What Is The Sabbath The Sabbath is God's weekly reminder that we are more than what we produce. It’s a gift of sacred time and presence.
The Sabbath was established at the end of the creation week—the seventh day—after God created the heavens, the earth, and the first humans . He “blessed the seventh day and made it holy” because He rested from all His work (Genesis 2:2-3, ESV). We find the Sabbath referenced again in Exodus 20, when God writes the Ten Commandments . He asks us to remember this sacred day to keep it holy, ceasing from the work of the week and reflecting on what He has done for us.To fully understand the meaning and significance of the Sabbath , let’s learn more about:  Belief 20: The Sabbath The gracious Creator, after the six days of Creation, rested on the seventh day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a memorial of Creation. The fourth commandment of God’s unchangeable law requires the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of delightful communion with God and one another. It is a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in God’s kingdom. The Sabbath is God’s perpetual sign of His eternal covenant between Him and His people. Joyful observance of this holy time from evening to evening, sunset to sunset, is a celebration of God’s creative and redemptive acts. (Gen. 2:1-3; Exod. 20:8-11; 31:13-17; Lev. 23:32; Deut. 5:12-15; Isa. 56:5, 6; 58:13, 14; Ezek. 20:12, 20; Matt. 12:1-12; Mark 1:32; Luke 4:16; Heb. 4:1-11.)  What is the Sabbath? The Sabbath is a day of rest , reflection, enjoyment and worship for God’s people. It dates back to the seventh day of the creation week, when God stopped His work and took time to rest and savor it. In six days He created the world we live in (Genesis 1:1-26). From the blue sky to the fluffy white clouds to the food we eat…He created this world with each of us in mind.  It was on the sixth day of creation that God formed man and woman in His own image.  “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (Genesis 2:7, ESV). Then God looked around at all He had made and saw that it was “very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31, ESV). He had made everything necessary for humans to live and thrive here on this earth. But He wasn’t quite finished with the whole creation process.  On the seventh day God created the Sabbath. His last act of creation was to sanctify this day and make it holy. Then He rested.  “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation” (Genesis 2:1-3, ESV).  Why did God rest on the Sabbath? While the Bible tells us God “rested” on the Sabbath day, it doesn’t say that He rested because He was tired. (God does not “faint or grow weary”, as Isaiah 40:28, ESV tells us.) He rested to look over what He created and enjoy it.  Let’s look at the root word for Sabbath. The word “sabbath” comes from the Hebrew word shabbat, which means “to cease” or stop. Even in our human lives, it’s not uncommon to stop and take a day off after a large project or a great accomplishment. Yes, we do get tired, unlike God. But after finishing something meaningful and beautiful, we don’t stop afterward just to rest. We stop to reflect upon and enjoy what was just accomplished! On the Sabbath day, we rest to celebrate God’s accomplishment of creating the world, and creating humanity to live in it and take care of it. We pause to take notice, learn more, and express gratitude to our Creator. When God rested on the seventh day, He set for us an example. He gave the weekly Sabbath as a day of rest and worship for all of mankind. The Sabbath is a memorial, a day when we remember God’s creative power.  He alone is worthy of our worship, as beautifully described by Ellen White, one of the founders of the Adventist Church : “Because He had rested upon the Sabbath, ‘God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it,”’—set it apart to a holy use. He gave it to Adam as a day of rest. It was a memorial of the work of creation, and thus a sign of God’s power and His love.”  God Wants Us to Rest as Part of the Remembrance Similar to memorial type holidays, the Sabbath is a day we can rest in remembrance of God. Just like we get a day off from work on memorial type holidays to remember a person or commemorate an event, the Sabbath is a day we can rest and remember. It’s a day to pause from our work, reflect, and rejuvenate.  When we rest we put aside the cares of the world and it allows us to focus on our relationship with Him . Just like any meaningful relationship, it’s important to spend time together, talk together, and get to know one another.  Sabbath rest gives us the perfect opportunity to connect with God.  Trusting God with our time also demonstrates our total dependence on God to provide for our needs.  “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19, ESV). “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6, 7, ESV). Keeping the Sabbath allows us to rest our physical bodies. God didn’t need to rest, but He knows human beings do. It’s important for our mental and physical health to take time to rest and refresh. Studies have shown that people who take time to rest from their labors are healthier and more productive.  “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places” (Leviticus 23:3, ESV). “He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul” (Psalm 23:2,3a, ESV).  The Sabbath is part of the 10 Commandments God gave Moses the Ten Commandments after the Exodus when the Israelites were freed from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. They fled into the wilderness for 40 years. During that time, God wrote the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone with His finger.  The fourth commandment reminded the people to keep the Sabbath day holy. You can read all of the commandments in Exodus 20 and in Deuteronomy 5.  God didn’t give us these commandments because He wanted us to follow a bunch of hard rules. He gave us the Ten Commandments for our own good, that we may live peacefully. He wants us to live practical and enjoyable lives, maintaining uplifting relationships with one another and with Him.  The Sabbath was made for mankind for our own good. God wants you to experience thankfulness and joy on the Sabbath day! Observing the Sabbath can be something we look forward to each week . “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3, ESV). God wanted to show us how important the Sabbath was to Him and how important it is for our own well being. The least we can do is take one day a week off from work and secular activities to focus on our Creator and the world He created for us.  The Bible tells us that the Sabbath isn’t just any day off. We are asked to refrain from pursuing our own business or our own interests and instead look toward the joys we can find in God and the world He created for us. When we call the Sabbath “a delight,” He will make us ride on the heights of the earth! He will bless us when we keep the Sabbath holy. “If you call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the LORD honorable… then you will delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride over the heights of the land…” (Isaiah 58:13,14, CSB).  What day is the Sabbath? If we follow exactly what the Bible specifies several times, the Sabbath is the 7th day of the week.  It started when God sanctified the seventh day in Genesis 2, after He finished creating the world. Later, God’s Word confirms the Saturday Sabbath in Exodus 16, even before the Ten Commandments were written.  When the Israelites were gathering food, God commanded them to gather for six days, “but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none” (Exodus 16:26, CSB). When discussing the Sabbath, the Bible never assigns any other day to this title. Nowhere in the Bible does it say the Sabbath day was changed.  While there are many Christian denominations that decided to make Sunday, the “Lord’s Day” (honoring Christ’s resurrection), the weekly time to go to church and spend time with family, there was no command in Scripture to do as such. Keeping the Sabbath is the 4th commandment found in God’s eternal moral law. This change of the Sabbath was foretold in the Bible by the prophet Daniel.  “He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law …” Daniel 7:25 When Jesus lived here on earth He kept the seventh day Sabbath. However, just a few hundred years after His death and resurrection, early Christians began keeping Sunday as their day of worship just as Daniel foretold.  The change of the Sabbath as the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday happened in the year 321 A.D. The Roman Emperor Constantine issued a decree that all Christians were to begin observing Sunday as a day of rest.  In the verse above, Daniel was saying there would be a kingdom who would try to change God’s law. But God’s law is eternal. And the Sabbath was made for all mankind for all eternity.  “And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27 ESV Anyone can keep Sabbath by refraining from work and focusing on God. That also makes it a fitting time to go to church. We find in the Bible that Jesus typically went to the synagogue on Sabbath.  “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read” (Luke 4:16, ESV). “And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished…” (Mark 6:2, ESV). The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, according to the Bible. We can follow Jesus’ example by refraining from our regular daily work to focus on Him and His creation.  The Sabbath and the Adventist church In the 1800’s there was a religious revival among protestant Christians. This movement was led by a group of Baptist and Methodist ministers. They proclaimed the soon coming of Jesus and the message quickly spread through their congregations.  These Christians believed Jesus would return in 1844 and when that did not happen they were greatly saddened. This left them searching their Bibles for answers. They began to study the Bible for themselves instead of leaving all interpretation to the clergy,  These Advent Movement Christians noticed the emphasis on the seventh-day Sabbath in the Bible. They had a desire to keep all of God’s commandments.  These Christians decided they would begin to keep the biblical Sabbath even though most churches worshipped on Sunday. Keeping the 4th commandment became a distinctive part of their worship.  The name of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church was chosen because of their belief in keeping the seventh day, as well as their belief in the literal second coming of Christ .  As Sabbath keepers today, we can make the most of this the sacred day of rest each week with our family, friends, and other believers by: worshiping in church rejuvenating our souls through quiet reflection Finding refreshment through time spent in nature Deepening our relationship with Christ through Bible study Strengthening our relationships through time spent with family and friends Resting our weary bodies  The Sabbath is cherished by Adventist Christians around the world. Adventists believe the Sabbath is a blessing for every created person, and it reminds us that we each have a powerful Creator and a loving Savior.

The Sabbath is God's weekly reminder that we are more than what we produce. It’s a gift of sacred time and presence.

What Is The Sabbath

What the Bible Says About the New Earth The New Earth is God’s promise to remake the world. No more pain, no more death, just life with Him.
According to the book of Revelation, the New Earth is our final destination—our forever home. It is the place humanity will live forever.  After Jesus’ Second Coming After the Judgment After we live in heaven with him for 1,000 years  The New Earth will be your home, made brand new in God’s time. And the Bible tells us exactly what to expect. So let’s look at:  What does the Bible say the New Earth is? The New Earth is exactly as it sounds. It is a New Earth—earth recreated. God , who created the earth in Genesis will burn everything on this current, corrupted earth, cleansing it, and then recreate it as originally intended. The New Earth is mentioned specifically in Isaiah 65 and 66, 2 Peter 3, and Revelation 21.  To get a full understanding, we’ll also have to look at creation , the origin of sin, God’s plan for redemption, and Jesus’ return in the end time. It’s on this new, perfect earth that His people will live forever. You can find this truth in Revelation 21:1-8.  1. It is like the Garden of Eden The Bible’s description of New Jerusalem and the New Earth points back to God’s creative power and expression. The use of precious jewels and pure gold throughout the city point to the perfect creation of God’s original Eden.  You get more vivid imagery of this Edenic quality in Revelation 22. The River of Life flows from the throne of God at the heart of the Holy City (v. 1). This is similar to the river mentioned in the creation story in Genesis 2:10-14:  “A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.  The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush.  And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria.  And the fourth river is the Euphrates.” Right away you can notice one big similarity: there is one river flowing out of Eden which gives life to the rest of the lands.  The River of Life in the New Earth Jerusalem flows from God Almighty. It gives life to the Tree of Life standing on its banks. It is no coincidence that the river flowing from God’s throne waters the tree and the life-giving fruits it yields. Even the leaves themselves give life.  Instead of falling each year as they do on earth, the leaves of the Tree of Life are used for healing (v. 2).  Finally, like Eden, there will be nothing cursed (v. 3). It is as if the very presence of God and Jesus in the City prevents such tragedies (see Revelation 22:1-5). 2. The Capital City is New Jerusalem Looking in Revelation 21:9-27, The Holy City belongs to both Heaven and the New Earth. When God’s followers are called up to heaven for 1000 years, they will dwell in the Heavenly City with God described in Revelation 21. This Holy City will be fortified with high walls and a firm foundation (v. 14). It will have gates on all sides which will never be closed (v. 25).  There is no need for a temple because God Almighty is the temple (v. 22). Nothing unclean or anyone who does “detestable or false” things will be able to enter (v. 27).  3. Its City is Built by Christ Himself Hebrews 11:10 says “For [Abraham] waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”  Like Eden in the beginning of the world, Jesus and God the Father create the New Jerusalem together.  In fact, before Jesus parts with His disciples and is killed, He tells them:  “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:1-3).  You can find this truth in Genesis 1, John 14, and Revelation 21.  4. God Will Dwell With His People There The Bible says in no uncertain terms that God will dwell with His people in the Holy City on the New Earth. In John’s vision in Revelation 21, he describes this scene in which the city comes down from heaven and a loud voice declares:  “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (v. 3).  Two things we can take from this verse are: He will dwell with them.  The Greek word used for dwell here is skēnoō, which literally means to share a tent. This tells you that not only will God be on the New Earth with you, but that He will be sharing His Holy City with you.  God Himself will be with them as their God. The Greek preposition used for “with” here is meta, which means to be in permanent company with. This tells us that not only will God be dwelling with us in the New Earth, and sharing His Holy City with us, but that He will be hereafter and forever. You can find this truth in Revelation 21:3-8. 5. It is the Earth, Re-Created When God created the earth in Genesis, there was one purpose. God spent creation week creating spaces, and then filling them.  He created the atmosphere filled with perfectly balanced gases to sustain life, and then He filled it. He created dry land and filled the land with plants. He created the air and water and filled both with living things. He filled the empty land with mammals.  God created Eden and then put Adam and Eve there to commune with Him. When creation was finished, He created a new day for Sabbath , a day of rest and relationship with Him. Following the sequence of creation, you can see the earth was created for humanity , just as Sabbath was created for humanity (Mark 2:27).  According to the historic account in scripture, things did not go as planned, and the earth has been Satan’s dominion since the fall, when Adam and Eve chose to go against what God asked. The sin that entered the world at that time has permanently damaged the earth itself and all things in it, bringing suffering and havoc.  In order to set things right, God will destroy this broken world and create a new one in its place, the New Earth .  You can find this truth in Genesis 1-2 and Revelation 21. The New Earth is not… While the Bible is clear about what the New Earth is, there are still many other ideas floating around. To avoid confusion about God’s heavenly kingdom and His earthly kingdom, let’s make sure we know what the New Earth isn’t. The New Earth isn’t heaven, as heaven is mentioned elsewhere in scripture and has existed long before earth. The New Earth isn’t another dimension or plane of existence. It is described as a physical recreation of the current earth we live on, to restore it to the perfection originally intended for it. The New Earth isn’t the end of time, as Scripture describes how earth’s recreation is actually the beginning of a new chapter in time as we know it.  What is the purpose of the New Earth? The way God once created all things tells us that He is a God of order and of sense. He doesn’t do anything without a reason.  So, why did He not create the earth perfectly in the first place? Why did He not eradicate sin at its start? Can’t God just reuse this earth instead of making a whole new one?  Well, in the beginning, God did create the earth perfectly. He even created people perfectly—in His own image.  “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).  He created male and female and blessed them, giving them dominion over the earth and all that was on it (Genesis 1:28).  However, the whole story begins with how humanity chose to exercise the freedom of choice God gave them when He made them. And at the first chance to use that freedom of choice, they chose to explore the option God warned them against choosing. Adam and Eve chose the knowledge the Serpent and the forbidden tree offered (Genesis 3). In doing so, the human beings made their home vulnerable to Satan, sin, and death .  The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23) . It also says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  We all deserve to die as a consequence of sin, but God eradicated the consequence of sin when Jesus died on the cross in our place. He gave us an existence where we have every opportunity to thrive in a relationship with Him. We can choose to accept the great gift of eternal life with Him or not.  Living in this New Earth with Jesus will be our completely informed choice. No one will ever wonder about any other path than God’s because we will have already learned what that would be like. And just like God’s original creation was perfect, the earth will be made flawlessly beautiful once more. Isaiah 65:17 explains why He recreates the current earth to a New Earth instead of scrapping this one completely:  “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.”  It’s not enough that we just have a beautiful place to live. It’s restoring what God intended for us from the beginning. We’ll finally get to see what life would have been like if humanity had never fallen into sin, and we’ll get to live out this perfection for eternity .  What will happen to the old earth? If God is going to create a New Earth, what will happen to the old one?  In Luke 12, when speaking to thousands, Jesus said:  “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled” (v. 49).  The prophet Isaiah describes these final happenings in plain terms:  “Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants…The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the Lord has spoken this word” (Isaiah 24: 1, 3).  The words used in scripture to describe this destruction are strong ones. The planet will be burned completely until it is unrecognizable, its surface twisted, its population scattered and gone.  According to John’s vision described in Revelation, the first heaven and first earth will pass away completely (v. 21:1). Anything that made this earth corrupt will be disintegrated. We won’t have to worry about anything imperfect resurfacing. What does the New Earth have to do with you right now? While the New Earth may seem like a far-away event, the meaning it carries with it is valuable in our spiritual growth, as we draw closer to God.  Knowing that our earth will be recreated and restored, that we will finally get to experience our original Eden…that allows us to see a new depth to God’s love for us.  God didn’t abandon us when we [humanity] abandoned Him. He made a perfect plan that allowed us to be redeemed and reconciled to Him, and this plan included not only our restoration, but our planet’s.  He truly did think of everything! And the same God that will recreate our earth can also recreate our hearts.  No matter what we’ve done, who we are, where we’ve been…God can and will make something beautiful out of each one of us.  So we can have faith that “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6, NKJV). Knowing we will live in a perfect New Earth can give us the kind of hope for the future that nothing else can compare with.  The end of a sinful earth, the beginning of perfect eternity The entire Bible is one long story of earth’s existence. In it you can read about the backstory, when Satan defected in heaven and took 1/3 of the angels with him when he was cast down to the earth (Revelation 12:9).  You can read firsthand the story of creation in Genesis 1 and then the first sin of mankind in Genesis 3. You can see God’s plan of redemption at work when He cleanses the earth with a flood in Genesis 9 and when He makes a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 17. God’s plan for redemption comes to life when Christ enters the scene (John 1). Fulfilling every Messianic prophecy, Jesus is introduced in the gospels as the promised Messiah. Jesus is the “Word made flesh” as John puts it, and through His sacrificial death and following resurrection we are all able to live forever in the New Earth with God (John 1:14-18).  All believers that accept the gift of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice will populate the New Earth. It is the glorious purpose of humanity to do so.  You will be in heaven and you will live on the New Earth. It’s not a symbol of something else. It’s not a metaphorical place. This will be a literal, physical place in the direct presence of God.  Revelation 21:5 says all we need to know:  “And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”  In the Bible it is written, and from God’s own mouth it was said He is making all things new.  He’ll make you new. Each of us can be as perfect as Adam or Eve were before they ever sinned. You won’t have chronic pain, addiction, scars, or painful memories. You won’t have physical or emotional trauma.  There will be no global warming, no pandemics, natural disasters, or droughts. You will not have to build or pay for a house. You will not have to drill for a well. You will not have to buy food or wash it before you eat it. You will not fear wildlife of any kind. The earth will not die and neither will we!  Things to Remember in These Troubling Times The current troubling times are not part of God’s plan. This is a deviation, because we as humanity chose to follow the Devil’s deception that by eating the fruit we would be “like God” and “know both good and evil.”  Good and evil mixed together is exactly what we’re living in. Our current world is a big melting pot where good and evil are constantly stirred up together, and we are constantly having to make choices between the two.  The world is in turmoil. Nations and races are at war. Natural disasters devastate communities and economies. Disease overwhelms our hospitals and threatens our mental health. Violence is everywhere we look, on our televisions and on our streets. Human trafficking affects every nation and nearly 25 million men, women, and children.  You may know someone or many people who live with chronic pain, who die too young, who take their own life. You may know someone who has had their home swept away by a tornado or reduced to ashes by a wildfire. You’ve likely attended funerals, visited hospitals, even witnessed death firsthand.  During these times and as times get worse, remember these things:  This earth as you know it is not what God intended. Before you were even conceived, God knew you (Jeremiah 1:5). If you love God, all things work together for good (Romans 8:28). If you believe in God, you will be saved, and resurrected at His return, and live for eternity (John 3:16).  And where will you live with Him forever?  The New Earth!

The New Earth is God’s promise to remake the world. No more pain, no more death, just life with Him.

What the Bible Says About the New Earth

Content and Sidebar

Content

Results

D561749189747343.webp

Hero

Secondary Menu (Header)

Secondary Menu (Footer)

Primary Navigation Menu

Search

YouTube

Official online home of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a Christian denomination devoted to helping people understand the Bible & find freedom, healing & hope in Jesus.

Denim Custom

Danger

Neutral colors

Success

Warning

Adventist.org is the official website of the Seventh-day Adventist church.

Seventh-day Adventists are devoted to helping people understand the Bible to find freedom, healing, and hope in Jesus.