WHICH DAY IS THE TRUE SABBATH?
Since most churches observe Sunday as their day of rest and worship, many people assume that Sunday is the Sabbath. Thing is … God said “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.”
A glance at almost any dictionary or encyclopedia will show you that Saturday is the seventh day of the week, while Sunday is the first day of the week. The seventh day according to God’s calendar is … and always has been … the Sabbath day.
Although man has modified calendars through the centuries, the seven-day weekly cycle has remained intact throughout history. The days of the week have always remained in their proper order, with Sunday as the first day of the week and Saturday as the seventh.
“The Oracles of God” … His words and divine instructions … were trusted to the Jewish people and they have preserved the knowledge of the Seventh-day Sabbath faithfully since well before Christ’s time to this day.
(Romans 3: 1-2)
HOW DID SUNDAY BECOME THE PRIMARY DAY OF REST AND WORSHIP?
Although in most of the world, the concept of rest has disappeared, most denominations continue to have their worship services on Sunday. You can search throughout the Bible and you will not find any authority to change the day of worship.
James Cardinal Gibbons, a Catholic educator and archbishop of Baltimore in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, was blunt about the change. He said “You may read the bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify. The Catholic Church correctly teaches that our Lord and His Apostles inculcated certain important duties of religion which are not recorded by the inspired writers … we must, therefore, conclude that the Scriptures alone can’t be a sufficient guide and rule of faith.” (The Faith of Our Fathers, 1917, p 89)
An archbishop and educator admits that Sunday observance is nowhere authorized in the Bible and that the seventh day is the only day sanctified by the Scriptures. His justification for changing the day of rest and worship assumes that authority exists apart from the Bible to define the necessary truths and practices for salvation.
WHEN WAS THE CHANGE MADE?
The change to Sunday was made long after the writing of the New Testament. No clear references to Sunday as a day of Christian worship are found until the writings of Barnabas and Justin, ca. A.D. 135 and 150, respectively.
Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-135) harshly persecuted Jews throughout the Roman Empire. He specifically prohibited practices of Judaism, including observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. There oppressive measures apparently influenced many early Christians in Rome to abandon the seventh day and turn to Sunday, historically observed by the Romans as a day of veneration of the sun. Within a few centuries Sabbath observance by Christians was virtually eliminated within the confines of the empire and replaced by Sunday.
Though the Protestant Reformation brought some doctrinal and administrative changes, observance of Sunday as a day of rest and worship continued from the Roman Catholic Church into subsequent Protestant denominations. Whereas the Catholic Church claimed authority to establish its own times of worship, Protestant churches generally justified Sunday observance on the grounds that the seventh-day Sabbath was replaced in the New Testament by worship on Sunday in honor of Christ’s resurrection. There was no such Biblical authority in the New Testament for a change. The change was strictly mans decision and NOT God’s. Jesus Christ, the apostles, and Jewish and Gentile members of the early church alike continued to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. This is the ONLY day authorized in the Bible.
The seventh-day Sabbath is a commandment by God. It is not a suggestion and he did not authorize a change in the day. He did not say take whatever day you want for the Sabbath. He said the seventh day. There is no way around it, man has changed God’s commandment and he warned his people about the ‘traditions of men’. It is time for God’s people to wake up and take heed to his words before it is too late.
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Thank you and many blessings to you.
