HAVE YOU BEEN DECEIVED REGARDING THE SABBATH? IT'S POSSIBLE!
Have you been taught that “Seventh Day Sabbath-keeping was meant for Israel” OR that “Christ fulfilled the Law, which also ended keeping the Sabbath”, OR that “Christ was resurrected on Sunday, the first day of the week” OR that “The Apostles established Sunday as the day for Christians to meet”? If you believe these Traditional Christian (T/C) teachings, you may be interested in reading the following!
Let's begin by reading the FOURTH COMMANDMENT:
Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the Sabbath day, to set it apart. Six days you labor, and shall do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of YAHWEH1 your Elohim. You do not do any work – you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days YAHWEH made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore YAHWEH blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart.”
Now, let's see if these Traditional Christian beliefs are biblically true and accurate.
TC TEACHES “Seventh Day Sabbath-Keeping Was Meant For Israel”
The scriptures state that the Sabbath was established at creation, long before Israel was in existence. Consider;
Gen 2:2-3 “And in the seventh day Elohim completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And Elohim blessed the seventh day and set it apart, because on it He rested from all His work which Elohim in creating had made.”
The Torah2 (including Sabbath) was observed by Abraham, a gentile long before Israel existed. Consider;
Gen 26:5 “...because Abraham obeyed My voice and guarded My Charge: My commands, My statutes, and My laws.”
The Prophet Isaiah states who the Sabbath is for. Consider;
Isaiah 56:6-7 “Also the sons of the foreigner (non Israelite) who join themselves to YAHWEH to serve Him, and to love the Name of YAHWEH to be His servants, all who guard the Sabbath, and not profane it, and are holding onto My covenant, them I shall bring...”
YAHSHUA states who the Sabbath is for. Consider;
Mark 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, (mankind, not just Israel) and not man for the sabbath...”
TC TEACHES “Christ Fulfilled The Law, Which Also Ended Keeping The Sabbath.”
MESSIAH came to fulfill (fully and accurately proclaim) the Law and the Prophets but NOT TO END THEM! Consider;
Mat 5:17 - 18 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
Obviously, heaven and earth are still here...thus all has not been fulfilled.
YAHSHUA confirmed the Sabbath and HIS authority concerning the Sabbath. Consider;
Luke 6:5 And He said to them, “The Son of Adam (HIMSELF) is Master of the Sabbath.”
In saying this, HE was stating that HE is the only ONE having authority over the Sabbath.
YAHSHUA spoke of the continuation of the Sabbath into the very last days. Consider;
Mat 24:20 - 21 “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
TC TEACHES “Christ Was Resurrected on Sunday, The First Day of the Week.”
The apostolic writings say;
Mat 28:1& 6 “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the tomb...He is not here, for He was raised, as He said. Come, see the place where the Master lay.
Mark 16:1 & 4 “And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him...vs 4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.”
Luke 24:1-2 “Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.”
John 20:1 “The first day of the week came Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and saw that the stone was taken away from the tomb.”
All four accounts record that the stone was already removed and that the resurrection had already taken place, prior to them coming to the tomb on first day of the week. This means that Messiah rose from the dead “three days and three nights4” from HIS impalement, just as HE said, which puts HIS resurrection ON THE SABBATH!
You might ask; “How can that be if HE was impaled on Good Friday?” Answer: HE wasn't impaled on a Friday, the sixth day. According to the calendar that was in use at that time, HE was impaled as THE Passover Lamb between the evenings in the month of ABIB 14-155, the fourth day of the week, known by its pagan name, Wednesday. So, lets do the math to find the “three days and three nights” of HIS entombment beginning with HIS death:
HE was impaled / died on the 4th day, so 4th day night is HIS “NIGHT 1 in the tomb.”
HIS Body was in the tomb on fifth day, so 5th day is HIS “DAY 1 in the tomb.”
HIS Body was in the tomb on fifth day night, so 5th day night is HIS “NIGHT 2...”
HIS Body was in the tomb on sixth day, so 6th day is HIS “Day 2...”
HIS Body was in the tomb on sixth day night, so 6th day night is HIS “NIGHT 3...”
HIS Body was in the tomb on seventh day, so 7th day is HIS “Day 3...”
HE AROSE AT THE END OF DAY 3 AND JUST PRIOR TO NIGHT 4!
TC TEACHES “The Apostles Established Sunday As The Day For Christians To Meet”
The following verses are quoted by TC in an effort to legitimize meeting on Sunday. Consider;
John 20:19 “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came YAHSHUA and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.”
In this verse, the disciples were in hiding from the Jews, NOT because they had decided to replace the Sabbath with Sunday.
Act 20:7 “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.”
The common practice among Jews during that time was to gather on the Seventh Day Sabbath to read from the Torah, worship and quite often they would continue together in fellowship and food into the evening hours and possibly longer. They observed the day beginning at sundown... This is not an example of the early believers replacing the Sabbath with Sunday.
1Corinthians 16:2 “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”
The Corinthian, Gentile believers continued observing the Sabbath as commanded. They would do no work, nor conduct any business on the Sabbath. They would not even handle any money on the Sabbath. Thus, here Paul is asking each household to be mindful of setting aside “upon the first day” what they were planning to pass on to believers in need so that it would be ready for Paul to take when he came through. Whether they put it all together or kept it separately at home we are not told. Nevertheless, there is no mention of the believers even meeting on Sunday instead of Sabbath. If anything, this is an example of Gentile believers keeping the Sabbath by not handling money or conducting business until the first work day of the week!
EVEN THOSE WHO BOAST OF CHANGING THE SABBATH ADMIT THAT THERE IS NO COMMANDMENT GIVEN IN THE SCRIPTURES TO DO SO...
Because the Sabbath had not been changed, the early believers continued to observe it for THE NEXT THREE HUNDRED+ YEARS! Roman Emperor Constantine began to exert pressure on true believers to abandon the Sabbath beginning in 321 C.E. Bishop Eusebius (270-338 C.E.) who worked with Constantine, admits the Church's decision to change from Sabbath to Sunday. “All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord's Day.”6
Roman Catholicism boasts of having the authority to change the Sabbath from the 7th day to the Lord's Day, a sacred day to sun worshipers. The following Catholic quotes tell the story...
“Had she (the Roman Catholic Church) not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her – She could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”7
“Protestants, who accept the Bible as the only rule on faith and religion, should by all means go back to the observance of the Sabbath. The fact that they do not, but on the contrary observe the Sunday, stultifies them in the eyes of every thinking man... We Catholics do not accept the Bible as the only rule of faith. Besides the Bible we have the living Church, the authority of the Church, as a rule to guide us. We say, this Church, instituted by Christ to teach and guide man through life, has the right to change ceremonial laws of the Old Testament and hence, we accept her change of the Sabbath to Sunday...It is always somewhat laughable, to see the Protestant churches, in pulpit legislation, demand the observance of Sunday, of which there is nothing in the Bible.”8
IF YOU HAVE BEEN DECEIVED, YOU ARE NOT ALONE! YOU NOW HAVE A DECISION TO MAKE. ARE YOU GOING TO CONTINUE WALKING IN THE DECEPTION? OR ARE YOU GOING TO LEAVE THE DARKNESS BEHIND AND WALK IN THE LIGHT OF YAHWEH'S TRUTH?
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[1] YAHWEH is The Name of The Father mentioned 6871 times in the original manuscripts. See our website for the article-tract on “The Conspiracy To Conceal His Name.” YHWH is the abbreviated form of YAHWEH.
[2] TORAH means instruction, Laws, Ordinances and Statutes. Specifically in reference to the 1st Five Books of Moses, but can include ALL Instruction from YAHWEH.
[3] YAHSHUA is The Name of The Son of YAHWEH. He was born Hebrew and would not have been given a Greek/Latin/Roman name such a Jesus. The letter “J” was not even introduced until the year 1524 C.E. by the way...
[4] Matthew 12:40, 16:21, 17:23. Yohan (John) 2:19. YAHSHUA spoke of literal days and nights.
[5] See Exodus 12:5-6, Leviticus 23:5-6. The established and prophetic time of The Passover Lamb to be killed. John 1:29
[6] Eusebius, Commentary on the Psalms, quoted by Moses Stuart, Commentary on the Apocalypse, vol. II, 9.40
[7] A Doctrinal Catechism, Stephan Keenan, 1846 edition, p. 176
[8] Catholic Church Extension Society, Peter R. Kraemer, Chicago, Illinois (1975)