Questions and Answers – When does the Sabbath Begin?

When does the Sabbath begin? I have my doubts as to the Sabbath of our God beginning at sunset the previous day. In reading over the record in Genesis, we find God says each day, that the evening and morning constituted the day, until He speaks of the seventh.

—A seeker of the truth

Our correspondent’s doubts do not affect the truth. The seventh day was like all the other days as regards ending or beginning. This must have been the case or it would have altered the day before or the day after, or both; for the sixth day began with the evening and closed at the beginning of the next evening, and the first day following the seventh day began and ended in the same way; therefore the same must have been true of the seventh day. Thus also was the yearly sabbath of the atonement kept. (See Leviticus 23:32). Thus also the Sabbath was observed at the time of our Saviour. Under Pharisaical restriction the Jews would not bring the sick to our Saviour during the hours of the Sabbath, but when it closed, they brought them. An instance is given of this in Mark 1. In verse 21 we are told that Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath. There he healed a man possessed of a demon, and later the same day, in Peter’s house, he healed Peter’s wife’s mother of a fever. The record continues in verse 32: “And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils.” (See also Matthew 8:16; Luke 4:31, 40.) Our correspondent quotes the following: “In Him is no darkness at all” [I John 1:5]. “From the rising until the setting of the sun, My name shall be great among the Gentiles” [Malachi 1:11]. But these texts have nothing to do with the beginning of the Sabbath. The darkness of night and light of day are both alike to God. (See Psalms 139:12; 18:11.) The second text (wrongly) quoted from Malachi, simply shows that wherever the sun shines God will have a people to praise him.

The Signs of the Times, September 18, 1893.

There are some questions and answers from the past that never change!

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