Chapter 5 One Day in Seven?

Once we are convinced that God actually created the heavens and the earth by the word of His mouth, we are awestruck as we attempt to grasp the scope of such a tremendous accomplishment. It is, of course, far beyond our most expanded comprehension. No wonder the Creator could spend the seventh day in relaxed satisfaction, knowing that everything He had made was good. And how appropriate that He should set aside this seventh day each week, making it a holy day and presenting it to His new human creatures as a time for them to enter into a holy communion with Himself, the King of the universe. Imagine what a privilege!

Throughout this study, it is well to remember two very important facts. First, God not only rested on the seventh day, but He made the seventh day a holy day: "Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made" (Genesis 2:3). Secondly, He made that day for human beings: " The Sabbath was made for man" (Mark 2:28). It is a gift to us from our Maker Himself, a gift of time for rest, a time to "worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness," to contemplate His amazing creative power revealed in the wonders of nature, and to enjoy the holy fellowship of other Christian believers.

At this point it would be helpful to discuss the question as to whether it is essential that we observe the actual seventh day of each week, or if it is acceptable to God if we take for our day of rest any one day in seven that might be convenient or desirable for us. We no doubt should rest one day in seven to help keep our bodies and minds in good condition. Among monotheists, those who believe in only one God, there are three different days celebrated each week as holy days. The Muslims keep Friday, and Jews and some Christians keep Saturday, while the Catholics and other Christians observe Sunday.

It is well to remember that the Creator, the One who made the days in the beginning, and the only One with full authority to make a day holy, blessed and sanctified a specific day of rest, not merely an idea of rest. If God’s people as a whole would really adopt the opinion that any one day in seven would be acceptable to God as His holy day, this would greatly diminish the vital Christian fellowship He expects us to enjoy; and the very fact that God made a certain day holy would be forgotten. God would be dishonored, and Satan would be pleased. There is no one among us weak and sinful human beings who has the power or authority to make a certain day holy. Only God could do that. He already did it! We can only keep it holy; that is, we can honor it as a holy day.

Do you remember when your three-year-old child brought you a bouquet of tiny wildflowers? There were bluets, violets, and dandelions. The child said, "Here are some roses for you." How did you accept those flowers? Wasn’t that the very best bouquet of "roses" you ever received? Of course they were not really roses, but the child did not know any better. And you were delighted with this gift just as if it had been made up of the world’s most prize-winning roses.

Just so, when honest, God-fearing Christians sincerely endeavor to keep holy a day different from that which God Himself has sanctified, He accepts their efforts and their worship just as though they were observing His true holy day. He accepts their songs and prayers, their expressions of praise and gratitude, their attempt to keep holy an ordinary workday, because, like the child with the little bouquet, they don’t know any better. God is always fair with us; yes, more than fair, because He loves us.

The Apostle Paul refers to a similar situation in which the people of Athens fell short of Heaven’s expectations for them, having adopted the error of worshipping man-made gods. He says, "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30). And the reason this call to repent is urgent is because of a coming day of judgment. If Paul could say this in his day, what about the urgency of the call to repentance in our day? Judgment day is upon us! It is high time to make wrongs right, to correct our errors with a firm decisiveness. It is time to forsake everything that contravenes God’s requirements.

If someone were to set seven jewelry chests in front of you, and tell you that chest number seven contains some very costly coins and jewels which you could have if you would open that chest and take them out, which chest would you open? Of course, none but number seven "would do." In the same way, God has put His special blessing in one certain day. In order to get the true Sabbath blessing, we must go to that day. That is the seventh day, not just any day we may choose. It is well here to remember this caution: Do not be quick to believe whatever the minister preaches. The fact that we are to have faith does not mean that we need to be gullible. The people of Berea would not even accept the words of the great Apostle Paul without first substantiating what he preached by the Word of God. We read in Acts 17:11, "they . . . searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so." And that is the reason the Scripture says they were noble. It is our duty to confirm any preaching by studying God’s Word for ourselves.

The Bible recounts many examples of the sad consequences of even a small deviation from God’s specific commands. You will remember some of them: Two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, offered man-made fire on the altar of incense. They had been ordered to use only fire that God Himself had kindled. Disobedience cost them their lives (Leviticus 10:1-7). Death came also to Uzzah when he reached out his hand to steady the ark of the covenant in disobedience to God’s strict prohibition (2 Samuel 6:6). Saul was rejected by God as king of Israel because he disobeyed (1 Samuel 15:26). In the New Testament church, Ananias and Sapphira paid with their lives for dishonesty (Acts 5:1-10).

From the Bible record of these events, we must conclude that God’s great love for us does not relax His insistence that we must obey His commands with exactness. Since the Lord is the one absolute Sovereign of the universe, He possesses the authority to establish and enforce whatever rules He desires. And since "God is love" (1 John 4:8), we may be sure that He has the character necessary to enact rules that are just. After the Lord had so effectively humbled Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of Babylon, notice what this great king had to say about God’s greatness:

I blessed the Most High
and praised and honored Him who lives forever:
For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
And His kingdom is from generation to generation.
All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing;
He does according to His will in the army of heaven
And among the inhabitants of the earth.
No one can restrain His hand
Or say to Him "What have You done?" (Daniel 4:34,35).

These words of Nebuchadnezzar remind us that our Heavenly Father holds ultimate authority over our lives. And as we look at His creation, we see that He has supreme physical power, and that He is a God of order and precision. In view of all the considerations in this chapter, our answer to its title question is inescapable. No, any one day in seven does not satisfy God’s requirement for the Sabbath. He said, "The seventh day is the Sabbath (Exodus 20:10). That answers our question. No man-made substitute is acceptable.

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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version.
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