Discovering the New Covenant by Greg Taylor - exAdventist Outreach

CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE SABBATH IN
REVELATION
A
nother passage that needed to be examined from my
perspective as an Adventist was Revelation 12:17.
This is the verse, along with other related passages in the
Apocalypse I mentioned earlier, that has great
eschatological significance for Seventh-day Adventists. It
forms the basis for their identification of themselves as the
one and only true church of the last days. The focus of their
eschatological claims centers on Sabbath observance as the
identifying mark of the “remnant” church.
In the ancient near eastern covenants, the sign or seal
of a covenant or agreement was found in the segment of the
document that identified the ruling party or suzerain, their
position of authority, and their rights as such. It also stated
what was expected of the subject party and what would be
the outward sign of obedience or loyalty to the suzerain.
The Old Covenant, like other ancient near eastern documents,
followed this format, and the Sabbath was clearly
this sign or seal of the Ten Commandments. It stated that
God as Creator was the authority figure and the subjects
were to remember this by keeping the Sabbath. Exodus
31:12-18 clearly states that the Sabbath was the sign of the