What, When, Why’s of Sabbath

Let’s take a look at the evidence in the Word of God (the Bible) to see what we can find about God’s worshiping expectations of His children;

What is Sabbath Anyway?

The Sabbath day was ordained by God to be a holy day of worship every week as stated in the 4th commandment. This Commandment is arguably the oldest Commandment in the Bible, since on the last day of Creation, God rested from His previous 6 days of work, and blessed the seventh day and made it holy:

“And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
– Genesis 2:2-3

The above is the first mention in the Bible of a “holy day” and is the basis for the 4th commandment.

Is it possible that God took the time to set aside a single day of the week from the beginning of Creation, to be preserved for worshiping him, only to grant man the authority to change it? Does that make sense to you?

Moving on from Genesis, God re-stipulates His law in the book of Exodus:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in 6 days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the 7th day. Therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.”
– Exodus 20:8-11

Does that sound negotiable? Can you read in that text anywhere that God has given man the authority to change His Holy day of worship to any other day?

Then, in Deuteronomy the Bible says:

“So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the 10 Commandments; and He wrote them on 2 tablets of stone.”
– Deuteronomy 4:13

Again, God wrote the 10 Commandments with his own finger on two tablets of stone. I can find no other text in the Bible besides the list of 10 Commandments, that was written by the finger of God Himself, and delivered to man with His own hand. Why would he do this if man had the authority to change his Holy day of worship? Or, for that matter, any other commandment?

God, our Father, knew that we would eventually forget to worship Him in the way, and on the day, that He commanded. So, like any good parent would do, he repeated himself again in Deuteronomy 5:6-21. If you happen to be a parent, you can appreciate the need to repeat yourself with your own children. WHY then, does only 1 Commandment start with the word “Remember”? Could it be that He knew we would forget? That we would be led away from it? Since God knows all, I’d say that’s a pretty good bet!

I have been studying this topic for a number of years, and have asked pastors, ministers, and priests from a dozen different churches around me for a quote in the Scripture that gives man the authority to change God’s holy day of worship. I’m still waiting for an answer from all of them 12 years later. I challenge you to pose this question to your Sunday observing pastor, minister, or priest:

1. “If the list of 10 Commandments, and more specifically the Sabbath, were nailed to the cross, does that mean all other Commandments were also abolished? If not, why did only 1 Commandment need to be modified by the Church?

2. Under what authority (scripture) did God give the Church the power to alter His day of worship and, does this mean the Church can modify the other 9 Commandments to their liking too?
(Please post their responses in the Comments below: Specific Book and Verse please …)

So then, how can it be that Christians can agree on only 9 out of 10 Commandments? Is it possible that Satan has pulled off the perfect deception, getting the majority of Christians to break at least one commandment every week? That’s exactly how it appears to me.

When is Sabbath Day Then?

The week is the only unit of time measurement that doesn’t fit with astrology. However, every recorded civilization of man has observed a weekly cycle. That’s kind of strange isn’t it? Where did they get the week from if it wasn’t handed down generation after generation since creation? This oddity cannot be explained even by evolutionary scientists with no belief in God. So where did it come from? Pastors, ministers, priests? Please feel free to post a response to this article in the comments below, along with references to help us all understand this. Thanks.

The mystery of which day of the week is Sabbath, is quickly revealed when you look at the meanings of the names of the days of the week over the course of history. Sabbath is the last day of the week (just as God ordered in Genesis 2), which is Saturday. According to the Bible, Sabbath starts at sundown Friday evening, and finishes at sundown on Saturday evening. See; Religion Facts: Shabbat – The Sabbath

Why Worship on Sabbath? — Does God Really Care What Day We Worship Him?

Yes. He does.
However, for the sake of clarity I should point out that I’m sure He would LOVE for us to worship him every day, including Sunday. But, if you are only going to worship Him one day per week as He commanded us to do, it needs to be on the day that He made holy and set aside for us to rest, feast, and worship Him. Not on the day of our choosing.

For those of you out there reading this who might happen to be parents, does it matter to you which rules your children obey, or do you expect them to obey them all?

I believe that God intended for all of his children to get married, and have children of their own. I know that once I did, I started relating to the messages in the Bible from a parental standpoint. Once you have experienced the birth of your own children, and the emotions that come with their occasional disobedience and bad choices, you start to understand the pain that God must feel when we disobey Him, our Father. I truly believe this is by design so we will be able to see ourselves from His Fatherly perspective.

Sabbath Conclusion

Given the fact that the Bible repeats the text “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy“, several times, and the fact that Jesus himself observed Saturday Sabbath as His holy day of worship, combined with the lack of scripture granting the Church the authority to change Gods holy day of worship, the answer to “What day does God want us to worship Him” becomes crystal clear for me, and my house.