Seven Questions and Seven Answers

1. Question: Why the Mark of the Beast Involves Worship and a Day.
   “If Revelation doesn’t mention Sabbath or Sunday by name, how can the mark of the beast have anything to do with a day of worship?”
   Answer:
   The mark of the beast shows up seven times in Revelation (13:16–17; 14:9, 11; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4). The heart of it is found in chapters 12–14, where John first sees the ark of the covenant in heaven (Rev. 11:19), the ark that holds the Ten Commandments. Right after that, God’s people are described as those who “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 12:17).
   Then John describes two beasts that persecute God’s people. The first beast (Rev. 13:1) mirrors the little horn in Daniel 7 that tried to “change times and law” (Dan. 7:25). Out of all Ten Commandments, the only one dealing with time is the fourth—the Sabbath command to keep the seventh day holy. History shows that the papacy claimed to change the Sabbath to Sunday, setting up a counterfeit day of worship.
   The second beast (Rev. 13:11–12), representing the United States, eventually uses its power to enforce the same false worship. Together, these powers push the world to honor Sunday in place of God’s Sabbath. That’s why Sunday worship becomes the dividing line in the last days. Revelation 14:12 contrasts the two groups: those who worship the beast and those who “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”
   God calls His people to “worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water” (Rev. 14:7), a direct echo of the Sabbath command in Exodus 20:11. Those who obey receive the seal of God (Rev. 7:4; 14:1). Those who reject God’s call and follow the beast by honoring Sunday instead receive the mark of the beast (Rev. 14:8–11).
   In the end, the issue is simple. True worship versus false worship. Will we obey God and honor His Sabbath, or will we follow man’s tradition and accept a counterfeit day? That’s the final test.

2. Question: What Does 666 Mean and How Does It Connect to the Mark of the Beast?
   Answer:
   Revelation 13:17–18 says: “No one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.”
   What exactly does 666 mean? Here are two main views:
   Its a Papal Title: 666 points to the Latin title Vicarius Filii Dei (“Vicar of the Son of God”), a name historically linked with the pope. When the letters of that title are added up in Roman numerals, they total 666. While the Bible doesn’t explicitly say that’s the calculation, history makes a strong case for connecting this number with the papacy.
   666 is also a symbol of rebellion. The number 600 + 60 + 6 (the way it’s written in Greek, symbolizes humanity’s attempt to replace God, lifting himself up in complete rebellion. Also, 666 is a symbol of human independence from God, a counterfeit of God’s perfection (7 being the number of completeness).
   The bigger point though is that the first beast of Revelation 13 represents the papacy. History and prophecy both point in that direction. And the number 666 is tied directly to that system, which sets itself up against God and His truth.

3. Question: Are Adventists Anti-Catholic?
   Answer:
   No. Adventists are not against Catholic people. Mrs. White herself wrote that God has faithful children in every church, including the Catholic Church. She said, “A great number will be saved from among the Catholics” (Manuscript 14, 1887). She also said, “Among the Catholics there are many who are most conscientious Christians, and who walk in all the light that shines upon them, and God will work in their behalf” (Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 243).
   So the message isn’t about attacking people. It’s about exposing a system of teachings. Mrs. White, standing in line with the Reformers, made it clear that Catholic doctrines like the Mass, the sacraments, and the church’s authority structure go against the Bible and the principle of Sola Scriptura, the Bible alone.
   When Adventists interpret Revelation 13, we’re not pointing fingers at sincere Catholic believers. We’re pointing out that the system itself. The power structure and doctrines matches what the prophecy describes. That’s consistent with Daniel and Revelation as a whole.

4. Question: Which Day Is the Sabbath?
   Answer:
   Some, even pastors, have said the Sabbath has been lost or changed. But experts in timekeeping confirm that the seven-day weekly cycle has never been broken.
   James Robertson of the U.S. Naval Observatory wrote in 1932: “We have never found one [specialist] that has ever had the slightest doubt about the continuity of the weekly cycle long before the Christian era. … There has been no change in our calendar in past centuries that affected in any way the cycle of the week.”
   Even when Pope Gregory XIII changed the calendar in 1582, the order of days didn’t shift, Thursday, October 4 was simply followed by Friday, October 15. If the Sabbath had been lost, Jesus Himself would have corrected His followers. He never did.
   What about Sunday worship?
   Many keep Sunday to honor Christ’s resurrection, but nowhere does Jesus command this. In fact, His last words before ascending (Matt. 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20–21) never mention Sunday as a new holy day. Instead, He pointed to the Sabbath still being kept in the future (Matt. 24:20).
   Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, not Sunday, are what honor His death and resurrection (Rom. 6:3–6; Col. 2:12; 1 Cor. 11:23–26). Jesus is “Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28), the very Creator who gave it (Col. 1:15–16). He never changed or abolished it.
   Has the Sabbath law been abolished?
   Some say the Ten Commandments were nailed to the cross. But almost all Christians still keep nine of them. Why throw out the fourth? The Sabbath command isn’t ceremonial, it points back to creation and redemption. Jesus never broke the Sabbath (John 8:46). If He had, He would have been guilty under the law (Num. 15:32–36). Instead, He explained its true purpose (Matt. 5:17–20). The Ten Commandments are still valid (Rom. 7:7, 12; Jas. 2:10–13).
   The new covenant writes God’s law in our hearts (Heb. 8:10). Daniel even warned that a power would come to “change times and law” (Dan. 7:25), exactly what history shows happened with the Sabbath.
   Did the early church switch to Sunday?
   No. The New Testament never shows Sunday as a holy day.
   John 20:19, 26. The disciples met out of fear, not for worship.
   Acts 20:7–8, 11. A farewell meeting. Depending on how time was counted, it was either Saturday night or Sunday night, but in either case Paul traveled the next day.
   1 Cor. 16:2. Paul tells them to set money aside at home, not in a worship service.
   Col. 2:16. Paul is talking about ceremonial Sabbaths and man-made rules, not the weekly Sabbath of creation.
   By the mid-second century, some Christians began keeping Sunday, often alongside Sabbath, partly to distance themselves from Jews and partly to attract Gentiles. In A.D. 321, Emperor Constantine passed the first civil Sunday law, and later the church enforced it by tradition. But Jesus warned against putting tradition above God’s Word (Matt. 15:3, 9, 14).
   God’s Sabbath and Us.
   God gave the Sabbath as a gift to bless us. Jesus kept it. Peter says we are to follow His steps (1 Pet. 2:21). If Jesus is our Savior and example, then the day He honored, the seventh day Sabbath, is the day we should honor too.

5. Question: Was Acts 20 Teaching Sunday Worship?
   Answer:
   Many people use Acts 20 to argue that the early church had already switched from the Sabbath to Sunday and that they even took the Lord’s Supper that day. But when we look closer, three key points clear things up:

   1. The Day of the Meeting
      The meeting happened “on the first day of the week” (Acts 20:7). Since there were many lamps (v. 8) and it went past midnight (v. 7), this was clearly an evening meeting. If Luke was using the Jewish way of counting days (sunset to sunset), then this “first day of the week” started Saturday evening, right after the Sabbath ended. That makes the meeting a Saturday night gathering, not Sunday morning worship.

   2. The Purpose of the Meeting.
      This wasn’t a regular worship service. The text says Paul met with them “because he intended to leave the next day” (v. 7). In other words, this was a farewell meeting.
      The verbs used: dialegomai (to reason, discuss) and homileo (to converse): show Paul was teaching and answering questions, more like a seminar than a worship service.
      The phrase “to break bread” (v. 7) doesn’t always mean the Lord’s Supper. In Jewish culture, it often just meant sharing a meal (see Luke 9:16; Acts 2:42; Acts 27:35). Here it was a late-night meal before Paul left town.

   3. Why Mention the First Day?
      Luke often dates events (Acts 20:6, 15, 16; 21:1, 4, 15). He probably mentioned the first day just to mark when this happened. The bigger detail is that Paul waited until after the Sabbath to travel. He worshipped with them on Sabbath, then after sundown (the start of the first day) he met to teach them, shared a meal, and then left on his journey Sunday morning.
      Acts 20 doesn’t show the church changing the Sabbath to Sunday. It describes a special farewell meeting, held Saturday night, with Paul teaching late into the night before leaving the next day. Luke’s point was more about the miracle of the young man being raised than about making Sunday holy.

6. Question: Which Old Testament Laws Still Apply Today?
   “How do we know which Old Testament laws still matter for us now?”
   Answer:
   A good rule of thumb is that a law should be kept if its principle can still be applied, unless the New Testament specifically removes the reason for it.
   That’s why ritual laws connected to the temple no longer apply, because there’s no temple and Christ fulfilled those sacrifices. But other laws, like the Ten Commandments, still apply. Acts 15:20, 29 also confirms laws like avoiding blood in food. Even something like Deuteronomy 22:8, building a railing on your flat roof, still applies in principle, take steps to protect human life. Today that could mean a fence around your pool or a railing on your porch. The principle is timeless, even if the cultural form looks different.
   Take Exodus 23:4, for example. “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him.” The principle is respecting other people’s property. That applies just as much today whether it’s a lost camel, a stray dog, or even someone’s car.
   Some laws, like circumcision, could still be practiced, but the New Testament makes clear that the reason for them no longer stands (Acts 15).
   God’s law still matters. No, that doesn’t mean we’re saved by keeping it. The law was never given as a ladder to climb into heaven. Salvation only comes through Jesus and His sacrifice. But the law is still a gift. It shows us how to live in harmony with God’s character, and it protects us from harm. That’s why Paul wrote: “The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good” (Rom. 7:12).
   So the point isn’t legalism. The point is love. God’s law was, and still is, for our good.

7. Question: The Sabbath is for the Jews.
   Answer:
   The Sabbath is more than a command to stop working. It’s a gift of rest for weary people and a weekly reminder of God’s authority. After the Fall, when humanity lost that direct face-to-face access to God, this reminder became even more important. Marriage became strained. Work turned to sweat and toil. Yet the Sabbath remained untouched. Sin could not erase it. The weekly day of rest stood as a beacon pointing to God as Creator and Lord.
   From the very beginning, God established the Sabbath for all humanity. Long before Israel existed, long before Sinai, the Sabbath was woven into creation itself alongside marriage and work. Jesus made this clear in Mark 2:27: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” J.H. Gerstner rightly noted that Christ was affirming the Sabbath not for one nation only, but for mankind, and not just for one age, but for all time.
   Placing the Sabbath within the Ten Commandments only strengthens this truth. Nobody argues that honoring parents, not stealing, or not murdering were “just for Israel.” Those commands are universal, binding for every nation, every age. And if the other nine are universal, so is the fourth: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Ex. 20:8). Paul echoes this universality when he upholds the law in Romans 7:7 and calls it holy, righteous, and good in Romans 7:12. John also ties commandment-keeping with eternal life (Rev. 22:15). The Sabbath cannot be cut out without tearing away the very fabric of God’s law.
   Even scholars outside Adventism have admitted this. Presbyterian theologian O. Palmer Robertson wrote that neither antinomianism (throwing out the law) nor dispensationalism (chopping history into “eras”) can erase the obligation to keep the Sabbath. Why? Because it’s not just a command given at Sinai, it’s a creation ordinance. God blessed the Sabbath at the very beginning, before sin, before Jews, before nations. He poured into it a blessing meant for all His children, in every generation.
   For Israel, God deepened the meaning of the Sabbath. It was not only a reminder of Creation (Ex. 20:11), but also of redemption from Egypt (Deut. 5:15). These two truths are tied together. The Creator who spoke the world into existence also displayed His power in freeing Israel from slavery, crushing the gods of Egypt with mighty judgments. Creation and redemption, both find their symbol in the Sabbath. And for Christians today, this truth expands even further. The Sabbath points us not only to the God who made us, but to Christ who redeems us from the bondage of sin.
   The argument that the Sabbath was “only for Israel” is easily disapproved under the weight of Scripture. It was instituted at Creation for all humanity. It was reaffirmed in the law, not as a burden but as a blessing. Even now, in a restless, work-driven world, the Sabbath is God’s gift to protect us from ourselves. It’s not about grinding harder or striving more. It’s about stopping. Resting. Worshiping. Remembering who God is.
   And what a command it is! Of all the laws God could have given, He gave one that says, “Rest. Stop working. Breathe.” That’s not harsh, that’s mercy. That’s love. Jesus Himself said, “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:30). In a world of deadlines, busyness, and endless striving, the Sabbath is God’s holy interruption. A pause in the madness. A sign that we belong to Him, not to Pharaoh, not to money, not to time, not to sin.
   So when we keep the Sabbath, we are stepping into God’s rhythm. We are remembering Creation, celebrating redemption, and looking forward to eternal rest in Christ. The Sabbath is not a burden, it’s freedom. Not a restriction, but a gift. A law of love written into the very order of the universe.