A growing Thanksgiving tradition is the “gratitude tablecloth.” It’s simple—cover your meal table with a white tablecloth and invite guests to write what they are thankful for using colorful markers. Each person also records their name and the date. The same tablecloth is used year after year. This allows expressions of gratitude to multiply on its surface and warm memories to be relived as prior years’ records are reviewed.
It’s good to remember our blessings. You could say it’s a God-ordained pastime.
“How so?” you ask. Let’s let the Bible answer.
God’s Thanksgiving Day
After six days of shaping our world, “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). Satisfied with His creation, God “rested on the seventh day” (2:2), making it a memorial of creation and a weekly day of gratitude.
Our Creator set the pattern for humanity—six days of labor followed by one day to count our blessings and remember the One who gave us everything. Some claim, “But shouldn’t we be grateful every day?” While that’s true, remember that God “blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (Genesis 2:3). He designed the Sabbath to be a special day of worship and thanksgiving for all mankind (Mark 2:27).
Lost and Found
God provided abundantly for the needs of Adam and Eve. They lacked nothing and had every reason to celebrate God and His provisions from Sabbath to Sabbath. However, after sin and the passing of the centuries, most humans forgot about the Creator and His holy Sabbath.
It was necessary for God to reintroduce the Sabbath to the Hebrews shortly after their deliverance from Egypt. He did this by causing manna to fall from heaven every day of the week except the Sabbath (Exodus 16). He had recently delivered them from a miserable existence as slaves and intended to provide for all their needs. It was vital, though, that they ceased their labors every seventh day to appreciate God’s total provision.
Without unqualified surrender to God and submission to His original seven-day cycle, the Hebrews could not expect God’s continual protection. Sadly, they later neglected the Sabbath and ended up as captives in Babylon (Ezekiel 20:13, 16, 21, 24).
But what about Christians today? Does God still expect us to keep the seventh-day Sabbath?
It’s Not Legalism
Sabbath-keepers are often branded as legalists. But Jesus kept the Sabbath, and He was no legalist (Luke 4:16; Mark 1:21). He ignored the Pharisees’ traditions that made the Sabbath a burden, and He honored it according to the commandment (Matthew 12:1–8; John 5:11, 16, 17).
There is not a single Bible text that even hints at the abolition of the Sabbath. To say the Sabbath is no longer binding is to imply that God made a mistake when He instituted it at creation and then later enshrined it in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8–11). God does not make mistakes.
Speaking of the commandments, Jesus said, “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19). To be “called least in the kingdom of heaven” is to be excluded. Christians telling others to disregard the Sabbath should carefully consider Jesus’ words.
However, Jesus followed that statement with this one: “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). The scribes and Pharisees were legalists, rendering only outward compliance to God’s law and their additional traditions, thinking this secured their place in the kingdom.
Jesus said this wouldn’t do and called for righteousness by faith, which changes the believer from the inside out.
From the Heart
Sabbath observance, like obedience to God’s other commandments, should come willingly from the heart of the converted Christian, not as an attempt to put God in our debt. Thankfully, God’s New Covenant promises include a “new heart” (Ezekiel 36:26). He also says, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezekiel 36:27).
Again, He says, “I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Hebrews 8:10). God’s true people are Spirit-empowered commandment-keepers. They always have been. Always will be. By faith, they believe His promises, receive His Spirit, and keep His commandments. The Sabbath is a weekly reminder of these spiritual truths.
In Eden, Adam and Eve celebrated God and His complete provision for their needs every Sabbath. In redemption, He likewise provides for our every need. Jesus is “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jeremiah 23:6). The seventh-day Sabbath reminds us of this eternal truth. And we’ll be reminded from week to week through ceaseless ages as we honor His day (Isaiah 66:23).
Sabbath-keeping is a weekly thanksgiving, an expression of gratitude and worship of our Creator and Redeemer, according to His commandment. It’s not optional. It’s indispensable for the born-again believer. Sure, some saints have lived and died without this understanding, and God will not hold that against them (Acts 17:30). But soon, we will all celebrate the Sabbath together.
God told Israel, “Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you” (Exodus 31:13). This hasn’t changed. The Sabbath is still a sign of sanctification for believers.
Will you depend on His righteousness and give thanks by keeping His Sabbath?
Trace the Sabbath through the centuries.