Sabbath Day

The reason for the holy Sabbath keeping are manifold. GOD made the Sabbath part of the Ten Commandments that define sin to us in the New Testament! In the Sabbath command, GOD made it clear that the Seventh Day Sabbath is to be kept in honor of creation. In it, we also can see that GOD Himself is the rightful owner of the Sabbath.
The apostle Paul declared that the law exposes the lust of the flesh and he quotes the last of the Ten telling us that this law is "Spiritual" [Romans 7:7-14]
So this spiritual law includes CHRIST's Seventh Day Sabbath because JESUS is our Creator GOD [Eph.3:9] and His re-creative power is needed today to make us new [Eph.4:22-24]. In fact JESUS died in order for us to have the righteousness of the law inside us [Rom.8:3,4]

The closest followers of JESUS knew nothing of a suppose change of the Sabbath day because they waited with such an important task as embalming His body [Luke 23:56] and JESUS Himself kept the Sabbath holy by resting in the tomb. The Gentile Christians also knew nothing of Sunday Sabbath worship because they asked the apostle Paul to come over to preach to them, not the next day, Sunday, but next Sabbath [Acts 13:42].

Please note the following from God’s Word…

“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 [not the first day], and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which GOD created and made.” Genesis 2:2, 3.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work [this includes the first day, aka Sunday] : But the seventh day [is] the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates: For [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8-11.

“And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath [the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, is the ‘Lord’s Day’].” Mark 2:27, 28.

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day… [John was in the Spirit the seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord! Not the first day—Sunday.]” Revelation 1:10.

Biblical institutions such as the Sabbath, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper all trace their origin to a divine act that established them. But there is no such divine act for the institution of a weekly Sunday or an annual Easter Sunday memorial of the Resurrection

The silence of the New Testament on this matter is very important since most of its books were written many years after Christ's death and resurrection. If Christ or the apostles had enjoined the observance of Sunday as a memorial of the resurrection, then we should find in the New Testament some indications of such a commandment and of its observance. Instead, we find no trace of any commandment regarding the celebration of the Resurrection on a weekly Sunday or annual Easter Sunday.

In fact, Sunday is never called "Day of the Resurrection" in the NT, but consistently "First Day of the Week." Paul prays that he may know "the power of the resurrection" (Phil 3:10), not the day of His resurrection. The first reference to Sunday as the "Day of the Resurrection" occurs in the fourth century in the writings of Eusebius of Caesarea. The obvious reason for this late appearance is that in earliest centuries Sunday was not viewed as the weekly memorial of the resurrection.
JESUS CHRIST rested in the garden of Eden after completing creation and He rested again on His Sabbath from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown in the tomb after the cross. He kept the Sabbath holy in His deathbed.

The deeper meaning to resting on the Sabbath can be seen in the antithesis the author of Hebrews makes between those who failed to enter into GOD's [CHRIST's] rest because of "unbelief" [apeitheias] 4:6,11 - that is, faithlessness which results in disobedience- and those who enter it by "faith" [pistei] 4:2,3, that is, faithfulness that results in obedience.

Was the Lord's supper celebrated on Sundays and in honor of the resurrection?
Notice how the apostle repeats four times the same phrase: "When ye come together" [1.Cor.11:18, 20, 33, 34]. The phrase implies indefinite time because there was no set time to celebrate the Lord's supper. Acts 2 tells us that it was a daily affair [v.46]. Note the words of Paul in a very specific manner that the Lord's supper was not celebrated on Sundays, and was not connected with the resurrection, but His sacrifice and Second Advent: "You proclaim the Lord's death till He comes" [1.Cor.11:26]. No Sunday, only Sabbath day worship according to the commandment of love.

Did the apostles worship on Sundays?
1.Cor.16:2 is being used by some to justify Sunday keeping. It seems paradoxical that Paul should recommend laying the offering money aside at home on Sundays if on such a day they were gathering for worship? 1.Cor.16:2 proves that there was no Sunday services, but rather loving obedience to the fourth of the Ten Commandments.

“And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of GOD perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” 1 John 2:3-6.

So what does this say about the following our Lord JESUS CHRIST…?? The little horn of Daniel seven had no right to change GOD'S time and laws [Daniel 7:25] and only by attempting this, can the man of sin [or lawlessness] be seating in GOD'S temple or church claiming to be GOD [2.Thess.2].

Papal Rome removed the second of the 10 Commandments in order to bring false worship of images and idols into Christianity, then splitting up the last one to make up the numbers. That is why in Catechisms, the fourth, or Sabbath, has become the third and the fifth the fourth etc.

This wasn't blasphemous enough, so they also altered the very day of worship from Saturday to Sunday, and GOD'S time of sunset to the darkest hour of midnight by Pope Gregory. The title Pope, or Papa, is forbidden by Matthew 23:9 and the celibate Priests, Nuns, Monks, Bishops, Cardinals, Popes, Jesuits, Prelates and Nuncios [the political part of the Vatican] are recognized as having brought doctrines [teachings] of devils into Christianity [1.Timothy 4:1-4]. So when you hear Sabbath keepers claiming that the Pope changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, you will understand now that they quote the "early church Fathers", which in Rome is called "PAPA" or "POPE". All the supposedly early church Fathers or Popes were under Roman jurisdiction.

Among their teachings are also holy water, crossing one selves, veneration and adoration of Statues and images, Mother Mary and Saint worship, Sunday sacredness, idolatrous Mass and the Eucharist replacing the Lord's supper, the seven sacraments, the use of force in place of the Gentle Gospel invitation, the rosary and cloisters, pompous ceremonies and pilgrimages, sprinkling babies, Hell, Purgatory, Limbo, Voodoo, spiritualism, halo, sun-monstrance, penance, merits, and many more.

JESUS is Lord of the Seventh-Day Sabbath

Hebrews chapter four has a direct link to today as spoken by the Apostle Paul in 1.Corinthians 10: Moreover brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
And all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
And did all eat the same spiritual food; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual ROCK that followed them: and that ROCK was CHRIST.
But with many of them GOD was not pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.---1.Cor.10:1-6

What were the things they lusted after? GOD re-introduced them to His holy Sabbath and a vegetarian diet of heavenly Manna after the long years of slavery in Egypt. Those who broke the Sabbath by collecting Manna on that day and lusting after the flesh pots of Egypt, were the offenders against GOD and what GOD had originally given in Eden, the vegetarian diet and the Sabbath:

"And they sinned yet more against Him [GOD] by provoking the most High in the wilderness. And they tempted GOD in their heart by asking meat for their lust.---Psalms 78:17,18

"Now all these things happened unto them for examples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.---1.Cor.10:11,32.

"But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness........and My Sabbath they greatly polluted."---Ezekiel 20:13

so here it is plainly stated that what happened back there in the wilderness experience, is for our admonition today and an example for the end-time of the world we are living! Now with this introduction, lets look at Hebrews chapter four:

Hebrews 4 has the preposition that the reader has an understanding of what constitutes sin! In Hebrews 3:13 is this exhortation: "But exhort one another daily, while it is called today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin". For what is sin? "Sin is the transgression of the law"---1.John 3:4 and again "For I had not known sin except by the law that said, thou shalt not covet."---Romans 7:7 This of course includes the fourth of the Ten Commandments, namely the Sabbath of whom JESUS is Lord.

What is the Sabbath rest that is still outstanding for GOD's people [Heb4:9]? Verse 10 describes the basic characteristic of Christian Sabbathkeeping, namely, cessation from work: "For whoever enter's GOD's rest also ceases from his labours as GOD did from His"[4:10] cf. Genesis 2:2

to say that this refers to the cessation of sinful activities, would be absurd to think that GOD ceased from "sinful deeds". The point of analogy is simply that as GOD ceased on the seventh day from His creation week work, so believers are to cease on the same day from their labours. This is a simple statement of the nature of Sabbathkeeping which essentially involves cessation from works.

"Sabbatismos-sabbath rest" found in Heb 4:9 refers to sabbath observance, thus the writer of Hebrews is saying that since the time of Joshua [JESUS] an observance of Sabbath rest has been outstanding. We would conclude then that both the reference to cessation from work found in v.10 and the term "sabbatismos"-sabbathkeeping" used in v.9 make it clear that the writer is thinking of a literal Sabbath observance.

Another important factor in Hebrews 4 is to consider the "rest" into the land of Canaan! Just as we are today waiting to enter the "rest" from our enemies and sin into the heavenly Canaan! And the term "today" was also important back there in King David's time for we read about it in Psalms 95 and of course Jesus gives us rest by coming to Him for the cleansing of sin by His precious blood and receive a new heart into which He as GOD writes His own holy righteousness of the law [Romans 8:3+4; Hebrews 8:10; 10:16]. If GOD has convicted you "today", do not reject the Holy Spirit, he may never return to give you another day.

The fact that the writer is not arguing for the permanence of Sabbathkeeping; he takes it for granted. The act of resting on the Sabbath is not merely a routine ritual or sacrifice as stated in Matthew 12:7+8 : "But if you had known what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is LORD even of the Sabbath day." cf. Luke 6:5 Mark 2:27 On the Sabbath, the believer is to cease from his own works to allow GOD to work in him. Such a response entails not the hardening of one's heart [Heb 4:7].

Romans 14:5: Paul writes: "One man considers one day more than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." Some people interpret this passage as allowing Christians to either recognize or ignore the Sabbath, - or perhaps to select any day as the Sabbath. But others suggest from a reading of the subsequent verses that Paul is discussing fasting here, not religious observance. They would suggest that verse 1 of this chapter indicates that the passage relates to "disputable" matters (such as when or if to fast); the day of the Sabbath was not a disputable matter; it was a commandment from God. The phrase "considering every day alike" might means that every day from Sunday to Friday were treated the same, as in the passage describing the collection of manna in Exodus 16:4

Since Paul declared "Let no man judge you regarding the Bible Sabbath," isn't Sabbath keeping unnecessary [Col.2:16,17] ?
This passage is one of the most misunderstood in the Bible. One principle of Bible interpretation is that you do not allow what may be somewhat unclear to keep you from doing what you understand. The Bible is plain on the Sabbath.
It was given at creation [Gen.2:1-3], JESUS observed it [Luke 4:16], Paul,not Peter was chosen for us Gentiles, kept it holy [Acts 17:2] and all the non-Jewish early Christians did [Acts 13:42-44] and it will be observed by all of us in heaven [Isa.66:22,23]. It is the Lord's day [Revel.1:10].
The Bible mentions two kind of Sabbaths. The Seventh-day weekly Sabbath and the yearly Sabbath days. The seventh-day Sabbath, instituted at creation and part of the Ten Commandments law, is a weekly reminder of the all loving and powerful creator GOD JESUS CHRIST!
The yearly Sabbath relates specifically to the history of Israel. Colossians 2:16,17 directly states " Let no man judge you regarding Sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come." The seventh day Sabbath is a memorial of creation and not a shadow of something to come.

Hebrews 10:1 connects the law of shadows with animal sacrifices. A certain law of ordinances was nailed to the cross. This was a ceremonial law of types and shadows that pointed forward to the death of JESUS and that had no further meaning beyond the cross.
This is why Paul said it was contrary to the Christian. The rent veil in the temple at the death of CHRIST [Matthew 27:51] indicated the end of that ordinance of animal sacrifices, and Ephesians 2:15 says that JESUS "abolished....the law of commandments contained in ordinances."

This is why Paul wrote in Colossians 2:16,17 that we are no longer judged by meat offerings, drink offerings, and sabbath days "which are a shadow of things to come." Take note that these are yearly and not weekly Sabbath of the moral law! The weekly Sabbath was not a shadow to come, but a memorial of GOD's creation. While the seven ceremonial yearly Sabbath days were nailed to His cross, the weekly Seventh day Sabbath was obeyed by JESUS, the Lord of the Sabbath, in His deathbed.

The false charge of legalism
Keeping holy the sacred marriage vow is no different than keeping holy of CHRIST's Sabbath. Both belong to the same moral code of the Decalogue and require GOD's Holy Spirit. We do not observe or keep it in order to be saved, but because JESUS our Saviour from sin [Matthew 1:21] is already keeping us in a saving relationship. To attempt it in our own strength, we are bound to fail because it belongs to GOD's spiritual law that the apostle called good, holy, spiritual, was his delight and not subject to the carnal mind which is enmity with GOD [Rom.7:7-14,22; 8:3,4,7]

The real culprits
"And the ten horns out of this kingdom, are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall arise after them; and he shall be diverse [different] from the first, and he shall subdue three kings"
[Daniel 7:24]
When the powerful Roman Empire collapsed, the 10 Arian tribes ruled it and three of them had invaded and occupied Italy itself. The Roman Emperor Justinian, eager to show the Arians [Arius was their teacher that taught Christ was not divine] that Rome was religious, decreed that the Bishop of Rome should be the head of the Empire and unite it with paganism and Christianity.
He was certainly different from the other 10 kings. Generalisimo Belisarius with his Roman legions was recalled from N.Africa to free the city of Rome and the Papacy.
This was achieved in 538 A.D., five years after the decree of Justinian. The three kings and their tribes, the Heruli's, the Ostrogoth's, and the Vandals were subdued. Daniel 7:8 says they were plugged up by their roots.

"And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time, and times and the dividing of times." [Daniel 7:25]
Romanists have convinced modern Protestants that this "he" is referring to Antiochus Epiphanes II, to direct all traffic away from Rome, the real culprit. This is impossible because the little horn is said to continue until the judgment [Daniel 7:21,22]. The Pope briefly apologized for all the atrocities of the past, but this does not represent a just repentance for the enormity of burning people to the stake for being found in possession of the Bible which they had outlawed.
Just as the literal 490 days in Daniel do not reach to the time of Christ, but perfectly when converted into years, so does this prophecy. Three and a half times are three and a half years or 1260 biblical days and so make 1260 years of papal supremacy from 538 A.D. to 1798 A.D. when Napoleon took the papal see of the throne of the Empire.

Which times and laws did he think to change? Antiochus never did, but papal Rome claims responsibility for the change and than had Emperor Constantine also make a decree against the Sabbath of Christ. They took out the second of the 10 Commandments which forbids idols and images so they could bring in paganism into Christianity. They than divided the last of the Ten Commandments into two and moved up the numbers. That's why you see in all Catechisms that the fourth has become the third command and so on to make up the numbers again. No human is allowed to touch GOD's holy law! GOD's law regarding time is the seventh-day Sabbath they changed from Saturday to Sunday. GOD's Sabbath time starts at sundown Friday evening, but Rome transferred this time of the solemnity to the darkest hour of midnight. Pope Gregory made changes to our modern Calendar, but never effected the days of the week. So, this is what is meant by changing times and laws in Daniel 7:25, the end-time prophecy!
Not wanting to change back to the true Sabbath of GOD and His CHRIST, Protestants are defending now papal traditions with all the excuses possible.

To prepare the way for the work which he designed to accomplish, Satan had led the Jews, before the advent of Christ, to load down the Sabbath with the most rigorous exactions, making its observance a burden.

After the time of Christ, Christians generally continued to observe the Sabbath, but Rome made it a day of fasting, a day of sadness and gloom, while Sunday was made a festival of recreation and not thought of in honor of the resurrection till much later.
Protestants now urge that the resurrection of Christ on Sunday made it the Christian Sabbath. But Scriptures evidence is lacking. No such honor was given by Christ and the Apostles.
The observance of Sunday as a Christian institution had its origin in that "mystery of lawlessness" [2.Thessalonians 2:7 R.V.] which, even in Paul's day, had begun its work.

About the close of the eighth century, papists put forth the claim that in the first ages of the church the bishops of Rome possessed the same spiritual power which they now assumed. To establish this claim, some means must be employed to give it a show of authority; and this was readily suggested by the father of lies. Ancient writings were forged by monks. Decrees of councils before unheard of were discovered, establishing the supremacy of the pope from earlier times. [The two main forgeries are the donation of Constantine and the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals]

Paganism had given place to the papacy. The dragon had given to the beast "his power, and his seat, and great authority." Revelation 13:2 and now began the the 1260 years of papal oppression foretold in the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation. Daniel 7:25; Revelation 13:5-7

In Matthew 24 Jesus said: "But pray that your flight will not be in the winter nor on the Sabbath day." [v.20]. Here He clearly shows that the sacredness of His own Sabbath [Matth.12:8] had to be observed. Objectors hold onto straws when they try and tell us that because the gates of the city were shut on Sabbath. But our Lord first mentions the whole season of winter in which they had time to flee. Roman legions surrounded Jerusalem and left without a reason only to return two years later to destroy the city. Two years gave them plenty of time to flee.

Fallen Protestants are eager to believe the Jesuits of Rome, that the little horn power of Daniel 7:25 was King Antiochus, but refuse to believe Rome when she claims that the change of the Sabbath was her act. See Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica,II,p.122,a.4 ad4. or the Augsburg Confession of Faith.
Protestants now argue against CHRIST'S ~Sabbath by saying it was not the papacy nor the Church of Rome, but the early Church "FATHERS". Little do they realize that these were Apostates who assumed the forbidden title of "FATHERS" just as the priests of Rome and England do today.

IS THE SABBATH A STUMBLING BLOCK TO REACH THE UNCHURCHED?
The charge that the Sabbath is “a stumbling block” that “gets in the way of many
coming to Christ,” is a serious accusation levelled against the Lord of the Sabbath Himself.
This accusation ignores that the Sabbath is Christ’s gracious invitation to come to Him to
find rest in Him. Through the Sabbath Christ invites us to stop our work, so that He can
work in us more fully and freely. This is the message of Hebrews 4:10, which speaking of
the Sabbath, says: “Anyone who enters God’s rest also rest from his own work, just as
God did from His” (NIV). Simply stated, we rest from our work on the seventh day in
order to enter into God’s rest.
The Sabbath has always been “a stumbling block” for many people, but the
reason is to be found not in the nature of the commandment itself, but in the condition of
the human heart. Those who wish to spend the Sabbath time seeking for pleasure and
profit, rather than for the peace and presence of God, obviously find the day a stumbling
block. But Jesus never taught to do away with His commandments, if they proved to be
a stumbling block to a marketing oriented church growth. Instead He said: “If you love me,
keep my commandments” (John 14:10).
Christ spent much of His public ministry teaching people how to keep the
Sabbath, not as rules to obey, but people to love. More coverage is given in the
Gospels to the Sabbath teachings and healings of Jesus than to any other aspects of
His ministry. The reason is that Jesus believed that proper Sabbathkeeping is important
to the spiritual growth of His followers.
The self-centeredness of the human heart largely explains why the Sabbath
commandment has been under the constant crossfire of controversy, Over 3000 treatises
disputing the Sabbath have been published since the Reformation. There has been no
major controversy over the other 9 commandments of the Decalogue. Why? Most likely
because the Sabbath touches us in our intimacy more deeply than any other
commandment. It summons us to consecrate the 24 hours of the seventh day to God.
Most people are very touchy about their time. They want to use their Sabbath time to
pursue their own interests.
The Sabbath is a stumbling block for many, because it challenges us to offer to
God not lip-service by going to church for one hour on Sunday morning or on Saturday
afternoon, but the service of our total being by giving priority to God in our thinking and
living during the 24 hours of the seventh day.
An article entitled “Saturday Night Live at Church,” published in the Sunday
magazine of the Lord’s Day Alliance of the USA, indicates that about 10,000 American
Protestant churches are now following the examples of Catholic Churches by anticipating
the first Sunday service to Saturday afternoon. One of the churches mentioned is the
Willow Creek Community Church, which “features two services on Saturday night.”

To be willing on the seventh day to withdraw from the world of things in order to
meet the invisible God in the quietness of our souls means to show in a tangible way our
love, loyalty, and devotion to God. It means to be willing to tune out the hundreds of
voices and noises that clamor for attention, in order to tune our souls to God and to hear
His voice.
It means not merely to sandwich in one hour of worship for God in a hectic day
spent seeking for selfish pleasure or profit but rather to serve God wholly during the
Sabbath, by offering Him the service of our total being. The unique opportunity the
Sabbath provides to serve the Lord makes the day, not a stumbling block, but a stepping
stone to come to Christ and fellowship with Him more fully and freely on His Holy Day.

AN UNPRECEDENTED INTEREST FOR THE SABBATH
It is hard to believe that the Pastor Taylor finds the Sabbath a stumbling block for
people to come to Christ, when many today are expressing an unprecedented interest for
the Sabbath. Church leaders, religious organization, and people of all walks of life, are
rediscovering the validity and values of the Sabbath for their lives. The newly released
Directory of Sabbath-Observing Group, lists 400
Sabbatarian churches and groups in America, most of which have come into existence
within the past thirty years.
Surprisingly, even within mainline denominations (Baptist, Methodists, Mennonite,
and Pentecostal), there are churches that are moving their services from Sunday to
Saturday. A brief report of this development is found in chapter 7 of THE SABBATH
UNDER CROSSFIRE. The chapter is entitled “Rediscovering the Sabbath.”
For the sake of brevity I will mention only one Southern Baptist Church which I
have known personally. On February 11-12, 1999 I was invited to present my Sabbath
Enrichment Seminar at La Sierra University, in Riverside, California, . On Friday evening,
at the end of my testimony, the University Pastor, Dan Smith, alerted me that Pastor
Allan Stanfield of the First Baptist Church of Lucerne Valley, was sitting in the last pew
with some of his church members. We visited with Pastor Stanfield for half an hour and I
gave him a gift copy of my latest book THE SABBATH UNDER CROSSFIRE.
Pastor Stanfield came back next Sabbath morning and Sabbath afternoon. Upon
leaving on Saturday evening he told me that he was eager to rediscover the Sabbath for
himself and his congregation. A week later he ordered a case of THE SABBATH UNDER
CROSSFIRE, which he passed out to the leading families of his congregation. For the
next six weeks his members met on Wednesday night to study the Sabbath, using the
book as a study guide. Then on Wednesday evening, April 21, 1999, the church held a
business meeting in which they voted almost unanimously to move their church services
from Sunday to Saturday. The following Saturday, April 24, the church worshipped for the
first time on the seventh-day Sabbath. Since then other Southern Baptist churches have
followed the same example. Surprisingly, they have been able to remain within the
Southern Baptist convention.---Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi

History of the Sabbath

This is a brief summation from historical sources of many groups who have kept the seventh-day Sabbath down through history.

Before the Jews kept the Sabbath, it was known in Babylon: "The Sabbath rest was a Babylonian, as well as a Hebrew, institution. Its origin went back to pre-Semitic days. . .In the cuneiform tablets the Sabbatu is described as 'a day of rest for the soul,' . . .it was derived by the Assyrian scribes from two Sumerian, or pre-Semitic words, sa and bat, which meant respectively 'heart' and 'ceasing'. . .The rest enjoined on the Sabbath was thus as complete as it was among the Jews." Higher Criticism and the Monuments, p. 74-75.

"According to the Assyrian-Babylonian conception, the particular stress lay necessarily upon the number seven. . . .The whole week pointed prominently toward the seventh day, the feast day, the rest day, in this day it collected, in this it also consummated. 'Sabbath' is derived from both 'rest' and 'seven.' With the Egyptians, it was the reverse. . . .For them, on the contrary, the sun god was the beginning and origin of all things. The day of the sun, Sunday, therefore, became necessarily for them the feast day. . . .The holiday was transferred from the last to the first day of the week." Truels Lund, Daglige Liv I Norden, V. 13, pp. 54-55.

That the seven-day week, and the seventh-day Sabbath were prehistoric in origin is shown by the fact that they are known in many different cultures around the world. Most cultures have always observed the seven-day week. And though most of them no longer rest on the seventh day, yet in a great many of the world's languages, the name of the seventh day is still "sabbath" or "rest day."

Although there is no Biblical command to keep Sunday in the New Testament, yet the custom of celebrating the resurrection of Christ on that day came into the church quite early.

It probably was influenced by the fact that Sunday was the weekly celebration of the sun god, Mithra, whose worship was very popular in the Roman Empire at that time. So, all around the Christians, the Sunday was a holiday. And it seemed reasonable to them to make it a day of celebration of the resurrection.

But for many years nearly all Christians also kept the seventh-day Sabbath, according to the commandment

This is shown by a statement of the church historian, Socrates, written about 400 A.D.:

"For although almost all the churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this." Ecclesiastical History, book 5, chapter 22. Found in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers.

Also about 400 A.D. Sozomen, another church historian, wrote:

"The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria." Sozomen, Ecclesiatical History, book 7, chapter 19. Ibid.

There were several reasons the church at Rome stopped keeping the Sabbath. For one thing, the Jews were being persecuted, and they didn't want to be identified with them.

Emperor Constantine decided that he wished to unite all his empire under one religion. He chose Christianity, but, to make the move more acceptable to his pagan subjects, he encouraged the blending of the religion of Christ, and the religion of Mithra. He made the first Sunday law, and the keeping of Sabbath was discouraged. This came at the same time as many other changes came into the church from paganism, including images in the churches, etc..

At the Synod of Laodicea (365 A.D.) the council passed a decree: "Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day." Council of Laodicea, Canon 29, found in Scribner's Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, vol 14, p. 148.

The Church at Rome took several steps to persuade or force Christians to stop resting on the Sabbath. They labeled it "Judaizing," and commanded that the Sabbath be a fast day, while the Sunday was to be a festival.

Persecution was launched again and again against those who did not yield in this and other things, to the dictation of the Roman Church. Many fled.

Still, even the popes found it hard to stamp this practice out of the area they ruled, and impossible in those churches beyond their reach.

In 602, Pope Gregory issued a bull in which he branded those Christians who believed in keeping the seventh day as "Judaizers" and "antichrist." See Epistles of Gregory I, collection 13, ep 1, found in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, vol. 13.

Many churches beyond the reach of Rome continued to rest and worship on the seventh day. Here is a record of some of them.

The Waldenses:

Many Christians fled to the Alps. They were called, among other things, the Waldenses, or people of the valleys.

"Now this district, on the eastern side of the Cottian Alps, is the precise country of the Vallenses (Waldenses). Hither their ancestors retired, during the persecutions of the second and third and fourth centuries here providentially secluded from the world, they retained the precise doctrines and practices of the primitive church, endeared to them by suffering and exile while the wealthy inhabitants of cities and fertile plains, corrupted by a now opulent and gorgeous and powerful clergy, were daily sinking deeper and deeper into that apostasy which has been so graphically foretold by the great apostle."Faber, The Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses, pp. 293-4.

"The Walsenses took the Bible as their only rule of faith, abhorred the idolatry of the papal church, and rejected their traditions, holidays, and even Sunday, but kept the seventh day Sabbath, and used the apostolic mode of baptism." Facts of Faith, p. 121, by Christian Edwardson.

For centuries evangelical bodies, especially the Waldenses, were called "Insabbati," or "Ensavates," or "Insabbatati," because they kept the Sabbath. See Ussher, Gravissimae Quaestionis de Christianarum Ecclesiarum Successione, chapter 8, par. 4.

In the 1200's a Waldensian prisoner testified before the Inquisition as follows: "Barbara von Thies testified... that on the last Saint Michael's day concerning confession as it is administered by the priests she has nothing to do with it. As to that which has to do with the Virgin Mary, on that she has nothing to answer. Concerning Sunday and the feast days she says, 'The Lord God commanded us to rest on the seventh day and with that I let it be, with God's help and His grace, we all would stand by and die in the faith, for it is the right faith and the right way to Christ.' " Der Blutige Schau-Plats, Oder Martyrer Spiegel der Taufs Gesinnien, book 2, pp. 30-31.

When the reformers and the Waldenses met, there were a few who were still keeping the Sabbath.

Ethiopia:

For more than 1700 years the Christian Churches of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) continued to keep the seventh day.

In A.D. 1534 the Abyssinian Ambassador appealed to Portugal for protection from the Mohammedans. When asked why they kept the seventh day, he answered:

"On the Sabbath day, because God, after He had finished the creation of the world, rested thereon which day, as God would have it called the Holy of Holies, so the not celebrating thereof with great honor and devotion seems to be plainly contrary to God's will and precept, Who will suffer heaven and earth to pass away sooner than His Word and that especially since Christ came not to dissolve the law, but to fulfil it. It is not therefore in imitation of the Jews, but in obedience to Christ and His holy Apostles that we observe that day. . . We do observe the Lord's day after the manner of all other Christians, in memory of Christ's resurrection." Geddis, The Church History of Ethiopia. pp. 87, 88.

Milan:

Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan said that when he was in Milan, he observed Saturday, but when in Rome, he fasted on Saturday and observed Sunday. This gave rise to the proverb, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." See Heylyn, The History of the Sabbath, 1612, p. 416.

Belgium

"As to the charge that certain churches were Judaizing, the minutes of the synod at Liftinne (the modern Estinnes), Belgium, 743 A.D., give more particular information. Dr. Karl Jo von Hefele writes, 'The third allocation of this council warns against the observance of the Sabbath, referring to the decree of the Council of Laodicea.' (Hefele, Concilliengeschicte, Vol. 3, p. 512.) B.G. Wilkinson, Truth Triumphant, p. 196.

The Celts in Brittain:

"The Celts used a Latin Bible unlike the Vulgate, and kept Saturday as a day of rest, with special religious services on Sunday." A.C. Flick (historian), The Rise of the Medieval Church, p. 237.

"It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday the Jewish sabbath, as a day of rest from labor. They obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon the seventh day of the week." Andrew Lang, A History of Scotland, Vol. 1, p. 96.

It is recorded of (Saint) Columba, an Irishman, born in 521 A.D., who was a great missionary and religious leader of Scotland--when he lay dying: "Having continued his labors in Scotland thirty four years, he clearly and openly foretold his death, and on Saturday, the ninth of June, said to his disciple Diermit: 'This day is called the Sabbath, that is, the day of rest, and such it will truly be to me for it will put an end to my labors.' " Butler, Lives of the Saints, Vol. 6, p.139.

King Malcolm III of Scotland, about the year 1058 A.D., married an English princess named Margaret. As queen, she brought the Roman Church to Scotland. She brought about a Sunday law.

"The queen further protested against the prevailing abuse of Sunday desecration. 'Let us,' she said, 'venerate the Lord's day, inasmuch as upon it our Saviour rose from the dead. Let us do no servile work on that day.' . . . The Scots, in this matter, had no doubt kept up the traditional practice of the ancient manastic Church of Ireland (Patrick's church), which observed Saturday rather than Sunday as a day of rest." Bellesheim, History of the Catholic Church of Scotland. Vol. I, pp. 249, 250.

"There is much evidence that the Sabbath prevailed in Wales universally until A.D. 1115, when the first Roman bishop was seated at St. David's. The old Welsh Sabbath-keeping churches did not even then altogether bow the knee to Rome, but fled to their hiding places where the ordinances of the gospel to this day have been administered in their primitive mode without being adulterated by the corrupt Church of Rome." Lewis, Seventh Day Baptists in Europe and America, Vol. I, p. 29.

Early Greek Orthodox

"The observance of Saturday is, as everyone knows, the subject of a bitter dispute between the Greeks and Latins (Rome)." John Mason Neale, A History of the Holy Eastern Church, General Introduction, Vol. I, p. 731.

In A.D. 1054 the pope sent three legates to Constantinople. Among others, the following charge was made: "Because you observe the Sabbath with the Jews and the Lord's Day with us, you seem to imitate with such observances the sect of Nazarenes who in this manner accept Christianity in order that they be not obliged to leave Judaism." Migne, Patrologia Latina, Vol. 145, p. 506.

Eastern churches--the Orient

Speaking of the Nestorians in Kurdistan: "The Nestorian fasts are very numerous, meat being forbidden on 152 days. They eat no pork, and keep both the Sabbath and Sunday. They believe in neither auricular confession nor purgatory, and permit their priests to marry." Schaff-Herzog, The New Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, article "Nestorians."

Josephus Abudacnus, in the 1700's, in his history of the Jacobites, writes, "Our author states that the Jacobites assembled on the Sabbath day, before the Dommical day (Sunday), in the temple, and kept that day, as also the Abyssinians as we have seen from the confession of their faith by the Ethiopian king Claudius. . . From this it appears that the Jacobites have kept the Sabbath as well as the Dommical day, and still continue to keep it." Historia Jacobitarum, p. 118-119.

Thomas Yeates, who traveled largely in the Orient, writing of many Christians in the East, said that Saturday "amongst them is a festival day agreeable to the ancient practice of the church." Yeates, East India Church History." p. 72.

In the time of the reformation

"All the counsellors and great lords of the court, who were already fallen in with the doctrines of Wittenburg, of Ausburg, Geneva, and Zurich, as petrowitz, Jasper Cornis, Christopher Famigali, John Gerendi, head of the Sabbatarians, a people who did not keep Sunday, but Saturday, and whose disciples took the names of Genoldists. All these, and others, declared for the opinions of Blandrat." Lamy, The History of Socinianism, p. 60.

Erasmus testifies that even as late as about 1500 many Bohemians not only kept the seventh day scrupulously, but also were called Sabbatarians. See Cox, The Literature of the Sabbath Question, Vol. II, pp. 201-202.

After the time of the reformation, the Seventh Day Baptists formed their denomination, which is still in existence. The first record I have found of sabbath-keeping in America was when Stephan Mumford from London, a Seventh Day Baptist, settled in Rhode Island in 1664.

Samuel Ward, also a Seventh Day Baptist, was governor of Rhode Island in 1765. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1774, and, had he not died, would probably have been a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

It was from the Seventh Day Baptists that some Adventists learned of the seventh-day Sabbath, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church was organized in 1863.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is now a world-wide Church, and the keeping of the seventh day has gone everywhere with them.

Doubtful Authorities for Sunday-keepers

Now here is a strange thing. Sunday supporters, with a show of great
triumph, quote Ignatius, Barnabas, Irenaeus, Clement, Tertullian,
Augustine, and others to prove that first-day observance started
early, because the writings of these men speak favorably of the
observance of the first day of the week. Little do they realize that
the Roman Catholics go to these same writings to prove doctrines which
no other church in the world practices or believes today except the
Roman Catholic Church. So instead of actually proving the first day is
the day to keep, they are proving that the prophecy of Daniel 7:25 and
the prophecy of Paul that the falling away would develop more rapidly
immediately following his departure actually took place. The point is
this: The testimony of these early fathers, instead of proving the
first day is the day to keep, actually proves that it is not; it
points out that Sunday-keeping was adopted from the heathen sun
worshipers and is a counterfeit of the true Sabbath -and this
counterfeit witnesses to the truth of Paul's prediction about the
falling away. We notice that all defenders of first-day observance
quote Ignatius (AD 101) as favoring the first day instead of the
seventh. We have before us Cardinal Gibbons' Faith of Our Fathers. We
open the book to the chapter in which he is trying to prove that the
priest turns the bread into God, and that this bread should be bowed
to and worshiped as God. To prove this idolatry should be practiced,
he quotes Ignatius condemning people of his day "because they confess
not that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ." -
page 297. There is no dogma that the Roman Catholic Church holds today
more strongly than that the wafer over which the priest pronounces
some Latin words is the actual Son of God. Such a gross error leads me
to conclude that the writings of Ignatius witness to the early
"falling away" rather than to the fact that the first day is the day
to be kept. The fact that he endorsed first-day observance is against
it rather than for it-unless we are going to be Roman Catholics.
(Those who quote these early Fathers neglect to inform their hearers
that scholars have grave reason to doubt the authorship of these
writings, especially those credited to Ignatius and Barnabas.)

Where are these writings of the early Fathers to be found? We have
before us quite a large volume called The Lost Books of the Bible. The
preface says these writings were "not included in the authorized New
Testament." On page 172 of this book (which is filled with all sorts
of follies and fables) I find "The Epistle of Ignatius to the
Magnesians," and it is in this "epistle" that there is a statement
favoring first-day keeping. How few there are who when this statement
is quoted in books and pamphlets written in opposition to the Sabbath
know that it comes from The Lost Books of the Bible! Preachers will
read from this book of fables with the same show of reverence and
respect as though it were the Word of God. Another early writer often
quoted in favor of first-day observance is Barnabas. We find his
writing on page 153 of Lost Books of the Bible. We are ashamed to quote
the things contained in these pages; we shall merely refer the reader
to them, but at the same time I would be far more ashamed lo read from
such a source to prove first-day sacredness! Those ministers who quote
from these sources know there is not one in a thousand who knows
.anything about the "epistle of Barnabas," and they can take advantage
of this ignorance to prove something which they cannot prove by the
Bible!

Justin Martyr is another "authority" that is greatly relied upon to
prove first-day sacredness. On page 297 of Faith of our Fathers
Cardinal Gibbons quotes Martyr to prove that the bread is Jesus
Christ: "The Eucharist is both the flesh and blood of the same
incarnate Jesus." Nobody believes that today except the Roman
Catholics. All these "authorities" prove what Paul meant when he said
that after his "departure," men would arise "speaking perverse
things," and the fact that these writings (supposed to have been done
by these men) are claimed to have been written right after the death
of the apostles shows what Paul meant when he said, "The mystery of
iniquity does already work." Clement of Alexandria is another one of
the early Fathers. We find that he is another one whose writings go to
make up The Lost Books of the Bible. He is supposed to have written
his epistles one hundred years after the death of the last apostle. He
says that by that time the seventh day had "become nothing more than a
working day." Thus do we see that the church to which he belonged was
gradually ceasing to observe the seventh day and leaning more and more
toward the day of the sun. Just how reliable his writings are may be
gathered from the following, which I dare to quote from him:

"There is a certain bird called Phoenix; of this there is never but
one at a time; and that lives 500 years. And when the time of its
dissolution draws near, that it must die, it makes itself a nest of
frankincense, and myrrh, and other spices into which when its time is
fulfilled it enters and dies. But its flesh putrefying, breeds a
certain worm, which being nourished with the juice of the dead bird
brings forth feathers; and when it is grown to a perfect state, it
takes up the nest in which the bones of its parents lie, and carries
it from Arabia into Egypt. And flying in open day in the sight of all
men, lays it upon the altar of the sun, and so returns from whence it
came." Think about being compelled to read from such a source to prove
Sunday had become the Sabbath! Note how he mentions the altar of the
sun, from which comes sun-day and the observance of the first day of
the week. No wonder he had come to recognize the seventh day as no
more than a working day. How natural it was that as he turned from the
true Sabbath, he leaned more and more to Sunday! At the risk of
wearying the reader with further quotations from such writers as we
are examining, I have two more to quote from. I quote from them
because they are read from with confidence in an effort to prove
Sunday sacredness. One of these is Tertullian, and the other is
Eusebius. Tertullian is supposed to have lived shortly after the death
of the apostles. Cardinal Gibbons relies to the utmost on Tertullian
to prove some of the absurd Roman Catholic doctrines.

On page 3 of Faith of Our Fathers, Gibbons says:

"It is also a very ancient and pious practice for the faithful to make
on their person, the sign of the cross saying at the same time: 'In
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.'
Tertullian, who lived in the second century of the Christian era,
says: 'In all our actions, when we come in or go out, when we dress
and when we wash, at our meals, before retiring to sleep, we form on
our foreheads the form of the cross. These practices are not commanded
by a formal law of Scripture; but tradition teaches them, custom
confirms them, faith observes them.' " Roman Catholics practice these
things today. Gibbons quotes Tertullian again: " 'The faithful wife
will pray for the soul of her deceased husband, particularly on the
anniversary day of his falling asleep. And if she fail to do so, she
has repudiated her husband as far as it lies in her.' " You see,
Gibbons was trying to prove prayers for the dead. There is nothing in
the Bible about this, so he goes to Tertullian. This is the same thing
that is done in trying to prove first-day keeping. If this man wrote
what is attributed to him, he was certainly one of the builders of the
Roman Catholic Church.

Eusebius, in AD 324, wrote, "We have transferred the duties of the
Sabbath to Sunday." Who are the "we"? Certainly not the apostles. They
could not do so after the testament was ratified by the death of the
Testator on the cross. When Eusebius says, "We have transferred the
duties of the Sabbath to Sunday," it reminds us again of what Paul
foretold about those who, after his death, would speak "perverse
things, to draw away disciples after them." (Acts 20:30.) This last
quotation from these early Fathers is dated AD 324. Just three years
before, in 321, Constantine, half Christian and half pagan, made the
first law to keep the "Venerable day of the sun." Translated from the
Latin, it reads: "Let all the judges and townspeople and the
occupations of all trades rest upon the venerable day of the sun. But
let those who are situated in the country, freely and at full liberty
attend to the business of agriculture. Because it often happens that
no other day is so fit for the sowing of corn or the planting of
vines, lest the critical moment being let slip, men should lose the
commodities of heaven. Given this 7th day of March, Crispus and
Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time."

Isn't this preposterous? Isn't this blasphemous?

It will be noted that at that time working on Sunday was the general
rule. It will be noticed that the day was not known by any sacred
Christian title. It was called the venerable day of the sun. Thus do
we see that little by little the true Sabbath was being discarded and
Sunday was coming into recognition.

THE LAW AND THE SABBATH By Allen Walker

--
Ignatius was a rather eccentric bishop of Antioch [NT Christians did not have bishops and Cardinals] around A.D. 110. Condemned to die for his faith, he was shipped to Rome to be eaten by animals. On the way he wrote seven letters that have become famous. In his letter to the Magnesians he spoke, according to a typical translator of "living......for the Lord's day." The translator assumed that Ignatius wanted Christians to focus their life-style on Christ's joyous resurrection.
However, the Greek word for "day" does not occur in what appears to be the earliest Greek text for this passage. The Greek adjective for "Lord's" is present, implying a noun which it modifies. But there is no noun. At some unknown time prior to the eleventh century, a Greek editor supplied a noun, but the noun he chose was not the word for "day"; rather it was the word for "life". Thus this unknown Greek editor made the passage read "living...for the Lord's life," meaning perhaps, that a Christian's life-style should harmonize with Christ's life-style which differs with what most modern churches teach today.---source: Ignatius, To the Magnesians,9;Loeb Classical library, Apostolic Fathers, 1:205, Compare the trans. in AFN 1:62, observing that the right hand column represents a spurious interpolated edition which originated more then 200 years after Ignatius's death. 2.] Fritz Guy, "The Lord's Day in Magnesians, Andrews edu, 1964;1-17 and Richard B. Lewis, Ignatius and the Lord's Day, 1968 Seminar studies,6 1968, 46-59.

Be Ready to Give an Answer…
The Sabbath

By

Carol Humphreys, Th.D.

Introduction

This is not about what a church teaches, or about indoctrination. This is about what the BIBLE says. I care that a church teaches the Bible, but this has nothing at all to do with my church, only Biblical and historical truth.
I have been met with a tremendous amount of statements from people over the years claiming that the 7th day Sabbath is not any longer a day that needs to be kept. Sometimes their statements nearly stumped me and I had to do some research before I had the answer. I felt that offering a compilation of all these statements with accurate Biblical and historical responses would be handy for people to reference, which is why I have taken the time to write it. I hope it will be helpful for you!

Carol Humphreys

Statements and Responses
Regarding the 7th Day Sabbath

Statement = S Response = R,

S = The Sabbath was done away.

R = Nowhere does the Bible state that the Sabbath was done away with. This would have been made crystal clear if a Commandment was done away with, but there is not one text that states anything like that. We are even told in Isaiah 66:21-23 that in heaven and in the new earth we will worship God on the Sabbath. Why would He make a day holy, command that it be a part of what designates sin, do away with it (with no clear text at all), only to reinstate its importance in Heaven and on the new earth? That doesn’t make any sense at all, especially with a God who doesn’t change. People made the change, but nowhere does God condone that change.

S = It doesn’t matter what day you keep, as long as you keep one in seven.

R = If God had not specified a day, then I’d say that is correct.
However, He was very specific – He said it is the 7th day and He also blessed and hallowed it at the end of Creation so we would remember Who our Creator is! The 7th day is the only day in the Bible that was blessed and hallowed. With God being specific, we cannot say this isn’t important to Him.
We also have many texts that tell us that the Ten Commandments are important to God! 1 John 2:3-4 tells us: “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” 1 John 3:4 says: “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 5:2 says: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.” Revelation 14:12 tells us: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

S = The Sabbath was changed because Jesus rose on Sunday.

R = It is true that Jesus was resurrected sometime between sundown Sabbath and before dawn Sunday. (When the women went to the sepulcher at or before dawn, He was already gone. - Sunrise services are from paganism). Jesus asked us to remember His death and resurrection by taking communion and by baptism. Had He wished for anything else, He would have asked for it before He died. This excuse came about when the people questioned the leaders of the early Roman Church (early 300’s A.D.) when they were shocked that this church was bringing in Sunday services along with the Sabbath services to make things easier for the heather to be converted.
Another point is that although Jesus rose early on the day we call Sunday, Paul had ample opportunities when speaking about the resurrection – even in 1 Cor 15:4 says that Jesus was raised “on the third day”. At no time does Paul make an issue of it being the first day of the week. Had Paul wished to convey any importance of Sunday as being holy due to the resurrection, it seems he would have made it clear here.

S = Galatians 3:25 tells us that since faith has come, we’re no longer under the supervision of the law.

R = Notice that this verse says

There is not a single text in the entire Bible authorizing Sunday as the day of worship!

JESUS is Lord of the Seventh-Day Sabbath