Why Do Adventists Teach that Sabbath Is God’s Seal?
I attended the annual Former Adventist Fellowship conference virtually this year, and it was amazing! This is such a life-saving community for me. Just to be able to listen to other testimonies brings me great joy and continuously confirms that God led me out for Him.
I do have a question regarding the seal of God. I used to believe that the seal of God was the Sabbath day, as that is what was taught while I was Adventist. Now, when I read Ephesians 1:13 it says when we believed, we were marked with a seal, the Holy Spirit. Why does the Adventist church teach Sabbath as the seal, when the Scripture clearly states that the Holy Spirit is the seal? Thank you again for this ministry. It is priceless.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Your question is really good; there’s no good answer except to say that EGW and the early Adventists just didn’t know the Bible. These are just two quotes from The Great Controversy that show that she believed Sabbath was the seal of God and that it was the opposite of the mark of the beast which she designated Sunday-keeping:
1. Sabbath the seal (Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p.640)
“The enemies of God’s law, from the ministers down to the least among them, have a new conception of truth and duty. Too late they see that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the seal of the living God. Too late they see the true nature of their spurious sabbath and the sandy foundation upon which they have been building. They find that they have been fighting against God. Religious teachers have led souls to perdition while professing to guide them to the gates of Paradise. Not until the day of final accounts will it be known how great is the responsibility of men in holy office and how terrible are the results of their unfaithfulness. Only in eternity can we rightly estimate the loss of a single soul. Fearful will be the doom of him to whom God shall say: Depart, thou wicked servant.
“The voice of God is heard from heaven, declaring the day and hour of Jesus’ coming, and delivering the everlasting covenant to His people. Like peals of loudest thunder His words roll through the earth. The Israel of God stand listening, with their eyes fixed upward. Their countenances are lighted up with His glory, and shine as did the face of Moses when he came down from Sinai. The wicked cannot look upon them. And when the blessing is pronounced on those who have honored God by keeping His Sabbath holy, there is a mighty shout of victory.”
2. Worship on Sunday is Mark of the Beast (Ellen White, The Great Controversy, p. 605)
The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty, for it is the point of truth especially controverted. When the final test shall be brought to bear upon men, then the line of distinction will be drawn between those who serve God and those who serve Him not. While the observance of the false sabbath in compliance with the law of the state, contrary to the fourth commandment, will be an avowal of allegiance to a power that is in opposition to God, the keeping of the true Sabbath, in obedience to God’s law, is an evidence of loyalty to the Creator. While one class, by accepting the sign of submission to earthly powers, receive the mark of the beast, the other choosing the token of allegiance to divine authority, receive the seal of God.
Today many Adventists say that the Holy Spirit is the seal of God, but keeping the Sabbath is the sign of the seal—that those who keep the Sabbath are demonstrating that they are sealed by the Holy Spirit.
Of course, this convoluted reasoning ignores the fact that the seal of God is given only when we believe in the Lord Jesus (Eph. 1:13, 14), and it utterly ignores the biblical teaching of the new birth and of the new covenant. You have asked a question that begins to reveal the lack of biblical integrity of the early Adventists. Even the modern “sign of the seal” reasoning reflects the lack of Adventists’ understanding of the nature of our dead-in-sin spirits that must be made alive, and it demonstrates the lengths to which they will go to retain EGWs teachings and their Sabbath-dependence.
How Should I Study the Bible?
Please may I ask your advice about personal Bible study?
Having left Adventism a few years ago, where Bible study equated to the study of the lesson quarterly, I’m left with feeling uncertain about how to study my Bible—or at least whether I’m doing it right.
I now attend a local Baptist church where the worship is great, and we have a pastor who gives good Bible teaching every Sunday. I also attend a home-group with other members of that church. I’ve taken your advice to read and take notes from Hebrews, Galatians, and so forth—( such eye openers)—prayerfully asking God to teach me what He wants me to know.
My question is—am I doing enough, or should I be studying personally in a more in-depth way ?
If so how ?
God bless all of you.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: I understand that need to study deeply and to know what is real after having one’s eyes opened!
First, I’ll say this: ask the Lord to direct your reading and to show you what to study and how.
Second, I’ll just tell you essentially how I have approached it. I have personally undertaken memorizing, but you could get a notebook and just systematically choose books of the Bible to literally copy, one chapter at a time, beginning with books of the New Testament. I have done memorizing, but copying is really good because you’re taking in the words kinetically (by writing) and visually—slowly enough that you can ponder the verb tenses, prepositions, and so forth. And ask the Lord to teach you what you need to know.
The other thing you might consider adding—which has been such a surprise to me in terms of giving me a big picture of God’s dealings and promises—is to literally begin a program of reading through the Bible. Richard and I use any one of a number of published Bible-reading plans. We have done a chronological plan and a historical plan, but the essential component here is literally to read through the Bible. That has really surprised me. Some places are really hard to wade through, but just keep going, and it’s hard to explain HOW it works, but the big picture really jells in one’s mind this way. We have now read through the Bible several times, and when we end a plan we start over. We don’t usually finish within a year, but we keep going.
Related to your Bible copying, you might enjoy finding good commentaries/sermons on those chapters after copying them. I listen to sermons by S. Lewis Johnson https://sljinstitute.net/ on passages we prepare for the FAF podcast. (And the podcasts on the books we’ve done might be helpful as well!) I also listen to John MacArthur https://www.gty.org/; another good source of good preachers is PreceptAustin.org. The expositors they offer on that site are reliable and use good hermeneutics. MacArthur is there along with several others. Another one who is good and is a favorite of a friend of mine (also a former Adventist) is Don Green: https://www.truthcommunitychurch.org/pastor-don-green You might like listening to some good expository sermons or commentary while you do dishes! Ha! And of course, the sermons of our pastor Gary Inrig are also really good: https://redeemerlomalinda.com/sermons/
There is no absolute definition of what you “should” be doing. The Lord will lead you, and the hunger you have to know the truth of Scripture is a hunger He has given you! Just trust Him. I believe He brings to us what we need to study and read; He teaches us His word.
It is a long commitment to staying engaged with the words of Scripture. I don’t know of anything else as life-changing and rewarding as learning to trust the Bible. It changes the way I see the world and reality. †
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