Letter to the Congregations: 1st February 2025

Our Dear Brethren,

God’s Sabbath day goes all the way back to the creation account in the book of Genesis. This means that the Sabbath was created just after the animals who walk upon the earth, and after Adam, the very first man. As part of this perfect creation, our Creator knew we would need a day each week specifically set apart to honor and remember Him. He made sure to set it aside as holy time so we would hopefully understand that it is special to Him and should be special to us. God even went so far as to rest on the first Sabbath, as the sun was setting at the end of the sixth day of the week, as an example for us.

“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 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 2:1-3).

Jesus Christ, by whom and through whom and for whom all things were created (see Colossians 1:15-16), was consistent in not only teaching the keeping of the Sabbath, but also rested on it Himself. Since the Sabbath was created through Him (God the Father and the Word working together in creating all things) He is the “Lord of the Sabbath” (see Mark 2:28; Matthew 12:8; Luke 6:5). He is our prime example of how to keep this weekly day of holy time and rest as it was intended to be kept.

To this day God’s people continue to gather on the seventh day of the week and keep it holy as part of a perpetual covenant. It continues to be a day that reminds us of the past, and also of the future time of rest for all of mankind in the coming Kingdom of God. “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:9-10).

Our love is with you,

Lewis VanAusdle

Pastor, United Church of God

NYC, NJ, CT, Malawi, Zimbabwe