True Sabbath: Part 1

Part 1 The Reason For the Controversy

Most professing Christians believe that Jesus Christ is their Savior and that He died for their sins--which is true. They also believe that once a person has accepted Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord, then he or she is under the grace of God--which is true. But once under grace, they are taught to believe that a Christian has no obligation to keep the commandments of God--which is NOT true! Some professing Christians carry their theological error even further by claiming that Jesus Christ did every thing for the Christian, so he or she has no requirement whatsoever to keep any laws or commandments of God. However, when such teachings are examined closely, it becomes plain that such arguments are only carnal human justifications for rejecting the Fourth Commandment of God regarding the seventh-day Sabbath--Saturday today--in order to keep Sunday.

As a result millions have been taught to disregard and reject the Fourth Commandment of God, even though God Himself personally spoke those very words. When God gave the Ten Commandments, He clearly commanded that the seventh day weekly Sabbath is the only day to be observed as the weekly holy convocation of God.

However, Mainstream Christianity teaches that Sunday, the first day of the week as the Christian day of worship, is the Lord's Day. It is claimed that Sunday has replaced the original seventh day Sabbath of the Old Testament. The final false conclusion is that the Old Testament seventh day Sabbath, Saturday, was for the Jews only! On the other hand, Sunday, the first day of the week, is to be kept holy by Christians but not the seventh day weekly Sabbath! However, Sunday-keeping theologians, ministers and religious people who make these claims, teach this doctrine in spite of the fact that neither God the Father, Jesus Christ or the apostles ever taught or commanded, at any time, that the first day of the week was to be kept holy.

Are these and other outrageous claims true? What does the Bible itself record for us? What did Jesus Christ actually teach? What did the apostles teach? Which day did the apostles observe as the Christian Sabbath? What does the inspired record of the New Testament actually teach? As we will understand, the doctrine of Sunday-keeping is contrary to the Word of God and His commandments as found in both the Old Testament and New Testament.

Jesus Christ's Teachings About the Word of God

In order to understand the Truth concerning the true Christian Sabbath, we need to begin with some basic easy-to-understand Scriptures. First, "There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Pro. 14:12 & 16:25). All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes" (Pro. 16:2). The way of mankind is sin and death. The apostle John wrote: "Sin is the transgression of the law" (I John 3:4). Therefore, anyone who breaks the commandments of God is sinning! Sin brings death because "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23).

Jesus Christ came to bring life and teach us how to live God's way of life! He made it absolutely clear: "Man shall not live by bread alone, BUT BY EVERY WORD WHICH PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD"! (Mat. 4:4; Luke 4:4; Deut. 8:3).

Nearly all professing Christians claim that they should strive to live by the teachings of Jesus Christ. Moreover, He personally gave some very explicit instructions concerning a person's attitude toward the laws of God. He taught, "Think not that I came to abolish the law or the prophets! I came not to abolish, but to fulfill" (Mat. 5:17, AT). "To fulfill" does not mean a different way to abrogate or abolish the law and the prophets. "To fulfill," means to fill to the full, to fill up, or as Jesus taught to "fill full" with the true spiritual meaning and understanding, quite the opposite of abolishing or abrogating the laws of God.

In one of the most important prophesies concerning Jesus Christ and the law, Isaiah was inspired to write, "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; He will magnify the Law [fill it to the full] and make it honorable [not abolish it]" (Isa. 42:21). That is exactly what Jesus did!

Moreover, Jesus Christ did not want us to be in any doubt whatsoever about what He said. Since He did not want anyone to even "think"--let alone ever teach--that He was going to abolish the Law or the Prophets, He made this statement based on the very existence of the heaven and earth. In the very next verse Jesus said, "For truly [or in truth], I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, one jot or tittle shall NOT, in any way, pass from the law until every thing come to pass" (Matt. 18, AT). Heaven and earth still exist, therefore the laws, commandments and prophetic writings of God are still binding.

All the Commandments of God Are Founded on Love

Far from releasing Christians from their obligation to keep the commandments of God, Jesus Christ made it clear that they are to keep the commandments of God from their hearts, motivated by their love for God the Father and Jesus Christ. This is what Jesus Christ Himself taught about commandment keeping: "IF YOU LOVE ME KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS" (John 14:15). The Greek is much more emphatic! The actual meaning is this: "If you are loving Me, keep the commandments, namely Mine!"

Will you believe what Jesus said? This statement is absolutely clear. Do you love Jesus Christ? If you love Jesus Christ, you will be keeping His commandments.

Furthermore, Jesus left no doubt whatsoever that all the law and the prophets are based on love. Notice: " ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second one is like it; ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ON THESE TWO COMMANDMENTS HANG ALL THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS" (Mat. 22:37-40, AT).

In his first epistle, the apostle John amplified Jesus' statement even more. He wrote, "Anyone who says, ‘I know Him, and is not keeping His commandments, is a liar, and the Truth is not in him. On the other hand, if anyone keeps His Word, truly in this one the love of God has been perfected [made complete]. By this means we know that we are in Him. Anyone who claims to dwell in Him is obligating himself also to walk even as He Himself walked” (I John 2:4-6, AT).

These inspired Scriptures make it abundantly clear that anyone who is claiming to know and to love Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior but does not keep His commandments is a liar!

Again, the apostle John makes it even more plain: “By this standard we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and are keeping His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we should keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome” (I John 5:2-3, AT). The actual meaning of the present tense has been translated as it should be in order to convey the full meaning of what John wrote. He made it absolutely clear that a person must constantly be “keeping” or "practicing" the commandments of God.

Most professing Christians claim to "love the Lord," while at the same time they refuse to keep His commandments--in particular the seventh-day Sabbath command of God. They claim that the Sabbath commandment is a burden! However, God did not make the Sabbath a burden whatsoever. It is to be a delight!

You Cannot Love God and Reject His Commandments

Regardless of the claims and professions of men, it is impossible to love God and not keep His commandments. Yet, this is what is constantly heard from supposedly Christian pulpits. Somehow such teachers claim to actually know more than God does! They preach that Jesus did not mean what He said. In effect they are calling God a liar. But it is impossible for God to lie (Titus 1:2, Heb. 6:18). People are told that they don't have to keep the commandments of God. They are taught that all that is required of a Christian is that he or she only have to love God and neighbor with a warm emotional feeling in their hearts. If one feels good about it, it must be right. But in reality such a profession of love, or emotions is spiritually empty and vain. Such misplaced emotionalism is not the kind of love that the Scriptures teach.

In the final analysis, the ultimate false conclusion they make is this: They claim that Christians can choose which commandments they will or will not keep. And the most important commandment that they choose to reject and not observe is the Fourth Commandment! God commanded, "Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy." However, because most people want their own way, they immediately ignore, forget and reject what God has commanded them to keep holy. The apostle Paul describes such an attitude. He wrote, "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God--neither indeed can it be!" (Rom. 8:7, AT).

This is a perfect description of the mindset that adamant Sunday-keepers hold toward the Fourth Commandment. They have great hostility, and in some cases, great hatred toward the seventh day Sabbath of God! But such an attitude is absolutely contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ Our Savior. He said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Mat. 4:4; Lk. 4:4; Deut. 8:3). These words of Jesus make it abundantly clear that no one has the prerogative to pick and choose which commandments they will or will not keep. They are to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. The question is this: Are we willing to live by every word of God?

In order to understand the Word of God, what are we to do? How are we to live by every word of God? What does the Bible tell us? If we are to uphold the truth of God, we are to "...search the Scriptures daily, whether these things are so" (Acts 17:11). Also, our responsibility is to "PROVE ALL THINGS AND HOLD FAST TO THAT WHICH IS GOOD" (I Thes. 5:21).

What does the Bible teach us about the commandments of God? Here is what king David, a man after God's heart wrote about God's laws and commandments: "...Your LAW is the TRUTH...ALL YOUR COMMANDMENTS are TRUTH...Your word is TRUE from the BEGINNING...All your commandments are righteousness." (Psa. 119:142,151,160, 172). In His final prayer before He was arrested, Jesus asked God the Father to sanctify true Christians through His word. He prayed, "Sanctify them through your truth, YOUR WORD IS THE TRUTH" (John. 17:17, AT).

Unfortunately, too many professing Christians are under the misconception that if anything is in the Old Testament, they have the liberty to automatically ignore it. Such a false justification is only an attempt to make it appear that the Old Testament can be wholly rejected. After all it is reasoned, "It was only for the Jews. Christians are only to follow the New Testament." But that is not true. The truth is that the New Testament reveals that all the commandments of God are to be kept. Moreover, true believers are to keep them in the "spirit of the law" as magnified by Jesus Christ and not in the "letter of the law" only.

The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, the young evangelist, about the Scriptures of God--the Old Testament. He did not ignore or reject them as useless, as so many ministers do today. He upheld the Word of God, as the Truth of God, inspired of God. Notice: "And that from a child you have known the Holy Scriptures [the Old Testament] which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-inspired and is profitable for doctrine, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work” (II Tim. 3:15-17). As we shall see this applies directly to the Sabbath/Sunday question.

At Creation God Created the Seventh-Day Sabbath as Holy Time

Most people are under the misconception that the seventh day Sabbath was originally given to the Jews only. This is not true! The Bible clearly teaches that from the beginning of creation God made the seventh day holy. "Thus the heavens and earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day Hebrew reads “the sixth day”] God ended His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made" (Gen. 2:1-3, KJV).

Few people understand that Adam and Eve were not Jews. The Scriptural truth is that the Jews did not come on the scene until nearly 3,000 years after creation. Furthermore, 3,000 years after the creation of the seventh-day Sabbath, is nearly one-half of all human history! There is no question that God created the seventh day Sabbath for all mankind. Jesus confirmed this when He said, "The Sabbath was made for man" [The Greek word anthropos means mankind in general] (Mk. 2:27). He did not say that the Sabbath was made for the Jews only.

The New Testament clearly teaches that true Christians are the spiritual children of Abraham. Notice: "Not then, if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise" (Gal. 3:29, AT). If we are the spiritual children of Abraham, we are to follow His example and do the works of Abraham (John 8:29). When we examine the Scriptural account of Abraham's life, we find that he obeyed God in everything: "Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." (Gen. 26:5, KJV).

Since the Sabbath commandment was given at creation, there is no question that Abraham kept the seventh day weekly Sabbath. If he did not, then it could not have been said that he kept the commandments of God. What the Bible is teaching us is this: Abraham, who is called the father of the faithful in the New Testament, went above and beyond the rigid letter-of-the law commandment-keeping. He obeyed the voice of God and did those things which pleased Him, therefore Abraham was called "the Friend of God" (James 2:23).

God Gave the Sabbath to the Children of Israel Before Mount Sinai and the Giving of the Law

When we examine the Scriptures, we find that God, in fact, revealed the seventh day, weekly Sabbath to the children of Israel as the weekly day of worship, prior to the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. This was before the covenant with Israel was confirmed. God showed that Sabbath-keeping was obligatory before the institution of the Old Covenant. This again proves that the Sabbath commandment was binding from the time of creation.

In the Sixteenth Chapter of Exodus, we find that God revealed the Sabbath by the miracle of manna. God told them that they were to gather manna day-by-day for six days. On each of the five days they were only to gather enough for each day. If they gathered more than what was needed for a day, the manna would breed worms and stink.

However, on the sixth-day they were told to gather twice as much as the other days and were commanded by God to keep it over for the seventh day, weekly Sabbath. On the Sabbath, the manna that was kept over from the sixth-day's gathering did not breed worms or stink! God did not send manna on the Sabbath. The children of Israel were commanded not to go out to gather and look for manna on the Sabbath day.

However, some of the people did not believe God! During the week some of the people gathered more than they were supposed to and the manna bred worms and stank. Some of the people went out on the Sabbath to look for manna. But did not find any.

What was God's reaction?

"And the Lord said unto Moses, How long, refuse you to keep My commandments and My laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore He giveth you on the sixth-day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh-day. So the people rested on the seventh-day" (Ex. 16:28-30, KJV).

Few people realize that the Sabbath is a gift from God. The Lord said that He gave them the Sabbath.

The miracles of the manna that God did, prove that the Sabbath is of primary importance to Him and for His people. He had made it holy time from creation. This account clearly shows that God required the children of Israel to keep His commandments and laws before the giving of the Law to Israel. Moreover, the truth is that from the beginning the commandments and laws of God are binding on all mankind.

Since that is the truth, each one of us needs to ask him or herself, "How long am I going to continue to refuse to keep the commandments of God? How long am I going to refuse to keep the Sabbath of God?

The Fourth Commandment in Full

When the Lord God, the One Who later became Jesus Christ, gave the Sabbath commandment, as part of the Ten Commandments, He also gave the reason for the Sabbath. Let us examine the Fourth Commandment very carefully: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; 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 the stranger that is within thy gates:

"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 " (Ex. 20:8-10, KJV).

Now let's read the Fourth Commandment as it is recorded in Deuteronomy Chapter Five: "Keep the Sabbath to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God has commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labor and do all thy work; 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 daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

"And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm; therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day" (Deut. 5:12-15, KJV).

Furthermore, God has commanded that the Sabbath day is to be a holy convocation. A holy convocation, or the calling of a holy assembly. The seventh-day Sabbath, which belongs to God, is the weekly day of worship and assembly, which He has commanded to be kept. "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, concerning the feasts of the Lord which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My feasts. Six days shall work be done; but the seventh-day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein; it is the SABBATH OF THE LORD in all your dwellings" (Lev. 23:1-3).

Let's analyze all of the components of God's Sabbath commandment--the fourth Commandment. What has God told us?

1. God has given us the Sabbath. It is a great gift from Him.

2. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Not some other day we choose.

3. God has given us six days to do all our work.

4. We are to rest from our work and labor on the seventh-day.

5. It is a weekly memorial of God's creation of heaven and earth.

6. It is a memorial of Israel's slavery and lack of Sabbath observance while they were slaves in Egypt.

7. It is the only day of the week that God specifically blessed and made holy.

8. The seventh day Sabbath is a holy convocation. It is a day of assembly and worship.

9. Perhaps the most important aspect of the commandment is that God owns it. It belongs to God and He made it for mankind. "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord."

Think of it this way! Since God owns the Sabbath and it belongs to Him, do men have the right to reject the commandment of God and claim that they have the authority to make another day holy? OF COURSE NOT! Regardless of any claim to the contrary, nowhere in the Scriptures did God the Father or Jesus Christ ever give that authority to any man, or to any church. The seventh-day weekly Sabbath is God's special holy time, which He created for the good of mankind. God is the One who commands what the seventh-day is for and what to do on that day.

In reality, by appropriating Sunday and rejecting the seventh-day Sabbath--Saturday--men have arrogantly profaned the holy Sabbath of God. By so doing, they are more than doubly guilty before God. First, they have stolen God's holy time. Second, they are trying to earn salvation through their own works of Sunday-keeping. Third, they are trying to make a different day holy, which God did not make holy. ONLY GOD CAN MAKE SOMETHING HOLY, BECAUSE HE IS HOLY! No man can ever make any thing holy because he is not inherently holy--only God is!

Viewed still another way. God is the One who commands men. Men do not command God or tell Him what to do. But, if men take to themselves the presumptuous act of telling God what to do, or what they will or will not do, by human decree or tradition, that is rebellion!

In effect that is what men do when they proclaim Sunday to be holy, they are rebelling against God. They are declaring that God must put His presence into the first day of the week and make it holy instead of the seventh day Sabbath. But God is not under any obligation to obey any man, or any humanly devised tradition, decree or custom. Rather, all humanity is under obligation to obey God! God is not under any obligation to any man that He should obey him. No man has the power to command God.

God Is The Lawgiver

The Scriptures reveal there is only one lawgiver. That one Lawgiver is God! Carnal rebellious men think that they have the right to judge the Laws of God and decide for themselves which laws they agree with and will accept, or which laws they disagree with and reject. But what is man that he would presume to judge the Law and hence, judge the Lawgiver? God never gave that prerogative to anyone. God alone is Judge and Lawgiver! The apostle James makes it very clear. "But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and destroy..." (James 4:11-12).

These statements are most profound!

Think about it! Are not those who judge the Fourth Commandment, the Sabbath Commandment of God as unworthy of their obedience, actually judging the Law? Yes! Are they not then judging God Himself? Yes! What is man that he should presume to judge the Law? When anyone judges the Law, he is judging God. In effect he is sitting in the seat of God and presumptuously arrogating a prerogative of God to himself! In effect, he is proclaiming himself to be God!

However, James wrote, "There is one lawgiver who is able to save and destroy."

The One Lawgiver never commanded that the first day of the week be kept holy! He alone created the seventh day and made it holy! Any other proclamations by men to the contrary are null and void. As we will see later that is exactly what the Israelites did. They rebelled and did not keep the Sabbath. They went after other gods. They went after Baal--the sun god. The sun god is worshipped on Sunday! The children of Israel and the children of Judah sinned against God because they had rejected God’s holy Sabbath and His holy days and were keeping Sunday and the pagan holidays of Baal, the sun god. People are doing the same thing today! In so doing, they are rejecting the holy convocations of God!

By exalting their traditions and commandments, the Roman Catholic Church and all mainstream Christianity keep Sunday and have rejected the Sabbath commandment of God. This is the same spirit and attitude, which motivated the Jews to reject the commandments of God. In denouncing the traditions of the Jews, Jesus said, " ‘Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it is written, “This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from Me.” But in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men. For leaving the commandment of God, you hold fast the tradition of men, such as the washing of pots and cups; and you practice many other things like this" (Mark 7:6-8, AT).

Everyone who observes Sunday and rejects the seventh-day Sabbath of God falls into this category. By rejecting the commandments of God and observing the traditions of men they constitute themselves as sinners before God! Sunday-keeping is sin! Sunday-keeping is transgressing the Fourth Commandment of God! Sin is the transgression of the law! In the King James Version, I John 3:4 reads as follows: "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth the Law, for sin is the transgression of the law." Whosoever means anyone--Jew or Gentile!

This translation is most profound when directly applied to those who reject the Fourth Commandment, and substitute Sunday-keeping for Sabbath-keeping. They are constantly committing sin. Every week they are living and practicing a lie! Sunday-keeping is a sign of this world's false, apostate Christianity! Whereas Sabbath-keeping is a sign of God’s way.

Sabbath-keeping is A Sign Between God and His People

Just as Sunday-keeping is a sign of this world's apostate Christianity, Sabbath-keeping, including the annual holy day Sabbaths, is a sign between God and His people: “And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak thou unto the Children of Israel [the New Testament shows that the True Church of God is called the Israel of God in Gal. 6:16], saying, Verily My sabbaths, ye shall keep: for it [the keeping of the Sabbaths] is a SIGN BETWEEN ME AND YOU throughout your generations; that you may know that I am the LORD that doeth sanctify you " (Ex. 31:12-13). NOTHING COULD BE CLEARER! Part of that sanctification is the keeping of God's Sabbaths AS A SIGN.

Continuing in Exodus 31, God reaffirms the weekly Sabbath-keeping as a perpetual covenant, just as it was from the beginning. "Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defiles it shall surely be put to death: [New Testament doctrine is: the wages of sin is death, and sin is the transgression of the law. (Rom. 6:23 & I John 3:4)] For whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people:

"Six days may work be done: but on the seventh-day is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD; whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a PERPETUAL COVENANT. It is a SIGN BETWEEN ME AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL [the church is spiritual Israel]FOREVER. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh-day He rested and was refreshed"(Ex. 31:14-17, KJV).

A perpetual covenant is an everlasting covenant! As such it supercedes and transcends all other covenants. This perpetual covenant has been included in every covenant of God from creation!

Sabbath-Breaking Is Rebellion Against God

In Ezekiel the Twentieth Chapter we read that God commanded the children of Israel to put away the idols of Egypt, hence the religions of Egypt, and to keep His laws and Sabbaths. "And I gave them my statutes, and showed them My judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them. Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that might know that I am the LORD that sanctifies them.

"But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness: they walked not in My statutes, and they despised My Judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and My Sabbaths they greatly polluted" (Ezk. 20:11-13, KJV). Because of the sins of the children of Israel in the wilderness, God punished them with 40 years of wanderings until all those over 20 years old died.

At the end of the 40 years, just before they went into the promised land, God again pleaded with the children of Israel. "But I said unto their children in the wilderness, 'Walk not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: I am the Lord your God; walk in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them; and HALLOW MY SABBATHS; AND THEY [the weekly and yearly Sabbaths] SHALL BE A SIGN BETWEEN ME AND YOU, THAT YE MAY KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD.

"Notwithstanding, the children rebelled against Me: they walked not in My statutes, neither kept they My judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them: they polluted My sabbaths..." (Ezek. 20:17-21, KJV). They rejected God, they rebelled and refused to keep His commandments and laws.

That is far different than what most people have been taught by the Catholic and Protestant theologians. In their vicious attacks against God's commandments, the so-called early "church fathers" of the Roman Catholic Church viewed the Sabbath and holy days of God as an imposition against the Jews and a curse for their unfaithfulness. "Justin...did not hesitate to designate the Sabbath as a mark of unfaithfulness of the Jews, imposed on them by God to distinguish and separate them from other nations" (Anti-Judaism and The Origin of Sunday, p. 81, Samuele Bachiocchi, 1981). In his Dialogue on 23:2 Justin continued his attack against God's Way when he wrote to Trypho saying, "We, too would observe your circumcision of the flesh, your Sabbath days, and in a word, all your festivals, if we were not aware of the reason why they were imposed upon you, namely, because of your sins and your hardness of heart."

The early Catholic, so-called, "fathers" taught that God gave the Jews the Sabbath as a penalty to curse the Jews. As a result, they repudiate the holy Sabbath of God as a curse imposed upon the Jews as a sign of their unfaithfulness. Such perverse thinking of theologians is hard to imagine! But nothing could be further from the truth!

As a Scriptural reference to justify their theological reasoning, they point to Ezekiel 20:25 as proof of their claims. It reads, "Wherefore I gave them also statutes, that were not good and judgments where by they should not live. And I polluted them in their own gifts..." On the surface it appears that their assessment was correct. However, this is a most deceitful interpretation of Scripture which has been taken out of context. The verse before, verse 24, clearly shows that they were absolutely wrong to conclude that the Sabbaths of God, the holy days and His statutes and judgments, were imposed them as a curse to mark out the Jews because of their unfaithfulness.

Notice what the Scriptures record for us. When verse 24 and 25 are read together, they clearly relate an opposite story than the early so-called "church fathers" want us to believe. God said: "Because they [the children of Israel] had not executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes, and had polluted My Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their father's idols. Wherefore I gave them also statutes, that were not good and judgments where by they should not live. And I polluted them in their own gifts..." These verses do not say that God's ways were a curse whatsoever! What God is telling us through Ezekiel is that because the children of Israel had rejected God's way, His statutes and judgments, and polluted His Sabbaths, that He gave them over to their own devises and to their own statues and judgments.

The real truth is that the Israelites had rejected God's Sabbaths and laws. They developed their own religions, the Baal worship of the land and Egyptian religions. They had their own Sabbaths--which was Sunday worship of Baal. They observed the annual pagan holidays--now called Christmas and Easter. (See I Kings 12:25-33; 13:33-34). These sins were the cause that brought the curses of God upon them. To faithfully keep the Sabbaths of God results in blessings, not curses.

In Ezekiel 20:25, the statutes and judgments of which God gave them over to, were not His commandments, statutes and judgments. Quite the opposite is true. He turned them over to, or gave them over to their own devises and their own pagan religions, which they embraced when they rejected God.

They deliberately rejected God's ways. Notice: "There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey: they have devoured souls: they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst thereof.

"Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned Mine holy things: THEY HAVE PUT NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE HOLY AND PROFANE, neither have they shown difference between the clean and unclean, and they HAVE HID THEIR EYES FROM MY SABBATHS, AND I AM PROFANED AMONG THEM" (Ezek. 22:25-26, KJV).

Not only was it true when Ezekiel prophesied these words, but this prophecy is also a perfect description of the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant religions today! The priests and ministers hide their eyes from the Sabbaths of God and he is profaned among them! No wonder our society is profane, evil and corrupt.

God means what He says about His Sabbath days. The ten-tribe nation of Israel rejected God’s way and polluted His Sabbaths. The ultimate result was that He sent enemy invaders to destroy them. After the Assyrians took them captive, they were removed from the land that God had given them. God sent them into captivity for their sins of Sabbath-breaking as well as for all their other sins. God recorded the full account of why He punished Israel for their sins: "For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, and walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made."

"And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. And they set them up images and groves [of worship] in every high hill, and under every green tree: and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: for they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets."

"Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God. And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only" (II Kings 17:7-18, KJV)

Perhaps we should ask ourselves some serious questions about our own "Christian professing nation." Are we not doing the same thing that the ancient Israelites did? Are we not facing destruction from within and invasion from without because of our sins and Sabbath-breaking?

The prophecies of the Bible show that God is going to destroy this nation because of commandment-breaking! If you don't believe that we are suffering from heinous national and individual sins just look around and see what is really happening! The most obvious sins are Sabbath-breaking, idolatry and Sunday-keeping.

Read the entire chapters of Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26 and you will understand why we are suffering from all the curses of God for our sins. God prophesied that these curses would come upon us if we rejected His commandments and refused to obey Him. As a society, and in nearly every professing Christianity denomination, not only are we breaking all the commandments of God with impunity, but also Sunday-keeping is at the heart and core of all our national transgressions. Sunday-keeping is a lie! Sunday-keeping is not from God--and never has been! There is not one single text in the whole Holy Bible to justify Sabbath-breaking and Sunday-keeping!

If your are a Sunday-keeper ask yourself these questions: "How long will I refuse to keep the commandments of God? How many other lies and false doctrines have I been persuaded to believe because I have believed the lie of Sunday-keeping?"

Your Personal Salvation Depends Upon Seeking God and Keeping His Sabbath

In the New Testament, in the book of Hebrews, we are told that we must believe that God exists and to seek diligently. "Now without faith it is impossible to please God. For it is mandatory for the one who is coming to God to believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who are diligently seeking Him" (Heb. 11:6 AT).

How do we do this? Believe it or not, when you truly seek God with all your heart, you will understand Sabbath-keeping: "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon" (Isa. 55:6-7, KJV).

This is exactly what we are commanded in the New Testament. We are to REPENT of our sins, which includes turning from our ways and returning to God and His ways. We are to accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and be baptized by full immersion in water and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then we are to lead a life of loving God with all our hearts and minds and beings, love our neighbor as ourselves; and we are to keep the commandments of God, as led by the Holy Spirit. (Luke 13:1-6; Acts 2:38; 3:19; Rev. 14:12; 22:14).

The prophet Isaiah prophesied that in the end times, just before the return of Jesus Christ, that salvation includes Sabbath-keeping. Notice: "Thus says the LORD, Keep ye judgment and do justice: For My salvation is near to come [that is the return of Jesus Christ], and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed [not cursed] is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepth his hand from doing any evil....Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD [the conversion of the Gentiles through Jesus Christ], to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant [The New Covenant]" (Isa. 56:1-2, 6, KJV).

God tells us there is a blessing for keeping His holy Sabbath, not a curse as so many people have been taught. Moreover, Gentiles are also to keep the Sabbath. God never at any time appointed Sunday as the day of worship for Gentiles. The truth is that all sin is the transgression of the law and that curses are the result of sin. Curses do come not from Sabbath-keeping, rather, curses come from Sabbath-breaking. Anyone who rejects the Fourth Commandment, and does not keep the Sabbath is living in sin.

On the other hand, God gives a special blessing, if we truly honor and keep His holy Sabbath. Notice God’s promise: "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day [Sunday is not God's holy day]: and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it" (Isa. 58:13-14, KJV).

When we read the histories of Israel and Judah found in the book of Kings and Chronicles, we will learn that whenever they left God, they followed Baal and gods of the other nations about them, they sinned by breaking the commandments and laws of God. However, when they repented and returned to God, one of the first things that they did was to restore Sabbath-keeping and holy day-keeping.

There are many other Scriptures in the Old Testament, which uphold the seventh day Sabbath as the day that God created and ordained to observed. As we will see the New Testament, also, upholds the observance of the seventh day Sabbath of God. We need to understand the true practices and teachings of Jesus Christ and the apostles.

Listen to The Holy Sabbath audio sermons for further study.

Be sure to Read or Download - Rome's Challenge: Why Do the Protestants Keep Sunday?