I will testify to this personally. The Bible teaches us the law (Torah, or the first 5 books of the Bible) brings us to Christ and teaches us what sin actually is. Paul teaches us we wouldn't know not to commit adultrey or not to steal unless it was written. And we are given new hearts at conversion, with the law written on them. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to overcome all things and also to keep the commandments. See, if you study the Bible you will notice no one in the Old Testament had the Holy Spirit; this is indisputable because the Holy Spirit wasn't given until 50 days after Jesus' ascension, or Pentecost (meaning fifty).
1 Corinthians 7:19 19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.
1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
John 14:5 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Proverbs 7:1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
Psalms 119:60 I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.
Psalms 119:115 Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.
Proverbs 3:1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 1 John 2:3chapter context similar meaning copy save And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
Proverbs 7:2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
Exodus 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Deuteronomy 5:10 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
Psalms 103:18 To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
Leviticus 26:3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;
Exodus 16:28 And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?
Proverbs 4:4 He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.
Deuteronomy 8:6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
Deuteronomy 10:13 To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?
Psalms 78:7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
1 Kings 2:3 And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself:
1 Kings 8:61 Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.
1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
Deuteronomy 27:1 And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day.
1 John 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
Deuteronomy 11:22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;
Deuteronomy 7:11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Revelation 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
So, we see that keeping the commandments is NOT just for "Jews" which is such ignorance.. it is for thousands as we are literally all the seeds of Abraham- Noah and his 3 sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth repopulated the whole world so we literally came from one of them! Isn't that amazing! BELIEVE! AND REPENT! Let's talk about the SABBATH day!
Jesus Christ Kept the Sabbath While He Was on Earth
It is undisputed among Bible scholars that Jesus observed the Sabbath on the seventh day. Even those who believe that the Sabbath should not be kept in the way described by the Ten Commandments understand that Jesus did, in fact, keep it in that way. It might be claimed by those who believe that Sunday is now the correct day for “rest” that He only kept the Sabbath because it was His tradition, because He was a Jew, or because He had not been resurrected yet. Let’s examine what Jesus, the perfect example for mankind, did and said about the Sabbath.
We see that He observed the Sabbath as part of the way He lived His life, both as a young boy and in His ministry. He both observed the Sabbath Himself and preached on the Sabbath. “So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read…. Then He went down to Capernaum… and was teaching them on the Sabbaths” (Luke 4:16, 31). Though He observed and preached on the Sabbath, He also taught that the Sabbath was not to be a burden the way the Pharisees wrongly kept it, and He condemned them for the strict, unbiblical prohibitions they had added, which made it a burden.
For example, when the Pharisees condemned Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, He rebuked them and said, “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:12). When the Pharisees rebuked Him for allowing His disciples to pick a handful of grain on the Sabbath, He condemned the burdensome, unscriptural prohibitions the Pharisees had added—which were never approved by God—and told them that they were missing the whole point of the Sabbath (Mark 2:23–27). He told them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (v. 27). In other words, the Sabbath was made as a gift for mankind, not a burden. Jesus Christ showed and taught how to keep the Sabbath properly. He even called Himself “Lord of the Sabbath” (v. 28). Jesus gave no indication of abolishing the Sabbath, but rather set the perfect example of how to keep it—an example His Church followed—and spent part of His ministry on teaching how to keep it correctly.
It is undisputed among Bible scholars that Jesus observed the Sabbath on the seventh day. Even those who believe that the Sabbath should not be kept in the way described by the Ten Commandments understand that Jesus did, in fact, keep it in that way. It might be claimed by those who believe that Sunday is now the correct day for “rest” that He only kept the Sabbath because it was His tradition, because He was a Jew, or because He had not been resurrected yet. Let’s examine what Jesus, the perfect example for mankind, did and said about the Sabbath.
We see that He observed the Sabbath as part of the way He lived His life, both as a young boy and in His ministry. He both observed the Sabbath Himself and preached on the Sabbath. “So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read…. Then He went down to Capernaum… and was teaching them on the Sabbaths” (Luke 4:16, 31). Though He observed and preached on the Sabbath, He also taught that the Sabbath was not to be a burden the way the Pharisees wrongly kept it, and He condemned them for the strict, unbiblical prohibitions they had added, which made it a burden.
For example, when the Pharisees condemned Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, He rebuked them and said, “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:12). When the Pharisees rebuked Him for allowing His disciples to pick a handful of grain on the Sabbath, He condemned the burdensome, unscriptural prohibitions the Pharisees had added—which were never approved by God—and told them that they were missing the whole point of the Sabbath (Mark 2:23–27). He told them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (v. 27). In other words, the Sabbath was made as a gift for mankind, not a burden. Jesus Christ showed and taught how to keep the Sabbath properly. He even called Himself “Lord of the Sabbath” (v. 28). Jesus gave no indication of abolishing the Sabbath, but rather set the perfect example of how to keep it—an example His Church followed—and spent part of His ministry on teaching how to keep it correctly.
Does the New Testament Teach Sunday Observance?
Many teach that after Jesus’ resurrection the Church began keeping Sunday, the first day, instead of the seventh-day Sabbath. Does the Bible prove this? There are a total of eight scriptural passages that refer to the “first day of the week.” Let’s take a look at them.
Six of those scriptural passages simply describe what happened the day after Jesus’ was resurrected as the disciples discovered His empty tomb in the early dark hours of the first day of the week (He was in the grave three days and three nights, from early Wednesday evening to the beginning of Saturday evening). None of them speak of a new day of worship being set aside for the Church.
One of those passages, John 20:19, is treated by a few as a “first Sunday observance.” But is it? The verse reads, “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’” The meaning here is obvious and explicitly says they “were assembled, for fear of the Jews”—not instantly doing away with one of the very Commandments of God and defying everything Jesus had taught them as “Lord of the Sabbath.” Rather, they were hiding and afraid, because Jesus was not in His tomb and they were being accused of stealing His body (Matthew 28:13–15). This gathering was no more a church or worship service than when they met in the same way on a Monday only eight days later (John 20:26).
And the remaining two passages in no way set the first day of the week apart as the day to rest, worship, and keep holy instead of the seventh day. They are simply descriptions of events.
Acts 20:7–12 is one such reference. Some have claimed that it describes a Sunday worship service—however, if we read carefully, we see that “the disciples came together to break bread” (v. 7). In other words, the purpose of their gathering was to eat a meal together, which is what “to break bread” meant in the first century (e.g., Acts 27:33–35), just as it does today. During and after the meal, Paul spoke to them until midnight. The context reveals that this was after the Sabbath, on Saturday night—by biblical reckoning, the first day of the week—and Paul was going to be leaving first thing in the morning. Many seventh-day Sabbath keepers in the Living Church of God experience this same scenario even today, enjoying dinner together on a Saturday night and continuing their fellowship late into the evening. This was not depicting the first-century Church doing away with the seventh-day Sabbath and keeping Sunday.
The last verse used by many Sunday-keeping churches in an effort to alter the Sabbath command is 1 Corinthians 16:2. The Living Church of God publication Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath? contains the following insight:
In 1 Corinthians 16:2, the Apostle Paul requested, “On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.” This is no endorsement at all of Sunday worship. Notice that the practice was meant to stop when Paul came to Corinth! And notice that these verses say nothing about gathering for a weekly worship service to do this collecting. This was not a collection of money, but of food to assist the poor in Jerusalem suffering from drought and famine (cf. Romans 15:25–28). Until Paul’s arrival, each individual was asked to “store up” his contributions—surely in his home. Paul knew that the collection would be bulky enough that it would take several people to transport it to Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 16:4)—not what one would expect if money were collected.
The attempt to use these three verses to support Sunday observance is nothing more than an effort to justify a practice that was instituted by men in the centuries following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, if we honestly examine the Bible’s approximately 170 references to God’s Sabbaths, we can understand His perspective on the subject.
Many teach that after Jesus’ resurrection the Church began keeping Sunday, the first day, instead of the seventh-day Sabbath. Does the Bible prove this? There are a total of eight scriptural passages that refer to the “first day of the week.” Let’s take a look at them.
Six of those scriptural passages simply describe what happened the day after Jesus’ was resurrected as the disciples discovered His empty tomb in the early dark hours of the first day of the week (He was in the grave three days and three nights, from early Wednesday evening to the beginning of Saturday evening). None of them speak of a new day of worship being set aside for the Church.
One of those passages, John 20:19, is treated by a few as a “first Sunday observance.” But is it? The verse reads, “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’” The meaning here is obvious and explicitly says they “were assembled, for fear of the Jews”—not instantly doing away with one of the very Commandments of God and defying everything Jesus had taught them as “Lord of the Sabbath.” Rather, they were hiding and afraid, because Jesus was not in His tomb and they were being accused of stealing His body (Matthew 28:13–15). This gathering was no more a church or worship service than when they met in the same way on a Monday only eight days later (John 20:26).
And the remaining two passages in no way set the first day of the week apart as the day to rest, worship, and keep holy instead of the seventh day. They are simply descriptions of events.
Acts 20:7–12 is one such reference. Some have claimed that it describes a Sunday worship service—however, if we read carefully, we see that “the disciples came together to break bread” (v. 7). In other words, the purpose of their gathering was to eat a meal together, which is what “to break bread” meant in the first century (e.g., Acts 27:33–35), just as it does today. During and after the meal, Paul spoke to them until midnight. The context reveals that this was after the Sabbath, on Saturday night—by biblical reckoning, the first day of the week—and Paul was going to be leaving first thing in the morning. Many seventh-day Sabbath keepers in the Living Church of God experience this same scenario even today, enjoying dinner together on a Saturday night and continuing their fellowship late into the evening. This was not depicting the first-century Church doing away with the seventh-day Sabbath and keeping Sunday.
The last verse used by many Sunday-keeping churches in an effort to alter the Sabbath command is 1 Corinthians 16:2. The Living Church of God publication Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath? contains the following insight:
In 1 Corinthians 16:2, the Apostle Paul requested, “On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.” This is no endorsement at all of Sunday worship. Notice that the practice was meant to stop when Paul came to Corinth! And notice that these verses say nothing about gathering for a weekly worship service to do this collecting. This was not a collection of money, but of food to assist the poor in Jerusalem suffering from drought and famine (cf. Romans 15:25–28). Until Paul’s arrival, each individual was asked to “store up” his contributions—surely in his home. Paul knew that the collection would be bulky enough that it would take several people to transport it to Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 16:4)—not what one would expect if money were collected.
The attempt to use these three verses to support Sunday observance is nothing more than an effort to justify a practice that was instituted by men in the centuries following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, if we honestly examine the Bible’s approximately 170 references to God’s Sabbaths, we can understand His perspective on the subject.
The First-Century Church Observed the Sabbath
The reality is that the book of Acts, the inspired, primary record of the first-century Church, shows clearly that Christ’s followers continued to systematically keep the seventh-day Sabbath—never Sunday. For instance, Acts 13 says that Paul “went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down…. Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand” he began to preach the Gospel to them (vv. 13–16). But notice what happened next. “When the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath” (Acts 13:42). So, what did he do? Did he take this perfect opportunity to set the record straight and proclaim that the Church of God now keeps Sunday and they could hear him again the very next day? No. Rather, it is recorded, “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God” (v. 44).
We see this over and over again. When Paul started the Gentile church at Thessalonica, “as his custom was, [he] went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures” (Acts 17:2). Then, in the Greek city of Corinth, “he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 18:4). Paul, Silas, and Timothy baptized people on the Sabbath day (Acts 16:13–15). Thankfully, we also have some of Paul’s teaching about the Sabbath recorded in Hebrews 4. The record shows that the first-century Church continued to observe and actively teach the seventh-day Sabbath, even to new Gentile, non-Jewish converts.
The reality is that the book of Acts, the inspired, primary record of the first-century Church, shows clearly that Christ’s followers continued to systematically keep the seventh-day Sabbath—never Sunday. For instance, Acts 13 says that Paul “went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down…. Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand” he began to preach the Gospel to them (vv. 13–16). But notice what happened next. “When the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath” (Acts 13:42). So, what did he do? Did he take this perfect opportunity to set the record straight and proclaim that the Church of God now keeps Sunday and they could hear him again the very next day? No. Rather, it is recorded, “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God” (v. 44).
We see this over and over again. When Paul started the Gentile church at Thessalonica, “as his custom was, [he] went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures” (Acts 17:2). Then, in the Greek city of Corinth, “he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 18:4). Paul, Silas, and Timothy baptized people on the Sabbath day (Acts 16:13–15). Thankfully, we also have some of Paul’s teaching about the Sabbath recorded in Hebrews 4. The record shows that the first-century Church continued to observe and actively teach the seventh-day Sabbath, even to new Gentile, non-Jewish converts.
Sunday Was Ordained by Men to Replace the Sabbath—Not by God
So, why do most Christians today observe Sunday? The primary reason is that it was forced on Christianity by the church at Rome in an effort to accomodate pagan practices and bring more pagans into the fold. The church at Rome believed that if it observed Sunday instead of the “Jewish” Sabbath, more of the pagans who already observed Sunday would be willing to convert to Christianity. History shows that this was done centuries after Jesus and the Apostles died.
Research for this is highlighted in Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath? Here is an excerpt:
Renowned historian Will Durant writes, “The serious temper of the Jewish Sabbath was transferred to the Christian Sunday that replaced it in the second century” (The Story of Civilization, vol. 3, p. 599, 1972).
How did this happen? A Roman Catholic study course tells us that “The [Catholic] Church simply transferred the obligation from Saturday to Sunday” (“Session 19,” Father Smith Instructs Jackson). The Catholic Mirror agrees: “The Catholic Church... by virtue of her Divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday” (September 23, 1893). In fact, the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome publishes a book by Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi, a non-Catholic scholar, which proves this very fact! Its preface is written by Vincenzo Monachino, chairman of the university’s Church History department. He writes, “We [the Roman Catholic Church] gladly mention the thesis that Bacchiocchi defends regarding the birth-place of Sunday worship: for him this arose most probably not in the primitive Church of Jerusalem, wellknown for its profound attachment to Jewish religious traditions, but rather in the Church of Rome. The abandonment of the Sabbath and the adoption of Sunday as the Lord’s Day, are the result of an interplay of Christian, Jewish and pagan-religious factors” (From Sabbath to Sunday: A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity, pp. 5–6, 1999, emphasis added).
Richard Ames writes the following in “Who Changed the Sabbath to Sunday?,” appearing in the July–August 2020 Tomorrow’s World Magazine:
The first-century Christian Church worshipped on the seventh day of the week, which we now call Saturday. But when Roman Emperor Constantine, a pagan sun-worshipper, enforced his own version of Christianity in his empire, he mandated Sunday worship. He gave the following edict in 321 AD: “Let all magistrates and people of the city… rest on the venerable day of the Sun” (The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, “Roman Legislation for Sunday,” vol. XI, p. 147).
Just a few years later, the Roman church also passed a startling decree in the Council of Laodicea, declaring, “Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honour, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing [keeping the seventh-day Sabbath], they shall be shut out from Christ” (A History of the Councils of the Church, vol. 2, p. 316). In other words, Christian Sabbath-keepers were declared heretics.
In short, the Sabbath commandment was never changed by God, and it is to be kept by His Church. In fact, according to the Bible, the Sabbath is one of the very signs of God’s people.
So, why do most Christians today observe Sunday? The primary reason is that it was forced on Christianity by the church at Rome in an effort to accomodate pagan practices and bring more pagans into the fold. The church at Rome believed that if it observed Sunday instead of the “Jewish” Sabbath, more of the pagans who already observed Sunday would be willing to convert to Christianity. History shows that this was done centuries after Jesus and the Apostles died.
Research for this is highlighted in Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath? Here is an excerpt:
Renowned historian Will Durant writes, “The serious temper of the Jewish Sabbath was transferred to the Christian Sunday that replaced it in the second century” (The Story of Civilization, vol. 3, p. 599, 1972).
How did this happen? A Roman Catholic study course tells us that “The [Catholic] Church simply transferred the obligation from Saturday to Sunday” (“Session 19,” Father Smith Instructs Jackson). The Catholic Mirror agrees: “The Catholic Church... by virtue of her Divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday” (September 23, 1893). In fact, the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome publishes a book by Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi, a non-Catholic scholar, which proves this very fact! Its preface is written by Vincenzo Monachino, chairman of the university’s Church History department. He writes, “We [the Roman Catholic Church] gladly mention the thesis that Bacchiocchi defends regarding the birth-place of Sunday worship: for him this arose most probably not in the primitive Church of Jerusalem, wellknown for its profound attachment to Jewish religious traditions, but rather in the Church of Rome. The abandonment of the Sabbath and the adoption of Sunday as the Lord’s Day, are the result of an interplay of Christian, Jewish and pagan-religious factors” (From Sabbath to Sunday: A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity, pp. 5–6, 1999, emphasis added).
Richard Ames writes the following in “Who Changed the Sabbath to Sunday?,” appearing in the July–August 2020 Tomorrow’s World Magazine:
The first-century Christian Church worshipped on the seventh day of the week, which we now call Saturday. But when Roman Emperor Constantine, a pagan sun-worshipper, enforced his own version of Christianity in his empire, he mandated Sunday worship. He gave the following edict in 321 AD: “Let all magistrates and people of the city… rest on the venerable day of the Sun” (The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, “Roman Legislation for Sunday,” vol. XI, p. 147).
Just a few years later, the Roman church also passed a startling decree in the Council of Laodicea, declaring, “Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honour, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing [keeping the seventh-day Sabbath], they shall be shut out from Christ” (A History of the Councils of the Church, vol. 2, p. 316). In other words, Christian Sabbath-keepers were declared heretics.
In short, the Sabbath commandment was never changed by God, and it is to be kept by His Church. In fact, according to the Bible, the Sabbath is one of the very signs of God’s people.
The Sabbath Is a Sign Between God and His People
God places great value on remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy. He has built it into His perfect “law of liberty” and emphasizes the importance of the Sabbath throughout Scripture. God calls the Sabbath, ordained at creation, a sign of His people.
God says in Exodus 31:13, “Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.” He continues in verses 16–17, “Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.”
But that is not the only place where He calls the Sabbath a sign. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God says, “Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them…. ‘I am the LORD your God: Walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them; hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God” (Ezekiel 20:12, 19–20).
These promises were not limited to the people of Israel. God extends the same blessing of recognition to Gentiles and those excluded from Israel when they “keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me” (Isaiah 56:1–8).
The Sabbath was observed by the Church that Jesus began in the first century, and while many have made attempts to change it or abolish it (Daniel 7:25), the Church of God has continued and will continue to observe it, even in the face of persecution. The Sabbath day was set apart as holy at creation (Genesis 2:1–3). Its observance is commanded as one of the Ten Commandments. It was observed by Jesus, His apostles, and the Church of God found in Scripture. And we see from the above passages in Exodus and Ezekiel that it is the seventh-day Sabbath, not Sunday, that sets God’s people apart.
But there is an additional detail found in the above passages that needs to be noted. Notice that they often say, “Sabbaths”—plural. God did not just set apart the seventh day to be observed; there are also seven annual Holy Days and Festivals that God commanded His people to observe forever.
Your Bible shows plainly that Jesus Christ and the early church observed the seventh-day Sabbath. So did His first followers. Yet today, the vast majority of those calling themselves “Christian” worship on Sundays and do nothing to keep the seventh-day Sabbath holy. How did this change occur? And what should you do about it?
The religions of the world set aside a variety of holidays or holy days. Muslims worship on Friday. Jews around the world have worshipped for millennia on the Sabbath, the day beginning at sunset every Friday evening and continuing until sunset on Saturday.
Jesus Christ observed the seventh-day Sabbath. Most professing Christians meet for Sunday church services, proclaiming theirs as the true day for worship. So, which day should Christians keep holy—the first of the week, or the seventh? Is Saturday or Sunday the true Sabbath?
Throughout history, various civilizations have recorded their days in weeks of different lengths, such as four days or ten. Even history demonstrates that, among these varieties, the seven-day week is very ancient. Records going back to ancient Babylon describe the observance of the seven-day cycle. The Jewish people have preserved a calendar with a seven-day week and have not lost track of the cycle over millennia. Even when Pope Gregory XIII revised the calendar in 1582, he did not change this cycle. The seventh-day Sabbath today is the same seventh day observed by Jesus and the first-century Christian Church.
Perhaps as a child, you learned the Ten Commandments. The Fourth Commandment gives us this very plain instruction: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:8). Yet most professing Christians observe Sunday, even though first-century Christians observed the same seventh-day Sabbath that Jesus observed!
So, why do most people who call themselves “Christians” ignore the seventh-day Sabbath and instead hallow Sunday, the first day of the week? What happened to the example of Jesus and of the first-century Christians? The Apostle Paul urged Christians to imitate him as he imitated Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1)—and he observed the seventh-day Sabbath throughout his life, keeping it from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, in imitation of his Savior, who preached in the synagogues on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16).
The Apostle Paul preached on the Sabbath to both Jews and Gentiles in the Antioch synagogue. Remember that this occurred years after Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Surely, if Christians were supposed to keep Sunday, these Gentiles would have met with Paul the very next day, Sunday. But notice: “So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath” (Acts 13:42). Not Sunday!
Indeed, what happened? “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God” (v. 44). Paul met with Gentiles not on Sunday, but on the day first-century Christians observed: the seventh-day Sabbath.
So, who changed the Sabbath to Sunday? What happened to the Fourth Commandment, which states that God’s people should keep the seventh day holy? This is a vital question for all professing Christians!
God places great value on remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy. He has built it into His perfect “law of liberty” and emphasizes the importance of the Sabbath throughout Scripture. God calls the Sabbath, ordained at creation, a sign of His people.
God says in Exodus 31:13, “Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.” He continues in verses 16–17, “Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.”
But that is not the only place where He calls the Sabbath a sign. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God says, “Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them…. ‘I am the LORD your God: Walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them; hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God” (Ezekiel 20:12, 19–20).
These promises were not limited to the people of Israel. God extends the same blessing of recognition to Gentiles and those excluded from Israel when they “keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me” (Isaiah 56:1–8).
The Sabbath was observed by the Church that Jesus began in the first century, and while many have made attempts to change it or abolish it (Daniel 7:25), the Church of God has continued and will continue to observe it, even in the face of persecution. The Sabbath day was set apart as holy at creation (Genesis 2:1–3). Its observance is commanded as one of the Ten Commandments. It was observed by Jesus, His apostles, and the Church of God found in Scripture. And we see from the above passages in Exodus and Ezekiel that it is the seventh-day Sabbath, not Sunday, that sets God’s people apart.
But there is an additional detail found in the above passages that needs to be noted. Notice that they often say, “Sabbaths”—plural. God did not just set apart the seventh day to be observed; there are also seven annual Holy Days and Festivals that God commanded His people to observe forever.
Your Bible shows plainly that Jesus Christ and the early church observed the seventh-day Sabbath. So did His first followers. Yet today, the vast majority of those calling themselves “Christian” worship on Sundays and do nothing to keep the seventh-day Sabbath holy. How did this change occur? And what should you do about it?
The religions of the world set aside a variety of holidays or holy days. Muslims worship on Friday. Jews around the world have worshipped for millennia on the Sabbath, the day beginning at sunset every Friday evening and continuing until sunset on Saturday.
Jesus Christ observed the seventh-day Sabbath. Most professing Christians meet for Sunday church services, proclaiming theirs as the true day for worship. So, which day should Christians keep holy—the first of the week, or the seventh? Is Saturday or Sunday the true Sabbath?
Throughout history, various civilizations have recorded their days in weeks of different lengths, such as four days or ten. Even history demonstrates that, among these varieties, the seven-day week is very ancient. Records going back to ancient Babylon describe the observance of the seven-day cycle. The Jewish people have preserved a calendar with a seven-day week and have not lost track of the cycle over millennia. Even when Pope Gregory XIII revised the calendar in 1582, he did not change this cycle. The seventh-day Sabbath today is the same seventh day observed by Jesus and the first-century Christian Church.
Perhaps as a child, you learned the Ten Commandments. The Fourth Commandment gives us this very plain instruction: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:8). Yet most professing Christians observe Sunday, even though first-century Christians observed the same seventh-day Sabbath that Jesus observed!
So, why do most people who call themselves “Christians” ignore the seventh-day Sabbath and instead hallow Sunday, the first day of the week? What happened to the example of Jesus and of the first-century Christians? The Apostle Paul urged Christians to imitate him as he imitated Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1)—and he observed the seventh-day Sabbath throughout his life, keeping it from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, in imitation of his Savior, who preached in the synagogues on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16).
The Apostle Paul preached on the Sabbath to both Jews and Gentiles in the Antioch synagogue. Remember that this occurred years after Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Surely, if Christians were supposed to keep Sunday, these Gentiles would have met with Paul the very next day, Sunday. But notice: “So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath” (Acts 13:42). Not Sunday!
Indeed, what happened? “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God” (v. 44). Paul met with Gentiles not on Sunday, but on the day first-century Christians observed: the seventh-day Sabbath.
So, who changed the Sabbath to Sunday? What happened to the Fourth Commandment, which states that God’s people should keep the seventh day holy? This is a vital question for all professing Christians!
EIGHT “FIRST DAYS”
“But isn’t ‘Sunday’ in the New Testament?,” some will wonder. You may be surprised to learn that if you look for it in your New Testament, you will not find “Sunday” mentioned even once! What you will find are eight references to “the first day of the week.”
Six of those references describe the day after Jesus’ resurrection, as we will discuss later. But what about the other two? Surely these must depict or command Sunday worship, right? Let’s look at both.
“On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come” (1 Corinthians 16:2). Was this some kind of “passing the plate” at a church service? No! Much as in Romans 15, Paul here is asking the Corinthians to gather supplies for needy brethren. He is not asking them to worship, but to do the physical work of gathering goods for those in need in Jerusalem. This was not activity fit for a day of rest; it was active, physical service on the part of the Galatian brethren.
Next, let us consider this verse: “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight” (Acts 20:7). First, we notice that Paul’s message ended around midnight on the first day of the week. This means that it began on what we would call Saturday. And how did Paul and his companions continue after their meeting? Some did the hard labor of rowing (vv. 13–14), while Paul walked for hours—not what one would call a “Sabbath rest.” Clearly, this is not an example of the first day of the week being treated as a Sabbath.
What about John 20? “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you’” (v. 19). Notice the context; Jesus had been crucified just days before, and the disciples did not yet understand that He was risen (cf. Mark 16:14; Luke 24:37–41). They were hiding together, fearing the Jews who had crucified their Savior. When Jesus appeared to these disciples on the first day of the week, He was not barging into a worship service! Indeed, as we shall see, He had risen from the dead on the day before—the seventh day!
“But isn’t ‘Sunday’ in the New Testament?,” some will wonder. You may be surprised to learn that if you look for it in your New Testament, you will not find “Sunday” mentioned even once! What you will find are eight references to “the first day of the week.”
Six of those references describe the day after Jesus’ resurrection, as we will discuss later. But what about the other two? Surely these must depict or command Sunday worship, right? Let’s look at both.
“On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come” (1 Corinthians 16:2). Was this some kind of “passing the plate” at a church service? No! Much as in Romans 15, Paul here is asking the Corinthians to gather supplies for needy brethren. He is not asking them to worship, but to do the physical work of gathering goods for those in need in Jerusalem. This was not activity fit for a day of rest; it was active, physical service on the part of the Galatian brethren.
Next, let us consider this verse: “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight” (Acts 20:7). First, we notice that Paul’s message ended around midnight on the first day of the week. This means that it began on what we would call Saturday. And how did Paul and his companions continue after their meeting? Some did the hard labor of rowing (vv. 13–14), while Paul walked for hours—not what one would call a “Sabbath rest.” Clearly, this is not an example of the first day of the week being treated as a Sabbath.
What about John 20? “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you’” (v. 19). Notice the context; Jesus had been crucified just days before, and the disciples did not yet understand that He was risen (cf. Mark 16:14; Luke 24:37–41). They were hiding together, fearing the Jews who had crucified their Savior. When Jesus appeared to these disciples on the first day of the week, He was not barging into a worship service! Indeed, as we shall see, He had risen from the dead on the day before—the seventh day!
WHAT ABOUT THE RESURRECTION?
When did Sunday replace the seventh-day Sabbath—the so-called “Jewish Sabbath”—as the day of rest for professing Christians? The Catholic Encyclopedia, on the topic of “Sunday,” explains: “Tertullian… is the first writer who expressly mentions the Sunday rest: ‘We, however (just as tradition has taught us), on the day of the Lord’s Resurrection ought to guard not only against kneeling, but every posture and office of solicitude; deferring even our businesses lest we give any place to the devil’” (vol. XIV, p. 335). Tertullian did not write this until 202 AD, more than 170 years after the beginning of the New Testament Church!
But is Sunday the day of the Lord’s resurrection, as Tertullian said? No! When Mary Magdalene came to Jesus’ tomb on Sunday morning, she found it already empty. We read, “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him’” (John 20:1–2).
Notice that Mary arrived at the tomb while it was still dark outside! The sun had not yet risen on Sunday morning, and Jesus was not there! Jesus was not resurrected at sunrise—rather, by the time the sun had risen Sunday morning, He was already gone and the tomb was already empty. Remember, He had promised that He would rise exactly three days and three nights after His burial, fulfilling the sign of Jonah (Matthew 12:40). Jesus was buried shortly before sunset on a Preparation Day preceding an annual Holy Day (John 19:31), so we know that He rose shortly before sunset three days later. Mary found the tomb empty on Sunday morning because Jesus rose from the dead shortly before sunset on the day before, on Saturday.
As we can see, the idea of basing Sunday worship on Christ’s resurrection comes not from the Bible, but from faulty human traditions. Rather, Jesus emphasized the sign of Jonah as the sign of His being the Messiah: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:39–40).
If Jesus rose from the dead on Saturday afternoon, He was put in the grave on Wednesday afternoon. The “Good Friday” tradition is nowhere found in your Bible. Jesus did as He promised, spending three days and three nights—not two nights and a day as the Good Friday tradition would require—in the grave. You can read more about the three days and three nights, and the timing and meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection, in our inspiring, free booklets Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath? and Easter: The Untold Story.
The first-century Christian Church worshipped on the seventh day of the week, which we now call Saturday. But when Roman Emperor Constantine, a pagan sun-worshipper, enforced his own version of Christianity in his empire, he mandated Sunday worship. He gave the following edict in 321 AD: “Let all magistrates and people of the city… rest on the venerable day of the Sun” (The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, “Roman Legislation for Sunday,” vol. XI, p. 147).
Just a few years later, the Roman church also passed a startling decree in the Council of Laodicea, declaring, “Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honour, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing [keeping the seventh-day Sabbath], they shall be shut out from Christ” (A History of the Councils of the Church, vol. 2, p. 316). In other words, Christian Sabbath-keepers were declared heretics.
But on what authority did the Roman church make this change? The noted Catholic theologian, James Cardinal Gibbons, wrote this bold statement: “But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.” That’s a quote from Gibbons’ The Faith of Our Fathers, first published in 1876 (p. 97, 1917).
In other words, Cardinal Gibbons is saying that if the Bible is your authority, you have no basis for observing Sunday. The Scriptures, as he states, “enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.”
What Gibbons and other Catholic authorities state is that the authority of the Catholic church, not the New Testament Scriptures, changed observance in the Christian world from Saturday to Sunday—an event that did not occur until the Council of Laodicea, in the middle of the fourth century.
What an amazing admission! And yet Gibbons is not alone. Our free booklet Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath? documents similar admissions from Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and other religious leaders, all agreeing that the Bible nowhere authorizes Sunday as a “new” Sabbath day.
But does this even matter? Can’t we just worship on any day?
Christ made His answer to this question very clear. Scripture records that He gave a very strong warning about observing traditions that conflict with the commandments of God. Many churches have followed that wrong pathway, as did the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. Concerning such practices, Jesus warned, “‘In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men…. All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition” (Mark 7:7–9).
That’s a warning I hope all of us will heed. Jesus said He is Lord of the Sabbath. He observed the Sabbath regularly, and He did not break God’s law, as some theologians claim. As He said, “I have kept My Father’s commandments” (John 15:10). So, should you follow the example of Jesus Christ and the instructions of your Bible? Or should you oppose them and follow the traditions of men?
When did Sunday replace the seventh-day Sabbath—the so-called “Jewish Sabbath”—as the day of rest for professing Christians? The Catholic Encyclopedia, on the topic of “Sunday,” explains: “Tertullian… is the first writer who expressly mentions the Sunday rest: ‘We, however (just as tradition has taught us), on the day of the Lord’s Resurrection ought to guard not only against kneeling, but every posture and office of solicitude; deferring even our businesses lest we give any place to the devil’” (vol. XIV, p. 335). Tertullian did not write this until 202 AD, more than 170 years after the beginning of the New Testament Church!
But is Sunday the day of the Lord’s resurrection, as Tertullian said? No! When Mary Magdalene came to Jesus’ tomb on Sunday morning, she found it already empty. We read, “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him’” (John 20:1–2).
Notice that Mary arrived at the tomb while it was still dark outside! The sun had not yet risen on Sunday morning, and Jesus was not there! Jesus was not resurrected at sunrise—rather, by the time the sun had risen Sunday morning, He was already gone and the tomb was already empty. Remember, He had promised that He would rise exactly three days and three nights after His burial, fulfilling the sign of Jonah (Matthew 12:40). Jesus was buried shortly before sunset on a Preparation Day preceding an annual Holy Day (John 19:31), so we know that He rose shortly before sunset three days later. Mary found the tomb empty on Sunday morning because Jesus rose from the dead shortly before sunset on the day before, on Saturday.
As we can see, the idea of basing Sunday worship on Christ’s resurrection comes not from the Bible, but from faulty human traditions. Rather, Jesus emphasized the sign of Jonah as the sign of His being the Messiah: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:39–40).
If Jesus rose from the dead on Saturday afternoon, He was put in the grave on Wednesday afternoon. The “Good Friday” tradition is nowhere found in your Bible. Jesus did as He promised, spending three days and three nights—not two nights and a day as the Good Friday tradition would require—in the grave. You can read more about the three days and three nights, and the timing and meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection, in our inspiring, free booklets Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath? and Easter: The Untold Story.
The first-century Christian Church worshipped on the seventh day of the week, which we now call Saturday. But when Roman Emperor Constantine, a pagan sun-worshipper, enforced his own version of Christianity in his empire, he mandated Sunday worship. He gave the following edict in 321 AD: “Let all magistrates and people of the city… rest on the venerable day of the Sun” (The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, “Roman Legislation for Sunday,” vol. XI, p. 147).
Just a few years later, the Roman church also passed a startling decree in the Council of Laodicea, declaring, “Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honour, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing [keeping the seventh-day Sabbath], they shall be shut out from Christ” (A History of the Councils of the Church, vol. 2, p. 316). In other words, Christian Sabbath-keepers were declared heretics.
But on what authority did the Roman church make this change? The noted Catholic theologian, James Cardinal Gibbons, wrote this bold statement: “But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.” That’s a quote from Gibbons’ The Faith of Our Fathers, first published in 1876 (p. 97, 1917).
In other words, Cardinal Gibbons is saying that if the Bible is your authority, you have no basis for observing Sunday. The Scriptures, as he states, “enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.”
What Gibbons and other Catholic authorities state is that the authority of the Catholic church, not the New Testament Scriptures, changed observance in the Christian world from Saturday to Sunday—an event that did not occur until the Council of Laodicea, in the middle of the fourth century.
What an amazing admission! And yet Gibbons is not alone. Our free booklet Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath? documents similar admissions from Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and other religious leaders, all agreeing that the Bible nowhere authorizes Sunday as a “new” Sabbath day.
But does this even matter? Can’t we just worship on any day?
Christ made His answer to this question very clear. Scripture records that He gave a very strong warning about observing traditions that conflict with the commandments of God. Many churches have followed that wrong pathway, as did the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. Concerning such practices, Jesus warned, “‘In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men…. All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition” (Mark 7:7–9).
That’s a warning I hope all of us will heed. Jesus said He is Lord of the Sabbath. He observed the Sabbath regularly, and He did not break God’s law, as some theologians claim. As He said, “I have kept My Father’s commandments” (John 15:10). So, should you follow the example of Jesus Christ and the instructions of your Bible? Or should you oppose them and follow the traditions of men?
WHEN WAS THE SEVENTH-DAY SABBATH ESTABLISHED?
We’ve seen that the early New Testament Church observed the seventh-day Sabbath. But when was the seventh-day Sabbath established? At the time of Moses on Mt. Sinai? No! It was established much earlier, at the foundation of this world.
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).
Yes, God established the seventh-day Sabbath at the foundation of this world, long before the time of Moses.
Notice what Jesus said: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). The Founder of Christianity did not say, “The Sabbath was made for the Jewish people.” The Sabbath was made for man, for all humanity, for every human being on earth.
Jesus made an amazing claim. Did He say He was Lord over Sunday—that Sunday was the Lord’s day? No, He did not. He said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27–28). If Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, what day is the Lord’s day? Sunday? Think about it! The Sabbath is the Lord’s Day—Jesus Himself said so. We read that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). He is still, right now, Lord of the Sabbath.
The Scriptures admonish us to follow His example and that of the apostles. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). The Apostle Peter exhorted us to follow Christ’s example: “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). Yes, Jesus and the apostles kept the seventh-day Sabbath holy, and God expects us to follow their example.
We’ve seen that the early New Testament Church observed the seventh-day Sabbath. But when was the seventh-day Sabbath established? At the time of Moses on Mt. Sinai? No! It was established much earlier, at the foundation of this world.
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).
Yes, God established the seventh-day Sabbath at the foundation of this world, long before the time of Moses.
Notice what Jesus said: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). The Founder of Christianity did not say, “The Sabbath was made for the Jewish people.” The Sabbath was made for man, for all humanity, for every human being on earth.
Jesus made an amazing claim. Did He say He was Lord over Sunday—that Sunday was the Lord’s day? No, He did not. He said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27–28). If Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, what day is the Lord’s day? Sunday? Think about it! The Sabbath is the Lord’s Day—Jesus Himself said so. We read that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). He is still, right now, Lord of the Sabbath.
The Scriptures admonish us to follow His example and that of the apostles. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). The Apostle Peter exhorted us to follow Christ’s example: “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). Yes, Jesus and the apostles kept the seventh-day Sabbath holy, and God expects us to follow their example.
THE “REST” OF THE STORY
There is much more New Testament evidence regarding Sabbath observance. For instance, the Sabbath pictures the Millennial rest and is a memorial of God’s rest at creation. We read, “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). The original Greek word for “rest” here is sabbatismos, which means “a Sabbath-keeping.” Both the Revised Standard Version and the New International Version translate verse 9 as “a Sabbath rest.” Yes, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, even to this day!
Notice this important statement: “For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:10). The context here is both of symbolic and literal rest. The Greek word katapausis is the second of the two basic words translated “rest” in this section. But notice what God says of those who have now entered into His rest—that is, those who are converted, those who are willing to follow Christ now.
If we, as converted Christians, are to cease from our works just as God did from His, we simply need to ask one question: How did God cease from His works? Scripture gives us the answer: “For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all His works’” (Hebrews 4:4).
The scholarly Anchor Bible Dictionary affirms the responsibility of New Testament Christians to observe the Sabbath. It states, “Physical sabbath-keeping on the part of the New Covenant believer as affirmed by ‘sabbath rest’ epitomizes cessation from ‘works’ (4:10) in commemoration of God’s rest at creation ([Hebrews] 4:4 = Gen 2:2) and manifests faith in the salvation provided by Christ” (vol. 5, p. 856, emphasis added). That’s quite a plain statement! Yes, the Scriptures affirm that new-covenant Christians are to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” as the fourth commandment states (Exodus 20:8).
The bottom-line question is: Who or what is your authority? Is it the Bible? Or some church and religion apart from the Bible?
As we’ve seen, some religious leaders, including both Roman Catholic and Protestant, claim tradition or church administration apart from the Bible as their reason for keeping Sunday rather than the Sabbath. For example, consider this statement from prominent Anglican minister Isaac Williams in 1847:
[A]nd where are we told in Scripture that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are no where commanded to keep the first day…. The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the Church, has enjoined it (Plain Sermons, by Contributors to the Tracts for the Times, vol. IX, Sermon CCCIV, pp. 267, 269, emphasis added).
These are surprising admissions. Again, you can read even more in our free, informative booklet Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath?
We’ve seen that the original Christian Church observed the seventh-day Sabbath, following the example of Jesus Christ and the apostles. It was Emperor Constantine in 321 AD who proclaimed the day of the sun as the day of worship for the Roman Empire. The fourth-century AD Catholic Council of Laodicea affirmed Sunday worship and declared Christian Sabbath-keepers heretics. Even to this day, Christian Sabbath-keepers are persecuted in many countries around the world.
There is much more New Testament evidence regarding Sabbath observance. For instance, the Sabbath pictures the Millennial rest and is a memorial of God’s rest at creation. We read, “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). The original Greek word for “rest” here is sabbatismos, which means “a Sabbath-keeping.” Both the Revised Standard Version and the New International Version translate verse 9 as “a Sabbath rest.” Yes, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, even to this day!
Notice this important statement: “For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:10). The context here is both of symbolic and literal rest. The Greek word katapausis is the second of the two basic words translated “rest” in this section. But notice what God says of those who have now entered into His rest—that is, those who are converted, those who are willing to follow Christ now.
If we, as converted Christians, are to cease from our works just as God did from His, we simply need to ask one question: How did God cease from His works? Scripture gives us the answer: “For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all His works’” (Hebrews 4:4).
The scholarly Anchor Bible Dictionary affirms the responsibility of New Testament Christians to observe the Sabbath. It states, “Physical sabbath-keeping on the part of the New Covenant believer as affirmed by ‘sabbath rest’ epitomizes cessation from ‘works’ (4:10) in commemoration of God’s rest at creation ([Hebrews] 4:4 = Gen 2:2) and manifests faith in the salvation provided by Christ” (vol. 5, p. 856, emphasis added). That’s quite a plain statement! Yes, the Scriptures affirm that new-covenant Christians are to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” as the fourth commandment states (Exodus 20:8).
The bottom-line question is: Who or what is your authority? Is it the Bible? Or some church and religion apart from the Bible?
As we’ve seen, some religious leaders, including both Roman Catholic and Protestant, claim tradition or church administration apart from the Bible as their reason for keeping Sunday rather than the Sabbath. For example, consider this statement from prominent Anglican minister Isaac Williams in 1847:
[A]nd where are we told in Scripture that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are no where commanded to keep the first day…. The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the Church, has enjoined it (Plain Sermons, by Contributors to the Tracts for the Times, vol. IX, Sermon CCCIV, pp. 267, 269, emphasis added).
These are surprising admissions. Again, you can read even more in our free, informative booklet Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath?
We’ve seen that the original Christian Church observed the seventh-day Sabbath, following the example of Jesus Christ and the apostles. It was Emperor Constantine in 321 AD who proclaimed the day of the sun as the day of worship for the Roman Empire. The fourth-century AD Catholic Council of Laodicea affirmed Sunday worship and declared Christian Sabbath-keepers heretics. Even to this day, Christian Sabbath-keepers are persecuted in many countries around the world.
WHO CHANGED THE DAY OF WORSHIP?
So, who changed the Sabbath to Sunday? The answer is “No one!” Man cannot change what God has decreed!
Through the One who became Jesus Christ, God Almighty established the Sabbath at the foundation of the world for all human beings. God “created all things through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:9), and Christ, to this day, is Lord of the Sabbath, as it tells us in Mark 2:28. Remember, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Yes, even today, true Christians follow the example of Christ, His apostles, and the Church of the New Testament in observing the seventh-day Sabbath.
If you are a longtime student of Tomorrow’s World and would like to worship with other Christian Sabbath-keepers, we invite you to counsel with one of our representatives. Just contact the Regional Office nearest you, listed on page 4 of this magazine, or contact us at TomorrowsWorld.org.
Dear readers, we are living in the time of the end prophesied in your Bible. We look forward to the coming Kingdom of God, ruled by the Prince of Peace—the Messiah, Jesus Christ. As King of kings and Lord of lords, He will teach, govern, guide, and serve all nations. So, one last question: When Christ establishes His world-ruling Kingdom on Earth, on what day will all nations worship?
Notice God’s proclamation: “‘For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,’ says the Lord, ‘So shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,’ says the Lord” (Isaiah 66:22–23).
If you are alive at that time, will you obey your Lord and Savior and worship Him on the seventh day, keeping the Sabbath holy along with all other people on earth? Do you even now worship the Savior as Lord of the Sabbath? Give these questions some thought, and prayerfully decide to worship God in spirit and in truth, as it tells us in John 4:24. We look forward to the day when all peoples and nations around the world will worship Christ the King. The Messiah will establish world peace, world government, true education, and the biblical way of truth, love, and life. All nations will observe the true weekly Sabbath and the biblical Holy Days! What a wonderful, peaceful, and prosperous world it will be!
Before covering the real truth on the Sabbath to Sunday change, let's look further at the Bible weekly day names. In Biblical times, the days of the week were basically called 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th or Preparation and Sabbath. The numbering of the days actually revolved around the Sabbath as shown in the above table. The verses translated “first day of the week” are actually saying first day after the Sabbath. This in itself says that these days were NOT the Seventh day Sabbath! The phrase “first day of the week” in the King James Version uses the Greek words “mia” (first) “ho he to” (of the) “sabbaton” (Sabbath). The word day is an added word and does not exist in the Greek. So the phrase more correctly reads “first [day] of the sabbath” which for clarity could be translated as first day after the Sabbath or first day of the week. John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible (1690-1771) commenting on Matthew 28:1 on the phrase first day of the week says: “towards the first day of the week, or “sabbaths”; so the Jews used to call the days of the week, the first day of the sabbath, the second day of the sabbath, &c. take an instance or two (z).” There would not be many people today who would understand the meaning of the phrase first of the Sabbath or second of the Sabbath etc, and so it is typically translated as first day of the week. Thus Luke in this case is saying that this day is the first day AFTER the Sabbath and hence is also saying that this day is NOT the Sabbath. It is in fact NOT possible to say that the Sabbath is Sunday due to the very names of the days of the week since they are actually named around the Sabbath and so the first day of the week can NEVER be the Sabbath. 
This blows both “first day of the week” arguments right out of the water before we even start.
Satan's typical perpetuated excuse for the above facts is, “Yes, the Sabbath is still Saturday but we worship on Sunday now!” To begin with, the Sabbath cannot be so called when what makes it the Sabbath is done on another day now can it? While those taking this path may feel comfortable with this reasoning, don't they realize that God will not accept such nonsense?
The image here is the upper portion of the Nestorian Stone (Hsian monument), discovered by Jesuit missionaries in 1625 AD in the province of Shensi in China. The title of the stone reads, “A monument commemorating the propagation of the Ta-Chin luminous religion (Christianity) in the middle kingdom.” The day of the stone's erection was called, “ta vao shen wan ji” meaning, “the great first of the Sabbath day.” The use of Jewish terms for the days of the week in the heart of China indicates the powerful influence of the Nestorian Church in Asia.
“On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost. (Given the 7th day of March, Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time [A.D. 321].)” Source: Codex Justinianus, lib. 3, tit. 12, 3; trans. in Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol.3 (5th ed.; New York: Scribner, 1902), p.380, note 1.
Now a professed Christian, Constantine nevertheless remained a devout sun worshipper. “The sun was universally celebrated as the invincible guide and protector of Constantine,” notes Edward Gibbon in his classic Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. xx, par. 3.
Constantine even printed coins which “bore on the one side the letters of the name of Christ, on the other the figure of the sun god.” Arthur P. Stanley, History of the Eastern Church, lect. vi, par. 14.
Again, Constantine's promotion of Sunday observance was part of his definite strategy to combine paganism with Christianity: “The retention of the old pagan name of dies Solis, or 'Sunday,' for the weekly Christian festival, is in great measure owing to the union of pagan and Christian sentiment with which the first day of the week was recommended by Constantine to his subjects, pagan and Christian alike, as the ‘venerable day of the Sun.’” Stanley's History of the Eastern Church, p. 184.
You will often hear me and other church of God ministers reference Sabbath-breaking as an example of people not keeping the commandments of God. We do this because it [Sabbath breaking] is so clearly recognizable. All one has to do is observe them keeping Sunday rather than the Sabbath. But brethren, that obvious divide between Sabbath-keepers and Sunday-keepers is driven even wider and more obvious when one takes a bit of care observing how they keep it—that is, how they keep Sunday. The manner in which they keep Sunday reveals the huge deficits in their respect for God.
An expanded translation of Romans 8:7 might read like this:
Romans 8:7 (paraphrased) The carnal mind [meaning the normal, uncalled and unconverted mind of all humanity] is enmity against God [meaning, it normally and naturally views God and the things that He requires of man—being His creation—as an enemy to be resisted]. That mind is not only not subject to God's right to rule over His creation, it cannot be made to be subject to Him.
In one sense, the measure of this resistance is incredible. Except for the angels who rebelled, we are the only ones in the tremendous multitude of living things that God has created who rebel.
Isaiah gives a kind of startled viewpoint on this, saying, "Shall the clay say to the potter, 'Why have you made me thus?'" (Isaiah 45:9). But we do do this and very few humans seem to stop to think that we are the problem that is at the base of everything that is going wrong in this world.
Instead people will blame God, complaining, "Well, if there is a God, why does He allow such things? Why doesn't He do something?" Brethren, do you understand that if He did do such a thing, He would offend just as many, who would wail about what He chose to do? Human nature is that perverse.
But back to the Sabbath. Last Sabbath, an article appeared in the Charlotte Observer that was really a brief book review of a new religious book just published. Would you believe that a man named Steven Miller wrote and published a 310-page book titled, "The Peculiar Life of Sundays"? He did that to illustrate in word fashion how people observe Sunday. 310 pages!
If I had written that book, I would have some said something like this—this is how they keep Sunday: "Some sleep in; others play golf, while others play baseball and soccer. There are some who go to the movies, and some even go to Sunday school and church, and then everybody goes to the restaurant."
Pardon my sarcasm, but there was a time even in my lifetime when people treated Sunday with a great deal more respect than that. But now virtually anything goes, so there is absolutely no difference between the keeping of Sunday or Monday or Tuesday or any other day of the week. Preachers even adjust their Sunday service routines around some major sporting event, like the World Series, the Super Bowl, a golf tournament, or even some local university big game.
What is so tragic to me is how minuscule is the attention, let alone respect, that is given God. He has become a non-entity to the overwhelming majority of Americans. Even among those who do pay enough attention to Him at least to attend services (on the wrong day), what He says is not taken seriously. His will is basically ignored.
Let me suggest something to you that I think is truly simple. Does everybody here know what the word "follow" means? It means "to go after; to move along the course of; to accept the guidance or the leadership of; to take as a model or precedent." Jesus told his disciples, "Follow Me!" Paul said to "Follow me (or, imitate me) as I follow (or imitate) Christ." Furthermore, to make this reality really simple, a disciple is to walk in the very steps of Jesus Christ, as Peter commanded. How close can you get to understanding what "follow Me" means?
All the way from Genesis 2, up to and including the book of Acts and beyond, the only day the heroes of faith—including Jesus and Paul—kept as a part of their manner of living (and taught besides) is the Sabbath, not Sunday.
To human nature and its enmity against God, that is, incredibly, not enough evidence. So, human nature creates twisted justifications, like somehow the law is done away—even though Jesus said, "Think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets." Or, "One has to keep all the laws except the Sabbath, because (they say) it's only ceremonial."
Where did man find the authority to declare the Sabbath ceremonial? Has God also declared "you shall not murder" ceremonial, or that lying and stealing are also ceremonial? If you can do it to one commandment, why can't you do it to the others?
Nowhere in the Bible is the Sabbath annulled by a command or example of Jesus Christ or the apostles. If we carefully and honestly study the most controversial and difficult of Paul's statements, we will see that he never used his authority to abrogate the keeping of the Sabbath either.
In the gospels the controversy is always how, not whether, to keep the Sabbath. Jesus never says it no longer matters, and that we therefore no longer need to observe it. He very obviously kept it, or the Jews' attacks against Him would have specifically addressed why He was not. Instead, they attacked His manner of observing it.
Some argue that the only reason Jesus kept it was for the sake of tradition, because He was a Jew. He answers this Himself when He observes that the Sabbath was made for man, not just for Jews, and that He is Lord of it (Mark 2:27-28). Also, He is our example, and we are to walk as He walked (I John 2:4-6). If we wish to follow Him closely, then we will keep the same days He did.
Last month's article showed that God gave us the fourth commandment to enable us to worship Him, the One True God, better. It provides us with the time to fellowship with Him and understand Him, ourselves and our place in His purpose. How to use this time, then, becomes of paramount importance.
Some believe that Christ did not annul the Sabbath. Others feel that He annulled it, but they will keep it because of tradition. However, many in both of these camps have so liberalized their teaching on it that their observance of it turns out to be little different from how the world keeps Sunday.
Since it is obvious in the Bible that Christ kept it, this article will focus on His attitude toward the Sabbath. We will see that, far from annulling it, He magnified it! In so doing, He gives us the foundation for judging the value of our own Sabbath activity. He restores it to its original God-given intent and liberalizes it only in relation to the perverted, bondage-producing approach of the Pharisees.
Society's Attitudes
Ezekiel 20:21 appears in the midst of God's charge that He was sending Israel into captivity because of idolatry and Sabbath breaking:
Notwithstanding, the children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, and were not careful to observe My judgments, "which, if a man does, he shall live by them"; but they profaned My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them and fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness.
There are three possibilities regarding Israel's Sabbath breaking:
1. They rejected God's Sabbath for another day entirely;
2. They polluted what they did have of God's true Sabbath by careless, self-centered observance; or
3. Most likely, it was a combination of both. Some completely rejected it, others treated it carelessly.
Whichever it was, it resulted in their captivity. Keeping the Sabbath day properly is a serious issue to God.
If we look to society and history about how to keep the day, we are faced with a mixed bag. On the surface, the New Testament describes rigorous legalism in the Pharisees or asceticism in the Gentiles. Today, we might call it extreme rightism or reactionary conservatism.
However, now the other side of the coin, liberalism, confronts us. We do not have even the foggiest notion about how to keep it! The commonly observed cycle of six work days and one day of rest and worship is a legacy of the Bible. But from our earliest days, the emphasis has been on a day—Sunday—that no one can keep holy because the holy God never made it holy.
Because of scientific, industrial and technological advancements in fairly recent history, society has undergone a radical transformation. Shorter work weeks give almost everybody more leisure time. Yet business institutions make every effort to utilize time and maximize production by programming work shifts so that the weekly cycle is just a blur.
We have also come to think that time belongs totally to us, so we can use it as we good and well please. This makes us very cognizant of what free time we have. So we use it as businesses do—all of it. Thus Sunday has come to contain the "hour" of worship. People, in good conscience, spend the rest of their time on that day either making money or seeking their pleasure in entertainment, home maintenance or hobbies. Meanwhile, they ignore or even ridicule the true Sabbath. This is the situation that confronts us when we attempt or continue to keep the Sabbath.
Applying Principles
God gives us few specifics in the Bible about how to keep the Sabbath. Instead, He presents broad principles and expects us to consider how to apply them. Where do we look for these principles? Almost automatically, most of us associate the Sabbath with the Old Testament. Surprisingly, though, we find much of the instruction regarding Sabbath keeping in the New Testament.
Isaiah 42:21 contains an important principle for understanding Christ's ministry: "The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness' sake; He will magnify the law and make it honorable." Magnify means "to enlarge." We often focus on Jesus magnifying the law in the Sermon on the Mount, where He taught that anger and hate are the spirit of murder, and lust, the spirit of adultery. However, throughout His ministry Jesus deliberately and frequently focused attention on the Sabbath to magnify its intent.
Jesus did things right. So we must look to Him and how He kept the Sabbath for examples of these principles. To keep the Sabbath properly, we must first understand its purpose, and the very beginning of Jesus' ministry provides ample information on this vital subject.
The Sabbath is so significant that Jesus' ministry formally began on a Sabbath and ended on a preparation day just before another Sabbath (John 19:31)! We see Him open His ministry in Luke 4:16-19, where He gives His mission statement:
So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the LORD."
By quoting Isaiah 61:1-2 in His inaugural sermon, Jesus identifies His mission as setting people free from bondage. He specifically mentions freeing the poor (weak, without power), brokenhearted, captive, blind and oppressed.
"The acceptable year of the LORD" is not when God is acceptable to us, but when God, in His sovereign mercy, moves to make us acceptable to Him. It is a time when He chooses to deliver people. More specifically, it refers to two Old Testament institutions, either the seventh year land Sabbath or the Jubilee year. Israelites considered these years liberators of the oppressed. During them, the land lay fallow and what food it produced on its own went to the poor, dispossessed and animals. Slaves were freed and debts remitted. During Jubilee years, debtors received back their land lost due to mismanagement.
Jesus says in verse 21, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." It was a Sabbath, and through the typology, Christ is clearly showing that His redemptive mission included the liberating intent of the Sabbaths, weekly and annual. In Mark 2:27, Jesus says, "The Sabbath was made for man." God made it to equip us to come out of spiritual slavery—and even more so, to help us in staying out.
Genesis 2:3 says that God blessed the Sabbath day, something He did to no other day. This blessing falls on the heels of the obviously physical blessings God pronounced on animals (Genesis 1:22) and man (Genesis 1:28). The Bible shows a blessing to be something given or conferred to produce a fuller, more abundant life. The Sabbath blessing, conferred upon the whole creation, acts as the capstone of Creation week.
By blessing a recurring period of time, God promises to be man's benefactor through the whole course of human history! The blessing invokes God's favor, and its primary intent is that God will be our spiritual benefactor. It does, however, include the physical as well. Thus, Jesus clearly ties His ministry to the Sabbath concepts of blessing, deliverance, liberty and redemption.
The Sabbath Memorial
Comparing the Sabbath commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 reveals a significant alteration in the wording about what God wants us to remember on it. Exodus 20 ties remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy to God's acts of creation. Deuteronomy 5 tells us that the Sabbath reminds us we were slaves in Egypt. Each Sabbath should remind us that God is Creator. However, that does not always answer immediate concerns because Creation happened in the remote past. But each Sabbath should also remind us that God is Liberator. We keep the Sabbath because we are—and want to remain—free.
Throughout His dealings with Israel, God has used His Sabbaths to perform acts of liberation. Israel left Egypt on a Sabbath and crossed the Red Sea into the wilderness one week later on a Sabbath. He gave His Ten Commandment laws, led Israel across the Jordan into the Promised Land and broke down the walls of Jericho on Sabbaths. God requires His people to keep the Sabbath to sustain their liberty. When Israel rejected the Sabbath, they lost their freedom and went into captivity.
Nations establish memorials like Independence Day because the leaders want the people to have a periodic reminder of their heritage. They want them to review why they have what they do. They want to instill admiration for the ideas that undergird their way of life and inspire the people to hold dear and strengthen those principles.
God's Sabbath memorial—His Independence Day—is so important to His purpose that He has it recur every week, not merely once a year. It serves as a constant renewal of our spiritual heritage from Him and of our original release from sin. It reorients us in any area where we may have turned aside. In addition, Hebrews 4 reveals that the Sabbath points to the Millennial reign of Christ, when He will remove Satan's liberty and restore mankind's.
Restoring Original Intent
Jesus' healing of the man with the withered hand (Matthew 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-6) reveals a fundamental difference between Jesus and the Pharisees in their approach to the Sabbath. The Pharisees had not entered the synagogue to worship, nor did they ask Jesus their question—"Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"—out of loving concern. No, they were an accusing authority attempting to judge Christ by their regulations.
It helps to remember the historical context. The Jews were developing specific regulations to cover any and every possible circumstance to keep them from sinning. Eventually, they compiled 1,521 regulations covering Sabbath conduct alone. By Jesus' time, they had already turned their observance of the law into a legalistic ritual rather than a loving service to God and man. They did this sincerely in a vain effort to become holy, not understanding that this is not how a man becomes spiritually holy.
In this vignette, does Christ do away with the Sabbath or restore it to its original divine value and function, as He did with marriage and divorce in Matthew 19:8? He gives no indication that He intended doing away with it. He merely broke their misguided perception of how to observe the Sabbath.
We also need to recognize that the liberating healing He performed was not done to a man whose life was in immediate danger, but to one who was chronically ill. So are we spiritually; as Jeremiah 17:9 says, our heart is "incurably sick" (margin). God gives us the Sabbath day to help free us from the chronic problems of human nature.
Mark 3:3-4 reinforces Jesus' attitude toward Sabbath activity. "Then He said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Step forward.' And He said to them, ‘Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?' But they kept silent." By Jesus' example, His reaction (anger, verse 5) and His words, God very clearly not only intends us to do good on the Sabbath, but also to fail to do good when the opportunity arises implies evil and killing!
Jesus does not appear to have gone out of His way to find people to heal on the Sabbath, but these were incidental occurrences as He went along His way. If a sick person came to His attention, He healed him. But someone unconcerned for the physical and spiritual salvation of others on the Sabbath is automatically involved to some degree in destructive efforts and attitudes, for failing to do good when we have opportunity is sin (Proverbs 3:27-28; James 4:17). God is preparing us to assist in the salvation of others, and it behooves us to begin thinking along these lines.
A Day for Doing Good
As it reads in Deuteronomy 5:12-15, the commandment explains that God ordained the Sabbath that we might show compassion toward the needy and defenseless. Exodus 23:12 reinforces this idea: "Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your maidservant and the stranger may be refreshed." The idea of doing good on the Sabbath arises from principles like these.
The New Testament shows two types of Sabbath keepers: Christ, who looked for ways to lighten burdens and save lives; and the Pharisees, who used it to look for faults and think of ways to trap Him. Like Christ, we must be concerned for people's potential. He freed them from burdens, no matter what day it was, that they might produce more. Such work honors God. Redemption, the spiritual creation and love of neighbor are the essence of Sabbath keeping.
In Luke 13:10-17, Christ heals another chronically ill person on the Sabbath. This time, though, He did not wait for anyone to ask Him questions. The episode plainly discloses the redeeming and liberating intention of God's Sabbath. When Jesus says, "You are loosed," the ruler of the synagogue reacts immediately because to him the Sabbath meant rules to obey rather than people to love.
Jesus replies in verses 15-16 by emphasizing the Sabbath principle:
The Lord then answered him and said, "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?"
Christ makes a play on words here. He uses the same verb, "loose," to describe the ox and donkey as He does the woman being "loosed" from Satan through healing.
So Jesus acts against their tradition but nowhere challenges the binding obligation of keeping the Sabbath. Rather, His example shows that we should make merciful evaluations to help others cast off their heavy burdens. He argues for living the true values.
Working for Salvation
We can consider John 5:1-18 and John 9:1-41 together because their common themes show the relationship between the Sabbath and the work of salvation. Both people Jesus heals are chronically ill: one for 38 years, the other blind from birth. He tells both to do something: "Rise, take up your bed and walk" (John 5:8), and "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (John 9:7).
In both cases, the Pharisees accuse Him of Sabbath breaking (John 5:16, 18; 9:16, 24). Christ repudiates the charges against Him by arguing that His works of healing are contemplated by the Sabbath command and are equivalent to the works of God (John 5:16-18; 9:4, 14). His argument is that, unlike men, God does not break the Sabbath. Therefore the work God does on the Sabbath does not break it; His works, types of His salvation, free people from burdens.
"My Father has been working until now, and I have been working," Jesus says (John 5:17). What work is the Father doing? He is "working salvation in the midst of the earth" (Psalm 74:12). God is always working toward the completion of His purpose—the salvation of mankind. Jesus works within the same process and pointedly makes an issue of this on the Sabbath days. God's work is creating sons in His image. Thus, healing, forgiving sin and doing good are part of Christ's work as Savior and High Priest that He might be "firstborn among many brethren."
John 7:22-24, an echo of chapter 5, shows how far out of proportion the Jews' judgment was, relative to the value of circumstances. In their judgment, not carrying a pallet and making clay on the Sabbath were more important than healing someone. Jesus, therefore, tries to correct them:
Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it was from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.
The Jews considered circumcision a lawful Sabbath activity. The Bible never directly says why because everyone understood. They considered circumcision a redemptive act, even as we consider baptism a redemptive act and baptize on the Sabbath. The Jews judged it proper to excise one of the 248 body parts to save the whole man.
Christ reasons that the works of salvation are accomplished, not only by the Father, but also by His servants (for example, the priests who performed circumcisions). To Christ, God's true Servant, the Sabbath is the day to work for the salvation of the whole man, physically and spiritually. If it is legal to cut off part of a boy's body on the Sabbath to satisfy the Old Covenant, they have no reason to be angry with Him for mercifully restoring a person to wholeness on the Sabbath.
A Day of Mercy
Matthew 12:1-8 adds yet another example of Sabbath encounters Jesus had with the Pharisees:
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!" Then He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? But I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
According to the Pharisees, the disciples reaped, threshed and winnowed the grain; they were guilty of preparing a meal. What was the disciples' motivation? They were traveling, hungry and had no place to prepare a meal. They were young and strong and could have fasted without harm, but because it was a Sabbath, Jesus drew attention to one of the Sabbath's main purposes. It is a day of mercy.
Christ draws His justification from I Samuel 21:1-6. He reasons that, if David under unusual circumstances could allay his hunger by eating bread consecrated for holy use, then the disciples could also legitimately provide for their needs in unusual circumstances. The emphasis here is on "unusual." How many times did David flee for his life and find himself hungry near the Tabernacle? It happened at least once, but even for a man of war like David, such situations occurred only rarely.
The overall lesson is that God does not intend His law to deprive but to ensure life. If the need arises, we should not feel conscience-stricken to use the Sabbath in a way that would not normally be lawful. Christ admits David's actions were not normally lawful, and neither were the disciples'—except for the circumstances. In this case, they were blameless BECAUSE A LARGER OBLIGATION OVERRULED THE LETTER OF THE LAW. In this circumstance, mercy is more important than sacrificing a meal. Holy bread or holy time can be used exceptionally to sustain life and serve God.
Christ takes advantage of the situation to teach another connected lesson. He draws attention to the extent of the priests' Sabbath labors in the Temple. Their work actually doubled on the Sabbath because of the number of sacrifices God required, yet they were guiltless. Why? They were involved in God's creative, redemptive work, as Christ explains in John 5, 7 and 9. They fulfilled a purpose of the Sabbath that someone had to do.
As the Head of God's spiritual Temple, the church, Jesus Christ is greater than the physical Temple. He is its High Priest and the twelve disciples were His servants, so their Sabbath ministry intensified along with His. The same holds true for God's ministry today. Our Sabbath labors equal or exceed those of the common days.
Because of the disciple's involvement in the work of God, circumstances dictated a profaning of the Sabbath. From this, we can understand that LOVING SERVICE IS GREATER THAN RITUAL FULFILLMENT. What is mercy? It is a helpful act where and when it is needed. It is an act of loving encouragement, comfort, pity and sympathy for the distressed. It is the relieving of a burden.
Made for Man
Mark 2:27-28 says the Sabbath was made for or on account of man. God made it after man's creation, not to make him a slave of rules, but to ensure his physical and spiritual well being. Though we must rest from the labors of earning a living, it is still a day of intensive work that leads to salvation, of becoming prepared for the Kingdom of God. It is not intended to be a day of passive idleness, but of active, loving service, as circumstances arise, to help others.
The Scriptures show that Jesus kept the Sabbath by attending services, fellowshipping, teaching God's truth and doing acts of kindness that brought liberty, joy and peace to others. These establish very clear patterns. What does ordinary entertainment have to do with them? Resting from these expresses our complete commitment to God's way. It shows where our interests lie.
Situations will arise that require a measure of knowledge of the Scriptures for guidance and discernment to determine whether an activity lies within the framework of obedience. With the guidance of Jesus' attitude and acts, though, we should have a good foundation for making righteous judgments.
The Sabbath is a wonderful gift of God, given to help us produce an abundant life. Let us all thank Him for it and strive to glorify Him in using it.
The Ten Commandments seem to hinge on the fourth: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." From this simple statement flows a stream of spiritual lessons and principles about God, man and our potential. Disregarding the Sabbath is like throwing away the key to a treasure chest—we are ignoring a vital area of understanding that will open up our minds to God and His purpose.
The Sabbath is much more than a weekly day of rest. It is the one day each week that we devote totally to God, and thus it is a good regulator and barometer of our relationship with Him. The following study will refresh the Bible's basic information on the Sabbath, and—it is hoped—spur further study on this most important of topics.
1. Who made the Sabbath and when? Genesis 2:2-3.
2. For whom was the Sabbath made? Mark 2:27.
Comment: Since the Sabbath has been in force from Creation, it is not just for the Jews, but for all mankind!
3. What did God do on the seventh day of Creation that serves as an example of how we should keep the Sabbath? Same verses and Exodus 20:8-11.
Comment: Because God rested after six days of labor, the Sabbath is also our day of rest and a memorial of Creation. We are to remember, not only what God did in the physical creation, but also that His spiritual creation continues in us.
4. Other than the fact that we do no work, how is the Sabbath different from the other six days? Same verses.
Comment: God blessed the seventh day, making it holy. It is holy time, set apart for God's use! Only God can make a day holy, and He does this by putting Himself, through His Spirit, into it. We are then instructed to "keep" it holy.
5. How do we keep the Sabbath holy? Leviticus 23:3; Exodus 16:23; Jeremiah 17:21-22.
Comment: These scriptures give a few examples of things God prohibits on His Sabbath: working, cooking, carrying burdens. God does not make a comprehensive list of "dos and don'ts" for us to follow. Instead, He gives us principles of what is proper and improper Sabbath behavior, and we then must use God's Spirit to decide our actions.
6. Is the Sabbath a "sign"? Exodus 31:12-17; Isaiah 56:1-7.
Comment: A sign identifies a business, a street, a product, etc., and so does the Sabbath! It identifies God's people! Notice also that this covenant, made after the ratification of the Old Covenant, bound the Sabbath as a "perpetual covenant" upon God's people.
7. Who is "Lord of the Sabbath"? Mark 2:28.
Comment: As its Creator (John 1:1-3, 14), Jesus is "Lord of the Sabbath." As a man, He showed us the intent of this commandment in numerous accounts recorded in the four gospels.
8. Did Jesus keep the Sabbath? Luke 4:16. Did Paul? Acts 17:1-2. Did the early church? Acts 13:42-44; 16:13.
9. Is the Sabbath a burden or a "delight"? Isaiah 58:13-14.
Comment: If we keep the Sabbath properly, and work to improve our relationship with God, this holy time will be most precious and a tremendous blessing each week!
A pivotal point of the Ten Commandments is the fourth: "Remember [observe] the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15). From this simple statement flows a stream of spiritual lessons and principles about God, humans and our potential. Disregarding the Sabbath is like throwing away the key to a treasure chest, ignoring a vital area of understanding that will open our minds to God and His purpose. The Sabbath is much more than a weekly day of rest. It is the one day each week that we devote totally to God, and thus it is a good regulator and barometer of our relationship with Him. The following study will rehearse the Bible's basic information on the Sabbath, and will hopefully spur us to deeper study.
1. Who made the Sabbath and when? Genesis 2:2-3; John 1:1-3. Is the Sabbath a "sign"? Exodus 31:12-17. For whom was the Sabbath made? Mark 2:27; Isaiah 56:2, 6-7.
Comment: It was Christ, as the God of the Old Testament, who actually created the Sabbath. It is a sign that identifies God's people just as a sign identifies a business or a street. Notice also that this covenant, made after the ratification of the Old Covenant, bound the Sabbath as a "perpetual covenant" upon God's people. Since the Sabbath has been in force from Creation, it is not just for the Jews, but for the foreigner and all mankind as well. All who keep the Sabbath properly are blessed.
2. What did God do on the seventh day of Creation that serves as an example of how we should keep the Sabbath? Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 20:11; Deuteronomy 5:12. How can we keep the Sabbath holy? Exodus 16:23-30; Leviticus 23:3; Deuteronomy 5:13-14; Matthew 12:12.
Comment: Because God rested after six days of labor, the Sabbath is also our day of rest and a memorial of Creation. He wants us to remember, not only what He did in the physical creation, but also that His spiritual creation continues in us now. When God blessed and sanctified the seventh day, He made it holy, set apart for God's use! Only God can make a day holy, and He does this by putting Himself, through His Spirit, into it.
We are then instructed to "keep" it holy. These scriptures give a few examples of things God prohibits on His Sabbath: working, cooking, carrying burdens. God does not make a comprehensive list of "dos and don'ts" for us to follow. Instead, He gives us principles of what is proper and improper Sabbath behavior, and we then must use God's Spirit to decide our actions.
3. Are whole cities or countries blessed or cursed according to what the inhabitants do on the Sabbath? Jeremiah 17:21-27; Nehemiah 13:15-22.
Comment: Jeremiah warned the people of Judah that if the inhabitants of a city do business on the Sabbath, the whole city is cursed. When Nehemiah returned from Persia to Jerusalem after an absence of 7 years (c. 425 BC), he found the Judeans again breaking the Sabbath by carrying their burdens and selling their wares. Israelites repeatedly have a very short memory when it comes to keeping the Sabbath.
4. Did Jesus keep the Sabbath? Mark 1:21; Luke 4:16, 31; 6:6; 13:10; Matthew 12:5, 12. Who is Lord of the Sabbath? Matthew 12:8; Mark 2:27-28; Luke 6:5. Immediately following Christ's death, did God conclusively show that Sunday is not the Sabbath? Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1-2; Luke 23:54-56; 24:1.
Comment: As the Creator of the Sabbath (John 1:1-3, 14; Colossians 1:16-18), Jesus is "Lord of the Sabbath." As a man, He showed us the intent of this commandment in numerous accounts recorded in the four gospels. Jesus gave His church an example of how the whole Christian way of life is to be lived (I John 2:6). We are to do as Christ did (I Peter 2:21-22).
5. Did the apostle Paul keep the Sabbath? Acts 13:14-16; 17:1-3. Did the early church keep the Sabbath? Acts 13:42-44; 16:13-15.
Comment: Christ set the Sabbath-keeping example for his apostles, and Paul, following His example, tells us we are to imitate him as he imitates Christ (I Corinthians 11:1). Paul preached to the Jews and Gentiles on the Sabbath because the Sabbath is for everyone, not just the Jews. These Gentiles were keeping the Sabbath in the synagogue with the Jews on the seventh day, not Sunday.
6. Is it a day to be loosed from bondage? Luke 13:11-17. Is the Sabbath a burden or a "delight"? Isaiah 58:13-14. Is it possible to receive the Holy Spirit without keeping the Sabbath? Acts 5:32.
Comment: God requires obedience to His commandments as a condition for receiving His Holy Spirit. When we keep the Sabbath, we show God by our action that we are worthy to receive it. If we keep the Sabbath properly, and work to improve our relationship with God, this holy time will be most valuable and a tremendous blessing each week!
So, who changed the Sabbath to Sunday? The answer is “No one!” Man cannot change what God has decreed!
Through the One who became Jesus Christ, God Almighty established the Sabbath at the foundation of the world for all human beings. God “created all things through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:9), and Christ, to this day, is Lord of the Sabbath, as it tells us in Mark 2:28. Remember, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Yes, even today, true Christians follow the example of Christ, His apostles, and the Church of the New Testament in observing the seventh-day Sabbath.
If you are a longtime student of Tomorrow’s World and would like to worship with other Christian Sabbath-keepers, we invite you to counsel with one of our representatives. Just contact the Regional Office nearest you, listed on page 4 of this magazine, or contact us at TomorrowsWorld.org.
Dear readers, we are living in the time of the end prophesied in your Bible. We look forward to the coming Kingdom of God, ruled by the Prince of Peace—the Messiah, Jesus Christ. As King of kings and Lord of lords, He will teach, govern, guide, and serve all nations. So, one last question: When Christ establishes His world-ruling Kingdom on Earth, on what day will all nations worship?
Notice God’s proclamation: “‘For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,’ says the Lord, ‘So shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,’ says the Lord” (Isaiah 66:22–23).
If you are alive at that time, will you obey your Lord and Savior and worship Him on the seventh day, keeping the Sabbath holy along with all other people on earth? Do you even now worship the Savior as Lord of the Sabbath? Give these questions some thought, and prayerfully decide to worship God in spirit and in truth, as it tells us in John 4:24. We look forward to the day when all peoples and nations around the world will worship Christ the King. The Messiah will establish world peace, world government, true education, and the biblical way of truth, love, and life. All nations will observe the true weekly Sabbath and the biblical Holy Days! What a wonderful, peaceful, and prosperous world it will be!
Before covering the real truth on the Sabbath to Sunday change, let's look further at the Bible weekly day names. In Biblical times, the days of the week were basically called 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th or Preparation and Sabbath. The numbering of the days actually revolved around the Sabbath as shown in the above table. The verses translated “first day of the week” are actually saying first day after the Sabbath. This in itself says that these days were NOT the Seventh day Sabbath! The phrase “first day of the week” in the King James Version uses the Greek words “mia” (first) “ho he to” (of the) “sabbaton” (Sabbath). The word day is an added word and does not exist in the Greek. So the phrase more correctly reads “first [day] of the sabbath” which for clarity could be translated as first day after the Sabbath or first day of the week. John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible (1690-1771) commenting on Matthew 28:1 on the phrase first day of the week says: “towards the first day of the week, or “sabbaths”; so the Jews used to call the days of the week, the first day of the sabbath, the second day of the sabbath, &c. take an instance or two (z).” There would not be many people today who would understand the meaning of the phrase first of the Sabbath or second of the Sabbath etc, and so it is typically translated as first day of the week. Thus Luke in this case is saying that this day is the first day AFTER the Sabbath and hence is also saying that this day is NOT the Sabbath. It is in fact NOT possible to say that the Sabbath is Sunday due to the very names of the days of the week since they are actually named around the Sabbath and so the first day of the week can NEVER be the Sabbath. This blows both “first day of the week” arguments right out of the water before we even start.
Satan's typical perpetuated excuse for the above facts is, “Yes, the Sabbath is still Saturday but we worship on Sunday now!” To begin with, the Sabbath cannot be so called when what makes it the Sabbath is done on another day now can it? While those taking this path may feel comfortable with this reasoning, don't they realize that God will not accept such nonsense?
The image here is the upper portion of the Nestorian Stone (Hsian monument), discovered by Jesuit missionaries in 1625 AD in the province of Shensi in China. The title of the stone reads, “A monument commemorating the propagation of the Ta-Chin luminous religion (Christianity) in the middle kingdom.” The day of the stone's erection was called, “ta vao shen wan ji” meaning, “the great first of the Sabbath day.” The use of Jewish terms for the days of the week in the heart of China indicates the powerful influence of the Nestorian Church in Asia.
“On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost. (Given the 7th day of March, Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time [A.D. 321].)” Source: Codex Justinianus, lib. 3, tit. 12, 3; trans. in Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol.3 (5th ed.; New York: Scribner, 1902), p.380, note 1.
Now a professed Christian, Constantine nevertheless remained a devout sun worshipper. “The sun was universally celebrated as the invincible guide and protector of Constantine,” notes Edward Gibbon in his classic Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. xx, par. 3.
Constantine even printed coins which “bore on the one side the letters of the name of Christ, on the other the figure of the sun god.” Arthur P. Stanley, History of the Eastern Church, lect. vi, par. 14.
Again, Constantine's promotion of Sunday observance was part of his definite strategy to combine paganism with Christianity: “The retention of the old pagan name of dies Solis, or 'Sunday,' for the weekly Christian festival, is in great measure owing to the union of pagan and Christian sentiment with which the first day of the week was recommended by Constantine to his subjects, pagan and Christian alike, as the ‘venerable day of the Sun.’” Stanley's History of the Eastern Church, p. 184.
You will often hear me and other church of God ministers reference Sabbath-breaking as an example of people not keeping the commandments of God. We do this because it [Sabbath breaking] is so clearly recognizable. All one has to do is observe them keeping Sunday rather than the Sabbath. But brethren, that obvious divide between Sabbath-keepers and Sunday-keepers is driven even wider and more obvious when one takes a bit of care observing how they keep it—that is, how they keep Sunday. The manner in which they keep Sunday reveals the huge deficits in their respect for God.
An expanded translation of Romans 8:7 might read like this:
Romans 8:7 (paraphrased) The carnal mind [meaning the normal, uncalled and unconverted mind of all humanity] is enmity against God [meaning, it normally and naturally views God and the things that He requires of man—being His creation—as an enemy to be resisted]. That mind is not only not subject to God's right to rule over His creation, it cannot be made to be subject to Him.
In one sense, the measure of this resistance is incredible. Except for the angels who rebelled, we are the only ones in the tremendous multitude of living things that God has created who rebel.
Isaiah gives a kind of startled viewpoint on this, saying, "Shall the clay say to the potter, 'Why have you made me thus?'" (Isaiah 45:9). But we do do this and very few humans seem to stop to think that we are the problem that is at the base of everything that is going wrong in this world.
Instead people will blame God, complaining, "Well, if there is a God, why does He allow such things? Why doesn't He do something?" Brethren, do you understand that if He did do such a thing, He would offend just as many, who would wail about what He chose to do? Human nature is that perverse.
But back to the Sabbath. Last Sabbath, an article appeared in the Charlotte Observer that was really a brief book review of a new religious book just published. Would you believe that a man named Steven Miller wrote and published a 310-page book titled, "The Peculiar Life of Sundays"? He did that to illustrate in word fashion how people observe Sunday. 310 pages!
If I had written that book, I would have some said something like this—this is how they keep Sunday: "Some sleep in; others play golf, while others play baseball and soccer. There are some who go to the movies, and some even go to Sunday school and church, and then everybody goes to the restaurant."
Pardon my sarcasm, but there was a time even in my lifetime when people treated Sunday with a great deal more respect than that. But now virtually anything goes, so there is absolutely no difference between the keeping of Sunday or Monday or Tuesday or any other day of the week. Preachers even adjust their Sunday service routines around some major sporting event, like the World Series, the Super Bowl, a golf tournament, or even some local university big game.
What is so tragic to me is how minuscule is the attention, let alone respect, that is given God. He has become a non-entity to the overwhelming majority of Americans. Even among those who do pay enough attention to Him at least to attend services (on the wrong day), what He says is not taken seriously. His will is basically ignored.
Let me suggest something to you that I think is truly simple. Does everybody here know what the word "follow" means? It means "to go after; to move along the course of; to accept the guidance or the leadership of; to take as a model or precedent." Jesus told his disciples, "Follow Me!" Paul said to "Follow me (or, imitate me) as I follow (or imitate) Christ." Furthermore, to make this reality really simple, a disciple is to walk in the very steps of Jesus Christ, as Peter commanded. How close can you get to understanding what "follow Me" means?
All the way from Genesis 2, up to and including the book of Acts and beyond, the only day the heroes of faith—including Jesus and Paul—kept as a part of their manner of living (and taught besides) is the Sabbath, not Sunday.
To human nature and its enmity against God, that is, incredibly, not enough evidence. So, human nature creates twisted justifications, like somehow the law is done away—even though Jesus said, "Think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets." Or, "One has to keep all the laws except the Sabbath, because (they say) it's only ceremonial."
Where did man find the authority to declare the Sabbath ceremonial? Has God also declared "you shall not murder" ceremonial, or that lying and stealing are also ceremonial? If you can do it to one commandment, why can't you do it to the others?
Nowhere in the Bible is the Sabbath annulled by a command or example of Jesus Christ or the apostles. If we carefully and honestly study the most controversial and difficult of Paul's statements, we will see that he never used his authority to abrogate the keeping of the Sabbath either.
In the gospels the controversy is always how, not whether, to keep the Sabbath. Jesus never says it no longer matters, and that we therefore no longer need to observe it. He very obviously kept it, or the Jews' attacks against Him would have specifically addressed why He was not. Instead, they attacked His manner of observing it.
Some argue that the only reason Jesus kept it was for the sake of tradition, because He was a Jew. He answers this Himself when He observes that the Sabbath was made for man, not just for Jews, and that He is Lord of it (Mark 2:27-28). Also, He is our example, and we are to walk as He walked (I John 2:4-6). If we wish to follow Him closely, then we will keep the same days He did.
Last month's article showed that God gave us the fourth commandment to enable us to worship Him, the One True God, better. It provides us with the time to fellowship with Him and understand Him, ourselves and our place in His purpose. How to use this time, then, becomes of paramount importance.
Some believe that Christ did not annul the Sabbath. Others feel that He annulled it, but they will keep it because of tradition. However, many in both of these camps have so liberalized their teaching on it that their observance of it turns out to be little different from how the world keeps Sunday.
Since it is obvious in the Bible that Christ kept it, this article will focus on His attitude toward the Sabbath. We will see that, far from annulling it, He magnified it! In so doing, He gives us the foundation for judging the value of our own Sabbath activity. He restores it to its original God-given intent and liberalizes it only in relation to the perverted, bondage-producing approach of the Pharisees.
Society's Attitudes
Ezekiel 20:21 appears in the midst of God's charge that He was sending Israel into captivity because of idolatry and Sabbath breaking:
Notwithstanding, the children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, and were not careful to observe My judgments, "which, if a man does, he shall live by them"; but they profaned My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them and fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness.
There are three possibilities regarding Israel's Sabbath breaking:
1. They rejected God's Sabbath for another day entirely;
2. They polluted what they did have of God's true Sabbath by careless, self-centered observance; or
3. Most likely, it was a combination of both. Some completely rejected it, others treated it carelessly.
Whichever it was, it resulted in their captivity. Keeping the Sabbath day properly is a serious issue to God.
If we look to society and history about how to keep the day, we are faced with a mixed bag. On the surface, the New Testament describes rigorous legalism in the Pharisees or asceticism in the Gentiles. Today, we might call it extreme rightism or reactionary conservatism.
However, now the other side of the coin, liberalism, confronts us. We do not have even the foggiest notion about how to keep it! The commonly observed cycle of six work days and one day of rest and worship is a legacy of the Bible. But from our earliest days, the emphasis has been on a day—Sunday—that no one can keep holy because the holy God never made it holy.
Because of scientific, industrial and technological advancements in fairly recent history, society has undergone a radical transformation. Shorter work weeks give almost everybody more leisure time. Yet business institutions make every effort to utilize time and maximize production by programming work shifts so that the weekly cycle is just a blur.
We have also come to think that time belongs totally to us, so we can use it as we good and well please. This makes us very cognizant of what free time we have. So we use it as businesses do—all of it. Thus Sunday has come to contain the "hour" of worship. People, in good conscience, spend the rest of their time on that day either making money or seeking their pleasure in entertainment, home maintenance or hobbies. Meanwhile, they ignore or even ridicule the true Sabbath. This is the situation that confronts us when we attempt or continue to keep the Sabbath.
Applying Principles
God gives us few specifics in the Bible about how to keep the Sabbath. Instead, He presents broad principles and expects us to consider how to apply them. Where do we look for these principles? Almost automatically, most of us associate the Sabbath with the Old Testament. Surprisingly, though, we find much of the instruction regarding Sabbath keeping in the New Testament.
Isaiah 42:21 contains an important principle for understanding Christ's ministry: "The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness' sake; He will magnify the law and make it honorable." Magnify means "to enlarge." We often focus on Jesus magnifying the law in the Sermon on the Mount, where He taught that anger and hate are the spirit of murder, and lust, the spirit of adultery. However, throughout His ministry Jesus deliberately and frequently focused attention on the Sabbath to magnify its intent.
Jesus did things right. So we must look to Him and how He kept the Sabbath for examples of these principles. To keep the Sabbath properly, we must first understand its purpose, and the very beginning of Jesus' ministry provides ample information on this vital subject.
The Sabbath is so significant that Jesus' ministry formally began on a Sabbath and ended on a preparation day just before another Sabbath (John 19:31)! We see Him open His ministry in Luke 4:16-19, where He gives His mission statement:
So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the LORD."
By quoting Isaiah 61:1-2 in His inaugural sermon, Jesus identifies His mission as setting people free from bondage. He specifically mentions freeing the poor (weak, without power), brokenhearted, captive, blind and oppressed.
"The acceptable year of the LORD" is not when God is acceptable to us, but when God, in His sovereign mercy, moves to make us acceptable to Him. It is a time when He chooses to deliver people. More specifically, it refers to two Old Testament institutions, either the seventh year land Sabbath or the Jubilee year. Israelites considered these years liberators of the oppressed. During them, the land lay fallow and what food it produced on its own went to the poor, dispossessed and animals. Slaves were freed and debts remitted. During Jubilee years, debtors received back their land lost due to mismanagement.
Jesus says in verse 21, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." It was a Sabbath, and through the typology, Christ is clearly showing that His redemptive mission included the liberating intent of the Sabbaths, weekly and annual. In Mark 2:27, Jesus says, "The Sabbath was made for man." God made it to equip us to come out of spiritual slavery—and even more so, to help us in staying out.
Genesis 2:3 says that God blessed the Sabbath day, something He did to no other day. This blessing falls on the heels of the obviously physical blessings God pronounced on animals (Genesis 1:22) and man (Genesis 1:28). The Bible shows a blessing to be something given or conferred to produce a fuller, more abundant life. The Sabbath blessing, conferred upon the whole creation, acts as the capstone of Creation week.
By blessing a recurring period of time, God promises to be man's benefactor through the whole course of human history! The blessing invokes God's favor, and its primary intent is that God will be our spiritual benefactor. It does, however, include the physical as well. Thus, Jesus clearly ties His ministry to the Sabbath concepts of blessing, deliverance, liberty and redemption.
The Sabbath Memorial
Comparing the Sabbath commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 reveals a significant alteration in the wording about what God wants us to remember on it. Exodus 20 ties remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy to God's acts of creation. Deuteronomy 5 tells us that the Sabbath reminds us we were slaves in Egypt. Each Sabbath should remind us that God is Creator. However, that does not always answer immediate concerns because Creation happened in the remote past. But each Sabbath should also remind us that God is Liberator. We keep the Sabbath because we are—and want to remain—free.
Throughout His dealings with Israel, God has used His Sabbaths to perform acts of liberation. Israel left Egypt on a Sabbath and crossed the Red Sea into the wilderness one week later on a Sabbath. He gave His Ten Commandment laws, led Israel across the Jordan into the Promised Land and broke down the walls of Jericho on Sabbaths. God requires His people to keep the Sabbath to sustain their liberty. When Israel rejected the Sabbath, they lost their freedom and went into captivity.
Nations establish memorials like Independence Day because the leaders want the people to have a periodic reminder of their heritage. They want them to review why they have what they do. They want to instill admiration for the ideas that undergird their way of life and inspire the people to hold dear and strengthen those principles.
God's Sabbath memorial—His Independence Day—is so important to His purpose that He has it recur every week, not merely once a year. It serves as a constant renewal of our spiritual heritage from Him and of our original release from sin. It reorients us in any area where we may have turned aside. In addition, Hebrews 4 reveals that the Sabbath points to the Millennial reign of Christ, when He will remove Satan's liberty and restore mankind's.
Restoring Original Intent
Jesus' healing of the man with the withered hand (Matthew 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-6) reveals a fundamental difference between Jesus and the Pharisees in their approach to the Sabbath. The Pharisees had not entered the synagogue to worship, nor did they ask Jesus their question—"Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"—out of loving concern. No, they were an accusing authority attempting to judge Christ by their regulations.
It helps to remember the historical context. The Jews were developing specific regulations to cover any and every possible circumstance to keep them from sinning. Eventually, they compiled 1,521 regulations covering Sabbath conduct alone. By Jesus' time, they had already turned their observance of the law into a legalistic ritual rather than a loving service to God and man. They did this sincerely in a vain effort to become holy, not understanding that this is not how a man becomes spiritually holy.
In this vignette, does Christ do away with the Sabbath or restore it to its original divine value and function, as He did with marriage and divorce in Matthew 19:8? He gives no indication that He intended doing away with it. He merely broke their misguided perception of how to observe the Sabbath.
We also need to recognize that the liberating healing He performed was not done to a man whose life was in immediate danger, but to one who was chronically ill. So are we spiritually; as Jeremiah 17:9 says, our heart is "incurably sick" (margin). God gives us the Sabbath day to help free us from the chronic problems of human nature.
Mark 3:3-4 reinforces Jesus' attitude toward Sabbath activity. "Then He said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Step forward.' And He said to them, ‘Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?' But they kept silent." By Jesus' example, His reaction (anger, verse 5) and His words, God very clearly not only intends us to do good on the Sabbath, but also to fail to do good when the opportunity arises implies evil and killing!
Jesus does not appear to have gone out of His way to find people to heal on the Sabbath, but these were incidental occurrences as He went along His way. If a sick person came to His attention, He healed him. But someone unconcerned for the physical and spiritual salvation of others on the Sabbath is automatically involved to some degree in destructive efforts and attitudes, for failing to do good when we have opportunity is sin (Proverbs 3:27-28; James 4:17). God is preparing us to assist in the salvation of others, and it behooves us to begin thinking along these lines.
A Day for Doing Good
As it reads in Deuteronomy 5:12-15, the commandment explains that God ordained the Sabbath that we might show compassion toward the needy and defenseless. Exodus 23:12 reinforces this idea: "Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your maidservant and the stranger may be refreshed." The idea of doing good on the Sabbath arises from principles like these.
The New Testament shows two types of Sabbath keepers: Christ, who looked for ways to lighten burdens and save lives; and the Pharisees, who used it to look for faults and think of ways to trap Him. Like Christ, we must be concerned for people's potential. He freed them from burdens, no matter what day it was, that they might produce more. Such work honors God. Redemption, the spiritual creation and love of neighbor are the essence of Sabbath keeping.
In Luke 13:10-17, Christ heals another chronically ill person on the Sabbath. This time, though, He did not wait for anyone to ask Him questions. The episode plainly discloses the redeeming and liberating intention of God's Sabbath. When Jesus says, "You are loosed," the ruler of the synagogue reacts immediately because to him the Sabbath meant rules to obey rather than people to love.
Jesus replies in verses 15-16 by emphasizing the Sabbath principle:
The Lord then answered him and said, "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?"
Christ makes a play on words here. He uses the same verb, "loose," to describe the ox and donkey as He does the woman being "loosed" from Satan through healing.
So Jesus acts against their tradition but nowhere challenges the binding obligation of keeping the Sabbath. Rather, His example shows that we should make merciful evaluations to help others cast off their heavy burdens. He argues for living the true values.
Working for Salvation
We can consider John 5:1-18 and John 9:1-41 together because their common themes show the relationship between the Sabbath and the work of salvation. Both people Jesus heals are chronically ill: one for 38 years, the other blind from birth. He tells both to do something: "Rise, take up your bed and walk" (John 5:8), and "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (John 9:7).
In both cases, the Pharisees accuse Him of Sabbath breaking (John 5:16, 18; 9:16, 24). Christ repudiates the charges against Him by arguing that His works of healing are contemplated by the Sabbath command and are equivalent to the works of God (John 5:16-18; 9:4, 14). His argument is that, unlike men, God does not break the Sabbath. Therefore the work God does on the Sabbath does not break it; His works, types of His salvation, free people from burdens.
"My Father has been working until now, and I have been working," Jesus says (John 5:17). What work is the Father doing? He is "working salvation in the midst of the earth" (Psalm 74:12). God is always working toward the completion of His purpose—the salvation of mankind. Jesus works within the same process and pointedly makes an issue of this on the Sabbath days. God's work is creating sons in His image. Thus, healing, forgiving sin and doing good are part of Christ's work as Savior and High Priest that He might be "firstborn among many brethren."
John 7:22-24, an echo of chapter 5, shows how far out of proportion the Jews' judgment was, relative to the value of circumstances. In their judgment, not carrying a pallet and making clay on the Sabbath were more important than healing someone. Jesus, therefore, tries to correct them:
Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it was from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.
The Jews considered circumcision a lawful Sabbath activity. The Bible never directly says why because everyone understood. They considered circumcision a redemptive act, even as we consider baptism a redemptive act and baptize on the Sabbath. The Jews judged it proper to excise one of the 248 body parts to save the whole man.
Christ reasons that the works of salvation are accomplished, not only by the Father, but also by His servants (for example, the priests who performed circumcisions). To Christ, God's true Servant, the Sabbath is the day to work for the salvation of the whole man, physically and spiritually. If it is legal to cut off part of a boy's body on the Sabbath to satisfy the Old Covenant, they have no reason to be angry with Him for mercifully restoring a person to wholeness on the Sabbath.
A Day of Mercy
Matthew 12:1-8 adds yet another example of Sabbath encounters Jesus had with the Pharisees:
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!" Then He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? But I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
According to the Pharisees, the disciples reaped, threshed and winnowed the grain; they were guilty of preparing a meal. What was the disciples' motivation? They were traveling, hungry and had no place to prepare a meal. They were young and strong and could have fasted without harm, but because it was a Sabbath, Jesus drew attention to one of the Sabbath's main purposes. It is a day of mercy.
Christ draws His justification from I Samuel 21:1-6. He reasons that, if David under unusual circumstances could allay his hunger by eating bread consecrated for holy use, then the disciples could also legitimately provide for their needs in unusual circumstances. The emphasis here is on "unusual." How many times did David flee for his life and find himself hungry near the Tabernacle? It happened at least once, but even for a man of war like David, such situations occurred only rarely.
The overall lesson is that God does not intend His law to deprive but to ensure life. If the need arises, we should not feel conscience-stricken to use the Sabbath in a way that would not normally be lawful. Christ admits David's actions were not normally lawful, and neither were the disciples'—except for the circumstances. In this case, they were blameless BECAUSE A LARGER OBLIGATION OVERRULED THE LETTER OF THE LAW. In this circumstance, mercy is more important than sacrificing a meal. Holy bread or holy time can be used exceptionally to sustain life and serve God.
Christ takes advantage of the situation to teach another connected lesson. He draws attention to the extent of the priests' Sabbath labors in the Temple. Their work actually doubled on the Sabbath because of the number of sacrifices God required, yet they were guiltless. Why? They were involved in God's creative, redemptive work, as Christ explains in John 5, 7 and 9. They fulfilled a purpose of the Sabbath that someone had to do.
As the Head of God's spiritual Temple, the church, Jesus Christ is greater than the physical Temple. He is its High Priest and the twelve disciples were His servants, so their Sabbath ministry intensified along with His. The same holds true for God's ministry today. Our Sabbath labors equal or exceed those of the common days.
Because of the disciple's involvement in the work of God, circumstances dictated a profaning of the Sabbath. From this, we can understand that LOVING SERVICE IS GREATER THAN RITUAL FULFILLMENT. What is mercy? It is a helpful act where and when it is needed. It is an act of loving encouragement, comfort, pity and sympathy for the distressed. It is the relieving of a burden.
Made for Man
Mark 2:27-28 says the Sabbath was made for or on account of man. God made it after man's creation, not to make him a slave of rules, but to ensure his physical and spiritual well being. Though we must rest from the labors of earning a living, it is still a day of intensive work that leads to salvation, of becoming prepared for the Kingdom of God. It is not intended to be a day of passive idleness, but of active, loving service, as circumstances arise, to help others.
The Scriptures show that Jesus kept the Sabbath by attending services, fellowshipping, teaching God's truth and doing acts of kindness that brought liberty, joy and peace to others. These establish very clear patterns. What does ordinary entertainment have to do with them? Resting from these expresses our complete commitment to God's way. It shows where our interests lie.
Situations will arise that require a measure of knowledge of the Scriptures for guidance and discernment to determine whether an activity lies within the framework of obedience. With the guidance of Jesus' attitude and acts, though, we should have a good foundation for making righteous judgments.
The Sabbath is a wonderful gift of God, given to help us produce an abundant life. Let us all thank Him for it and strive to glorify Him in using it.
The Ten Commandments seem to hinge on the fourth: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." From this simple statement flows a stream of spiritual lessons and principles about God, man and our potential. Disregarding the Sabbath is like throwing away the key to a treasure chest—we are ignoring a vital area of understanding that will open up our minds to God and His purpose.
The Sabbath is much more than a weekly day of rest. It is the one day each week that we devote totally to God, and thus it is a good regulator and barometer of our relationship with Him. The following study will refresh the Bible's basic information on the Sabbath, and—it is hoped—spur further study on this most important of topics.
1. Who made the Sabbath and when? Genesis 2:2-3.
2. For whom was the Sabbath made? Mark 2:27.
Comment: Since the Sabbath has been in force from Creation, it is not just for the Jews, but for all mankind!
3. What did God do on the seventh day of Creation that serves as an example of how we should keep the Sabbath? Same verses and Exodus 20:8-11.
Comment: Because God rested after six days of labor, the Sabbath is also our day of rest and a memorial of Creation. We are to remember, not only what God did in the physical creation, but also that His spiritual creation continues in us.
4. Other than the fact that we do no work, how is the Sabbath different from the other six days? Same verses.
Comment: God blessed the seventh day, making it holy. It is holy time, set apart for God's use! Only God can make a day holy, and He does this by putting Himself, through His Spirit, into it. We are then instructed to "keep" it holy.
5. How do we keep the Sabbath holy? Leviticus 23:3; Exodus 16:23; Jeremiah 17:21-22.
Comment: These scriptures give a few examples of things God prohibits on His Sabbath: working, cooking, carrying burdens. God does not make a comprehensive list of "dos and don'ts" for us to follow. Instead, He gives us principles of what is proper and improper Sabbath behavior, and we then must use God's Spirit to decide our actions.
6. Is the Sabbath a "sign"? Exodus 31:12-17; Isaiah 56:1-7.
Comment: A sign identifies a business, a street, a product, etc., and so does the Sabbath! It identifies God's people! Notice also that this covenant, made after the ratification of the Old Covenant, bound the Sabbath as a "perpetual covenant" upon God's people.
7. Who is "Lord of the Sabbath"? Mark 2:28.
Comment: As its Creator (John 1:1-3, 14), Jesus is "Lord of the Sabbath." As a man, He showed us the intent of this commandment in numerous accounts recorded in the four gospels.
8. Did Jesus keep the Sabbath? Luke 4:16. Did Paul? Acts 17:1-2. Did the early church? Acts 13:42-44; 16:13.
9. Is the Sabbath a burden or a "delight"? Isaiah 58:13-14.
Comment: If we keep the Sabbath properly, and work to improve our relationship with God, this holy time will be most precious and a tremendous blessing each week!
A pivotal point of the Ten Commandments is the fourth: "Remember [observe] the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15). From this simple statement flows a stream of spiritual lessons and principles about God, humans and our potential. Disregarding the Sabbath is like throwing away the key to a treasure chest, ignoring a vital area of understanding that will open our minds to God and His purpose. The Sabbath is much more than a weekly day of rest. It is the one day each week that we devote totally to God, and thus it is a good regulator and barometer of our relationship with Him. The following study will rehearse the Bible's basic information on the Sabbath, and will hopefully spur us to deeper study.
1. Who made the Sabbath and when? Genesis 2:2-3; John 1:1-3. Is the Sabbath a "sign"? Exodus 31:12-17. For whom was the Sabbath made? Mark 2:27; Isaiah 56:2, 6-7.
Comment: It was Christ, as the God of the Old Testament, who actually created the Sabbath. It is a sign that identifies God's people just as a sign identifies a business or a street. Notice also that this covenant, made after the ratification of the Old Covenant, bound the Sabbath as a "perpetual covenant" upon God's people. Since the Sabbath has been in force from Creation, it is not just for the Jews, but for the foreigner and all mankind as well. All who keep the Sabbath properly are blessed.
2. What did God do on the seventh day of Creation that serves as an example of how we should keep the Sabbath? Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 20:11; Deuteronomy 5:12. How can we keep the Sabbath holy? Exodus 16:23-30; Leviticus 23:3; Deuteronomy 5:13-14; Matthew 12:12.
Comment: Because God rested after six days of labor, the Sabbath is also our day of rest and a memorial of Creation. He wants us to remember, not only what He did in the physical creation, but also that His spiritual creation continues in us now. When God blessed and sanctified the seventh day, He made it holy, set apart for God's use! Only God can make a day holy, and He does this by putting Himself, through His Spirit, into it.
We are then instructed to "keep" it holy. These scriptures give a few examples of things God prohibits on His Sabbath: working, cooking, carrying burdens. God does not make a comprehensive list of "dos and don'ts" for us to follow. Instead, He gives us principles of what is proper and improper Sabbath behavior, and we then must use God's Spirit to decide our actions.
3. Are whole cities or countries blessed or cursed according to what the inhabitants do on the Sabbath? Jeremiah 17:21-27; Nehemiah 13:15-22.
Comment: Jeremiah warned the people of Judah that if the inhabitants of a city do business on the Sabbath, the whole city is cursed. When Nehemiah returned from Persia to Jerusalem after an absence of 7 years (c. 425 BC), he found the Judeans again breaking the Sabbath by carrying their burdens and selling their wares. Israelites repeatedly have a very short memory when it comes to keeping the Sabbath.
4. Did Jesus keep the Sabbath? Mark 1:21; Luke 4:16, 31; 6:6; 13:10; Matthew 12:5, 12. Who is Lord of the Sabbath? Matthew 12:8; Mark 2:27-28; Luke 6:5. Immediately following Christ's death, did God conclusively show that Sunday is not the Sabbath? Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1-2; Luke 23:54-56; 24:1.
Comment: As the Creator of the Sabbath (John 1:1-3, 14; Colossians 1:16-18), Jesus is "Lord of the Sabbath." As a man, He showed us the intent of this commandment in numerous accounts recorded in the four gospels. Jesus gave His church an example of how the whole Christian way of life is to be lived (I John 2:6). We are to do as Christ did (I Peter 2:21-22).
5. Did the apostle Paul keep the Sabbath? Acts 13:14-16; 17:1-3. Did the early church keep the Sabbath? Acts 13:42-44; 16:13-15.
Comment: Christ set the Sabbath-keeping example for his apostles, and Paul, following His example, tells us we are to imitate him as he imitates Christ (I Corinthians 11:1). Paul preached to the Jews and Gentiles on the Sabbath because the Sabbath is for everyone, not just the Jews. These Gentiles were keeping the Sabbath in the synagogue with the Jews on the seventh day, not Sunday.
6. Is it a day to be loosed from bondage? Luke 13:11-17. Is the Sabbath a burden or a "delight"? Isaiah 58:13-14. Is it possible to receive the Holy Spirit without keeping the Sabbath? Acts 5:32.
Comment: God requires obedience to His commandments as a condition for receiving His Holy Spirit. When we keep the Sabbath, we show God by our action that we are worthy to receive it. If we keep the Sabbath properly, and work to improve our relationship with God, this holy time will be most valuable and a tremendous blessing each week!
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