a barrier between me and God.  Conquering it was just that, a battle.  I was forced to turn off cable for financial reasons.  You would've thought my food or water was being taken away.  I asked friends for DVD’s and even VHS tapes to get me through the “withdrawal” phase.  I got through that phase and became comfortable reading my Bible and other books more, along with spending more time writing and doing logic puzzles.

The battle wasn’t over yet though.  I eventually got a rabbit ear antenna because I wanted to at least see the news.  The one channel that it brought in drew me right back in, and in a worse way.  I began watching shows that I didn’t care for because that was all that was on.  I returned to watching the numerous crime shows that were on prime time.  The ones that I had stopped watching due to vivid nightmares.  I started watching comedies that were raunchy, too.  It wasn’t until those vivid nightmares had made a reappearance that I realized that I needed to nix the violence.  I was also getting tired of filling my head with sleazy entertainment news, jokes about meaningless sex, the use of God’s name without honor, and commercial after commercial attempting to train the mind towards gluttony that causes disease, and drunkenness that enables poor choices.

As I was getting closer to God, I found myself asking, “Is this something that I would watch with Jesus?”  Over time, it actually started to hurt my insides when I would hear the typical responses using God’s or Jesus’ name so flippantly.  Those same phrases used to roll off my tongue without a thought because we're so flooded by it everywhere we turn.

I found that when I'd put the TV on for just a football game, I was blasted with things that are meant to distract you from heavenly pursuits.  When I spend an evening doing some of the free Bible studies that I requested online, I find that my soul is light as air afterwards.  That heaviness and darkness that I feel after mindlessly allowing the television to take me where ever it pleases is far behind me.  There's a well inside of us that goes dry when we choose not to connect in with God.  When we spend time reading His words of guidance and encouragement, we're better equipped to approach these trying times with our wells full of peace and joy.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are a few (very few) shows that are clean and informative, but these are few and far between.  Similar entertainment can also be sought out on the internet or in books.  But beware, we can easily fall into the same addiction on the internet as well if we're not careful.  I believe it's important to stay up to date on the news, but I find that I receive the same news from Christian radio without seeing the footage of dead bodies.

Satan wants our minds trapped in death, destruction, and immorality and he's found many ways to do just that.  The sad thing is that we actually enjoy it and have helped to personally create an industry that caters to this desire.

Not everyone reacts to these leadings in the same way.  My difficulty might be with the nightmares that come from violence.  Others may be overcome with perverse sexual thoughts.  Someone else might be lead to drink their week of hard work away.  Can you imagine how our society might benefit from commercials about forgiveness, compassion, and respect?  The sad thing is, this isn't going to happen.  So, it's up to us to seek out this type of soul nourishment.

Keep in mind that there are many ways for the world to get its message lodged in our consciousness.  Not only TV, but music, literature, and the conversations that we engage in.  The contents of best selling books and lyrics of catchy tunes are just morally unacceptable, yet we accept them because it’s now the norm.  We can’t unsee or unhear things, but we can filter a massive portion of what's ready and waiting to be received.  Remember that it's our choice what we fill ourselves up with.

Since I've filtered what I receive into my mind, I feel much less part of the world and more tightly interwoven with God instead.  Is it something that we can accomplish on our own?  Absolutely not!  The only way to step away from the world is to reach for the hand of God that He has outstretched for anyone that will take it.  We take His hand through our redeemer, Jesus.  God can not hold hands with sin.  Jesus allows that connection to happen because He erases the sins we've confessed so that we can be reached by God.  He took all the sins we've committed, and every one that we'll ever commit, upon himself.  He laid down his life like any loving parent would do.  Jesus is the all important link directly to God, no other way exists.  We do need to be honest about our sins because just one that we haven’t repented for is preventing our closeness with God.

When you leave the world behind and concentrate on our Creator, things no longer upset you in the same way that they used to.  You're also less likely to worry about the negativity that's around you.  You effortlessly see the positive while going through your daily tasks.  I had to realize that God is not the author of chaos, terror, and perverseness.  That’s Satan’s dreadful work.  The more that I entertain those thoughts, the less room that I have to allow my character to be molded into the likeness of Jesus.

There's nothing in this world that has more importance than an eternity with Jesus.  Our Creator, coming down as a man, showing us that He understands our earthly life, giving us an example to live by, and promising to make a home for us in Heaven, as long as we surrender our free will to Him on a daily basis.  We must choose to stay strong in our Faith until our last breath.  We'll experience temptations continuously throughout our lives.  There's a deceiver that works tirelessly to knock us off the narrow path to Heaven.   Find every inlet that Satan has and close it.  Our reward will be more than our human minds can comprehend.