By Alden Ho, Wheel Salt Ministries
There are certain days that we are not supposed to forget, such as our own birthday, our spouses birthday, our children’s birthday, anniversaries and many others, but try as some might, many do forget these dates. But, what if I told you that there is one important day that is nearly forgotten about by nearly everyone. It’s not just a day in history, but also one in the present, and the future.
According to Genesis 2:1, God made the world about 6,000 years ago, taking six literal days to complete it, “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.” Then God did something that He has never done before. Actually not just one thing, but three critically important things found in Genesis 2:2-3, “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
Just in case you missed, the three things are, He rested, He blessed, and He sanctified this day. No other day of the week commemorates the Creator of heaven and earth. This was also way before there was such a thing as a Christian or a Jew on the earth.
Then, God memorialized this in stone when He wrote the Ten Commandments with His own finger in Exodus 20:8-11, “REMEMBER the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” Notice the reiteration: rested, blessed and hallowed (same as sanctified).
Some will question which day is the Sabbath day? Well, the calendar points to Saturday as that special seventh day. NASA even confirms this according to weekly cycle of seven days, and not only that, but even 200 languages of the world call Saturday not just the seventh day, but most importantly the Sabbath day: Spanish, Sábado; Romanian, Sâmbătă; Norwegian, Lørdag; Armenian, Shabat; Greek, Σάββατο; Indonesian, Sabtu; Russian, Subbota, are just a few examples.
Some will argue that the Sabbath day was changed at the resurrection, but what does God say? Luke 16:17, says “It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.” David writes, “My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips (Psalms 89:34).”
Checkout what Ezekiel says, “Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them…. Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God (Ezekiel 22:26, 31).”
Does it really matter which day? Some will say that they worship God everyday of the week. That’s may seem praiseworthy, but clearly only one day was specifically set apart from all the others, because if you truly worshipped God everyday, there would be little that you could do, because it wasn’t just about worshipping, but also keeping it Holy, meaning no working on the Sabbath day.
In a few weeks it will be Easter, and everyone knows that Jesus died on Friday, which the Bible calls the preparation day (Mark 15:41-43), and Sunday is referred to as the first day of the week. Interesting enough, Jesus could have risen the very next day, but in honor of the Sabbath, He too kept it Holy, and rested.
I would like to challenge you to do your own honest Bible study and see for yourself that it absolutely does matter which day you keep Holy. John 14:15, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” God is looking for a people, a certain group of people. Revelation 14:12, “ Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”
To help remind us about this forgotten day of history, God wrote that keyword, REMEMBER.