The Bible is very clear as to when the Sabbath begins. Let us read through the scripture:
Evening and Morning
“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).
In the 4th commandment, the Lord in His wisdom referenced the creation week, where we just saw that He created all things in six days. Looking back in Genesis, we see that each day was the compilation of an “evening and morning”, so when the Creator created the day as an evening and morning, who are we to say that the seventh day is only the period of day light as the Lunar Sabbath believers claim?
Even Unto Even
“It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath” (Leviticus 23:32). Here, the Creator is telling us that our Sabbath is to be from even unto even. Certain Lunar Sabbath believers choose to explain the above verse by saying that this only applies to the Day of Atonement, but again, we should leave aside our own private interpretation and accept what the Word says.
Sundown to Sundown
Ellen White did not leave this matter unaddressed. A man by the name of Joseph Bates introduced the idea that even unto even represented 6:00 pm Friday to 6:00 pm Saturday, which both James and Ellen White accepted. However, there was a small group that believed that the Sabbath hours were from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.
To resolve the matter, James White requested from John Andrews to address the matter, which he did. Upon completion of the study, James and Ellen White along with Joseph Bates and the church leaders studied the matter one Sabbath morning in Battle Creek, until all the congregation agreed that the Sabbath was from sundown to sundown, all but Ellen White and Joseph Bates.
They continued to discuss the matter throughout the Sabbath, until Sunday morning where the Creator Himself had to intervene and take Mrs. White in vision {1BIO 322.3}: “I saw that it is even so: “From even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.” Said the angel: “Take the word of God, read it, understand, and ye cannot err. Read carefully, and ye shall there find what even is, and when it is.”
“I asked the angel if the frown of God had been upon His people for commencing the Sabbath as they had. I was directed back to the first rise of the Sabbath, and followed the people of God up to this time, but did not see that the Lord was displeased, or frowned upon them. I inquired why it had been thus, that at this late day we must change the time of commencing the Sabbath.”
“Said the angel: “Ye shall understand, but not yet, not yet.” Said the angel: “If light come, and that light is set aside or rejected, then comes condemnation and the frown of God; but before the light comes, there is no sin, for there is no light for them to reject.” I saw that it was in the minds of some that the Lord had shown that the Sabbath commenced at six o’clock, when I had only seen that it commenced at “even,” and it was inferred that even was at six. I saw that the servants of God must draw together, press together.” {1T 116.1}
The Creator would not have intervened and shown Ellen White the truth, and a few years later change the truth completely. The angel assured Mrs. White that she would not err in the matter, and Mrs. White saw that it was in fact from “even unto even.”
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
