The Origin of the Sabbath Day and its Promise

Origin of the Sabbath Day

The origin of the Sabbath Day dates back to the time when God created the heavens and the earth with His words.

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. And 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)

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth in six days. On the seventh day, He rested and blessed that day and made it holy. The Sabbath is the commemoration day of the great Creator, which began with the creation of the heavens and the earth.

Promise in the Commandment of the Sabbath

God set the Sabbath as a holy day and established it as a day to remember His mighty power and serve Him alone. In the time of Moses, God codified His law and proclaimed the Ten Commandments. The fourth commandment was about the Sabbath day observance. God said, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,” and He gave the reason for it as follows:

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.

(Exodus 20:11)

God declared that the Sabbath was the day to commemorate the power of God the Creator. The people who served God kept it as a holy day. God, too, acknowledged those who kept the Sabbath day as His people.

“ ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.’ ”

(Exodus 31:13)

“Keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.”

(Ezekiel 20:19–20)

Even in the time of the prophet Ezekiel, about 900 years after Moses established the Sabbath as one of the Ten Commandments, God repeatedly emphasized the importance of the Sabbath day. The book of Ezekiel, which was presumably written between 593 and 570 BC, mentions that the Sabbath is a covenant, the sign between God and His people. This shows how important God regards the Sabbath day as.

The foundation of faith begins with the belief that God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Therefore, keeping the Sabbath means that we believe in Elohim who created the heavens and the earth and everything in them in six days; and refusing to keep the Sabbath means that they do not acknowledge God as the Creator. The Sabbath is a sign of God’s people. If we believe in God, we must keep the Sabbath day.