Teachinghearts |
Sign of the Everlasting Covenant
(The Sabbath)
The Gospel Message in One Day.
"Explore the Word. Change the World"
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What is the Sabbath?
The Sabbath is the day of rest made by God on the seventh day of the week, beginning from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. It was created and named at creation
as a day of rest and celebration of the creation for all humans.
On Mount Sinai, God told Israel to remember this holy day when He placed it in the ten commandments.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant, your cattle or your visitor who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
(Exodus 20: 8-11).
The Sign of the Covenant
Just as God promises rest from sin. The Sabbath gives us rest from our work.
On His death, even Jesus rested on the Sabbath and then rose on the first day of the week.
- Criteria of a sign.
- Universal. It must be seen or experienced by the whole world.
- Must work for all mankind. It must mean the same thing everywhere.
- Tangible. It must be seen or experienced.
- Well Defined. The shape, appearance or boundaries are identifiable.
- Incorruptible. Its definition and meaning cannot change.
- Personal. It can be experienced individually.
- The Sabbath was to be a sign of the Covenant through out eternity.
| The Sign of the Sabbath |
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On the first Sabbath, God rested from His works.
When He died, Christ also rested from His works on the Sabbath.
He was buried on Friday evening and rose on Sunday morning.
The Sabbath is a sign that God will give us rest from sin through His works.
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- The Sabbath was a perpetual covenant. Exodus 31: 16
So the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.
Since Christians are heirs through Christ, they are part of Israel and part of this perpetual covenant.
- The Sabbath was given to the Gentiles.
Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him and to love the name of the Lord,
to be His servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast my covenant.
Even those I will bring to My Holy Mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar;
for My house will be called an house of prayer for all peoples.
(Isaiah 56: 6-7)
- The Sabbath was a sign of a relationship between God and His people. It shows that He sanctifies us.
- Ezekiel 20: 12,20. I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them ...
- Exodus 31: 13,17. ... You shall observe My Sabbaths, for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
When God makes us holy He numbers and names us (Revelation 14). When God made the Sabbath holy He numbered and named it.
All the other days were numbered, but only th Sabbath was given a name.
- Does the Sabbath meet the criteria of a sign? "Yes".
Instead of choosing a monument that can corrode, or cannot be seen universally, God chose time as His sign. He used the universal lights that can be seen everywhere to mark this time.
| The Signs in the Heavens |
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In Genesis 1: 14 we see how God uses the sun and moon as seasons, days and years.
But how are these lights used as signs?
 Sabbath. It is the sign of His Covenant.
 Moon. The church.
 Dark Day and Falling Stars. Sign of His Coming (Joel 2: 30-31; Matthew 24: 29; Revelation 6: 12-17).
 Rainbow. He will not destroy the earth with water.
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Then God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. (Genesis 1: 14).
- Universal. The sun rises and sets on the whole earth. Every one sees the same sun in the sky.
- Must work for all mankind. All people experience sunrise and sunset and use this as a marker for a period of time.
- Tangible. The day in time is a real experience. We can see it coming and going. We live and move during its presence.
- Well Defined. It has always been the seventh day in a cycle of seven.
- Incorruptible. In six thousand years, the day has not changed. Other biological and constructed monuments fade and lose their meaning, but the sun rises and sets continually every twenty four hours.
- Personal. It is a day for individuals to stop working and meet their God.
- The Sabbath is still in force today.
- Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles. Look at what he had to say.
- Acts 13: 42,44,48. ... The next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord ...
- Acts 16: 12-13 ... On the Sabbath day ... we began preaching to the women who had assembled.
- Acts 17: 2,17 And according to Paul's custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures.
... So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present.
- Acts 18: 4. And he reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.
- The Sabbath be kept in heaven because it is a perpetual covenant.
... from new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me ... (Isaiah 66: 22-23)
- The Sabbath is still the sign of the Covenant.
- The Sabbath is given to the people of God.
- Isaiah 58: 13-14
- Hebrews 4: 9. "It is therefore the duty of the people of God to keep the Sabbath." [The Modern New Testament from the Aramaic]
- It represents a close relationship with the Lord.
- Christ's close relationship with the Father.
And He said, "ABBA, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me, nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will." (Mark 14: 36)
- Father's name is in the heart of the Sabbath. (Hebrews 8: 10)
The Everlasting Covenant
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days says the Lord;
"I will put my laws into their minds and write it on the hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be My people".
(Hebrews 8: 10)
The new covenant was still made with the house of Israel, not the Gentiles or Christians.
There is evidence for the meaning and origin of the covenant in the Bible.
- When Jesus returns He will have His name written in two places.
It was written on His robe and thigh.
And on his robe and on his thigh He has a name written, "King of Kings and Lord of Lords". (Revelation 19: 16)
- Thigh. Why on His thigh? He was making an unbreakable promise.
According to Genesis 47: 29 putting their hand under the thigh was part of making a covenant.
- Robe. Why on the Robe? The promise was to cover us.
- The robe is the garment of salvation and the robe of righteousness that covers the saint. (Isaiah 61: 10)
- As a sign of the promise that He would cover our sins. Hebrews 10: 16-17
- What is the Covenant that God makes with Man?
- What is a covenant?
- Words for covenant are: will, contract, testament, agreement.
- A covenant is an agreement by which parties bind themselves and each other to the fulfillment of certain conditions.
- When is a Covenant in force? It is enforced at death like a will (Hebrews 9: 17-18).
- He will be our God and we shall be His people.
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Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples for all the earth is mine.
(Exodus 19: 5)
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For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days says the Lord;
"I will put my laws into their minds and write it on the hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be My people".
(Hebrews 8: 10)
- Everlasting Covenant
- Covenant concerning the flood. Genesis 9: 8-16 - The earth will never be destroyed by a flood again.
- God's Covenant with Abraham. Genesis 17: 7 - To be our God forever
- God's Covenant with Israel. 1 Chronicles 16: 15-17
- God's Covenant included the Gentile. The rainbow. Deuteronomy 29: 14-15
- ... I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth. (Isaiah 49: 6,8)
- Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. (Isaiah 60: 3)
- Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God and there is no other. (Isaiah 45: 22)
- In order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3: 14)
- God has a special place where He keeps His covenant.
- The Ark of His covenant. (Numbers 10: 33)
- The Ark in Heaven. And the temple of God which is in Heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple. (Revelation 11: 19)
The New Covenant
- Christ renews the covenant.
- The Bread and Wine represent His Body and Blood.
Christ renewed the covenant with us while He was on earth. 1 Corinthians 11: 25.
... This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me.
- The promise of the covenant is passed on to the followers of Christ.
- We are all descendants of Abraham. (Galatians 3: 29)
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise.
- The Gentiles now share in the covenant of promise because of Christ. (Ephesians 2: 11-14)
But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.
- The problem with the first covenant.
- The problem was with the people not the wording of the Covenant.
The fault of the covenant was that it was not in the minds and hearts of the people.
- Exodus 24: 7. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said "All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient".
- Obedience by works. While the covenant was just words that they heard, they worked to obey it when their hearts and minds were far from God.
- Our Hearts Want to Sin. "For Christians, the saving grace is Christ's sacrifice to save each Christian's soul from it's own inner tendency toward sin. In the Christian view, the world is redeemed as each individual's soul is saved through Jesus Christ. In the Jewish view, we are redeeming the world by our own efforts."
- Change the Covenant or the People?
So this was the change that made the covenant new or better. The words of the covenant were not changed. The people were changed. The covenant was written on their minds and hearts. (Hebrews 8: 7-10)
- The new Covenant is made on better promises and a more reliable foundation.
He is a better mediator because He is perfect and indestructible. The promises are better because they are written internally.
God changed the people and the priest not the terms of the covenant.
But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises (Hebrews 8: 6-10)
- Christ is our only mediator.
- Hebrews 9: 15-16; 4: 14-16; 13: 20-21
- For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
(1 Timothy 2: 5).
- Obedience by faith.
The New Covenant and The Law
... Look, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
(Hebrews 8: 8)
Who are the sons of Israel? Everyone who accepts Christ belongs to Israel. So if the new covenant was made with the house of Israel there is not a separate old covenant for Israel and a new covenant for Christians.
If you belong to Christ, then you are descendants of Abraham and heirs according to the promise.
(Galatians 3: 29)
Law or Grace?
Most Christians have no problem with nine of the ten commandments. But if you mention the importance of the Sabbath they will quickly say
that we are under grace, not the law.
If this argument were true then adultery and murder would be tolerable now. Or we could substitute partnerships that pleased us.
The evil one has attacked the Sabbath because it is the least understood of the laws.
The Hebrew word for seven means oath. So the seventh (Sabbath day) is the oath day. The day God made His promise to give us rest.
Rest from sin. It was a Holy time that commemorated two events.
- Sanctification. Also I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. (Ezekiel 20: 12)
He gave us rest from sin and death by resting in the grave on the Sabbath as our substitute.
- Creation. Speaking of the fourth commandment God says that it is a sign that will last forever.
"It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he ceased from labor and was refreshed". (Exodus 31: 17)
It commemmorates our creation and is a sign that He can also recreate us again.
Grace does not abolish the law. Grace provides pardon for law breakers and a permanent method for keeping the law.
By writing the law in our hearts, and making it a part of us we will forever keep the law from within the core of our being.
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yes we establish the law. (Romans 3: 31)
When is the Sabbath? The Jewish day starts at sunset. The Sabbath day is the seventh day,
starting at sunset Friday to sunset on Saturday.
The New Testament gives evidence that the Sabbath occurred between the preparation day and the first day of the week.
The story of the crucifixion states that Jesus died on the preparation day. The disciples quickly dressed his body temporarily and took it from the cross before the Sabbath began.
Then early on the first day (Sunday morning) Mary came to finish the preparation of the body and found that He was risen.
See Luke 23: 53-56 and Luke 24: 1-3.
Did it Change?
There is no commandment given by Jesus or the disciples to change the commandment.
Calendar changes in 1582 did not change the weekly cycle in either the order of the days or the number of days per week. It only changed the date.
Thursday October 4 was followed by Friday October 15 and then Sabbath October 16.
During the French Revolution, they experimented with a ten day week calendar but within three years they had to revert back to the calendar of the rest of the world.
Even if there was the slightest possibility that the correct day was somehow lost, doing our best to follow God would be honoring the day the Jews have faithfully kept as the Sabbath - Saturday.
Who Kept The Sabbath?
- Adam and Eve. The Sabbath has existed since creation, before the Jews.
By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done,
and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
(Genesis 2: 2-3)
- Before Sinai. Moses wanted to go and keep the Sabbath before the exodus. (Exodus 5: 1-5)
- The Jewish Nation. The Lord reminded them to keep the Sabbath when He formally gave the laws on Sinai.
"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy". (Exodus 20: 8).
The use of the word "remember" points to a preexistence of which they were aware.
- The Disciples. They ... rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Luke 23: 54-56.
- Paul. It was Paul's custom to preach to both Jews and Gentiles on the Sabbath. (Acts 17: 2; Acts 18: 4)
- The Gentiles. The Gentiles also went to the synagogue on Sabbath. (Acts 18: 4 and Acts 13: 42)
- Jesus in Life. Luke 4: 16 says it was Jesus' custom to go to the synagogue on Sabbath.
Some argue that this was because He was among the Jews and that the old covenant was still in effect.
But He issued no commands to change the law. In fact He said that He did not come to change the law. (Matthew 5: 17-20)
- Jesus in Death. Jesus died on the preparation day (Friday), lay in the grave on Sabbath and rose on the first day of the week, Sunday morning.
After His work as creator of the earth, He rested on the Sabbath. After His work as the redeemer, or Creator of a new, born again human He rested again.
How did God rest from His works?
He rested after the work of creation (Genesis 2: 2).
Then He rested after the work of recreation or redemption when He was in the grave on the Sabbath.
Who Will Keep The Sabbath?
- Christians Fleeing the Roman Persecution. Speaking of the persecution to come forty years after the new covenant was in force,
Jesus prayed that their flight would not be on the Sabbath. (See Matthew 24: 20)
- The Saints in Heaven. Isaiah 66: 22-23 states that all mankind will come to worship God every Sabbath.
- The People of God. Hebrews 4: 9 states that there is a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
For if Joshua has given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day after that.
So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.
Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through the same example of disobedience.
(Hebrews 4: 8-11)
Who Does Not Want to Keep The Sabbath?
As we have seen, the Sabbath was made at creation, before there was ever a Jewish nation.
When the law was given at Sinai, God told them to remember the day signifying that it was a custom that was widely known before the Jewish nation was called. It was not introduced at Sinai.
- So the Jewish nation kept the Sabbath.
- Jesus and the apostles kept the Sabbath before and after His death.
- The early Christians kept the Sabbath until it became unpopular to associate with the Jews around 100 years later.
Substituting the Sabbath for Sunday was also a strategy to win over the pagans by honoring their holy day - Sunday.
This became official when Emperor Constantine made it legal.
- In heaven we will keep the Sabbath. God praises those who keep His commandments.
So the only ones who do not want to keep the Sabbath are the Christians who have substituted Sunday for Sabbath.
Sunday is respected as the day to commemorate the resurrection. But there was no such command given and baptism was the only ceremony given to commemorate the resurrection.
Buried with Him in baptism, in which also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised him from the dead.
(Colossians 2: 12; Romans 6:4)
The scriptures says it is useless to worship God with the commandments made up by men.
This people honors Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.
But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. (Matthew 15: 8-9 )
Was the Sabbath for the Jews Only?
Heaven is described in terms of tribes from the son's of Israel.
The Bible says that the true sons of Abraham are those who are children by Faith.
Genetic connections do not qualify you for heaven - faith does.
Therefore, there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles - faith is what connects us all to God.
Being faithful above the rest of mankind, the Jewish nation was chosen to preserve the law and the ways of God until the Gentiles could see the light.
There is only one covenant that matters and that is the eternal covenant. Under this covenant we are all the same.
Was The Sabbath Abolished?
Colossians 2 seems to suggest that Christ nailed the Sabbaths to the cross.
But this refers only to the temporary laws of sacrifices under which there were many Sabbaths.
There were eight Sabbath days. Only the weekly Sabbath is mentioned at creation and in the ten commandments.
The others are mentioned as part of the feasts and ceremonies of the ancient sacrificial system.
When Jesus died, the old sacrificial system died.
Each of those days represented something significant that involved the Messiah. The eternal law, represented in the ten commandments, was not abolished.
This Sabbath represents what Christ is doing and would be doing for us eternally - therefore it is eternal.
He gives us rest from sin and therefore the right to life.
The Sabbath is eternal, it has not been abolished or changed by the new covenant. In fact it is the sign of the covenant
and the seal of God. The Holy Spirit is the one who does the sealing by making us obedient to God in heart and deeds.
This includes obedience to the Sabbath.
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yes we establish the law." (Romans 3: 31).
"They ... rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. (Luke 23: 54-56).
The Sabbath will be in the new earth.
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, said the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain, and it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, said the Lord. (Isaiah 66: 22-23)
Sunday Keeping Arguments
Biblical Arguments.
Finding no explicit commandment to change the Sabbath, people began to look for circumstantial evidence that the Sabbath was changed.
There are eight texts in the New Testament that mention the first day of the week.
These are the arguments used to justify keeping Sunday.
Notice that in these examples that there is no reference or explicit command to change the Sabbath.
- Resurrection. The Sabbath was changed because Christ was resurrected on Sunday.
Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene ... (Mark 16: 9)
Following the logic of this argument, we can ask why not choose Friday since He died for our sins on that day.
Or why not Thursday, since He established the new covenant on that day?
The point is that this argument is useless. The event did not authorize a change.
He rose at the earliest possible moment so that He could keep all the laws.
One glaring fact is that He rested on the Sabbath when He was dead!
In contrast the Bible says the following about God and the permanent nature of His laws.
I know that everything God does will remain forever. There is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him. (Ecclesiastes 3: 14)
For you have blessed it, O Lord, and it shall be blessed for ever. (1 Chronicles 17: 27) The Sabbath is blessed forever.
It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the law to fail. (Luke 16: 17). Those are the words of Jesus.
And He answered and said to them, "why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?" (Matthew 15: 3)
- Meetings on the First Day. Their meeting on Sunday proved that the day of worship was changed.
One the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them intending to leave the next day, and He prolonged His message until midnight. (Acts 20: 7).
Since the Jewish day was from sunset to sunset, this meeting was actually on a Saturday evening to Saturday midnight because Paul was leaving on Sunday.
Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house ... (Acts 2: 46).
They Met Every Day! They met every day to have a meal, so this meeting had no significance. The Jews and the Gentiles also met on Sabbath as it was their custom.
We can meet every day to praise God, but we must keep the Sabbath.
- Meeting With Jesus.
So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them "Peace be with you". (John 20: 19)
The verse simply mentions that Jesus met with them on the day of His resurrection.
They were not even meeting for church. They were there because they were afraid of the Jews.
They were not even meeting to celebrate the resurrection because they still did not know or believe that Jesus had been resurrected.
| Night | Day | Night |
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| Evening | Midnight | Morning | Evening | Evening |
| First Day | Second Day |
| Saturday | Sunday |
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If the Jewish day is from sunset to sunset and starts with the evening then the morning,
then this presents a puzzling situation. If Jesus was resurrected on the morning of the first day, how could He have met with the disciples in the evening of the first day?
The daylight part of the day was also divided into two sections.
The morning was from sunrise to noon and the little evening was from noon to sunset.
So Jesus met with them in what we call the afternoon.
- Collecting an Offering.
On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. (1 Corinthians 16: 2)
This verse does not even mention a meeting.
One could argue that they were told to store their offering on the first day, so that they can minimize the work on the Sabbath and that such collections are not done on the Sabbath.
Remember that their offerings were not just coins or money. It was often groceries and food supplies.
So the logistics of storage and distribution is best done during the week so that they would not carry a large burden on the Sabbath.
It also gave the recipients six working days to carry and distribute the property.
- The Lord's Day.
Revelation 1: 10 simply says, "I was in the spirit on the Lord's day".
But is this Lord's Day the Sabbath day?
This is the only time the term is used and it makes no reference to which day of the week it is.
So we will have to look at other texts to see which day God referred to as His day.
• So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath (Mark 2: 28).
This is the only time that Christ says He owns a day.
• But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. (Exodus 20: 10). God says that the Sabbath is His day.
• If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your pleasure on My holy day. (Isaiah 58: 13)
Therefore, the best conclusion that we can get is that the Sabbath is the Lord's day - not Sunday.
He has never called the first day of the week or any other day, His day. He only called the Sabbath His day.
Historically, it was the church that started to assign the "Lord's day" label to Sunday.
In their effort to destroy the Sabbath, they began referring to Sunday as the Lord's day
and negatively to the Sabbath of the Jews.
Propaganda and Branding. It is equivalent to a public relations propaganda and a rebranding of the concept of Sabbath.
In addition to hijacking this label of the Lord's Day, they have begun to refer to Sunday as Sabbath and to change the physical order of the days of the week on our calendars since the 1980's.
Now Sunday appears in the seventh position.
But they cannot scrub all the languages that use the actual word "Sabbath" as the name of the seventh day.
Applying the label of "Lord's Day" to Sunday was just another cosmetic change which took on a significance in meaning that had no basis in fact and obscures the truth.
Other Arguments.
Others propose arguments based on errors and changes in the calendar.
All calendar changes affected the length of the year or the month. None of them changed the weekly cycle.
The French experimented with a calendar that changed the week from seven days to ten days, but after three years they
changed back to the global calendars.
If any of their arguments are true, then that means that Sunday is also tainted.
- Calendar Changed.
Others claim that the calendar changes throughout history changed the weekly cycle.
That is not true. Calendars were changed to adjust for the fact that some calendars did not have a leap year, and over the centuries the spring season was shifted to earlier dates.
| 1582 | September 1582 | October 1582 |
| Day | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| Julian | 28 | 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Gregorian | 28 | 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
The Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582 to replace the Julian calendar.
The calendar changes affected the date not the order of the days. Ten days were deleted.
So Friday October 5, 1582 became Friday October 15, 1582. But Saturday still followed Friday in both calendars.
The Gregorian calendar changes took many years to be implemented in other countries.
When it occurred, the same process was used. In some cases they had to delete more than ten days.
The British adopted the calendar in 1752, by that time the calendar had drifted by eleven days.
So Wednesday September 2, 1752 was followed by Thursday September 14, 1752.
Other changes were made to the Julian calendar to shorten or lengthen months, to add months and to fix leap year errors before Christ. But the order of the days of the week did not change.
On the day the change was implemented all that happened was that people used a different date than the number that was expected.
- Lunar Cycle or Solar Cycle.
This is such a silly argument that it is not worth mentioning, but there are professionals who propose this.
A solar calendar has about thirty days per month and a lunar calendar has about twenty eight days.
They say that the world is on a solar calendar and the Jews use a lunar calendar, so the calendars are not coordinated.
While that might affect the dates on which feast days that are scheduled for a specific date to occur, it does not affect the weekly Sabbath.
Sunday always follows Sabbath, no matter what the date or the year is on any calendar.
| Week | S | M | T | W | Th | F | Sa |
S | M | T | W | Th | F | Sa |
S | M | T | W | Th | F | Sa |
S | M | T | W | Th | F | Sa |
S | M | T | W | Th | F | Sa |
| Solar | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Lunar | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
From our illustration you can see that the date changed but the day of the week did not change.
The weekly Sabbath is not based on a date but on the day of the week.
- Sabbath Lost. Some argue that the original Sabbath since creation must have been lost.
My response is that Christ observed the Sabbath of the Jews. Both He and they seemed to think that it was the correct day.
Since that time we have had no events that caused the order of the days to be lost.
| Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 1 |
| Preparation Day |  | Sabbath | First Day of the Week |
- Week Lost. Some ask how do we know that Saturday followed Friday or Sunday followed Sabbath in the days of Christ.
Sunday Follows Saturday (The First Day Follows the Seventh).
Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.
(Matthew 28: 1)
The Preparation Day Comes Before the Sabbath.
When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is the day before the Sabbath ...
(Mark 15: 42)
Jesus died on the preparation day and they had to hurry to bury His body before the Sabbath. If there is any doubt because you have been wandering in the jungle for years without any contact with civilization, just look at what the orthodox Jews are doing. They have been keeping the Sabbath for centuries.
The Sabbath in Prophecy
| The First Sunday Law |
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Let all judges and all city people and all tradesmen rest upon the venerable day of the sun. But let those dwelling in the country freely and with full liberty attend to the culture of their fields; since it frequently happens that no other day is so fit for the sowing of grain, or the planting of vines; hence, the favorable time should not be allowed to pass, lest the provisions of heaven be lost.
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| Edict of March 7, 321 A.D. Corpus Juris Civilis Cod., lib. 3, tit. 12, Lex. 3. |
| History of the change |
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The Sabbath appears in several prophecies.
Prophecy: A Change Predicted.
And he will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest one.
and he will intend to make alterations in times and in laws ...
(Daniel 7: 25).
The Bible says that a coming power will attempt to change the law.
The phrase "He shall think to change times and laws" possibly demonstrates that a change will be made about a law concerning time.
The Sabbath is the only law about time. Of all the commandments it is the most vulnerable because it seems to be not based in any known human morals or ethics.
This is because its origin is not based only on human relationships.
It is based on an eternal covenant relationship with God. It cannot be destroyed. It can only be forgotten.
As we have seen from the blue stone study, the ten commandments were carved out of the stone taken from the eternal throne of God.
If you love me, keep my commandments. (John 14: 15)
The Law Had Not Been Changed.
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, Until heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 5: 17-20)
| The Catholic View |
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"For several centuries, Christians observed Sunday simply as a day of worship, without being able to give it the specific meaning of Sabbath rest. Only in the fourth century did the civil law of the Roman Empire recognize the weekly recurrence, determining that on "the day of the sun" the judges, the people of the cities and the various trade corporations would not work". |
| Pope John Paul II - DIES DOMINI-Dies Hominis v.64, May 31, 1998 |
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The Antichrist. "That man of sin ... who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God". (2 Thessalonians 2: 3-4.)
This system severed the vertical relationship we have with God by changing the first four commandments and our relationship with God.
Next, it made the six commandments dealing with our relationships with each other the moral absolutes over which
they rule with their earthly priestly system.
Then they set themselves up as gods over these six moral realms of our lives.
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Attack on God.
By introducing the worship of images and a false Sabbath and prayers to dead saints who must approach God on our behalf,
they have removed Christ as our eternal intercessor and they have made the first four commandments void.
They have replaced the continual ministry of Christ on our behalf by saying that we cannot approach God
directly. We must access Him through dead "saints", a dead Mary and imperfect priests because we are abhorrent to God.
Because God finds communication with us despicable, we might approach Him if we go through these intermediaries.
What an insult to the message of the gospel! The good news that God has not abandoned us.
That He was willing to die for us while we still hated Him.
They attacked God by attacking the first four commandments.
Jesus the Only Mediator. For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
(1 Timothy 2: 5).
Jesus the Continual Intercessor. Therefore He is able to also save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
(Hebrews 7: 25).
| # | Commandment | Daniel's Prophecy | Revelation 13 | Blasphemy |
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| 1 | Only One God | Magnified itself to be equal to God (Verse 8: 11) | Worshipped the dragon(Verse 4) | Pray to Mary and saints. Pope is as god on earth. |
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| 2 | Idolatry | Show no regard for any God (11: 37) | Created an image to the beast for worship (Verse 14-15) | Idols, scapulars, icons, paintings, beads, relics |
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| 3 | Respect for God's name.
One Mediator
People called by His name. | Removed the daily or the continual from God (7: 25; 8: 11; 11: 36) | Blasphemes and gives the name of the beast (Verse 6, 17) | Removed Christ as the only mediator. Call on Mary, she is the Mediator. Do not talk to God, He does not want to hear us. |
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| 4 | Remember the Sabbath | Changes times and laws (7: 25) | Mark of the Beast (Verse 16) | Saturday devoted to Mary.
Sunday is the new Sabbath. |
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Attack on Man.
By claiming to have the authority to grant and withhold forgiveness of sins. By severing our ties to our loving father.
They even claim to hold the power over the entrance and length of stay in a fictitious place called purgatory.
They in effect control our fears and our personal relationship with God.
Prophecy: The First Angel's Message.
The message of this angel calls the world to remember the creator at the beginning of the judgment.
It specifically quotes the fourth commandment.
... Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
(Revelation 14: 7).
Prophecy: The Siege of Jerusalem.
Jesus prayed that those living during the future fall of Jerusalem would not have to flee on the Sabbath day.
But pray that your flight will not be in the winter or on a Sabbath.
(Matthew 24: 20).
Prophecy: The Mark of the Beast.
| Advocating Civil Law |
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"The Code of Canon Law of 1917 for the first time gathered this tradition into a universal law.(81) The present Code reiterates this, saying that "on Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to attend Mass".(82) This legislation has normally been understood as entailing a grave obligation: this is the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,(83) and it is easy to understand why if we keep in mind how vital Sunday is for the Christian life."
Therefore, also in the particular circumstances of our own time,
Christians will naturally strive to ensure that civil legislation respects their duty to keep Sunday holy.
In any case, they are obliged in conscience to arrange their Sunday rest in a way which allows them to take part in the Eucharist, refraining from work and activities which are incompatible with the sanctification of the Lord's Day, with its characteristic joy and necessary rest for spirit and body.
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| Pope John Paul II - DIES DOMINI May 31, 1998 |
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According to Revelation 13, in the end, the forces of evil will try to change the eternal covenant by changing the first four commandments.
They will attempt to make the change in the Sabbath the global test of allegiance to their new laws.
These commandments are chosen because they are a visible sign of your loyalty.
If Satan can force these two visible displays of loyalty to God then he will be sure that you have abandoned the first four commandments.
- Sabbath. The work commandment that deals with economics causes an economic punishment.
And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, either the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
(Revelation 13: 16-17).
Conspiracy to Trample on the Sabbath.
Globally, secular activities are being forced from Sunday on to the Sabbath.
As the prophecies are about to be fulfilled we can see that the beast has arranged secular affairs so that Saturday is becoming the only day on the weekend that can be used for shopping, sports, work around the house and all other secular activities
that are almost impossible during the week.
This places a burden on the Sabbath and makes it less attractive for people to follow.
The European Union has already declared that Sunday is the only day of rest that will be legally allowed.
The region has already begun a shift from holding sporting events on Sunday.
Imagine the power it takes to do that.
There have been calls to enforce the blue laws in the United States.
"All Americans would do well to petition the President and the Congress to make a Federal law - an amendment to the Constitution if need be - to reestablish the Sabbath
[Sunday] as a national Day of Rest."
CATHOLIC TWIN CIRCLE. "Sacking Sunday." August 25, 1985.
Some are even making the argument that Sunday breaking will cause national disaster.
They even made this claim about the real reason for the cause of the deadly Sunday Tsunami on December 26, 2004.
There will be no relief from mounting economic disaster until Sunday is strictly enforced by government decrees and action."
LIBERTY CONFIDENTIAL NEWSLETTER Volume 5, 1982
There is no wrong in seeking your legal right to obey the commandments of God. What is wrong is that in having governments enforce Sunday only instead of guaranteeing one day each week of your choice as was the status quo, they are essentially using civil law as a persecuting weapon.
So, practically, what we have is an effort from two fronts. The first is civil law and the second is secular pressure.
Ask yourself the following question.
In trying to gain their legal right to keep Sunday holy, why are they trying to prevent other people from keeping another day holy?
Prediction. The political and religious organization called Christian Churches Together in the USA, formally open for business in May 2005.
I guarantee that at some point they will be trying to advocate more Sunday legislation.
When they do this, remind yourself that people already have the right to worship on the day of their choice.
The fact that people choose to work or to go shopping or play sports on Sunday is not because of force or necessity, it is a matter of choice and convenience.
- Idolatry.
Another visible sign of loyalty is idolatry. People actually break two commandments when they do this.
They call on another mediator instead of on the name of the Lord, and they bow before statues and other men.
And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast,
so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many who do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
(Revelation 13: 15).
Keeping The Sabbath
The Sabbath commandment invites us to spend the day with God as a part of a global special time
created for this purpose.
Resting on that day reminds us that God gives us rest from sin through His own works, not ours. It is a gift from God.
The Lord's Day.
Jesus said to them, "the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. So the son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath".
(Mark 2: 27-28)
- Do not Work. This applies to you, your home, your guests and anyone who has to work for you. Read Exodus 20: 8-11.
Making a Fire. Prepare ahead for any basic care or items that you will need during the Sabbath.
You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.
(Exodus 35: 3).
Gathering wood, starting a fire and cooking was so much work, it was forbidden.
Does this mean that modern conveniences should remove this prohibition? No. We keep trying to guess what God intended with a law.
When we think that we have discovered the reasons, we then proceed to justify why we can bend the law.
So instead of going back to the original diet of raw fruits and vegetables for Sabbath meals we prepare elaborate cooked meals which still require too much work to serve.
Maybe we should not kindle a fire in any form because God wants to kindle the fire in us.
Maybe when we submit totally to God without trying to avoid His words the Holy Spirit will come in the form of the Latter rain.
Perhaps Sabbath reform and the future Sabbath test go hand in hand.
Emergencies and Suffering.
Sabbath breaking has become so prevalent in North America that we find nothing wrong with going to a restaurant on Sabbath.
Not only are we buying and selling, we are making others work for us and that is forbidden.
The only Sabbath work that is allowed is one that is humanitarian, an unavoidable emergency in which suffering is avoided or life is saved.
Eating out on Sabbath is always avoidable.
Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not. ...
Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a ditch, and will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?
(Luke 14: 3, 5).
- Personal Interests and Conversation.
The day should not be spent on personal goals. It should be centered exclusively on God.
If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable,
And honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure, And speaking your own word,
then you will take delight in the Lord and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth...
(Isaiah 58: 13-14).
Sabbath breakers use the excuse of "going out in nature" to celebrate the creation and they
regularly go to the beach to meet God in a place where they get their own pleasure.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. He knows your heart.
We must choose what pleases God, not simply what pleases us.
For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant,
to them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial and a name better than that of sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off.
(Isaiah 56: 4-5).
Others are so in love with the gods of sports that they tape the games so that they can watch them the minute after the Sabbath is over.
They are so interested in the end of the Sabbath that it is clear that their priority is not centered on God.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. He knows your intentions.
If you spend the day with God as if He was a real person, you will be sad when the Sabbath is over.
Obedience is The Issue.
The real issue is, will we worship God in the manner He prescribes or will we substitute our own way?
Cain and Abel both brought sacrifices to God, but only Abel's was accepted. Cain gave his best, but he gave what he wanted to give, not what God had asked for.
Fruits and vegetables could not demonstrate the horrible consequences of sin. Only the death of the innocent lamb could do so.
In the end, the beast of Revelation will pronounce the death sentence on those who do not worship him but who worship in the
way God commands. Just like Cain killed his brother for obeying God.
The Sabbath Test.
So it will end the way it began, with a simple test. For anyone who would criticize Eve, God gives them their own choice.
Just as a simple fruit was a test to Adam and Eve, so will the Sabbath be a simple test of obedience to God in the end.
Unlike other sins which might include a physical craving to commit that sin, the Sabbath has no such pressure.
We cannot claim that we have no will power, or that it was physically or mentally hard to follow.
In fact, God can demonstrate that the wicked will not even obey a simple commandment designed
to make them rest and give them pleasure and improve all their relationships.
Adam and Eve had many fruits to choose from but they had to have this one.
God gives us six days of our own and asks for this one. We think we can have it too.
Pray First
Three Angel's Message
Mark of the Beast
Lessons