This document contains a lesson on Sabbath that answers three questions: why we must keep Sabbath, how we must keep Sabbath, and how Sabbath is related to the end times. It discusses that Sabbath must be kept because of creation, redemption from sin, and sanctification by God. Jesus showed how to keep Sabbath by prioritizing human needs over strict rules. Sabbath will be a point of contention in the end times as it signifies loyalty to God as Creator versus evolutionary beliefs. Keeping Sabbath rejects false theories and remembers that God sanctifies believers.

1. Lesson 11

2. We will answer three questions about
Sabbath in this week’s lesson:
A. Why must we keep the Sabbath?
1. Because of Creation.
2. Because of Redemption.
3. Because of Sanctification.
B. How must we keep the Sabbath?
C. How is Sabbath related to the End Time?

3. “And on the seventh day" God ended His work
which He had done, and He rested on the seventh
day from all His work which He had done. 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 2:2-3)
“On the seventh day” God ended the Creation process; it
lasted for a whole week.
God associated the Creation week with our current week
in the fourth Commandment (Exodus 20:8-11)
We must work six literal days and rest on the
seventh one, just like God created the world in six
literal days and rested on the seventh one.

4. “Had the Sabbath been universally kept, man’s thoughts and affections would
have been led to the Creator as the object of reverence and worship, and there
would never have been an idolater, an atheist, or an infidel. The keeping of the
Sabbath is a sign of loyalty to the true God, “Him that made heaven, and earth,
and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” It follows that the message which
commands men to worship God and keep His commandments will especially call
upon them to keep the fourth commandment”
E.G.W. (The Great Controversy, cp. 26, pg. 437)
When God said, “Remember the Sabbath day” He added, “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)
God didn’t create the
Sabbath for the Jewish
people (as some people
teach) but to the entire
human race. All men
and women are called
to keep the Sabbath,
since Adam at Eden
until today.

5. “And remember that you were a slave in the
land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought
you out from there by a mighty hand and by
an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your
God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day”
(Deuteronomy 5:15)
The story of how God
delivered the people of
Israel from the slavery in
Egypt and led them to the
Promised Land is an
example of how God
redeems us from the
slavery of sin. He changes
our lives and gives us
eternal life.
God asks us to keep the Sabbath to remember that we were slaves
of sin and He set us free with His great power.
Sabbath is a time for remembering the work of Jesus at the cross.

6. “Moreover 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)
Keeping the Sabbath is a sign of how God
transformed the believer. He sanctified
him/her and created a new heart in him/her.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within
you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and
give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26)

7. “As the Sabbath was the sign that distinguished Israel when they came out of
Egypt to enter the earthly Canaan, so it is the sign that now distinguishes God’s
people as they come out from the world to enter the heavenly rest. The
Sabbath is a* sign of the relationship existing between God and His people, a
sign that they honor His law. It distinguishes between His loyal subjects and
transgressors.
From the pillar of cloud Christ declared concerning the Sabbath, “Verily My
Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your
generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.”
Exodus 31:13. The Sabbath given to the world as the sign of God as the Creator
is also the sign of Him as the Sanctifier. The power that created all things is the
power that re-creates the soul in His own likeness. To those who keep holy the
Sabbath day it is the sign of sanctification. True sanctification is harmony with
God, oneness with Him in character. It is received through obedience to those
principles that are the transcript of His character. And the Sabbath is the sign
of obedience. He who from the heart obeys the fourth commandment will
obey the whole law. He is sanctified through obedience”
E.G.W. (Testimony Treasures, vol. 3, pg. 16-17)

8. Since Sabbath was created before man sinned,
it is good to think about how Adam and Eve
kept the Sabbath at Eden. That is how we
should keep it too.
1. Sabbath is a day to renew our relationship with God. It’s a day of close friendship
between God and mankind.
2. They stopped taking care of the garden on Sabbath, so we must also stop our daily
work. That will help us in remembering our priorities: Our communion with God is more
important than our job or than satisfying our needs.
3. Adam and Eve met God in a special way on Sabbath; that way they recognized God’s
sovereignty and showed that they were willing to obey all the divine laws. That is valid
for us too.

9. HOW MUST WE KEEP THE
SABBATH?
THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS
“And He said to them, “The Sabbath
was made for man, and not man for
the Sabbath.”” (Mark 2:27)
The Jewish leaders thought that all the laws they
had created for the Sabbath day were more
important than the human needs. Jesus set the right
priorities by teaching that the Sabbath should be a
day of blessing and joy for man.

10. Jesus taught with His example that working
to relieve human suffering on the Sabbath
day does not violate It.
He
healed a
man
with a
withered
hand
(Mt.
12:9-13)
He set
possessed
men free
(Mr. 1:21-
26)
He
healed a
women
who was
bent
over for
18 years
(Lk.
13:10-
16)
He healed a
man with
dropsy (Lk.
14:1-6)
He
healed a
paralytic
man in
Bethesda
(Jn. 5:1-
17)
He gave
sight to a
blind man
by using
mud (Jn.
9:1-13)
HOW MUST WE KEEP THE
SABBATH?
THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS

11. “It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
And to sing praises to Your name, O
Most High;
To declare Your lovingkindness in the
morning,
And Your faithfulness every night,
On an instrument of ten strings,
On the lute,
And on the harp,
With harmonious sound.
For You, Lord, have made me glad
through Your work;
I will triumph in the works of Your
hands.
O Lord, how great are Your works!
Your thoughts are very deep.
A senseless man does not know,
Nor does a fool understand this.
When the wicked spring up like grass,
And when all the workers of iniquity
flourish,
It is that they may be destroyed
forever.
But You, Lord, are on high forevermore.
For behold, Your enemies, O Lord,
For behold, Your enemies shall perish;
All the workers of iniquity shall be
scattered.
But my horn You have exalted like a wild
ox;
I have been anointed with fresh oil.
My eye also has seen my desire on my
enemies;
My ears hear my desire on the wicked
Who rise up against me.
The righteous shall flourish like a palm
tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Those who are planted in the house of
the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing,
To declare that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no
unrighteousness in Him”

12.  He praises God and thanks for His
kindness and faithfulness.
 He declares God is His Creator.
 He proclaims that judgment is on
behalf of the saints.
 He teaches that Sabbath is a time for:
 Delighting in the Lord.
 Delighting in all He has done.
 Delighting in all He has promised
to do for us.
In David’s psalm for the Sabbath day:
The whole psalm involves
praise, joy and happiness.
How can we learn to rejoice on
Sabbath as the psalmist does in this
psalm?

13. “In the warfare to be waged in the last days there
will be united, in opposition to God’s people, all the
corrupt powers that have apostatized from
allegiance to the law of Jehovah. In this warfare the
Sabbath of the fourth commandment will be the
great point at issue, for in the Sabbath
commandment the great Lawgiver identifies Himself
as the Creator of the heavens and the earth”
E.G.W. (Last Day Events, cp. 9, pg. 124)
Sabbath is related to the End Time in two ways: Its relationship to
the evolutionist theories and it being a sign of loyalty to God.
Peter said that “in the last days” men would say that
“all things continue as they were from the beginning of
creation” and that they “willfully forget: that by the
word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth
standing out of water and in the water” (2 Peter 3:3-6).
Those expressions are closely related to the
philosophic concepts of evolutionism:
uniformitarianism and rejecting God as Creator.
Remembering every Sabbath that God is our Creator
helps us in rejecting the false evolutionist theories.
1
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