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What Is The Sabbath?

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The Sabbath is the day of rest made by God on the seventh day of the week, beginning from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. It was created and named at creation as a day of rest and celebration of the creation for all humans. On Mount Sinai, God told Israel to remember this holy day when He placed it in the Ten Commandments.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant, your cattle or your visitor who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20: 8-11).

The Everlasting Covenant
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days says the Lord; "I will put my laws into their minds and write it on the hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be My people". (Hebrews 8: 10)
The new covenant was still made with the house of Israel, not the Gentiles or Christians. There is evidence for the meaning and origin of the covenant in the Bible.

1. When Jesus returns He will have His name written in two places. It was written on His robe and thigh.
   And on his robe and on his thigh He has a name written, "King of Kings and Lord of Lords". (Revelation 19: 16)
   1. Thigh. Why on His thigh? He was making an unbreakable promise.
      According to Genesis 47: 29 putting their hand under the thigh was part of making a covenant.
   2. Robe. Why on the Robe? The promise was to cover us.
      1. The robe is the righteousness garment of salvation that covers the saints. (Isaiah 61: 10)
      2. As a sign of the promise that He would cover our sins. Hebrews 10: 16-17
2. What is the Covenant that God makes with Man?
   1. What is a covenant?
      1. Words for covenant are: will, contract, testament, agreement.
      2. A covenant is an agreement by which parties bind themselves and each other to the fulfillment of certain conditions.
   2. When is a Covenant in force? It is enforced at death like a will (Hebrews 9: 17-18).
   3. He will be our God and we shall be His people.
      1. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples for all the earth is mine. (Exodus 19: 5)
      2. Hebrews 8: 10
3. Everlasting Covenant
   1. Covenant concerning the flood. Genesis 9: 8-16 - The earth will never be destroyed by a flood again.
   2. God's Covenant with Abraham. Genesis 17: 7 - To be our God forever
   3. God's Covenant with Israel. 1 Chronicles 16: 15-17
   4. God's Covenant included the Gentile. Deuteronomy 29: 14-15
      1. ... I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth. (Isaiah 49: 6,8)
      2. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. (Isaiah 60: 3)
      3. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God and there is no other. (Isaiah 45: 22)
      4. In order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3: 14)
4. God has a special place where He keeps His covenant.
   1. The Ark of His covenant. (Numbers 10: 33)
   2. The Ark in Heaven. And the temple of God which is in Heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple. (Revelation 11: 19)

The New Covenant

1. Christ renews the covenant.
   1. The Bread and Wine represent His Body and Blood.
      Christ renewed the covenant with us while He was on earth. 1 Corinthians 11: 25.
      ... This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me.
   2. The promise of the covenant is passed on to the followers of Christ.
      1. We are all descendants of Abraham. (Galatians 3: 29)
         If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise.
      2. The Gentiles now share in the covenant of promise because of Christ.
         But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall. (Ephesians 2: 11-14)
2. The problem with the first covenant. The problem was with the people not the wording of the Covenant. The fault of the covenant was that it was not in the minds and hearts of the people.
   1. The Covenant Defines Sin. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said "All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient". (Exodus 24: 7)
   2. Obedience By works. While the covenant was just words that they heard, they worked to obey it when their hearts and minds were far from God.
   3. Our Hearts Want To Sin. For Christians, the saving grace is Christ's sacrifice to save each soul from it's own inner tendency toward sin.
   4. Change The Covenant Or The People? So this was the change that made the covenant new or better. The words of the covenant were not changed. The people were changed. The covenant was written on their minds and hearts. (Hebrews 8: 7-10)
3. The new Covenant is made on better promises and a more reliable foundation. He is a better mediator because He is perfect and indestructible. The promises are better because they are written internally. God changed the people and the priest not the terms of the covenant.
   But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises (Hebrews 8: 6-10)
4. Christ is our only mediator.
   1. Hebrews 9: 15-16; 4: 14-16; 13: 20-21
   2. For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2: 5)
   3. Obedience by faith.

The Sign Of The Covenant
Just as God promises rest from sin, the Sabbath gives us rest from our work. On His death, even Jesus rested on the Sabbath and then rose on the first day of the week.

The Sign Of The Sabbath
On the first Sabbath, God rested from His works. When He died, Christ also rested from His works on the Sabbath. He was buried on Friday evening and rose on Sunday morning. The Sabbath is a sign that God will give us rest from sin through His works.

1. Criteria of a sign.
   1. Universal. It must be seen or experienced by the whole world.
   2. Must work for all mankind. It must mean the same thing everywhere.
   3. Tangible. It must be seen or experienced.
   4. Well Defined. The shape, appearance or boundaries are identifiable.
   5. Incorruptible. Its definition and meaning cannot change.
   6. Personal. It can be experienced individually.
2. The Sabbath was to be a sign of the Covenant through out eternity.
   1. The Sabbath was a perpetual covenant. Exodus 31: 16
      So the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.
      Since Christians are heirs through Christ, they are part of Israel and part of this perpetual covenant.
   2. The Sabbath was given to the Gentiles.
      Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast my covenant. Even those I will bring to My Holy Mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; for My house will be called an house of prayer for all peoples. (Isaiah 56: 6-7)
   3. The Sabbath was a sign of a relationship between God and His people. It shows that He sanctifies us.
      1. Ezekiel 20: 12,20. I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them ...
      2. Exodus 31: 13,17. ... You shall observe My Sabbaths, for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

      The Signs In The Heavens
      In Genesis 1: 14 we see how God uses the sun and moon as seasons, days and years. But how are these lights used as signs? Sabbath. It is the sign of His Covenant. Moon. The church. Dark Day and Falling Stars. Sign of His Coming (Joel 2: 30-31; Matthew 24: 29; Revelation 6: 12-17). Rainbow. He will not destroy the earth with water.

      When God makes us holy He numbers and names us (Revelation 14). When God made the Sabbath holy He numbered and named it. All the other days were numbered, but only the Sabbath was given a name.
   4. Does the Sabbath meet the criteria of a sign? "Yes". Instead of choosing a monument that can corrode, or cannot be seen universally, God chose time as His sign. He used the universal lights that can be seen everywhere to mark this time.
      Then God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. (Genesis 1: 14).
      1. Universal. The sun rises and sets on the whole earth. Every one sees the same sun in the sky.
      2. Must work for all mankind. All people experience sunrise and sunset and use this as a marker for a period of time.
      3. Tangible. The day in time is a real experience. We can see it coming and going. We live and move during its presence.
      4. Well Defined. It has always been the seventh day in a cycle of seven.
      5. Incorruptible. In six thousand years, the day has not changed. Other biological and constructed monuments fade and lose their meaning, but the sun rises and sets continually every twenty four hours.
      6. Personal. It is a day for individuals to stop working and meet their God.
3. The Sabbath is still in force today.
   1. Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles. Look at what he had to say.
      1. Acts 13: 42,44,48. ... The next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord ...
      2. Acts 16: 12-13 ... On the Sabbath day ... we began preaching to the women who had assembled.
      3. Acts 17: 2,17 And according to Paul's custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures. ... So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present.
      4. Acts 18: 4. And he reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.
   2. The Sabbath will be kept in heaven because it is a perpetual covenant.
      ... from new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me ... (Isaiah 66: 22-23)
4. The Sabbath is still the sign of the Covenant.
   1. The Sabbath is given to the people of God.
      1. Isaiah 58: 13-14
      2. Hebrews 4: 9. "It is therefore the duty of the people of God to keep the Sabbath." [The Modern New Testament from the Aramaic]
   2. It represents a close relationship with the Lord.
      1. Christ's close relationship with the Father.
         And He said, "ABBA, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me, nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will." (Mark 14: 36)
      2. Father's name is in the heart of the Sabbath. (Hebrews 8: 10)

Date And Time Stamped In Blood
In Judaism, a sign of the covenant was circumcision. All Jewish males were to participate but the sign was aimed at one Jewish Man. It was only when Jesus was cut off and buried, like a circumcision, that the world would have rest. However, after the death of Jesus the world is still plagued by sin. So God gave the entire world another sign of this rest from sin that preceeded circumcision. It is the Sabbath.
So the original covenant promise indicates a time period for the contract. We will have rest "in the seventh", not in the first or the eighth. Circumcision is the secondary sign that the contract was signed in blood. The covenant may be a prophecy that we will have rest in the seventh period of time and every Sabbath until then we anticipate this millennial Sabbath.

Sunday Keeping Arguments
Finding no explicit commandment to change the Sabbath, people began to look for circumstantial evidence that the Sabbath was changed.
Biblical Sunday Arguments. There are eight texts in the New Testament that mention the first day of the week. These are the arguments used to justify keeping Sunday. Notice that in these examples that there is no reference or explicit command to change the Sabbath.

- Resurrection. The Sabbath was changed because Christ was resurrected on Sunday.
  Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene ... (Mark 16: 9)
  Following the logic of this argument, we can ask why not choose Friday since He died for our sins on that day. Or why not Thursday, since He established the new covenant on that day? The point is that this argument is useless. The event did not authorize a change. He rose at the earliest possible moment so that He could keep all the laws. One glaring fact is that He rested on the Sabbath when He was dead!
- Meetings On The First Day. Their meeting on Sunday proved that the day of worship was changed.
  One the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them intending to leave the next day, and He prolonged His message until midnight. (Acts 20: 7).
  Since the Jewish day was from sunset to sunset, this meeting was actually on a Saturday evening to Saturday midnight because Paul was leaving on Sunday.
  Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house ... (Acts 2: 46).
  They Met Every Day! They met every day to have a meal, so this meeting had no significance. The Jews and the Gentiles also met on Sabbath as it was their custom. We can meet every day to praise God, but we must keep the Sabbath.
- Meeting With Jesus. So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them "Peace be with you". (John 20: 19)
  The verse simply mentions that Jesus met with them on the day of His resurrection. They were not even meeting for church. They were there because they were afraid of the Jews. They were not even meeting to celebrate the resurrection because they still did not know or believe that Jesus had been resurrected.

  Night | Day | Night
  --- | --- | ---
  Evening | Midnight | Morning | Evening | Evening
  First Day | Second Day
  Saturday | Sunday

  If the Jewish day is from sunset to sunset and starts with the evening then the morning, then this presents a puzzling situation. If Jesus was resurrected on the morning of the first day, how could He have met with the disciples in the evening of the first day?
  The daylight part of the day was also divided into two sections. The morning was from sunrise to noon and the little evening was from noon to sunset. So Jesus met with them in what we call the afternoon.
- Collecting An Offering. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. (1 Corinthians 16: 2)
  This verse does not even mention a meeting. One could argue that they were told to store their offering on the first day, so that they can minimize the work on the Sabbath and that such collections are not done on the Sabbath. Remember that their offerings were not just coins or money. It was often groceries and food supplies. So the logistics of storage and distribution is best done during the week so that they would not carry a large burden on the Sabbath. It also gave the recipients six working days to carry and distribute the property.
- The Lord's Day. Revelation 1: 10 simply says, "I was in the spirit on the Lord's day".
  But is this Lord's Day the Sabbath day? This is the only time the term is used and it makes no reference to which day of the week it is. So we will have to look at other texts to see which day God referred to as His day.
  • The Lord's Day is Christ's Day. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath (Mark 2: 28).
  This is the only time that Christ says He owns a day.
  • The Lord's Day is God's Day. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. (Exodus 20: 10).
  • If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your pleasure on My holy day. (Isaiah 58: 13)
  God says that the Sabbath is His day.
  » Saturday Is The Lord's Day. Therefore, the best conclusion that we can get is that the Sabbath is the Lord's day - not Sunday. He has never called the first day of the week or any other day, His day. He only called the Sabbath His day.
  » Sunday Propaganda And Branding. Historically, it was the church that started to assign the "Lord's day" label to Sunday. It is equivalent to a public relations propaganda and a rebranding of the concept of Sabbath.
  - Public Relations Campaign. In their effort to destroy the Sabbath, they began referring to Sunday as the Lord's day and negatively to the Sabbath of the Jews.
  - Cosmetic Calendar Change. They changed the physical order of the days of the week on our calendars since the 1980's. Now Sunday appears in the seventh position.
  - Hijack "Sabbath" Label. They have begun to refer to Sunday as Sabbath. But they cannot scrub all the 105+ languages that use the actual word "Sabbath" as the name of the seventh day.
  - Hijack "Lord's Day" Label. They hijacked the label of the "Lord's Day", applying it to Sunday. Applying the label of "Lord's Day" to Sunday was just another cosmetic change which took on a significance in meaning that had no basis in fact and obscures the truth.
- The Day That Is Blessed. Some claim that Psalm 118 is a prophecy that points to the fact that God blessed Sunday. The Stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone. This is the Lord's doing, it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118: 22-24)
  When did Jesus become the chief corner stone? Is that day a new Sabbath? The fact is that the text does not mention the first day of the week or the day of resurrection as a new Sabbath.
  As a Sabbath keeper I could look at the text and conclude that the day which the Lord made (Sabbath) was the day that He became the chief Stone. So, because He was declared innocent during the Sabbath, His life was restored to Him so that He rose up the next day.
- Love God. Jesus only had two laws. These are to love God and love your neighbor. The Sabbath has nothing to do with love so you can show your respect on Sunday.
  There are many pretty girls who are all equal until one is chosen to be your wife forever. She is not replaceable. The Sabbath teaches us that God gave us rest at a very high price and He intends to take us as His bride. He had the wedding feast on Sabbath. Like a bride, He chose this day to honor these works. Choosing your own day is like committing adultery and forgetting your anniversary.
- Sabbath Not In The New List Of Commandments. Some claim that whenever the New Testament lists the commandments that the Sabbath is never included. This is a very misleading argument because there is no list that contains all the commandments, because establishing a new list of commandments was not an issue. In fact these lists did not include the first four commandments.
  - Love Neighbour (Gospels). The lists in the Gospel mentions five commandments and a general law on loving our neighbour. Does this mean that we can covet or break the first four commandments?
    » Matthew 19: 18-19. (Murder, adultery, steal, lie, honor mother and father, love neighbour)
    » Mark 10: 19. (Murder, adultery, steal, lie, defraud, honor mother and father)
    » Luke 18: 20. (Adultery, murder, steal, lie, honor mother and father)
    » Luke 3: 10-14. People (share, help poor), tax collector (honest), soldier (extortion, brutality, lie, greedy)
  - Love Neighbour (Romans 13: 9). This list mentions only four commandments (adultery, murder, steal, covet). Does this mean that lying and disobedience to parents, idolaty and serving multiple gods are no longer forbidden? Of course not!
  - Covet (Romans 7: 7). The tenth commandment was never mentioned in the lists but it is mentioned here.
    » 1 John 2: 15-17. Lust of the flesh (fornication). Lust of the eyes (covet, steal). Boastful pride.
  - Ungodly Acts (1 Timothy 1: 8-10 and 2 Timothy 3: 1-5). They list a variety of sins.
  - Two Great Commandments (Luke 10: 27). Love God and love your neighbour.
  - Love God. Worship God (Matthew 4: 10), idolatry (1 John 5: 21; Acts 17: 29), blasphemy (1 Timothy 1:20).
    » Sabbath. Hebrews 4: 4, 9-10, Matthew 24: 20; Mark 2: 27-28
  In fact all ten commandments are mentioned in the New Testament but there is no list that includes more than five of them. Following the logic of this argument, any commandment not listed is abolished. Therefore since the lists do not include the first four commandments then they should not be kept. That logic is insane.
  However, if the logic is that we combine all lists and keep those commandments then the New Testament commands us to keep the Sabbath (Hebrews 4: 4, 9-10).
  » The Purpose of the Lists. The list are mentioned to identify which law is being discussed and the concern seems to be our duty to our neighbor. The actual change that was occurring was that the Gentiles were now formally included under the umbrella of "neighbour and brother".
- Sabbath Is Not One Of Jesus' Commandments. According to John 14: 15, Jesus has commandments that we should keep if we love Him. Since Jesus gave no formal list, the next question is which commandments are His?
  The only formal list of commandments was given by God on Sinai. In the Sabbath commandment, God identified Himself as the creator. John also identified Jesus as the creator. Therefore, if the Lord Jesus is the Creator and the Creator gave the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, then these are the commandments of Jesus.
- Sabbath Not In The Old List Of Commandments. Some claim that the laws given to Noah did not include the Sabbath (Genesis 9).
  In fact the list mentions only murder and none of the other ten commandments, yet Noah's son was punished for dishonoring him. We have no formal list of laws for Adam, yet Cain was punished for murdering Abel. So the instructions to Noah or Adam were apparently never meant to be a formal or complete list.
  Noah's focus was what to do in the present emergency. It gave permission to eat meat.
  In Eden we have no record of the formal list, yet people were guilty of sinning. So the laws existed.
- Only God Kept The Sabbath. This same reasoning is used to argue that we have no record of people keeping the Sabbath before Moses, that in fact only God kept the Sabbath in Genesis 2 because the text never said that Adam and Eve rested. So why did God create the Sabbath?
  - God Was Not Tired. Did God need rest? God did not rest because He was tired.
    Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. (Isaiah 40: 28)
  - Sabbath Made For Man. Since Adam was just created, neither he nor Eve were tired. So God did not need rest and we were not tired. God made the Sabbath for the benefit of man, not for Himself.
    Jesus said to them, "the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. So the son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath (Mark 2: 27-28)
    All other objects created were for the benefit of this planet. So the Lord of the Sabbath and our Creator made the Sabbath as part of the Plan for the original creation.
  - Sabbath Symbol. Critics say that the Sabbath was created as a symbol of rest from sin. God did not create the Sabbath as a symbol of rest from sin because Adam and Eve had not sinned when He created the Sabbath.

Biblical Sabbath Arguments. Some arguments are designed to show the importance of Sunday, while others are intended to diminish the importance of Sabbath. Some of the issues in this section are discussed in other lessons such as "What was nailed to the cross?".

- Jesus Worked On The Sabbath Since Jesus worked on the Sabbath this proves that the Sabbath was now an ordinary work day.
  - Jesus Picked Corn On The Sabbath As part of the poor, Jesus and the disciples had the right to glean or take the left overs from the fields of others as food. However, the fact that they had to glean on Sabbath implies that it was difficult to find food and that they existed in a perpetual state of poverty. Most days were not filled with dinners at Mary and Martha's house or tea with Zaccheus and the rich. Many times the massive crowd of poor people followed Him for food.
  - Jesus Healed on the Sabbath (Act of Mercy) The priests and clergy have to work on Sabbath to do the ministry of God (Matthew 12: 1-15). So, as High Priest and priests of the true temple Jesus and the disciples had the right to eat from the food set aside for God and to work on the Sabbath to perform acts of mercy that point to the work of God.
  Their objections points to the fact that they had lost sight of the meaning and purpose of the Sabbath.
- Worship Every Day. Sabbath objectors imply that Sabbath keepers teach that we should only worship on Sabbath. We should worship God every day. The Jews reduced it to three formal times for worship during the day. The SHEMA requires it and describes continuous worship and devotion to God. While we can continue with ordinary daily functions and daily devotion during the week, the purpose of the Sabbath is to impose a period of rest during which we formally gather as a group to celebrate the power of God as the Creator and Redeemer.
- All Special Days Abolished. In the lesson "What was nailed to the cross?" we will show that these verses refer to the feast days, not the weekly Sabbath.
  » Sabbaths Abolished. You observe days and months and seasons and years ... (Galatians 4: 10)
  » All Days Equal. One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. (Romans 14: 5)
  This implies that we can choose our day of worship, yet the same Paul argues that if God has given us rest He would not have spoken of another day (Hebrews 4: 8-11). We believe that Romans 14 refers to the ceremonial Sabbaths and the feasts associated with them.
  The Sabbath is eternal, it has not been abolished or changed by the new covenant. In fact it is the sign of the covenant and the seal of God. The Holy Spirit is the one who does the sealing by making us obedient to God in heart and deeds. This includes obedience to the Sabbath.
- Redeemed From The Law of Bondage.
  » Christ is the "End of the Law". For Christ is the end [goal] of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Romans 10: 4)
  This is supposed to prove that after Christ all laws ended. However, it simply means that the laws pointed to Christ and were kept by Christ. In fact, Christ says that none of the law will be abolished until heaven and earth pass away (Matthew 5: 17-18 and Luke 16: 17). Heaven and earth still exist.
  » Christ "Redeemed us from the Law". In fact, He redeemed us from the "curse" not from the law.
  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us ... (Galatians 3: 13)
  We have some amazing lessons on how Christ suffered the curses and kept the Covenant by becoming a curse.
  » All We Need is Faith in Christ. People say that believing in Christ relieves us of our responsibility to the law. Faith in Christ tells us to be confident that Christ has paid for our past sins and that He has a way to change us so that we are no longer enemies of the law. It does not free us to sin forever because He was obedient. That is nonsense! The Plan of Salvation will make us love the law and obedient to the law.
  Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yes we establish the law." (Romans 3: 31)
- Sabbath Replaced By The Holy Spirit. Many variations of this argument claim that we are no longer "under the law but under the Spirit" and are free from the law.
  » We are not "Under the Law", We Are "Under Grace".
  But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. (Galatians 5: 18)
  However, when pressed they cannot define what "under the Spirit means", because you will immediately be arguing for a state of lawlessness where everyone does what is pleasing to them.
  The Holy Spirit gives us rest from sin by helping us to keep the law, not to ignore it.
  » Criminals Under the Law. Like a criminal, when we break the law we are immediately under submission to its punishments and terrors. But when we keep the law we have no fear of being arrested and imprisoned. We are free from the curses and penalties.
  » Pardoned By God. Grace does not abolish the law. Grace provides pardon for law breakers and a permanent method for keeping the law. By writing the law in our hearts, and making it a part of us we will forever keep the law from within the core of our being.
- Sabbath Related To Slavery In Egypt. In Exodus 5: 1,5 Moses tells Pharaoh that the people need to go and have Sabbath feast so that they can rest. Some misquote Exodus 20 claiming that God brought them out of Egypt to keep the Sabbath. Since Christians were never Egyptian slaves we do not have to keep the Sabbath.
  I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (Exodus 20: 2)
  However, those words are the preamble to all the ten commandments not just to the Sabbath.
- Was The Sabbath For The Jews Only? The Sabbath existed at creation, before sin, over 2000 years before Abraham, the father of the Jews, and 2500 years before the law was formally given on Sinai.
  The Sabbath is part of the original design given for the human race at creation. It was not given because of sin or for the Jews only.
  Heaven is described in terms of tribes from the son's of Israel. The Bible says that the true sons of Abraham are those who are children by Faith. Genetic connections do not qualify you for heaven - faith does. Therefore, there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles - faith is what connects us all to God.
  Being faithful above the rest of mankind, the Jewish nation was chosen to preserve the law and the ways of God until the Gentiles could see the light.
  There is only one covenant that matters and that is the eternal covenant. Under this covenant we are all the same.

Other Arguments. Others propose arguments based on errors and changes in the calendar. All calendar changes affected the length of the year or the month. None of them changed the weekly cycle. The French experimented with a calendar that changed the week from seven days to ten days, but after three years they changed back to the global calendars. If any of their arguments are true, then that means that Sunday is also tainted.

- Calendar Changed. Others claim that the calendar changes throughout history changed the weekly cycle. That is not true. Calendars were changed to adjust for the fact that some calendars did not have a leap year, and over the centuries the spring season was shifted to earlier dates.

  1582 | September 1582 | October 1582
  --- | --- | ---
  Day | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
  Julian | 28 | 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
  Gregorian | 28 | 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 16 | 17

  The Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582 to replace the Julian calendar. The calendar changes affected the date not the order of the days. Ten days were deleted. So Friday October 5, 1582 became Friday October 15, 1582. But Saturday still followed Friday in both calendars.
  The Gregorian calendar changes took many years to be implemented in other countries. When it occurred, the same process was used. In some cases they had to delete more than ten days. The British adopted the calendar in 1752, by that time the calendar had drifted by eleven days. So Wednesday September 2, 1752 was followed by Thursday September 14, 1752.
  Other changes were made to the Julian calendar to shorten or lengthen months, to add months and to fix leap year errors before Christ. But the order of the days of the week did not change. On the day the change was implemented all that happened was that people used a different date than the number that was expected.
  » French Revolution. During the French Revolution, they experimented with a ten day week calendar but within three years they had to revert back to the calendar of the rest of the world.

  1792 | September 22, 1792 | French Republican Calendar (Vendemiaire Year 1)
  --- | --- | ---
  Day | Primidi | Duodi | Tridi | Quartidi | Quintidi | Sextidi | Septidi | Octidi | Nonidi | Decadi
  Decade 1 | ♥ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ♥ 8 | 9 | ✖ 10
  Decade 2 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | ♥ 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | ✖ 20
  Decade 3 | 21 | ♥ 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | ♥ 29 | ✖ 30
  ♥Sabbath. Efforts to destroy Sunday affected Sabbath | ✖ - A "rational" day of rest created by scientists

  The mandatory day of rest was on the tenth day. It was an atheistic calendar created by scientists designed to disrupt religion. No other rest day was recognized. Notice that the weekly Sabbath keeps changing with respect to the new weekly cycle, making it difficult to coordinate church with work and school and commerce.
  » International Date Line (IDL). For those who straddle the international date line, determining Sabbath is a more complicated process. On 4 July 1892, Samoa had two Mondays in a row which were two July 4 in a row to synchronize itself with its American trading partners. On December 2011, Samoa skipped Friday 30 when Thursday 29 December was followed by Saturday 31 December. They made the switch to synchronize with their principal trading partners, Australia and New Zealand. In both cases the Sabbath changed to accommodate economic concerns.

  July 1892 In Samoa
  New Day | Monday | Monday | Tues | Wed | Thur | Friday | Saturday
  --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
  New Date | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
  Old Cycle | Monday | Tuesday | Wed | Thur | Fri | Saturday | Sunday
  The old Sabbath shifts to Friday after two Mondays
  December 2011 In Samoa
  Thursday | - | Saturday | Sunday | Monday
  --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
  29 | - | 31 | 1 | 2
  Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
  Sabbath shifts to Sunday with Friday gone

  Changes to the calendar in this region generally tend to shift days of the week because this is the official man-made line where one day turns into the other. Changing the dates on the calendar never affects the weekly cycle. However, removing or adding days of the week from the calendar shifts the Sabbath for nations along the IDL.
  The start of the Sabbath is not determined by the clock but by the setting of the sun. The day of the Sabbath is not determined by the designation on a calendar, but by a cycle of weeks that began at the creation. Changing how the series of days are labeled can mislabel the true Sabbath.
  Since the IDL is a man-made designation which may not reflect the intention of God at creation, we can only know what is correct by determining the place for the official start of sunset for the planet at creation. What we know for sure is that in Jerusalem the Sabbath is kept. If it is the location of God's starting time and date line, then all regions east of Jerusalem or the Holy Land is a day behind
- Lunar Cycle Or Solar Cycle. This is such a silly argument that it is not worth mentioning, but there are professionals who propose this. A solar calendar has about thirty days per month and a lunar calendar has about twenty eight days. They say that the world is on a solar calendar and the Jews use a lunar calendar, so the calendars are not coordinated. While that might affect the dates on which feast days that are scheduled for a specific date to occur, it does not affect the weekly Sabbath. Sunday always follows Sabbath, no matter what the date or the year is on any calendar.

  Week | S | M | T | W | Th | F | Sa | S | M | T | W | Th | F | Sa | S | M | T | W | Th | F | Sa | S | M | T | W | Th | F | Sa | S | M | T | W | Th | F | Sa
  --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
  Solar | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
  Lunar | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

  From our illustration you can see that the date changed but the day of the week did not change. The weekly Sabbath is not based on a date but on the day of the week.
- Sabbath Lost. Some argue that the original Sabbath since creation must have been lost. My response is that Christ observed the Sabbath of the Jews. Both He and they seemed to think that it was the correct day. Since that time we have had no events that caused the order of the days to be lost.
- Week Lost. Some ask how do we know that Saturday followed Friday or Sunday followed Sabbath in the days of Christ.
  Sunday Follows Saturday (The First Day Follows the Seventh). Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. (Matthew 28: 1)

  Friday | Saturday | Sunday
  --- | --- | ---
  Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 1
  Preparation Day |  | Sabbath | First Day of the Week

  The Preparation Day Comes Before the Sabbath. When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is the day before the Sabbath ... (Mark 15: 42)
  Jesus died on the preparation day and they had to hurry to bury His body before the Sabbath. If there is any doubt because you have been wandering in the jungle for years without any contact with civilization, just look at what the orthodox Jews are doing. They have been keeping the Sabbath for centuries.
- Desperate Arguments. Finally, there are a number of illogical arguments that simply point to desperation.
  - Sabbath Was A Work Day. Sabbath opponents point to the references of the disciples meeting on Sabbath as proof that they had turned it into an ordinary work day for evangelism not a day of rest and worship!
    » My Response. They are actually trying to prove that the Sabbath was no longer a day of rest because the priests worked on that day. This is a stupid argument, because the priests and pastors have always had to work the hardest on the Sabbath because this is when the people assembled for worship. This is the way it was done before and after Christ.
    Necessary Work. Or have you not read in the law how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless? (Matthew 12: 5)
  - A Sunday Pattern. Jesus met with them on Sundays to establish a pattern that "trained" the disciples to gather on Sunday. He rose on Sunday and met with the disciples and then met with them one week later on Sunday. This pattern proved that Sunday should be kept.
    » My Response. Instead of vaguely establishing a pattern Jesus could clearly and easily have said, "The Sabbath is now on the first day of the week". It would have helped if He had thrown in a legion of angels, lightning, thunder and earthquake like He did on Mount Sinai when He spoke the Ten Commandments.
  - A Sabbath Rest Every Day. Having acknowledged that there is no formal change, an attempt is made to equalize all days. At the crucifixion Christ gave us permanent rest from sin, so we are living during the time of rest. However, within this time of rest and celebration there still remains the Sabbath rest for the people of God (Hebrews 4: 9). It celebrates the rest we have in God while we have to do ordinary work.
  - A Missing Day or Time Shift. When Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, Saturday became Sunday.
    » My Response. Let us pretend that is true. The fact is that 1480 years after that event, the Sabbath had shifted to the day we now call Saturday because this was when Jesus and the Jews celebrated the Sabbath after Joshua misplaced it about 1480 years before. In addition, if Joshua misplaced Saturday then Sunday was also misplaced and you are worshipping on Monday.
  - Sunday Means A Lot to Me. People find an emotional reason to rigidly cling to Sunday. Their favorite reasons are the resurrection and Pentecost. Christ was resurrected on Sunday and the Holy Spirit came on Sunday.
    My Own Rules. In those days there was no king in Israel and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21: 25)
    In the eyes of Eve the fruit seemed good.
    Like her, you are also substituting your wisdom and narrow focus for the wisdom and commands of God. Sabbath means a lot to God.
- Compromise Arguments. Some choose to honor both days to avoid the sin of breaking the Sabbath.
  - Rest Sabbath. Church On Sunday. Some rest on Sabbath and go to church on Sundays.
  - Church On Both Days. Similarly, some could rest on Sabbath and go to church on both days.
  Why is it wrong? This is the tactic that was used to switch the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday and establish Easter Sunday over Passover. This is a double minded response that reflects the need to keep the letter of the law, but avoid the spirit of the law. We are supposed to assemble together for worship on this special day that God has blessed to celebrate the wonderful works of the creator as a family.
  We set a wrong example for those who dishonor the Sabbath by still sitting on the fence in this issue.
  We also give silent support to the forces who dared to claim the authority to change the laws of God. These are the types of compromises that we must avoid in the last days. We cannot honor both God and His enemies. Choose a day.
- Common Sense. This was a commandment of God, designed to show love for God. Common sense dictates that if a major law was changed that there would be debates, controvery and explanations, but there is only silence. History and the New Testament are silent regarding a formal change in the law of God.

Sabbaths In Heaven

Lines | | | International Date Line(180º) | Prime Meridian (0º) | | |  |  | Jerusalem Time-Date Line (45º) | |
Longitude | 180º | 150ºW | 120ºW | 90ºW | 60ºW | 30ºW | 0º | 30ºE | 45ºE | 60ºE | 90ºE | 120ºE | 150ºE | 180º
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Hour | -12 | -11 | -10 | -9 | -8 | -7 | -6 | -5 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | 0 | Sabbath | Friday | 6 |  | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
Continent | Pacific Islands | Hawaii | North America | Greenland | Europe | Middle East | Russia, China | Australia
Alaska | South America | Africa | India | SE Asia | Pacific

Critics argue that Sabbath concept is irrelevant since places at the north and south pole do not experience day or night in any meaningful cycle. Their argument ignores what will occur in the new earth.

- No Night. Time will no longer be kept by looking at the revolving sun or moon. In fact, they will be obscured by the brightness of the presence of God.
  No Need For The Sun. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22: 5)
  No Night. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). (Revelation 21: 25)
- Planetary Sabbath. All people, everywhere will come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Sabbath. Therefore, Sabbath will not be rolling with the setting sun, starting at different times in different places (Isaiah 66: 22-23).
- Universal Sabbath. The implications are that it is not just a Sabbath for the earth but for the universe. For all people everywhere God is the eternal time keeper and He determines the passage of time and the Sabbath. We will "come to Jerusalem" and worship God from wherever we are. One might ask how is it possible for trillions of people to come to a place 375 miles square? Perhaps the place can also come to the people in the way television comes to us wherever we are and it no longer matters how many people there are or where we are. We will not be watching God on television but somehow, from wherever we are in the galaxy, Jerusalem will physically come to us when we come to it in the same way that God is everywhere at the same time.
- Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the point where the passage of time is measured. It is the intergalactic date line.
  Since the city is about 375 miles square (Revelation 21: 16), its eastern border stretches to the Euphrates in Babylon at around our 45th meridian. If there was a point that indicates the first sunset, this is it.
  The center of the New Jerusalem will be in old Jerusalem (Revelation 21: 2 and Zechariah 14: 4-5).
  New Jerusalem. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2).
  The Mount Of Olives. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south. Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Thus the Lord my God will come, and all the saints with You. (Zechariah 14: 4-5).

Lunar Sabbaths.

The Lunar Sabbath
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Sabbath
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
- | - | - | - | - | - |  | 1 |
2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |  | 8 | -
9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |  | 15 | -
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |  | 22 | -
23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | - | 29 | 30

This is a brand new teaching that says the Sabbath is determined by the phases of the moon, not a weekly cycle of seven days. Some groups claim that the Sabbath occurs on Day (7, 14, 21, 28) with day 29 and 30 left over. Others claim that the Sabbaths are on day (8, 15, 22, 29) with day 30 and 1 left over. This confusion causes the Sabbath to fall on any day of the week and leaves two to three days left over at the end. The groups vary on what to do with these extra days.

- Leviticus 23 Sabbath Pattern (6, 10, 15, 22). Besides the new moon, important biblical dates occur in only two months on day 1, 10, 14, 15, 21 and 22. The wavesheaf occurs around day 16 but can vary theoretically as much as 6 days. Shavuo't (Pentecost) occurs in the third month around day 6 but can vary with the rules of the wavesheaf. Only some are rest days (Sabbaths), but they can occur on any day of the week.
  There are only seven special feast Sabbaths in addition to the 52 weekly Sabbaths in the year. Day 15 and 22 are the sabbaths of 3 feast days in the year according to Leviticus 23. Although proponents of this set of dates claim that the Sabbath ALWAYS occur on these days of the month, Leviticus 23 says that ONLY during the first and seventh month are two of these dates important as Sabbath days. Leviticus 23 also establishes the traditional weekly seven days Sabbath as a Sabbath in addition to these monthly feast Sabbaths.
  In addition, there are Sabbath days on other dates of the month that do not follow their pattern. The feast sabbaths of Tishri point to NO pattern of sevens! Tishri (1, 10, 15 and 22) and Nisan (15 and 21) and Shavuo't can occur around the sixth. Only the first day of Sukkot and the feast of unleavened bread (15) and the day after (Shemini Atzeret on day 22) follow this pattern. So three feast Sabbaths follow the pattern and three do not. For proponents of day (7, 14, 21, 28) the problem is worse. Only Nisan 21 fits the pattern and it is just a feast day, not a Sabbath.
  So in any 365 day year only three days or one day follow the pattern. This is a 0.8% or a 0.27% correlation. In any of the 52 weekly Sabbaths only 5.8% or 1.9%. It is not a pattern. It is not even a coincidence.
- The Perfect Lunar Month. The problem that prevents it from being a pattern is the length of the month and the anniversary of the creation. A Sabbath that follows the lunar cycle would be perfect if the month were exactly 28 days but it is not. If it did then the four phases of the moon would occur on the four Sabbaths of the month. Perhaps in heaven when everything is restored we will see that the weekly cycle was based on the moon in a 28 day month and then the prophecy that we will worship God from "one new moon to another and one Sabbath to another" (Isaiah 66: 23) will have more significance. The new moon would be a high Sabbath.
  » The Jubilee Sabbath Pattern. There is a pattern under some very unique conditions which do not exist now.
  Some feast Sabbath days fall on the day after the weekly Sabbath if the ideal month is 28 days. This means that these feast Sabbaths are like the jubilee Sabbaths where there are two Sabbaths in a row. The wavesheaf, Pentecost and the jubilee land Sabbaths are all jubilee time periods. The first day of Tabernacles and Shemini Atzeret are potentially also jubilees.

  The Ideal Monthly Cycle And The Ideal Week
  2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Sabbath | 1 | Sabbath Festival
  --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
  - | - | - | - | - | - |  | 1 |  | New Moon | Trumpets (1)
  2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |  | 8 | Pentecost (6 ?) Yom Kippur (10)
  9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |  | 15 | Sukkot (15) | Passover (15,21)
  16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |  | 22 | Wavesheaf (16 ?), Shemini Atzeret (22) Feast Of Unleavened Bread (21)
  A week of feast days
  23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |  | 1 | Rosh Chodesh (1)
  Other Sabbaths. Tishri 1. Tishri 10 (Yom Kippur). Nisan 21

  In these special Sabbaths a new beginning is inaugurated. All debts are paid, all property is restored and all slaves are freed.
  So far, Jesus has been fulfilling the covenants on these jubilee feast Sabbaths if possible when they merge with the weekly Sabbath, because His role in the covenant is to bring in the Jubilee.
- Weekly Cycle. It is possible that the new moon could begin on a Sabbath. It happens about twice each year. However, there are no scriptures that tell us to count the weekly Sabbath based on the new moon. God defines the Sabbath as the seventh day in a cycle of seven established one time at the creation.
  At the exodus God taught Israel the seven day cycle by gathering manna for six days and resting on the seventh. There are no instructions that on the 27th day you gather enough for several days until the next new moon when you begin counting again.
  This regularity shows order and reliability. No change in the calendar can affect it if you keep counting by sevens ad nauseum. A Sabbath based on the new moon is confusion and chaos that is a sympton of fallen Babylon. This is the most significant attempt to obscure the Sabbath since the French Revolution when they tried to introduce a 10 day week based on a 30 day month because both change the "DAY" of the week when Sabbath falls, not the "DATE" on the calendar which is simply a label. In both of these methods, the seventh day shifts around so that the confusion makes it impossible to synchronize activities with the rest of the earth.
- Jewish Observance. If common sense does not tell you that this is nonsense then go ask the Jews if their ancestors taught this or they ever believed this. They follow a weekly Sabbath with its origins anchored in the creation week, not the fickle new moon.

The Purpose Of Sunday.
The fact is that Sunday, the first day of the week, is the day when God separated darkness from the light and brought light into the world. But during that same creation week, He did not choose to celebrate that event. Neither did He choose to celebrate on the sixth day when man was created and all His work was finished. Instead, He chose to create another day specifically to rest and celebrate what had been accomplished that week. He created the seventh day and blessed and named the Sabbath as the day that He rested from His works of Creation.
In the same manner, Christ finished His works of recreation during one extraordinary week and rested on Sabbath.

Creation Week
- | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Event | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Sabbath
Creation | Light | Water | Earth, Food | Sun, Moon, Stars | Fish, Birds | Animals and Man | Rest
Christ | Jesus Confirms the Covenant for One Week | Seder | Crucifixion | Buried
New Creation | Resurrection | Holy Spirit | Word of God | Prophets | Enemies Gather | Testing | Rest
Pentecost | The Law is Being Written in Our New Hearts | New Body | Millennium
Symbols | Baptism | Fasting, Prayer and Bible Study | Bread, Wine | Baptism

- Celebrating Sunday (The Light Comes). Then He rose on Sunday to institute a new beginning. This new beginnig was also accompanied by light. When Christ rose at the light of dawn on Sunday, He came with a hopeful message, and a new body of light with angels of light that blinded the soldiers guarding the tomb. When the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost which occurred on a Sunday, He came with wind and flaming tongues of fire.
  » Baptism Remembers Rest From The Wages of Sin. Yes, Sunday has a lot of hopeful events to celebrate, but baptism symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection. When we get baptized we are showing our committment to Him. Our salvation is not meaningful if Jesus could not resurrect us. But our salvation was not based only on the resurrection.
  When you celebrate Sunday only you are memorializing only one event in the Plan of Salvation.
- Celebrating Friday (Man Restored). Between Sunday and Wednesday Jesus came as a light to the temple, cleansed the temple, gave the food of God to the people as He taught in the temple. Then all these events occurred on the sixth day. Jesus ratified the new covenant at the Passover Seder on Thursday night, obtained our forgiveness in Gethsemane on Friday morning, died as the ransom for sin on Friday afternoon.
  » Passover Remembers Rest From The Curse of Sin. The most difficult work was done on Friday and Jesus says we can remember His suffering when we eat the Passover bread and wine. So, if we wanted to argue for a change that honors Christ, a better proof is that Jesus asks us to remember the events of the sixth day.
- Celebrating Sabbath (Creation is Complete). When you celebrate Sabbath you are memorializing every event that He did for six days so that none of the events of the other days are singled out as being more important because Sabbath is a universal symbol of completion by the nature of the purpose for which it was created.
  » Sabbath Remembers All Rest. No single event can claim Sabbath. Sabbath was the day created to celebrate the accomplishments of the other six days and to make holy the object that was created (Exodus 31: 13,17).

All indications are that Sunday begins the final steps of our salvation which involve the Holy Spirit writing the laws into our hearts. Our transformation will be complete when we receive our new bodies and will culminate in the biggest Sabbath celebration of all during the millennium.

Salvation Science: The Sabbath In Nature
Hydrogen is the workhorse of creation. The seven periods (rows) of the Periodic Table of chemistry show which elements were made each day. Through a process of nucleosynthesis by burning hydrogen, each of the elements of each period were made on that day of creation. The process even produces light until the middle of the fourth period. So on the fourth day God created the sun and moon to provide light from another source!
On the seventh day the elements reflect the dynamics of the creation. All the elements are radioactive, leaving them in an unstable state where they seek rest. So even in the scientific world, nature testifies that it is impossible to change the Sabbath day from the seventh to the first day of the week just as it is impossible to change the seventh period to the first! Uranium is not hydrogen. The radioactive elements release alpha particles (hydrogen) as they stablize providing the particles used to begin the cycle. So nature models the weekly cycle.

The Sabbath In Prophecy

The First Sunday Law
Let all judges and all city people and all tradesmen rest upon the venerable day of the sun. But let those dwelling in the country freely and with full liberty attend to the culture of their fields; since it frequently happens that no other day is so fit for the sowing of grain, or the planting of vines; hence, the favorable time should not be allowed to pass, lest the provisions of heaven be lost.
Edict of March 7, 321 AD. Corpus Juris Civilis Cod., lib. 3, tit. 12, Lex. 3.
History of the change

The Sabbath appears in several prophecies.

- Prophecy: A Change Predicted. The Bible says that a coming power will attempt to change the law.
  And he will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest one. and he will intend to make alterations in times and in laws ... (Daniel 7: 25).
  The phrase "He shall think to change times and laws" possibly demonstrates that a change will be made about a law concerning time. The Sabbath is the only law about time. Of all the commandments it is the most vulnerable because it seems to be not based in any known human morals or ethics. This is because its origin is not based only on human relationships. It is based on an eternal covenant relationship with God. It cannot be destroyed. It can only be forgotten.
  As we have seen from the blue stone study, the Ten Commandments were carved out of the stone taken from the eternal throne of God.
  If you love me, keep my commandments. (John 14: 15)
  The Law Had Not Been Changed. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, Until heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5: 17-20)

  The Catholic View
  "For several centuries, Christians observed Sunday simply as a day of worship, without being able to give it the specific meaning of Sabbath rest. Only in the fourth century did the civil law of the Roman Empire recognize the weekly recurrence, determining that on "the day of the sun" the judges, the people of the cities and the various trade corporations would not work".
  Pope John Paul II - DIES DOMINI-Dies Hominis v.64, May 31, 1998

  The Antichrist. "That man of sin ... who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God". (2 Thessalonians 2: 3-4.)
  This system severed the vertical relationship we have with God by changing the first four commandments and our relationship with God. Next, it made the six commandments dealing with our relationships with each other the moral absolutes over which they rule with their earthly priestly system. Then they set themselves up as gods over these six moral realms of our lives.
  - Attack on God. By introducing the worship of images and a false Sabbath and prayers to dead saints who must approach God on our behalf, they have removed Christ as our eternal intercessor and they have made the first four commandments void.
    Jesus The Only Mediator. For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2: 5).
    Jesus The Continual Intercessor. Therefore He is able to also save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7: 25).

    # | Commandment | Daniel's Prophecy | Revelation 13 | Blasphemy
    --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
    1 | Only One God | Magnified itself to be equal to God (Verse 8: 11) | Worshipped the dragon(Verse 4) | Pray to Mary and saints. Pope is as god on earth.
    2 | Idolatry | Show no regard for any God (11: 37) | Created an image to the beast for worship (Verse 14-15) | Idols, scapulars, icons, paintings, beads, relics
    3 | Respect for God's name. One Mediator People called by His name. | Removed the daily or the continual from God (7: 25; 8: 11; 11: 36) | Blasphemes and gives the name of the beast (Verse 6, 17) | Removed Christ as the only mediator. Call on Mary, she is the Mediator. Do not talk to God, He does not want to hear us.
    4 | Remember the Sabbath | Changes times and laws (7: 25) | Mark of the Beast (Verse 16) | Saturday devoted to Mary. Sunday is the new Sabbath.

    They have replaced the continual ministry of Christ on our behalf by saying that we cannot approach God directly. We must access Him through dead "saints", a dead Mary and imperfect priests because we are abhorrent to God. Because God finds communication with us despicable, we might approach Him if we go through these intermediaries. What an insult to the message of the gospel! The good news that God has not abandoned us. That He was willing to die for us while we still hated Him.
    They attacked God by attacking the first four commandments.
  - Attack on Man. By claiming to have the authority to grant and withhold forgiveness of sins. By severing our ties to our loving father. They even claim to hold the power over the entrance and length of stay in a fictitious place called purgatory. They in effect control our fears and our personal relationship with God.
- Prophecy: The Sabbath Foundation Breached. According to Isaiah, the Sabbath is a breach in the foundation of the creation that will be repaired.
- Prophecy: The First Angel's Message. The message of this angel calls the world to remember the creator at the beginning of the judgment. It specifically quotes the fourth commandment.
  ... Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. (Revelation 14: 7)
- Prophecy: The Siege of Jerusalem. Jesus prayed that those living during the future fall of Jerusalem would not have to flee on the Sabbath day.
  But pray that your flight will not be in the winter or on a Sabbath. (Matthew 24: 20).
- Prophecy: The Mark Of The Beast.

  Advocating Civil Law
  "The Code of Canon Law of 1917 for the first time gathered this tradition into a universal law.(81) The present Code reiterates this, saying that "on Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to attend Mass".(82) This legislation has normally been understood as entailing a grave obligation: this is the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,(83) and it is easy to understand why if we keep in mind how vital Sunday is for the Christian life." Therefore, also in the particular circumstances of our own time, Christians will naturally strive to ensure that civil legislation respects their duty to keep Sunday holy. In any case, they are obliged in conscience to arrange their Sunday rest in a way which allows them to take part in the Eucharist, refraining from work and activities which are incompatible with the sanctification of the Lord's Day, with its characteristic joy and necessary rest for spirit and body.
  Pope John Paul II - DIES DOMINI May 31, 1998

  According to Revelation 13, in the end, the forces of evil will try to change the eternal covenant by changing the first four commandments. They will attempt to make the change in the Sabbath the global test of allegiance to their new laws. These commandments are chosen because they are a visible sign of your loyalty. If Satan can force these two visible displays of loyalty to God then he will be sure that you have abandoned the first four commandments.
  - Sabbath. The work commandment that deals with economics causes an economic punishment.
    And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, either the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13: 16-17).
    Conspiracy to Trample on the Sabbath. Globally, secular activities are being forced from Sunday on to the Sabbath. As the prophecies are about to be fulfilled we can see that the beast has arranged secular affairs so that Saturday is becoming the only day on the weekend that can be used for shopping, sports, work around the house and all other secular activities that are almost impossible during the week. This places a burden on the Sabbath and makes it less attractive for people to follow. The European Union has already declared that Sunday is the only day of rest that will be legally allowed. The region has already begun a shift from holding sporting events on Sunday. Imagine the power it takes to do that. There have been calls to enforce the blue laws in the United States.

    > "All Americans would do well to petition the President and the Congress to make a Federal law - an amendment to the Constitution if need be - to reestablish the Sabbath [Sunday] as a national Day of Rest." CATHOLIC TWIN CIRCLE. "Sacking Sunday." August 25, 1985.

    Some are even making the argument that Sunday breaking will cause national disaster. They even made this claim about the real reason for the cause of the deadly Sunday Tsunami on December 26, 2004.

    > There will be no relief from mounting economic disaster until Sunday is strictly enforced by government decrees and action." LIBERTY CONFIDENTIAL NEWSLETTER Volume 5, 1982

    There is no wrong in seeking your legal right to obey the commandments of God. What is wrong is that in having governments enforce Sunday only instead of guaranteeing one day each week of your choice as was the status quo, they are essentially using civil law as a persecuting weapon. So, practically, what we have is an effort from two fronts. The first is civil law and the second is secular pressure.
    Ask yourself the following question. In trying to gain their legal right to keep Sunday holy, why are they trying to prevent other people from keeping another day holy?
    Prediction. The political and religious organization called Christian Churches Together in the USA, formally open for business in May 2005. I guarantee that at some point they will be trying to advocate more Sunday legislation. When they do this, remind yourself that people already have the right to worship on the day of their choice. The fact that people choose to work or to go shopping or play sports on Sunday is not because of force or necessity, it is a matter of choice and convenience.
  - Idolatry. Another visible sign of loyalty is idolatry. People actually break two commandments when they do this. They call on another mediator instead of on the name of the Lord, and they bow before statues and other men.
    And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many who do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. (Revelation 13: 15).
- Prophecy: The Victorious In Heaven. The saints are commandment keepers.
  Here is the perseverance of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14: 12)
  Blessed are they that do His commandments that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (Revelation 22: 14)

The New Covenant And The Law
... Look, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. (Hebrews 8: 8)
Who Are The Sons of Israel? Everyone who accepts Christ belongs to Israel. So if the new covenant was made with the house of Israel there is not a separate old covenant for Israel and a new covenant for Christians.
If you belong to Christ, then you are descendants of Abraham and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3: 29)

The Hebrew word for seven means oath. So the seventh (Sabbath day) is the oath day. The day God made His promise to give us rest. Rest from sin. It was a Holy time that commemorated two events.

1. Sanctification. Also I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. (Ezekiel 20: 12)
   He gave us rest from sin and death by resting in the grave on the Sabbath as our substitute.
2. Creation. Speaking of the fourth commandment God says that it is a sign that will last forever.
   "It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he ceased from labor and was refreshed". (Exodus 31: 17)
   It commemorates our creation and is a sign that He can also recreate us again.

The new covenant writes the law in our heart instead of on tables of stone. It does not abolish the law. It makes it more permanent in us.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days says the Lord; "I will put my laws into their minds and write it on the hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be My people". (Hebrews 8: 10)

The Eternal Laws Of God
In contrast the Bible says the following about God and the permanent nature of His laws.

- Holy Forever. The Sabbath is blessed forever.
  I know that everything God does will remain forever. There is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him. (Ecclesiastes 3: 14)
  For you have blessed it, O Lord, and it shall be blessed for ever. (1 Chronicles 17: 27)
- Expired Laws. Is there an expiration date for any law of God?
  Until The World Ends. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the law to fail. (Luke 16: 17).
  Those are the words of Jesus. The Sabbath and other laws cannot pass away if heaven and earth exist. We still exist. Heaven and earth still exist. Therefore the law has not passed away. When the new heavens and earth are created only the curses will be abolished because they are alien to us (Colossians 2: 14).
  Expired: No More Curses. There will no longer be any curse ... (Revelation 22: 3)
  But the Sabbath will still exist in the new earth.
  Eternal: Sabbath Forever. For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, said the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain, and it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, said the Lord. (Isaiah 66: 22-23)
  » Illogical Nonsense (A Segregated Church). Does is make sense for God to make the seventh day the Sabbath, then switch to Sunday for 2000 years then switch back to Saturday for eternity? If you stubbornly want to believe that only the Jews will worship on Saturday and the Gentiles on Sunday in the new earth then there is no hope of reasoning with you. You are proposing a segregated church and the most segregated time period as the day when God comes to meet His people to celebrate.
- One Law For All People. Some teach that there are and will be different rules for Jews and Gentiles. Common sense tells us that it is illogical, disruptive and unfair to have two different sets of rules.
  Passover. The one law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who sojourns among you. (Exodus 13: 49)
  Blasphemy and Other Laws. There shall be one standard for you. It shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 24: 22)
  One Sabbath and One Covenant. Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast My covenant; Even those I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples. (Isaiah 56: 6-7)
  One Church. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were also called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4: 4-6)
- Nine Commandments. Most Christians have no problem with nine of the Ten Commandments. But if you mention the importance of the Sabbath they will quickly say that we are under grace, not the law.
  If this argument were true then adultery and murder would be tolerable now. Or we could substitute partnerships that pleased us. The evil one has attacked the Sabbath because it is the least understood of the laws.
  The truth is we just want to obey nine of the ten commandments. You cannot pick and choose which commandments to obey. God's laws are not based on political correctness, changing times, evolution of morality or man's desires. God's laws are based on His wisdom as the supreme ruler and are the foundation of His government. Removing any law would remove a foundation stone and destroy the whole house.
  All or None. For whoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. (James 2: 10)
- Keeping Tradition. The reason for keeping Sunday can only be traced to a tradition designed by man. The scriptures say it is useless to worship God with the commandments made up by men.
  Lip Service. This people honors Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. (Matthew 15: 8-9 )
  Useless Tradition. And He answered and said to them, "why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?" (Matthew 15: 3)
  Vain Worship. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrine the commandments of men. Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men. He was also saying to them, "You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition". (Mark 7: 7-9)
  God says this is presumptuous nonsense that is actually violence and insurrection against heaven.
  Violence Against God. Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the clean and the unclean. And they hide their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. (Ezekiel 22: 26)

Keeping The Sabbath
The Sabbath commandment invites us to spend the day with God as a part of a global special time created for this purpose. Resting on that day reminds us that God gives us rest from sin through His own works, not ours. It is a gift from God.
The Lord's Day. Jesus said to them, "the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. So the son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath". (Mark 2: 27-28)

- When is the Sabbath? The Jewish day starts at sunset. The Sabbath day is the seventh day, starting at sunset Friday to sunset on Saturday.
  The New Testament gives evidence that the Sabbath occurred between the preparation day and the first day of the week. The story of the crucifixion states that Jesus died on the preparation day. The disciples quickly dressed his body temporarily and took it from the cross before the Sabbath began. Then early on the first day (Sunday morning) Mary came to finish the preparation of the body and found that He was risen. See Luke 23: 53-56 and Luke 24: 1-3.
- Do not Work. This applies to you, your home, your guests and anyone who has to work for you (Exodus 20: 8-11).
  Making a Fire. Prepare ahead for any basic care or items that you will need during the Sabbath.
  You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day. (Exodus 35: 3).
  Gathering wood, starting a fire and cooking was so much work, it was forbidden. Does this mean that modern conveniences should remove this prohibition? No. We keep trying to guess what God intended with a law. When we think that we have discovered the reasons, we then proceed to justify why we can bend the law. So instead of going back to the original diet of raw fruits and vegetables for Sabbath meals we prepare elaborate cooked meals which still require too much work to serve.
  Maybe we should not kindle a fire in any form because God wants to kindle the fire in us. Maybe when we submit totally to God without trying to avoid His words the Holy Spirit will come in the form of the Latter rain. Perhaps Sabbath reform and the future Sabbath test go hand in hand.
  Emergencies and Suffering. The only Sabbath work that is allowed is one that is humanitarian, an unavoidable emergency in which suffering is avoided or life is saved.
  Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not. ... Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a ditch, and will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day? (Luke 14: 3, 5).
  A Day of Mercy and Compassion. 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 of the Sabbath. (Matthew 12: 7-8).
  Buying, Selling and Trading. Sabbath breaking has become so prevalent in North America that we find nothing wrong with going to a restaurant on Sabbath. Not only are we buying and selling, we are making others work for us and that is forbidden. Eating out on Sabbath is always avoidable.
  Some Jewish business owners make arrangements with Gentiles to temporarily give up ownership of their stores before the Sabbath and then take possession again after the Sabbath. Besides openly breaking the spirit of the commandment, they forget that the commandment to rest is for the whole land and they are using their power to guarantee a legal case of rest only for themselves. Therefore, inasmuch as giving the animals, people and land rest is within their power, they are breaking the Sabbath by assigning the responsibility to a known Sabbath breaker.
- Personal Interests and Conversation. The day should not be spent on personal goals. It should be centered exclusively on God.
  If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure, And speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the Lord and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth... (Isaiah 58: 13-14).
  Sabbath breakers use the excuse of "going out in nature" to celebrate the creation and they regularly go to the beach to meet God in a place where they get their own pleasure. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. He knows your heart. We must choose what pleases God, not simply what pleases us.
  For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant, to them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial and a name better than that of sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off. (Isaiah 56: 4-5).
  Others are so in love with the gods of sports that they tape the games so that they can watch them the minute after the Sabbath is over. They are so interested in the end of the Sabbath that it is clear that their priority is not centered on God. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. He knows your intentions. If you spend the day with God as if He was a real person, you will be sad when the Sabbath is over.

History Of Sabbath Keeping

Sabbath Existed | 132-135 | Split | 321-788 | Time of the End | New Earth
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Creation | Flood |  | Abraham | Exodus |  | Disciples | Bar Kokaba | Sunday Laws |  | Today
Sabbath | Rome's Sunday | Christians |  |  | Sunday Keeping Christians
No Jews Existed | Jews (Israel) | Jews and Christians |  | Sabbath Keeping Jews and Christians
One Language | Many Languages

The history of the church provides circumstantial and documentary evidence that the Sabbath was changed by man without the approval of God. After the Bar Kokaba revolution the Christians tried to separate themselves from the Jews and Sunday began to be promoted until the church and the state made laws to enforce its keeping.

- Who Kept The Sabbath? If the Sabbath has been changed, why was the entire church keeping it for over 100 years after Jesus died?
  - Adam and Eve. The Sabbath has existed since creation, before the Jews.
    By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. (Genesis 2: 2-3)
  - Before Exodus. Moses wanted to go and keep the Sabbath before the exodus. (Exodus 5: 1-5)
  - Before Sinai. God taught the Sabbath truth with the manna before He gave the laws on Sinai (Exodus 16).
  - The Jewish Nation. The Lord reminded them to keep the Sabbath when He formally gave the laws on Sinai.
    Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. (Exodus 20: 8)
    The use of the word "remember" points to a preexistence of which they were aware.
    The Creator. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20: 11)
    The commandment points to the creation week as the reason and origin of the Sabbath as the day of rest.
  - Jesus in Life. Luke 4: 16 says it was Jesus' custom to go to the synagogue on Sabbath. Some argue that this was because He was among the Jews and that the old covenant was still in effect. But He issued no commands to change the law. In fact He said that He did not come to change the law. (Matthew 5: 17-20)
  - Jesus in Death. Jesus died on the preparation day (Friday), lay in the grave on Sabbath and rose on the first day of the week, Sunday morning. After His work as creator of the earth, He rested on the Sabbath. After His work as the redeemer, or Creator of a new, born again human He rested again.
    How did God rest from His works? He rested after the work of creation (Genesis 2: 2). Then He rested after the work of recreation or redemption when He was in the grave on the Sabbath.
  - The Disciples. They ... rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Luke 23: 54-56.
  - Paul. It was Paul's custom to preach to both Jews and Gentiles on the Sabbath. (Acts 17: 2; Acts 18: 4)
  - The Gentiles. The Gentiles also went to the synagogue on Sabbath. (Acts 18: 4 and Acts 13: 42)
  - Early Christians (31AD-321AD). The early Christians kept the Sabbath until it became unpopular to associate with the Jews around 100 years later. Substituting the Sabbath for Sunday was also a strategy to win over the pagans by honoring their holy day - Sunday. This became official when Emperor Constantine made it legal (321 AD).
- Who Will Keep The Sabbath? If the Sabbath has been changed, why will we keep it in the future and in eternity?
  - Christians Fleeing the Roman Persecution. Speaking of the persecution to come forty years after the new covenant was in force, Jesus prayed that their flight would not be on the Sabbath. (Matthew 24: 20)
  - The Saints In Heaven. Isaiah 66: 22-23 states that all mankind will come to worship God every Sabbath.
  - The People of God. Hebrews 4: 9 states that there is a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
    For if Joshua has given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4: 8-11)
- Who Does Not Want To Keep The Sabbath? As we have seen, the Sabbath was made at creation, before there was ever a Jewish nation. When the law was given at Sinai, God told them to remember the day signifying that it was a custom that was widely known before the Jewish nation was called. It was not introduced at Sinai.
  - So the Jewish nation kept the Sabbath.
  - Jesus and the apostles kept the Sabbath before and after His death.
  - In heaven we will keep the Sabbath. God praises those who keep His commandments.
  So the only ones who do not want to keep the Sabbath are the Christians who have substituted Sunday for Sabbath. Sunday is respected as the day to commemorate the resurrection. But there was no such command given and baptism was the only ceremony given to commemorate the resurrection.
  Buried with Him in baptism, in which also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2: 12; Romans 6:4)
- The Origin Of The Change (The Quartodeciman Controversy - The "fourteenthers"). In Paul's time the mystery of lawlessness was already at work.
  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work ... (2 Thessalonians 2: 7)
  The seeds of this change which was set in law by 312 AD may have begun with changes to Passover. Jesus was crucified on Passover Nisan 14, before the start of the seven day feast of Unleavened bread on Nisan 15. The first day, Nisan 15, was a Sabbath and according to the law, the wavesheaf must be brought in on the day after the Sabbath. Two traditions emerged among the Jews about the meaning of this law. Some counted this as the day after the weekly Sabbath, or Sunday. Others counted it as always Nisan 16. When Jesus died near sunset on Nisan 14, Nisan 15 just happened to also be the weekly Sabbath, so God's intention could not be determined. So on Nisan 16 He became the wavesheaf - the first fruits of the dead earth.
  In the early church an Easter controversy arose. The church of Asia Minor celebrated Passover on Nisan 14 according to the scripture while the others celebrated the day of the resurrection on the following Sunday. In Asia Minor, Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna (c.69 - c.155) was a disciple of John the Apostle, and they were keeping the feasts as John taught them, but beginning around 115-125 AD Rome and Alexandria were doing something else that they claimed was handed down by Peter and Paul.

  > Neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe what he had always observed with John the disciple of our Lord, and the other apostles with whom he had associated; neither could Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe it, as he said that he ought to follow the customs of the presbyters that had preceded him. Irenaeus, "Letter to Victor (bishop of Rome), quoted in Eusebius (chapter 24)", in Schaff, Church History, book V, CCEL

  By 193 Pope Victor of Rome decreed that Sunday should be kept, but Polycrates refused saying,

  > We observe the exact day; neither adding, nor taking away. For in Asia also great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise again on the day of the Lord's coming ... All these observed the fourteenth day of the passover according to the Gospel, deviating in no respect, but following the rule of faith. And I also, Polycrates, the least of you all, do according to the tradition of my relatives, some of whom I have closely followed. For seven of my relatives were bishops; and I am the eighth. And my relatives always observed the day when the people put away the leaven. Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, letter to Victor, bishop of Rome, quoted in Eusebius. "24". Church History. book V.

  So, pope Vicor threatened to excommunicate all of Asia Minor on this point.
  So what appeared to have happened is that all the apostles observed Nisan 14 for Passover and they chose the day of the wavesheaf, not as Nisan 16 but as the first Sunday after the Nisan 14 Passover - which would be the day after the weekly Sabbath. However, the bishops of Rome and Alexander went a step further and appeared to center their celebration only around Sunday, eventually disregarding Nisan 14.
- The Word Sabbath In The History Of Languages. At creation the first six days were numbered but only the Sabbath was named. Since the Sabbath was made at creation, its knowledge would be spread throughout all the nations that separated at Babel.
  The Tower Of Babel. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. (Genesis 11: 7)
  At the tower of Babel God confounded the language. He did a very good job. Besides new sounds for objects, God mixed up the sentence structure and word order for verbs, nouns and adjectives. He even made new ways of creating verbs to convey the ideas of past, present and future. God switched the order of adjectives and nouns and invented several ways to express singular and plural in verbs and nouns.
  However, certain word sounds remained. Have you ever noticed that the word for "No" and "yes/ yeah" seem to have an equivalent sound in many languages? The same appears to hold true for "mamma" and "dadda or pappa". It means that when God confounded the languages, certain key sounds remained intact. At creation only the Sabbath day was named. This sound seemed to have survived Babel.
  » The Roman Influence. Critics could say that this correlation appears true because several of our major languages were descended from one ancient language. Latin, the language of the Romans is the mother of the Romance languages (Europe). However, it still proves that even if the concept of Sabbath came from the Roman occupation of Israel, then Saturday was still considered the Sabbath at the time of Christ.
  Practically, the conquering power would never change their language to accommodate the conquered on such a fundamental issue as time. If they incorporated Jewish time then it only proved that the Jewish Sabbath was in force when Rome converted to Christianity.
  However, history says otherwise. It was the Romans who changed the naming of the days of the week and the Sabbath. Socrates said that in his time the whole known world, with the exception of Rome and Alexandria, observed the seventh day of the week. (Socrates, "Ecclesiastical History," Book 7, chapter 19.)
  So the Romans have been promoting the day of the sun for at least 500 years before Christ. So when Constantine accepted Christianity, they tried to enforce Sunday, with the aid of the church, and penalized Sabbath keepers as "Judaizers". So it is unlikely that they changed the language to name a particular day Sabbath but rather that the Sabbath was already universally accepted as the seventh day apart from the religious command to the Jews.

The work of Dr. William Meade Jones (1818-1895), a Seventh-day Baptist, shows that the universal nature of the concept of a seventh day of Sabbath rest can be seen in the use of the same sound to define a day of the week in many ancient and modern languages not connected to either Rome or Israel or the predominant religion in that culture. He reasoned that the concept of a seven day week and the naming of a Sabbath should have been passed down from Adam and Eve and so to all ethnic groups even if they practiced idolatry. According to Dr. Meade no other language designates another day of the week as a day of rest.
Long before the Babylonians invaded Israel, "Sabatu" was the name for the seventh day of the week.
In the following list some languages add the word for "day" or "the" to the word for Sabbath (eg di (French) and yom), but the Sabbath sound should be quite obvious.

Babel | Family | Branch | Languages
--- | --- | --- | ---
Shem (Middle East) | Afro-Asiatic | Semitic | Hebrew (Shabbath) Arabic (Assabt) Abyssinian (Sanbat) Maltese (Is-sibt) Ge'ez/ Ethiopic (San-bat)
Semitic (Ancient) | Arabic (Shi-yar) Ancient Syriac (Shab-ba-tho) Chaldee Syriac (Shaptu) Babylonian Syriac (Sa-Ba-tu)
Chadic | Hausa (Assebatu) Logone (Se-sibde)
Berber | Kabyle (Ghas assebt) Tamashek (A-hal es-sabt)
Cushitic | Orma (Zam-ba-da)
Egyptian | Coptic (Pi sabbaton)
Ham (Africa And Asia) | Nilo-Saharan (Central Sudanic) | Bongo-Bagirmi | Bagrimma (Sibbedi)
Saharan | Teda (Essebdu) Bornu (Assebdu)
Maban | Maba (Sab)
Niger-Congo | Bantu | Ndebele (Sabatha) Shona (Sabata) Swahili (As-sabt)
Senegambian | Wolof (Alere-Asser) Mandingo (Sibiti)
? | Congo (Sabbado) or (Kiansbula)
Austronesian | ? | Malay (Ari-Sabtu)
Malayo-Polynesian | Malagassy (Alsabotsy) Malayan (Hari sabtu) Javanese (Saptoe or saptu) Makassar (Sattu)
Bornean | Dayak (Sabtu)
Japheth (Europe And India) | Indo-European | Latin (Sabbatum) | Italian (Sabbato) Spanish (Sábado) Portuguese (Sábado, Sabbado) Wallachian (Sambata) Roman (Dissapte) French (Samedi) D'oc French (Dissata) Norman French (Sabbedi) Notice how the older versions of French are closer to the Sabbath sound.
Germanic | High German (Samstag)
Hellenic | Greek (Sabbaton) (Sávato)
Armenian | Armenian (Shapat)
Indic | Hindustani/Urdu (Shamba)
Indo-Iranian | Pashto (Shamba) Pasto (Shamba) Persian (Shambin) Pahlivi (Shambid) Persian (Shambah) Kurdish (Shamba)
Balto-Slavic | Prussian (Sabatico) Russian (Subbota) Polish (Sobota) New Slovenian (Sobota) Illyrian (Subota) Lusatian/Sorbian (Sobota) Bohemian/Czech (Sobota) Bulgarian (Subbota)
Kartvelian (South Caucasian) | ? | Suanian/Svaneti (Sammtyn)
Proto-Zan | Georgian (Shabati)
Northeast Caucasian | Nakh | Ingoush (Shatt)
Uralic | Permic | Permian (Subota)
Finnic | Votiak (Subbota)
Altaic | ? | Turkish (Yomessabt)
Turkic | ? | Osmanlian (Yome-es-sabt) Kazani/Tartar (Subbota)

Through colonialism Western Europe changed the native language of the American Continent and Australia.
So the world, not connected to Judaism, had a concept of the seventh day of the week in their native language as being a day of rest and this day was called by the same sound "Shabbat".

Did It Change? There is no commandment given by Jesus or the disciples to change the commandment. Even if there was the slightest possibility that the correct day was somehow lost, doing our best to follow God would be honoring the day the Jews have faithfully kept as the Sabbath - Saturday.

Obedience Is The Issue.
The real issue is, will we worship God in the manner He prescribes or will we substitute our own way?
Cain and Abel both brought sacrifices to God, but only Abel's was accepted. Cain gave his best, but he gave what he wanted to give, not what God had asked for. Fruits and vegetables could not demonstrate the horrible consequences of sin. Only the death of the innocent lamb could do so.
In the end, the beast of Revelation will pronounce the death sentence on those who do not worship him but who worship in the way God commands. Just like Cain killed his brother for obeying God.

The Sabbath Test.
So it will end the way it began, with a simple test. For anyone who would criticize Eve, God gives them their own choice.
Just as a simple fruit was a test to Adam and Eve, so will the Sabbath be a simple test of obedience to God in the end. Unlike other sins which might include a physical craving to commit that sin, the Sabbath has no such pressure. We cannot claim that we have no will power, or that it was physically or mentally hard to follow. In fact, God can demonstrate that the wicked will not even obey a simple commandment designed to make them rest and give them pleasure and improve all their relationships.
Adam and Eve had many fruits to choose from but they had to have this one.
God gives us six days of our own and asks for this one. We think we can have it too.

Study to show yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2: 15 | Time: 70 minutes Print: 20 pages
Copyright Updated : August 18, 2004. September 2009. Credits: Information on the covenant was found at the wordsight web site. URL: www.wordsight.org Author: Laverna Patterson. Editor: Patterson (January 2008) The True Sabbath Found in The Languages of The World. Dr. William Meade Jones. URL: http://www.angelfire.com/la2/prophet1/sabbath2.html