SABBATH- “A PALACE IN TIME”

By Ben Berto

¹⁹ I am the Lord your God: Walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them; ²⁰ hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’ Ezekiel 20: 19-20, NKJV

  ²⁷ And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ Therefore, the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” Mark 2: 27, 28 NKJV

We, as Seventh-day Adventists, believe “The beneficent Creator, after the sis days of Creation, rested on the seventh day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a memorial of Creation. 

The fourth commandment of God’s unchangeable law requires the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship and ministry in harmony with the teachings and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of delightful communion with God and one another. It’s a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in God’s kingdom. The Sabbath is God’s perpetual sign of His eternal covenant between Him and His people. Joyful observance of this holy time, from evening, sunset to sunset,  is a celebration of God’s creative and redemptive acts.  Fundamental Beliefs, 19  

“With God, Adam and Eve explored their paradise home. The scenery was breathtaking, beyond description. As the sun slowly set on that Friday, the sixth day of Creation, and the stars began to appear, “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” Gen. 1: 31. “Thus God finished His Creation, ‘of the heavens and the earth and all the host of them.’”  Gen. 2:1. But as beautiful a was the world He had just completed, the greatest gift God could give to the newly created couple was the privilege of a personal relationship with Him. So He gave them the Sabbath, a day of special blessing, fellowship, and communion with their Creator.”

“The Sabbath comes to us from a sinless world. It is God’s special gift, enabling the human race to experience the reality of heaven on earth. Three distinct divine acts established the Sabbath.” What are they? First. God rested on the Sabbath. He did not rest because He was tired. God’s rest was the result of neither exhaustion or fatigue, but a cessation from previous occupation. Isa. 40: 28  “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.”  Second. God blessed the Sabbath. God not only made the Sabbath. He blessed it. The blessing on the seventh day implied that it was thereby declared to be a special object of divine favour and that a day would bring blessing to His creatures. Third. God sanctified the Sabbath. To sanctify something means to make it sacred or holy, or to set apart as holy and for holy use,  to consecrate it. God blessed and sanctified the seventh-day Sabbath because He rested on this day from all His works.

Many people claim that the Sabbath is for the Jews only. Were there Jews at creation? No. Only Adam and Eve were there and they haven’t even sinned yet. Which of the days of creation was blessed and sanctified? First day or Sunday? No. God began His work on Sunday, God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. Why go to church that is not blessed and sanctified? Some even claim that Jesus changed the day of worship from the seventh day to first day, because He rose from the grave on the first day. Yet many Sunday keepers  could not show a verse from the Bible that the day of worship was changed from the seventh day or Saturday to first day or Sunday. In many states of the United States, there are laws that are being made to enforce Sunday laws. Why are these made contrary to the US Constitution? In Quebec, most stores are closed on Sundays. Where is the Religious Freedom? Why is the state used to enforce religious Sunday laws? Even God does not force the will of man. 

To contact us: Our website is www.abundantlifeadventist.ca. Worship with us every Saturday Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. Genesis 2: 2, 3, Exodus 20: 8-10, Isaiah 58: 13, 14; Isaiah 66: 22, 23; Matthew 5: 17-19; Revelation 22: 14, John 14: 1-3, Rev. 6:6-12, Romans 8: 35-39