Sabbath Justified!
The issue of the sabbath has been obscured through many centuries of tradition. However, does tradition take precedent over truth? Matthew 15:8-9 “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men”. It is possible to think you’re worshipping God whilst not doing the very thing he commands. Luke 6:46 “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say”? The sabbath has been commanded to all of God’s children from the start. It’s one of the ten commandments.
Exodus 20:8-11
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 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 thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 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
Was the sabbath only for the children of Israel?
Many think that the sabbath was just from the time of Moses. However, God merely gave the children of Israel that which was already created. Exodus 16:4-5 “Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily”. God tested the children of Israel to see if they would keep his sabbath. He says He was going to prove them to see if they will keep his commandments or not. God makes it clear the sabbath was already there. Exodus 16:29-30 “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”. We therefore cannot conclude that the children of Israel only had to keep the sabbath after they received the ten commandments. They had received it even before they officially heard it from mount Sinai. This is because the sabbath was made in creation week. Genesis 2:3 “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”. Nehemiah confirms that God had merely given the children of Israel the sabbath. Nehemiah 9:13-14 “Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant”. Why did he say he made it known unto them? The children of Israel had lived in Egypt for hundreds of years, by that point and their faith was watered down by Egyptian idolatry. Many of the children of Israel didn’t keep the sabbath. Hence God made known unto them something they should have been keeping.
Was the sabbath made for Jews?
Mark 2:27 “And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath”. When Jesus says the sabbath was made for man it’s interesting to see some take this as “therefore we don’t need to keep the sabbath”. Pause for one moment. If I tell you clothes were made for humans and not humans made for clothes. What does that mean? Am I saying don’t wear clothes? No! What Jesus is teaching here is the sabbath is made to fit humans and not the other way around. It’s meant to be a delight to mankind and not a burden. This is because the Jewish leadership added many extra commandments to the sabbath, making it weary for themselves. They ended up trying to mould the people to this false standard of righteousness to the point it became a dread. Jesus is clear the sabbath was made for man. If you are part of mankind, the sabbath is for you.
Christians were keeping sabbath in the New Testament
The book of acts is a historic account of the major actions of the early church. Notice what day they were worshipping.
Acts 13:14 But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.
Some may see synagogue and feel “that’s a Jewish service”. The temples at the time were just called synagogues. We would understand this to be church, the Gentiles were also coming to the synagogue on sabbath.
Acts 13:42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
Acts 13:44 And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
After this, Paul focuses even more on the Gentiles:
Acts 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
Paul and his companions, focusing on the Gentiles continue to keep sabbath:
Acts 16:12 And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.
13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
Then Paul tries to continue to reason with the Gentiles and some Jews who were willing to hear:
Acts 17:2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures
Acts 18:4;11 “And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. … And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them”.
There are over eighty recorded sabbath meetings in the book of Acts. If they worshipped on Sunday, there would be at least one.
Acts 20:7 was not a church service
Acts 20:7-8 “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow [morning]; and continued his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together”. Firstly, the Christians broke bread all the time. Acts 2:46 “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart”. Many read Acts 20:7 as a church service that’s taking place. However, the time period is in the evening. The days were counted sunset to sunset, hence this would be the equivalent of Saturday evening for us. At that time the sabbath is over but it counts as the first day (Sunday). The scripture says Paul was ready to depart in the morning (when it’s light). Acts 20:11 “When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed”. For it to be the first day of the week, midnight and Paul not leave till the break of day (sunrise) must mean: this was the evening of Saturday, which went until midnight, Eutychus fell and God revived him through Paul, they continued talking till it was sunrise Sunday. It is obvious the reason they were together is because they just finished spending sabbath day with each other. The reason Paul didn’t depart is because he wouldn’t make such a journey on sabbath, but on Sunday he would.
Verses taken out of context
Romans 14:5 “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind”.
Is Paul against Paul? In Romans 14:5 Paul is trying to deal with a problem. In Rome you had a mix of new gentile believers and Jewish converts. The Jews had extra customs which they tried to impose. The new believers, who were Gentiles, also had certain days they esteemed highly. Nowhere in the scripture does it mention the seventh day.
The context is that the Jews would often impose the feast days upon the Gentiles. Romans 14:2 “For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs”. During the Passover days the Jews would add herbs to their unleavened bread Numbers 9:10 “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the Lord. 11 The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs”. Paul is trying to stop disputes about the feast days.
Romans 14:6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. The ones who would not eat would be the Jewish converts, during these seasons they regarded as holy, they wouldn’t feel comfortable eating normal food because they would think God would not be pleased. The Gentiles however, they’d eat anything. That’s why those who didn’t eat were the judgemental ones. It was the Jewish being sceptical of the Gentiles’ faith to eat anything. Romans 14:3 “Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him”.
This is the same issue Paul was dealing with in Colossians chapter 2. Colossians 2:16 “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days”.
Many people see the word sabbath and think it’s the fourth commandment. They ignore the meat, drink, holyday and new moon. What they don’t realise is that before the cross there were two types of sabbath days. The annual feast day sabbaths and the weekly sabbath. These two were distinct from each other.
The annual feast day sabbaths/convocations were on set days of the year and so they could be on a different weekday year to year. A feast day sabbath is celebrated with meat offerings and drink offerings. In Leviticus 23 we see that these sabbath days with meat and drink are SEPARATE from the 4th commandment sabbath of God.
Leviticus 23:37 “These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: 38 Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD. 39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath”.
Verse 38 is where the Lord separates out the weekly sabbath but note in verse 39 If you have a sabbath on the first day of the seventh month. Next year it won’t be the same weekday, it could be any other day of the week. These feast day sabbaths were connected to the work of the sanctuary. Which was meant to be a lesson of how the plan of salvation would go down. Hence Paul is writing Colossians 2:16 assuming the reader understands Leviticus 23, as all of Leviticus 23 outlines the different sabbath feasts.
Another verse commonly misunderstood is Ephesians 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.
Notice Paul says Christ abolished the law of commandments CONTAINED IN ORDINANCES.
What does ordinance mean? An ordinance is a decree not all decrees are permanent, think of it like an executive order. It’s not permanent law but it is to be followed until the giver of the law says otherwise (God). One example of the ordinances God gave the children of Israel was the feast of unleavened bread Exodus 12:17 “And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever”.
Exodus 12:43 “And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof” feasts like the Passover were meant to be temporary to teach the children of Israel how salvation would work. In other words, these ordinances were a shadow of what’s to come. God did not abolish the ten commandments.
Matthew 5:17-18 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Has heaven and earth passed? No. The ten commandments are still binding. when this earth passes and is destroyed God will make a new earth, Revelation 21:1 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea”.
Another confusion is Galatians 4:10-11 “Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain”. There’s no mention of the sabbath nor the seventh day in this verse. If the observation of days, months and years was a sin in itself, then should we as Christians condemn others when they say “happy new year?” Let’s see what days, months and times Paul is talking about. Reading a couple verses before we will notice Galatians 4:8-9 “Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?” Paul is talking about them turning again to the weak beggarly elements. Apart from discarding of Christ, some Galatians slipped into old pagan rites. The Galatians ethnically were celts. Some celts worshipped the pagan goddess Cybele, which was also worshipped in other places in the Roman Empire. There would be festivals and feast days dedicated to these gods and goddesses. (There were other pagan gods)
Example of pagan worship: “In Rome, Cybele's popularity continued to flourish, partially due to her spring festival held in March (some sources say April) called the Megalensia. The festival included public games as well as a theatrical performance at Circus Maximus. It began on March 15 with a procession of reed-bearers (cannophori) and a ritual sacrifice; the latter was for the successful planting of spring crops. On March 22, after a week of fasting and purification, a pine tree (the symbol for Attis) was brought to Palatine Hill temple”. – World History
Jesus is our sabbath?
Matthew 11:28 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”. People take this verse to mean “as long as we’re in Jesus we’re keeping the sabbath”. Jesus doesn’t connect this phrase to the seventh day at all. It’s just an invented idea to avoid the sabbath. However, some are taught this and follow along. Reading one verse later we discover he’s talking about his character and labouring in this life Matthew 11:29-30 “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”. Therefore, when we become meek and lowly like Jesus we will find rest. This has nothing to do with the 4th commandment rest.
Jesus broke the sabbath?
There are some pastors who are so eager to avoid the sabbath that they will take the accusation of the Jewish leaders two thousand years ago to say, “look Jesus broke sabbath, we don’t have to keep it”. They don’t realise they are then saying Jesus wasn’t the spotless lamb to be offered to God. Mark 3:4-6 “And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him”. If someone believes Jesus broke the sabbath, ask them. Which commandment in the Old Testament states, thou shalt do no miracle upon the sabbath day? The Pharisees were just making things up.
In another instance they caught Jesus’s disciples plucking corn on the sabbath. Matthew 12:1-2 “At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day”. Again people take the side of the Pharisees to say by Jesus defending the actions of his disciples, he was condoning sabbath breaking. What many miss here is that there is a provision in the law to pluck the ears of your neighbour’s standing corn. Deuteronomy 23:25 “When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour's standing corn”. The disciples weren’t farmers hence they weren’t breaking sabbath. Had they been farmers harvesting crop then yes it would have been sin. They were merely hungry men satiating their hunger.
Jesus’s defence of his disciples.
Matthew 12:3-4 “But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungered, and they that were with him; How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?” David when he was hungry nearly to the point of death ate the shewbread which was only for the priests. Jesus was showing that in times of emergency you do that which is good on the sabbath to make them whole. Matthew 12:12 “…Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days”.
Matthew 12:5 “Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?” Why did Jesus say the priests profane the sabbath? Numbers 28:9-10 “And on the sabbath day two lambs of the first year without spot, and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof: This is the burnt offering of every sabbath, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering”. The sabbath is not here desecrated because God commanded the priests to do this work on sabbath. This kind of work done by a normal man for secular reasons would have been sin. Spiritual work on the sabbath is fine.
Matthew 12:6-7 “But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless”. His disciples were innocent, but Jesus explains that there was one greater than the temple in their presence. The one who instructed them how to build it (himself). Had the disciples really been breaking sabbath, he would’ve stopped them. Jesus requires of them to show mercy to one another and not be obsessed with formalism of continual sacrifices. Isaiah 1:11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
Lord of the sabbath?
Matthew 12:8 “For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day”. This verse is taken to mean Jesus is ruler of the sabbath, therefore I can do what I like on the sabbath because I’m in him and he allowed his disciples to do what they like (not always phrased so explicitly but same conclusion). The reason Jesus is Lord of the sabbath is because he was involved in creating the world and resting that day. The Father says: Hebrews 1:8;10 “But unto the Son he [The Father] saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. And, Thou, Lord [Jesus], in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands”. If Jesus created the world, then that means Genesis 2:2 “And on the seventh day God [Jesus] ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made” Jesus is Lord of the sabbath because he created it and ended his work! By keeping that day, you acknowledge Him as Creator. Hebrews Exodus 20:11 “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”.
John keeps sabbath, years after Jesus’ ascension.
Revelation 1:10 “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet”. Whilst some think the Lord’s day is Sunday, there are zero verses to substantiate the claim. We can call the sabbath the Lord’s day using scripture.
Mark 2:28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. What puzzles me is how people are quick to say Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, then when you ask them what’s the Lord’s day suddenly it’s Sunday?
Isaiah 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Nehemiah 9:14 And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant.
It is clear John was in the Spirit on the sabbath day. People think the Lord’s Day is Sunday because that’s when he resurrected. The ordinance to remember his resurrection is baptism not Sunday. Romans 6:3-4 “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life”.
Jesus validated the continuation of the sabbath.
Jesus gave a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem. He said Matthew 24:15 “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!”
This prophecy was fulfilled by Rome in 70 AD when Titus came against Jerusalem and sacked the city.
“Now this vast multitude is indeed collected out of remote places,
but the entire nation was now shut up by fate as in prison, and the
Roman army encompassed the city when it was crowded with
inhabitants. Accordingly, the multitude of those that therein perished
exceeded all the destructions that either men or God ever brought
upon the world” – Wars of the Jews, Book VI chapter VII, Josephus Flavius.
Notice what Jesus warned his disciples next Matthew 24:20 “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day”. The same way winter didn’t disappear at the cross is the same way the sabbath wasn’t meant to disappear at the cross. Jesus justified that the sabbath would still be an institution in the future.
We will keep sabbath in heaven.
Isaiah 66:22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. 23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord”. We will worship the Lord on the new earth from one sabbath to another.
Which scenario seems more likely:
Malachi 3:6 For I am the Lord, I change not…
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Would I really go to the lake of fire over a day?
Without Jesus, were Adam and Eve not destined to go to hell over a piece of fruit? Which is worse? Biting a fruit or disobeying for 24 hours. Would we not be worse than Adam and Eve? The key point is disobedience. 1 Samuel 15:23 “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry…” If you had a partner and you asked them to do something special for a celebration of yours, while on any other day you probably wouldn’t mind, but their disobedience on the day that was special to you would disappoint you.
Who talked continually with the children of Israel in the wilderness? Jesus or the Father?
1 Corinthians 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Numbers 21:6 And the Lord [Jesus] sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
Jesus talked continually with the children of Israel, what was the reason for the question? Jesus put a man to death for breaking the sabbath. Numbers 15:32-35 “And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp”. This man was put to death because they had just received the commandment of the sabbath, yet he broke it in front of the whole camp. If Jesus is willing to put this man to death over gathering sticks on the sabbath, if we work, renovate the house, or buy and sell on the sabbath shall we not also be put to death? It’s obvious this man won’t be in heaven. If the sabbath wasn’t binding, although we have shown overwhelming evidence that it is, this man’s sin wouldn’t be that he broke the sabbath, but rather that he was born 1400 years too early. He would have a just cause to say, “Lord you let thousands of people break this commandment, and do even more than me on the sabbath, I just gathered sticks”. The more logical conclusion is that he would perish, and we also would perish should we work on the sabbath. Jesus leaves these judgements in the Old Testament to show there will be punishment for sin.
There’s a blessing attached to the sabbath
Isaiah 58:13-14 “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee 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”. Don’t you want the blessing that comes with obedience to the sabbath. Notice this blessing is only for sabbath keepers.
If the sabbath is so justified why don’t many churches keep it?
Daniel 7:25 “And he [Antichrist] shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time”. It was prophesied that a system would arise which would attempt to change God’s law and they admit this in writing. (see the pope is antichrist series to confirm this with scripture).
“Written by the finger of God on two tables of stone, this Divine code (ten commandments) was received from the Almighty by Moses amid the thunders of Mount Sinai...Christ resumed these Commandments in the double precept of charity--love of God and of the neighbour; He proclaimed them as binding under the New Law in Matthew 19 and in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5)...The (Catholic) Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord’s Day...He (God) claims one day out of the seven as a memorial to Himself, and this must be kept holy...” — The Catholic Encyclopaedia, vol. 4, “The Ten Commandments”, 1908 edition by Robert Appleton Company; and 1999 Online edition by Kevin Knight, Imprimatur, John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
“The Sunday...is purely a creation of the Catholic Church.” — American Catholic Quarterly Review, January 1883.
“Sunday...is the law of the Catholic Church alone...” — American Sentinel (Catholic), June 1893.
“It was the Catholic church which...has transferred this rest to Sunday in remembrance of the resurrection of our Lord. Therefore the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the (Catholic) church.” — Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, p. 213.
“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change (Saturday Sabbath to Sunday) was her act...And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical authority in religious things.” — H.F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons.
At the end of the day the two opposite ends on the issue of the sabbath both agree that “a holy day” must be kept. The sabbath keepers say Friday sundown to Saturday sundown. The Catholic Church says Sunday. Whilst both disagree on the day, both agree on why there’s a difference. Many protestants today believe they are not keeping sabbath because of Bible doctrine, this is false, they are just in ignorance some unknowingly and some willingly.
Catholics admit they changed the sabbath very openly. Catholics are not shy about their beliefs.
“I am going to propose a very plain and serious question to those who follow "the Bible and the Bible only" to give their most earnest attention. It is this: Why do you not keep holy the Sabbath Day?
You are a Protestant, and you profess to go by the Bible and Bible only; and yet in so important a matter as the observance of one day in seven as a holy day, you go against the plain letter of the Bible, and put another day in the place of that day which the Bible has commanded. The command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the Ten Commandments. You believe that the other nine are still binding; but who gave you authority to tamper with the fourth?
Why is this? Because, although they talk so largely about following the Bible and Bible only, they are really guided in this matter by the voice of [Roman Catholic] tradition. Yes, much as they may hate and denounce the word [tradition], they have in fact no other authority to allege for this most important change.
In outward act we do the same as yourselves in this matter; we too no longer observe the Sabbath, but Sunday in its stead; but there is this important difference between us, that we do not pretend-as you do-to derive our authority for so doing from a book [the Bible], but we [Catholics] derive it from a living teacher, and that teacher is the [Roman Catholic] Church”. - The Clifton Tracts (written by Cardinal Wiseman), Vol. 4, published by the Roman Catholic Church.
I pray this study has opened your eyes to see the truth about God’s Holy Sabbath. That you will remember his holy day. The reason God even started that commandment with that word is because he knew at one point in the future we would be taught to forget. That is because God knows Satan’s heart and that he wants to be like him Isaiah 14:12-14 “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High”. Satan knows the sacredness of the sabbath as it shows who you honour as Creator. Hence Satan wants to copy the most High by setting up his own sabbath! He wants to lock down this deception by global decree, but the world will be warned. Maranatha!
