it is better to obey God than man..this is a non-starter if u can distinguish de 1st day of de week from de seventh day.Christ came not to destroy the law or de prophets bt to FUFIL IT (matthew 5:17) ..why will man(emp. hadri ... read full comment
it is better to obey God than man..this is a non-starter if u can distinguish de 1st day of de week from de seventh day.Christ came not to destroy the law or de prophets bt to FUFIL IT (matthew 5:17) ..why will man(emp. hadrian,constantine, etc) change seventh to 1st as in Dan 7:25. remember sabbath is observed sunset to sunset(Deut. 23:32) and not morning to evening. it's even morning to afternoon in todays world..
amoah w. 8 years ago
you read the good books and swallow all the craps it contains
you read the good books and swallow all the craps it contains
PHILTY McNASTY 8 years ago
Of all the issues affecting our world is the most important thing to bother our minds with?
Who the heck cares about what the Jewish or Greeks call those who worship on Saturdays versus those who worship on Sundays? You a ... read full comment
Of all the issues affecting our world is the most important thing to bother our minds with?
Who the heck cares about what the Jewish or Greeks call those who worship on Saturdays versus those who worship on Sundays? You are dumb to think 95% of Ghanaians care the rat ass about that...Sabbatarians or Kuriakenians. See this is where our stupidity begins.....we want to impress upon our common folks that we know what other people call something. As if that alone would translate to mean we are educated. You are dumb to drag such exotic names into local conversations....why not cite what Ghanaians or Akans or Ewes call it, like Memendafuo or Kwasiadafuo? Dumb ass Apostle Kwamena Ahinful, God is everywhere and you do not reference the Middle East, Isreal or Rome to prove him or make your point. Free yourself of the mental slaver Abi.
Jules 7 years ago
Why are you so rude...? Are you a christian...?
Why are you so rude...? Are you a christian...?
amoah w. 8 years ago
none of the above
instead they should pray at home, office , wherever they are.
send all the money they are enriching these awam priests to charity fonds
or give it to needy one on the street (that gives more blessin ... read full comment
none of the above
instead they should pray at home, office , wherever they are.
send all the money they are enriching these awam priests to charity fonds
or give it to needy one on the street (that gives more blessing)
Jules 7 years ago
Untrue. It says in the bible the poor will always be with us. Do you do what you preach...?
Untrue. It says in the bible the poor will always be with us. Do you do what you preach...?
J.A. Aggiyem 8 years ago
Being a christian is the wholistic acceptance of Jesus Christ personally as saviour and lord, receive the Holy Spirit as counsellor, vehicle for reposing of heavenly power in one's self and as a seal for the day of redemption ... read full comment
Being a christian is the wholistic acceptance of Jesus Christ personally as saviour and lord, receive the Holy Spirit as counsellor, vehicle for reposing of heavenly power in one's self and as a seal for the day of redemption and being baptised in water, prefencially by emersion. So being Christlike is indeed christianity, for we are urged to be as perfect as our heavenly Father by Christ himself. We are thus required to be christlike 24/7 in a manner as to let our light so shine among men as to win some for christ. The congrepational worship, a fellowship, cannot as a part of the whole supercede the whole. Indeed that fellowship, as rightly noted by the author, was largely observed on sunday as the Lord's day by the apostles and their congregations in both Jerusalem and the gentile lands. They only visited synagogues on saturdays for scriptural discourse about the way, which is Christ. Where else could they meet the Jews in their numbers? The weightier matter of truly representing our lord, master and saviour as ambassadors in this world ought to firmly seize us than a long settled matter of which day to fellowship on. I kowtow with the author unreservedly on this question.
J.A. Aggiyem 8 years ago
I suppose it is Kowtow to (not with, in last sentence). Apologies.
I suppose it is Kowtow to (not with, in last sentence). Apologies.
Jules 7 years ago
So when do you think the sabbath is...? You've written a lot that doesn't answer the question. I know what I think but I'm interested in what you think.
So when do you think the sabbath is...? You've written a lot that doesn't answer the question. I know what I think but I'm interested in what you think.
Nana Marfo 8 years ago
When it comes to obeying the ten commandments u people say u are gentiles quoting new testament, but when it collecting money then u would be quoting from the old testament...
When it comes to obeying the ten commandments u people say u are gentiles quoting new testament, but when it collecting money then u would be quoting from the old testament...
Kwesi 8 years ago
The Lord’s Day is NOT Sunday. Just read the Luke version of the Crucifixion and resurrection. Christ died on Friday (no dispute there) and was buried BEFORE the Sabbath. (Here is the clue: the day starts from sunset to suns ... read full comment
The Lord’s Day is NOT Sunday. Just read the Luke version of the Crucifixion and resurrection. Christ died on Friday (no dispute there) and was buried BEFORE the Sabbath. (Here is the clue: the day starts from sunset to sunset. Check Genesis Chapter 1). So the seventh day is Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. So when Jesus was laid to rest, His followers rested on the seventh day (Sabbath) as HE taught them. It was on the first day when the 3 Marys went to anoint the body that they discovered He had risen. There is no place in the Bible where Jesus taught that the first day should replace the seventh as the day of rest.
Goheey 8 years ago
Christ did not die on Friday rather on Wednesday please lool at Dail 9:24-27 he worked for three days in shoel and rested on the sabbath(resurrected) and as you said the marys rested also on the sabbath and could not attend t ... read full comment
Christ did not die on Friday rather on Wednesday please lool at Dail 9:24-27 he worked for three days in shoel and rested on the sabbath(resurrected) and as you said the marys rested also on the sabbath and could not attend to the grave on the third day but on the forth day which was a sunday. Any way I have agrred with you 100% that sunday is not the lords day
Jules 7 years ago
Well said. I agree too.
Well said. I agree too.
Jules 7 years ago
Amen!
Amen!
Goheey 8 years ago
You talk very lenghthen raising some points which I may say are mis understood by you and your teach. Christ was not born on a sunday neigher resurrected on a sunday, also the sunday worship was not introduced by the first ch ... read full comment
You talk very lenghthen raising some points which I may say are mis understood by you and your teach. Christ was not born on a sunday neigher resurrected on a sunday, also the sunday worship was not introduced by the first christians. In short I would like you to research once more and come back with the topic. But try to look at Daniel 9. And make your research about sunday worship in the catholic library there you can get encycopidia britanica.
donkobby 8 years ago
whether Saturday on Sunday the ultimate goal is to let it work for the Lord, love, joy, peace, faith and righteousNess is what is required.
whether Saturday on Sunday the ultimate goal is to let it work for the Lord, love, joy, peace, faith and righteousNess is what is required.
candy wiafe 8 years ago
A whole appostle cant understand that the sabbath was made for man . I could see so many biases in you article , nevertheless , if you care to know the truth , about whether God is particular about the day we choose to worshi ... read full comment
A whole appostle cant understand that the sabbath was made for man . I could see so many biases in you article , nevertheless , if you care to know the truth , about whether God is particular about the day we choose to worship Him ,then do more research cos i dont see you as an honest appostle of the Lord .
Bekoe 8 years ago
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 persona ... read full comment
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.
Part 2
The Seventh Day Sabbath in the New
Testament
Jesus Christ's Teaching On The
Commandments Of God
The most important key to understand, in order to
understand the Bible, Old Testament and New
Testament, is to know who Jesus Christ was before He
was conceived in the virgin Mary and born in the flesh.
This has a great bearing on the person and authority of
Jesus Christ.
Here is what the Gospel of John reveals about Jesus
Christ. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by
Him, and without Him not anything was made that was
made " (John 1:1-3).
What is this plainly telling us? Let's examine it in the
light of what we already know. We have seen that IN
THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED ALL THINGS, AND THE
ONE WHO DID THE CREATING WAS THE ONE WHO
BECAME JESUS CHRIST.
This knowledge is of the utmost significance because
it means that Jesus Christ is the Creator of the
seventh-day Sabbath. He was the one Who blessed it,
sancitified it, made it holy, and commanded that it be
kept forever. Furthermore, the apostle John is telling
us that the Lord God of the Old Testament, who
became Jesus Christ of the New Testament, was, in
fact, the one Who gave the Ten Commandments and
all of the laws, commandments, statutes and
judgments to ancient Israel at Mt. Sinai.
God has told us that these laws, commandments,
statutes and judgments are holy, righteous and good.
God gave these to us for our well-being and for our
good that He might bless us in everything, because
God loves us. (See Deut. 4:1,37-40; 5:29-33;
6:1-6,17-18,24-25; 7:6-15; 10:12-15; 11:1-28—Please
read all these Scriptures before you go on. It is
extremely important, so that you will understand the
full impact of Jesus' teachings in the New Testament).
When Jesus Christ began His ministry, He set the
record straight, as to where He stood in relationship to
God's laws. These were the very laws and
commandments, which He, as the Lord God of the Old
Testament created and commanded to be kept forever!
Jesus Christ Did Not Abolish The Law or The
Prophets
When Jesus Christ began His ministry He clearly set
the record straight concerning the commandments and
laws of God--as well as the prophets. He did not want
anyone to be in doubt! Here is what He said, " Do not
think [which means do not even let it enter your mind]
that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets; I
did not come to destroy, but to fulfill" (Mat. 5:17, AT ).
Yet, it is claimed by the majority of professing Christian
ministers that Jesus Christ came to do away with the
laws and commandments of God, when Jesus Christ
explicitly made it absolutely clear that He did not come
for that purpose!
Now you need to judge your beliefs in relationship to
the teachings of Jesus Christ. Ask yourself this
question: " Will I believe God, the Word of God, Jesus
Christ and His teachings, or will I believe the teachings
and doctrines of men ?”
With this in mind, read this next verse: "For truly I say
unto you, until heaven and earth shall pass away, one
jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the law until
everything has been fulfilled " (verse 17, AT ).
Do heaven and earth still exist? The answer is a
resoundingly, YES! They still exist. What does that
mean? The heaven and earth are a witness that the
laws and commandments of God are still in full force
and effect .
Furthermore, how does Jesus Christ look at
commandment-keeping? Does He curse the
commandment-keeper, as so many religious leaders
and pastors allege, or does He say there is a blessing
for commandment-keeping? What does He say about
commandment-breakers?
LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF JESUS CHRIST! IF YOU
BELIEVE HIM TO BE YOUR SAVIOR, ARE YOU WILLING
TO BELIEVE HIS WORDS? ARE YOU WILLING TO OBEY
HIS TEACHINGS? ARE YOU WILLING TO FOLLOW HIS
EXAMPLE?
Your eternal salvation is at stake!
Jesus clarified which laws and commandments He was
talking about! "Therefore, whoever shall break one of
these least commandments, and shall teach men so,
he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven,
[which means that he will never attain the kingdom of
God and never receive salvation ]; but whoever shall
practice and teach them, this one shall be called great
in the kingdom of God " (verse 19, AT ). Jesus Christ
Himself said that we are blessed, not cursed, if we do
and teach even one of the least of the
commandments.
Furthermore, when asked what a person must do to
inherit eternal life, Jesus gave this answer: "...If you
desire to enter into life keep [Greek: poiaoo--means to
be practicing] the commandments" (Mat. 19:17, AT ).
Then the young, rich man responded by saying that he
had kept the commandments from his childhood up.
Jesus answered, that he should sell all that he owned,
because commandment-keeping, while required to
enter into life, is not enough by itself.
This is exactly what early New Testament Christians
were taught. In the 90’s AD, the apostle John made it
clear that Christians were to keep the commandments
of God. Notice: “And whatever we may ask we receive
from Him, because we are keeping His commandments
and are practicing those things that are pleasing in His
sight…. And the one who is keeping His commandments
dwells in Him, and He in him ; and by this we know
that He is dwelling in us: by the Spirit which He gave
to us” (I John 3:22, 24, AT ).
When the apostles were called into question about
their preaching and Christian practices, notice they
said: “But Peter and the apostles answered and said,
‘We are obligated to obey God rather than men …And
we are His witnesses of these things, and also the
Holy Spirit, which God has given to those who obey
Him ’ " (Acts 5:29,32). There is no question that we
are still obligated to obey God, rather than men. We
must be willing to forsake the teachings of men. If we
do not we will never receive the Holy Spirit or ever
receive eternal life.
All Of God's Laws Are Based On Love
Jesus Christ taught that the whole foundation for the
laws and commandments of God is the love of God. A
lawyer questioned Jesus about the law, saying,
“Master, which commandment is the great
commandment in the law?” Notice Jesus’ answer: “And
Jesus said to him, ‘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 greatest
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 ).
Jesus expanded the meaning of these two great
commandments even more as recorded in the Gospel
of John. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My
commandments…. The one who has My commandments
and is keeping them, that is the one who loves Me;
and the one who loves Me shall be loved by My Father,
and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him …If
anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father
will love him, and We will come to him and make Our
abode with him. The one who does not love Me does
not keep My words; and the word that you hear is not
Mine, but the Father's, Who sent Me ” (John 14:15-24,
AT ).
Nothing could be more clear! If we love Jesus Christ,
we will be keeping His commandments. As this
precise translation of the Greek shows, if anyone loves
God the Father and Jesus Christ, that love is active
and on-going. There is no doubt whatsoever that Jesus
Christ means that we are to keep His commandments,
but also sayings and words. Moreover, those
commandments are the words and sayings of God the
Father! Does God want you to keep the Sabbath?
Absolutely! No doubt about it.
Keeping the commandments of God, which includes
the seventh-day weekly Sabbath, is the standard by
which we know that we love God: “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). Furthermore,
commandment-keeping is a key to answered prayer.
“And whatever we may ask [ in prayer] we receive from
Him, because we are keeping His commandments and
are practicing those things that are pleasing in His
sight " (I John 3:22, AT ).
Surely, keeping the Sabbath in a loving, godly way, and
worshipping God "in spirit and truth" is pleasing to
Him. This is all a part of loving God. One cannot truly
love God, if he or she is transgressing the
commandments of God! With these things in mind, we
can now completely understand Jesus Christ's
teaching and example concerning the Sabbath and the
inspired teachings of the New Testament.
Jesus' Teaching And Example Concerning The
Sabbath
Jesus Christ Kept The Sabbath
Jesus Christ observed the weekly seventh-day Sabbath
as a custom; it was something that He always did. We
find this account preserved for us in the Fourth
Chapter of the Gospel of Luke. This event is extremely
significant because the occasion was when Jesus
began preaching the Gospel in Galilee: “And He came
to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and
according to His custom, He went into the synagogue
on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.” (Luke 4:16,
AT ).
After Jesus left Nazareth, He continued throughout all
Galilee and was teaching the people on the Sabbath
days. He did not proclaim that He had come to do
away with the Sabbath commandment. Notice! “Then
He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and
TAUGHT THEM ON THE SABBATH DAYS. And they
were astonished at His teaching: for His word was with
power" (Luke 4:31-32, AT ).
Jesus preached on many consecutive Sabbaths. The
Sabbath as we have previously learned was made to be
a blessing for all mankind. Jesus used the Sabbath to
preach, teach and extend the blessings of God through
healing and casting out demons. Jesus Christ used
the Sabbath to release people from sin-- NOT TO LEAD
THEM INTO SIN! Hence, the Sabbath day is a day of
redemption and salvation--a day of blessing!
Jesus Healed On The Sabbath Day To Set An
Example Of Doing Good
Mark also recorded that Jesus healed people on the
Sabbath day. Notice: “And again He went into the
synagogue, and a man who had a withered hand was
there. And they were watching Him, to see if He would
heal him on the Sabbath, in order that they might
accuse Him [notice the picky, hateful, unmerciful attitude
of the Jewish religious leaders ]. Then He said to the
man who had the withered hand, ‘Stand up here in the
center.’ And He said to them, ‘Is it lawful to do good
on the Sabbaths, or to do evil? To save life, or to kill?’
But they were silent. And after looking around at them
with anger, being grieved at the hardness of their
hearts, He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’
And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as
sound as the other one. Then the Pharisees left and
immediately took counsel with the Herodians as to how
they might destroy Him. (Mark 3:1-6, AT ).
God never made the Sabbath day a burden for people.
However, the Jewish religious leaders legislated
hundreds and hundreds of "letter of the law" do's and
don’ts, which in fact, overburdened the Sabbath with
rigorous harsh restrictions. This made it impossible to
truly keep the Sabbath as God intended for a day of
rest, rejoicing and worshiping God in spirit and truth.
The Sabbath day was created as a day of release from
our labors and physical work. It was intended to be a
day of loving God, drawing close to Him and
fellowshipping with Him (I John 1:3-4). Just as the
Sabbath is a blessing to us, as a day of rest from our
labors, so it also should be used as a day of release
from our sins.
This is why Jesus continually healed on the Sabbath
day. In the account in the Fifth Chapter of John, we
again find the loving, forgiving, healing attitude and
acts of Jesus contrasted with the hypocritical, super
self-righteousness of the Pharisees. So much so, that
in the minds of the Pharisees, Jesus' act of healing on
the Sabbath, constituted what they claimed to be
Sabbath-breaking.
In reality, Jesus' act of healing was an extension of
God's loving kindness, which was a most appropriate
expression of the meaning and intent of the Sabbath
day. God created the Sabbath so mankind could be in
contact with the True God and receive His blessings.
What greater blessing could a crippled man receive
from God, than to be healed on the Sabbath-day?
Let's examine this account more closely: “Now a
certain man was there who had been suffering with an
infirmity for thirty-eight years. Jesus saw him lying
there, and, knowing that he had been there a long time,
said to him, ‘Do you desire to be made whole?’ And the
infirm man answered Him, ‘Sir, I do not have anyone to
put me in the pool after the water has been agitated.
But while I am coming, another one steps down before
me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Arise, take up your bedroll
and walk.’ And immediately the manwas made whole;
and he took up his bedroll and walked. Now that day
was a Sabbath.
“For this reason, the Jews said to the man who had
been healed, ‘It is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful for
you to take up your bedroll.’ [This was in reference to a
traditional law that the Jews added, because Jesus
healed him and told him to carry it, Jesus would not
command anyone to sin. ] He answered them, ‘The one
Who made me whole, He said to me, “Take up your
bedroll and walk.” Then they asked him, ‘Who is the
one Who said to you, “Take up your bedroll and walk”?
’ But the man who had been healed did not know Who
it was, for Jesus had moved away, and a crowd was in
the place.
“After these things, Jesus found him in the temple and
said to him, ‘Behold, you have made whole. Sin no
more, so that something worse does not come upon
you’ ” (John 5:5-15, AT ).
How did the Jews react? Were they happy that Jesus
had healed a man? No! Did they desire to follow Him
as the Son of God? Decidedly not! Notice their
reaction: “And for this cause, the Jews persecuted
Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He had done
those things on a Sabbath. But Jesus answered them,
‘My Father is working until now, and I work.’ So then,
on account of this saying, the Jews sought all the more
to kill Him, not only because He had loosed the
Sabbath, but also because He had called God His own
Father, making Himself equal with God. Therefore,
Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Truly, truly I say to
you, the Son has no power to do anything of Himself,
but only what He sees the Father do. For whatever He
does, these things the Son also does in the same
manner.’ And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus,
and sought to slay Him, because He had done these
things on the Sabbath day” (Verses 16-19, AT )
The Jews did not understand that spiritual work such
as healing, helping the poor and destitute, on the
Sabbath day glorifies God and that doing good such as
this is a part of the good works of the Sabbath day. It
is not a work of labor for gain.
Jesus Christ Is Lord Of The Sabbath
He Is Not Lord Of Sunday!
After another dispute about Sabbath-keeping, because
the disciples plucked ears of grain to eat, Jesus made
it absolutely clear that He was Lord of the Sabbath
day!
"And He said unto them, THE SABBATH WAS MADE
FOR MAN, NOT MAN FOR THE SABBATH [ Jesus ought
to have known, because He created it!] THEREFORE THE
SON OF MAN IS LORD EVEN OF THE SABBATH” (Mark
2:27-28, AT ). Nothing could be more true—Jesus Christ
as Creator of the Sabbath owns it.
READ THESE SCRIPTURES AGAIN! WHAT DAY DID
JESUS SAY WAS THE LORD'S DAY, HIS DAY? WAS IT
SUNDAY? Absolutely not!
The Lord’s day is not Sunday, as most professing
Christians have been taught, Jesus said that the Lord’s
day was the Sabbath day. He is Lord of that day! The
Sabbath Day is the seventh day of the week, known as
Saturday. It is not Sunday, known as the first day of
the week. Therefore, the true Lord’s day of the New
Testament is the seventh day weekly Sabbath .
The Apostles Kept The Sabbath
Jesus Christ's last command before ascending into
heaven was very clear. Notice what He commissioned
the apostles to do and teach: "And Jesus came and
spoke unto them, saying, ‘All authority in heaven and in
earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go and make
disciples in all nations, baptizing them into the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS THAT I
HAVE COMMANDED YOU : and lo, I am with you always,
even until the completion of the age” (Mat. 28:18-20,
AT ).
Let's understand from the very words of Jesus Christ,
that the apostles were to teach and do only those
things they had learned from Jesus. THEY DID NOT
LEARN ANYTHING ABOUT SUNDAY AS A DAY OF
WORSHIP. We can be sure that because the original
apostles never taught it. In fact, history shows that it
was almost 300 years before Constantine imposed
Sunday as a day of worship. It is abundantly clear from
Scripture that Constantine did not have any authority to
change the Sabbath commandment of God.
In the book of Acts we find that the apostle Paul
taught the people on the Sabbath. In fact, when Paul
first began preaching in Greece proper, he observed
the Sabbath. Because there were not any synagogues
in the area, he sought out a place of prayer where
people were keeping the Sabbath.
Here is what Luke records for us: "And from there [we
went] to Philippi, which is the third city of that part of
Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city
abiding certain days. And on the Sabbath , we went out
of the city by a riverside, where prayer was known to
be made; and we sat down, and spoke to the women
which resorted there" (Acts 16:12-13).
Paul was preaching to the Gentiles in this part of
Greece. More importantly, we see that the Gentiles
were keeping the Sabbath before Paul preached to
them. This is quite the opposite of what theologians
claim. Because they despise God's laws, they teach
that the Sabbath is for the Jews, and Sunday, is for
the Gentiles! That is completely false! Paul taught
Gentiles on the Sabbath and taught them to keep the
Sabbath!
It would have been a perfect time for Paul to begin
teaching the Gentiles that they did not have to observe
the seventh-day Sabbath, wouldn't it! But did he? NO,
HE DID NOT !
Let's see some more examples of Paul's teachings and
practices. "And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto
them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out
of the Scriptures " (Acts 17:2).
Paul Taught the Gentiles On the Sabbath Day
If Paul wanted to proclaim that the day of worship had,
in fact, been changed from the seventh-day to the
first-day of the week, he most certainly would have
done so on this following occasion. The account in the
book of Acts disproves the allegation that the Sabbath
was for the Jews only and Sunday was supposedly the
new day of worship for the Gentiles: “...They came to
Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the
Sabbath day" (Acts 13:15, AT ). After preaching Jesus
Christ to them, many of the Jews were offended.
However, some of the Jews and most of the Gentiles
wanted to hear more about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Notice: “Then after departing from the synagogue of
the Jews, the Gentiles entreated him that these words
be spoken to them the Sabbath between. Now after
the synagogue was dismissed, many of the Jews and
the worshiping proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas,
who speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in
the grace of God. Then on the coming Sabbath, almost
the whole city was gathered together to hear the word
of God” (Acts 13:42-45, AT ).
If it were true, as taught by theologians and believed
by millions of churchgoers, that Sunday was for the
Gentiles, Paul certainly missed a golden opportunity to
teach them about Sunday. He could have instructed
them to come back the very next day, the first day of
the week, and to begin holding Sunday services
instead of Sabbath services—but he didn’t!
Grace and Sabbath-keeping Go Hand-in-Hand
Grace Does Not Eliminate Sabbath-keeping
The apostle Paul and Barnabas did not teach the
Gentiles that grace eliminated the need to obey the
Fourth Commandment. Rather, they were told to
continue in the grace of God with Sabbath-keeping!
Because this is such an important matter, and the
Scriptures clearly reveal that Paul did not teach
Sunday-keeping, it needs to be repeated: “Now after
the synagogue was dismissed, many of the Jews and
the worshiping proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas,
who speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in
the grace of God. Then on the coming Sabbath [not the
next day Sunday--but the next Sabbath ], almost the
whole city was gathered together to hear the word of
God” came almost the whole city together to hear the
word of God" (verses 43-45, AT ).
This is amazing, because Mainstream Christianity
teaches that if one keeps the holy Sabbath of God that
he or she has fallen from the grace of God. But
nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, from
these scriptures we can see that Paul taught that
grace and Sabbath-keeping go hand in hand! Grace
does not give anyone license to reject God's seventh
day weekly Sabbath and replace it with Sunday!
However, most Sunday-keeping ministers make the
false claim that it is through the grace of God that
they have the authority to reject the Sabbath and
proclaim Sunday as the Lord's day! That is an outright
lie! The true teachings of the apostle Paul were that in
order to remain within the grace of God, the Gentiles
were to keep the Sabbath--not Sunday!
In his epistle to the Romans, the apostle Paul taught
that grace establishes the law. Notice: “Since, indeed,
it is one God who will justify the circumcision by faith,
and the uncircumcision through faith. Are we, then,
abolishing law through faith? MAY IT NEVER BE! On
the contrary, we are establishing law!” (Rom. 3:30-31,
AT ).
Again, Paul makes it absolutely clear that a Christian
cannot continue in sin, transgressing the
commandments of God—including the Fourth
Commandment. He leaves no doubt whatsoever.
Notice: “What then shall we say? Shall we continue in
sin, so that grace may abound? MAY IT NEVER BE!
We who died to sin, how shall we live any longer
therein? Or are you ignorant that we, as many as were
baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His
death?
“Therefore, we were co-buried with Him by the baptism
into the death; so that, just as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, that in the
same way, we also should walk in newness of life. For
if we have become co-joined together in the likeness of
His death, so also shall we be in the likeness of His
resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man was co-
crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might
be destroyed, that we should no longer be enslaved to
sin; because the one who has died to sin [through the
operation of baptism] has been justified from
sin” (Rom. 6:1-7, AT ).
When we fully understand the New Testament
Scriptures, there was not one hint that the apostles of
Jesus Christ, including Paul,
"Who gave them the authorization" 6 years ago
The Catholic Church claims responsibility for the change from seventh-day to first-day Sabbath. Here is an explanation from The Catechism of the Catholic Church Section 2 Article 3 (1994):
And here are various Catholic s ... read full comment
The Catholic Church claims responsibility for the change from seventh-day to first-day Sabbath. Here is an explanation from The Catechism of the Catholic Church Section 2 Article 3 (1994):
And here are various Catholic sources claiming the change was the doing of the Roman Catholic Church:
Cardinal James Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (Ayers Publishing, 1978): 108:
But 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.
The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1957): 50:
Q. Which is the Sabbath day?
A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Q. Why Do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.
Chancellor Albert Smith for Cardinal of Baltimore Archdiocese, letter dated February 10, 1920:
If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath day by God is Saturday. In keeping the Sunday, they are following a law of the Catholic Church. Why use the Catholics???? also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine (in the Orthodox Church as Saint Constantine the Great, Equal-to-the-Apostles),Icon depicting Emperor Constantine (center) and the Church Fathers of the First Council of Nicaea of 325 as holding the Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381
Nicene Christianity refers to Christian doctrinal traditions that adhere to the Nicene Creed, which was originally formulated at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD and finished at the First Council of Constantinople in AD 381.[1] This Gives No Credit To an Apostle Paul Nor the Master of Sabbath the Messiah
it is better to obey God than man..this is a non-starter if u can distinguish de 1st day of de week from de seventh day.Christ came not to destroy the law or de prophets bt to FUFIL IT (matthew 5:17) ..why will man(emp. hadri ...
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you read the good books and swallow all the craps it contains
Of all the issues affecting our world is the most important thing to bother our minds with?
Who the heck cares about what the Jewish or Greeks call those who worship on Saturdays versus those who worship on Sundays? You a ...
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Why are you so rude...? Are you a christian...?
none of the above
instead they should pray at home, office , wherever they are.
send all the money they are enriching these awam priests to charity fonds
or give it to needy one on the street (that gives more blessin ...
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Untrue. It says in the bible the poor will always be with us. Do you do what you preach...?
Being a christian is the wholistic acceptance of Jesus Christ personally as saviour and lord, receive the Holy Spirit as counsellor, vehicle for reposing of heavenly power in one's self and as a seal for the day of redemption ...
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I suppose it is Kowtow to (not with, in last sentence). Apologies.
So when do you think the sabbath is...? You've written a lot that doesn't answer the question. I know what I think but I'm interested in what you think.
When it comes to obeying the ten commandments u people say u are gentiles quoting new testament, but when it collecting money then u would be quoting from the old testament...
The Lord’s Day is NOT Sunday. Just read the Luke version of the Crucifixion and resurrection. Christ died on Friday (no dispute there) and was buried BEFORE the Sabbath. (Here is the clue: the day starts from sunset to suns ...
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Christ did not die on Friday rather on Wednesday please lool at Dail 9:24-27 he worked for three days in shoel and rested on the sabbath(resurrected) and as you said the marys rested also on the sabbath and could not attend t ...
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Well said. I agree too.
Amen!
You talk very lenghthen raising some points which I may say are mis understood by you and your teach. Christ was not born on a sunday neigher resurrected on a sunday, also the sunday worship was not introduced by the first ch ...
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whether Saturday on Sunday the ultimate goal is to let it work for the Lord, love, joy, peace, faith and righteousNess is what is required.
A whole appostle cant understand that the sabbath was made for man . I could see so many biases in you article , nevertheless , if you care to know the truth , about whether God is particular about the day we choose to worshi ...
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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 persona ...
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The Catholic Church claims responsibility for the change from seventh-day to first-day Sabbath. Here is an explanation from The Catechism of the Catholic Church Section 2 Article 3 (1994):
And here are various Catholic s ...
read full comment