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Have you ever wondered why
people keep Saturday as the Sabbath day to worship God? How about, what is the
object of the Sabbath? Which day is the Sabbath, is it the first day of the
week, Sunday, or the seventh day of the week, Saturday?
Here is what the Bible
says.
God rested on the seventh
day after working the first six days of the week in creating this earth.
Genesis 2:1-3; Hebrews 4:4.
The seventh day is the
Sabbath. Sabbath means “rest.” Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:10.
The Creator blessed the
seventh day. Genesis 2:3.
He set apart (sanctified)
the seventh day. Exodus 20:11.
The Sabbath is a memorial
of creation. We commemorate that grand event every time we rest upon the
seventh day, as God did at creation. Exodus 20:11.
The Sabbath is a sign between God and His people that He sets them apart as His special people. Ezekiel 20:12; Revelation 12:17.
“And Jesus 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.” Mark 2:27-28, that is, for the whole human
race. Therefore, the SABBATH was not given to the Jews only, but to everyone.
Long before there was a Jew on earth by name, all mankind and creation was
celebrating the Sabbath.
God gave the Ten
Commandments at Sinai on books of stone. Exodus 19:20. The fourth commandment
in that book, God reminds His people that He established the Sabbath thousands
of years before. Exodus 19:20; 20:8-11.
According to the
Metropolitan Cantor Institute, “For Jews and Christians, the observance
of a repeating cycle of seven days, with one day set aside and dedicated
to God, is extremely ancient, going back to Genesis: "God blessed the
seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had
done in creation" (Genesis 2:3).”
This weekly Sabbath with
the weekly cycle of the week originated at creation. The Bible indicates
continued unbroken through the centuries from creation Genesis 2:1-3 to
apostolic times. Acts 13:13, 44, even to our day.
God commanded by His voice
the observance of the Sabbath. Deuteronomy 4:12, 13.
God wrote the Ten
Commandments on tables of stone with His own finger. Exodus 31:18.
God preserved the
commandments in the ark in the Most Holy Place of the Sanctuary. Deuteronomy
10:1-5.
God commanded His people to rest on the Sabbath, even in extra busy times. Exodus 34:21.
God promised that
Jerusalem would stand forever if His people kept the Sabbath. Jeremiah 17:24,
25.
One of the reasons why God
allowed Jerusalem to be destroyed was His people’s desecration of the Sabbath.
Jeremiah 17:27.
God sent His people into
Babylonian captivity for breaking the Sabbath. Nehemiah 13:18; Daniel 1:1-2.
God has pronounced a
special blessing on all His people who will keep the Sabbath. Isaiah 56:6, 7.
The Lord encourages us to
think of the Sabbath as a delight, and honorable. Isaiah 58:13.
When Jesus came, He
worshiped on the seventh day. Luke 4:16; John 15:10.
The seventh day of the
week, (Saturday) is the Lord’s day. Revelation 1:10; Mark 2:28; Isaiah 58:13;
Exodus 20:10.
Jesus vindicated the
Sabbath as a merciful institution designed for man’s good. Mark 2:23-28.
Instead of abolishing the
Sabbath, Jesus carefully taught how it should be observed, and we should do the
same. Matthew 12:1-13; Matthew 28:19-20.
Jesus admonished His
disciples to pray that they would not have to flee from the coming destruction
of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. Matthew 24:20.
After His death, the women who were followers of Jesus “Rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” We should do the same in our day if we are not an essential worker. Luke 23:56: (Exodus 20:8-11.
There is no record in the
Bible that God has ever removed His blessing or sanctification from the seventh
day.
The Sabbath remains
forever. Hebrews 4:9.
Is there any Biblical
evidence for Sunday worship?
No! There is clearly no
New Testament evidence for a change of the Sabbath from Saturday, the seventh
day of the week, to Sunday, the first day of the week. The change came after
the days of Jesus and the apostles, so we must turn to history to see when and
how this change came about.
Evidence in history
The change from Sabbath
observance to Sunday observance took place after the New Testament was
completed and all the apostles had died. History records that Christians
eventually shifted from worshipping and resting on the seventh day to the first
day of the week.
“A history of the problem shows that in some places, it was really only after some centuries that the Sabbath rest really was entirely abolished, and by that time the practice of observing a bodily rest on the Sunday had taken its place” Vincent J. Kelly, Forbidden Sunday and Feast-Day Occupations, p. 15.
Constantine the Great
changed the Sabbath to Sunday
“On March 7, A.D. 321,
Constantine the Great issued the first civil Sunday law, compelling all the
people in the Roman Empire, except farmers, to rest on Sunday. This with five
other civil laws decreed by Constantine concerning Sunday, set the legal precedent
for all civil Sunday legislation from that time to the present.
In the 4th century, the
Council of Laodicea urged Christians to honor Sunday by abstaining from work on
that day if at all possible, and prohibited them from abstaining from work on
the Sabbath.”
It is the prayer of Garden Ministry that God would help us all put Him and His Word first in all that we do. Enjoy your day. Blessings, Blessings, Blessings.
By GARDEN MINISTRY
1 comments:
He that hath an ear let him hear! Thanks for this truth to share with family and friends. God bless you as you continue to shed light on salvific topics.
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