In the 1970s the miniseries Roots explored the origins of Alex Haley’s family as slaves from West Africa. Even earlier, a young naturalist joined a survey voyage to the Galapagos Islands and popularized the idea that human beings evolved from lower life forms. To this day, Darwin’s writings have influenced and changed many individuals’ views on their origins. Sites about finding your family heritage continue to be of interest to those wanting to know where they come from.

Revelation is a book that calls us back to our real origins. Revelation 13:4 shows that the world is worshiping a beast instead of the Creator. That train of thought continues on in Revelation 13:8. But in Revelation 14, we see 3 angels flying through heaven with distinct messages. The first is of great importance and you can read about it in verses 6 and 7. The message tells us that it is God who created heaven, earth, the sea, and fountains of waters. It is a calls to worship this Being. While the world is following after a beast the angel from heaven is launching a counterattack, asking all of us to remember the Creator and worship Him.

You can read about the Biblical Creation account in Genesis 1 and 2. Psalm 33:6, 9 summarize the week of Creation quite perfectly. And in Genesis 2:2,3 we see that God took time to rest and enjoy His Creation. The Bible says He did 3 things with the seventh day, or the Sabbath:

Blessed it – While the other days of the week were important, the Creation account emphasizes the extra blessing of the seventh day.

Sanctified it – To sanctify means to make holy. Not only is the seventh day blessed, but it is also made holy.

Rested – God took the time to enjoy His handiwork. And a day of blessing and holiness is also a day of resting.

We just talked about the law, but we’d like to explore the 4th commandment a little bit more since it also talks about the Sabbath. Here is Exodus 20:8-11:

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Do you see that bold part in verse 11 (emphasis added)? Sound familiar? That is similar language in Revelation 14:7. So Revelation’s 1st angel’s message is a call to worship the Creator. We see that language in the 4th commandment which talks about the seventh day. And we see God did a couple of extra special things on that day. So there is extra significance to the seventh day of Creation, and the fourth commandment.

The Bible has even more to say about the Sabbath. Ezekiel 20:12 reveals the Sabbath is a sign between God and His people. Luke 4:16 reveals that it was habitual for Jesus to go worship in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Even in Jesus’ death the women preparing His body rested on the Sabbath (Luke 23). The Sabbath did not go away with Jesus’ death.

It gets even crazier. The dictionary defines the Sabbath as a day of rest. Many different languages have a word for Sabbath. Scientists who track the movement of planets/stars will tell you the weekly cycle hasn’t changed. In fact, we say a year is the length it takes for the Earth to go around the sun, and a day represents the time it takes for the Earth to complete one rotation on its axis, yet there is no astronomical sign that defines the 7 day week.

The Sabbath is a memorial. Memorials can’t be changed. Think of your birthday. Have there been years where you did not celebrate your birthday on the actual day? Maybe you held a gathering the day before or the day after, but it did not change the fact that only one particular day is your birthday. God’s Sabbath of rest that He made holy and put an extra blessing on cannot be moved to another day. Observing other days of the week does not change the fact that God’s Sabbath memorial can only be on one specific day of the week.

We discussed concerns that the Bible indicates gatherings on the first day of the week. However, there is no Biblical mandate to worship on the first day of the week.

When we keep the Sabbath, we are doing the following:

Acknowledging that God is Sovereign – When we keep God’s law, we acknowledge that He has the power to make laws. We acknowledge that God is all powerful, and that He is sovereign.

Acknowledging that God knows what is best for us – God did not need to rest, He never gets tired! But even the research today indicates that resting one day a week is important. This coming thousands of years after God knew we would need to rest.

Remembering who we owe our lives to – The Sabbath reminds us that God is the one who created us! It reminds us that He loved us, and that He wants to spend time with us.

God loved us so much that He carved out a special day for us to spend time with him. Think of it as a date with God. You would not want to miss an important date with your special someone? If you changed it to another day how would it make that special friend feel? Make no mistake God is available every day, but the Sabbath is like the icing on a weekly cake. It is a day to look forward to. It is a day to worship. It is a day to remember.

It is a day to rest.