Why Keep Sunday?
Observing Sunday is nowhere
commanded in scripture.
Why do so many Christians keep it? Do you?
Do you realise this observance does not fulfil the fourth commandment?
This is the biggest heresy ever to be gullibly swallowed by a naive Church!
If you are a Christian, the chances
are that the day of the week on which you go to church is Sunday. Why? Why
do you rest from your usual activities on Sunday?
"Well, isn't that obvious?" you might
reply. That's when our church gets together, so naturally I meet with them
for worship. The Bible says we should do so in Hebrews 10:25."
Yes, I know that. But why do you
meet on Sunday? What biblical authority do you have for your custom?
Have you ever stopped to think about
this tradition? Why do the majority of Christian churches meet for worship
on Sunday? Why does western 'Christian' society set apart this day of the
week for rest even if not totally, certainly partially? Have you ever
investigated this matter to find out the truth, or have you simply gone
along with tradition like the majority?
Jesus did not rest on Sunday. He
rested on the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. He kept His Father's
Commandments (Jn 15:10). He also taught in the synagogues on the Sabbath day
(Luke 4:16). It was His custom to do so. Why is it not our custom today to
keep the seventh day holy?
Are we right in keeping the first day
of the week as the Christian Sabbath? Is that what Jesus wants? One of the
Commandments explicitly states to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
It states that the seventh day is the Sabbath, not the first day of
the week (Ex 20:8-11). So then, why are we keeping a day which Jesus neither
kept Himself, nor commanded us to keep?
These are important questions which
require accurate and honest answers. If you do not know the answers, read on
and find out the truth.
Consider Carefully
Jesus will judge us for what we do and
for how we uphold His Word. He will hold you highly accountable if you are
responsible for teaching others the Word of God. If you teach heresy either
deliberately or through careless negligence, consider Jesus' words of
warning.
But if anyone causes one of these
little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a
large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the
sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such
things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come (Matt 18:6,7).
If you, as a servant of God, as a
disciple of Jesus, teach contrary to the Word of God if you teach heresy
that is a serious offence. If you teach it unwittingly, God forgives, but
even ignorance should not detract from the seriousness of the crime.
Jesus said:
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.
Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments [the Ten
Commandments of the Law] and teaches others to do the same will be called
least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practises and teaches these
commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:18,19).
Let us have the utmost respect and
reverence for the Word of God. Let us be sure we are correctly expounding
the scriptures!
John warned about tampering with the
pure words of scripture:
I warn everyone who hears the words
of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add
to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away
from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the
tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book (Rev
22:18,19).
Any part of the holy scriptures
are just as sacred as the words of Revelation. Let us be careful to be wise
stewards of the words of life and do our utmost to correctly handle the word
of Truth (II Tim 2:15).
For every word we shall be held
accountable (Matt 12:36,37). Our words reflect what is in our heart, whether
obedience or disobedience.
A Myth!
Paul charged Timothy:
In the presence of God and of
Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His
appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be
prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage with
great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men
will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires,
they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their
itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth
and turn aside to myths (II Tim 4:1-4).
Do you realise that by observing
Sunday, the Christian community is observing a myth?
That may sound rather strong language
for you if you belong to a church which meets regularly each week on that
day. But consider:
1. You will not find one scripture in
the entire Bible which dispenses with the Sabbath as it was instituted in
the Old Testament. Oh, there are those who claim biblical support for
the first day of the week superseding the Sabbath day which Jesus kept, but
their arguments are flawed. Their theses are riddled with error. They are
cunningly devised fables (II Pet 1:16).
2. The fourth commandment which
established the seventh day as the Sabbath has never been abolished. Jesus
said quite plainly:
Do not suppose that I have come to
set aside the law or the prophets [the Old Testament]. I have not come to
set them aside, but to fill them up to the brim. For I solemnly say to you,
heaven and earth would sooner pass away that the dotting of an 'i' or the
crossing of a 't' from the law, until it all becomes in force (Matt 5:17,18,
Williams).
The fourth commandment is as binding
today as the command not to commit adultery, not to steal, or not to murder.
The Commandments were engraved in stone by the finger of God, symbolising
their God-given permanence. They are never to be erased as long as heaven
and earth exists.
3. The Sabbath has been dubbed
'Jewish', but it was made at Creation, thousands of years before ever a Jew
existed. Notice the inspired words of Genesis:
By the seventh day God had finished
the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His
work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He
rested from all the work of creating that He had done (Gen 2:2,3).
God did not need to rest. He does not
get tired (Is 40:28) or spiritually depleted (Ps 119:142). He did not rest
for His own benefit, but as an example for us of what we should do.
The Sabbath was made for man (Mark 2:27). It was not merely made for
the Jew.
4. The true Lord's Day is not Sunday,
but the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). The Lord who kept it when He was a human being
is the same Lord who made it in Old Testament times. He made everything (Col
1:16; Jn 1:1-3,14). He does not change (Mal 3:6; Heb 13:8); He has not
changed His Sabbath for man. It is His Sabbath. He called it that.
The Sabbath day is not called the 'Jewish Sabbath'. It is God's
Sabbath (Ex 31:13). That is why it is holy; it belongs to Him but it
has been given to mankind for his spiritual benefit. It is the same today as
it was 2,500 years ago when Israel was reminded of it at Sinai.
5. The early New Testament Church
observed the Sabbath. The roots of the Church are in Hebrew culture of which
the Sabbath was an inseparable part (Acts 13:14,15,44; 16:13; 17:2;
18:4,11; Rom 2:13,21,22; 7:7-12,22; James 2:8-12). Gentiles who were called
to salvation were grafted into the same olive tree and so also kept the same
customs as Israel (Rom 11:17-24). It was no different in physical Israel:
The same law applies to the
native-born and the alien living among you (Ex 12:49).
A Challenge
This information may be revolutionary
to many who read this. It is shocking, I know. It was equally revolutionary
and shocking when God first revealed it to my mind 28 years ago. But truth
is truth, and I could not deny what my eyes plainly saw in God's Word. So, I
abandoned all my worldly pursuits on that day of each week, to keep the day
which God commands to be kept holy. And I have been greatly blessed for
doing so ever since!
The truth of God is so simple in
principle. It is man who has complicated it for the sake of expedience.
When I first discovered that the first
day of the week, Sunday, was not the day on which Christ expects us to
gather for worship, I ceased worshipping in the church in which I was
brought up.
I do not condemn any for keeping
Sunday. I realize that most do so out of ignorance. There are many devout
and wonderful Christians who have no knowledge of the fact that they are
enacting an error. God accepts them in His grace purely because He has
deliberately allowed them to be blinded.
However, that does not excuse us when
God chooses to reveal to us the real truth in His Word. Now is the time of
enlightenment. God is making more of His Truth widely available, and we must
come out of error into Truth (Rev 18:4; Jn 10:9), out of darkness into
Light, allowing ourselves to be led by the Spirit of Truth (Jn 16:13).
If you want to be led into the fulness
of His Truth, you can do so. Indeed, you should do so, for He will
not accept those who step back (Heb 10:38). Jesus will only accept those who
live by every word of God they know (Matt 4:4), who are totally
committed to Him, and who really hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt
5:6).
If you disagree with any of the claims
I have made, I challenge you to try to disprove them by the pure Word of God
(not man's interpretation of it). I challenge you to present one valid
scripture (not taken out of context) to show that:
-
The Ten Commandments are abolished.
-
The fourth Commandment is done
away.
-
The Sabbath was changed from the
7th day to the first day of the week.
-
Jesus or the apostles kept the
first day of the week as the Sabbath.
-
Jesus or the apostles taught new
believers to keep the first day of the week as the Sabbath.
-
It was early Church custom to keep
the first day of the week instead of the traditional Sabbath.
-
We are to keep Sunday in honour of
the resurrection of our Saviour.
-
The first day of the week was
sanctified or hallowed as a day of rest in place of the Sabbath.
-
The first day of the week is called
a holy day or given any sacred title.
Further, can you find any scripture:
-
That says the seventh day is not
now God's Sabbath day for man?
-
Where we are instructed to rest on
the first day of the week?
-
That says the Father and Son rested
on the first day of the week as an example for man?
-
That calls the seventh day the
'Jewish Sabbath', or which labels the first day of the week the
'Christian Sabbath'?
-
That gives divine authority to
God's Sabbath being set aside in favour of Sunday or any other day?
Origin of Sunday
Historically, the first century New
Testament Church continued to observe the Sabbath. Sunday worship did not
become accepted into Christianity until much later after the death of the
original apostles. Through deception, it steadily gained acceptance in the
second century AD as the prophesied falling away took place (II Thes 2:3,4).
The fact that there was no dispute
amongst the earliest Christians about the correctness of observing the
Sabbath under the New Covenant is obvious from the New Testament writings.
Paul, who made little allusion to this issue in his letters, has been
grossly misrepresented by deceived 'scholars'. Had the Sabbath been
superseded by Sunday, there would have been obvious reference to it in the
New Testament. Had it been a legitimate point of contention, there would
have been deliberate comprehensive discussion of the matter in the writings
of one of the apostles. There is none.
The fact is, there was no dispute
amongst the first Christians about whether the Sabbath should be kept. They
knew it was the acceptable day of worship. There was no question
about it.
Sunday worship was not soon introduced
after Jesus' resurrection. For decades, the Church continued to observe the
Sabbath and traditional Feast days which God had given Israel. Salvation was
a promise given through Israel (Jn 4:22), so it was natural
and right that the Church should continue these God-ordained biblical
traditions.
There was no hint of the first day of
the week (a pagan institution) being kept in honour of Jesus' resurrection,
supposedly on the first day of the week that is, not until many decades
after Jesus' ascension. There are several references in the book of Acts to
the fact that the early Christians both Gentile and Jewish were still
keeping the Sabbath long after Jesus had been resurrected.
"There is no evidence that in the
earliest years of Christianity there was any formal observance of Sunday as
a day of rest or any general cessation of work" (Encyclopaedia Britannica,
Vol. 13, p 94, c 1928).
It was only much later, through
widespread misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Paul's letters, that
Sunday crept into Christian tradition. Satan planned this cunning deception
and steadily undermined the truth, systematically and surreptitiously
eroding confidence in the Sabbath. He perpetuated it by a vicious campaign
of anti-semitism and persecution..
It started by casting doubt on the
'Jewish' customs. After all, the Jews had killed Christ, so anything
'Jewish' immediately represented opposition to Christians! These subtly
wrong and prejudicial seeds were sown in the minds of Satan's children
wherever he could find fertile ground. It was not long before false
Christians began to assimilate such prejudices against truth. Gradually, the
infection spread until pagan customs began to supplant the true biblical
traditions intended for the Church spiritual Israel (Gal 6:16).
"The first writer who mentions the name
of Sunday as applicable to the Lord's Day is Justin Martyr; this designation
of the first day of the week, which is of heathen origin, had come
into general use in the Roman world shortly before Justin wrote" (Encyclopaedia
Britannica, Vol. 13, c 1928, p 94).
"The Christian Church took over many
pagan ideas and images. From sun worship, for example, came the celebration
of Christ's birth on the twenty-fifth of December, the birthday of the sun"
(From The History of Christianity, Lion Publishing, Oxford).
God was not pleased with these changes.
He did not sanction them. They were satanic introductions designed to cause
deception and division within the established Church.
Sunday Gradually Gained Acceptance
Although Sunday was initially a day for
the veneration of the pagan sun-god, it gradually became accepted in
Christian circles through deceit and disguise. By about AD 200 many weaker
Christians had adopted the first day of the week to avoid persecution and
lead a more tranquil life-style in a pagan society where Sunday was already
a widespread heathen observance.
In the second century, some false
teachers claimed that the first day of the week should now be observed since
Jesus' resurrection, in honour of Him. Orthodox Christians would not accept
this new teaching. It was heretical. Mayhem soon surrounded this matter.
Some Christians, genuinely confused about what to do, kept both Sabbath and
Sunday.
"As long as the Jewish Christian
element continued to have any influence in the Church, a tendency to observe
Sabbath as well as Sunday naturally persisted. Eusebius (H. E. iii 27)
mentions that the Ebionites continued to keep both days, and there is
abundant evidence from Tertullian onwards that so far as public worship...
[is] concerned the practice was widely spread among the Gentile churches" (Encyclopaedia
Britannica, Vol. 13, p 94).
However, the introduction of Sunday to
replace the Sabbath in the minds of the majority of believers took time. It
was a gradual process which steadily occurred over at least two centuries.
"No evidence for the equating of
Sabbath and Sunday is found before the end of the third century..." (From
The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, editor J D
Douglas, article Sunday).
In the fourth century AD, it was not
long before the Sunday issue became a potent political weapon in the hands
of the Roman emperor who saw in it a means of controlling the masses and the
many Christians in his empire. Through Sunday enforcement, he could control
the divisions that Christianity seemed to have caused within the Roman
empire.
Although reputed to be a celebration of
the day of Christ's resurrection, which in fact is another heresy see our
article Jesus' Resurrection Was Not On Sunday! the
observance of Sunday by the Christian community had more to do with force
than with choice.
It was the Council of Laodicea circa AD
363 or 365 which forbade Christians, under penalty of death, from keeping
the Sabbath.
"...the council of Laodicea which
forbids Christians from Judaizing and resting on the Sabbath day, and
actually enjoins them to work on that day, preferring the Lord's day..." (Encyclopaedia
Britannica, Vol. 13, p 95).
Earlier, in AD 321 the Roman emperor
Constantine had declared "that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns,
and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday (venerabili die solis)" (Ibid.).
Do you see how God's fourth commandment
was 'annulled' by men? The observance of Sunday, to replace the day God
instituted, has no divine mandate. It is a heretical custom that has been
subtly introduced into the Church by satanic elements.
Evidence From Acts
It is not difficult for a truly
open-minded observer to see from the book of Acts that the early Church did
not keep Sunday. It held to the traditional biblical 'Hebrew' festivals.
Acts was written at least thirty years
after Jesus' death and resurrection, probably about AD 65 or 66. The writer,
Luke, was most likely a Gentile, converted at Antioch through the preaching
of Paul and Barnabas. He makes several references to the Sabbath days which
God gave Israel. If the Sabbath and holy days with which the Jews were
familiar had been abolished in favour of other days (or no days), why would
a Gentile Church historian concern himself with them?
Consider the following evidence from
Acts of the Church's familiarity with, and acceptance of, such biblical
observances:
1. The Church was all gathered together
on the first Pentecost of the New Testament era (Acts 2:1). They were
obeying Jesus' command (1:4). He expected them to be keeping Pentecost, as
well as the other festivals given in the Old Testament. Had the Church not
been keeping Pentecost, there would have been no outpouring of the Spirit at
that time. God deliberately sent power at that time to highlight the
symbolism of that festival.
2. In Acts 6:5-7, the faith is clearly
identified as closely associated with Judaism. At that time, because the
same days were observed, Christianity was simply regarded as an offshoot of
Judaism.
3. The Ethiopian eunuch went to
Jerusalem to worship (8:27). Salvation was available through the Jews (Jn
4:22). Gentiles rightly complied with God's customs preserved by the Jewish
people.
4. Christian activity still frequently
centred around the synagogues. People congregated there on the Sabbath to
worship and be taught. If the early Church's behaviour had been any
different, Saul would not have requested letters of authority from the High
Priest to all Damascus synagogues so that he could arrest any Christians
(9:1-2).
5. When Saul (later, Paul) was
converted, he began to preach about Christ in the synagogues (9:20). If the
Christian faith had been so radically different from Judaism (as some claim
it is today), Saul would have made a point of preaching on a different day
other than when Jews were meeting in the synagogues. Paul was such a radical
that he would have made an issue out of the Sabbath if it was an issue! It
wasn't. The Church both Jew and Gentile was keeping it without
questioning
6. Cornelius, the devout Gentile, was a
good man whose conduct was such that he was well respected by all the Jewish
people (10:22). It is obvious Cornelius was keeping the same days the Jews
were. He certainly would not have commanded their respect if he were not!
The weekly and annual Sabbaths were so much a part of Judaism, that had he
not been keeping them, this would not have been recorded about him!
7. Moreover, in Acts 10:34 it states
"God does not discriminate between people, but that in every nation the man
who reverences Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him" (Phillips).
There is not one standard for Jew and another for Gentile. That is a recipe
for confusion. If there were two different standards, what would happen when
a Gentile Christian is married to a Jewish Christian? The notion that the
Gentiles were exempt from keeping the days which the Jews observed is
preposterous. Such a concept would be a charter for division, not direction.
8. Peter, when he received the vision
of the sheet full of unclean animals, adamantly refused to eat any of them.
The laws pertaining to clean and unclean meats were obviously still very
much obligatory. Peter did not consider those Old Testament principles to
have changed one iota after Jesus' resurrection (Acts 10:14; 11:8). God was
not changing the laws concerning clean meats, but showing Peter by analogy
that the Gentiles were being called into the Church (11:18). The food laws
were concomitant with those of the Sabbaths.
9. Gentiles were being readily absorbed
into a largely Jewish Church (Acts 11:19-26). This was about AD 42. Here at
Antioch, they were first called Christians. If true Christians were meant to
observe different days and customs from those of the Jews, God would have
called them out of a Jewish environment. He would have made sure that
the first place they were identified as Christians would have not had a
predominantly Jewish element.
10. In chapter 13, Paul and Barnabas
still continued to frequent and preach in the Jewish synagogues (v 5). This
was now about AD 45 or 46.
They went to the synagogue on the
Sabbath day and took their seats. After the reading of the Law and the
Prophets... (vs 14,15).
Little had changed since the time of
Jesus. The Old Testament scriptures are still being read, the Sabbath is
still being observed by both Jew and Gentile who seeks God. Even the
Gentiles knew what Paul was saying was true: that God was the God of
Israel (v 17), so the customs God had given Israel were also given to
the Church, spiritual Israel. The Sabbath given to Israel was still the
recognized day upon which worshippers gathered to hear the Word of God:
...the people kept on asking them
to say all this again on the following Sabbath (v 42, Phillips).
11. In AD 50, at the council at
Jerusalem, although Gentiles had been accepted into the Church for some 10
years by this time, God made no distinction between Jew or Gentile (Acts
15:9). God does not have two standards for His people; one for Jews and
another for Gentiles. All hearts are purified by faith (v 9). But Paul
emphasised to the Romans that this faith does not nullify the Law of which
the Sabbath command is an inseparable part; rather it upholds it (Rom 3:31).
The Jerusalem council decreed that Gentile Christians should be encouraged
to observe parts of the Law about which they were unfamiliar or which they
thought were unnecessary (Acts 15:19-21). No direct mention is made of the
Gentile Christians observing the Sabbath, but it is obvious to any objective
reader that they must have been keeping it:
For after all, for many generations
now Moses has had his preachers in every city and has been read aloud in
every synagogue every Sabbath day (v 21, Phillips).
If the Gentiles had not been observing
the Sabbath, it is most unlikely that they would have been in a Jewish
synagogue on the Sabbath, and the Sabbath would have been detailed in the
same list of requirements which stipulated that they should not eat blood
(Lev 17:14) or the meat of strangled animals.
12. The influence of Judaism upon the
Gentile Christians was so strong that the Gentiles were obliged to comply
with God-ordained Jewish custom. Timothy was even compelled by opinion to be
circumcised (Acts 16:3). It is inconceivable that in such a moral climate
the Sabbath would not have been observed by Gentile Christians.
13. In Philippi, a predominantly
Gentile Church area, the disciples met on the Sabbath day, but this time
outside the city by a river (Acts 16:13). Gentiles, if they had had an
alternative day of worship (which they didn't), were not forced by social
custom to do this. They were not obligated to worship in a synagogue. The
obligation upon them was not social, but moral. They knew the keeping of
the Sabbath festivals were commands of God, contained in His Word. The Old
Testament was still God's Word and its Sabbaths still the statutory days of
rest and worship.
14. In Thessalonica, Paul reasoned in
the synagogues three Sabbaths in succession (Acts 17:1-3). Many of the
converts were Greeks (v 4). He explained why Jesus had to die to pay the
penalty for sin (v 3). Sin is the breaking of the law of God (I Jn 3:4). One
of those laws is to keep the Sabbath holy (Ex 20:8). It is inconsistent to
reason that Jesus died to pay the price of sin, and yet ignore what sin is
according to God's Word. It is as much a sin to violate the Sabbath as it is
to commit adultery, murder, or idolatry.
15. In Philippi in AD 52, the Church
was still observing the festival of Unleavened Bread given to Israel in the
Old Testament (Lev 23:4-8; Acts 20:6). It was in AD 55 that Paul wrote to
the Corinthians that they should keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, not
with sin in their hearts, but truly with the 'unleavened bread' of
sincerity and truth (I Cor 5:8). Jesus, in instituting the New Covenant
symbols of unleavened bread and wine for the New Testament Passover had not
detracted at all from its observance. He had added to it. This is
fully in keeping with what He intimated in Matthew 5:17-20.
16. Likewise, Pentecost was still a
milestone in the Church at this later time (Acts 20:16). The festivals God
gave Israel were still being observed by the Church God's New Covenant
Israel.
17. Even then, there were untrue
stories circulating about Paul that he did not uphold the laws of the Old
Testament (Acts 21:20-25). Such an accusation was totally false, for there
were many thousands of Jews who had become believers and "every one of these
is a staunch upholder of the Law" (v 20, Phillips). Paul did observe
the Law (v 24) and instructed others, including Gentiles (v 25), to do so
too.
18. In Acts 27:9, there is a reference
to the Fast or the Day of Atonement (Lev 23:26-32). These festivals which
were annual Sabbaths of rest had not been abolished, even in the autumn of
AD 60.
19. In his final address to the Jews in
Rome, Paul states unequivocally that he has:
...done nothing against our people
or the customs of our forefathers (Acts 28:17).
No wonder the early Church was regarded
as a sect of Judaism (v 22). To the uninitiated, it seemed little different
from the Jews' religion.
All the incidental evidence God has
preserved for us through the record of the book of Acts paints a picture of
a Church retaining its Hebrew roots, while preaching Christ to the world.
The Sabbath and the annual festivals
God gave to Israel have never been abrogated. They are just as applicable to
the Christian Church today as they were when they were first given to God's
people in the Old Testament.
New Testament Authority For The Weekly Day of Rest
Nowhere in the New Testament is there
any command by Jesus to abolish the fourth commandment and institute a
replacement. This is such an important issue that if God had desired to
change the day of rest and worship, He would have made it amply plain that
He had done so.
The Law of God embodied in the ten
commandments is immutable. Heaven and earth would pass away first before the
slightest part of the Law of God (Matt 5:17-19). Those were not Matthew's
words; they were those of Jesus.
Jesus did not sanction the introduction
of Sunday to replace the Sabbath. The Old Testament Sabbath has not been
abolished. It is still the same day of rest for New Testament Christians.
God does not change such basics (Mal 3:6; Heb 13:8).
Although the church came to believe, a
few hundred years later, that Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of
the week, even if that were true (which it is not), that does not give any
person licence to establish Sunday as a day of rest. No man has authority to
alter the Law of God. Sunday worship, which has been humanly instituted,
reputedly in honour of the day of Jesus' resurrection, is nothing more than
a hollow sham. God made the Sabbath holy in the beginning (Genesis 2:3), and
He commands His people to keep it holy (Ex 20:8). Sunday was never
made holy. So it cannot be kept holy. You can only keep something
holy which God has already made holy! God is holy, not man (Ps 99:3,5,9).
Only God has the authority to make anything holy, and God has made the
Sabbath holy by setting it apart for our physical rest and spiritual
refreshing.
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest
for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his
own work, just as God did from His (Heb 4:9,10).
This has a two-fold meaning. There is
still a Sabbath rest for us in the physical realm. But there also remains a
future rest for us in the spiritual Kingdom of God, when we shall cease from
all our human struggles and difficulties.
This chapter of Hebrews 4 does not
dispense with the physical Sabbath rest, as many Bible 'teachers' propose.
Those who say it does, misunderstand the plain words of scripture. The Bible
does not contradict itself. Jesus said not one iota of the Law would be
abolished until the purpose for this earth is complete. Therefore, for those
who have doubts, the writer of Hebrews could not have meant that the rest in
Jesus has annulled the Sabbath day's rest, or he would be contradicting the
words of the Son of God.
Jesus kept all His Father's
commandments. Because He did so, He dwelt in His love (John 15:10). We are
to follow in exactly the same path as Jesus (I Pet 2:21,22). It is
inconsistent to think that the Sabbath is not binding on us today, as it was
for Him. If He had not kept the Sabbath holy, He would not have been our
perfect sinless sacrifice, capable of delivering us from death. But He did,
and He wants us to do so too.
There is a great blessing in observing
God's holy Sabbath. It is a weekly day of rest, set aside by God so that man
can stop from his normal work routine to consider the works of God. That day
is made for man's benefit (Mark 2:27). When you honour it for spiritual
pursuit there is tremendous value in keeping it. Correct Sabbath observance
is a great blessing, given us so we can draw close to our Maker and come to
understand Him.
Psychologically and spiritually, there
is far greater impact and value in observing the time which God made holy
from the beginning than in observing Sunday. The Sabbath is a divinely
commanded rest. Sunday is not.
When we keep the seventh day holy, God
grants us an understanding of His plan which cannot be grasped by keeping
Sunday. By virtue of the symbolism of the number seven, we are
keeping the day God established as holy, for man's perfecting. God
wants us to become perfect (Matt 5:48), and God is perfecting us through His
Spirit. We are also being reminded of the Creator who made this earth and
all life on it in six days and rested on the seventh as an example for
humanity (Gen 2:1-3).
Furthermore, the Sabbath points forward
to the time in the future when Jesus will rule the whole world for a
thousand years the Millennium (Is 11:1-10; Rev 20). It will be a time of
rest for this war-torn world, when happiness, joy, peace and prosperity will
benefit all who live on earth. This symbolism is not depicted by Sunday.
Apostasy Was Prophesied
The gradual departure from keeping the
Sabbath and the drift into Sunday worship was predicted in the New
Testament. (It was an underlying theme, couched in prophetic symbolism, in
the messages to the churches of Revelation.)
Deception was the biggest enemy to the
Church. Jesus had warned about it (Matt 24:4,23,24). And Paul wrote to the
Thessalonian church:
Do not let anybody at all
deceive you about this, because that [the second coming of Jesus] cannot
take place until the great revolt occurs... (II Thes 2:3 Williams).
Charles B Williams points out in his
accurate translation of this text, under a footnote about the words "the
great revolt", that this is referring to a moral revolt, an apostasy.
Morals are decided by God. He alone has
that right (Jas 4:12). But God predicted that a man would blaspheme God's
holy name by assuming that divine prerogative for himself.
...another king will arise... He
will speak against the Most High and oppress His saints and try to change
the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him [ruled,
oppressed and martyred] for a time, and times, and half a time (Dan 7:25).
This first occurred in the early
centuries of the Christian era when the Church was beguiled into accepting
pagan customs to replace those God had given to Israel and which He intended
for the New Testament Church to inherit. No wonder Paul was moved by the
Holy Spirit to exhort Christians to:
...keep a tight grip on the
teachings you have received from us (II Thes 2:15, Williams).
After the apostle John died and
Polycarp was martyred, the Church had no human authority to defend it
against the invasion of clever heretics.
What Constantine and the Roman pontiffs
achieved by threat of death is a fore-runner of what will occur again
shortly before Jesus' second coming (II Thes 2:4-8). Sunday worship was
enforced in the fourth century AD to bring political and social stability to
the Roman empire, and to consolidate Constantines rule. The harlot
described in Revelation 17, who rides the end-time 'Roman' political beast
will also impose a similar edict, enforcing Sunday as the only legal day of
rest and outlawing Sabbath observance and other correct biblical customs
(Rev 13:16; compare with Ex 13:9,16).
Christians who uphold the true biblical
Sabbaths will suffer isolation, ostracism and even death. Many sabbatarians
may either have to concede their firmly held beliefs or be martyred (Rev
17:6).
Sunday observance will be enforced in
the west for the sake of political, social, and economic expediency. But
those who, out of wrong motive, adopt this pagan custom will not have
the blessing of God. They will have to face their time of judgement when God
pours out His plagues upon them (Rev 14:10; Rev 15 and 16).
God commands His people who want to be
true to Him to come out of such wrong customs (Rev 18:4).
Sunday observance is heathen in
origin. It has no place in Christianity, and Christ does not want His Church
observing it.
This is the truth about the day
Christendom has assimilated as its day of rest. Whom will you follow; men or
God?
Malcolm B
Heap
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