The SDA Sabbath Quagmire pt. 2
Sabbath.
A day, a concept, and an important part of a Christian’s life that is often very little discussed. When it is discussed, it is either mentioned in casual, or given as a pathway to success as a disciple or even in prosperity.
Growing up in the denomination that I did, Sabbath was not seen as a key pathway to growing in intimacy with God, it was seen as a seal, a mark of righteousness when everyone else was damned, maybe.
The basis for the Seventh-day Adventist denomination’s viewpoint regarding the ‘observance’ of Sabbath on Saturday is based on two parts.
First, the Decalogue (ten commandments) and secondly, Ellen White, who points us directly back at the Decalogue for observing Sabbath on Saturday and observing God’s law in order to be proven righteous.
“But the Lord gave me a view of the heavenly sanctuary. The temple of God was open in heaven, and I was shown the ark of God covered with the mercy seat. Two angels stood one at either end of the ark, with their wings spread over the mercy seat, and their faces turned toward it. This, my accompanying angel informed me, represented all the heavenly host looking with reverential awe toward the law of God, which had been written by the finger of God.
Jesus raised the cover of the ark, and I beheld the tables of stone on which the ten commandments were written. I was amazed as I saw the fourth commandment in the very center of the ten precepts, with a soft halo of light encircling it. Said the angel, “It is the only one of the ten which defines the living God who created the heavens and the earth and all things that are therein.”
When the foundations of the earth were laid, then was also laid the foundation of the Sabbath. I was shown that if the true Sabbath had been kept, there would never have been an infidel or an atheist. The observance of the Sabbath would have preserved the world from idolatry.
The fourth commandment has been trampled upon, therefore we are called upon to repair the breach in the law and plead for the desecrated Sabbath. The man of sin, who exalted himself above God, and thought to change times and laws, brought about the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week. In doing this he made a breach in the law of God. Just prior to the great day of God, a message is sent forth to warn the people to come back to their allegiance to the law of God, which antichrist has broken down. Attention must be called to the breach in the law, by precept and example. . . .
I was shown that the third angel proclaiming the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, represents the people who receive this message, and raise the voice of warning to the world to keep the commandments of God and His law as the apple of the eye; and that in response to this warning, many would embrace the Sabbath of the Lord. (Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 95, 96).”
From the surface, the vision given by Ellen White, seems fairly ‘biblical.’ However, there are some significant problems, that raise doubts on it’s authenticity and skew an understanding of the importance and place of the Sabbath.
Sabbath first appears….at Mt. Sinai, not in the creation week. This will raise some hairs and get some fingers pointed in my direction. Never, in the entirety of Scripture does God say, “keep the seventh day a Sabbath as I kept it a Sabbath at creation.” What is mentioned in the creation account is the creation of a day of rest, there is no command to keep that day of rest for Adam and Eve.
“By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made (Genesis 2:2-3, ESV).”
God rests, blesses, and sanctifies the day with his presence. There is nothing beyond resting, receiving a blessing, and entering into God’s holiness through resting on that day. There is no command to Adam and Eve. The world was functional, perfect, in harmony, and without sin.
Stay with me and for those deeply seated in Adventism, don’t throw your stones…yet, and we will go deeper.
The first time we actually see Sabbath as we know it is at Sinai.
This is intentional by the writers of the Hebrew Scripture, demonstrating God’s intentionality guiding it’s authorship. From creation to Sinai, some significant events have happened. We have the fall of humanity into sin. We have murder and wickedness. Sin, which permeates and effects everything, bringing it’s curse and sting of death to everything. Sin cannot be avoided. In fact, there is nothing and no one that can stop sinning or sin. The flood occurs because humanity is so wicked and evil. Right after getting off the boat, so to speak, and giving sacrifices, Noah get’s drunk and naked and curses his son, (Genesis 9:20-27). Demonstrating to us, that even the most righteous man, worth saving out of all the millions or billions of people, still sinned. Sin is immutable and a problem.
We come down to Abraham. Abraham (Abram) lies, deceives, abuses, commits adultery, is prideful, arrogant, fails as a father, and even gets to a point where God has to remind him of his place and sinfulness by asking him to sacrifice his only son. This man still receives the promise of redemption of the Messiah through his lineage. In the story of Abraham enters the only way to deal with sin, redemption, a Messiah.
Moses comes along and he is a murderer, he disobeys God, he has anger issues, and yet God still calls him, uses him, and has relationship with him. This is the purpose of Mt. Sinai and the law. This is the purpose of Scripture.
Up until Sinai, the promise had been to Abraham. Then at Mt. Sinai, God promises to redeem Israel from sin, if they will enter into covenant with him and be his people, so he will send his person to redeem them.
Often the Decalogue is completely misunderstood. It is compared on one side as God’s character. This is accurate, but robs the reader and believe of understanding the depth and intentionality God has for giving the law.
You can look at the Decalogue in Exodus 20 and see that it completes the Messianic promise.
You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make idols.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet.
The first three comandments demonstrate the authority of God. God is the only God, God alone deserves to be worshipped, and God is holy and even his name is holy, so do not be irresponsible or cause that title and place to be seen as vain or pointless.
The next seven commandments describe the work of the Messiah. Do you see the deeper purpose to the Decalogue, beyond simply a list of do’s and do not’s? Beyond the character of God?
The Sabbath commandment is the first commandment in the messianic ‘seven’ commandments because it links the Messiah with God, demonstrates what the Messiah will do, and what the Messiah wants from you.
Jesus, as the Messiah, restored humanity from it’s fallen state. Setting us back to the Edenic place of perfection, harmony, intimacy, and relationship with God once we accept Christ. Christ provides us rest from our work and toil, from the curse given to Adam and Eve that they would be cursed to work hard for their existence and die.
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
With hard labor you shall eat from it
All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
Yet you shall eat the plants of the field;
19 By the sweat of your face
You shall eat bread,
Until you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return (Genesis 3:17-19, ESV).”
We also know that the Sabbath being observed was linked to the Messiah and Messianic promise as it is listed among the feast days in Leviticus 23:1-3,
“The Lord spoke again to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these:
3 ‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings.”
The Sabbath as a day observed is directly tied to the work of the Messiah. In Leviticus 23 we have listed the feast of weeks, first fruits, Passover, tabernacles, and the day of atonement, yet the Sabbath is mentioned first. We know that the feasts were all symbolic of the work of Christ. Sabbath as a day is no different. This is why the feasts are considered Sabbaths, because the Messiah will provide rest for the world, re-instating it’s intended purpose and place, through Christ and Christ alone.
The other remaining commandments in the Decalogue are fulfilled in the Messiah as well. Honor your father and your mother, Christ as the Messiah is our Creator and we are said to be his children and heirs to the Kingdom of God. You shall not murder, because only Christ can pass judgement, He gives life and has the sole authority to take life. You shall not commit adultery because we are the brides of Christ, marriage is sacred. You shall not steal, because Christ as the Messiah provides all things for us, what we need, when we need it. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, because Christ is the faithful and true witness. You shall not covet because nothing is actually ours. All belongs to Christ the Creator and Redeemer, the Messiah. We have what we need, when we need it, and we are provided with salvation which is the only ‘thing’ which we should covet and want.
The tie of Sabbath in the Sinai covenant and the day of rest placed at creation are this one fact, God ultimately does the work of authorship, creation, and provision. He desires intimacy and relationship with us above all else, giving rest to those who will choose to enter into that rest.
Seventh-day Adventism fails to state the messianic tie with Christ and the Sabbath. The sabbath is always made out to be a thing in and of itself and not what it represents. No where is Sabbath observance among Seventh-day Adventists linked to the work of Christ, it’s direct and primary intent. The sabbath is always observed because of it’s context within the law and appeasing God’s law as a proof of subjection and obedience.
Context is king, just like Jesus.
Seventh-day Adventist guidelines for Sabbath are based on the law of God refering to the seventh day of the week and it’s necessity as a seal of salvation.
The Decalogue (Ten Commandments) is actually stated twice in Scripture. Once in Exodus 20 and in Deuteronomy 5.
Sabbath within the Ten Commandment context:
““Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 For six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your cattle, or your [g]resident who [h]stays with you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; for that reason the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (Exodus 20:8-11, ESV).”
“‘Keep the Sabbath day to treat it as holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 For six days you [m]shall labor and do all your work,14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; you shall not do any work that day, you or your son or your daughter, or your male slave or your female slave, or your ox, your donkey, or any of your cattle, or your [n]resident who [o]stays with you, so that your male slave and your female slave may rest as well as you. 15 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to [p]celebrate the Sabbath day (Deuteronomy 5:12-15, ESV).”
Sabbath as seen in the Decalogue is purely about resting at home. Prove me wrong. There is no commandment to worship on the seventh day OUTSIDE of the priestly work of the sacrificial service, which Christ fulfilled. In fact, Jesus addresses how worshipping on Sabbath actually breaks the Sabbath commandment.
“Or have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath, and yet are innocent? (Matthew 12:5, ESV)”
In fact, the reason why the Israelites were commanded to stay at home and rest while the priests work points directly back to the deeper Messianic meaning that Sabbath points too. We cannot work out our own salvation, God works for us, mediating, redeeming, and providing while we fulfill our intended purpose of rest, intimacy, enjoyment, and relationship.
Here is the kicker, if the Decalogue is the mode for observing the Sabbath, as Ellen White states, then Ellen White herself broke the Sabbath and everyone who would travel to church and worship on Sabbath. As was provided above, animals were to rest during Sabbath, according to what is in the Decalogue in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. According to Leviticus you were not even to kindle fires for warmth or cooking, baking, nothing was to be done but rest.
Sabbath is deeply important, a signpost of what Christ did. A signpost of justification by faith and righteousness by faith alone. Yet it comes with no surprise that a denomination that has struggled and denied righteousness by faith and justification by faith alone, should in fact misrepresent and construe the Sabbath.
The world could use Sabbath and I do believe that God meant us to observe it through setting it aside and resting with our families and friends. However, to make it mandatory for my salvation ironically nullifies it’s intended purpose, supplanting a meaning that is not intend ended or present. Sabbath observance as the law and Scripture lay out provided for a hard hearted people who strayed. Sabbath observance within the New Covenant context could and would lead to deeper discipleship and spiritual maturity.
A day to commune and have intimacy with God.
Understanding the intended meaning of Sabbath actually shows that the gospel is present in the often critiqued harshness of the Old Testament.
What about the presence of Sabbath observance in the New Testament?
This is a good point that often is not at all answered thoroughly.
Simply put, Christianity and the Apostles came out of Judiasm. They saw the clear meaning, in the early church, of the Sabbath, yet they also experience the fullness of Christ and the power of the Gospel. They went into the synagogues to proclaim this to their brothers and sisters trapped in Judiasm. Not to observe the law. They also met on Sunday, and other days of the week and worshipped. Worship is not worship when it is required. Worship is only worship when it comes from absolute necessity, a drawing of the Holy Spirit, freely and willingly.
The answer is simple, yes, we should gather and worship on Sabbath and we should rest as a sign post of what Christ has done, who He is, and what He has given us. Not because of what we are commanded. Yet we also should gather on Sundays and worship, Mondays, Tuesdays, any time we get the chance we should gather to worship.
Currently, Adventism is a veil that blinds.
