Happy Sabbath, friends!

I have been a Seventh-day Adventist my entire life. There have been moments when I fell away or found myself living a lukewarm life, so my journey has certainly not been perfect. Yet through every season, God has remained faithful and has continued walking beside me every step of the way.

For today’s message, I thought we could delve into a question I have encountered many times throughout my life: Why do I believe the Sabbath is Saturday, and why do I choose to observe it?

If this is something that has ever piqued your interest, if you have found yourself wondering about the Sabbath, or if you simply need a moment with our Heavenly Father today, then this message is for you.

In order to fully understand the Sabbath, why it falls on Saturday, and why it carries so much importance, we need to begin at the very beginning — creation.

Genesis 2:2–3 (NIV)
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”

God spent six days creating everything around us — including us. When the seventh day arrived, He rested. Not only did God rest on the seventh day, but Scripture tells us that He blessed it and made it holy.

Our Heavenly Father is our ultimate example. Throughout His Word, He continually reveals what a life centered on Him should look like. From the very beginning of creation, God established a rhythm of six days followed by a seventh day set apart for rest.

Remember The Sabbath

God further emphasized the importance of the Sabbath when He included it within the Ten Commandments.

As I have grown older, I have come to appreciate more deeply what the Ten Commandments reveal about God’s character. They are not simply a list of restrictions — they reveal His love, His protection, and the way He desires His children to live.

Exodus 20:8–11 (NIV)
““Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 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.”

The fourth commandment begins with the word remember. God specifically calls His people to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy, identifying the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord.

The Old Testament repeatedly demonstrates the importance of the Sabbath in the lives of God’s people and in their relationship with Him. But when we enter the New Testament, we also see Jesus Himself living out the Sabbath.

Jesus And The Sabbath

During Jesus’ life on earth, He demonstrated that the Sabbath was intended to be a blessing — never a burden.

Can observing the Sabbath require a lifestyle change? Absolutely. Could it occasionally mean saying no to something taking place in the world around us? Yes.

But what we receive in return is far greater.

The Sabbath gives us an opportunity to intentionally step away from the busyness of everyday life and devote time to our Heavenly Father. Throughout the week, work, responsibilities, appointments, and countless distractions can easily compete for our attention. Yet every seventh day, God gives us sacred time to rest, worship, fellowship, and intentionally draw closer to Him.

Mark 2:27–28 (NIV)
“Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.””

Jesus made it clear that the Sabbath was created as a gift for humanity. It was never intended to become something burdensome or legalistic.

Scripture also tells us that observing the Sabbath was part of Jesus’ regular life.

Luke 4:16 (NIV)
“He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,”

It was Jesus’ custom to worship on the Sabbath. As followers of Christ, our desire should ultimately be to follow His example and allow His life to teach us how to live in a way that honors our Heavenly Father.

Which Day Is The Seventh Day?

One of the clearest places in the New Testament that helps us understand which day Scripture identifies as the Sabbath is found within the account of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.

Luke 23:54–56 (NIV)
“It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.”

Luke 24:1 (NIV)
“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.”

The timeline laid out in Luke is incredibly helpful.

Jesus died on what Scripture calls Preparation Day. His followers then rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. After the Sabbath had ended, the women returned to the tomb on the first day of the week, when they discovered that Jesus had risen.

When we follow that sequence, the days become clear:

Preparation Day — Friday.

Sabbath — Saturday.

First day of the week — Sunday.

This is one of the reasons I believe Scripture so clearly identifies Saturday as the biblical seventh-day Sabbath.

More Than A Day

After looking through these passages, we can see that the seventh-day Sabbath did not originate with a modern denomination.

It was blessed and made holy by God at creation, included within the Ten Commandments, honored throughout Scripture, and observed by Jesus Himself.

Yet ultimately, the Sabbath should never become merely an argument over which day is correct.

The Sabbath is about accepting God’s gift of rest, relationship, worship, and trust.

It is a weekly invitation to step away from the noise of the world and remember who our Creator is. It reminds us that our lives do not depend solely upon our productivity, our schedules, or our accomplishments. For one full day, we are invited to rest in Him.

If today’s message has left you with questions, I encourage you to continue studying for yourself. Open the Word of God, spend time in prayer, and ask the Holy Spirit to guide your understanding.

Do not simply take my word for it.

Follow the days throughout Scripture. Study the passages for yourself. Bring your questions honestly before God and allow His Word to speak.

Our Heavenly Father desires a genuine relationship with each of His children, and when we sincerely seek Him, we can trust Him to continue leading us deeper into His truth.

Hebrews 4:9–10 (NIV)
“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.”

May we remember that Sabbath is not merely about knowing the seventh day — it is about knowing the God who lovingly set it apart for us.

Amen.