The Sabbath

There is no physical reason in our Solar System for having a seven day Week. None at all. Yet virtually all historical civilizations in the past as well as in the present, have followed the same seven day weekly cycle. The cultures of the world are so diverse, it seems very strange to find the same seven day weekly cycle to be so prevalent throughout the world.

The universality of the seven day week should remind us of man's recent beginnings which the Bible suggests. All the civilizations originated from a single family just a few thousand years ago. In addition, we need to realize that the existence of the universal seven day week is actually an additional piece of evidence outside of the Bible, suggesting that God originally created the earth in six days and rested the seventh day.

When God started to make the Earth, He created the earth in six days. Below is a quick summary of what He did.

On the seventh day, God did something very different.

It looks like God created a memorial of His creative acts on the Seventh Day. So the week is now seven days, not six days long. Let's look at what God said and did on that day.

We can see that God set the seventh day apart from the rest of the days as a very special day! It must be important when we consider that God rested, blessed, and sanctified that day of the week. God did not need to set aside a special day. The week could have been 6 days long, or He could have taken more time in His creative acts to make 7 days. But He did not do that, He made the seventh day special. Why would He do that?

During the Exodus from Egypt, God reminded His people that the Seventh day of the week is still very important.

God had to reacquaint Israel with a knowledge of God. One thing God did was to teach them a few of the basics that would enable them to serve Him. To make an impression on their minds He spoke to them in person from the mountain. The Ten Commandments that He gave to them that day was later written on tables of stone that God Himself wrote with His finger.

Of all the things written in the Old Testament of the Bible, The Ten Commandments should be one of the most reliable portions of Scripture; Because, it was God who spoke to the Israelites in their presence; And also, because God Himself wrote the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone to be preserved for all time.

The fourth Commandment commemorates the Seventh Day of the week which is the day that the Lord rested, blessed, and sanctified. It is also one of the four that describes our duty to God. Let's read it:

On this stone which God wrote Himself, God has commanded that we remember and respect the Sabbath day. Why? Because in six days, God made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them and rested the seventh day. He therefore blessed it and hallowed it!

So God reminds us of His creative works when He asks us to stop and remember what He did to create our world. Why would He do that?

As we think what God did to create our world, it helps us to direct our thoughts toward God. It teaches us not only to love and respect our God who has made all things; But also, it helps us to realize that God is the creator of all things. The creation of our world helps us to see the necessity of following the first three commandments of God.

Because God has created all things in six days, truly there is no reason at all why we would think to have other gods before us. These other gods cannot create nor do anything at all! In addition, why would we make any carved images and bow down to them when we know that it is the Lord God Himself who has created all things! Carved images are useless artifacts of our own making. They cannot hear, see, nor do anything.

Because God made all things, Nehemiah mentions that even the angels worship Him:

John, in the book of Revelation shows that it is true, the host of Heaven worship God because He made all things!

6. Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth--to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people--
7. saying with a loud voice, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water." Revelation 14:6-7.

8. To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
9. and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; Ephesians 3:8-9.

Since God created all things through Jesus, Revelations final call is to worship both the Father and Jesus.

8. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. Matthew 12:8

So of course, Jesus is Lord even of the Sabbath.

Is there an additional reason why God would choose to memorialize His display of creative power by setting aside the seventh day of creation week as a holy day of rest and remembering?

Yes there is. The reason is so urgent that God chose to include his memorial of Creation in His great moral law, the Ten Commandments.

So, why does God want us to remember that He is the creator of all things? The reason is very simple. In the Universe there is a rival power, a fallen angel who does not believe that God should rule everything. Instead, the fallen angel wants to gain the throne of God for himself. We might call this conflict an intergalactic war or a universal war that involves all the inhabited worlds in the universe over whether God should rule or not.

Some say that the Ten Commandments are not important anymore; However, Jesus seems to indicate the opposite:

It should be clear to anyone who is aware of the intergalactic war between Jesus and Satan, that Satan would try to get people not to keep The Ten Commandments. If He can get people to ignore just one of the ten, he will have them as his.

While it is true that people are breaking all the commandments of God, Satan has made it seem that there is one commandment that does not make sense.

Most all people see the wisdom in the last six commandments. These commandments help keep law and order in any country.

It is in the first four commandments that we run into real problems. These commandments direct us of our duty to God.

You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. 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 six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Revelation 20:3-11.

While it is true that many break the first and the third commandments, they usually know what they are doing. They developed those habits while ignoring or hating God.

That is not true for many who break the second and fourth commandments. Many of these people have been taught by religious leaders to bow down toward images and pictures, and to keep the first day of the week holy, not the seventh day.

While God has told us not to bow down toward images or picture, a large portion of the Christian community does that very thing.

In spite of the fact that God specifically says He blessed the Seventh day holy because He created the world, and in spite of the fact that there is absolutely no record of any other day being observed as Sabbath in the Bible; Almost all of the Christian church is now observing the first day of the week, the day that is dedicated to the sun-god. Thus the name Sunday indicates itŐs paganistic roots.

In the dark ages, elements of paganism were introduced into the church and has since become traditional. These traditions have nothing to do with Bible truth and they also indicate that Satan has succeeded in separating most of the people of the world from God.

In this war between Jesus and Satan, the day we keep directly relates to whom we are serving. The Bible is extremely clear as to the day, and also as to why we should be keeping the Seventh-day as the Sabbath.

The history concerning Sunday observance is also clear, it relates to pagan sun-god observance and its followers are following the wishes of Satan in the day they have chosen to worship.

God makes concessions on the Biblical ignorance of His followers for now; However, as we can see in the scripture below, when we become aware of the truth and we realize what we are doing, God's people will choose to follow Him.

However, in the future, in his desperation, Satan will endeavor to force all the inhabitants of the world to follow him. When he does make Sunday an issue, he will force the whole world to observe his false day of worship. Look at this interesting scripture:

The phrase: and shall intend to change times and law, is an important one. Satan will try to change the law of God, possibly the fourth commandment. The 4th commandment is the only one based on time, so it is clear that Satan will attack the Sabbath in his last desperate fight against Jesus and His people.

In addition, Satan has already done a lot of work to have virtually the whole world worship on Sunday rather than Sabbath. Clearly, he has already set the ground work for his final act, when he plans to change times and law!

Satan was so sure that Job would choose to live rather than die but Job never failed. Satan is going to try the same thing in the last days, only harder. The righteous will have to choose to follow God even if it means death in this life.

So it does look like God made a Memorial of His creative power to help remind us who it is that created all things. The Seventh-Day Sabbath will become a world-wide issue in the years ahead, especially as the war between Jesus and Satan approaches the end.

To learn more about the conflict involving Satan, the rival power who does not want God to rule over everything. Click on the link to the right.
To learn how God does care for His people while the conflict involving Satan approaches the end. Click on the link to the right.