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Part 4
The Biblical Truth About Sunday--Keeping
Sunday, the first day of the week, is purported to be the CHRISTIAN
DAY OF WORSHIP. It is commonly taught and believed that Jesus Christ,
and the original 12 apostles--and especially the apostle Paul--taught that
Christians no longer have to observe the fourth commandment, to keep the
seventh day Sabbath holy. It is alleged that commandment-keeping, and
particularly, the Sabbath commandment, was "nailed to the cross." It
is claimed that Sunday, the first-day of the week is now the "Christian
Day of Worship."
Is this claim true? Can such a teaching be proved from the inspired
word of God, the Holy Scriptures? The answer
to these questions is, no. The truth is: These assumptions cannot be
supported nor proved by the Scriptures! Are you willing to believe the word
of God, or accept the teachings of men as more important than the Biblical
teachings of God?
If you believe that Sunday worship is Christian, and that God's inspired
Word, the Holy Scriptures teach Sunday-keeping, then search the Scriptures
and you will not find:
1. One text that says that the Sabbath was ever
changed from the seventh to the first-day of the week.
2. One text where the first-day of the week is ever
called a holy day.
3. One text where we are told to keep the first-day
of the week.
4. One text that says that Jesus ever kept
the first-day.
5. One text where the first-day is ever given any
sacred title.
6. One text that tells us to keep the first-day in
honor of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
7. One text that affirms that any of the
apostles ever kept the first-day as the Sabbath.
8. One text from any apostolic writings that
authorizes Sunday observance as the Sabbath of God.
9. One text where it says it was customary
for the Church to observe, or meet on, the first-day of the week.
10. One text where we are told not to work on the first-day of
the week.
11. One text where any blessings are promised for observing Sunday.
12. One text where any punishment is threatened for working on
Sunday.
13. One text that says the seventh-day is not now God's
Sabbath day.
14. One text where the apostles ever taught their converts to
keep the first-day of the week as a Sabbath.
15. One text that says the seventh-day Sabbath is abolished.
16. One text where the first-day is ever called the Lord's
Day.
17. One text where the first-day was ever appointed to be
kept as the Lord's Day.
18. One text that says that the Father or the Son ever rested on
the first-day of the week.
19. One text that says that the first-day of the week was ever
sanctified and hallowed as a day of rest.
20. One text that says that Jesus, Paul or any other of the apostles
taught anyone to observe the first-day of the week as the Sabbath.
21. One text that calls the seventh-day the "Jewish Sabbath"
or one text that calls Sunday the "Christian Sabbath".
22. One text authorizing anyone to abrogate, abolish or set
aside God's Holy Sabbathand observe any other day.
(Bible Sabbath Association, Fairview, Oklahoma)
Part 5
The Biblical Truth About Sabbath-Keeping
Sunday, the first-day of the week, is almost universally observed by
"professing Christians" today. Yet, the Bible teaches that the only
day that is holy to God is the seventh day of the week, called the Sabbath
day in the Word of God. The Roman calendar in use in the United
States today, shows that seventh-day of the week is Saturday. However,
in Europe their calendars have been changed to show Sunday as the seventh
day of the week. In spite of that change, the true Sabbath day, Saturday, is
still the true Biblical Sabbath of God, which is holy to Him. The
Bible clearly commands: "REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY TO KEEP IT HOLY. SIX DAYS
SHALL YOU LABOR AND DO ALL YOUR WORK: BUT, THE SEVENTH-DAY IS THE SABBATH OF
THE LORD YOUR GOD (Exodus 20:8-20).
One of the most profound understandings revealed in the New Testament is
that before Jesus Christ came in the flesh, He was the Lord God of the Old
Testament. As such, He was the CREATOR OF THE SABBATH DAY. “In
the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He
was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through
Him, and not even one thing that was created came into being without
Him” (John 1:1-3, AT).
THIS MEANS THAT JESUS CREATED THE SABBATH. When we read of the Old
Testament and all the passages that pertain to the holy Sabbath of God, the
One Who spoke all those words, was, in fact, the One who became Jesus
Christ. Therefore, when Jesus Christ said that He was Lord of the
Sabbath, He said it with full authority because He created it for mankind,
for their good (Mark 2:27-28).
Here are some profound reasons why the Bible shows that we should be
observing the Holy Sabbath of God, as the weekly day of worship to God, in
our age, today:
1. IN THE BEGINNING God created the Sabbath day
(Gen. 2:3).
2. God rested from His labors on the seventh-day
(Gen. 2:2).
3. The Sabbath was made for man, that is, for all
mankind (Mark 2:27).
4. God blessed the seventh-day because on it He
rested from the work of His creation (Gen. 2:2; Ex. 20:11).
5. God blessed the seventh-day and named it Sabbath
(Ex. 20:10-11).
6. God not only blessed the seventh-day, but He
also sanctified it, that is made it holy by His presence and declaration
(Gen. 2:3).
7. There is no record in all the Scriptures that
God ever removed His blessing from the Sabbath and placed it upon another
day of the week.
8. God's people kept the Sabbath before the Ten
Commandments were given at Mount Sinai (Ex. 16:22-26).
9. God ordained that man should keep the Sabbath
(Ex. 20; Heb. 4:3-9).
10. God forbade work on the Sabbath day even in harvest time (Ex.
34:21).
11. God promised the Gentiles, those of all nations, a blessing if
they kept the Sabbath (Isa. 56:2).
12. God Promised to bless anyone who keeps the Sabbath (Isa. 56:2).
13. Nowhere in the Bible do we find a command to observe any other
day of the week as holy, as a substitute or replacement of the seventh-day
Sabbath.
14. God calls the Sabbath His holy day (Ex. 20:10; Lev. 23:2-3; Isa.
58:13; Mk. 2:28).
15. The keeping of the Sabbaths, weekly and annually, is a sign
between God and His people (Ex. 31:12-17).
16. The Sabbath commandment, one of the longest of the Ten, is one of
the commandments God gave to His people to observe that shows our love and
obedience towards God (Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12-15; Mat. 22:37-40).
17. Jesus kept and observed the Sabbath as a habit, which expressed
His love and obedience toward God the Father (Lk. 4:16).
18. Jesus Christ is Lord of the Sabbath, and as such the Sabbath is
the TRUE LORD'S DAY (Mk.2:28; Isa. 58:13; Mat. 12:8).
19. Jesus Christ recognized the Sabbath commandment as binding (Mat.
12:12; 5:17-18; Mk. 3:4).
20. Jesus Christ kept His Father's commandments which included the
seventh-day Sabbath (John 15:10; 8:29; 5:46-47).
21. The Sabbath was observed at the time of the crucifixion (Lk.
23:56).
22. Observance of the Sabbath was the practice years after the
crucifixion (Acts 17:2).
23. Paul recognized and observed the Sabbath during his ministry,
about 45 A.D. (Acts 13:27).
24. Paul taught the Gentiles on the Sabbath day, at their own request
(Acts 13:42).
25. Paul preached to an entire city on the Sabbath day (Acts 13:44).
26. Paul attended a prayer meeting on the Sabbath day, when no
synagogue was available (Acts 16:13).
27. It was Paul's custom to preach Jesus Christ on the Sabbath day
(Acts 17:2-3).
28. At Corinth Paul preached every Sabbath for eighteen months (Acts
18:1-4.11).
29. James recognized the seventh-day Sabbath many years after
Christ's resurrection (Acts 15:21).
30. The seventh-day Sabbath will be observed and kept during the time
of the millennium (Isa. 66:23).
31. The apostle Paul made it clear that the day of rest, the seventh
day Sabbath was to be observed as a holy day (Heb. 4:4).
32. The sanctity of the seventh-day was never changed by Jesus
Christ, nor by the apostles, to the first day of the week, neither was it
changed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ nor otherwise. Christ rose
"IN THE END OF THE SABBATH" and not on Sunday (Mat. 28:1-6).
33. As part of our Christian requirements to receive eternal life
that we must keep all of God’s Ten Commandments (Mat. 19:17; Rev. 22:14).
34. The seventh-day Sabbath remains as the day of rest for God's
people (Heb. 4:9).
35. Jesus warned that in the end time, as the tribulation was
beginning, that we should not flee on the Sabbath (Mat. 24:20).
36.The sign of God's people in the end time is that they would be keeping
the commandments of God (Rev. 12:17; 14:12).
Part 6
Catholic and Protestant Admissions About Sabbath/Sunday
Catholic Admissions
The Roman Catholic Church understands that the Bible specifically
sanctifies the seventh-day weekly Sabbath. Furthermore, it also admits
and boasts that the establishment of Sunday worship is based solely on the
ecclesiastical authority of the Roman Catholic Church and not on the
authority of the Scriptures. Here are some famous statements made by
the Catholic officials in regard to the seventh-day weekly Sabbath and the
first day of the week--Sunday.
"You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a
single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures
enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify"
(Cardinal Gibbon, Faith of Our Fathers, 1892, p. 111).
"Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claims to observance can be
defended only on Catholic principles...From the beginning to the end of
Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly
public worship from the last day of the week to the first" (Catholic
Press [Sydney Australia], August 25, 1900).
"The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a
human ordinance, and it was from the intentions of the apostles to
establish a divine command in this respect, from them, and from the early
apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday.
Perhaps at the end of the second century a false application of this kind
had begun to take place; for men appear by that time to have considered
laboring on Sunday as a sin" (Church History, Neander--Rose's
Translation, p. 186).
The Roman Catholic Church boasts that by its authority alone they changed
the day of worship from the Sabbath to Sunday: “Question: Which is the
Sabbath day? Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day. Question: Why
do we worship [on] Sunday instead of Saturday? Answer: We observe Sunday
instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea
(A.D. 336), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.
Question: Have you a way of proving that the Church [Roman Catholic] has the
power to institute festivals of precept? Answer: had she no such
power, she should not have done that in which all modern religions agree
with her—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first
day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change
for which there is no Scriptural authority” (Doctrinal Catechism, p.
147 and The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p. 50, 1927
edition).
In the Bible, God tells us that He and He alone is the highest authority in
the universe and on earth. The apostle Paul wrote that “at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in
earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue shall
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father” (Phil.
2:10-11, KJV). However, the Catholic Church states that
it is above the Bible: “Sunday is the mark of authority. The
church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance
[to Sunday] is proof of that fact” (Catholic Record London, Sept. 1,
1923). Again this claim of such authority is made: “Of course the
Catholic Church claims that the change [to Sunday] was her act….And that act
is a mark of her ecclesiastical authority in religious things” (H. F.
Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons).
Since God never gave that authority to any man or any church, the Catholic
Church has taken that authority to herself. Not only does the Catholic
Church claim such authority, they also boast that they have made the whole
world bow to her authority. Notice: “My brethren, look about you upon
the various wrangling sects and denominations. Show me one that
claims or possesses the power to make laws binding on the conscience.
There’s but one on the face of the earth—the Catholic Church that has the
power upon the conscience, binding upon God, binding upon the pain of hell
fire. Take, for instance, the day we celebrate—Sunday. What
right have the Protestant churches to observe that day? None
whatsoever. You say it is to obey the commandment, ‘Remember the
Sabbath day to keep it holy.’
But Sunday is not the Sabbath according to the Bible and the record of time.
“Everyone knows that Sunday is the first day of the week, while Saturday
is the seventh day, and the Sabbath, the consecrated as a day of rest.
It is so recognized in all civilized nations. I have repeatedly offered
$1,000 to anyone who will furnish any proof from the Bible that Sunday is
the day we are bound to keep, and no one has called for the money. If
any person in this town will show any scripture for it, I will tomorrow
evening publicly acknowledge it and thank him for it. It was the
Holy Catholic Church that changed the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday,
the first day of the week. And it not only compelled all to keep
Sunday, but at the Council of Laodicea, A. D. 364 anathematized those who
kept the Sabbath and urged all persons to labor on the seventh day under
penalty of anathema.
“Which church does the whole civilized world obey? Protestants
call us every horrible name they can think of—antiChrist, the scarlet
colored beast, Babylon, etc., and at the same time profess great reverence
for the Bible, and yet by their solemn act of keeping Sunday, they
acknowledge the power of the Catholic Church. The Bible says:
‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ But the Catholic Church
says, ‘No, keep the first day of the week’ and the whole world bows in
obedience” (From a lecture by Father T. Enright, Roman Catholic Priest,
one-time president of Redemption Father’s College in Kansas City, Missouri,
as published in the Industrial American, Harlan, Iowa, December 19,
1889).
Protestant Admissions
The Protestant world also understands that the seventh-day weekly Sabbath
is the only day of weekly observance commanded in Scriptures. Yet they
cling to the Sunday observance which the Catholic Church instituted solely
on human authority. As a result, the Protestants are following the
authority of the Roman Catholic Church for Sunday worship, while they
knowingly reject the seventh-day weekly Sabbath of God. As the
Catholic Church boasts, the Protestants bow to the authority of Rome,
beginning with Martin Luther.
“Even such is the observance of the Lord’s day, of Easter, of Pentecost,
and the like holy days, and rites. For they that judge that, by the
authority of the Church, the observing of Sunday instead of the Sabbath-day,
was ordained as a thing necessary, to do greatly err. The Scripture
permits and grants, that the keeping of the Sabbath-day is now free; for it
teaches that the ceremonies of Moses’ law, since the revelation of the
gospel, are not necessary. And yet, because it was needful to ordain a
certain day, it appears that the church did appoint Sunday, which day, as it
appears, pleased them rather than the Sabbath day, even for this cause, that
men might have an example of Christian liberty, and might know that the
keeping and observance of either Saturday, or any other day, is not
necessary” (Augsburg Confessions, Article 15, New York 1850).
"Is there no express commandment for observing the first day of the week as
Sabbath, instead of the seventh day? None whatsoever. Neither
Christ, nor His apostles, nor the first Christians celebrated the first day
of the week instead of the seventh [day] as the Sabbath" (New York Weekly
Tribune, May 24, 1900).
"The Scriptures nowhere call the first day of the week the Sabbath...There
is no Scriptural authority for so doing, nor of course any Scriptural
obligation" (The Baptist Watchman).
"The observation of the first instead of the seventh day rests on the
testimony of the church, and the church alone" (Hobort Church News
[Episcopalian], July 2, 1894).
The overwhelming evidence of the Bible and history proves that the Seventh
day Sabbath—Saturday today—is the true day of rest and worship of God.
God puts His presence into that day. He fellowships with His people on
that day, as well as, the annual holy days which, He has commanded to be
observed in worship of Him.
Now that you have this knowledge and God holds you responsible for it, what
will you do? Jesus Christ commands, “Repent and believe the Gospel.”
Will you repent sins and turn to God, or will you continue in your sins?
Your eternal life, or eternal death is at stake. Turn to God and live.
If you have any questions about Sabbath-keeping, please write to:
The Christian Biblical Church of God
Post Office Box 1442
Hollister, California 95024-1442
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?
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