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The Weekly Sabbath
The weekly Sabbath, known as Saturday today, is the seventh day of the week. In the beginning, the Sabbath was created by God. He blessed and sanctified the seventh day at creation as a special day for rest and fellowship with Him. The Sabbath is a memorial of creation and was made for all mankind. It was the commanded day of weekly worship for 3,000 years before the Ten Commandments were given to Israel. The Fourth Commandment is a reminder to observe and to keep the Sabbath day holy.
As Lord God of the Old Testament, Jesus Christ created the Sabbath by resting on the very first seventh day and by blessing and sanctifying it. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ proclaimed that He is Lord of the Sabbath day. During His ministry on earth, He reaffirmed the sacredness of the Sabbath and taught its proper observance. Jesus Christ Himself showed by example that it is right to do good on the Sabbath day, in addition to resting from one’s physical labor and secular business. The apostles of Jesus Christ and the early New Testament church observed the Sabbath and taught Gentile Christians to observe it.
The keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath is a special sign of the covenant between God and His people. God commands that it be observed from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. During this holy time, Christians are commanded to rest from their labor and to assemble to worship God and to receive instruction from His Word. Observance of the seventh-day Sabbath is essential for salvation and for true fellowship with God the Father and Jesus Christ.
Scriptural References
| Gen. 2:1-3 | Mark 2:27-28 | Ex. 20:8-10 |
| Ex. 31:13-17 | Isa. 58:13-14 | Isa. 56:1-7 |
| Isa. 66:23 | Ezek. 20:12, 20 | Lev. 23:1-3 |
| Luke 4:4 | Acts 13:42-44 | Acts 17:2 |
| Acts 18:4, 11 | Acts 19:8-10 | Heb. 4:4-10 |
The Annual Feasts and Holy Days
The Scriptures teach that there are seven annual feasts and holy days, which were ordained by God to be observed as special commanded convocations. These feasts and holy days portray God’s plan of salvation for mankind. The observance of these holy convocations is a sign between God and His people. God’s annual feasts and holy days were observed by His people during Old Testament times. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ’s entire ministry was centered around the spiritual meaning of these holy days. The New Testament apostolic church faithfully observed these annual feasts and holy days. The Scriptures reveal that they will be observed by all mankind after the return of Jesus Christ.
As the holy days are annual Sabbath days, they may fall on any day of the week (except Pentecost, which always falls on a Sunday). When a holy day falls on a weekly Sabbath, the special observance of the annual holy day takes precedence. God’s feasts and holy days are to be observed from sunset to sunset in accordance with the calculated Hebrew Calendar as preserved by the Levitical Jews. The seven annual feasts and holy days are as follows:
| Feast or Holy Day | Commanded Scriptural Date of Observance |
| 1) Passover | 14th day of the first month* |
| 2) Unleavened Bread (7 days) | 15th through 21st days of the first month (the 15th & 21st are holy days) |
| 3) Pentecost | Counted annually** |
| 4) Trumpets | 1st day of the seventh month |
| 5) Atonement | 10th day of the seventh month |
| 6) Tabernacles (7 days) | 15th through 21st days of the seventh month (the15th is a holy day) |
| 7) Last Great Day | 22nd day of the seventh month (a holy day) |
*Not a holy day
**Fifty days are counted, beginning with the first day of the week during the Days of Unleavened Bread. The feast is observed on the fiftieth day, which always falls on the first day of the week.
Scriptural References
| Lev. 23 | Ex. 23:14-17; 31:13 | Ex. 12:1-20 |
| John 7:37 | Matt. 26:17-18 | I Cor. 5:7-8 |
| Acts 2:1 | Acts 18:21 | Acts 20:16 |
| I Cor. 16:8 | Zech. 14:16-19 | Isa. 66:23 |
