Watch the sermon: The Meaning of the Sabbath
With the 1888 Message Dynamic
Lesson 7: “Rest and Restoration”
Bear this in mind that while the Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week, the rest, which the Sabbath day brings to view, is continuous. Only those who rest in the Lord all the time keep the Sabbath. When Jesus cried, “It is finished,” He was announcing that through His cross could be obtained the perfect works of God, which were finished from the foundation of the world.
People wonder why the Bible contains no command for Sunday observance. They think this “new” Sunday-keeping is right, but feel hurt that the Lord had not vouchsafed them one word of encouragement. If only one text could be found, what a relief it would be.
It was Christ who blessed and sanctified the seventh day. Since it was by him that all things were created, it is evident that he must also have rested at the close of the six days of creation. He created, he rested, he blessed, and he sanctified.
Therefore the blessing of the Sabbath day is the blessing of Christ. The blessing of Christ is to turn man away from iniquity. Acts 3:26. The Sabbath, therefore, is for the purpose of turning man away from their sins.
We had the pleasure one day last week of listening to a “Bible-reading” on the Sabbath question, given by Dr. L. Munhall, the evangelist who has been holding revival services in San Francisco for several weeks. The “reading” was more pointed and interesting than any other Sabbath study we ever heard from a first-day preacher.
God has rested upon the seventh day, and has blessed and sanctified it. He calls it His Sabbath, and tells us to keep it holy.
Can we obey Him by selecting some other day, and say that it makes no difference, provided we keep one whole day out of the seven?