Now if we are wrong on the Sabbath question—wrong either way—God’s word will certainly reveal that error. And I believe that every honest man and woman wants to know the truth, even if the truth turns out to be different from what he expected it to be. If the Scriptures reveal that I am keeping the wrong day, then I ought to be perfectly willing to change. Don’t you think?
I know there are those who say it doesn’t make any difference which day you keep, so long as you keep one day in seven. Ever hear anyone talk like that? Does it make a difference? Is any day acceptable to God? Let’s turn to the Book, to the Bible in your hand, and see what we discover. We shall read three simple, clear statements. First will you turn to Revelations 1:10. “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.”
Evidently the Lord has a day. But which day is it? “For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.” Matthew 12:8. There must be something different about the Sabbath. Through the prophet Isaiah God speaks of the Sabbath and calls it plainly “my holy day.” Isaiah 58:13. And no where in Scripture does He designate an other day as his.
The Lord, then, has a day. And that day is the Sabbath. But now we ask, which of the seven days is the Sabbath? We turn for our answer to the very heart of the Ten Commandments. “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Exodus 20: 8-10. That is clear, isn’t it? Now we have learned three things. The Lord has a day. The Sabbath is the Lord’s day. The seventh day is the Sabbath.
And now verse 11. This tells us why God made the Sabbath. “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Evidently there is a mighty strong link between the Sabbath and creation and the Creator. |