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Sabbath Day

The Sabbath is the Lord’s day, set apart each week for rest and worship. In Old Testament times, God’s covenant people observed the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week because God rested on the seventh day when He had created the earth. After the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which occurred on the first day of the week, the Lord’s disciples began observing the Sabbath on the first day of the week, Sunday (see Acts 20:7).

The Lord emphasized the importance of Sabbath observance in the Ten Commandments:  “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  “Six days shalt thou labor, 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).  The Lord told Moses that Sabbath observance was a sign between Him and His people of the covenant between them (see Exodus 31:13).

In the latter days, the Lord commanded His people to continue observing the Sabbath. He has promised that if we obey this commandment, we will receive “the fulness of the earth” (see Doctrine and Covenants 59:16–20).  Because the Sabbath is a holy day, it should be reserved for worthy and holy activities. Abstaining from work and recreation is not enough. In fact, those who merely lounge about doing nothing on the Sabbath fail to keep the day holy. In a revelation given to Joseph Smith in 1831, the Lord commanded: “That thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day; for verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High” (Doctrine and Covenants 59:9–10). In harmony with this revelation, Church members attend sacrament meeting each week. Other Sabbath-day activities may include praying, meditating, studying the scriptures and the teachings of latter-day prophets, writing letters to family members and friends, reading wholesome material, visiting the sick and distressed, and attending other Church meetings.

 A discussion on the Sabbath Day:  

Investigator: I have a question concerning the Sabbath Day. The Lord told Moses, “Thou shalt remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy”.  For thousands of years, Saturday was observed by the Jews, but through the pagan philosophies of the Christian era, this commandment was violated and now most Christians hold services on Sunday.  Section 68 of your Doctrine and Covenants reads, “And the inhabitants of Zion shall also observe the Sabbath Day to keep it holy”.  Now you make the claim that Sunday is the day of worship, yet why does the Doctrine and Covenants say to keep the Sabbath Day holy, which we all know to be Saturday!  Why do you knowingly break this commandment of the Lord?  

Missionaries:  This is a very good point that you have brought forth but we can find an answer to it in the scriptures.  We read in the Bible that “the SABBATH was made for man, and not man for the sabbath”.  The sabbath was observed under Jewish Law on Saturday, so in essence you are asking us to show you where the scriptures point out that the Sabbath was done away.  We find John in Revelations 1:10 referring to Sunday as the “Lord’s Day” and it was on the Lord’s Day that the disciples gathered following Christ’s resurrection.  Once again the following Sunday they met (John 20:26) and the scriptures affirm that the Sacrament was observed on “THE LORD’S DAY” (Acts 20:7)  Collections for the Saints was received on the Lord’s day (1 Corinthians 16:2).  If we live by Jewish Law on the commandment, we must live by the ENTIRE commandment and law.  Christ said, “The Law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ” (Galatians 3:24-25).  Therefore, we don’t need the schoolmaster, because we have come unto Christ.  

Investigator:  In other words, you are denying the Ten Commandments.

Missionaries: Not denying them, just saying that Christ summed up the 10 commandments into two commandments, to love the Lord and to love your neighbor.  On these two laws, said Christ, hang all the Law and The Prophets. Hebrews 8:1-13 tells us that the “Old covenant was superseded by the new”.  Colossians 2:16 tells us: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect OF AN HOLY DAY, or of the new moon, or OF THE SABBATH DAYS”.  Now if you live by the Sabbath, you should live by the entire law.  We read in Exodus 31:14-17 that a man was to be put to death for not keeping the Sabbath Day holy.  Exodus 35:3 informs us that those abiding by the Old Testament Sabbath should not “kindle fire” on this holy day.  All food, according to Mosaic Law was to be prepared the evening before the Sabbath.  Now, if the old law was to remain binding, why in Acts 15:20 were not the gentile converts taught this fact after the council of Jerusalem? Also, if you are going  to live by the old law, since you keep the Sabbath day as Saturday, you will read where the Jews observed the 7th month of every year, and also every 7th year.  In this year the self-sown produce of the arable lands was to be left for the poor and the beasts of the field.  All release of debts among the Israelites was made.  You will see that these things were done away with and if you  wish to continue by the Old Sabbath, thy why don’t you observe it like the Jews and keep it Holy?  Why don’t you put violators to death?  Why do you kindle fire on the Sabbath?  Why don’t ‘you live by the sabbatical year, and also the year of Jubilee?  I believe that this proves that the law was given to a certain people at a certain time.  New Testament scripture shows a revision to the Law of the Old Testament.  

Investigator:  Then why in the Doctrine and Covenants is the command to “Keep the Sabbath Day holy”?  

Missionaries:  This is what we have pointed out to you.  The Jewish Sabbath was observed on Saturday under Mosaic Law but the resurrection of our Lord brought about the change to the eighth day, which is the Christian Sabbath. 

Investigator:  Then since you admit you live by the sabbath day, why don’t you observe Jubilee, or the Sabbatical year or kill violators of the Sabbath? 

Missionaries:  Because with the Priesthood being changed, and a new and better covenant being given, there was also of necessity a change of the Law (Hebrews 7:12).  The  old law was fulfilled in Christ.