“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done” (Genesis 2:1-3, NIV). At Greater Phoenix Church of God, we believe in the celebration of the seventh-day Sabbath, and rejoice in the Sabbath as God’s gift to us. Let’s take an in-depth look at the Sabbath, and examine the facts about what day is the Sabbath according to God’s word.
What is the Sabbath?
The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week. According to the Scripture from Genesis above, the gracious Creator rested on the seventh day after six days of Creation, and designated the seventh day as a holy day, resting on it, blessing it, and sanctifying it. It was the actual day that was blessed and made holy, so the Sabbath is not something apart from the day; it is the day itself.
As written in Exodus 20, verses 8-11 as the fourth commandment of God’s unchangeable law: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God . . . 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.” The word of God requires the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest and worship, a time for restoration of our connection to God and others. Furthermore, the Sabbath is also a day for ministry in harmony with the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the very same creator of the Christian faith and the Sabbath, the one who brought the world into existence in six days.
What Day is the Sabbath day?
Saturday is the Sabbath day, observed from Friday evening to Saturday evening. Many are convinced that Sunday, the first day of the week, is the Biblical Sabbath, but the word of God is clear on this. Others simply reject the seventh-day Sabbath, choosing instead to follow the traditions of man, rather than the word of the Creator. The Sabbath cannot be just any day of the week, because the seventh day is the Sabbath, and the Sabbath is the seventh day.
True, many calendars vary as to what day is the start of the week. Some consider the start of their week to be Monday, the first day of the work week, while some calendars from around the world begin on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. But there is only one word of God, and we believe that God’s word is the source for doctrine and instruction in righteousness, and cannot be exchanged for the commandments and traditions of men. Who does the Bible say made the seventh day holy? Who did Jesus say the Sabbath was made for? According to Mark 2:27-28, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” A point to ponder: Do you believe God sanctified the seventh day just as much as you believe He made the heavens and earth and all that is in them?
Consider the word of the commandments, written by His own hand in stone. No line in God’s word is ambiguous or up for interpretation; every word is purposeful and meaningful. The very words “seventh day” from Genesis and Exodus alike cannot be disputed, and sinners and Christians, educated and uneducated, cannot confuse the Sabbath commandment. Furthermore, in over 100 languages from around the world, it is found that the “Sabbath” is translated as the seventh day of the week, and no language contains a correlation between “Sabbath” and the first day of the week. All languages, literally every single language, designate the rest day as the seventh day of the week, confirming the fact that observation of the Sabbath is not open to interpretation.
The Sabbath is a day of freedom; it was made for men to rest. A day to rejoice with our Creator, and taste the rest salvation brings to all men who align themselves with their creator. So, if God created a seventh day Sabbath, why the change to Sunday? Did the calendar change? Did Jesus change what his Father put in place? What day did he keep? A couple verses to ponder: “He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read.” (Luke 4:16), “As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures.” (Acts 17:2). Each Christian in these verses is keeping the Sabbath, why should man today be different?
The truth is, to discover how the Sabbath was disregarded and changed from Saturday to Sunday, you’d have to look at post-Biblical sources. Nowhere in the Bible is a Christian told to stop keeping the Sabbath or that the Sabbath was done away with. It wasn’t until 300 years after Jesus lived on the earth was it changed by man, and now current mainstream Christianity has come to ultimately disregard any observance of the Sabbath. Man does not have the authority to change times or Laws and yet he has the freedom of choice. The Sabbath was made for Man; nothing has changed. Jesus kept it, and the Apostles kept it even after the death of Jesus and as Hebrews says, it remains. What began on the seventh day was for man; time for us to step out and to draw close to our creator and enjoy the creation He made just for us
Greater Phoenix Church of God Celebrates the Seventh-Day Sabbath
We are a community church, casual and welcoming to all. Please join us Saturdays at 10:30am for our live Sermons, as we rejoice in the Sabbath as God’s perpetual sign of His eternal covenant between Him and His people. Come join us in the fellowship afforded us by the grace of Jesus and the love of the Father.