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It seems there is still debate around the true Biblical worship day, with some arguing that based on the New Testament we are only to keep 9 commandments because the Sabbath commandment, the very one that God said “remember” has been done away with.
What does the actual commandment say?
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns….Exodus 20 vs 8
If you go through the 10 commandments you will notice;
1. The commandment starts with remember
a. As God knows the future, did He know we would forget?
b. Why would he say “remember” did he expect something to happen?
2. It clearly stipulates that it is to be observed as a ‘day’ not a couple of hours
Ironically, Jesus himself while he was on earth kept the seventh day Sabbath. Infact, he even says something that gives a clear indication of how much the Sabbath meant to him;
“The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath” (Luke 6:5)
What did Jesus say about the 10 commandments?
Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Fathers who sent Me. (John 14 vs 23, 24)
If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. John 15 vs 10
Did Jesus then do away with the Sabbath?
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17-18).
If you research on the word “abolish” you will find that it is translated from the Greek word “kataluo” which in literal translation means “to loosen down.”
If you then analyse how the word is used in Matthew 5:17 you can then see that in this context, the word “abolish” is used as an opposite to the word “fulfil” thus, through substitution we can say Christ came “...not to loosen down, but to strengthen.”
Jesus clearly did not come to earth to oppose the law. He revered it, loved it and He obeyed it. Why do you think Christ always went to the synagogue on Sabbath and even on his death, the disciples (with Joseph of Arimathaea) requested His body to be buried before Sabbath? He came to ‘strengthen’ the commandments
What did Jesus say about breaking 1 commandment?
"Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5 vs 19
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. James 2 vs 10
*it’s important to note the relationship between James & Jesus. He is noted as being Jesus’ brother
What about Colossians 2 vs 16, 17?
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath (days) Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body (is) of Christ. Colossians 2 vs 16, 17
1. Is there anything in the Ten Commandments about meat and drink?
a. That should already tell you Paul is not referring to the 10 commandments
2. Were there “Sabbaths” other than the weekly Sabbath?
a. “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:24).
b. Again we read, “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement ... It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest” (verses 27, 32).
As you can clearly see, these annual Sabbaths fell on a different day of the week every year, and God specifically explained that they were not to be confused with the weekly Sabbath.
c. “These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, everything upon his day: BESIDE THE SABBATH OF THE LORD” (verses 37, 38).
3. When you take the original text in Greek, the literal translation of the last words of Colossians 2:17 are "but the body of Christ." Now we need to ask what exactly is the body of Christ?
a. Going to I Corinthians 12:27 we learn that the body of Christ is the church! The same Greek expression from where it is translated "body of Christ" from I Corinthians 12:27 (soma Christou) is also used exactly in Colossians 2:17.
b. Paul is actually telling the Colossians that they should not let anyone (man)judge them or even question them about the holydays, new moons or Sabbath (days) but they should let the church direct those judgements.
c. He is actually pointing the members to use the example of the church Spiritual leaders , by that time the Apostles of Christ, who would determine how worship on the Sabbath and holy days would be done, also advising them not to worry about what anyone else thinks. Similar advise is alsogiven in Colossians 2:18-19.
*in-fact you will note that this is the only verse in the Bible that is said to be against the Sabbath. Of the 172 times Sabbath is referred to in the Bible, this is the only 1 in ‘question’, so even ‘basic’ reasoning will tell you the 171 times cannot be wrong. Clearly it’s a case of misunderstanding the scriptures
John also mentions the “first day” and this has often been misinterpreted as a reference to Sunday worship. “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 Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you” (John 20:19).
The text plainly states that they were gathered there “for fear of the Jews.” The disciples already knew that the tomb was empty, so they were scared possible because they expected to be charged with stealing Jesus’ body.
Did Paul observe the Sabbath?
And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. {18:5} And when
Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews [that] Jesus [was] Christ. Acts 18 vs 4,5
What about Sunday Worship, who claims responsibility for its creation?
American Catholic Quarterly Review (January 1883):
Sunday...is purely a creation of the Catholic Church.
Stephen Keenan, Catholic—Doctrinal Catechism 3rd Edition: 174:
Question: Have you any other way of proving the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?
Answer: Had she 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 1st day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the 7th day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.i
John A. O'Brien, The Faith of Millions: 472-473: "The third commandment is: 'Remember thou keep ...
Our Sunday Visitor (February 5, 1950):
Practically everything Protestants regard as essential or important they have received from the Catholic Church... The Protestant mind does not seem to realize that in accepting the Bible and observing the Sunday, in keeping Christmas and Easter, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the church, the Pope.
The Catholic Mirror (September 23, 1893):
The Catholic Church, for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday...
The Adventists are the only body of Christians with the Bible as their teacher, who can find no warrant in its pages for the change of day from the seventh to the first.
Catholic Priest T. Enright, CSSR, lecture at Hartford, KS, Feb 18, 1884
I have repeatedly offered $1000 to anyone who can furnish any proof from the Bible that Sunday is the day we are bound to keep...The Bible says, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” but the Catholic Church says, “No, keep the first day of the week,” and the whole world bows in obedience.
Arthur Weigall, The Paganism in Our Christianity (New York: Putnam’s Sons, 1928): 145:
The Church made a sacred day of Sunday…largely because it was the weekly festival of the sun; for it was a definite Christian policy to take over the pagan festivals endeared to the people by tradition, and to give them a Christian significance.
My pastor once told an interesting story of a Russian czar who was walking in the border area of his palace grounds one morning. He saw a soldier with a gun on his shoulder, marching up and down by the deserted corner, apparently on sentry duty. He asked the soldier what he was guarding.
The soldier said he was following orders but didn’t know why he was assigned to the deserted corner. The czar then asked the guard captain why the soldier was guarding there, but the captain also had no idea. The general of the palace security was eventually summoned, but he also had no reason why.
The czar then ordered the dusty military records to be searched, and the answer was found. You see, long ago the queen’s mother had rose bushes by the deserted corner, and a soldier was assigned to protect the roses from being trampled.
Years later, when the queen’s mother was dead, the order was not cancelled because someone forgot, and thus the daily soldier ritual continued, soldiers with guns, guarding nothing..
These days there are billions of Christians, some sincerely ignorant, that are religiously trying to justify Sunday worship with a few misunderstood texts. They don’t know that when you actuslly search the scriptures with the guidance of the holy spirit, instead of what someone (even me) told you, you realize that there is really no scriptural grounds for Sunday worship.
Sunday worship, to be brutally honest, is not what God or any of his Prophets & Apostles instructed, much like the deserted courtyard of roses in the story above.
Disclaimer:
1. We are not saved by works, such as Sabbath observance, but by the grace through faith in Jesus Christ. However,
a. Faith without works is dead (James 2 vs 20)
2. It is not only Seventh Day Adventists that will go to heaven; heaven is open for anyone who believes.
a. Jesus says, "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd…
John 10 vs 6
3. There are Seventh Day Adventists, like any other religion, that won’t make it to heaven. It’s not about name or words but actions
a. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven Matthew 7 vs 21
4. I am not God; I do not judge anyone for anything. I just do these articles to bring the Biblical truth to fore. What you do with the truth is between you and God;
a. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; Romans 2 vs 12
