31:16Exodus 31:16

The verse commands the children of Israel to keep and observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.FE 507.2–3+2 Throughout their generations and for a perpetual covenant mean age after age without end, in plain language too clear to be misunderstood and that no human authority can change, erase, transfer or annul.Ms 117, 1909, par. 7–10+4 The Sabbath commanded is the seventh day God blessed and made holy at creation, not the first day nor any day man may choose, instituted in Eden and kept as His memorial as Creator, King and only true God.FE 507.2–3+4 It is His holy sign and covenant forever, by which His people may know that He sanctifies them, marking their loyalty, obedience and separation from the world as His peculiar treasure and seal in contrast to the mark of the beast.FE 507.2–3+4 Keeping it means setting apart the seventh day for rest, worship and holy service, laying aside ordinary work, while exalting Sunday as a rival day opposes the covenant, and in the last conflict the faithful who keep the seventh day will stand secure and will still worship from Sabbath to Sabbath on the new earth.Lt 8, 1898, par. 6–9+4

The children of Israel were to keep and observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant.FE 507.2–3+4 It was a lasting sign between God and Israel marking their relationship with Him, that they were His obedient subjects who keep His law holy, set apart and distinguished from all other nations.FE 507.2–3+3 By this observance knowledge of God was to be preserved, distinguishing His loyal subjects from transgressors of His law.CH 388.3–4+1 Its basis is creation, that God made heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh day, and its observance memorializes that creation and rest.FE 507.2–3+1 The appointed seventh day stands contrasted with a false sabbath that misdirects from obedience to the Creator, and its sanctity and blessing remain on the day even if another day is put in its place, for God does not change.STE 157.1+1

The words were spoken by God to Moses, with Christ Himself speaking through Moses to command Sabbath keeping.CH 555.4–556.1+3 They were spoken from within the cloud on Mount Sinai, where Moses was with Joshua in the cloud for forty days and forty nights after six days of setting aside common thoughts and preparing by meditation and prayer to converse with God.ST May 13, 1880 The Sabbath command is part of God's holy, enduring law, engraved on tables of stone by His own finger and preserved so that His claims would always be remembered and not be destroyed.CH 555.4–556.1+4 God gave special directions about the Sabbath day so that no mistake would be made, answering for how long it must be observed, and it calls for implicit obedience, with the truth to be obeyed just as it stands rather than accepting error while expecting the blessings promised to obedience.CH 555.4–556.1+2 Living the new life in Christ and taking His word as guide means rendering that obedience.CH 555.4–556.1+1

The instruction came after the directions for building the sanctuary where the divine presence would be specially manifested, and immediately before God handed down from the cloud with His own divine hands the tables of stone with the Ten Commandments engraved by His own finger.4MR 340.5–341.1+3 Even urgent work on the tabernacle had to give way to Sabbath observance, because God had commanded its holiness and knew the people might forget it and say the Lord's work could be done without observing the Sabbath.4MR 340.5–341.1+2 Its observance was a sign that the Lord sanctifies His people, recalling that He made heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh, honoring His memorial of creation and testifying that He is sovereign and His people seek to obey His commandments.4MR 340.5–341.1+1 It is a holy token and treasured trust, given by the Creator as a day for rest and reflection on sacred things, to be kept through every age.RH Oct 28, 1902

Israel as slaves in Egypt had been compelled to work on the Sabbath and had largely lost knowledge of it, so God guarded His Sabbath in particular when He gave His commandments on Mount Sinai and distinguished the seventh day as His memorial to be kept holy unto the Lord so the people may know that the Lord sanctifies them.Lt 19c, 1874, par. 4–6 God brought the people out of slavery and idolatry and delivered them from Egyptian bondage to keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, to live under His rule, to be set apart to keep it, and to preserve their holy, distinct character as His representatives and as a continuing hope, light, and deliverance to the world in a godless age.10MR 236.2–240.2+1 The verse belongs to the history of Israel, with the surrounding verses connecting that covenant with the Sabbath command and with Israel's later failure in worshiping the golden calf.Ms 125, 1909, par. 37–39

The command is of imperishable obligation, not for Israel merely but for the world and for God's people in every age.ST Nov 22, 1899+2 It applies to all who belong to Christ, because they are Abraham's seed and part of true Israel, including those joined to Israel through faith, and through Christ both Jew and Gentile may enter the spiritual fold and be received by God as the people with whom He keeps the covenant, which He fulfills only with those who hold the beginning of their confidence firm unto the end.ST Nov 22, 1899+2 It was made known to man in Eden, was known and kept by Israel on the way to Sinai before it was embodied in the law given from Sinai as part of the Decalogue, and so long as the heavens and the earth endure it continues as a sign of the Creator's power, to be honored by all beneath the sun when Eden blooms on earth again, with the inhabitants of the glorified new earth worshiping from one Sabbath to another.RH Aug 18, 1910 It stands in the center of divine requirements as part of the moral law, not an exclusively Jewish ceremonial, social, or political law given to Moses in secret council on the mount for Israel, but spoken in awful grandeur from the smoking mount in the hearing of all the people and written on tables of stone for all men who live on earth till the close of time.Lt 35a, 1877, par. 21–23

The words throughout their generations answer how long the Sabbath must be observed, and the words for a perpetual covenant answer how long it lasts, meaning age after age without end, forever, enduring and not temporary, sacred to a thousand generations.Ms 117, 1909, par. 7–10+4 Its meaning has never been lost, and its obligation extends to a thousand generations, and when that period ends the redeemed will still observe the Sabbath in the city of God, coming to worship from Sabbath to Sabbath and from one new moon to another.Ms 173, 1897, par. 16–17 God gave special directions about the Sabbath day so that no mistake would be made, and wrote His law on tables of stone with His own finger and preserved them so that His claims would always be remembered.Ms 117, 1909, par. 7–10 The living voice of God still speaks this command now as present evidence of truth that the seventh-day Sabbath remains binding.Ms 131, 1907, par. 15–20 It is not safe to accept error and still expect the blessings promised to obedience, for the truth must be obeyed just as it stands.Ms 117, 1909, par. 7–10

The verse is God's own proof that He set the seventh day apart for observance, to be read before congregations and before those determined to enact Sunday laws with no controversy and with no words of men, exalting a plain Thus saith the Lord so the burden of responsibility rests on those who reject it and their controversy is with God and not with man.Lt 408, 1907, par. 3–8 Its words are not to be changed, and the verse calls for faithful observance of the holy Sabbath and for teaching others its sacredness.Ms 146, 1906, par. 16–28 Sabbath observance is a sign of the covenant and of the Lord's power to sanctify, grounded in God's creation of the world in six days and rest on the seventh.Ms 146, 1906, par. 16–28 God has given the Sabbath of the fourth commandment as the test for His people, to be kept age after age as an everlasting covenant, and those who keep it with a heart consecrated to God find the sanctified day to be more than they had any idea of.Ms 167, 1897, par. 20–21 The seventh day is a definite, knowable day God set apart, blessed and sanctified to be kept holy to the Lord as a memorial that He made the world in six days and rested on the seventh, to be observed throughout generations for a perpetual covenant as a sign of obedience and loyalty to God, and God pronounces blessing on all who keep the Sabbath holy.Ms 173, 1897, par. 16–17

The requirement is stated in positive and clear language, in plain and weighty language, in plain, definite and decided language that is too plain to be misunderstood and needs no stronger words.Ms 22, 1895, par. 21+3 The day kept matters, and God's Word on the Sabbath is positive and must be obeyed, with people asked to keep holy His Sabbath and give up their own way.Lt 193, 1901, par. 19–20+1 Keeping it tests loyalty, and refusing it is loving error more than truth, refusing to repent and be converted even when evidence is clear, refusing to search the Scriptures to see if these things are so, and being unwilling to deny self and lift the cross.RH Apr 17, 1900+1 The command cannot be changed by human authority or replaced with another day, and the law's Sabbath command is enduring and cannot be erased.RH Apr 17, 1900+1 The Sabbath remains distinguished above all other days with the blessing of the Lord, and though another day has been put in its stead, its sanctity and blessing can never be removed.Ms 22, 1895, par. 21

What God has made holy does not become unholy through human claims or inventions, and violating the Sabbath does not undo its holiness.Ms 85, 1893, par. 21–25 The Sabbath's sanctity and God's blessing remain with the day even if people put another day in its place, because God does not change and remains the same through all eternity, while man has sought out inventions in changing it.STE 157.1+2 The Sabbath is holy and is a sign between God and His people, by which they know that He is the Lord who sanctifies them.Ms 85, 1893, par. 21–25 Replacing it with another day cannot remove its sanctity.FE 449.1 This Sabbath observance is the Lord's test, not a man-made test, and is distinguished from tests invented by people.Lt 29, 1901, par. 8–9+1

Exodus 31:16, together with Exodus 20 and Exodus 31:12-18, is the great and important test question, a clean, pure, testing truth that means life to the receiver, whose verity and confirmation are to be established with the heaviest evidences and brought to the front in Washington and in large meetings, camp-meetings and tent efforts in or near the large cities, with abundance of ministerial help so worn ministers do not give the trumpet an uncertain sound.Lt 161, 1910, par. 1–3 It must not be set aside by excitement over minor matters of jot-and-tittle importance that divert minds, swing open a door to questioning and division of sentiment, and give no gain.Lt 161, 1910, par. 1–3 It is truth to be proclaimed with trust in Christ to impress hearts, with His all-powerful guidance and strength and His promise to be with His servants unto the end of the world.Lt 193, 1901, par. 19–20

The Sabbath command stands in the center of divine requirements as part of the moral law, not an exclusively Jewish ceremonial, social, or political law given to Moses in secret council on the mount for Israel, but spoken in awful grandeur from the smoking mount in the hearing of all the people and written on tables of stone for all men who live on earth till the close of time.Ms 52, 1900, par. 30–32+1 Man has no right or authorization to drop or blot out the fourth commandment any more than the second or the eighth, and if the fourth is not binding neither is the law against murder.Lt 35a, 1877, par. 21–23 God's law never changes, and the seventh-day Sabbath remains part of God's enduring claim upon humanity; it was not abolished with the ceremonial system that ended when Christ's death fulfilled its symbols.Ms 56, 1902, par. 25–27+1 It is an institution no man can change, laid in its foundations when God laid the foundations of the earth, when He rested on the Sabbath and sanctified it and pronounced it holy, given to be kept as a sign through a thousand generations, lasting until God's people are in the city of God.Ms 17, 1893, par. 16 Keeping the seventh day as the Sabbath of rest memorializes that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed, and it is a memorial of God's work in making the world.Ms 56, 1902, par. 25–27+1

The Sabbath of the fourth commandment is plain and decided, a plain Thus saith the Lord laying God's perpetual covenant claim on His people to keep it throughout their generations.Ms 52, 1900, par. 30–32 Ministers see the force of this truth but refuse obedience because it involves a cross and will not open their eyes to behold wondrous things out of God's law, and shepherds who reject it to repeat fables, the thus saith of the papacy, will not be vindicated by God.Ms 52, 1900, par. 30–32 Roman Catholic authorities took upon themselves to think to change times and laws as if changing God's law were their prerogative, and through Satan's working people were turned from the true Sabbath to the spurious first-day Sabbath, a child of the papacy accepted by human authorities and presented to the Protestant world as the true Sabbath.Ms 52, 1900, par. 30–32 Keeping Sunday has no foundation, and true sanctification cannot come through the error of breaking the Sabbath, because God does not change nor alter what has gone out of His lips.Ms 17, 1893, par. 16 The verse means the Sabbath is to be remembered and not pass out of mind as endeared to God as a memorial of His creative works, the prince of days bearing the holy signet of Jehovah, sanctified and blessed and set apart for man to keep holy toward God.Lt 35a, 1877, par. 21–23 God will certainly punish violation of His day and will bless those who observe it according to the commandment, defiling the Sabbath by doing work brings death and being cut off from His people, and God's own example of resting upon and blessing the day is safer to follow than very great and professedly very good men who show no regard or contempt for it, whose practice is no excuse because God's word stands against theirs.Ms 56, 1902, par. 25–27+1

The Sabbath of this covenant is specifically the seventh day, the day God blessed and sanctified and set apart as holy unto Himself, not the first day of the week and not any seventh part of time that man may choose.Lt 143, 1909, par. 8–11+3 It is a definite, knowable day identified by the sun, whose identity does not become uncertain because of a day-line theory, and it remains to be kept holy throughout the generations as a sign of obedience and loyalty to God.3MR 253.3–256.1+2 The charge to keep it throughout the generations for a perpetual covenant is a positive statement of the origin of the true Sabbath, recalling that after six days of creative work the Lord of heaven and earth appointed the seventh day as the day of rest.Lt 143, 1909, par. 8–11+2 No human theory or civil law can substitute the word of man for the word of God, so keeping this specific sanctified seventh day is obedience to the Creator and honor to His memorial of creation, required even when the law of Caesar collides with the law of God.Ms 173, 1897, par. 16–17+1 God pronounces blessing on all who keep it holy, its obligation extends to a thousand generations, and when that period ends the redeemed will still observe it in the city of God, coming to worship from Sabbath to Sabbath and from one new moon to another.Ms 173, 1897, par. 16–17

Its obligation rests on creation, because in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed, blessing and sanctifying that day as His memorial.FE 507.2–3+4 It is a lasting, holy, perpetual sign between God and His people throughout their generations and forever, by which they may know that the Lord sanctifies them and which marks the relationship existing between Him and them.FE 507.2–3+4 Keeping the seventh-day Sabbath is obedience to the Creator and the way of life, while resting on a false sabbath misdirects people from that obedience to the Creator.RH Nov 6, 1913+1 Obedience to God's plain Thus saith the Lord in keeping it is the unmistakably plain line of demarcation between His people and the world, outweighing man's supposed necessities even when it causes great inconvenience to those who have no respect for the Sabbath.CH 522.1–2

The Sabbath was instituted in Eden when the foundations of the earth were laid, established after the world was made when God rested on the seventh day and sanctified that day, not the first day.Ms 88, 1899, par. 21–26+4 It was made holy by Christ, who created the earth with the Father, and was given to keep in mind His love and power as Creator.COS 71.1–3 As in Eden where every tree was given for use save one, six days are given for common business while God has put His sanctity upon the seventh day, declaring it holy to be sacredly observed as a memorial of creation.Ms 63, 1897, par. 4–5 At Sinai God spoke the Ten Commandments and enjoined this Sabbath observance upon His people as a sign that He sanctifies them, and the Sabbath remains a binding sign whose requirements have not been relaxed.Ms 88, 1899, par. 21–26+1 Setting it aside for the first day violates the fourth commandment and makes void God's law, and it remains binding despite human laws forcing Sunday observance and despite the claim that the whole world keeps Sunday, because blindness by error and following priests and human lawmakers does not set aside God's law.Ms 88, 1899, par. 21–26+1

As memorial of creation the Sabbath was given to point to Him as the only true and living God, proclaiming Him as Creator of heaven and earth, Creator, King, and Sovereign.Lt 120, 1899, par. 23–24+4 God ordained its observance as the means of preserving a knowledge of Himself and gave it as a memorial of His love and power so men might not forget the true God.CH 388.3–4+2 By resting from ordinary work on the seventh day after six days of work, His people show their loyalty to God as Sovereign and their relationship to Him as His sons and daughters, testifying that they serve the living Creator and are His obedient subjects who keep His law holy.CH 388.3–4+1 Its observance distinguished Israel from idolaters and from nations that worshiped idols, marking acknowledgment of God and distinguishing between His loyal subjects and transgressors of His law, and it still signifies that relationship and honor for His law as God's people leave the world for heavenly rest.CH 388.3–4+2 To disregard it shows open contempt for His law, leaves a person unsanctified, and numbers him with unbelieving transgressors, for keeping holy His memorial is a life-and-death matter of obedience that Christ preserved by keeping the Sabbath in strict obedience.Lt 109, 1899, par. 30–32 In the last days a work of reformation raises up a people who keep holy the seventh day in obedience to the light given them, who acknowledge His sign and are distinguished from the world as God's commandment-keeping people.Ms 33, 1900, par. 8–11

The Sabbath is a holy, perpetual sign and covenant between God and His people forever, to be kept throughout every generation.FE 507.2–3+4 By this observance they are brought into covenant relation with Him as His obedient subjects who keep His law holy, and they are distinguished from all other nations.CH 388.3–4+4 It is the seventh-day rest set apart to the Lord, a memorial of creation grounded in His making heaven and earth in six days and resting on the seventh, and a mark of loyalty and obedience to Him.FE 507.2–3+4 God ordained it as the means of preserving a knowledge of Himself, distinguishing between His loyal subjects and the transgressors of His law.CH 388.3–4+2

By the sign they may know that the Lord sanctifies them, for the Sabbath is the sign that God accepts and sanctifies those who keep it.Lt 19c, 1874, par. 4–6+4 True sanctification comes from God through willing obedience to His commandments, and those who keep the Sabbath holy in worship may claim His blessings.5MR 121.3+2 Keeping it is more than legal observance, having spiritual bearing on daily life as a sign of God's sanctifying work through obedience to truth, showing true conversion and allegiance to God and marking the keeper as belonging to God's government with sanctification of soul, body, and spirit.ST Nov 22, 1899 Its sacredness is meant to bring sanctifying power, peace, and rest, with every moment of the day consecrated.Lt 22, 1897, par. 11–13 This guarding of the Sabbath was made especially plain when directions were given for building the tabernacle, because Israel as slaves in Egypt had been compelled to work on the Sabbath and had largely lost knowledge of it, so lest workmen say the Lord's work could be done without observing the Sabbath the seventh day was distinguished as God's memorial to be kept holy unto the Lord.Lt 19c, 1874, par. 4–6

Keeping the Sabbath expresses obedience to all God's commandments, for reverence for the Sabbath goes with obedience to the commandments governing duty to God and to other people.Lt 164, 1910, par. 5–7+4 The Sabbath covenant joins people to God in obedience and reverence and joins them to one another, and faithful Sabbath keeping is connected with the assurance of entering Christ's everlasting kingdom.Ms 45, 1900, par. 24–25+1 It is a test of loyalty and reverence, showing regard for God's Word above human words and honoring God's command rather than human claims that change times and laws, with its basis in God's creation of heaven and earth in six days and rest on the seventh.Ms 63, 1899, par. 9–12+1 The requirement is stated in plain and weighty language with definite specification and not indefiniteness, spoken by the voice of God Himself in awful grandeur from Sinai, and Sabbath-keeping as part of obedience to all God's commandments is the highest education that can be given, learned not from human unsanctified teachers but from God by truly sanctified souls who live the Word.Lt 164, 1910, par. 5–7+2 Refusing it is loving error more than truth, refusing to repent and be converted even when evidence is clear, refusing to search the Scriptures to see if these things are so, and being unwilling to deny self and lift the cross, while the truth is to be proclaimed with trust in Christ to impress hearts, with His all-powerful guidance and strength and His promise to be with His servants unto the end of the world.Lt 193, 1901, par. 19–20

Faithful Sabbath keeping is a pledge that God will recognize His people and fulfill His covenant, for honoring the Sabbath honors God, who honors those who honor Him.Lt 66, 1900, par. 6–9+2 God has pledged Himself to bless the obedient, to show Himself as their God, to take them into covenant relation with Himself, and to fulfill His promise to all that are obedient.18MR 30.3–31.2+2 The Sabbath is the sign of God by which the loyalty of His people is tested, evidencing His kindness, mercy, and love, and the token by which His people are distinguished from all false religionists and from him that serves Him not.18MR 30.3–31.2+1 It is God's great memorial that in six days He created the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed, preserving among the nations a clear knowledge of the only true God above all gods, a public token identifying the true and living God; the seventh day, not the first day, is His own holy day set apart for rest and worship of the Creator of heaven and earth, who created all things by Jesus Christ, and those who keep it holy reveal that they are His peculiar people and that He who made heaven and earth and sanctifies them is their God.18MR 30.3–31.2+2 Accepting this sign of God's government places a person under the everlasting covenant and joins that person to obedience, whose every link is a promise, and reverence for the Sabbath is a sign that God recognizes them as His chosen people and a pledge that He will fulfill His covenant to them.6T 350.2

The Sabbath of the fourth commandment was made by Jesus Christ, who made the world and made man, and was given to man to keep holy as a golden treasure of truth bearing the signature of heaven.Ms 76, 1897, par. 17–18 Christ displaced the rubbish of human tradition and interpretation piled upon the Sabbath and declared Himself the Lord of the Sabbath, making plain its spiritual meaning and treasures of truth.Ms 76, 1897, par. 17–18 His people are to regard the Sabbath as a peculiar treasure, a trust to be carefully cherished, a holy token and holy day given by the Creator as a day upon which to rest and reflect upon sacred things, designed by God to be observed through every age as a perpetual covenant.Ms 77, 1900, par. 9+1 Even urgent work on the tabernacle had to give way to Sabbath observance, because the Sabbath honors God's memorial of creation, and keeping it testifies that God is sovereign and that His people seek to obey His commandments.RH Oct 28, 1902

The Sabbath is the great test distinguishing those who keep the commandments of God from those who transgress His law, the sign of loyalty, obedience and allegiance to God and His government by which loyalty is tested.Ms 169, 1903, par. 14–17+4 It was given as the test for His people to be kept age after age as an everlasting covenant, and those who keep it with a heart consecrated to God find the sanctified day to be more than they had any idea of.Ms 169, 1903, par. 14–17+1 Keeping the seventh day rests on God's stated command, turning aside from that command brings condemnation, and its command is a lasting test of obedience and loyalty.RH Mar 26, 1908+1 It is a divine, everlasting covenant given as a sign and mark of God's government, and discarding God's word about it to accept the assertions of those who seek to change times and laws is transgression that brings the result of disobedience unless repented of.15MR 32.1–3 Each person must ask whether their day of rest comes from the Scriptures or from a spurious representation of truth, for fastening to this covenant fastens to a golden chain of obedience in which every link is a promise, regarding God's word as above the word of man and God's love as preferable to the love of man.15MR 32.1–3 Repenting of transgression and returning to loyalty by accepting God's mark shows true subjectship, readiness to do His will and obey His commandments, for true observance of the Sabbath in the spirit of true obedience is the sign of loyalty to God, to be placed upon His commandment-keeping people, showing that all His commandments are to be practiced and that the Lord sanctifies His people.15MR 32.1–3 It is evidence of His kindness, mercy and love, and the token by which His people are distinguished from all false religionists, with God pledged to bless the obedient, to show Himself as their God, to take them into covenant relation with Himself, and to fulfil His promise to all that are obedient.Ms 139, 1903, par. 16–19 In these last days the commandment-keeping people are to make earnest efforts to exalt the Lord by keeping His law, and the church militant will suffer oppressive persecution because they keep the Sabbath of creation which God sanctified and blessed.Ms 139, 1903, par. 16–19 Sabbath observance is the line of demarcation between him that serves God and him that serves Him not, God's great memorial that in six days He created the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed, preserving among the nations a clear knowledge of the only true God above all gods.Ms 139, 1903, par. 16–19 The seventh day, not the first day, is His own holy day, set apart for rest and worship of the Creator of heaven and earth, who created all things by Jesus Christ, and those who keep it holy reveal that they are His peculiar people and that He who made heaven and earth and sanctifies them is their God.Ms 139, 1903, par. 16–19

Keeping the Sabbath is the unmistakably plain line of demarcation between God's people and the world, required by the law of God as His platform.CH 522.1–2 It is holy, a perpetual sign between God and Israel throughout their generations and forever, by which they may know that the Lord sanctifies them, with its obligation resting on creation because in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day rested and was refreshed.CH 522.1–2+1 Obedience to God's Thus saith the Lord in keeping it outweighs man's supposed necessities and must stand even when it causes great inconvenience to those who have no respect for the Sabbath.CH 522.1–2 It is a sacred distinction identifying God's people that has lost none of its meaning and remains a sign between God and His people forever.Ms 81, 1903, par. 15–16 It is the special, distinguishing sign between God's people and the people of the world, marking them as belonging to God, and parents are to teach their children to obey the Sabbath commandment so they may be numbered among God's people.Ms 152, 1901, par. 29–31 Sabbath observance is the sign between God and His people that distinguishes them from the world and is to be borne openly without shame, and obedience to God's commandments including this Sabbath command reveals loyalty to Him and reveals the sign of His order, by which those who serve Him honor Him in word and deed, magnify His law, and maintain a strong religious influence.7T 104.3–105.1 It distinguished Israel from other nations and served as a lasting sign of their relationship to God the Creator, and it distinguished Israel from idolaters and marked acknowledgment of God as Creator, King and sovereign.Lt 74, 1900, par. 28+1 It remains a sign distinguishing God's people as they leave the world for heavenly rest, signifying their relationship with God and their honor for His law, setting loyal subjects apart from transgressors, from idolaters and false religionists, from other nations and from Sunday observers.Ms 152, 1901, par. 29–31+2

The Sabbath is the sign or mark of God between Him and His people, holy and sanctifying, given to show that He sanctifies them and given so His requirements are plain and no one is left in blindness and deception.Ms 88, 1897, par. 13–14+1 It is God's mark, seal and public badge of holiness, the genuine Sabbath of the fourth commandment, the day God made holy and blessed, a memorial of His creation of the world in six days and rest on the seventh, His rest day and a sign of His power to sanctify, and the seal of the living God.Ms 59, 1895, par. 40–44+2 It stands in direct contrast with the mark of the beast and his image, and it is for the interest of all to understand this distinction in order to escape the wrath of God proclaimed by the third angel against those who worship the beast and receive his mark.Ms 88, 1897, par. 13–14+1 Keeping God's Sabbath, as part of keeping the commandments of God with the faith of Jesus, is the condition for receiving God's seal, and if any refuse obedience to the Lord in keeping His Sabbath the seal cannot be placed upon them.15MR 225.3+1 The sealing is God's pledge of perfect security to His chosen ones, indicating that they are God's chosen and that He has appropriated them to Himself as Christ's purchased possession, whom no one shall pluck out of His hands, with the seal given in the forehead being God, New Jerusalem.15MR 225.3+1 Keeping it distinguishes those loyal to God from those who accept a human institution in its place.RH Apr 23, 1901

As part of the divine law it defines God's requirements and reveals His will and the principles of His government.RH Jan 28, 1909 It specifies the definite day God has appointed to be kept, and doing God's will means obeying His commandments, with no one able to trifle with these sacred and eternal interests or trample upon God's law with impunity.Ms 65, 1886, par. 47–49 God's holy law is the only unerring standard to judge every soul and decide the fitness of every character for heaven, a standard of righteousness at the judgment when people are judged by what is written in the books, where obedience to God's perfect law is a prerequisite of salvation and the law's principles determine a sentence of life or death.RH Jan 28, 1909+1 The covenant remains unaltered and will be brought forth in heaven's judgment, where obedience receives life and transgression receives death.RH Apr 17, 1900 Those who read these words and obey them now will not have to read them with self-condemnation in the day when the books are opened and everyone is judged out of the things written in them.Ms 27, 1900, par. 32–34 The requirement is plain in the Bible in plain words concerning the seventh-day Sabbath proclaimed from Mount Sinai to be kept as a perpetual obligation, and can be read and traced out, leaving no excuse for neglecting it, and disobedience will be judged by the great moral standard of God's law.Lt 60, 1898, par. 8–13 Trampling the seventh day and exalting Sunday as the sabbath makes void the law of Jehovah and puts people on the path of transgression and sin, and exalting the first day of the week and putting it in place of the Sabbath opposes this covenant.Ms 27, 1900, par. 32–34+1 Work on the seventh day is forbidden under penalty of death and cutting off from the people, for defiling it or doing work in it, with six days for work and the seventh as holy rest to the Lord.Ms 27, 1900, par. 32–34+3 The Sabbath was given as a memorial of His love and power so men might not forget the true God, a holy sign between Him and Israel forever that He is the Lord who sanctifies them, grounded in God making heaven and earth in six days and resting refreshed on the seventh.Ms 27, 1900, par. 32–34+2 God's law never changes, and rejecting this command in definite terms brings the stated consequence of death, for the Sabbath command involves self-denial and self-sacrifice, so some refuse to obey it, and those who knowingly transgress after receiving light are cut off and numbered with unbelieving transgressors.Ms 27, 1900, par. 32–34+2

Sunday has not one thread of sanctification in it, for it is a spurious, false sabbath and a common working day, while the seventh day alone is sanctified and blessed.Ms 191, 1905, par. 46–47+2 Its power comes from the devil to intimidate people from keeping the very day God gave them to keep as His everlasting covenant that does not change.Ms 191, 1905, par. 46–47+1 The seventh-day Sabbath is kept because by it God's people know that He is God who sanctifies them, and it stands as a memorial of creation by which they acknowledge Him as Creator who made the world in six days and rested on the seventh, blessing and sanctifying that day.Ms 191, 1905, par. 46–47+2 Its holiness does not come from human custom or from the number of people who observe another day, so Sunday observance cannot make Sunday sacred or transfer to it the sanctity God gave the seventh day.Lt 83, 1900, par. 8–10 To break the Sabbath is to transgress the law of God and to come up to the judgment as a transgressor, for trampling the seventh day and exalting Sunday as the sabbath makes void the law of Jehovah and puts people on the path of transgression and sin.Ms 191, 1905, par. 46–47+1 The requirement is plain in the Bible and can be read and traced out, leaving no excuse for neglecting it, and disobedience will be judged by the great moral standard of God's law.Lt 60, 1898, par. 8–13

Keeping the true and genuine seventh-day Sabbath shows right relation to God, while agreeing to rest on the first day of the week to avoid arrest or trouble dishonors God and is disloyal to Him.Ms 6, 1889, par. 37–38 Exalting Sunday observance is Satan's work from the first rebellion to exalt his own power against God's law and power by setting up a spurious idol Sabbath in place of the true Sabbath.Ms 6, 1889, par. 37–38 Any voice or resolution by God's people that respects it confuses minds, leaves them open to Satan's deceptions, and exalts the decisions of the man of sin, so loyalty allows no neutral or conceding position but requires open steadfastness under the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.Ms 6, 1889, par. 37–38 Exalting the first day of the week and putting it in place of the Sabbath of the Lord opposes the perpetual covenant to keep and observe the Sabbath throughout generations as a holy sign by which He sanctifies His people, with work on the seventh day forbidden under penalty of death and cutting off from the people, grounded in God making heaven and earth in six days and resting refreshed on the seventh.Ms 27, 1900, par. 32–34 Under Satan's direction that substitution repeats Nebuchadnezzar setting up an image on the plain of Dura and commanding all to worship it.Ms 27, 1900, par. 32–34 Putting Sunday in place of the seventh day also repeats the sin of Nadab and Abihu in offering strange common fire instead of God's sacred fire, and God's statutes must be reverenced and obeyed because He is supreme authority and will surely punish those who set His law aside as of no consequence, though He bears long with the transgressor.Ms 78, 1897, par. 67–69 Those who read these words and obey them now will not have to read them with self-condemnation in the day when the books are opened and everyone is judged out of the things written in them.Ms 27, 1900, par. 32–34

The Sabbath is God's sacred memorial of creation, the seventh day He blessed and set apart for man to honor after finishing His work in six days and resting the seventh, by which people acknowledge Him as the one true God, and every Sabbath is designed for religious meditation and worship.21MR 88.3–4+2 Keeping it is a holy sign between God and His people forever that He sanctifies them, and defiling it with common work brings death and cutting off from His people.Ms 35, 1900, par. 7–12 Replacing that memorial with an ordinary workday defies God's authority and breaks His law, tearing down His memorial, treading the Sabbath under foot, and greatly dishonoring Him.21MR 88.3–4+2 That replacement came by Catholic and papal authority presented to the churches and accepted by them, with human laws forcing Sunday observance and with princes, rulers, priests, and human lawmakers enforcing the false rest day, yet blindness by error and following human authority does not set aside God's law.17MR 346.1–3+2 Accepting the first day in its place dishonors the Creator of heaven and earth, disregards and forgets His command, and brings God's condemnation on all who disregard His command and enforce the false rest day.17MR 346.1–3+1 God's messengers must not sanction that trampling but must warn the people and repair the breach made in the law of God, raising up the foundation of many generations to be exalted and called honorable.Ms 35, 1900, par. 7–12 The direction to keep the Sabbath throughout generations is explicit, still binding, and too plain to be misunderstood, for the Sabbath made in Eden when the foundations of the earth were laid is to endure forever as a perpetual covenant despite the claim that the whole world keeps Sunday.17MR 346.1–3+2

No human authority has sanction from God to set aside the seventh day and honor the first working day in its stead, and no human theory or civil law can substitute the word of man for the word of God.Ms 35, 1900, par. 7–12+1 Human rulers, priests, and lawmakers have no authority to replace the seventh day God sanctified and blessed with the first day or to compel people to violate God's law, and the binding claim remains even when human laws require Sunday observance, which have no scriptural authority.Ms 163, 1897, par. 24–26+2 When the law of Caesar collides with the law of God, obedience belongs to God, for keeping the Sabbath is obedience to the Creator and honors His memorial, required even at such cost.RH Jun 4, 1901+2 The Lord of heaven will not hold guiltless anyone who sets aside His commands and teaches others to do so, but will regard and reward everyone according to works.19MR 183.3–184.1+1 Trampling His great memorial underfoot and presenting a common working day as a rival sabbath to be sacredly observed and worshipped sets the world against God, puts the judgment of the creature above the Creator, and assails the divine government.Ms 147, 1897, par. 43–44 Everyone who accepts the rival sabbath in place of the true exalts the man of sin who exalts himself against God, but even if every member of the human family should accept and exalt the child of the papacy it cannot invalidate Jehovah's holy Sabbath or annul what God has said shall stand, so the work now to be done is to exalt the law of the Lord and call the attention of the people to it against Satan's falsehood.Ms 147, 1897, par. 43–44

In the last days a work of reformation raises up a commandment-keeping people who keep holy the seventh day in obedience to light given them, acknowledge His sign, and are distinguished from the world as God's own.18MR 30.3–31.2+2 They exalt the Lord of heaven by keeping His law amid opposing influences, making earnest efforts to exalt Him while the church militant suffers oppressive persecution because they keep the Sabbath of creation which God sanctified and blessed.18MR 30.3–31.2+2 The Sabbath is the sign by which their loyalty is tested, the token distinguishing them from all false religionists, evidencing His kindness, mercy and love.18MR 30.3–31.2+2 By observance God designed that a knowledge of Him as the only true and living God should be preserved, given in directions more positive and definite than could otherwise be given as a memorial of creation pointing to Him as Creator.Ms 33, 1900, par. 8–11+1 Keeping it brings His people into covenant relation with Him as their God who sanctifies them, with His pledge to bless the obedient, to show Himself as their God, and to fulfill His promise to them, and their observance causes joy among the angels of heaven even as they face persecution for keeping not the first day but the seventh day on which He rested and was refreshed.18MR 30.3–31.2+2

In the final conflict keeping this sign and covenant is a source of strength and security for God's tested people, who stand securely on God's word and the living Word rather than relying on miracles.9T 15.5–16.1+1 Their regard for the fourth commandment distinguishes worshipers of God from those who exalt Rome's institution and receive the beast's mark, distinguishing those who remain faithful from those who serve Him not.9T 15.5–16.1+1 It is the sign of God's creative power and a witness to His claim to reverence and worship.9T 15.5–16.1+1 Those who have broken their covenant with Him are left without God and without hope.9T 15.5–16.1+1

The seventh day is God's creation memorial which He hallowed and blessed and gave as a sign between Himself and His people, and it plainly tells which day is the Sabbath of the Lord.STGC 23.3–24.1+2 God means just what He says about keeping it, though man has interposed between God and the people.STGC 23.3–24.1+1 A future conflict will force people to choose between loyalty to God's commandment and observance of the rival Sunday institution, between the Sabbath of the fourth commandment and the spurious Sunday sabbath.STGC 23.3–24.1+1 The Sabbath will be trampled underfoot when worship of the false sabbath is enforced by punishment.14MR 90.3–91.4 Forcing men to accept a spurious Sabbath is how Babylon makes all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the third angel's message warns against this to prepare a people to stand in days of peril.STGC 23.3–24.1+1

Its obligation is imperishable, not for Israel merely but for the world, definite and knowable, set apart, blessed and sanctified to be kept holy as a memorial that He made the world in six days and rested on the seventh.Ms 173, 1897, par. 16–17+2 It was made known in Eden, laid in its foundations when God laid the foundations of the earth, known and kept on the way to Sinai before it was embodied in the law from Sinai as part of the Decalogue placed in the bosom of the precepts that are the foundation of God's government, with the tables of stone still in the ark of God in heaven.Ms 17, 1893, par. 16+2 No man can change this institution, for God does not change nor alter what has gone out of His lips, keeping Sunday has no foundation, and true sanctification cannot come through the error of breaking it.Ms 17, 1893, par. 16 So long as the heavens and the earth endure it continues as a sign of the Creator's power, its obligation extending through a thousand generations and its sanctity reaching into eternity notwithstanding the confederacy of church and world and the wiles of Satan to make falsehood truth and to make God's law of none effect.Ms 173, 1897, par. 16–17+2 When that period ends the redeemed will still observe the Sabbath in the city of God, and when Eden blooms on earth again it will be honored by all beneath the sun, with the inhabitants of the glorified new earth and the earth made new coming up to worship from one Sabbath to another and from one new moon to another.Ms 173, 1897, par. 16–17+2

The Sabbath sanctified and blessed at creation signifies obedience to all God's commandments and identifies Him as the One who sanctifies His people, a test of loyalty and reverence joining people to God in obedience and to one another in their duties.5MR 88.2–89.1+1 Those who keep God's commandments may claim the promises in Isaiah 58:11-14, with divine comfort and consolation for refraining from labor on the Sabbath, and such obedience teaches what true sanctification is.Ms 169, 1899, par. 48–49+2 The day God calls holy must be acknowledged as holy and obeyed without shame, with ordinary work and personal pleasure set aside, though genuine travel to relieve suffering does not desecrate it while unimportant cases should wait until after the Sabbath.Ms 159, 1899, par. 15–18+1 Keeping it is what makes God's people distinct and denominational, separate from the world, bringing blessing above all other people, freedom from sickness, and establishment forever in the land of promise.19MR 38.2–39.2 Faithful Sabbath keeping is connected with the assurance of entering Christ's everlasting kingdom.5MR 88.2–89.1+1

Keeping the Sabbath under this perpetual covenant means setting apart the seventh day for rest and worship rather than ordinary work, using its holy hours for holy service, religious meditation, holy conversation, communion with God and fellowship with one another, with cheerful reverent obedience that brings blessing and refreshing from the Lord.Lt 8, 1898, par. 6–9+3 Ordinary work and personal pleasure are to be laid aside, ordinary duties set aside as far as possible by planning beforehand and preparing food the day before, and the day is to be honored in conversation and kept from beginning to close with the heart opened, at peace with God, putting away sad thoughts and distress to let the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness shine forth.Ms 30, 1903, par. 16–17+3 Genuine travel to relieve suffering does not desecrate it, and ministering to the sick and relieving suffering when human need cannot be neglected is right after Christ's example, but unimportant cases and ordinary treatments and operations that can be postponed should wait until after the Sabbath.Ms 159, 1899, par. 15–18+1 Those who keep God's commandments in this way may claim the promises connected with the covenant, remember creation, and are sanctified by God.Lt 8, 1898, par. 6–9+1

Obedience to this command outweighs man's supposed necessities and must stand even when it causes great inconvenience to those who have no respect for the Sabbath, for keeping it is the unmistakably plain line of demarcation between God's people and the world required by God's law as His platform.CH 522.1–2+2 Closing business on the Sabbath obeys the memorial and gives opportunity to proclaim the truth, answering those who ask why the business is closed by giving reasons for keeping the Sabbath and giving reading matter, thus sowing the seeds of truth rather than making the day one of taxing labor.Lt 183, 1902, par. 1–3 Restaurants therefore are not to be opened for ordinary business on the Sabbath so that workers have the day for the worship of God, and their closed doors stand as a memorial declaring that the seventh day is the Sabbath and that no unnecessary work is to be done on it.CH 522.3+2 Food can be prepared and taken home on Friday so people have what they need through the Sabbath, even when patrons want restaurants open, preserving the workers' rest.7T 121.3–4+1

In sanitariums patients with physicians, nurses and helpers must still be fed on the Sabbath as any other family with as little labor as possible, while unnecessary work such as ordinary treatments and operations that can be postponed is deferred.CH 522.3+1 The binding claim of this sign and memorial of creation is to be acknowledged openly and publicly without shame and without diminishing its sacred character, upheld in practice and made visible through proper keeping by everyone connected with Adventist sanitariums, so that it stands openly before the world and influences others for good.21MR 288.2–4+2 The Sabbath truth is to be taught and presented rightly so that it illuminates minds rather than gives offense, with ordinary work laid aside as far as possible while the needs of suffering people are not neglected.21MR 288.2–4+1 Living this obedience while living the new life in Christ and taking His word as guide gives a much clearer understanding of what constitutes genuine medical missionary work and gives that work deeper meaning.CH 555.4–556.1+1

Keeping the Sabbath in this covenant marks a denominational people who stand as distinct and peculiar, separate from the world and free from worldly policy and unembarrassed by confederating with those who do not discern the claims of God's law.19MR 38.2–39.2+1 It is the special distinguishing sign showing they belong to God and know that the Lord sanctifies them, bringing blessing above all other people, freedom from sickness and establishment forever in the promised land, so God's institutions and work must maintain that same distinct religious influence instead of becoming undenominational.Ms 152, 1901, par. 29–31+1 For Seventh-day Adventist institutions, including sanitariums as the right hand of the gospel calling attention to truth amid the perils of the last days, this means openly owning the Seventh-day Adventist name and representing the various features of gospel missionary work to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.Lt 128, 1902, par. 19–22 Parents are to teach their children to obey the Sabbath commandment so they may be numbered among God's people, and every family head is called to stand firmly in reform of Sabbath observance.Ms 152, 1901, par. 29–31+1

The Sabbath is truth for the last days that must be proclaimed and carried to the world and must not be cut out or silenced to gain wider circulation and favor, with the words of Exodus 31:12-18 repeated with great solemnity as a decided reproof against removing the Sabbath message.Ms 59, 1905, par. 1–6 It is God's sign borne by a people appointed to carry forward a great missionary work to extend the knowledge of the truth, a work requiring wakefulness because deception has rested upon those who should have seen it.Ms 14, 1901, par. 1 The promise joined to the sign, that the Lord sanctifies His commandment-keeping people, is to be pleaded in prayer for the presence of Jesus to bless His people, for the sanctification of the Spirit, for hearts opened heavenward to the Sun of Righteousness to make them light in the Lord, and for the peace the world cannot give or take away that strengthens them to take the Lord at His word day by day.Lt 255, 1899, par. 5–8 The ordinance is to be studied together with the message of Isaiah 58:1-3, which shows a people professing to delight in God's ways and ordinances and to seek Him daily while without His favor, revealing their transgression, their controversy with God and their empty outward observance.Ms 48, 1900, par. 1–4