The Sabbath is the sign of the eternal covenant between God and mankind.
There are many reasons why we keep the Seventh-day Sabbath holy.. Let me give you the top 10 reasons to keep the Sabbath, according to the Bible.
Reason #1 to Keep the Sabbath: It’s a Commandment
Keeping the Seventh-day Sabbath is the fourth of the Ten Commandments. It’s non negotiable. It’s still in effect. It hasn’t been nailed to the cross, no more than any of the remaining nine commandments.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 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” (Exodus 20:8-10).
Reason #2 to Keep the Sabbath: Honor the Creator
On the Sabbath day we honor the Creator and commemorate the act of creation.
11 “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” (Exodus 20:11).
Reason #3 to Keep the Sabbath: It’s a Holy, Blessed Day
The Seventh day of the week has been invested with a sacredness and has special blessing that no other day of the week has.
“Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:11).
Reason #4 to Keep the Sabbath: Commemorate Israel’s Deliverance from Egypt
The Sabbath also commemorates the children of Israel’s deliverance from their Egyptian captivity.
12 “Observe the Sabbath day, to [g]keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 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 ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who iswithin your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day” (Deuteronomy 5:12-15).
Reason #5 to Keep the Sabbath: Receive a Special Blessing
When we honor the Sabbath we receive a special blessing from the Lord.
“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,
From doing your pleasure on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a delight,
The holy day of the Lord honorable,
And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,
Nor finding your own pleasure,
Nor speaking your own words,
14 Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord;
And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,
And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
(Isaiah 58:13-14)
Reason #6 to Keep the Sabbath: Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath
Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus kept the Sabbath. Even while in the tomb Jesus rested on the seventh day.
27 “And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for theSabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28).
Reason #7 to Keep the Sabbath: It’s a Gift from Our Creator
The Sabbath day of rest is a gift to man from the Creator. If we love the giver of the gift we should also embrace the gift.
27 “And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28).
Reason #8 to Keep the Sabbath: Jesus and the Disciples Kept the Sabbath
Both Jesus and the disciples kept the Seventh-day Sabbath.
“And He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, He went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read” (Luke 4:16).
“Paul and his party … went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down” (Acts 13:13-14).
“Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures” (Acts 17:3).
Reason #9 to Keep the Sabbath: It’s a Sign and an Eternal Covenant
The Sabbath is an eternal sign between God and His people, a symbol of the eternal covenant of salvation.
…”Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And holds fast My covenant—
7 Even them I will bring to My holy mountain,
And make them joyful in My house of prayer”.
(Isaiah 56:6-7)
19 “I am the Lord your God: Walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them; 20 hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God” (Ezekiel 20:19-20).
Reason #10 to Keep the Sabbath: We’ll Keep Sabbath through All Eternity
The Sabbath looks forward to eternity. The entire universe will keep the Sabbath throughout eternity.
22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth
Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord,
“So shall your descendants and your name remain.
23 And it shall come to pass
That from one New Moon to another,
And from one Sabbath to another,
All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord.
(Isaiah 66:22-23)
