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Why the Sabbath Is on Saturday, Not on Sunday

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Why the Sabbath Is on Saturday, Not on Sunday

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This Bible Study is given to provide for you a checklist for reference when someone genuinely asks why you keep the seventh day Sabbath and not Sunday.

Presenter's Notes

Bible Study: Why the Sabbath is on Saturday and NOT on Sunday  5-7-2016   Cave Springs, AR

Introduction

Today’s Bible Study is entitled, “Why the Sabbath is on Saturday and NOT on Sunday.”

From time to time those of us who keep the seventh-day Sabbath are challenged, accosted, looked-down-upon, harassed, chided, ridiculed, mocked, dismissed, avoided, or the target of contention by those who are hostile to the seventh-day Sabbath.  This includes those antinomians (both religious and secular).

Merrian-Webster’s definition of antinomian 

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/antinomian

1:  one who holds that under the gospel dispensation of grace the moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation

Religious antinomians are those who hate any kind of expectation that they should actually do anything that God explicitly says should be done.  They promote the idea that simply mouthing faith in God relieves all of mankind from any responsibility to do what God says.

The second definition of antinomian according to Merriam-Webster:

2:  one who rejects a socially established morality

Secular antinomians reject the establishment of moral norms established by society.  Instead, they hold to a libertine or hedonistic approach to life – that they can do anything they want whenever they want – as long as it feels good at the moment. 

Basically, an antinomian rejects God’s law – and that would include God’s law regarding the seventh-day Sabbath. 

My approach today will be to explain in outline form why we keep Saturday as the seventh day Sabbath and NOT Sunday.  This presentation is not an exhaustive explanation that includes every possible reason for keeping the Sabbath on Saturday instead of Sunday.  It is meant to give you a checklist that you can refer to if someone genuinely asks why you keep Saturday as the seventh-day Sabbath and NOT Sunday. 

I.  What is the Sabbath day?

            Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Deuteronomy 5v 12… ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

Merriam-Webster’s definition of rest

1:  repose, sleep; specifically :  a bodily state characterized by minimal functional and metabolic activities

2

a :  freedom from activity or labor

b :  a state of motionlessness or inactivity

c :  the repose of death

3:  a place for resting or lodging

4:  peace of mind or spirit

5

a (1) :  a rhythmic silence in music (2) :  a character representing such a silence

b :  a brief pause in reading

 

6:  something used for support, at rest

1:  resting or reposing especially in sleep or death

2:  quiescent, motionless

3:  free of anxieties

II.  Why keep the Sabbath at all?  

  • Sabbath is a sign between God and His people – an identifier (forever)

Exodus 31v12-13  And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 13 “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

v16  Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’”

            The Contemporary English Version puts it bluntly:  

Leviticus 23:1  The Lord told Moses 2 to say to the community of

Israel:  I have chosen certain times for you to come together and worship me.

3 You have six days when you can do your work, but the seventh day of each week is holy because it belongs to me. No matter where you live, you must rest on the Sabbath and come together for worship. This law will never change.

  • The Sabbath is meant for everyone who chooses to follow God (not just Israelites or Jews)

Isaiah 56v1…  “Keep justice, and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come,

And My righteousness to be revealed.

2 Blessed is the man who does this, And the son of man who lays hold on it; Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

3 Do not let the son of the foreigner Who has joined himself to the Lord

Speak, saying,“The Lord has utterly separated me from His people”;

Nor let the eunuch say, “Here I am, a dry tree.”

4 For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,

And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant,

5 Even to them I will give in My house And within My walls a place and a name

Better than that of sons and daughters;I will give them[a] an everlasting name

That shall not be cut off.

6 “Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him,

And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants— Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant—

7 Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

8 The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “Yet I will gather to him

Others besides those who are gathered to him.”

  • The Sabbath will be kept when Jesus Christ returns to Earth.

Isaiah 65:17  For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.

Isaiah 66v22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord, “So shall your descendants and your name remain.

23 And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another,

And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord.

This new heavens and new earth referred to in Isaiah 65 and 66 are essentially a re-creation – and again we are reminded that God has designed the weekly Sabbath for us to Worship before Him.It is impossible for everyone to come together and worship on the Sabbath if people keep the Sabbath on different days of the week.

  • The Sabbath honors our Creator

Genesis 2v1-3  Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

  1. Creation of earth completed.

God stopped working because His physical creation was finished.

Genesis 1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

  1. God rested on the seventh day.  

The Hebrew root word for “rested” here means to cease, to desist, to rest.God did not need to rest because he was tired.

Isaiah 40v28  Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The everlasting God, the Lord,

The Creator of the ends of the earth,

Neither faints nor is weary. …

Note:  In music – the symbol for “rest” that we read about in Merriam-Webster.

  1. God blessed the seventh day.

When God blessed the seventh day it was the third time the word "blessed" is used in the Creation week. On the fifth day God blessed the creatures of the air and the sea (Genesis 1:22).  On the sixth day God blessed Adam and Eve—and through them all the creatures of the earth (Genesis. 1:28

By blessing the seventh-day Sabbath God exalted the Sabbath above all other days. 

  1. God sanctified the seventh day.

The blessing God pronounced on the seventh day was further explained.He sanctified it or hallowed it by consecrating it to a sacred purpose. The sanctification of the seventh-day Sabbath was God’s first act of sanctification recorded in the Bible.

“In ancient Hebrew thought this word [sanctification] was part of the marriage ceremony. When a man committed himself to marry a woman he sanctified her to himself. So God sanctified the Sabbath to Himself, making it His own.

“This is how God inaugurated the weekly cycle, setting the rhythm of life for the human race. In His grand design the seventh day was the apex of the week when His children could experience holy time, God’s time, rejoicing in the blessings of His creative power. This was to become a perpetual celebration of God’s completed work, renewed every week into the ceaseless ages of eternity.”

Source:http://www.sabbathintersections.com/sanct.shtml

  1. Jesus Christ himself explained that the Sabbath was specifically made for mankind.

Mark 2v27  And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.

Mark 2v28  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

  1. The apostle Paul reminds us that Jesus Christ was the Creator.

Col 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

Col 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

Col 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

III.   Arguments as to why the Sabbath was changed to Sunday

  •  Roman Emperor Constantine's edict of March 7, 321 A.D. …

…changed the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. What he introduced was the first civil legislation concerning Sunday when he decreed that all work should cease on Sunday, except that farmers could work if necessary. Constantine's edict reads:

"On the venerable Day of the Sun [venerablili dei Solis] let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits.”Codex Justinianus, book 3, title 12,3 trans. In Schaff, History of the Christian Church 5th ed. (New York: Charles Scribner, 1902), vol. 3, p. 380, note 1.

Several years later in 325 A.D. the Council of Nicaea met to differentiate the Roman church from its Jewish roots.The Council of Nicaea adopted the Trinitarian view of God as well as sharply distinguishing between Passover and Easter – such that the date of Easter would never coincide with the Passover.

We note that the decree in 321 A.D. by Roman emperor Constantine (and later his son) to keep Sunday as a day of rest served to keep the Roman church bishops in line because the Emperor would dismiss (or fire) the bishops if they did not follow his instructions.

  • Sunday-keeping Christians call Sunday the Lord’s Day – claiming that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead occurred on Sunday – and therefore that day of the week was special and the day set apart to worship God as if Sunday were actually a Sabbath.

Yet, we know that the Bible timeline is firm – that Jesus Christ was three days and three nights in the tomb – that Jesus died late Wednesday afternoon and was buried at sundown on Wednesday evening.We also know that Jesus was already raised from the dead before daybreak on Sunday morning.The Bible says 3 days and 3 nights – not 3 days and 4 nights.Jesus Christ’s resurrection occurred at sunset on Saturday evening after being in the grave for 3 days and 3 nights.

The entire basis for Sunday as the Lord’s Day is a false paradigm – a misleading assertion that causes people to abandon the Sabbath.

  • Christians gathered to “break bread” (dine together) on the first day of the week, therefore that is proof that Sunday is the new special day of worship.

Acts 20:7  Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.

Reference Strong's G4521 – sabbaton which is translated above as “day of the week”  This term means the Sabbath (seventh day) and not Sunday nor any other day of the week. 

Reference Strong's G3391 – mia which is translated above as “first” but means “one” (as opposed to many) or “a certain”.   It can mean “first” but not in this context referring to the Sabbath.  The translator had to be erroneously predisposed to think of Sunday as a Sabbath in order to stretch this meaning to say “the first day of the week.”  

Reference Strong's G4521 – sabbaton which is translated above as “day of the week”  This term means the Sabbath (seventh day) and not Sunday nor any other day of the week.  

Even if the verse referred to the first day of the week, that does not mean it was a day of worship.We read that the apostle Paul was about to embark on a journey.Other disciples came to dine with him one last time before he departed.I know that when we have family gatherings, or when we are at the Feast of Tabernacles, we spend time with each other – often until late at night – because we know that we will all be departing the next day.

In any event, it was not unusual for the disciples to dine together.

Acts 2:46  So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,

Dining together became a custom – a delightful way to fellowship with each other – much as we do following Sabbath services each week when we have a potluck meal.

Breaking bread or dining together in one instance prior to an apostle going on a trip does not negate one of the Ten Commandments – nor does it establish a replacement commandment to worship on another day besides the seventh-day Sabbath.

  • Christians can keep any one of seven days as the Sabbath – it doesn’t matter which one.
  1. Let us go back to the time before the Ten Commandments were carved in tablets of stone on Mount Sinai in front of Moses.

Exodus 16 tells us the about the Israelites in the desert after leaving Egypt.  They had a lack of food and were yearning to go back to Egypt. 

Exodus 16:4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. 5 And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”

22 And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’” 24 So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. 25 Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”

27 Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? 29 See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

  1. Exodus 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Notice the use of the term “remember.”  The word “remember” means to recall something from memory that they already knew.  We read in Exodus 16 that some Israelites went out to gather manna on the seventh-day Sabbath day even though they knew better.  God used this example to reinforce the seventh-day Sabbath lesson.

Notice that God did not say that each individual could pick which one of the seven days to avoid gathering manna – that only on a certain day would there be no manna delivered.  And this delivery of manna for six days per week was reinforced for forty years that the Israelites wandered in the wilderness prior to entering the Promised Land of Canaan.

The work “remember” is also important in the context that the Israelites were previously unable to keep the seventh-day Sabbath when they were slaves in Egypt.  When Moses insisted that the Israelites have time to rest, the pharaoh increased the Israelites workload – making them do additional labor. 

  • Christians can simply “rest” in their hearts – knowing that they are saved by grace through the blood of Christ.

James 2:14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?

James 2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

James 2:20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.James 2:18  But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

Some people are very uncomfortable with the word “works,” so we can simply substitute the word “actions” and re-read the passage.   

In law:  actus reus and mens rea  == the act and the intention

  • Galatians 4:8-10 means we no longer have to keep any day of worship.

Galatians 4v8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. 9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.

Paul is telling the church at Galatia that he was concerned that the church members were looking to keep the ceremonial law – the ceremonial law added by the Pharisees.  Christ disdained some of the ceremonial rules such as ritual washing and unreasonable rules about Sabbath-keeping that made the Sabbath a burden. 

Even today some people wish to return to such ceremonial law – and that disguises or camouflages the true commandments of God as displayed by the Ten Commandments. 

For example, some of the pioneering Pilgrims or Separatists who came from England to America were careful not to walk on grass on the Sabbath lest they plant a grass seed and thereby do some “work.”  To avoid planting grass seed they would place boards on the ground and then walk on the boards to avoid walking on grass. 

  • The seventh-day Sabbath is Jewish – not Christian.Therefore Christians are under no obligation to keep the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath.

This is an odd argument because the Sabbath was established at creation – some 2,500 years before the first Jew.The laws of God – the Ten Commandments -- were in place from creation.

Doing away with one of the Ten Commandments by claiming that the commandment is Jewish brings one to wonder why those same self-described Christians do not desire to do away with the other nine of the Ten Commandments.When did it become okay for Christians to murder, lie, steal, commit adultery, or covet?

 

Summary

Merrian-Webster’s definition of antinomian --religious and secular–no need to follow the law

My approach today was to explain in outline form why we keep Saturday as the seventh day Sabbath and NOT Sunday.  It is meant to give you a checklist that you can refer to if someone genuinely asks why you keep Saturday as the seventh-day Sabbath and NOT Sunday. 

I.  What is the Sabbath day?

            Exo 20:8-11

Deuteronomy 5v 12-15

Merriam-Webster’s definition of rest

II.  Why keep the Sabbath at all? 

  • Sabbath is a sign between God and His people – an identifier (forever)
  • The Sabbath is meant for everyone who chooses to follow God (not just Israelites or Jews)
  • The Sabbath will be kept when Jesus Christ returns to Earth.
  • The Sabbath honors our Creator
  1. Creation of earth completed.
  2. God blessed the seventh day.  
  3. God sanctified the seventh day.
  4. Jesus Christ himself explained that the Sabbath was specifically made for mankind.
  5. The apostle Paul reminds us that Jesus Christ was the Creator.

III.   Arguments as to why the Sabbath was changed to Sunday

  • Roman Emperor Constantine's edict of March 7, 321 A.D. and the 325 A.D. the Council of Nicaea
  • Sunday-keeping Christians call Sunday the Lord’s Day – claiming that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead occurred on Sunday – and therefore that day of the week was special and the day set apart to worship God as if Sunday were actually a Sabbath.
  • Christians gathered to “break bread” (dine together) on the first day of the week, therefore that is proof that Sunday is the new special day of worship.
  • Christians can keep any one of seven days as the Sabbath – it doesn’t matter which one.
  1. Let us go back to the time before the Ten Commandments were carved in tablets of stone on Mount Sinai in front of Moses – the giving of manna except on 7th day
  2. Exodus 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy – couldn’t rest in Egypt.
  • Christians can simply “rest” in their hearts – knowing that they are saved by grace through the blood of Christ.

James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.James 2:18  But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

  • Galatians 4:8-10 means we no longer have to keep any day of worship.

Paul is telling the church at Galatia that he was concerned that the church members were looking to keep the ceremonial law – the ceremonial law added by the Pharisees.  

  • The seventh-day Sabbath is Jewish – not Christian.Therefore Christians are under no obligation to keep the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath.
  1. This is an odd argument because the Sabbath was established at creation – some 2,500 years before the first Jew.The laws of God – the Ten Commandments -- were in place from creation.
  2. Doing away with one of the Ten Commandments by claiming that the commandment is Jewish brings one to wonder why those same self-described Christians do not desire to do away with the other nine of the Ten Commandments.When did it become okay for Christians to murder, lie, steal, commit adultery, or covet?

If Christian antinomians and other non-believing antinomians spent as much time seeking how to worship and honor God as they do in trying to avoid doing what God says, those individuals and indeed our entire society would be better off. 

The next time you hear someone put forth the argument that the seventh-day Sabbath is void, remember these points – and understand that by avoiding the seventh-day Sabbath, such persons are distancing themselves from their Creator.  Pray for them, and pray for the strengthening of those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath that they might more fully understand the will of God.

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Yahoo Question and Answer:

Why did God Command man to Keep The Sabbath?

1. The Sabbath is a day to cease our creating, working with the creation, and appreciate what God has done in the world and is doing in us. Genesis 2

2. Elaborate food preparation is to be done on the day before the Sabbath so that there is no baking or heavy cooking on the Sabbath. Exodus 16

3. The Sabbath is a time to lay our burdens down and rest. We should not do any servile work on the Sabbath. This includes our entire family, even our servants and beasts of burden and strangers who live among us. Jeremiah 17; Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5

4. The Sabbath is an holy convocation. We should meet and worship with others. Leviticus 23

5. We should be reverent and show God that we love, honor, and respect His authority. Psalm 89:7, Habakkuk 2:20

6. The Sabbath should be a day of delight and rejoicing, a day which we forsake our thoughts and words for God's thoughts and words. Isaiah 56, 58

7. The Sabbath is a time of healing. Matthew 12, Mark 1, 3, Luke 13, 14

8. We are not to buy or sell on the Sabbath. Nehemiah 13

9. The Sabbath is a time to do good and visit and comfort the sick. We should do spiritual work on the Sabbath, serving others. John 5

10. The Sabbath is a time of prayer. Acts 16:13

11. The Sabbath is a time to reason with others about spiritual principles, and for ministers to teach the word of God. Acts 17:2, 18:4, 11

12. The Sabbath is a time for Singing. Ephesians 5:19-20, Colossians 3:16, Psalms 92 is called the "Sabbath Psalm"