October 13, 2010

This Forgotten Day is One to Remember!

October 14–the cover date of this Adventist Review–didn’t exist some 418 years ago in several notable places: the nations of Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain. That’s because 1582 saw much of the world shift from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, and several days just dropped off that year. One of these was October 14, 1582.
 
Reading about that reminded me of another “missing” day for many around the globe: the Bible Sabbath day, the seventh day of the week. Despite contortions (and perhaps contusions), there’s no way to avoid it: “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” (Ex. 20:8-10a, NKJV).*
 
As I wrote when joining this remnant movement almost 11 years ago, “Running into truth might sometimes be likened to encountering a stop sign when it’s least expected. One had better stop and obey, regardless.”† Surely the Sabbath, with its command to rest, and on a specific day, would qualify as a stop sign from the Lord.
 
In recent years, many Christians express reverence for “Sabbathing,” or having “a” Sabbath during the week, but few evangelical or mainline Christians are willing to step out in faith and honor God on the day He chose. To say the very least, it’s a paradox!
 
Despite agitation against the seventh day, the Sabbath remains God’s stop sign for our week and for our lives, a day in which we can pause and “worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water” (Rev. 14:6, NKJV). Don’t ever, ever forget this day!

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* Texts credited to NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
†Mark A. Kellner, “A Journalist Finds Present Truth,” Adventist Review, July 15, 1999, p. 19.
 
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Mark A. Kellner is news editor of the Adventist Review. This article was published October 14, 2010.

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