The Bible Sabbath: a Celebration of God and His Creation
Genesis records that after God created the heavens and earth in six days, He rested the seventh day, blessed the day, and made it holy. Why did God rest? Certainly the Almighty God did not rest because He was tired! Rather, He wanted to spend time with our first parents—His children! He loved them, after all, as He would also love their children, and their children after them, and so on to this day as it says in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
The Sabbath is a special day to celebrate the power and love of our Creator, and the beauty and wonder of His creation! It is a special time to put away the daily press of work, and to be present with God, with family, and with friends in a way not as possible with a press of many things to do—a day to relish the togetherness God made us for!
When was the first Sabbath in the Bible?
The seventh day of creation week, that is, the first day after the 6 days of creation (Genesis 2:2-3). Some object because this day is not directly called "Sabbath" in this text. However, in the ten commandments (see Exodus 20:8-11), the Sabbath is clearly linked to the seventh day of Genesis 2:2-3. Hebrew scholars also recognize that it is significant that the Hebrew word for "rest" used in Genesis 2 is from the same 3 letter root as "Sabbath."
Was the Sabbath made only for the Jews?
The Sabbath was blessed by God and made holy at the end of creation week, before there ever was a Jew. Jesus Himself clearly said, "The Sabbath was made for mankind and not mankind for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). (The Greek for "mankind" is "άνθρωπος" (anthropos) which simply means "people.")
How can we know that the seventh day that was blessed in Genesis 2:2-3 is the same as the weekly Sabbath in the 10 commandments (Exodus 20:8-11)?
Note that there are 4 things that God did that are explicitly mentioned both in Genesis 2:2-3 and in Exodus 20:8-11.
- God created the heaven and earth in six days.
- God rested the seventh day.
- God blessed the seventh day.
- God made the seventh day holy.
The wording of verse 11 of the fourth commandment is clearly a retelling of what God did at creation, namely, the same four events just enumerated above. However, many say that God only blessed and made holy the one seventh day at the end of creation week. But if God only blessed that one day, why, in the 10 commandments, is this given as a reason for keeping the weekly Sabbath? Surely, God was not calling upon His people to keep holy a weekly Sabbath that He had never blessed and made holy Himself. In fact, the wording of the commandment is clearly premised on the understanding that the weekly Sabbath was blessed and made holy by God at creation week. It does disservice to the text itself to suggest that God didn't bless and make holy the weekly Sabbath until He gave the 10 commandments.
Indeed, the weekly seventh-day Sabbath is clearly mentioned in the book of Exodus before the giving of the 10 commandments. Two and a half months after God mightily opened the Red Sea for the Israelites to pass through on dry land and then closed the Red Sea over their pursuing enemies, the Israelites were running low on food and, forgetting the power and favor of God, could see nothing ahead except certain death from starvation. They complained to God that He had surely forsaken them and that they wished they had died by His hand when they were sustained by the flesh and bread of Egypt. But God miraculously provided for them, and provided meat for them that evening, and starting the next day, rained manna (bread) from the sky six days of the week. Then God said that He would not send manna on the seventh day, because it was the Sabbath. Instead, He would send a double portion of manna on the sixth day, and they were to save a portion of that for the next day, so they could observe the Sabbath and rest, and not spend the morning collecting manna to eat. This was a pattern that would continue throughout their 40 years in the wilderness. The first Sabbath after that, some of the people went out to collect manna anyway, and as God had said, there was no manna to collect. God replied, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?” (Exodus 16:28). This occurred before the giving of the commandments recorded in Exodus 20, evincing that the commandments, including the Sabbath commandment, did not originate when God spoke the 10 commandments from Mount Sinai, as is commonly supposed. The argument that the Sabbath did not exist until God rained manna from the sky is not compelling, either, as we just looked at clear evidence that the weekly Sabbath was instituted at the creation of the world. Long before Moses, Joseph, a descendent of Abraham, responded to Potiphar's wife, who tried to seduce him, “How can I do this great wickedness against God?” The worldwide flood of Genesis was sent because of the wickedness of the people of Earth. How can there be wickedness against God if there is no law? God carved the 10 commandments on tables of stone, a symbol of their perpetuity. They have been since the creation of the world, and will remain forever.
Is there record of people observing a seven-day week in the book of Genesis?
It is often claimed that the Sabbath was only ever meant for the Jews, and that the seventh day rest that is recorded in Genesis 2:2-3 is only a reference to that very day, the day after the six days of creation, and was in no way meant to have any bearing in a weekly, seventh-day Sabbath rest. Much is made of the lack of mention of a weekly Sabbath in the rest of the book of Genesis. However, this is an argument from silence, and, as always, we must take care not to make too much from arguments from silence.
That said, the book of Genesis is not silent in reference to measuring time in seven-day intervals, and this, in itself, is evidence that favors the existence of a weekly Sabbath. Genesis 29:27-28 refers to a seven-day interval with the word "week" ("shabua" in the original Hebrew). It is noteworthy that this word has a similar root to the Hebrew for "Sabbath" and for "rest." There are other instances in Genesis of time being measured in seven-day intervals, such as in the record of the flood (Genesis 7:4, 10; 8:10 and 12) and in the custom of mourning for the dead for seven days (Genesis 50:10). This is exactly what would be expected if God established a repeating seven-day week at creation. While there isn't direct mention of the seventh day of rest after Genesis 2, it is incorrect to argue from silence (as some do) and say that the rest of the book of Genesis doesn't give any evidence for the Sabbath because the continuance of the weekly cycle is, arguably, evidence in favor of the continuance of a weekly seventh-day Sabbath. It is noteworthy that in the Greek New Testament (the Septuagint, or LXX), the word for “week” is exactly the same as the word for “Sabbath”, which is “σαββάτων” in both cases, which was an imported word, or cognate, from the Hebrew. That equivalence, while not proof, suggests that the translators of the Septuagint understood that the two Hebrew words are genetically related.
Why did God rest on the seventh day of Genesis 2:2-3?
We are not directly told. But it seems extremely unlikely that the Almighty God rested because He was tired. The narrative informs us that God visited with Adam and Eve in their Eden home (Genesis 2:15-22 and Genesis 3:8-19). It seems very plausible that God took that first full day after creation off to spend time with them, and that He established a weekly pattern of the seventh day being a day for humans to have one day to be free from their daily work, and to fellowship with God and with each other in a deeper way than is possible when busy with the daily bustle of activities. The Sabbath has often been compared to an anniversary. A husband and wife should have a good relationship all year long, but on their anniversary it is customary (and for good reason) to take time off for each other in a special way.
Did Jesus change the Sabbath day?
In the famous Sermon on the Mount, shortly after saying, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5), Jesus said that until heaven and Earth pass away, not one pen-stroke would be removed from the law until all was fulfilled (Matthew 5:17-20). It is clear that Jesus knew that one day, those hearing His words would not only break what they consider to be the least of the commandments, but would also teach others to do so. Praise God that everything is not fulfilled yet, because if everything was fulfilled, Heaven would be everything we see around us in this dark world today. God has much better things in store!
Is the Sabbath a sign of salvation by works?
Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" John 14:15. It is absolutely true that those who keep the commandments in order to be saved do not understand righteousness by faith. It is also true that those who disregard the commandments as a sign that they are saved by faith do not understand righteousness by faith either. Most Christians believe that those who love Jesus will obey the other 9 commandments, such as not worshiping other gods, and honoring our parents. It is ironic that keeping the Sabbath is considered by many to be a sign of righteousness by works when the commandment asks us to rest on the Sabbath from our works! The Sabbath was given to be a blessing to us, to our children, to those who work for us, and even to our animals. God did not take away this blessing when Jesus died on the cross.
Weren't the 10 commandments nailed to the cross, and so the Sabbath is no longer binding?
Whatever happened to the 10 commandments when Jesus died on the cross clearly didn't make it all right for the Christian to disobey them. It is not all right to worship other gods. It is not all right to dishonor one's parents, nor to steal, nor to commit murder, nor to commit adultery, etc. It is ironic that the one commandment from the 10 commandments that many think we are supposed to forget is the one that begins with the word, "remember." There is not a shred of evidence in the Bible for the notion that God nailed every single one of the 10 commandments on the cross—every single one, that is, except for 9.
Presumably, recognizing the shaky foundation of teaching that Christians do not need to keep the Sabbath commandment because "the 10 commandments were nailed to the cross" while at the same time teaching that Christians should still keep the other 9 commandments, there has been a trend to de-emphasize mention of the 10 commandments and to instead talk about the hundreds of commandments of the Torah (or Pentateuch), many of which are indeed not obligatory to Christians today. In fact, some of those commandments, such as pertained to governance, were not even enforceable by the Jews in Jesus' day. (Recall the story of the woman caught in adultery which the scribes brought to Jesus saying that she should be stoned by the law of Moses, but asked for Jesus' opinion in an effort to ensnare Him.) It is a relatively easy thing to say that the Sabbath commandment is just another of the hundreds of commandments which are no longer binding to God's people today compared to the absurdity of suggesting that we should obey all of the commandments written by the finger of God on stone and spoken by His voice in the hearing of the people at Mt. Sinai, except for the command to remember the Sabbath.
The gospel saves us from the condemnation of sin, and from the power of sin. We do not keep the commandments of God in order to escape condemnation and go to Heaven. Jesus delivered us from condemnation by laying down His life on the cross for us. But Jesus also delivers us from the power of sin, by which we die to self and are born of His Spirit to walk in newness of life! We keep the commandments because we have been made free from the bondage to sin and because we have the indwelling of God's Spirit in our life. God's law of love is written in our hearts and it is our joy to perform that which God makes clear to our understanding in His Word.
Didn't the Sabbath have many legalistic requirements which even Jesus didn't keep?
The Jews added many restrictions to the Sabbath which are not in the commandment itself, nor are they taught in the Bible. Jesus did not observe these, nor did He teach his disciples to do so. (Matthew 15:9).
Wasn't the Sabbath given to prefigure Christ, and now that Christ has come, we do not need to keep it?
The Sabbath was clearly given to be a memorial of God's act of creating the world. When studying Genesis 2:2-3 and Exodus 20:8-11 together, it is quite clear that the Sabbath was given before Adam and Eve sinned and so before humanity needed a Savior. So it could not have been initially given to prefigure the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Later, it also came to represent the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, which in Christian theology, is understood to represent deliverance from sin through Christ Jesus. The Sabbath is a day to put aside the daily distractions of life to remember the great things that God has done for us and has promised to do for us.
But doesn't Paul, in Colossians 2:16-17, say that the Sabbath was a shadow to prefigure Christ?
These verses do not contradict the fourth commandment in Genesis 20:8-11, which clearly states that the Sabbath was made because of God's act of creation in 6 days and of resting on the seventh day.
Colossians 2:16-17 make the most sense if we understand them to refer to the other sabbath days observed by the Jews. In fact, some Bible translations say, "sabbath days." The use of the plural, "days", clearly suggests that the translators understood that Paul was not referring to the weekly Sabbath day.
But why do we need the Sabbath? Didn't Paul teach that Jesus is our rest?
Since the fall, the Sabbath has never been properly kept apart from the restoration that we receive from God through the blood of the Lamb. In all ages the faithful followers of God knew what it was to rest in faith in God's redeeming love, to which the sacrificial offerings pointed. True, we should have rest of spirit through the week knowing that God is with us, that Jesus, the Lamb of God, saved us from bondage to sin, and that we can cast all our cares upon Him. But this doesn't take away the need for the blessing of the day God set apart for our blessing to refresh mind, body, and spirit, any more than a married couple knowing that they are loved by the other takes away the need for quality focused time together away from the distractions of daily life. Imagine a man telling his wife, "I'm sorry, but we're not going to be able to eat out for our anniversary tonight because I'm going bowling with my friends. But you know I love you—oh, and remember, my cell phone is always on!" Imagine a Sabbath-keeping employer one day telling the employees, "I have just learned that Jesus is my rest and therefore I am no longer in bondage to the Sabbath commandment which requires me to give you Saturdays off. You are now required to work for me seven days a week!" Of course, genuine Christians (and even some secular governments), know better than to promote such exploitation. But even though we may never exploit others in that way, the Sabbath was given, in part, to keep us from overtaxing ourselves as well. God desires special, undistracted time with us, and He knows that we will be healthier spiritually, mentally, and physically, when we partake of this time of rest together.
Does the day make a difference?
Consider the following:
- God blessed the seventh-day Sabbath.
- God made the seventh-day Sabbath day holy, something only He can do.
- God asks us to keep His seventh-day Sabbath, not any "sabbath" of our own choosing.
We conclude that, yes, the day does make a difference. Certainly, we can be benefitted by resting any one day out of seven and by spending time with God and with family on that day. But, if we are to receive the special blessing that God gave to the seventh day, and to keep the day that only God Himself can and has made holy, and, most importantly, if we are to be in obedience to God's will, we should keep the seventh-day Sabbath of the commandment.
Many do not understand the truth of the Sabbath. God does not hold us accountable for what we do not know unless we are deliberately closing our eyes and ears to the truth. But when we know what is right, and we do not do it, it is sin (James 4:17).
If you are in a situation in which keeping the Sabbath will be extremely difficult, bring the matter to God in prayer, and He will be with you and will help you to know what to do.
Suggestions for further study
The Bible Sabbath
Which day is the Lord's day - the Christian Sabbath? The answer may surprise you!
SabbathTruth.com is an excellent resource to begin your study.
Page created: 2026.05.12