Daily Devotional

The verse climaxes with a call to worship the Creator. Notice how powerfully it correlates to the fourth commandment: “In six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:11).

The three angels’ message is telling us, under no uncertain terms, of the coming controversy over the Sabbath day in the end times. As we learned in Revelation 13, the time is soon approaching when the counterfeit Sabbath, the beast’s mark, will be foisted upon the world. The clarion cry of the first angel is to “submit to God” instead (James 4:7).

Notice also that the Sabbath was so named as a memorial of God’s creation of our world—and us (Genesis 2:1–3). Don’t miss this. The Sabbath isn’t just some arbitrary day; the Sabbath inherently identifies God as our Creator.

Interestingly enough, the Ten Commandments are listed in two separate places in the Bible. In Deuteronomy, the Sabbath command highlights another aspect of God’s Creatorship: “And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day” (5:15).

God is not only your Creator; He is your Redeemer. God is the one who gives you salvation by recreating you in His own image. He liberates you from being “a slave of sin” (John 8:34) to freedom in Christ Jesus (v. 36).

The first angel tells us that these are the reasons to choose to worship God over the devil. God brought you to life in the first place, and He desires to give you an eternal life beyond all we can imagine (1 Corinthians 2:9). “God our Savior … desires all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:3, 4). Said Christ, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

My Creator and Redeemer, help me to acknowledge Your life-giving power by worshiping You on Your holy day.

For Further Study: Nehemiah 9:6; Ezekiel 20:12; Luke 4:8