A word document looking at the Sabbath through the concept of glory to better appreciate the importance and modern relevance of the Sabbath debate. An important and testing look it brings clarity to many issues surrounding the Sabbath question.

1. The Sabbath: The Epicentre of Glory
We observe some things from the first book of the bible about the first Sabbath.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of
them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had
made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he
had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it:
because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created
and made. (Genesis 2:1-3)
Let us observe some verses about God blessing:
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and unto
his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel,
saying unto them, The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD
make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD
lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall
put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.
(Numbers 6:22-27 KJV)
Some key texts to bear in mind are:
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen
upon thee. … the LORD shall arise upon thee , and his glory shall be
seen upon thee . (Isaiah 60:1-2 KJV)
Clearly here we recognize that when God blesses something He places His name/glory upon it.
And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will
proclaim the name of the LORD before thee ; and will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew
mercy. (Exodus 33:19)
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The
LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in
goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity

2. and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty;
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the
children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. (Exodus
34:6-7 KJV)
God clearly reveals He was going to proclaim His name. Nothing else was mentioned that was to
be proclaimed. As we look at the Hebrew word for name we recognize that it also makes
mention of “character.” Plainly God was not merely revealing His personal name; He was also
revealing His character. Here we find that name is synonymous with character and hence as we
read “put my name upon … and I will bless” we recognize that God blesses those things
that bear His character.
Let us observe an additional phrase from Genesis before moving forward. “and sanctified it”.
How does God sanctify things?
And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle
shall be sanctified by my glory. (Exodus 29:43 KJV)
As creation week ended God paused and looked over everything that had been created and made
a declaration.
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very
good. (Genesis 1:31)
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if
thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou
knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the
foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God
shouted for joy? (Job 38:4-7 KJV)
As the work of creation ended, all created beings praised God for the wonderful work of creation
that had been done. Even Adam praised God seeing that Luke so names Him a “son of God.”
(See Luke 3:38).
Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me (Psalms 50:23)
But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. (Psalms
22:3)

3. It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one , to
make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and
when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and
instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good;
for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a
cloud, even the house of the LORD; So that the priests could not stand
to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled
the house of God. (2 Chronicles 5:13-14 KJV)
Clearly we realize that Sabbath has God’s glory in four ways. Namely:
1. Sabbath was blessed with His glory.
2. Sabbath was sanctified by God’s glory.
3. God was glorified on the Sabbath.
4. Sabbath was filled with the glory of God.
Of all the Ten Commandments only the fourth contains certain specifications about God.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour,
and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD
thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy
daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy
stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the
seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and
hallowed it. (Exodus 20:8-11 KJV)
Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath
commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: But
the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt
not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy
manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any
of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy
manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou . And
remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the

4. LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by
a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to
keep the sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:12-15 KJV)
Some things that can be observed about God from the texts:
1. God is a time based person.
2. He loves all of creation, including the animals, so He provides time to rest and be
rejuvenated.
3. He is the Creator and thus by default the Owner of heaven and earth.
4. He is a deliverer/redeemer.
The Sabbath is the commandment that authenticates the law. It is the only commandment that
clearly explains the authority that God has for giving the commandment. Interestingly as well it
is the only commandment in Exodus 20 that is intricately linked to Genesis 2:1-3 and Revelation
14:7.
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour
of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and
earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. (Revelation 14:7)
The fact that the Sabbath calls for worship of the Creator places it in direct contrast with the end-
time power that will oppress the people of the earth.
They have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his
image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. (Revelation 14:11)
This power calls for the worship of an image but God has declared through Isaiah.
I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to
another, neither my praise to graven images. (Isaiah 42:8 KJV)
Hence Paul reveals that those who serve the created thing more than the creator have committed
great folly.
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God,
neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their
foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they
became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an

5. image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted
beasts, and creeping things. (Romans 1:21-23 KJV)
Through false worship one disgraces God by seeking to give Him a false image. God cannot be
represented by any animal or beast and through Moses God had said:
And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard
the voice of the words, but saw no similitude ; only ye heard a voice.
And He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to
perform, even ten commandments; and He wrote them upon two
tables of stone. … Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for
ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto
you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves,
and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the
likeness of male or female, The likeness of any beast that is on the
earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, The
likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any
fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: And lest thou lift up thine
eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and
the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship
them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all
nations under the whole heaven. ... Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye
forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which He made with you,
and make you a graven image , or the likeness of any thing, which the
LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. For the LORD thy God is a
consuming fire, even a jealous God. (Deuteronomy 4:12-24 KJV)
What we worship does not change God. What we worship changes our view of God. Not only
that; what we worship changes our view of who we are. Whenever Israel went into idolatrous
worship, adulterous practices came very quickly in its train. Exodus 32, Numbers 25 and Judges
19 reveal that whenever the true worship of God is discarded error and darkness comes in. David
explains

6. O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame ? how
long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah. (Psalms 4:2 KJV)
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. Thus
they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.
(Psalms 106:19-20 KJV)
And Paul explains that when such things happen God permits the downward slide to advance to
its logical end
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of
their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served
the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For
this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their
women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman,
burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that
which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of
their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God
in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do
those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all
unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness,
maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity;
whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without
understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection,
implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they
which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same,
but have pleasure in them that do them. (Romans 1:24-32 KJV)
Changing any part of God’s truth is dangerous; but, when it comes to changing truth that is
intricately linked with God’s glory it is not safe at all.

7. Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the
truth. Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth.
(Psalms 119:142, 151 KJV)
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. (John 17:17 KJV)