Why Are There Seven Days in a Week?

I spoke with a young preacher who had taken issue with something I had said in a sermon. As we talked, I began to realize that he had a very different view of scripture than I had. So, I interjected, “Not everything in the Bible is black and white.” I detected shock in his voice as he corrected me, “Of course it is.”

I once lived in a black and white world when it came to religion and morality. And please don’t get nervous thinking I’ve closed my Bible. Rather, I have come face-to-face with a few situations in which the answer simply was not clearly presented in Scripture in black and white terms.

Let me be more specific by considering some things about the Sabbath…

The observance of the Sabbath Day was commanded in the Law of Moses and applied specifically to the Israelites. Yet, Christians are not commanded to observe the Sabbath. Still, we are not instructed that it is wrong to observe the Sabbath Day. In fact, God’s reasoning for the Sabbath Day for Israel was rooted in the creation sequence. In other words, the idea of the Sabbath and God’s intention for man to keep the Sabbath predated the Law of Moses.

In my youth I was taught that the Israelites had the Sabbath Day and Christians have the Lord’s Day. Even so, our worship assembly on the Sunday is more from examples of early Christians than direct command.

Luke, the writer of Acts, reported that he and his missionary companions met on the first day of the week in Troas. Paul instructed the Corinthian Christians to put something aside for benevolence on the first day of the week so that he did not have to go around collecting money when he arrived. These are the strongest statements in the Bible for scheduling a gathering of Christians every Sunday. I recognize that, historically, the Sunday meeting was widespread among early Christians, but the instruction is not black and white. Even then, Sunday is never referred to as the Christian Sabbath.

Did you know that the Sabbath was literally the day of rest?

Over time, the Jews, in an effort to clarify the things that were lawful on the Sabbath, added restrictions that God had not intended. In response, Jesus said that the day of rest was made for man; man was not made for the day of rest. In other words, God did not create mankind to serve a calendar. Rather, He created an extra day so man could have rest from his work.

So, God intentionally rested for a day after creation so that our week cycle would have seven days instead of six. His purpose was that we would rest for a day each seven-day cycle.

Knowing that man would not be very good at resting, God made a law for the Israelites. The Sabbath law was etched in stone...literally. It is not so black and white for us.

When God explained His intentions to Israel regarding the rest day, He said that man was given six days for work. We often overlook all the things that God included in the six days: work, hobbies, sports, entertainment, vacation, yard work, house projects, family fun, etc. He intentionally gave man six days to get all his stuff done. Then God asked that man give Him one day; just one...but the whole one.

God has not made a rigid Sabbath law for us. But His intentions are quite clear.

Do you take advantage of a rest day for God?

Or...

Is every day another day for you??

Mark Stinnett

December 24, 2023