Many have discovered the seventh day Sabbath simply by reading Genesis 1 and 2. Sabbath is a huge, huge blessing, but most Christians don’t even know it. That is why I made this attempt to try and bring out into the open this rich gift from God for my beautiful Christian friends. It is such a loss to live a life without it. I sincerely hope that after reading this article on the seventh day Sabbath, you will see why, and I hope you will decide to join the growing number of believers by embracing it yourself. You will bless the day you did. Read this article and see why.
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The good news
If you are a Bible believing Christian, I mean reading, believing and honouring the Bible as the Word-of-God Christian, then I have a wonderful news to share with you. It is about the seventh day Sabbath. It should not be labeled the ‘news’, because it is as old as our world is. But the unfortunate departure from the Bible truth, in general, has caused the shadow to obscure this and many other life giving treasures found in the Bible – that, hearing it now, does sound as newly discovered gems, very precious, and if you continue reading, you will see its glory.
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Recently I visited a church where they write out their prayers at home and then read them out in church during the worship hour. One well meaning lady on that day was reading out her prayer and said: “On the first day of the creation week God created light. We know that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. That is why we worship on the first day of the week”.
Oh dear.
Only a few days later – on the seventh day of the creation week – God clearly spelled out His intention about the day for rest and blessings and worship and celebration and all things holy.
“So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.”
Genesis 2:1-3 NLT
How sad. Have you ever seen a more blatant case of wilful blindness than what that poor lady exhibited?
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That quote from Genesis 2 comes at the end of the creation week. God was happy with His work and pronounced that everything He created was very good.
“Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.”
Genesis 1:31 NLT
Everything was perfect. Therefore God rested and celebrated on the seventh day, blessed it and made it holy.
“as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”
Job 38:7 NLT
This was the seventh day of the creation week. It was a remarkable day all around. Celebration. Singing and shouting for joy. They rejoiced in the splendour and glory of God’s new creation. They welcomed the newly minted human beings – and worshiped God in heavenly style. It was a day to remember. It is no surprise that later, God said:
““Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”
Exodus 20:8.
This celebration was before sin entered the world. Even then, God was indicating that the seventh day is to be the chiefest of the seven.
“And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.”
Genesis 2:3 NLT
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When an innocent Christian starts reading his or her Bible and comes to that passage I quoted from Genesis – in shock they may ask: How come then, we worship on Sunday?
Please, stay with me a little longer and see what we have lost by pushing the Sabbath into background, and then rejecting it outright.
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That quote which I copied from the Bible, where God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, is rather a thought-provoking passage. Think! On the first day of creation God said:
“Let there be light: and there was light.” Genesis 1:3 NLT
On the second day of creation God said: …, and it was done.
On the third day of creation God said: …, and it was done.
On the forth day of creation God said: …, and it was done.
… … …
“Let the whole world fear the Lord, and let everyone stand in awe of him. For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command.”
Psalms 33:8-9 NLT
So what happened when the seventh day came?
“God blessed the seventh day and made it holy”.
How did He do it?
“God said – and it was done”.
You can probably see what I’m saying here. God’s creation of that week, the heavens and earth and sea and all that in them is – those things created – continue till this very day. Yes. It is true that we have ruined much of its life and glory, but even so – most of it still stands fast. We see it, and feel it, and enjoy it such as it is. And what about the blessing and holiness of the seventh day? I hope you can see the logic of it. Just as the world around us is still real, is still here, so are the Sabbath and its purposes. It’s rest and joy and worship and blessings and holiness and celebration. It was God who said – and it was done. The point of it is this: if you want to worship God, worship Him on the seventh day which is blessed and made holy, the day on which God Himself rested and rejoiced, rather then the first day, which by comparison is empty. Which is just the first working day of the week.
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There are many things in this world we cannot see, but they are real nonetheless. Take love as an example. We know that love is very real and very powerful. But it is so only to those who embrace it. Or to those who belong. All others are missing out – unless, of course, they open themselves up and deliberately go out to seek it.
So are the blessings and holiness of the Sabbath day. They are offered and available to “whosoever will”.
Let me tell you a story about Jewish prisoners in a German camp during the latter stages of the Second World War. The prisoners made a short butt of a candle from the throwaway fatty something-or-the-other, and on Friday evening as the Sabbath arrived, prisoners crammed together in their barrack around that lighted candle butt, rehearsed some of their Sabbath scriptures, and then sang in ever so hushed tones – “Shabbat Shalom”. The very air around them was so filled with Sabbath holiness, that it was almost like crackling from the sense of the Divine Presence. Their spirits soared up and beyond, leaving behind the gloom and cold and hunger and abuse and dangers of their hour to hour existence – refreshed and strengthened by the arrival of yet another Sabbath day. And you may have guessed. While the prisoners inside enjoyed the soaring of their faith and the blessed hope, strengthened and inspired – outside, the German guards walked around the barracks, through the very same blessed and holy Sabbath day – but totally oblivious to the power and riches which that holy time contains.