Did People Worship On The Seventh Day Sabbath Before Mt. Sinai?
By
Larry W. Wilson
By
Larry W. Wilson
Some Christians question whether God’s seventh day Sabbath was observed before He gave the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai because Sabbath observance was never mentioned in the book of Genesis.
I would like to address this question and summarize my conclusions by writing that even though Genesis and several other books in the Bible do not mention Sabbath observance, evidence provided elsewhere in the Bible answers and resolves this question.
Two essential points should be established as we begin this study: First, Jesus Christ created everything that exists. He created everything on Earth in six days, and He created the seventh day and made it holy. (Genesis 2:1-3)
John speaks of Jesus as the Creator saying, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” (John 1:10:11)
Paul says more about Jesus as the Creator, “For by him [Jesus] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him [the Son] and for him [the Father].” (Colossians 1:16, insertions mine)
Second, Jesus does not change. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) “I the Lord do not change. . . .” (Malachi 3:6) As we proceed in this study, we will see that the actions of Jesus in the past through the future are consistent. If we accept these two conclusions, the remainder of this study should be easy to follow.
Since we know that Jesus is deity, the Creator of the seventh day carefully considered His response to the Pharisees when they accused Him of breaking the Sabbath: “Then he [Jesus] said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So, [speaking as the Creator of the Sabbath, Jesus continued] the Son of Man is Lord [over all creation] even of the Sabbath.’” (Mark 2:27, insertions mine)
The Pharisees understood Jesus to mean: “I made the Sabbath for man. As the Creator [owner and Lord] of the Sabbath, who defines Sabbath observance? You or Me?”
Genesis 2 clearly states that Jesus created the Sabbath at the end of Creation Week. Jesus, speaking to the Pharisees as the Creator of the Sabbath 4,000 years after Creation Week, said “the Sabbath was made for man.” Considering this statement, how can anyone argue that Jesus created the Sabbath for man, hid it for centuries during the time of the patriarchs, and waited until 2,500 years after Creation Week to reveal the Sabbath on Mt. Sinai.
The New Testament indicates three times that “the Lord’s day” is the seventh day of week. (Matthew 12:8; Mark 2:27; Luke 6:5)
