It is popular among Christians to say that the Sabbath has been done away with, or that we no longer need to keep the Sabbath. Some even say that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday. However, none of these claims can be supported by Scripture. There is not a single verse in the entire Bible that tells us the Sabbath was ever changed or removed, and not one verse ever tells us to stop keeping the Sabbath. Yet, there are well over one hundred verses in the Bible that tell us to keep the Sabbath.
Here are the top 10 Scriptural reasons why any believer should still keep the Sabbath.
- THE SABBATH WAS ESTABLISHED AT CREATION
“And in the seventh day Elohim completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And Elohim blessed the seventh day and set it apart, because on it He rested from all His work which Elohim in creating had made.”– Genesis 2:2-3
- THE SABBATH IS ONE OF THE 10 COMMANDMENTS
“Remember the Sabbath day, to set it apart. “Six days you labour, and shall do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of יהוה your Elohim. You do not do any 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. “For in six days יהוה made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore יהוה blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart.”– Exodus 20:8-11
- THE SABBATH IS A SIGN BETWEEN YAHWEH AND HIS PEOPLE
“And you, speak to the children of Yisra’ěl, saying, ‘My Sabbaths you are to guard, by all means, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, to know that I, יהוה, am setting you apart. And you shall guard the Sabbath, for it is set-apart to you. Everyone who profanes it shall certainly be put to death, for anyone who does work on it, that being shall be cut off from among his people. ‘Six days work is done, and on the seventh is a Sabbath of rest, set-apart to יהוה. Everyone doing work on the Sabbath day shall certainly be put to death. And the children of Yisra’ěl shall guard the Sabbath, to perform the Sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant. Between Me and the children of Yisra’ěl it is a sign forever. For in six days יהוה made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.”– Exodus 31:13-17
“And I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, to know that I am יהוה who sets them apart…I am יהוה your Elohim. Walk in My laws, and guard My right-rulings, and do them. And set apart My Sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between Me and you, to know that I am יהוה your Elohim.”– Ezekiel 20:12-20
- THE SABBATH IS A GIFT TO US
And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”– Mark 2:27
“And I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, to know that I am יהוה who sets them apart.”– Ezekiel 20:12
- YAHWEH BLESSES THOSE WHO KEEP THE SABBATH
“Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who becomes strong in it, guarding the Sabbath lest he profane it, and guarding his hand from doing any evil. And let not the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to יהוה speak, saying, ‘יהוה has certainly separated me from His people,’ nor let the eunuch say, ‘Look I am a dry tree.’ ”For thus said יהוה, To the eunuchs who guard My Sabbaths, and have chosen what pleases Me, and are holding onto My covenant: to them I shall give in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters – I give them an everlasting name that is not cut off. Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to יהוה, to serve Him, and to love the Name of יהוה, to be His servants, all who guard the Sabbath, and not profane it, and are holding onto My covenant – them I shall bring to My set-apart mountain, and let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their ascending offerings and their slaughtering are accepted on My slaughter-place, for My house is called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”– Isaiah 56:2-7
- THE SABBATH WILL STILL BE KEPT IN THE NEW CREATION
“For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make stand before Me, declares יהוה, so your seed and your name shall stand. And it shall be that from New moon to New moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, declares יהוה.”– Isaiah 66:22-23
- WE ARE COMMANDED TO REMEMBER THE SABBATH
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”– Exodus 20:8
- TO FORGET OR CEASE THE SABBATH IS A PUNISHMENT IN ITSELF
“He has demolished His booth like a garden, He has destroyed His place of meeting. יהוה has made the appointed times and Sabbaths To be forgotten in Tsiyon, And despises sovereign and priest In His raging displeasure.”– Lamentations 2:6
“And I shall cause all her rejoicing, her festivals, her New moons, and her Sabbaths, even all her appointed times, to cease, and lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, ‘these are my harlot-fees that my lovers have given me.’ And I shall make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. And I shall punish her for the days of the Ba‛als to which she burned incense and adorned herself with her rings and jewellery, and went after her lovers, and forgot Me,” declares יהוה.”– Hosea 2:11-13
- YAHSHUA, Paul, AND GENTILE CONVERTS KEPT THE SABBATH
“And He came to Natsareth, where He had been brought up. And according to His practice, He went into the congregation on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.” Luke 4:16
“And when the Yehuḏim went out of the congregation, the nations begged to have these words spoken to them the next Sabbath. And when the meeting of the congregation had broken up, many of the Yehuḏim and of the worshipping converts followed Sha’ul and Barnaḇa, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the favour of Elohim. And on the next Sabbath almost all the city came together to hear the Word of Elohim. .”– Acts 13:42-44
“And according to his practice, Sha’ul went in unto them, and for three Sabbaths was reasoning with them from the Scriptures,”– Acts 17:2
“And he was reasoning in the congregation every Sabbath, and won over both Yehuḏim and Greeks”– Acts 18:4
- THE BIBLE NEVER SAYS TO STOP KEEPING THE SABBATH
“And the children of Yisra’ěl shall guard the Sabbath, to perform the Sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant. Between Me and the children of Yisra’ěl it is a sign forever. For in six days יהוה made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.” – Exodus 31:16-17