Which day is the Sabbath?

The Old Testament Foundation of the Sabbath

The fourth commandment teaches that the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath of the Lord. Scripture states, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work… For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth… and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:10).

The “seventh day” is Saturday, not Sunday. This is confirmed by calendars, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and historical usage around the world. Long before any nation or religion existed, God established the Sabbath at Creation. Genesis records, “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested… Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it” (Genesis 2:2-3). God made this day holy thousands of years before the Jewish nation existed.

The Sabbath is not called the “Jewish Sabbath.” Instead, Scripture calls it “the Sabbath of the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:10). Through the prophet Isaiah, God said that the Sabbath was meant to bless all people, including Gentiles: “Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath… I will bring to My holy mountain” (Isaiah 56:6-7). The Sabbath was a universal gift for humanity, rooted in creation, not in later ceremonies.

The New Testament and the First Day of the Week

The New Testament identifies Sunday simply as “the first day of the week.” Nowhere is Sunday called holy. It appears only in eight verses in the entire New Testament (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1,19; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). In each case, it is described as a normal working day, not a sacred day.

Jesus Himself kept the seventh-day Sabbath. “As His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day” (Luke 4:16). He taught about proper Sabbath observance in Matthew 12:12 and Mark 2:27-28, declaring that He is “Lord even of the Sabbath day.” Jesus also affirmed that He did not come to abolish the law: “Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law” (Matthew 5:17-18).

Jesus never blessed, kept, or mentioned Sunday. Instead, He recognized only the seventh day as the Sabbath, and He expected that believers would still be keeping it many years after His ascension. He warned His followers about the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and said, “Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath” (Matthew 24:20). This instruction, given nearly 40 years after the Resurrection, shows that the Sabbath was still understood as sacred.

How the Early Church Kept the Sabbath

Jesus’ disciples continued keeping the seventh-day Sabbath after His death. After Christ was placed in the tomb, the women who followed Him “rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment” (Luke 23:56). These faithful believers had been personally taught by Jesus, and yet they continued to honor the Sabbath exactly as the law commanded.

The apostles also kept the Sabbath. In the book of Acts, Paul and other missionaries are shown attending Sabbath services in many cities. Paul preached “on the Sabbath day” in Acts 13:14. In Acts 17:2, it says that keeping the Sabbath was Paul’s “custom.” In Acts 16:13 he met for worship on the Sabbath by a river, and in Acts 18:4 he reasoned in the synagogue “every Sabbath.” These gatherings included both Jews and Gentiles. In Acts 13:42-44, nearly an entire Gentile crowd came together on the next Sabbath to hear the gospel.

There is no passage in the New Testament that changes the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. No command, no example of Christ, and no apostolic decree authorizes such a shift.

Which Sabbaths Were Abolished?

Some point to verses such as Colossians 2:14-17, Ephesians 2:15, and Romans 14:5 to argue that the Sabbath was abolished. However, these passages refer to the annual feast sabbaths described in the ceremonial law. These feast days included sacrifices, meat and drink offerings, and special ceremonial sabbaths that occurred on various days of the week. They are listed in “Leviticus 23” and are called “sabbaths,” but they are clearly distinguished from the weekly Sabbath. Scripture says these feast days were “besides the Sabbath of the Lord” (Leviticus 23:38).

The ceremonial sabbaths ended at the cross because they pointed forward to Christ’s sacrifice. The weekly Sabbath, established at Creation and written in the Ten Commandments, did not end because it does not symbolize sacrifice but celebrates God as Creator.

Prophecy and the End-Time Sabbath

Bible prophecy speaks about a power that would “intend to change times and law” (Daniel 7:25). History shows that the Roman Catholic Church claimed authority to change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Even Catholic writings acknowledge that this change was made by church authority rather than Scripture.

Revelation 14 links the final message to the world with a call to worship the Creator: “Worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water” (Revelation 14:7). These words echo the fourth commandment in Exodus 20:11. In the last days, God’s people are described as those who “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12). This includes the Sabbath that God blessed and sanctified.

The Sabbath in the New Earth

The seventh-day Sabbath is not only a memorial of Creation but an eternal gift. God promises, “As the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me… from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me” (Isaiah 66:22-23). Throughout eternity, all God’s people-redeemed from every nation-will gather each Sabbath to worship their Creator.

Conclusion

The Bible clearly identifies the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath, set apart by God at Creation for rest and worship. Genesis 2:2-3 says, “And on the seventh day God ended His work… Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.” Later, God reaffirmed this in the Ten Commandments: “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:8-11). Jesus kept the Sabbath, the apostles kept the Sabbath, and there is no command in Scripture that changes it to Sunday.

From the first week of earth’s history to the eternal ages of the new earth, the seventh-day Sabbath remains God’s holy day-a reminder that He alone is Creator, Redeemer, and Lord.

For more on the Sabbath, check (Lessons 91-102) of our Bible Lessons.