7 Reasons to Keep the Biblical Sabbath

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The seventh day of the week (“Saturday”) is the day blessed and sanctified by God, the Sabbath. Seven reasons why the biblical Sabbath should be observed. This cannot be emphasized enough.

The Sabbath didn’t come “in between”

God’s Sabbath, the Fourth Commandment, was established at the conclusion of the six-day creation. It is almost the center of all the Ten Commandments on the stone tablets that God presented to Moses on Mount Sinai. It is not the first formulation of the commandments, but rather a “written reminder,” for God’s laws are eternal and therefore fully valid even before Sinai (Info).

With the establishment of the Sabbath on the 7th day of creation, it has already been clarified that the Sabbath is not an exclusive institution for the people of Israel or the Jewish people, but applies to all of humanity (Info). This does not change the fact that as early as the 3rd century AD, the Sabbath was discredited by some “Church Fathers” as the “Jewish Sabbath,” and instead the 1st day (“Sunday”) was declared “The Day of the Lord.” A tradition that continues to this day, virtually declared to be customary law, but nevertheless a blatant violation of God’s law.

Seven reasons for observing the Sabbath

Thus, the Sabbath also has an “eternity clause,” which applies not only to us in this world since creation, but also today and even in the future. Just as God placed His Sabbath commandment at the center of His attacks, so too did the great adversary place the Fourth Commandment at the center of His attacks, and this from the very beginning, and especially after He established His earthly power structure (Info).

1. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it (Genesis 2:3)
2. The Sabbath will also be observed on the new earth. (Isaiah 66:23)
3. Jesus Christ Himself always kept the Sabbath (e.g., Luke 4:16)
4. Jesus Christ is also Lord over the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8)
5. The followers of Jesus Christ kept the Sabbath (Acts 13:42-44)
6. The Sabbath commandment (4th Commandment) was not abolished with the crucifixion of Jesus, unlike the holidays (“Sabbaths”) of the ceremonial laws (Colossians 2:14)
7. Whoever truly loves God also keeps His commandments, and thus the Sabbath as well (John 14:15)

Genesis 2:3:

“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.“

The moment when God established the Sabbath for humanity, the completion of the 6-day creation. It is emphasized for all people, the blessed and holy day. God does not simply remove His sanctification, and this also applies to the Sabbath. Disregard of the 7th day is the desecration of the Sabbath by mankind and thus the dishonoring of God.

Isaiah 66:23:

“And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.“

After the 1,000-year period of rest (Millennium, Revelation 20), the great final judgment, or execution of God’s judgment, will take place. This will be followed by the complete renewal of heaven and earth (Revelation 21). God will restore the condition of the original creation. The Sabbath will also be observed on the new earth. This is not a reintroduction, but rather the consistent continuation of what was already introduced in the first creation and never completed in the meantime.

Luke 4:16:

“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.”

Jesus Christ consistently observed the Sabbath. The numerous accusations by the Pharisees and scribes that Jesus had broken the Sabbath do not change this. What Jesus disregarded on the Sabbath were simply the traditional rules of the Pharisees, not the commandment of God (Info).

“Pray that you will not have to flee in the winter or on the Sabbath,” Jesus Christ told His disciples in light of the prophesied destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:20). This is an urgent reminder that the Sabbath will remain unchanged, even decades after Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.

Matthew 12:8:

“For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.“

Everything was created through Jesus and for Him (Colossians 1:15-17). Jesus Christ, the “master craftsman” of creation (Proverbs 8:22-36), is also the lawgiver. Thus, He is also Lord over the Sabbath. However, to conclude from this that Jesus thereby negated the Sabbath, as is often claimed, remains a mystery to those who have fallen prey to such patterns of thinking.

Acts 13:42-44:

“And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, 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.”
(see also Acts 17:2 and 18:1;4;11)

The apostles lived the way Jesus Christ lived. Naturally, this also applied to the observance of the Sabbath. One argument that casts doubt on the Sabbath is the lack of explicit mention in the New Testament that the Sabbath is valid. Conversely, those who do not abide by it must face the question of whether a valid law that has never been abolished needs to be regularly proclaimed so as not to “automatically expire.”

In the time of Jesus Christ and His Apostles, the Sabbath was as self-evident as the daily breakfast roll is today. Moreover, it was “of all things” the Sabbath that the Pharisees burdened with an incredible number of additional rules, making this day, sanctified by God, a burden. These were precisely the kind of rules of practiced hypocrisy that Jesus Christ clearly accused the Pharisees of (Matthew 23).

Colossians 2:14:

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;“

Also the explanation given when the ceremonial laws were drawn up in Deuteronomy 31:24-26:
“And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.“

The vexed dilemma of lumping together the Law of God and the Law of Moses. Confusion or a lack of distinction between two fundamentally different provisions always leads to misunderstandings. The Law of God (the Ten Commandments) is unchangeable, while the Law of Moses (ceremonial laws) has actually been abolished. As the verse in Colossians 2 describes, the abolished rules are “statutes,” not the eternal Law of God (Info).

John 14:15:

“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
see also 1 John 2:4:
“He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.“

and Revelation 22:14:

“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.“

Could it be any clearer? Anyone who truly loves God and their fellow human beings will (automatically) (want to) keep God’s laws. Anyone who nevertheless lives in constant sin does not demonstrate the love that Jesus Christ exemplified as a human being. If a persistently sinful person claims to have recognized Jesus Christ, then they are lying. Period. Humans are inclined to deceive themselves, especially when it comes to emotions. This is a classic symptom, which Pentecostals and other charismatic churches in particular clearly demonstrate.

The gospel and love, however, are not instructions or triggers for emotional outbursts of well-being. One’s own feelings (e.g., “listen to your heart and your inner voice” – info) are usually deceptive. The error lies in assuming that one’s belief (in something) is correct when one has a “good feeling,” even though one couldn’t be more wrong. How “dry and emotionless” the work of the Holy Spirit can be is described by Paul in Galatians 5:23, after he has listed the fruit of the Spirit:
“Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.“

Sabbath is a commandment of God

Regardless of whether the Sabbath was abolished by the early (Catholic) Church in 321 (Constantine’s Sunday law), 325 (Council of Nicaea), or around 368 (Council of Laodicea) and Sunday established in its place (Info), the change of the Sabbath (“Saturday”) to the first day of the week (“Sunday”) is a human-made change to God’s commandment. It has been maintained as a tradition to this day. Even if another 1,700 years were added, it would not change the actually valid Fourth Commandment of God.

Those who hold fast to the gospel will be persecuted

What is particularly sad is that even the early Protestants in the 16th century maintained the Roman Church’s Sunday observance and also considered the Sabbath a purely “Jewish matter.” In terms of persecution, Protestant branches were in no way inferior to the Church of Rome whenever something deviated from their own narrative of understood faith. What the Church of Rome did at the stake, the “fighters” of the early Protestants did by drowning.

The persecution particularly affected the so-called Anabaptists and their figurehead, Hans Hut. They “merely” proclaimed that infant baptism was not biblical and that only adult baptism by faith could be valid (Info). So the persecutors “baptized” the captured Anabaptists again, but only by immersing them, not by pulling them out of the water. This only happened when the victims no longer showed any signs of life.

The lust for power. A timeless phenomenon. The “right of the strongest,” and if the throne, power, and great authority of the great adversary are also hidden behind the actors (Revelation 13:2), then mankind is in a very bad position (Revelation 13:4). There is only one who can win this comprehensive spiritual war, and that is Jesus Christ!

This clearly shows that proclaiming the truth of the gospel and adhering to it will always lead to persecution from all directions, sometimes unexpectedly so. This will also be the case in the “grand finale,” for:

Bible verses from King James Version (1611)