Ángel Manuel Rodriguez
Adventist eschatology assigns to the Sabbath commandment a major eschatological role shortly before the return of Christ. This particular eschatological emphasis raises at least one important question: On what grounds can we assign to the Sabbath such eschatological import? In what follows we will discuss some thoughts that could be useful in framing an answer to our question and that presuppose knowledge of the narrative of the fallen heavenly cherub (Isa 14:12– 14; Ezek 28:12–19) who questioned the integrity of God’s character (e.g., Gen 3:4–5; Job 1:8–11) and sought to be like God by claiming to be a legitimate object of worship (Isa 14:13–14; Matt 4:8–10).
Although the Sabbath is phrased as law, it surprisingly attests to the validity of the eternal gospel and exhorts and commands us to remember it. The Sabbath is the only commandment in the Decalogue that clearly identifies God by referencing His two most significant mighty works. Here is the first: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy… . For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day” (Exod 20:8, 11 NASB, emphasis added). The Sabbath witnesses to God as Creator. Here is the second: “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there; … therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day” (Deut 5:15 NASB, emphasis added). The Sabbath witnesses to God as Redeemer.1
What do creation and redemption have in common? Much, but we will mention only a few commonalities. Creation and redemption were the result of the work of the Son of God (John 1:1–3, 14; Rom 3:23–24), and consequently requires a Christological interpretation of both (cf. Col 1:15–20). They are God’s exclusive work through His Son, totally independent of human activity and productivity.2 They both participate in what is a fundamental characteristic of the gospel—it is not the result of human works (Rom 3:20). Creation and redemption constitute the two most powerful manifestations of divine activity known to us. The vastness of the cosmos suggests that its creation was a magnificent demonstration of divine power. The personal and direct involvement of God in the work of redemption through Christ, that makes it possible for every human being to be restored to permanent fellowship with God, is indeed an incomparable manifestation of the power of God’s saving grace (Rom 5:20). Perhaps the most important similarity between creation and redemption is that they both are a manifestation of divine love. Creation was an expression of divine love before the rebellion of Lucifer (e.g., Gen 1:31; 1 John 4:8, 16) and redemption is the most glorious expression of divine love after the fall (John 3:16). The original creation displayed God’s wisdom and love (Pss 19:1; 8:3–6) and the redemptive work of Christ is a magnificent revelation of divine self- sacrificing love (John 10:17–18). The God who out of love created everything gave us the Sabbath to remind us that He is a loving Creator. The God who out of love and grace redeemed us gave us the Sabbath to remind us that redemption is a gift of His love and grace. The Sabbath is a dazzling witness to God’s love as Creator and Redeemer.
Thus, it should not surprise us that, at the close of the cosmic conflict, the Sabbath will become an object of attack by evil powers who are opposing the gospel of salvation through faith in Christ (Rev 12:4; 14:8). This they will try to achieve through the mark of the beast (see chart at the end). It is indeed the intention of the fallen cherub to silence the testimony of the Sabbath to creation as the first act of divine love in the history of the cosmos and of the gospel of salvation through Christ’s sacrificial love (Rev 14:13; 13:15). But the witness of the Sabbath would not be muted.
The fallen covering cherub seems to believe that changing the Sabbath commandment would be an effective way of achieving his evil intents. From the beginning he has been in open conflict against the will of God (e.g., Gen 3), but his enmity against the law of God is clearly unmasked in biblical apocalyptic literature (e.g., Dan 7:25; 2 Thess 2:3–4, 7–8). His opposition to the law of God conceals a direct and vicious attack on God Himself. Since the Decalogue is a verbal expression of God’s character, a change in the law is in fact an attack against the integrity and perfection of God’s character—that He is not whom He claims to be, as the serpent suggested to Eve (Gen 3:4–5). Were any change or modification of the law of God needed, it would clearly demonstrate that the law, and more specifically the Lawgiver, is imperfect and in need of improvement. Consequently, Lucifer seems to argue, it is legally and morally justifiable to disobey such an imperfect law. The most radical change in the law occurred when the attempt was made to displace the seventh-day Sabbath with the observance of Sunday. Thus the fallen cherub hoped to discredit God’s character and to manifest his own authority over the law. When humans acknowledge his authority by accepting the change and by obeying the altered “commandment,” they would, in fact, be rejecting the integrity of God’s loving character. This explains why the Decalogue, as a reflection of God’s character, plays such an important role in the book of Revelation (Rev 12:17; 14:12).3
A change in the fourth commandment—changing the day of rest and worship—would result in the worship of a false god. We should always remember that the Sabbath commandment is not about a secular day of rest, but about a holy day. It is holy because God is present in a particular way in this period of twenty-four hours. This is a time that God and believers have in common and that frees Sabbath-keeping believers from the concerns of human productivity or works. We enter this sacred time to be in communion with the Creator and Redeemer; we worship Him (e.g., Isa 66:23). In fact, the holiness of the seventh-day Sabbath constitutes it as a divinely designated holy “space in time” to worship God.
Today, Sunday is considered by the vast majority of the Christian world to be the true day of worship. The intention of the fallen cherub seems to have been accomplished: He changed the law at the junction where law and worship intersect each other. In fact, they are inseparable and consequently changing the Sabbath commandment leads to idolatry. This is masterfully ingenious and profoundly deceptive! By changing the fourth commandment the fallen cherub seems to have achieved his original intent—namely, to discredit the character of God and become the object of worship. For him the Sabbath has to go! It is therefore necessary for the human race to listen once more to the gospel of salvation by faith in Christ that is not opposed to the law of God as preserved in the Decalogue. The perpetuity of the law is to be proclaimed not as a means of salvation but as evidence of salvation through faith in Christ.
The Sabbath is literally at the center of the Decalogue and its uniqueness and specificity transform it into an ideal sign of loyalty to God. In the Hebrew language, the Decalogue, as recorded in Exodus 20:3–17, consists of 152 words. In order to find its center we simply divide 152 by two and the result is seventy-six words on one side and seventy-six on the other. The center of the Decalogue is located in verse 10.4 The seventy-sixth word is “the- seventh” (hashshbi‘i), and the seventy-sixth word in the other section is “Sabbath” (shabbat). The following phrase is at the center of the Decalogue: But the seventh day is a Sabbath “belonging to,” “for,” or “to” Yahweh. In Hebrew it consists of four words:
75 “but-the-day” (Heb. weyom)
76 “the-seventh” (Heb. hashshebi‘i)
76 [is] “sabbath” (Heb. shabbat) (the implied verb “is” is supplied by translators)
75 “to/for/belonging-to-the LORD”
(Heb. laYahweh)
From this literary point of view, this specific phrase is at the center of the Decalogue and, based on what we know about the history of the biblical Sabbath, this is hardly an accident. We know that this phrase became extremely important in the history of Sabbath keeping. The specificity of the commandment, found in that phrase (“the seventh day sabbath”), disturbed the Christian world to the point that it was decided to eliminate it, arguing that “the seventh day” is a ritual component in the fourth commandment without any value for Christians.
However, it is precisely the specificity of the commandment—its seventhness—that constitutes it into a sign of loyalty to God in the midst of the cosmic conflict and that underlines the human privilege of having communion with this holy God. The fallen cherub wants exclusive loyalty to him and opposes the end-time sign of loyalty to God, ironically offering instead the specificity of a false sabbath, the first day of the week,5 as a sign of a loyalty to him—the mark of the beast (Rev 13:16). But God’s law is perfect (Ps 19:7) and unchangeable because it is a reflection of His character.
We have suggested that the eschatological role of the Sabbath during the last days is connected to the divine intent for it to be a witness to the gospel of salvation through faith in Christ. This is intolerable for the fallen cherub who procures to proclaim his own false gospel. The forces of evil oppose the biblical Sabbath because it intends to constantly remind the human race that creation and redemption are the most powerful manifestations of God’s loving character, that it unites a specific commandment to the identity of the true object of worship, and that its specificity transforms it into a visible and effective sign of loyalty to the Lamb at a time when the forces of evil fight against the Lamb, His law, and His character. At the close of the cosmic conflict, the obedience of God’s people to the Sabbath commandment constitutes a sign, a witness to the world that the Creator and Redeemer is a loving and gracious God and that we have found rest by faith in Christ. The eschatological opposition to it will be defeated by the Lamb of God (Rev 17:14).
The chart (see below) lists and contrasts some concepts associated with both the biblical Sabbath and the mark of the beast. There are similarities and differences between both, suggesting that there is an attempt to mimic the Sabbath commandment but that the imitation is imperfect. The intent of evil powers is to deceive by pretending to be what they are not.
The parallels and contrast between the Sabbath and the mark of the beast implies that the mark of the beast is an anti-Sabbath sign commandment6 that presumes to occupy the place of the seventh-day Sabbath commandment. History unmasks for us the identity of the intruder: Sunday. It is an unquestionable historical fact that the Christian church presumed to transfer the biblical command to rest and worship on the seventh-day Sabbath to Sunday, the first day of the week. We do have a counterfeit Sabbath in the Christian world.
| Chart: The Sabbath and the Mark of the Beast | |
| Sabbath | Mark of the Beast |
| 1. Related to worship “Worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the spring of waters” (Rev 14:7). | 1. Related to worship “Those who worship the beast … and whoever receives the mark of his name” (Rev 14:11). |
| 2. Related to a name “Having His [the Lamb’s] name and the name of His Father written on their forehead” (Rev 14:1; cf. Exod 20:11). | 2. Related to a name “whoever receives the mark of his name” (Rev 14:11); “a mark on his forehead or on his hand” (Rev 14:9). |
| 3. Related to a number “He rested on the seventh day” (Gen 2:2). | 3. Related to a number “the mark … of the beast or the number of his name … 666” (Rev 13:17–18) |
| 4. Given to humankind “The Sabbath was made for man/humankind” (Mark 2:27). | 4. Forced on humankind “And he causes all … to be given a mark on their right hand … (Rev 13:16). |
| 5. Uses language of buying and selling “… any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy on the Sabbath” (Neh 10:31). | 5. Uses language of buying and selling “no one will be able to buy or to sell except the one who has the mark” (Rev 13:17). |
| 6. Sign of identity: followers of the Lamb “[They] follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Rev 14:4; cf. Ezek 20:20). | 6. Sign of identity: followers of the beast “whoever receives the mark of his name” (Rev 14:11); “the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast” (Rev 13:3). |
| 7. Sign of submission to God “until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads” (Rev 7:3). | 7. Sign of submission to the beast “buy or sell … except the one who has the mark” (Rev 13:17). |
| 8. Rejection leads to idolatry “Profane My Sabbaths … went after the idols” (Ezek 20:16). | 8. Sign of idolatry (an image) “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark” (Rev 14:9). |
| 9. Rejecters “Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death” (Exod 31:14). | 9.Rejecters Ordered “to be killed” (Rev 13:15). |
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1 When the reading of the fourth commandment in Exodus 20 is compared to what we find in Deuteronomy 5, there are some variations due in part to the homiletical nature of Moses’ speech in Deuteronomy. The variations also enrich the theological significance of the Sabbath by associating it with redemption as a post-fall human need. See the discussion in Mathilde Frey, “Deuteronomy,” in Andrews Bible Commentary, ed. Ángel Manuel Rodriguez (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2020), 1:322–328.
1. While Christ’s work of redemption is entirely independent of human activity, our acceptance of it under the influence of the Holy Spirit is our responsibility.
2. The Ten Commandments are mentioned or implied in Revelation: first commandment: worship God (Rev 14:7); second commandment: worship of images (Rev 13:14); third commandment: misuse of God’s name (Rev 13:6); fourth commandment: keeping the seventh-day Sabbath (Rev 1:10 [Gen 2:2–3; Exod 20:8–11; Isa 58:13; Mark 2:28]; Rev 7:3; 14:1 [Exod 31:13, 17; Ezek 20:12, 20]; Rev 14:7 [Exod 20:8–11; 31:17]; fifth commandment: honor parents (Rev 14:1 [believers honor the heavenly Father]; cf. 17:5 [dysfunctional family of the woman]); sixth commandment: do not kill (Rev 9:20–21; 13:10); seventh commandment: do not commit adultery (Rev 9:20–21); eighth commandment: theft (Rev 9:20–21); ninth commandment: false witness (Rev 14:5); and tenth commandment: covetousness/desire (Rev 18:14). See Johannes Kovar, “The Remnant and God’s Commandments: Revelation 12:17,” in Toward a Theology of the Remnant, ed. Ángel Manuel Rodríguez, Biblical Research Institute Studies in Adventist Ecclesiology 1 (Silver Spring, MD: Biblical Research Institute, 2009), 113–126; Jon Paulien, “Revisiting the Sabbath in the Book of Revelation,” Journal of the Adventist
Theological Society 9, nos. 1–2 (1998): 179–186; and Mathilde Frey, “Sabbath Theology in the Book of Revelation,” in Rodríguez, Toward a Theology of the Remnant, 127–137.
3. In Deuteronomy 5:7–21 the Decalogue consists of 172 Hebrew words that when divided by two equals eight-six and eighty-six. The center is found in verse 14. The eighty-sixth word in the first part is “any” (Heb. kol) and in the second is “work” (Heb. mela’kah): “any work.” What precedes the word “any” is the phrase, “But the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; you shall not do any…” In the second section what follows the word “work” is the completion of the list of those who should rest: “you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.” The two emphases at the center of the commandment in Deuteronomy are (1) the seventh-day Sabbath that belongs to the Lord and (2) on that day we worship and rest and do no work.
4. While the tie to creation is found in the fourth commandment itself, the Hebrew/Jewish practice of numbering the days in accordance with creation week confirmed the Sabbath on the seventh day. See Clinton Wahlen, “The Sabbath and the First Day of the Week,” in The Sabbath in the New Testament and in Theology, ed. Ekkehardt Mueller and Eike Mueller (Silver Spring, MD: Biblical Research Institute, 2023), 269–295.
5. See Anthony MacPherson, “The Mark of the Beast as a ‘Sign Command- ment’ and Anti-Sabbath in the Worship Crisis of Revelation 12–14,” Andrews University Studies 43, no. 2 (2005): 263–283. The article stimulated my thinking in the preparation of the chart.