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When studying the Bible, there is a principle of "first mention" that means a lot to scholars. The first time the Sabbath is presented to us is in Genesis 2:2-3 (quoted from NASB): "And by the seventh day God completed 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."
Someone may want to question whether this was really talking about the Sabbath familiar to us, since it just refers to a day when God rested, a day that God sanctified as a memorialization of His Creation of the earth.
But notice that this same day mentioned in Genesis 2:2-3 was specifically called "the Sabbath" in the fourth commandment. (Exodus 20:8-11.) And remember if you will, the Ten Commandments were not written by Moses, they were written by God Himself with His own finger on tables of stone. (This is also true of the second set of tables after Moses broke the first set of tables.) The commandment says, in part: "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy." (Exodus 20:11; NASB)
Again, notice that the day the Lord rested on at the end of Creation Week is here called "the sabbath day. The one God sanctified and sanctified or made holy in Genesis 2:1-3.
At this time, the only human beings who existed were Adam and Eve. There would not be any Jews for another 2,500 years. So the Sabbath was created by God at the end of Creation Week, when God created the whole world.
Another logical question that some people raise, is whether this Sabbath God instituted at the end of Creation Week was intended for all humanity to observe.
Here is what Jesus Christ said: "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27; NASB) Please note that Jesus did not say the Sabbath was only made for the Jews. Nor did Jesus say the Sabbath was just made for God Himself. He said the Sabbath was made for man.
One final point I might make, not from the Bible but from anthropology is this: Why do so many languages on earth, from all over the world, have a name for the seventh day of the week that is clearly derived from the word "Sabbath," or that connotes "rest day" or "no labor day" in their literal translation? We are talking over a hundred major cultures, many reaching from antiquity. For example, the Spanish name for the seventh day of the week is Sabados. The ancient Assyrian and Babylonian names were Sabatu. In ancient Abyssinan, the name was sanbat. In ancient Syriac the name was shabatho. In ancient Arabic, the name for the seventh day of the week was Shiyar—which meant chief or rejoicing day. (For more examples, see: https://www.seventh-day.org/chartweek.htm ) If the Sabbath were only for the Jews, when why do so many other peoples seem to retain a memory of it, even many who predate the existence of Jews?
For that matter, why is seven days the most common length of the week found throughout the world, modern and ancient? There are and were exceptions, but the great majority of human beings on this planet have always observed a week of seven days. Why is this, when there is nothing in nature that defines a seven day period of time? Is it not most reasonable that this is an evidence of the memory of Creation Week, still surviving after all this time?
Some people have raised the question whether we can know, after so much historical time has passed, which day is the Sabbath? Have there not been a multiplicity of calendars at various times and places throughout the world?
But if the proper day of the Sabbath, which was the seventh day of the week, had ever been forgotten, would not God have spoken about this through His prophets? And notice that since the time of the first Hebrews, all through history, most Jews have been keeping the Sabbath faithfully week after week. As a people, Jews are a faithful witness to the true day of the Sabbath.
God the Creator created the Sabbath. Other so-called holy-days were created by humans—creatures. Whose authority should be respected above all? The authority of the Creator, or the authority of the creature (even churches)? Do we not show who we regard as being worthy of worship and obedience, by which day we keep? Is keeping the Biblical seventh-day Sabbath an exercise in self-righteousness? Or does it show faith in God the Creator who blessed and sanctified the seventh-day Sabbath? Is it legalism to believe God is the One who is righteous? Or is abiding by human or even church tradition that is contrary to God’s Law what really constitutes legalism? Whose law are we following—the Creator’s, or the creature’s?
If we side with the creature in opposition to God’s Law, isn’t that the same thing as worshiping the beast? In various versions of the Bible, the words “creature” and “beast” are interchangeable. The KJV and Geneva Bible say “four beasts” in Revelation 14:3; 15:7; and 19:4. But in the NKJV and NASB and most other translations they are called “four creatures.” So if we show by whose authority we submit to in which day we keep for the Sabbath, that we worship the creature, are we not in fact worshiping the beast? If we would honor God our Creator and Redeemer, should we not keep His sign of authority? If we keep Sunday, we are signifying that we honor the corrupt Papal tyranny that instituted observance of that day in place of the Sabbath. Should a faithful Christian really do that? Is the church hierarchy above Christ, the true Head of the Church? No.
Jesus said He is “Lord of the Sabbath.” (Luke 6:5.) I think it is a sign of righteousness by faith in Christ to obey the fourth commandment. John 1:1-3, 14 tells us that Jesus was the Creator of all things. Genesis 2:2, 3 tells us that the Creator created the Sabbath. So Jesus created the Sabbath. He also said the Sabbath was made for man (Mark 2:27). So He gave it to us as a gift. Should we turn down His gift? On the contrary, it is faith to accept His gift! Let us show we believe in the Goodness of God, and affirm our loyalty to Christ by keeping His Sabbath which He gave to us.
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