THE BIBLE SAYS . . .

1.When was the Sabbath made? "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which He made." Gen. 2:1-3. God instituted the Sabbath (along with marriage) on the final day of creation week, when the world was in its original perfection (Gen. 1:31), before mankind sinned and before He created the nations. Therefore the Sabbath was given the entire human family, not just to a segment of it. Etymologically, Sabbath means in Hebrew "sign of the creative Father."

2. Who made the Sabbath? "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that made. In Him was life, and the life was light of men. ... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only Begotten the Father,) full of grace and truth." "God, who created all things by Jesus Christ." "For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." Gen. 1:1; John 1:1-4, 14; Eph. 3:9; Matt. 12:8.

3. For whom was the Sabbath made? "And He [Jesus] said ...The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." Mark 2:27. God did not create man to keep a day, but a day for man to keep. Given for holy purposes, His gift of sacred time is not to be slighted, scorned, or explained away.

4. What special status has God given Sabbath and why? God included the Sabbath as the fourth commandment in the ten commandments written with His own finger on tables of stone: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." "He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. ... He will ever be mindful of His covenant. The works of His hands are verity and judgment; all His commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever." Ex. 20:8-11; Ps. 111:4-8. It is the memorial of His creation and Creatorship. Since God created every human being, the Sabbath is of universal application.

5. By what miracle performed before Sinai did the Creator identify and confirm the Sabbath as a day of holiness and special blessing? "Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law or no; and it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily." Ex. 16:4, 5, see also vv. 14-30. God repeated the miracle of the manna with its double portion for the Sabbath every week for 40 years, thus definitely marking the Sabbath 2,080 times and demonstrating the importance of that day in His eyes.

6. Who is Lord of the Sabbath, and what does He call this day? "For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." Matt. 12:8. "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Rev. 1:10.

7. What promises does He extend to those who keep His holy Sabbath day? "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then thou shalt delight thyself in the Lord: and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Isa. 58:13, 14.

8. In addition to memorializing His Creatorship by the Sabbath, what other function does God assign to His holy day? "Moreover also I gave them My sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. ... And hallow My sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Ezek. 20:12, 20. As a sign of His power to sanctify His people, the Sabbath functions as a seal (see Rom. 4:11, KJV) of His covenant bond with those who worship Him according to His specifications. It takes re-creative power to save and sanctify fallen man. Therefore the Sabbath logically has the dual function of honoring God as our Creator and Redeemer (i.e., Re-Creator see Ps. 51:10-12; Eph. 4:23, 24).

9. Did Christ keep the Sabbath? "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read." Luke 4:16. "Jesus said: If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." Jn. 15:10. Plainly, Jesus was a Sabbath-keeper, who obeyed the Ten Commandments, including the fourth, which is the Sabbath. Christ explained that obedience to the Commandments is the fruit of love to God, not the result of formalism, legalism or blindness to the gospel, (See Matt. 5:17-20; John 14:15; 15:9-11; Heb. 13:8.) The commandment to love God supremely and one's neighbor as oneself does not replace the Ten Commandments, but explains their essence (See Matt. 22:36-40; Lev. 19:18; Deut. 6:5.) Jesus did not break the Sabbath, as some contend, but divested it of unbiblical traditions that religious teachers had invented under Satan's inspiration. See Matt. 12:1-15 (15:6-9); Luke 13:10-17; Mark 7:9-13. Christ plainly indicated that the Bible Sabbath was to continue after His crucifixion and resurrection, never hinting that it was to be terminated or changed. (See Matt. 24:20, 21; Luke 16:17.) Christians are to follow Christ's example, which includes observance of the seventh day Sabbath. (1 John 2:5, 6; John 13:15-17; 1 Pet. 2:21.)

10. How did Christ reaffirm the Sabbath after His death? "This man ... begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down ... and laid it in a sepulchre. ... And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on." Luke 23:52-54. The Father and the Son rested upon the Sabbath day after their first great work, the work of creation. Now Jesus, after completing His second great work -- the work of redemption, again rests on the Sabbath day before rising in glory and triumph.

11. Did the disciples keep the Sabbath after the crucifixion? "And they returned and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." "And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. ... Paul and Barnabas ... speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God." "And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither." "And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures." "And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." Luke 23:56; Acts 13:42-44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4.

12. What did the apostle Paul say about the Sabbath? "There remaineth therefore a keeping of the Sabbath to the people of God." Heb. 4:9, margin.

13. How and why does God emphasize the need for Sabbath-keeping in these last days, just before Jesus' return?
How: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Rev. 14:6, 7. (Compare with Ex. 20:11. See also Rev. 14:12; 22:14.)
Why: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge ... thou hast forgotten the law of thy God." "I have written to him the great things of My law, ... but they were counted as a strange thing: Israel hath forgotten his Maker." "Thou hast despised My holy things, and hast profaned My sabbaths. ... Her priests have violated My law ... and have hid their eyes from My sabbaths." "The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the cornmandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Hos. 4:6; 8:12, 14; Ezek. 22:8, 26; Rev. 12:17. (See also Isa. 56:1-8.)

14. In what special sense does the seventh-day Sabbath constitute God's seal? (See again Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 4:13; Heb. 8:10-12; Ezek. 20:12, 20; cf. Ex. 31:13-18. See also Isa. 56:1-8; Lam. 1:7; Ezek. 22:8, 26; Neh. 13:15-18; Ps. 119:126, 127.)
a) God specifically identifies it as the sign of His covenant with His people.
b) Of all the ten commandments the Sabbath alone contains the official seal of the Lawgiver: His Name (Lord thy God); Title (Creator-one Who made the universe); Jurisdiction (whole universe, which is His creation).
c) He points out that the Sabbath would be mocked and derided by the heathen and apostates who disrespect His authority as the Creator. Thus God elevates the Sabbath to a special status of honor especially because His people will be persecuted for keeping it instead of Sunday, the counterfeit sabbath.

15. What special mark do those who reject worship of the Creator accept in place of His great seal, the Sabbath? "And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. ... And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hands, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Rev. 13:11, 16, 17.

"Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change [from Sabbath to Sunday] was her act. And the act is a MARK ofher ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters." C. F Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore.

"Reason and sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of two alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is impossible." James Cardinal Gibbons, Catholic Mirror Dec.23, 1893.

16. What is God's special appeal to all humanity? "Fear God and give glory to Him." "Choose you this day whom you will serve." "We ought to obey God, rather than men." "O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." "Blessed are they that do His commandments; that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Rev. 14:7; Josh. 24:15; Acts 5:29; Isa. 48:16-18; Rev. 22:14.