Why would anyone keep the Saturday Sabbath in these enlightened times? Isn't it an archaic Jewish law that was done away with?

Here are five reasons I keep the Sabbath holy and attend Sabbath services every week in Cave Springs, Arkansas:

1. Because it was instituted at creation

Long before there was an Abraham or the Jewish people, before it was a covenant between God and Israel, the Sabbath was between God and mankind.

"And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made" (Genesis 2:1-2).

2. Because Jesus kept it

He tried to show the Pharisees that their added rules, which they themselves did not follow, had made the Sabbath a burden on the people, but not once did He say that we shouldn't keep the Sabbath. He continued to keep the Sabbath and yearly Sabbaths (the annual festivals) throughout His life.

Read His own words: "And He said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath'" (Mark 2:27).

3. Because the apostle Paul kept it

I have heard it said that Paul instituted Sunday worship, but a mere man does not have the authority to make a day holy. Paul would not be a true follower of Christ if he changed the day of worship from the one that Jesus kept—the one that was instituted at creation and reiterated to the children of Israel.

Acts 17:2 states it was the custom of Paul to go to a synagogue on the Sabbath.

4. Because the Bible never changed it to Sunday

Acts 20 is sometimes used to say this changed the day of worship. This was a time when Paul was having a meal with leading men of the New Testament Church before departing on Monday.

Others use the resurrection of Christ on Sunday to say this sanctified the day. But was He resurrected on Sunday? When the women came to the tomb on the first day of the week—while it was still dark—Christ had already risen.

A short search will show there were two Sabbaths in the week that Christ was crucified. There was the yearly Sabbath of the First Day of Unleavened Bread (which comes right after Passover) and the weekly Sabbath.

The day they were hurrying to bury Him before was one of the yearly Sabbaths. You cannot get three days and three nights from Good Friday to Easter Sunday—and that was the only sign He was the messiah that Jesus gave, that he would be three days and three nights in the grave (Matthew 12:38-45). I believe He was a full three days and three nights in the grave, just as He said He would be.

5. Because the followers of Christ continued to keep it

Early church writers still commonly spoke of the Sabbath day and of meeting on that day. It was not even a question of which day they would meet on at that time.

"On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God" (Acts 13:44).

"And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there" (Acts 16:14).

"There remains, therefore, a Sabbath rest for the people of God to keep" (Hebrews 4:9, International Standard Version).

For more information on how the Sabbath is still relevant today read this study aid.

These reasons are why I, and many more like me, will not ignore the admonition to keep God’s Sabbath holy.