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Sabbath Day: Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

The Sabbath day is the Lord’s day. Since the days of Adam and throughout all recorded religious history, the Lord’s covenant people have observed the Sabbath day as a day of rest and worship.

Christ's resurrection marked a new Sabbath day

Until the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Sabbath day was observed on the seventh day of the week in commemoration of God’s resting on that day at the end of the creation process. But after Christ’s resurrection, in order to commemorate his resurrection, the Lord’s disciples began to observe the Sabbath on the first day of the week—Sunday. 1 Most Christians have commemorated the Sabbath on Sunday ever since.

Revealed blessings for keeping the Sabbath day holy

To the Prophet Joseph Smith, as part of the restoration of the gospel, the Lord commanded us to observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy with this promised blessing: You will receive “the fulness of the earth.” The revelations, such as D&C 59:9-15 and Exodus 31:12-17, state other obligations and blessings associated with Sabbath day observance:

  • Keep the Sabbath day holy to remain unspotted from the world. “And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer…upon my holy day….”
  • Keep the Sabbath day holy to renew covenants by partaking of the Sacrament. “…and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;…”
  • Keep the Sabbath day holy for physical and spiritual rest. “For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors….” Rest has a double meaning: 1) to rest from physical work; 2) to enter into the glory of the Lord, meaning to come close and to commune with him.
  • Keep the Sabbath day holy to refrain from work and worldly pleasures. “And on this day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart….”
  • Keep the Sabbath day holy to worship God. “…and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High…remember that on this, the Lord's day, thou shalt offer thine oblations (worship, thanks, prayers, study the scriptures) and thy sacraments….”

    Offering sacraments could include partaking of the formal Sacrament and making personal sacrifices, such as payment of tithes and offerings, sacrificing a broken heart and offering contrite spirit, visiting the sick and afflicted, making amends, and “confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord.”

  • Keep the Sabbath day holy as an eternal sign of the covenant between us and God.

    “…Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations (eternally); that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you…Wherefore [ye] shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations (eternally), for a perpetual covenant (eternally)…[The Sabbath] is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever….”

The Sabbath day and the Ten Commandments

When God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, he revealed that the Sabbath day was a holy day: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy…wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” 2

Moreover, when God completed the creation, he “blessed the seventh [Sabbath] day and sanctified it.” 3

And so it will be with those of us who hallow the Sabbath day—the Lord will bless and sanctify us. “Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father….” 4

Questions about 'Sabbath Day: Keep the Sabbath Day Holy'

  • How long has the Sabbath day been observed by God's covenant people?


  • When and why did observance of the Sabbath day change from Saturday to Sunday?


  • To the Prophet Joseph Smith the Lord revealed that keeping the Sabbath day holy would bring many blessings including the "fullness of the earth." What are some of those blessings and instructions for keeping the Sabbath day holy?


  • To Moses the Lord revealed anew the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy. When did that happen, and in what sacred document is the Sabbath day commandment contained?

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References for 'Sabbath Day: Keep the Sabbath Day Holy'

  1. Acts 20:7 – And upon the first day [Sunday] of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them...
  2. Exodus 20:8-11
  3. Genesis 2:3 – And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
  4. Isaiah 58:14
 
 

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