9. Some people say the Sabbath will be kept in God’s new earth. Is this correct?
“ ‘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. 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).
Answer: Yes. The Bible says the saved people of all ages will keep the Sabbath in the new earth.
10. But isn’t Sunday the Lord’s Day?
“Call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord” (Isaiah 58:13).
“The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8).
Answer: The Bible speaks of the “Lord’s Day” in Revelation 1:10, so the Lord does have a special day. But no verse of Scripture refers to Sunday as the Lord’s Day. Rather, the Bible plainly identifies the seventh-day Sabbath as the Lord’s Day. The only day the Lord has ever blessed and claimed as His own is the seventh-day Sabbath.
Jesus instituted baptism--not Sunday keeping--in honor of His resurrection.
11. Shouldn’t we keep Sunday holy in honor of Christ’s resurrection?
“Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin” (Romans 6:3–6).
Answer: No! The Bible never suggests keeping Sunday holy in honor of the resurrection or for any other reason. We honor Christ by obeying His direct commandments (John 14:15)—not by substituting man-made traditions in place of His eternal law.
12. Well, if Sunday-keeping isn’t in the Bible, whose idea was it?
“He … shall intend to change times and law” (Daniel 7:25). “You have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. … And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:6, 9). “Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things. … Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar … saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord had not spoken” (Ezekiel 22:26, 28).
Answer: About 300 years after Jesus’ resurrection, partly because of hatred against the Jews, misguided men suggested that God’s holy day of worship be changed from Saturday to Sunday. God predicted it would happen, and it did. This error was passed on to our unsuspecting generation as fact. However, Sunday-keeping is a tradition of mere men and breaks God’s law, which commands Sabbath-keeping. Only God can make a day holy. God blessed the Sabbath, and when God blesses, no man can “reverse it” (Numbers 23:20).
13. But isn’t it dangerous to tamper with God’s law?
“You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:2). “Every word of God is pure. … Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar” (Proverbs 30:5, 6).
Answer: God has forbidden people to change His law, either by deletions or additions. Tampering with God’s law is one of the most dangerous things a person can do, because God’s law is perfect and is designed to protect us from evil.
14. Why did God make the Sabbath anyway?
A. Sign of Creation.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. … 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. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8, 11).
B. Sign of redemption and sanctification.
“I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that
I am the Lord who sanctifies them” (Ezekiel 20:12).
Answer: God gave the Sabbath as a twofold sign: (1) It is a sign that He created the world in six literal days, and (2) it is also a sign of God’s mighty power to redeem and sanctify people. It is a natural response for the Christian to love the seventh-day Sabbath as God’s precious sign of Creation and redemption (Exodus 31:13, 16, 17; Ezekiel 20:20). It is very disrespectful to trample upon God’s Sabbath. In Isaiah 58:13, 14, God says all who would be blessed must get their feet off His holy day.
15. How important is keeping the Sabbath holy?
“Sin is lawlessness [transgression of the law]” (1 John 3:4).
“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
“Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).
“Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21).
“He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:9).
Answer: It is a matter of life and death. The Sabbath is protected and upheld by the fourth commandment of God’s law. The deliberate breaking of any one of the Ten Commandments is sin. Christians will gladly follow Christ’s example of Sabbath keeping.
16. How does God feel about religious leaders ignoring the Sabbath?
“Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy … and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. … Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them” (Ezekiel 22:26, 31).
Answer: While there are some religious leaders who keep Sunday sacred because they don’t know any better, those who deliberately do so profane what God has called holy. In hiding their eyes from God’s true Sabbath, many religious leaders have caused others to profane it. Millions have been misled on this matter. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for pretending to love God while making void one of the Ten Commandments by their tradition (Mark 7:7–13).