Tag Archives: the Sabbath in Revelation

Q and A on Revelation 14 (Fourteen 8)

Why do you think judgment is an unpopular concept among many Christians today?

Judgment today is often seen as cold and harshly legal. Courts are places you want to avoid, if possible. But in the biblical sense, judgment is something for God’s people to look forward to. It is a time when all the wrongs of earth will be made right. If there is no judgment at the End, there will never be any justice in this world.

But biblical justice is as much positive as it is negative. It is the basis of reward as well as negative consequences. Jesus said that even something as small as giving a cup of cold water to a child will be remembered in the judgment (Matt. 10:42). It provides great meaning in this life to know that every good deed, every kindness shown, matters in the ultimate scheme of things.

Why does the Sabbath play such a central role in the final events of earth’s history? What difference could a day of the week possibly make in the ultimate scheme of things?

God placed the Sabbath at the center of all His mighty acts as a remembrance of Him. When we keep the seventh-day Sabbath we are reminded of creation (Exod. 20:8-11). God created us free, at great cost to Himself (we were free to rebel), so we could truly love Him back and also each other. Not only the Sabbath, but the whole of the Decalogue was designed to promote freedom (Jam. 1:25; 2:12). So the creation side of Sabbath reminds us of the loving, freedom-giving character of God.

The Sabbath also reminds us of the Exodus (Deut. 5:15), God’s great act of salvation for His people. He is a gracious God who acts mightily in behalf of His people. The Sabbath also reminds us of the cross. Jesus rested in the tomb on the Sabbath between His death and His resurrection. The cross is the greatest revelation of God’s character and the Sabbath is a reminder of that.

The Sabbath also looks forward to the future salvation at the End (Heb. 4:9-11). Those who truly trust God find in the Sabbath a down payment on the rest from sin that the whole universe will experience in eternity.

So the placing of the Sabbath as an important issue in the final crisis is a constant reminder of all that God has done and will do for us. And for those who appreciate the substitutionary role of Jesus Christ in salvation, Jesus kept the Sabbath perfectly throughout His time on earth and His perfect Sabbath-keeping is ours by faith. Jesus never kept Sunday or any other day of the week, so His faithfulness does not complete our Sunday-keeping. The Sabbath, therefore, is not legalism, it is a reminder of the gospel of what Christ has done for us.

The First Angel and the Fourth Commandment (Fourteen 7)

The message of the first angel contains a direct allusion to the fourth commandment of the Decalogue. This is evident for three major reasons. 1) There is a strong verbal parallel between Rev. 14:7 and Exod. 20:11. Both passages contain the words “made,” “heaven,” “earth,” and “sea.” They also contain a reference to the one who created. While similar language can be found in Psalm 146, that Psalm does not play a consistent role in Revelation the way that the Ten Commandments do. It is likely that Psalm 146 and Revelation 14 both allude to Exodus 20, Revelation is not primarily referencing Psalm 146.

2) Rev. 14:6-7 contain references to salvation (14:6), judgment and creation (14:7). All three themes echo the First Table of the Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:2, 5-6, 11). While thematic parallels by themselves are the weakest evidence for an intentional allusion, this triple collection of thematic references is quite remarkable and in conjunction with other evidences makes the allusion to the fourth commandment almost certain for Revelation 14:7.

3) There are multiple references to the Ten Commandments throughout this section of Revelation. There are direct references to the commandments as a whole at the beginning and end of the section (Rev 12:17; 14:12. We have earlier noted the counterfeits of the first four commandments in Revelation 13. In addition there are the verbal parallels in 14:7 and the thematic parallels cited above. It seems clear that there is a strong structural parallel to the Ten Commandments in Revelation 12-14. There is little question that the final call of God to the world is in the context of the fourth commandment.

In conclusion, note the narrowing of focus as you read through Revelation 12-14. First, there is a reference to the commandments as a whole in Revelation 12:17. Then in chapter thirteen the focus zeros in on the first table of the commandments, as the beast counters each of the first four commandments. Then in Revelation 14:6-7 the multiple references to the first table of the law focus in on the fourth commandment alone. It is a powerful literary way to focus the readers attention on the fourth commandment and its role in the final crisis over worship.