All Bible texts are from the King James Version unless otherwise stated.
Some interesting claims have been made about the Sabbath over the last few centuries. Out of these claims there is only one, that is listed below, that can be fully substantiated from the Bible. Some of these claims are:-
- The Sabbath was made for the Jews.
- The Sabbath was nailed to the cross.
- The Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday.
- The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week and must be kept if we wish to go to heaven.
Let us now go through each one of these and see how they stand up to the test of "the Law and the Testimony" Isaiah 8:20.
1. The Sabbath was made for the Jews.
In Genesis 1:26 did God say let us make a Jew in our image? No! He said let us make man in our image. Then it is quite obvious with just this text that Adam was the father of the human race and he was not a Jew. Nowhere is the term Jew or Israel spoken of before the flood. We have to come down to Jacob before we find Israel, which is what God changed his name to; and well after this the term Jew came along. Let us look at a few texts on the Sabbath.
Mark 2:27 "And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath."
Isaiah 56:4 - 7 "For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people."
Acts 13:42 - 44 "And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God."
The idea that the Sabbath is a Jewish Sabbath falls apart when we see that God made the Sabbath for man, that is all mankind, including eunuchs, gentiles and Jews.
2. The Sabbath was nailed to the cross.
Colossians 2:14 "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;"
What were the "ordinances that was against us" which were nailed to the cross? To answer this we must go back to the old Testament to the time of Moses where we find two laws.
- The first Law God wrote with His own finger, which is the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20.
- The second Laws written by Moses, were the Ceremonial Laws or the Sacrificial System that pointed forward to the promised Messiah, Christ, and in particular His death. This Sacrifical System was originally given to Adam after he fell and was now re-established with the Children of Israel.
Now let us have a look at the Ark of the Covenant to see where these two laws were placed. We find that the Laws of God, the Ten Commandments, were placed inside the Ark, and the Ceremonial Laws were placed in the side of it. The Ten Commandments was what gave the Ark of the Covenant it's special sacredness. The Ceremonial Law did not have this sacredness.
When Christ died on the cross, he fulfilled the Ceremonial Laws (or was the anti-type of the ceremonies) in that He was the one that died to take away the sins of the world. So when Christ died the sacrificial system ceased to be the means of salvation. This is clearly shown in that when Christ cried "It is finished" the curtain that separated the Holy from the Most Holy place was torn from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). The Most Holy Place, which is where God used to meet the High Priest, was laid wide open.
When we follow the work of the disciples we find that they were still keeping the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath, so they could not have been nailed to the cross.
Acts 13:14, 15 "But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on."
Acts 16:13 "And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither."
Acts 17:2 "And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures."
Acts 18:4 "And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.".
Psalms 89:34 "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips."
Luke 16:17 "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail."
Exodus 31:16 "Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant."
The above Bible texts tell us that God's Law, the Ten Commandments, are unchangeable. They will still be there in the new earth.
Isaiah 66:22, 23 "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith 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, saith the LORD."
Ponder on this for a moment:-
If the Ten Commandments were nailed to the cross or done away with, no one could sin! Because sin is trangression of the Law (1 John 3:4). So anyone could kill, steal, commit adultery, or break any of the Ten Commandments without sinning! If one is done away with, they all are. As most people would find the thought of killing, stealing and committing adultery abhorant, why don't they feel the same about keeping the Sabbath, it is part of the same Law - the Moral Law.
3. The Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday.
The only reason people give for making this claim is that Christ rose from the dead on Sunday, so in commemoration of the resurrection they keep Sunday. There are absolutely no Bible texts that show that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday. But there is a Bible text giving us a commemoration of Christ's death and resurrection.
Romans 6:4 "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
Hebrews 4:4 - 11
"For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief."We are also told not to add or take away from what God has given us.
Deuteronomy 4:2 "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you."
Deuteronomy 12:32 "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it."
Proverbs 30:6 "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."
In Revelation we read that the saints keep the Commandments of God, of which the Sabbath is the 4th.
Revelation 14:12 "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."
The Catholic Church has laid claim to changing the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday in the year A.D.321, but the Catholic Church is not called of God and had no authority to do so. Daniel 7:25 tells us that a false power would think to change times and laws.
For more information on Catholic Church changing the Sabbath see :- The Beast.
4. The Sabbath is the Seventh Day of the week and must be kept if we wish to go to heaven.
Genesis 2:1 - 3 "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."
Here we find that God had finished His work which was very good. Then He rested on the seventh day. Is there any way of determining which is the seventh day of the week? Let us take a look at their names.
Names God Gave Latin Names Saxon Names English Names 1st Day Genesis 1:5 Dies Solis Sun's Day Sunday 2nd Day Genesis 1:8 Dies Lunae Moon's Day Monday 3rd Day Genesis 1:13 Dies Martis Tiu's Day Tuesday 4th Day Genesis 1:19 Dies Mercurii Woden's Day Wednesday 5th Day Genesis 1:23 Dies Jovis Thor's Day Thursday 6th Day Genesis 1:31 Dies Veneris Frigga's Day Friday 7th Day Genesis 2:1-3 Dies Saturni Saturn's Day Saturday Some may argue that we do not know which day really is which because time has been lost. If this is the case then why do most people go to church on Sunday in so called commeration of Christ's resurrection, which was on the first day of the week?
Let us take a look at some Bible texts about the Sabbath:-
Ezekiel 20:12 "Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them."
Isaiah 58:13, 14 "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it."
Matthew 12:8 "For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day."
Matthew 24:20 "But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day." (This was talking about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Jesus intended that his followers were still to be keeping the Sabbath.)
John 14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
Revelation 22:14 "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."
All of the above texts clearly show that we must keep God Commandments, all ten of them, if we wish to go to heaven. The great final test that this world will see will be between keeping the Lord Sabbath, the seven day of the week, or the counterfiet sabbath, the first day of the week.
For more information on this final test see:- The Mark of the Beast
BIBLICAL ARTEFACTS AND STUDIES
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