2023.04.10 Sabbath Observance is Critical Created by James on 4/29/2023 4:44:26 PM I continue to see sincere Believers who fail to strictly observe the Saturday Sabbath and the six High Sabbaths, taking and making business phone calls, engaging in business emails, writing business articles, attending business meetings and engaging in other activities that violate the Sabbath and thereby bring a curse on whatever they are doing.
In considering this Commandment it is clear in Exodus 20:8 in the King James Version “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it set-apart {holy}.” This is made more clear in the Amplified Bible “Remember the Sabbath (seventh) day to keep it holy (set apart, dedicated to the Almighty {God})”
2023.04.10 Sabbath Observance is Critical
I continue to see sincere Believers who fail to strictly observe the Saturday Sabbath and the six High Sabbaths, taking and making business phone calls, engaging in business emails, writing business articles, attending business meetings and engaging in other activities that violate the Sabbath and thereby bring a curse on whatever they are doing.
In considering this Commandment it is clear in Exodus 20:8 in the King James Version “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it set-apart {holy}.” This is made more clear in the Amplified Bible “Remember the Sabbath (seventh) day to keep it holy (set apart, dedicated to the Almighty {God})”
In considering this verse it is vital to note that the word typically translated “holy” in the Hebrew is Qodesh Strong’s number 6942 meaning “to be set apart or consecrated” see https://biblehub.com/hebrew/6942.htm
This Hebrew word is translated variously as:
become consecrated (2), become defiled (1), become holy (1), consecrate (43), consecrated (35), consecrates (7), consecration (2), declare holy (1), dedicate (2), dedicated (8), dedicating (1), holier (1), holy (5), keep (1), keep it holy (2), keep the holy (3), made it holy (1), manifest my holiness (2), prepare (2), prove myself holy (2), proved himself holy (1), purified (1), regard as holy (1), sanctified (9), sanctifies (10), sanctify (12), set them apart (1), set apart (4), set apart the consecrated (2), show himself holy (1), transmit holiness (2), treat me as holy (3), treated as holy (1), vindicate the holiness (1), wholly dedicate (1)
Clearly there can be no uncertainty that the Sabbath Day is a SPECIAL Day to be treated with special care and clear focus on Father Yah!
The extension of this verse in Exodus 20:8 to 11 elaborates “8 Remember the Sabbath (seventh) day to keep it holy (set apart, dedicated to the Almighty {God}). 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath [a day of rest dedicated] to Yah the Eternally Self-Existing your Mighty One {the LORD your God}; on that day you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock or the temporary resident (foreigner) who stays within your [city] gates. 11 For in six days Yah the Eternally Self-Existing {the LORD} made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested (ceased) on the seventh day. That is why Yah the Eternally Self-Existing {the LORD} blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy [that is, set it apart for His purposes].” Amplified Bible names amended.
This should be read in conjunction with Genesis 2:1 to 3 “1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day the Almighty {God} ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And the Almighty {God} blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which the Almighty {God} created and made.”
This makes it clear, on the seventh day the Almighty rested from ALL HIS WORK – accordingly we should do the same!
Restrictions
What this means is:
- NO commercial work of ANY sort, NOTHING relating to your commercial employment, your business, etcetera – no business / work phone calls, no business / work messages, no business / Work LinkedIn, no business / work WhatsApp, no business / work articles, and so on.
- NO domestic chores like tidying up, cleaning, do it yourself work such as house repairs, etcetera.
- Preparing an elaborate meal is out.
- NOTHING that you might routinely do on another day.
Exceptions
The following exceptions apply:
- Giving domestic and farm animals food, lifting an ox from a pit as a consequence of an accident or comparable necessities ARE permitted.
- For many years I have considered it acceptable to visit a restaurant for an evening meal on the Sabbath, since Yah is not concerned about unbelievers if they want to work on the Sabbath.
- Preparing a simple meal IS permissible provided most preparation is done on the previous day.
- All forms of worship, reading about the matters of Yah, watching videos relating to the matters of Yah, ALL forms of learning and studying about the matters of Yah IS permissible and encouraged.
- All forms of worship are highly desirable.
- All forms of ministry and service to Yah including writing articles, street ministry, ministry in an assembly, playing worship songs in a band or orchestra, etcetera are permissible.
- Resting, taking it easy.
About Grace
In broader context to the above, there are many, particularly “Christians”, who believe that Yahooshua died so that they would have Grace and NOT have to keep the law, this is false, see the article “2011.01.10 - What is LAW and what is GRACE?” at https://www.ETI-Ministries.org/articles/article-view-page/articleid/1071/2014_01_21_04_07-grace
What about the man gathering wood who was stoned to death?
Numbers 15:32 36 reports “32 Now while the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man who was gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation; 34 and they put him in custody, because it had not been explained [by the Almighty {God}] what should be done to him. 35 Then Yah the Eternally Self-Existing {the LORD} said to Moses, “The man shall certainly be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” 36 So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, just as Yah the Eternally Self-Existing {the LORD} had commanded Moses.”
Thus we see that the penalty for breaking any of the Ten Commandments is death albeit that Yahooshua provided a way of repentance PROVIDED we repent with a broken spirit and a contrite heart!
Note that this man was “gathering wood” in other words he was labouring. This passage has been extrapolated by some to say you cannot even turn on a light switch on the Sabbath – this is incorrect – it is acceptable to make a fire to cook food on the Sabbath PROVIDED that the wood, etcetera for the fire is NOT gathered on the Sabbath and the food is as far as possible NOT prepared on the Sabbath.
Sabbath begins at SUNRISE!
There is widespread belief that the Sabbath begins on Friday night at sunset. This is NOT so, the day begins at Sunrise, it does not make sense to say that the day begins at nightfall see “2012.11.09 Yah’s day begins at sunrise” at https://www.ETI-Ministries.org/articles/article-view-page/articleid/431/2012-11-09-yah-s-day-begins-at-sunrise also see “2012.11.12 - The Starting of a New Day” at https://www.ETI-Ministries.org/articles/article-view-page/articleid/1105/2014_01_22_02_06_01-day-begins-at-sunrise
Accordingly, with the exception of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the Sabbath commences at SUNRISE!
The true Sabbath is Saturday
Note that the above verses refer to the “seventh day”. It is widely accepted that Saturday IS the seventh day of the week although in recent years there has been an increasing tendency to make Sunday the seventh day in many calendars. There is a large body of Christian opinion that holds that Jesus changed the Sabbath to Sunday, this is false!
Please see the articles in the three appendices below for various accounts of why the true weekly Sabbath IS Saturday.
Breaking the Sabbath brings a curse on whatever you are doing to break it
It is vital to understand that breaking the Sabbath brings a curse on whatever you are doing to break the Sabbath. So, IF you engage on commerce or work on the Sabbath that commercial activity will be cursed and never prosper. Further, for as long as you are breaking the Sabbath the curse CANNOT be broken see also “2021.07.01 The Essence of my message concerning Judgement in THIS Life” at https://www.ETI-Ministries.org/essence-of-message-concerning-judgement-this-life
Weekly Sabbath observance is THE most enduring Commandment to observe
Observance of most of the Commandments requires a one off switch and then sustained new conduct, the weekly Sabbath and the six High Sabbaths recur weekly and annually respectively for the entire life of every Believer and are probably at most risk of people slipping into disobedience. Consider:
Commandment 1 – Yah is ONE you shall worship NO others
Once on has a fix on this and ceases worshipping Yahooshua and other mighty one’s, this is reasonably easy to comply with for the rest of one’s life.
Commandment 2 – No Idols
Again, once one has a fix on ceasing to worship the Bible, the Cross, etcetera, this is reasonably easy to comply with for the rest of one’s life.
Commandment 3 – Yah’s Name NOT in vain
Once on has a fix on Yah’s true Name and titles and ceases using God, The LORD, Jesus, this is reasonably easy to comply with for the rest of one’s life – see “2023.04.01 Schedule of Beliefs” at https://www.ETI-Ministries.org/schedule-of-beliefs
Commandment 4 – Remember the Sabbath Day
One is TESTED on this every Saturday as to whether one will compromise and just do a “little bit of work” on the Sabbath, etcetera – requires determination and resolve to keep strictly observing this – so a real act of Chesed (Covenant Love) towards Father Yah IF one observes this to the end of one’s life.
Commandment 5 – Honour Mother and Father
Somewhat testing but it is to be expected that parents will move on well before the end of life of most Believers so once one has a fix on this relatively easy to sustain.
Commandment 6 – No Murder
Relatively easy for most Believers, once one ceases use of abortive contraceptives, ceases cursing and ceases arguing for abolition of the death penalty.
Commandment 7 – No Adultery
Relatively straightforward once one has a fix on this. Does include NOT looking on a woman and lusting after her.
Commandment 8 – No Stealing
Relatively easy for most people unless one is a habitual kleptomaniac. Does require discipline with regard to advertising you create, etcetera.
Commandment 9 – No False Witness or Lying
Depending on where you are coming from this may take some effort and some time but it CAN be mastered.
Commandment 10 – No Coveting or Lusting
Challenging to some extent but if one cuts out secular Television and Radio, etcetera to a large extent the temptation is limited.
Close – Commandments
The fact is that EVERY Saturday and six times a year with the High Sabbaths for the rest of your life you WILL have the opportunity to break the fourth Commandment!
This requires a quality decision AND a resolve to keep this Commandment. See also “2021.06.05 The Essence of my Message regarding the Commandments” at https://www.ETI-Ministries.org/essence-of-message-regarding-commandments
The other Commandments DO require resolve to obey for the rest of one’s life but the Sabbath Law WILL be in your face every week in a way that none of the other Commandments are!
Conclusion
I hope that this article has challenged you to keep the Saturday Sabbath and the Six High Sabbaths more strictly than you have done to date.
Please feel free to email me (James) by replying to this email if you have questions or comments.
May Father bless you and keep you and make His face to shine upon you and grant you His Peace
May Yah judge me severely and correct me harshly and show me the level of my present deception and how to correct it with regard to everything that I write and publish
Warm regards and blessings,
Dr James A Robertson
Spokesman and Emissary of Yah
End Time Issue Ministries
29 April 2023
Appendix A
Historical Proof that Saturday is the Sabbath
https://biblethingsinbibleways.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/historical-proof-that-saturday-is-the-sabbath/
Most of us have been taught that the Sabbath Day has been changed/moved to Sunday or that it is impossible to know the correct day which was kept as the Sabbath, even in the time of Christ. Even though there is no Scriptural or Historical proof to backup the theory that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday, by Christ or any of the Disciples, this is not what we hope to examine in this study.
This post provides 3 clear witnesses, as evidence to prove that the “Sabbath” day in the New Testament is in fact the day which is presently known as “Saturday”. The facts will be laid out for every discerning student of the Scriptures, to examine for themselves. Can history prove that the day we now call “Saturday” is the same day which was observed by Christ and His Disciples as the “Sabbath”? Let us examine the evidence.
Paul, in his first letter to Timothy writes “Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses”(1Ti 5:19) quoting a Law on judging people which was taken from the Old Testament(Deut 19:15). Similarly, we will also provide 3 witnesses to make the case that the word “Sabbath” was in fact the day which is known as “Saturday”. We sincerely hope that you will hear the facts from the 3 witnesses and decide for yourself, what verdict should be given.
Calling of Witnesses
Witness #1
A Roman historian named Cassius Dio who wrote about Roman History, gives an account of Wars waged between Rome & Judea. In it he explains the capture of Jerusalem in 63BC saying “As it was, they made an exception of what are called the days of Saturn, and by doing no work at all on those days afforded the Romans an opportunity in this interval to batter down the wall. The latter, on learning of this superstitious awe of theirs, made no serious attempts the rest of the time, but on those days, when they came round in succession, assaulted most vigorously. Thus the defenders were captured on the day of Saturn, without making any defense, and all the wealth was plundered”. Cassius wrote that the Romans who learned that the Jews rested on the Days of Saturn (Saturday which was known as Saturn’s Day in Rome), attacked the Jerusalem stronghold on those days. These words also tally with the writings of Josephus, showing us that Saturn’s Day in Rome coincided with the day kept as the Sabbath by the Jews, even in the 1st Century BC.
Reference – Cassius Dio – Roman History 37.16.1-4 [A]
Witness #2
A Roman Soldier named Frontinus in his book named Strategems writes the account of the destruction of the 2nd temple in Jerusalem in 70AD, saying “The divine Vespasian attacked the Jews on the days of Saturn, on which it is forbidden for them to do anything serious, and prevailed.” Similar to the words of the historian Cassius Dio, this Roman soldier equated the day of rest (Sabbath) of the Jews to the Day of Saturn (Saturday which was known as Saturn’s Day in Rome). This account of Vespasian (also known as Titus) attacking Jerusalem on Sabbath days, tallies with the account seen in the Historical works of Josephus as well.
Reference – Frontinus – The Stratagems 2.1.17. [B]
Witness #3
The meaning of the Greek word Sabbaton (G4521) alongside all the occurrences in the New Testament
The Greek Language and the ancient Manuscripts of the New Testament also give evidence of the connection between the word “Sabbath” and the day which has been named “Saturday”. The Greek word “Sabbaton”(Strong’s Greek Concordance – G4521 – σάββατον) used in the Original Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament which is translated as “Sabbath” in English, is the same word that is used for “Saturday” in the Greek language even today. In other words, the day which is known to us as “Saturday”, is called “Sabbato” (σάββατο) by the Greeks even today. This is a remarkable piece of evidence which has survived almost untouched to our very present age, making “Sabbath” and “Saturday” one in the same. A person who is unsure about this fact can look at any Greek-English Dictionary to seek further verification. The easiest tool to translate English into Greek that anyone could use would be Google Translate, as seen in the thumbnail to your right. This goes to prove that wherever we see the word “Sabbath” in our New Testament English translations, it originally meant a particular day (which is proven to be none other than what we know as “Saturday” today.
Reference – Strong’s Greek Concordance & Dictionary [C]
Objections
Some bring objections against the above witnesses by arguing that one of the major calendar changes in history would have also affected the “Saturday Sabbath”. We need to consider this valid objection and see whether it holds true. This piece of evidence that is brought against our 3 witnesses is the “Julian to Gregorian calendar change”.
The Julian calendar was instituted in 46BC by Julius Caesar and was the most widely used calendar in Rome, making this the calendar which the Romans would have used in the time of Christ and subsequently His disciples.
The Gregorian calendar which is the civil calendar used by the whole world today, was put into effect in 1582AD by Pope Gregory XIII. Pope Gregory’s Calendar effectively skipped a few days, when this change was made to the Julian calendar in 1582. This is what most who object bring as a witness to say that the “Saturday Sabbath” would have for sure changed with this change that was done to the calendar system.
What most people do not understand is that the amount of days dropped from the Julian Calendar, when it was changed to the Gregorian calendar, did not in anyway effect the 7 day week. In other words, even though 10 days were removed from the calendar, it did not effect the individual days (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc.). An example is given in the above thumbnail which indicates this change of Calendars that was put into effect in 1752 in the UK. Note how the removal of days do not effect the 7 day week. (Please refer this link for more information on this subject)
Closing Argument
The testimony of the 3 witnesses makes it very clear that the Day which is known today as “Saturday” is none other than the “Sabbath” mentioned in the New Testament. The “Day of Saturn” or “Satur-day” was the day known by the Romans to be the same day as what was observed by the Jews as the Sabbath. The Greek word “Sabbaton” is the unmistakable proof that the word “Sabbath” in the New Testament, is in fact “Saturday”.
Through reading the New Testament alone, we know that the Pharisees disagreed on how Yeshua observed the Sabbath, but there were no arguments made against the day that was observed by Christ. This makes it clear that the same day that Christ kept in accordance to God’s 4th commandment (Mark 1:21, 6:2, Luke 4:16, 13:10) was the day which was widely observed by the Jews as the “Sabbath”. This is also the same day that the disciples including Paul observed (Luke 23:56, Act 13:14, 15:21, 17:2, 18:4).
If Yeshua(Jesus’ true name) also kept God’s rest day on “Saturday”, it would be highly unlikely that the “Sabbath” instituted and instructed by God Almighty could be any other day. And because the 7 day week has not been effected in anyway for the past 2000 years, the “Saturday Sabbath” also has not been exposed to any change, making each “Saturday” the “Sabbath” day, instituted by our Heavenly Father and followed by Christ and His disciples. It is upto each of us to look at the provided evidence and make a judgement for ourselves. Whether we believe the Sabbath is “Saturday” as the witnesses suggest, or whether we refuse it, is completely in our own hands.
—————————————————————————————-
[A] Pg 75, Jesus in Context: Background Readings for Gospel Study – edited by Darrell L. Bock, Gregory J. Herrick
[B] Pg 97, Sunday in Roman Paganism – By Robert Leo Odom
[C] Pg 1154, Main Concordance & Pg 79, Greek Dictionary of the New Testament – The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nelson’s KJV) – James Strong
Appendix B
How Can We Be Sure that Saturday is the Seventh Day?
Posted on Apr 21, 2017 by United Church of God
https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-questions-and-answers/how-can-we-be-sure-that-saturday-is-the-seventh-day
MP3 Audio(10.7 MB)
We
The seven-day weekly cycle is not tied to any patterns or alignments of the sun, moon or stars. It’s a non-stop serial counting of days, one after the other. Scripture tells us the cycle was established by God.
Calendars printed in the United States put Saturday as the seventh day, but in Europe and other places in the world, Sunday is shown as the seventh day. So how can we be sure?
The seven-day weekly cycle is not tied to any patterns or alignments of the sun, moon or stars. It’s a non-stop serial counting of days, one after the other. Scripture tells us the cycle was established by God. After six days of creation, God rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:1-2). Since then, the counting off of days in groups of sevens—with each group called a week and every seventh day designated as a day of rest—has continued unbroken up to our own time.
English-speaking countries call the seventh day Saturday, but the word for that day in many languages indicates its origins as the biblical day of rest. For example, the seventh day in Spanish is called Sabado (coming from the Hebrew shabbat). This too is made plain on printed calendars in those languages.
[Infographic] Names for Saturday in Many Languages Prove Which Day Is the True Sabbath
Which day of the week is the biblical Sabbath? It is clear from the names for the seventh day of the week, Saturday, in many languages.
Could we have lost our place?
If you have ever tried to count off numbers in a sequence you know how easy it is to lose your place. Could this have happened with the counting of the seventh day? After all, it's been a very long time since God established the first day of rest.
If the sequence had gotten all jumbled up sometime between the first day of rest and the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt, the true seventh day was clearly reestablished by the time the Ten Commandments were given.
We can conclude confidently that our current Saturday is the seventh day of the week, on the same weekly cycle that has been in place since the beginning of creation—a cycle established and confirmed by God Himself.
In the wilderness, God fed the people of Israel with manna. The manna would appear on the ground every day except the seventh day, the day of rest (Exodus 16:14-30). This sequence would repeat every seven days, over and over for 40 years. The weekly cycle of manna only stopped when Israel entered the promised land. Four decades of repetition is plenty of time to clearly establish which day was the day of rest.
If the Sabbath had somehow been lost between creation and the exodus, 40 years of weekly miracles would have definitely reestablished it.
Did Israel ever lose track of the seventh day?
The Exodus was still a very long time in the past. Plus Israel went through many periods of turmoil, forgetfulness of God, invasion, deportation, etc. Could Israel—and later the Jewish people—have mixed up the sequence of counting the seven-day weekly cycle through all that?
Jesus Christ, the very Word of God, put off the glory He shared with the Father and was born a flesh and blood human being. He was the “Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5). Jesus would have known if He, or His fellow Jews, had the sequence of the seventh day messed up.
The record of Jesus’ life shows He rested on the seventh day in obedience to the commandment (John 15:10). Jesus observed the day of rest on the same day of the week as His fellow Jews. The religious authorities of the day may have disputed what types of activities were appropriate for observing the seventh day as a day of rest, but not which day of the week it was.
Jesus' obedience to the Fourth Commandment confirmed the seventh day as kept by the Jews was the correct day.
Did the Jewish people lose track of the seventh day after Jesus’ death?
Years before the time of Jesus’ death, and in the centuries since, the Jewish people have been widely dispersed throughout the Middle East and Europe. Wherever they have gone, they have fiercely guarded the observance of the seven-day weekly cycle so they might never break the Fourth Commandment.
It's possible to consider that isolated pockets of Jews may have lost track of the weekly cycle due to some local turmoil, but such an error would have quickly been corrected by comparing notes with the many other Jewish communities in other countries and continents—communities which had not experienced any interruption or disruption in the seven-day weekly cycle.
However, there isn’t any historical record of any dispute among any Jewish groups that the day we call Saturday is the seventh day of the weekly cycle, God’s day of rest. The Jewish people have successfully kept the original seven-day weekly cycle intact.
Now, one last question that sometimes comes up:
Did the change to the Gregorian calendar in 1582 lose track of the seventh day?
From 46 B.C. up to A.D. 1582, the Western world used what is called the Julian calendar. It was a vast improvement over the previous Roman calendars because it finally kept the months in sync with the seasons. However, after many centuries even the Julian calendar was about 10 days out of sync with the solar system.
In 1582 the old Julian calendar was replaced with the new, improved Gregorian calendar, which is the calendar system we still use today. At the time of the change to the new calendar system, those 10 days were simply dropped out of the calendar to get the dating system of the calendar back in sync with the solar system. It was Thursday, Oct. 4, 1582, and the next day, Friday, should have been Oct. 5. However, the new calendar made the next day Oct. 15 instead.
That change had no impact on the seven-day weekly cycle. Whether that following Friday was numbered as the 5th of the month or the 15th of the month, it was still the sixth day of the week, and the day that followed was still the seventh day of the week.
Even today we regularly add a day into our calendar every four years. We call it a “leap year.” Changing the number of days in a calendar month does not alter the weekly cycle—there is no six-day week, or eight-day week.
So we can conclude confidently that our current Saturday is the seventh day of the week, on the same weekly cycle that has been in place since the beginning of creation—a cycle established and confirmed by God Himself.
Appendix C
Sabbath Truth -- Weighing the Evidence
https://www.sabbathtruth.com/faq/advanced-topics/weighing-the-evidence
by David Boatwright & Doug Batchelor
An Amazing Fact: One hour of sleep deprivation increases the number of highway accidents by eight percent and an hour of extra sleep decreases them by eight percent! It's true-it happens twice a year during the daylight savings time adjustments. Your efficiency driving after you have been awake for 18 hours is about the same as driving after drinking two alcoholic drinks. When you have been awake for 24 hours, your driving efficiency deteriorates to the equivalent of driving under the influence of four to six drinks! Optimum performance comes with nine hours of sleep each night.
The Scriptures also teach that spiritual and physical rest is so essential for man's happiness that God set aside a holy day for that purpose during Creation and then commanded the human race to "remember" it (Exodus 20:8-11).
The Sabbath truth has come under a special attack in recent years because the devil knows that all love relationships are nurtured in the environment of quality time. The Sabbath was designed by God to be the ultimate in quality time with our Redeemer and Maker. By twisting or abolishing that holy time, the devil has sought to erode man's relationship with his Saviour.
Today there are many intense debates about which day is the correct Bible Sabbath and whether or not it even matters.
There are only two days of the week that seem to have any modern claim of being the Christian Sabbath: the seventh day, commonly called Saturday, and the first day, Sunday. In the Bible all the days of the week were named. The central name was Sabbath, which means "rest." Then came the first day after the Sabbath, the second day after the Sabbath, and so on until the sixth day which was called the preparation day (Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54). Each day was named in relation to the Sabbath.
A Solid Foundation
The establishment of the seventh day as the blessed Sabbath is one of the most firmly established facts in the Creation account. God emphatically said the "seventh day" three times in the first three verses of Genesis 2: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made" (emphasis added).
God's people always kept the Sabbath from sundown on preparation day (Friday) until sundown on Sabbath (Saturday night) (Leviticus 23:32). The concept of beginning and ending days at midnight was introduced in modern times with the development of accurate clocks. The biblical account of the women who were preparing spices for the burial of Christ tells that they ceased their preparations Friday at sundown "and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment" (Luke 23:56).
The commandment referred to here is the fourth of the Ten Commandments. It states in part, "Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work" (Exodus 20:9, 10). Note that the day is called "the sabbath of the Lord thy God"-not "the Sabbath of the Jews" as some claim.
Jesus Himself told the religious leaders that He was "Lord also of the sabbath" (Mark 2:28). Because Jesus did all of the work of creation (John 1:3), it was He that blessed the seventh day and rested with Adam on that first Sabbath in Eden.
In fact, Jesus gave the vision of Revelation to the Apostle John on the Sabbath when he was a prisoner on the lonely isle of Patmos. John simply described it as happening "on the Lord's day" (Revelation 1:10). But which day is the Lord's day? In Isaiah 58:13, God refers to the Sabbath as "my holy day." Never, not once in the Bible is the first day called the Lord's day!
So … What About Sunday?
But what biblical claim does the first day of the week have to being called the Sabbath? History records that Christians didn't generally observe Sunday as a day of rest or worship until almost 300 years after Christ. Certainly none of the apostles ever observed the first day as a day of worship in place of the Sabbath.
Some try to use Acts 20:7, "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread," as evidence that the disciples were having a communion service on the first day, thus designating it as the new day of worship. But the New Testament records that the disciples broke bread from house to house "daily" (Acts 2:46).
Even if the disciples had held a communion service on the first day of the week, that would not be proof that it designated a new Sabbath day-the Lord's supper was first instituted on a Thursday night.
Others cite 1 Corinthians 16:2 as an argument against the Saturday Sabbath. "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." Instead of proving that Sunday was kept as the new Sabbath, this text actually proves the opposite. Paul instructs the Corinthians to set funds aside at home on the first day so that no offerings need to be taken during corporate worship on the Sabbath.
The Bible record is clear that the apostles worshiped on the seventh day and taught others to do the same. The women who followed Jesus kept the Sabbath on the seventh day (Luke 23:56). Paul kept the seventh-day Sabbath while carrying the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 16:13, 17:2, 18:4). John kept it during his exile on the isle of Patmos (Revelation 1:10).
Jesus, the supreme example for all Christians, kept the Sabbath by consistently worshiping in the synagogue on Sabbath (Mark 6:2; Luke 4:16). Nowhere did He command that a different day should be kept or seek to cancel even the smallest of the commandments (Matthew 5:17-19)! In fact, Scripture clearly records that the redeemed from all nations will keep the Sabbath in the new earth (Isaiah 66:23).
A Subtle Change
Even in the absence of biblical evidence, much of the Christian world looks to Sunday, the first day, as the Christian day of rest. When and how did this come about? The change happened slowly, beginning about 300 years after Jesus returned to heaven.
The pagan Romans called the first day of the week "the venerable day of the sun," or Sun Day. Gentile Christians and Jews alike were Sabbathkeepers, while all of the polytheistic (many gods) pagan religions centered on sun worship on the first day of the week. However, in the Roman Empire the Jews were "a fly in the ointment" because they constantly rebelled and their monotheistic (one God) religion was at odds with every other. Because the Jews kept the Sabbath, all Sabbathkeepers became highly unpopular by association.
In A.D. 313, the Roman Emperor Constantine, who had been a pagan solar worshiper, nominally accepted Christianity and put into effect the first Sunday-worship law.1 Many of the Gentile Christians quickly accepted this change in an effort to distance themselves from the odious Jews because of their common day of worship.
Constantine sought to make it easier for the pagans in his realm to embrace his new politically correct religion. So he encouraged all the Christians to adopt the pagan solar holidays by renaming them after the Christian God or various Christian saints. Sincere Christians resisted this compromise, but because the majority was willing to capitulate, they were soon overpowered. Over a period of several hundred years Sunday gradually became known as the Christian Sabbath and observed as such.
Common Arguments
When modern Christians discover and embrace the biblical Sabbath truth they usually encounter a barrage of differing arguments. Typically this opposition comes from other Christians who feel compelled to the point of obsession to dissuade them from their biblical position. These contradictory arguments often serve to convince more than discourage.
One gentleman who worked in a large grocery chain in the Midwest, through study of the Scriptures, discovered the Sabbath truth. He was so excited with this blessed revelation that he immediately went to his employers and told them that he would no longer be available for work from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. During the following week each worker in his department approached him with a potluck of arguments to deter him from his new "un-traditional" commitment to Sabbathkeeping.
The first one told him that the Bible says, "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind" (Romans 14:5). The co-worker tried to explain that the text meant he could do whatever seemed right to him and that he wasn't required to keep any particular day.
"Fine," his friend replied. "I'll take the Sabbath. I'm fully persuaded that that's the day to keep."
Seeing his cohort's failure, another worker approached the Sabbathkeeper with this argument. "It doesn't really mean that we have to keep Saturday. What the Bible really means is that we are to rest every seventh day and it doesn't matter what day we start counting on as long as we rest one day in a sequence of seven."
"Fine," he replied. "If it doesn't matter, I'll take Saturday as my one day in seven."
The next co-worker told him that in the New Testament there was no specific day set aside for worship. "You're supposed to keep every day holy," he explained.
The new Sabbathkeeper replied "I do believe I should worship God every day, but if I'm keeping every day holy and resting from work. That wouldn't be holy; that would be lazy."
Another worker told him that the Sabbath was only for the Jews. The new Sabbathkeeper asked, "Then why did Jesus say, 'The sabbath was made for man' (Mark 2:27). That's a funny way to spell 'Jew.' Was Adam a Jew when Jesus spent the first Sabbath with him in the garden of Eden?"
Still another told him that it was not necessary to keep the Ten Commandments because we are no longer under the law but under grace. "Are you saying that I can now steal your money and covet your wife?" he responded.
One night during an evangelistic series I was presenting the Sabbath truth when a Sunday minister interrupted me. He said I was teaching "legalism." I asked the man whether or not he believed that God wanted us to keep the Ten Commandments. At first he said, "No." Then when he realized how ridiculous that sounded, he changed his answer to, "Yes." But then he quickly added, "Nine of them."
"So," I responded, "are you telling me that the one commandment God wants us to forget is the only one that begins with the admonition to 'Remember'?" He left the meeting with a red face and never returned.
Still another pastor embarrassed himself when he said, "The calendar has been changed several times so we can't really know which day is the seventh day."
"If that were true," I answered, "then I guess you wouldn't know which day was Sunday either? But the fact remains that no calendar adjustment has ever had any effect on the weekly cycle."
There is no question about which day is the seventh day. Any dictionary will tell you: "Sat·ur·day (sàt_er-dê, -dâ´) noun Abbr. S., Sat.1. The seventh day of the week."2
The Bible plainly tells us that Jesus died on Friday, rested in the tomb on the Sabbath from His work of saving man, then rose Sunday morning to continue His work as our high priest (Luke 23:54; Hebrews 7:25).
In fact, in more than 145 major languages of the world, the word used for the seventh day is the equivalent for the word Sabbath or rest day. Such as Spanish, Sabado, or Russian, Subotah.
Another creative man told me that, "When the sun stood still in the days of Joshua, Saturday turned into Sunday"!
All these convoluted attempts to dispense with the simple command of God are compelling evidence that many churches are building on the sand of popular tradition. Jesus said, "Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. … Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition" (Mark 7:7, 9).
Contradictory arguments highlight the big problem associated with getting rid of the Sabbath. It's impossible to justify abandoning the Sabbath without getting rid of the whole law-they end up having to throw the baby out with the bath water. James points out that breaking even one of the Ten Commandments makes us guilty of violating the whole. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10).
A Pivotal Verse
Some Christians sincerely believe that the whole law, including the Sabbath, came to an end with Jesus' death. These people point to the well-worn verses in Colossians 2 as evidence: "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; … Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come" (verses 14, 16, 17).
However, getting rid of the law is a reckless and dangerous thing to do. The first four commandments define our responsibility to our Creator. The last six are the foundation of all human civil law. If the moral law were rescinded, there would be no safe place on earth for anyone.
Paul says, "For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified" (Romans 2:13). He also adds, "The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good" (7:12).
So what do the verses in Colossians mean? There are two primary laws taught in Scripture: the moral law of the Ten Commandments and the ceremonial law contained in ordinances. One was written by God's finger on stone and the other by the hand of Moses on parchment.
Notice how Deuteronomy 4 distinguishes between the two:
Moral Law: "And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone" (Deuteronomy 4:13).
Ceremonial Law: "And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it" (Deuteronomy 4:14).
Colossians 2:14 tells us that the law that was nailed to the cross was the "handwriting of ordinances," not the finger writing. And which law was that? "They will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses" (2 Chronicles 33:8, emphasis added). The law nailed to the cross in Colossians 2 was written on paper and "against us." (Plus, it is very difficult to nail stone tablets to anything.)
"Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee" (Deuteronomy 31:26, emphasis added). The Ten Commandment law, written by the finger of God on tablets of stone, was inside the ark; the ceremonial law, written by the hand of Moses, was placed in a pocket on the side of the ark.
So we can see that Colossians 2 is speaking of the ceremonial laws and annual sabbaths (feasts) that were nailed to the cross. That's why when Jesus died, the veil in the temple was torn (Matthew 27:51).
Sadly, most of the Jewish nation was so engrossed in types and shadows that they failed to see the fulfillment of those Messianic symbols in Jesus. Even the Christian church had a hard time separating the shadow and the reality. Some Jewish Christians required all the Gentile converts to observe all the Jewish ceremonies that pointed to the Messiah. Somehow they didn't yet see the big picture-that the coming of the Messiah had done away with the need for those types and shadows. This is why the Apostle Paul exhorts the Colossian Christians to not allow anyone to judge them in respect of the sabbath days, "which are a shadow of things to come" (Colossians 2:17).
God Does Not Change!
But what if we keep the law and just change the Sabbath commandment from seventh-day worship to first-day worship? The first roadblock is that such a change simply isn't biblical. That really makes it impossible for anyone to keep Sunday holy. You see, the commandment doesn't say to make the Sabbath day holy. It says that God made it holy and set it apart for holy use (sanctified it). We can find no place in Scripture where God transferred the sanctity of Sabbath to Sunday. Therefore, there is no way to keep the first day holy since He didn't make it holy in the first place.
Ultimately one needs to ask the hard question. Since Jesus made the Sabbath before the entrance of sin, and that which God blesses is blessed forever(1 Chronicles 17:27), why would He need to change His own eternal law? He declares, "I am the Lord, I change not" (Malachi 3:6)!
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Why would God write the Sabbath commandment in stone with His own finger, speak it with His own voice, and than change it with out even producing a vague biblical reference?
The bottom line is to determine why God made the Sabbath and what advantage there might possibly be in changing it. For one thing, God wanted man and domestic beasts to enjoy physical rest that day. During the French Revolution, in the backlash against the church abuse, the atheistic leaders called for doing away with anything religious. Included in the religious ban was a change in the weekly cycle. They could find no astronomical reason for the seven-day week, so they concluded that the weekly cycle was intrinsically religious. They replaced it with a ten-day work cycle but soon found that, not only were the people dissatisfied because of physical exhaustion, but also the draft animals were constantly fatigued. It wasn't long before France returned to the seven-day week.
But physical rest was only a minor part of the full blessing God had in mind for mankind. God wants to enjoy spiritual fellowship with His created beings. The Bible gives no indication that there was a week or a Sabbath in heaven before Creation. The Sabbath was made for man, not for angels. However, God enjoys it so much that He intends to keep it with us throughout eternity. Someday He is moving His universal capitol to this earth (Revelation chapter 21), and He invites all the redeemed to meet with Him for Sabbath each week (Isaiah 66:23).
The Sabbath is, among other things, a memorial of God's creative and redemptive power. It is also a sign of His re-creative power in our lives. "Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them" (Ezekiel 20:12).
The weekly Sabbath rest also points to the eternal rest that God is preparing for the redeemed (Hebrews 4:1-11). This rest was typified by entering into the promised land for ancient Israel. Spiritual Israel looks forward to the promise of a new earth "wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2 Peter 3:13).
"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it" (Hebrews 4:1).
Jesus is inviting you now to experience the spiritual and physical rest of this blessed day in His presence.
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).
____________________
1 Colliers Encyclopedia, vol. 7, page 212.
2 The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third
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