Because He Said So

"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” -- Genesis 2:2-3.

“But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 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.” -- Exodus 20:10-11.

The sabbath commandment seems, to many minds, to contain an arbitrary element. Why does God specify the seventh day? It is logical that we rest one day a week. History shows that it is good for health and happiness. We need time to commune with God, and time to spend with our families and friends. We need a break from the pressures of work life so we can manage stress. But is it important that we do it on any certain day?

The Human mind can find no logical reason why one day should be regarded as special above the others, why God would choose one and not another. Many people, the majority perhaps, have concluded that it doesn't matter that much. Tradition requires that we rest on Sunday, so the Christian world rests on Sunday. But the Bible says the seventh day, or Saturday, is the Sabbath. As a result, numerous explanations have been proposed to explain this obvious discrepancy.

For the Catholic, the answer is simple: The seventh day is, and always has been the Sabbath, but the church changed the observance to Sunday. The Catholic Church believes it has the authority to do that. The Protestants are in a much more uncomfortable situation, since for them the authority of Scripture is above that of the church. Some say Jesus or the apostles changed the day, others say that the commandment only requires one day out of the seven to be kept – not any specific day. Others go so far as to say that the Law of God has been abolished altogether! These theories, however, are easily disproved by the Scriptures themselves.

The bottom line with all these teachings is that people want a way to avoid observing the seventh day. I'm sure that if they saw a good reason to keep the seventh day as the Sabbath, a lot of people would do it. It would take a good reason to motivate someone to go against the grain – to give up tradition and be different from everyone else.

I believe there is a good reason, a really good reason. I agree that it seems quite arbitrary for God to specify the Seventh day as the Sabbath, instead of some other day, but I believe there was a good reason for Him to do it. In order to see why, we need to look at another apparently arbitrary command of God, given to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” -- Genesis 2:16-17.

Why did God make this rule? Was there something different about this fruit that made it unfit for food? No, the Bible says:

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food...she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” -- Genesis 3:6.

There was nothing wrong with that tree. It was just like any other tree. The fruit was not poisonous. There was no logical reason why that fruit should be forbidden. What made the difference was that God said “thou shalt not eat of it”. God made an arbitrary command to test Adam and Eve. There was no other reason for the prohibition than to test their loyalty to Him – to see if they would obey His word. Unfortunately, they chose to disobey, and we are all too familiar with the awful results of that choice.

Today there is no forbidden fruit to test the loyalty of those who claim to be Christians, but there is still an arbitrary test nonetheless. The seventh day Sabbath is that test. The Sabbath by itself is not the test, but the seventh day part constitutes the test. Millions of people are keeping a sabbath of sorts, a sabbath of human devising, of their own making. But God is looking for people who will obey His directions specifically by keeping the Sabbath that He commanded us to keep. Does this seem like a trivial thing? The difference between one day and the next may seem small, but the difference between obeying the word of God or disobeying it is huge.

“Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.” -- Exodus 31:15.

It is significant that death was the consequence of eating the forbidden fruit, and of working on the Sabbath. This may seem harsh to you, but it serves to illustrate how seriously God takes disobedience. It would be very unkind of me to give the impression that it is of little consequence whether or not we obey God's commandments.

On a very happy note, the consequences of loyal obedience to God is perfect happiness in Heaven, and ultimately in the New Earth He will create. The love of God toward us is shown clearly by the unselfish willingness of Jesus to give His life for us, to save from the death that our disobedience has earned for us. This doesn't lessen the obligation of obedience to the commandments in the least, but it actually reinforces it. God could not, and would not, change the requirement of obedience even to prevent the death of His own son Jesus. The fourth commandment still stands unaltered, as the test of loyalty to God.

“Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.” -- Exodus 31:13.

“It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” -- Exodus 31:17.

The Sabbath is a “sign” that God sanctifies us, or makes us holy. It isn't a sign that we make ourselves holy, or that we save ourselves from sin. But Jesus can only sanctify those who will obey His word.

“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” -- John 17:17

The angels in Heaven keep God's commandments. The Commandments are the the law of that land, and all who live there keep them.

“Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.” -- Psalms 103:20.

We are citizens of Heaven now, but until we go there we are to pray this:

“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” -- Matthew 6:10.

The Ten Commandments are the will of God for us here, as well as for the angels there.

In Revelation 14, the Bible describes the time just before Jesus comes the second time, when the wrath of God is being poured out on the rebellious world. Those who worship the Beast or his image receive the undiluted wrath of God. They have been warned not to follow the Beast, but they do it anyway. Then, at that very time, we see the Saints, the followers of the true God, described like this:

“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” -- Revelation 14:12.

Yes, they keep the Commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus! The faith of Jesus doesn't abolish the Commandments of God, nor do the Commandments conflict with the faith of Jesus.

Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden of Eden because they chose to disobey the plain command of God, likewise only those who choose obedience in these last days will be allowed into God's perfect heaven. If we keep only the commandments that we think are necessary, and disregard the one we see no reason for, we aren't obeying God at all! We are only following our own rules, doing only what we want. But to do what God says, because He says so, is true obedience. The apostle James, the Lord's brother, put it this way:

“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.” James 2:10-11.

How is it that breaking one commandment, even a little bit, makes us as guilty as if we had broken all of them? If we are willing to diverge from one plain, spoken, commandment of God because it doesn't agree with us, what does that tell us about the other commandments we think we do keep? It indicates that we do those other things because they agree with us, not because we fear God – or care what He wishes. That's not the service God accepts. He is looking for people who do what He says, because it is He that says it. People who really love God take what He says seriously.

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” -- 1 John 5:3.

There are millions of Seventh-day Sabbath keepers in the world. You can do it! God's Commandments are not grievous.

“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” -- Matthew 5:19.

From what I have seen, the Sabbath Commandment is generally considered to be one of the least. Jesus wants us to do it, and to teach it! It is, after all, right in the heart of the Ten Commandments that God wrote in stone with His own finger! It isn't tacked on the end as an afterthought.

“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.” -- Isa. 66:22-23.

Just like the tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden, the seventh day is a test. It is a test of our loyalty to the Creator God. Will we obey His instruction to rest on the seventh day because He said to, or will we disregard His commandment because we think we know better? Will we do what everyone else does because it's easy, or will we do what God said to do? Many clever excuses have been offered to defend the Sunday tradition, but we don't need excuses – we need the truth.