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D
oh one more thing, days are not literal days when speaking of prophetic years 
Avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. Titus 3:9.
God bless <3
Avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. Titus 3:9.
God bless <3
P
The Creator of the heavens and the earth gave us rules to follow, which if broken, indicate our lack of spiritual connection with Him.
THERE HAS BEEN MUCH CONFUSION ON THIS TOPIC. PLEASE PRAYERFULLY REVIEW THESE BIBLICAL STATEMENTS ON THE LAW OF GOD...
"Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city." Revelation 22:14.
Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." John 14:15.
"Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." Eccl. 12:13.
"For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." Matthew 5:18.
"Faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead." James 2:17.
"Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law." Romans 3:31.
"He that says, ‘I know Him,’ and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 1 John 2:4.
"The works of His hands are verity and justice; all His precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness." Psalms 111:7,8.
"For whoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10.
"Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness." I John 3:4.
"By this we know we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments." 1 John 5:2.
"If you will enter into life, keep the commandments." Matt. 19:17.
"My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of my lips." Psalms 89:34.
"Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" Rev. 14:12.
"And the dragon [Satan] was wroth [angry] with the woman [God's church], and went to make war with the remnant [final portion] of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" Rev. 12:17.
The old and new covenants explained: (1) The old covenant was ratified by the blood of animals (Exodus 24:5-8 and Hebrews 9:19,20) and based upon the promises of the people that they would keep God's law. (2) The new covenant is based upon God's promise to write His law in our hearts, which was ratified with the blood of Christ. "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my law into their minds, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." Hebrews 8:10. See also Jeremiah 31:33,34.
Jesus taught us to keep the entire Law, and pronounced a curse on those who teach otherwise.
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Do not think that I come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven" Matt. 5:16-19. "Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the Prophets" Matt. 22:37-40. By loving Jesus with all our heart we can obey the first table of the law which deals with obeying God; then we can keep the second table of the law, which deals with loving our fellow man.
Friend, the false assumption has entered the Christian church where some say that only part of the law is binding today. Most say we shouldn`t steal and lie, but the one commandment that begins with "remember" is forgotten …
THERE HAS BEEN MUCH CONFUSION ON THIS TOPIC. PLEASE PRAYERFULLY REVIEW THESE BIBLICAL STATEMENTS ON THE LAW OF GOD...
"Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city." Revelation 22:14.
Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." John 14:15.
"Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." Eccl. 12:13.
"For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." Matthew 5:18.
"Faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead." James 2:17.
"Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law." Romans 3:31.
"He that says, ‘I know Him,’ and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 1 John 2:4.
"The works of His hands are verity and justice; all His precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness." Psalms 111:7,8.
"For whoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10.
"Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness." I John 3:4.
"By this we know we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments." 1 John 5:2.
"If you will enter into life, keep the commandments." Matt. 19:17.
"My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of my lips." Psalms 89:34.
"Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" Rev. 14:12.
"And the dragon [Satan] was wroth [angry] with the woman [God's church], and went to make war with the remnant [final portion] of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" Rev. 12:17.
The old and new covenants explained: (1) The old covenant was ratified by the blood of animals (Exodus 24:5-8 and Hebrews 9:19,20) and based upon the promises of the people that they would keep God's law. (2) The new covenant is based upon God's promise to write His law in our hearts, which was ratified with the blood of Christ. "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my law into their minds, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." Hebrews 8:10. See also Jeremiah 31:33,34.
Jesus taught us to keep the entire Law, and pronounced a curse on those who teach otherwise.
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Do not think that I come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven" Matt. 5:16-19. "Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the Prophets" Matt. 22:37-40. By loving Jesus with all our heart we can obey the first table of the law which deals with obeying God; then we can keep the second table of the law, which deals with loving our fellow man.
Friend, the false assumption has entered the Christian church where some say that only part of the law is binding today. Most say we shouldn`t steal and lie, but the one commandment that begins with "remember" is forgotten …
P
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Exodus 20:8-11. In this next text we will see how God rested, blessed and sanctified this same day: "And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." Genesis 2:2,3
Comments from others concerning the true Bible Sabbath.
Martin Luther, "They [the Catholics] allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord's day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it appear, neither is there any example more boasted of than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, they say, is the power and authority of the church, since it dispensed with one of the Ten Commandments." Augsburg Confession of Faith, art. 28, par. 9.
Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, author of the Baptist Manual, "There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday....It will be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week....Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament--absolutely not. There is no scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week. To me [it] seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years' intercourse with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question...never alluded to any transference of the day; also that during forty days of His resurrection life, no such thing was intimated.
Of course, I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day, as we learn from the Christian Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened with the name of the sun god, when adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism!" A paper read before New York ministers' conference, 11-13-1882
Sunday School Advocate, 11-31-21, "The people became Christians and were ruled by an emperor named Constantine. This emperor made Sun-day the Christian sabbath, because of the blessing of light and heat which came from the sun. So our Sunday is a sun-day, isn't it?"
Friend, let us study the one commandment that the world has forgotten,
"REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY"
"Only one part of the Bible was written with God's own finger (Ex. 31.1, the Ten Commandments. In the very heart of the Ten Commandments God wrote these words, 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy....' Exodus 20:8-11. It should be noticed that this commandment does not command us to worship "one day each week," but to worship God on the seventh day of each week. There is, of course, no technical difference between one day of the week and another--they are each 24 hours long--except that God said that we are to keep it on a specific day. This commandment, like the tree of life versus the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, is a simple test of loyalty to God. Throughout Revelation, God identifies His people, in contrast to the world, as those who keep the commandments: 'Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus' Rev. 14:12.
The Sabbath commandment was lost sight of by the majority during the Middle Ages when the Bible was outlawed. During the first centuries after Christ died, the early Christians began to make more and more concessions to the pagan practices around them. One of the practices that separated the pagans from the Christians was that they worshiped Jesus on the seventh day that we now call Saturday. Over a process of time, the Christians gradually began to worship on Sunday also, until both days became holy days (holidays). This resulted in the five day work week from Monday to Friday.
"Finally, at the Council of Laodicea, in A.D. 364, the leaders of the main body of the early Christian church officially changed the observance of the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week. The Bible foresaw this apostasy coming into the Christian church. In Daniel 7:25 the Bible predicted a power that would 'intend to change times and law.'
Comments from others concerning the true Bible Sabbath.
Martin Luther, "They [the Catholics] allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord's day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it appear, neither is there any example more boasted of than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, they say, is the power and authority of the church, since it dispensed with one of the Ten Commandments." Augsburg Confession of Faith, art. 28, par. 9.
Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, author of the Baptist Manual, "There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday....It will be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week....Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament--absolutely not. There is no scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week. To me [it] seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years' intercourse with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question...never alluded to any transference of the day; also that during forty days of His resurrection life, no such thing was intimated.
Of course, I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day, as we learn from the Christian Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened with the name of the sun god, when adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism!" A paper read before New York ministers' conference, 11-13-1882
Sunday School Advocate, 11-31-21, "The people became Christians and were ruled by an emperor named Constantine. This emperor made Sun-day the Christian sabbath, because of the blessing of light and heat which came from the sun. So our Sunday is a sun-day, isn't it?"
Friend, let us study the one commandment that the world has forgotten,
"REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY"
"Only one part of the Bible was written with God's own finger (Ex. 31.1, the Ten Commandments. In the very heart of the Ten Commandments God wrote these words, 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy....' Exodus 20:8-11. It should be noticed that this commandment does not command us to worship "one day each week," but to worship God on the seventh day of each week. There is, of course, no technical difference between one day of the week and another--they are each 24 hours long--except that God said that we are to keep it on a specific day. This commandment, like the tree of life versus the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, is a simple test of loyalty to God. Throughout Revelation, God identifies His people, in contrast to the world, as those who keep the commandments: 'Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus' Rev. 14:12.
The Sabbath commandment was lost sight of by the majority during the Middle Ages when the Bible was outlawed. During the first centuries after Christ died, the early Christians began to make more and more concessions to the pagan practices around them. One of the practices that separated the pagans from the Christians was that they worshiped Jesus on the seventh day that we now call Saturday. Over a process of time, the Christians gradually began to worship on Sunday also, until both days became holy days (holidays). This resulted in the five day work week from Monday to Friday.
"Finally, at the Council of Laodicea, in A.D. 364, the leaders of the main body of the early Christian church officially changed the observance of the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week. The Bible foresaw this apostasy coming into the Christian church. In Daniel 7:25 the Bible predicted a power that would 'intend to change times and law.'
D
The clear word bible is written by Jack Blanco but it is published by Review and Herald Publishing which publishes SDA work exclusively. It is advertised to SDAers. It has been endorsed by high ranking SDAists. So at least some believe her words are on par with scripture.
Do you approve or disapprove of the clear word bible?
Do you approve or disapprove of the clear word bible?
P
It should be noted from the preceding text that this change of the Sabbath was predicted to be an intentional change. Paul also spoke about this intent to change God's law. Some people, in Paul's time were expecting Jesus to come in their day. But Paul reminded them that this lawless power, predicted by Daniel, who would act as though he were sitting on God's throne, and would change God's law, had not yet arisen. He said, 'Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, [where the Ten Commandments were located] showing himself that he is God...then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming' 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8.
Many people have asked: 'What is the difference between one day and another?' That is just the point. Since there is no difference between the days of the week, except that God says to keep one specific day holy, the only reason to change the day of worship from the day that God said to keep, to another day which He did not say to keep, is out of intentional rebellion against God. If God had said to keep Sunday, man would have decided to keep Monday. If He had said to keep Monday, man out of rebellion, would have decided to keep Tuesday. And once some men change the day, they would have sought to force all other men to follow them, and to make God's law unpopular. The real question concerning the Sabbath is: Will we obey God or will we obey man's traditions that were originally made out of rebellion to God? Jesus said, 'Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?' Matthew 15:3.
"Many believe that one of the reasons the Bible was outlawed during most of the Middle Ages, was to keep the people from understanding the Bible truth about the Sabbath. But today, the Bible is everywhere. As a result, many people are learning the truth about the Sabbath, which is a sign of allegiance to
"The Bible predicted that the Sabbath would be restored in the last days. It will not be popular, but there will be a few people who will be determined to follow God completely by keeping all His commandments. These people, 'shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken' Isaiah 58:12-14.
"An increasing number of people, throughout the world, are realizing the importance of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, and are finding the blessing and peace that comes from obedience to God. God has pronounced a special blessing upon this day, and upon all who seek to keep it holy.
Yet, Sabbath-keeping, like faithfulness in marriage, has nothing to do with earning one's salvation. Salvation is a free gift of Jesus Christ, which was purchased by His death. Nothing we can do can pay the penalty for sin or earn our way to heaven, yet salvation is offered only to those who are willing to obey (Hebrews 5:8,9). Jesus said, 'If you love Me, keep My commandments" John 14:15. When we can truly know Jesus we will become like Him in character and practice. 'Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked' 1 John 2:3-6.
"The Sabbath is the oldest religious practice known to man. It was established at the Creation of this world, before the first sin was ever committed, or there was ever a need for an animal sacrifice or for salvation from sin. 'Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.
And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made' Genesis 2:1-3.
"Not only was the Sabbath kept at Creation before sin, but it will also be kept by the redeemed in heaven, after sin is abolished; 'For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me, says the Lord, so shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the Lord' Isaiah 66:22,23.
"God has wonderful Sabbath blessings awaiting you as you join the inhabitants of heaven, and follow the faithful obedience of the Patriarchs and Apostles, in keeping God's specified day holy. When this life is over, may you receive the blessing of Revelation 22:14, 'Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.'"
SABBATH OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
Jesus’ Example and Teaching
Let us look at what the Bible says about the Sabbath. First we should start with Jesus’ teaching and example. "Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’" John 14:6.
Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life." He "suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps." 1 Peter 2:21. "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." 1 John 2:6.
Did Jesus give us an example of Sabbath-keeping? Did He say anything about the Sabbath? Indeed
He did. "So He [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read." Luke 4:16.
Did Jesus give us an example of Sabbath-keeping? Did He say anything about the Sabbath? Indeed He did. "So He [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read." Luke 4:16.
Jesus kept the Sabbath. The Scribes and Pharisees accused Jesus and His disciples of breaking the Sabbath (see Matthew 12:1-14; John 5:1-21; 7:21-240, but Jesus always claimed that He and His disciples were innocent of Sabbath-breaking. Jesus kept the Sabbath according to the Bible, not according to the rules of the Pharisees. Those who accuse Jesus of Sabbath-breaking today are doing the same work as the Scribes and Pharisees did in Jesus’ day.
Jesus not only kept the Sabbath, but He taught His followers to keep the Sabbath also. Before His crucifixion, in predicting to His disciples the fall of Jerusalem, He told them to pray that they might not have to flee on the Sabbath day. Jesus was speaking of an event that was not to take place for another forty years, showing that He expected the disciples to still be keeping the Sabbath then. (See Matthew 24:20.)
Does The Sabbath Still Apply After Jesus’ Death?
Though it is generally acknowledged that Jesus kept the Sabbath during His earthly ministry, some say that since His death, it no longer matters which day a person worships. Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 24:20 disagrees. But to support their idea they quote Colossians 2:16: "Let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths."
This important text bears consideration. It should be noted first of all that the text speaks of sabbaths (plural) rather than the Sabbath (singular). In the Jewish economy there were two kinds of sabbaths¾ the seventh-day Sabbath of the Ten Commandments and the yearly ceremonial sabbaths of the sanctuary service. The word "sabbath" means rest, and in the Jewish economy there were several yearly feast days on which all the people rested and worshipped. One of these was the Passover. The Passover came on the 14th day of the first Jewish religious month each year. Thus, it came on Monday one year, on Tuesday the next year, etc.
You can read about these yearly ceremonial sabbaths in Leviticus 16:31; 23:4-44. These yearly feasts pointed forward to Jesus and His ministry and had no more significance after He came. The Passover Sabbath, for example, was actually a prophecy foretelling the day of Jesus’ crucifixion. He died on the day of the Passover, at the moment of the slaying of the lamb. Jesus is the true Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7).
These yearly ceremonial sabbaths were all instituted as part of the sanctuary services and pointed forward to Jesus. The Sabbath of the Ten Commandments pointed back to the Creation: "Remember the Sabbath day . . . for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth . . . and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Exodus 20:8-11.
Thus there were two kinds of sabbaths¾ the yearly ceremonial sabbaths established at Sinai, and the weekly Sabbath established at Creation and embodied in the Law of God. Paul is very clear in Colossians, which sabbaths he is talking about¾ the ceremonial sabbaths only. Many people read only until the word "sabbaths" and fail to read the rest of the sentence in the next verse. "So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ." Colossians 2:16, 17. Paul said not to judge people regarding these ceremonial sabbaths, but the Bible makes plain that the seventh-day Sabbath is a perpetual memorial.
John, the last of the apostles, stated that there was still a day that belonged to the Lord, when he wrote the book of Revelation in A.D. 96. "I was in the Spirit [in vision] on the Lord’s day . . ." Revelation 1:10.
While John here does not say which is the Lord’s day, Jesus tells us plainly that His day is the Sabbath. "For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." Matthew 12:8.
Many people have asked: 'What is the difference between one day and another?' That is just the point. Since there is no difference between the days of the week, except that God says to keep one specific day holy, the only reason to change the day of worship from the day that God said to keep, to another day which He did not say to keep, is out of intentional rebellion against God. If God had said to keep Sunday, man would have decided to keep Monday. If He had said to keep Monday, man out of rebellion, would have decided to keep Tuesday. And once some men change the day, they would have sought to force all other men to follow them, and to make God's law unpopular. The real question concerning the Sabbath is: Will we obey God or will we obey man's traditions that were originally made out of rebellion to God? Jesus said, 'Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?' Matthew 15:3.
"Many believe that one of the reasons the Bible was outlawed during most of the Middle Ages, was to keep the people from understanding the Bible truth about the Sabbath. But today, the Bible is everywhere. As a result, many people are learning the truth about the Sabbath, which is a sign of allegiance to
"The Bible predicted that the Sabbath would be restored in the last days. It will not be popular, but there will be a few people who will be determined to follow God completely by keeping all His commandments. These people, 'shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken' Isaiah 58:12-14.
"An increasing number of people, throughout the world, are realizing the importance of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, and are finding the blessing and peace that comes from obedience to God. God has pronounced a special blessing upon this day, and upon all who seek to keep it holy.
Yet, Sabbath-keeping, like faithfulness in marriage, has nothing to do with earning one's salvation. Salvation is a free gift of Jesus Christ, which was purchased by His death. Nothing we can do can pay the penalty for sin or earn our way to heaven, yet salvation is offered only to those who are willing to obey (Hebrews 5:8,9). Jesus said, 'If you love Me, keep My commandments" John 14:15. When we can truly know Jesus we will become like Him in character and practice. 'Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked' 1 John 2:3-6.
"The Sabbath is the oldest religious practice known to man. It was established at the Creation of this world, before the first sin was ever committed, or there was ever a need for an animal sacrifice or for salvation from sin. 'Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.
And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made' Genesis 2:1-3.
"Not only was the Sabbath kept at Creation before sin, but it will also be kept by the redeemed in heaven, after sin is abolished; 'For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me, says the Lord, so shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the Lord' Isaiah 66:22,23.
"God has wonderful Sabbath blessings awaiting you as you join the inhabitants of heaven, and follow the faithful obedience of the Patriarchs and Apostles, in keeping God's specified day holy. When this life is over, may you receive the blessing of Revelation 22:14, 'Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.'"
SABBATH OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
Jesus’ Example and Teaching
Let us look at what the Bible says about the Sabbath. First we should start with Jesus’ teaching and example. "Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’" John 14:6.
Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life." He "suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps." 1 Peter 2:21. "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." 1 John 2:6.
Did Jesus give us an example of Sabbath-keeping? Did He say anything about the Sabbath? Indeed
Did Jesus give us an example of Sabbath-keeping? Did He say anything about the Sabbath? Indeed He did. "So He [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read." Luke 4:16.
Jesus kept the Sabbath. The Scribes and Pharisees accused Jesus and His disciples of breaking the Sabbath (see Matthew 12:1-14; John 5:1-21; 7:21-240, but Jesus always claimed that He and His disciples were innocent of Sabbath-breaking. Jesus kept the Sabbath according to the Bible, not according to the rules of the Pharisees. Those who accuse Jesus of Sabbath-breaking today are doing the same work as the Scribes and Pharisees did in Jesus’ day.
Jesus not only kept the Sabbath, but He taught His followers to keep the Sabbath also. Before His crucifixion, in predicting to His disciples the fall of Jerusalem, He told them to pray that they might not have to flee on the Sabbath day. Jesus was speaking of an event that was not to take place for another forty years, showing that He expected the disciples to still be keeping the Sabbath then. (See Matthew 24:20.)
Does The Sabbath Still Apply After Jesus’ Death?
Though it is generally acknowledged that Jesus kept the Sabbath during His earthly ministry, some say that since His death, it no longer matters which day a person worships. Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 24:20 disagrees. But to support their idea they quote Colossians 2:16: "Let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths."
This important text bears consideration. It should be noted first of all that the text speaks of sabbaths (plural) rather than the Sabbath (singular). In the Jewish economy there were two kinds of sabbaths¾ the seventh-day Sabbath of the Ten Commandments and the yearly ceremonial sabbaths of the sanctuary service. The word "sabbath" means rest, and in the Jewish economy there were several yearly feast days on which all the people rested and worshipped. One of these was the Passover. The Passover came on the 14th day of the first Jewish religious month each year. Thus, it came on Monday one year, on Tuesday the next year, etc.
You can read about these yearly ceremonial sabbaths in Leviticus 16:31; 23:4-44. These yearly feasts pointed forward to Jesus and His ministry and had no more significance after He came. The Passover Sabbath, for example, was actually a prophecy foretelling the day of Jesus’ crucifixion. He died on the day of the Passover, at the moment of the slaying of the lamb. Jesus is the true Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7).
These yearly ceremonial sabbaths were all instituted as part of the sanctuary services and pointed forward to Jesus. The Sabbath of the Ten Commandments pointed back to the Creation: "Remember the Sabbath day . . . for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth . . . and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Exodus 20:8-11.
Thus there were two kinds of sabbaths¾ the yearly ceremonial sabbaths established at Sinai, and the weekly Sabbath established at Creation and embodied in the Law of God. Paul is very clear in Colossians, which sabbaths he is talking about¾ the ceremonial sabbaths only. Many people read only until the word "sabbaths" and fail to read the rest of the sentence in the next verse. "So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ." Colossians 2:16, 17. Paul said not to judge people regarding these ceremonial sabbaths, but the Bible makes plain that the seventh-day Sabbath is a perpetual memorial.
John, the last of the apostles, stated that there was still a day that belonged to the Lord, when he wrote the book of Revelation in A.D. 96. "I was in the Spirit [in vision] on the Lord’s day . . ." Revelation 1:10.
While John here does not say which is the Lord’s day, Jesus tells us plainly that His day is the Sabbath. "For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." Matthew 12:8.
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That was a very bold statement for Jesus to Make when He claimed to be the "Lord of the Sabbath," for it is taken directly from the fourth commandment which states that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord." (When LORD is in all capital letters in the Old Testament it is translated from the Hebrew word "Jehovah." ) Jesus was claiming to be the Creator of the fourth commandment. "And He [Jesus] said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.’" Mark 2:27,28.
Notice also that Jesus did not say that the Sabbath was made for the Jews, but for man. It was established and created in the beginning of Creation. Jesus was the Creator. It was He who created the Sabbath in the first place. (See John 1:1-14 and Colossians 1:16.)
The Day The Apostles Kept
Following the example of Jesus, the apostles kept the true Sabbath. There is not a single instance recorded of any of the apostles worshipping on Sunday. Yet there are scores of recorded examples of their keeping the Sabbath. Let us look at some examples:
"And when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. So when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews, and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God." Acts 13:42-44. Not that this second Sabbath worship meeting mentioned was not for the Jews, but for the Gentiles.
"And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there." Acts 16:13. They were in a heathen city where ther was no Jews or Jewish synagogues, but when the Sabbath came they went to the river to worship. This was twenty-two years after the resurrection.
Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures." Acts 17:1,2.
"And he [Paul] reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks . . . And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them." Acts 18:4,11.
The First Day Of The Week
Where, then, did the keeping of the first day of the week come from? Since Jesus did not mention Sunday or the first day of the week in the Bible, He did not institute worship on this day. In fact, there are only nine references to the first day of the week in the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. These references are Genesis 1:5; Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1,2; Mark 16:9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1; John 20:19; Acts 20:7; and 1 Corinthians 16:1,2. A perusal fo these texts will reveal that nowhere is the first day of the week called "the Sabbath day," "the Lord’s day," "the day of the assembly," or anything like that. None of these references even hint that the sanctity of the Sabbath was transferred to that day. Nowhere is it called the Christian Sabbath or the Christian day of worship.
Let us review these nine texts. The first text tells what God created on the first day of the week. The next six give a simple account of the resurrection of Jesus after resting in the tomb over the Sabbath, with no command of change or example of worship. That leaves just two more texts.
The first is in 1 Corinthians 16:2: "On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collection when I come."
Here Paul is speaking to the believers about special provisions, possibly grain or other food supplies, which he was taking to the saints in Jerusalem. We read in the book of Acts that there was a famine in Jerusalem and Paul wanted to take an offering for their relief. He sent word ahead to get things ready so that he could take these gifts with him. Even if this text had referred to money, it is better to manage our finances on other days than on the Sabbath.
Now let us turn to the only other verse that mentions the first day of the week. "Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight." Acts 20:7.
This text without careful analysis could support Sunday worship. However, there are two important questions that need to be asked: First, does the meeting on the first day of the week make that day a holy day? Jesus partook of the Lord’s supper on Thursday night before the crucifixion. Even today many churches hold meetings on Wednesday evening and on other days of the week. Now, if this text should call the first day of the week a Sabbath or a Lord’s day, that would be different; but it does not. It merely says he talked until midnight.
Now notice verse 8: "There were man lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together." Notice that this was a night meeting on the first day of the week. If that be the case, on which night was it held? In the Bible, God said the Sabbath day was to run from sundown on the sixth day until sundown on the seventh day. In the Bible, days were always counted from sundown to sundown on the seventh day. In the Bible, days were always counted from sundown to sundown. (See Leviticus 23:32; Genesis 1. Without modern watches, how would people have known when a new day began?) Thus the Jews considered Saturday night to be the first day of the week.
That is why the New English Bible translates verse 7 as follows: "On the Saturday night, in our assembly for the breaking of the bread, Paul, who was to leave the next day, addressed them, and went on speaking until midnight."
Now notice what happened Sunday morning. Did he go to church? No: "Now when he had come up, had broken bread [this expression in Bible times referred to any meal, not just the Lord’s supper] and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed." Acts 20:11.
On Sunday morning Paul did not go to church, but hiked 14 miles across the peninsula to Assos to meet the other disciples. He had been there with these people some days before the Sabbath came. As soon as the Sabbath was over, he bade them good-bye, gave a last discourse and left the next morning.
We have looked at all the first day texts and found the obvious; the Bible does not say, anywhere, that Sunday is a sacred day.
THE SABBATH IN EARLY HISTORY
1st Century A.D.:
Jesus. "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read." Luke 4:16.
Jesus. "But pray ye that your flight be not in winter, neither on the Sabbath day." Matthew 24:20.
Paul. "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 and the Gentiles. "And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God." Acts 13:42,44.
2nd Century: Early Christians. "The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted but they derived their practice from the Apostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to that purpose." Dialogue on the Lord’s Day, 189. London: 1701. By Dr. T.H. Morer (Church of England).
3rd and 4th Centuries: Orient and Most of the World. "The ancient Christians were very careful in the observation of Saturday, or the seventh day . . . it is plain that all the Oriental churches, and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival . . . Athanasius likewise tells us that they held religious assemblies on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath; Epiphanius says the same." Antiquities of the Christian Church, vol. 2, Book XX, chap. 3, section 166, 1137, 1138.
Council of Laodicea. "From the apostles’ time until the council of Laodicea, which was about the year 364, the holy observation of the Jews’ Sabbath continued, as may be proved out of man authors; yea, notwithstanding the decree of the council against it." Sunday a Sabbath, John Ley, 163. London:
5th Century: Constantinople. "The people of Constantinople and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed in Rome or at Alexandria." Socrates, Ecclesiastical History, Book 7, chap. 19.
6th Century: Rome. "About 590, Pope Gregory, in a letter to the Roman people, denounced as the prophets of Antichrist those who maintained that work ought not be done on the seventh day." James T. Ringgold, The Law of Sunday, 267.
7th Century: Scotland and Ireland. "It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labour. They obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon the seventh day of the week." Professor James C. Moffat, D.D., Professor of Church History at Princeton, The Church in Scotland, 140.
8th Century: India, China and Persia. "Widespread and enduring was the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath among the believers of the Church of the East and the St. Thomas Christians of India, who never were connected with Rome.
Notice also that Jesus did not say that the Sabbath was made for the Jews, but for man. It was established and created in the beginning of Creation. Jesus was the Creator. It was He who created the Sabbath in the first place. (See John 1:1-14 and Colossians 1:16.)
The Day The Apostles Kept
Following the example of Jesus, the apostles kept the true Sabbath. There is not a single instance recorded of any of the apostles worshipping on Sunday. Yet there are scores of recorded examples of their keeping the Sabbath. Let us look at some examples:
"And when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. So when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews, and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God." Acts 13:42-44. Not that this second Sabbath worship meeting mentioned was not for the Jews, but for the Gentiles.
"And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there." Acts 16:13. They were in a heathen city where ther was no Jews or Jewish synagogues, but when the Sabbath came they went to the river to worship. This was twenty-two years after the resurrection.
Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures." Acts 17:1,2.
"And he [Paul] reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks . . . And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them." Acts 18:4,11.
The First Day Of The Week
Where, then, did the keeping of the first day of the week come from? Since Jesus did not mention Sunday or the first day of the week in the Bible, He did not institute worship on this day. In fact, there are only nine references to the first day of the week in the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. These references are Genesis 1:5; Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1,2; Mark 16:9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1; John 20:19; Acts 20:7; and 1 Corinthians 16:1,2. A perusal fo these texts will reveal that nowhere is the first day of the week called "the Sabbath day," "the Lord’s day," "the day of the assembly," or anything like that. None of these references even hint that the sanctity of the Sabbath was transferred to that day. Nowhere is it called the Christian Sabbath or the Christian day of worship.
Let us review these nine texts. The first text tells what God created on the first day of the week. The next six give a simple account of the resurrection of Jesus after resting in the tomb over the Sabbath, with no command of change or example of worship. That leaves just two more texts.
The first is in 1 Corinthians 16:2: "On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collection when I come."
Here Paul is speaking to the believers about special provisions, possibly grain or other food supplies, which he was taking to the saints in Jerusalem. We read in the book of Acts that there was a famine in Jerusalem and Paul wanted to take an offering for their relief. He sent word ahead to get things ready so that he could take these gifts with him. Even if this text had referred to money, it is better to manage our finances on other days than on the Sabbath.
Now let us turn to the only other verse that mentions the first day of the week. "Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight." Acts 20:7.
This text without careful analysis could support Sunday worship. However, there are two important questions that need to be asked: First, does the meeting on the first day of the week make that day a holy day? Jesus partook of the Lord’s supper on Thursday night before the crucifixion. Even today many churches hold meetings on Wednesday evening and on other days of the week. Now, if this text should call the first day of the week a Sabbath or a Lord’s day, that would be different; but it does not. It merely says he talked until midnight.
Now notice verse 8: "There were man lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together." Notice that this was a night meeting on the first day of the week. If that be the case, on which night was it held? In the Bible, God said the Sabbath day was to run from sundown on the sixth day until sundown on the seventh day. In the Bible, days were always counted from sundown to sundown on the seventh day. In the Bible, days were always counted from sundown to sundown. (See Leviticus 23:32; Genesis 1. Without modern watches, how would people have known when a new day began?) Thus the Jews considered Saturday night to be the first day of the week.
That is why the New English Bible translates verse 7 as follows: "On the Saturday night, in our assembly for the breaking of the bread, Paul, who was to leave the next day, addressed them, and went on speaking until midnight."
Now notice what happened Sunday morning. Did he go to church? No: "Now when he had come up, had broken bread [this expression in Bible times referred to any meal, not just the Lord’s supper] and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed." Acts 20:11.
On Sunday morning Paul did not go to church, but hiked 14 miles across the peninsula to Assos to meet the other disciples. He had been there with these people some days before the Sabbath came. As soon as the Sabbath was over, he bade them good-bye, gave a last discourse and left the next morning.
We have looked at all the first day texts and found the obvious; the Bible does not say, anywhere, that Sunday is a sacred day.
THE SABBATH IN EARLY HISTORY
1st Century A.D.:
Jesus. "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read." Luke 4:16.
Jesus. "But pray ye that your flight be not in winter, neither on the Sabbath day." Matthew 24:20.
Paul. "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 and the Gentiles. "And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God." Acts 13:42,44.
2nd Century: Early Christians. "The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted but they derived their practice from the Apostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to that purpose." Dialogue on the Lord’s Day, 189. London: 1701. By Dr. T.H. Morer (Church of England).
3rd and 4th Centuries: Orient and Most of the World. "The ancient Christians were very careful in the observation of Saturday, or the seventh day . . . it is plain that all the Oriental churches, and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival . . . Athanasius likewise tells us that they held religious assemblies on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath; Epiphanius says the same." Antiquities of the Christian Church, vol. 2, Book XX, chap. 3, section 166, 1137, 1138.
Council of Laodicea. "From the apostles’ time until the council of Laodicea, which was about the year 364, the holy observation of the Jews’ Sabbath continued, as may be proved out of man authors; yea, notwithstanding the decree of the council against it." Sunday a Sabbath, John Ley, 163. London:
5th Century: Constantinople. "The people of Constantinople and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed in Rome or at Alexandria." Socrates, Ecclesiastical History, Book 7, chap. 19.
6th Century: Rome. "About 590, Pope Gregory, in a letter to the Roman people, denounced as the prophets of Antichrist those who maintained that work ought not be done on the seventh day." James T. Ringgold, The Law of Sunday, 267.
7th Century: Scotland and Ireland. "It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labour. They obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon the seventh day of the week." Professor James C. Moffat, D.D., Professor of Church History at Princeton, The Church in Scotland, 140.
8th Century: India, China and Persia. "Widespread and enduring was the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath among the believers of the Church of the East and the St. Thomas Christians of India, who never were connected with Rome.
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I`m not here to answer your investigative questions which have clearly been shown to be led of your own offended will and to prove you are right in your righteous interpretation of scripture. i refuse to go against God`s word in talking about such things in such a manner. I am pasting information for you or anyone else to read if they are truly interested in knowing the truth of our stance instead of stroking their ego
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Educate yourself further about the heretical teachings of the Seventh Day Adventist cult:
Land of Confusion, by Christopher A. Lee, looks at the July 3, 2010, sermon of Ted N. C. Wilson, the newly elected president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. This sermon outlines the agenda of the leader of the worldwide SDA Church and shows that conservative Adventism is alive and well, despite progressive Adventists' claims to the contrary.
Cherry-Picking the Commandments: The Seventh-Day Sabbath, the Mosaic Law, and Evangelical Inconsistency, by Scott Klusendorf, first appeared in the Christian Research Journal in 2011.
Is Sunday the "Christian Sabbath?" by author Dr. Robert A. Morey is a thorough study of the Sabbath topic, written for a Baptist audience. We thank Dr. Morey.
Proclamation! is a magazine published by former Adventists, and it is an excellent resource for those interested in learning how to counter SDA teachings. Comparison Chart of Adventist vs. Christian Teachings by Colleen Tinker, editor of Proclamation! magazine (downloadable, printable PDF available)
Land of Confusion, by Christopher A. Lee, looks at the July 3, 2010, sermon of Ted N. C. Wilson, the newly elected president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. This sermon outlines the agenda of the leader of the worldwide SDA Church and shows that conservative Adventism is alive and well, despite progressive Adventists' claims to the contrary.
Cherry-Picking the Commandments: The Seventh-Day Sabbath, the Mosaic Law, and Evangelical Inconsistency, by Scott Klusendorf, first appeared in the Christian Research Journal in 2011.
Is Sunday the "Christian Sabbath?" by author Dr. Robert A. Morey is a thorough study of the Sabbath topic, written for a Baptist audience. We thank Dr. Morey.
Proclamation! is a magazine published by former Adventists, and it is an excellent resource for those interested in learning how to counter SDA teachings. Comparison Chart of Adventist vs. Christian Teachings by Colleen Tinker, editor of Proclamation! magazine (downloadable, printable PDF available)
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It also was maintained among those bodies which broke off from Rome after the Council of Chalcedon namely, the Abysinians, the Jacobites, the Maronites, and the Armenians." Schaff¾ Herzog, The New Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, art. Nestorians; also Realencyclopadie fur Protestantische Theologie und Kirche, art. Nestorianer.
10th Century: Church of the East, Kurdistan. "The Nestorians eat no pork and keep the Sabbath. They believe in neither auricular confession nor purgatory." Schaff¾ Herzog, The New Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, art. Nestorians.
11th Century: Scotland. "They held that Saturday was properly the Sabbath on which they abstained from work." Celtic Scotland, col. 2, 350.
12th Century: Wales. "There is much evidence that the Sabbath prevailed in Wales universally until A.D. 1115, when the first Roman bishop was seated at St. David’s. The Old Welsh Sabbath-keeping churches did not even then altogether bow the knee to Rome, but fled to their hiding places." Lewis, Seventh Day Baptist in Europe and America, vol. 1, 29.
13th Century: Waldenses of France. "The inquisitors . . . [declare] that the sign of a Vaudois, deemed worthy of death, was that the followed Christ, and sought to obey the commandments of God." History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, H.C. Lea, vol. 1.
"And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ . . . Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Revelation 12:17; 14:12.
15th Century: Norway. "We are informed that some people in different districts of the kingdom, have adopted and observed Saturday-keeping. It is severely forbidden¾ in the holy church canon¾ one and all to observe days excepting those which the holy Pope, archbishop, or the bishops command. Saturday-keeping must under no circumstances be permitted hereafter further than the church canon commands. Therefore, we counsel all the friends of God throughout all Norway who want to be obedient towards the holy church to let this evil of Saturday-keeping alone; and the rest we forbid under penalty of severe church punishment to keep Saturday holy.""
Catholic Provincial Council at Bergen, 1435. Dip. Noverg., 7, 397.
"He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law." Daniel 7:25
THE SABBATH IN LATER HISTORY
16th Century: Council of Trent. "On the 18th of January, 1563, the Council of Trent ruled that Tradition is greater than Scripture, after a powerful speech by the Archbishop of Reggio, in which he said that the fact that the Church had changed the Fourth Commandment clearly proved that Tradition was greater than the Scripture." H.J. Holtzman, Kanon und Tradition, 1859 edition, 263.
Jesus replied, "Why do you also transgress the commandments of God because of your tradition? . . . Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." Matthew 15:3, 6-9
Holland and Germany. "Barbara of Thiers, who was executed in 1529, declared: ‘God has commanded us to rest on the seventh day.’" Martyrology of the Churches of Christ, commonly called Baptists, during the era of the Reformation, from the Dutch of T.J. Van Bright, London 1850, 1, 113, 114.
Russia. "The accused [Sabbath-keepers] were summoned; they openly acknowledged the new faith, and defended the same. The most eminent of them, the secretary of state, Kuritzyn, Ivan Maximo, Kassian, archimandrite of the jury Monastery of Novgorod, were condemned to death, and burned publicly in cages, at Moscow, December 27, 1503." (Council, Moscow, 1503). H. Sternberf, Geschichte der Juden (Leipzig, 1873), 1117, 1122.
Sweden. "This zeal for Saturday-keeping continued for a long time; even little things which might strengthen the practice for keeping Sunday were punished." Bishop Anjou, Svenska Kirkans Historia efter Motet I Upsala.
Europe. About the year 1520 many of these Sabbath-keepers found shelter on the estate of Lord Leonhardt of Liechtenstein, "as princes of Lichtenstein held to the observance of the true Sabbath." History of the Sabbath, J. N. Andrews, 649.
India. "The famous Jesuit, Francis Xavier, called for the Inquisition, which was set up in Goa, India, in 1560, to check the ‘Jewish wickedness’ (Sabbath-keeping)." Adeney, The Greek and Eastern Churches, 527, 528.
Abyssinia. "It is not therefore, in imitation of the Jews, but in obedience to Christ and His holy apostles, that we observe that day." (Abyssinian legate at court of Lisbon, 1534). Geddes’ Church History of Ethiopia, 87, 88.
7th Century: England. "Here in England are about nine or ten churches that keep the Sabbath, besides many scattered disciples, who have been eminently preserved." Stennet’s letters, 1668 and 1670. Cox. Sab., 1, 268.
Dr. Peter Chamberlain. Dr. Peter Chamberlain was physician to King James and Queen Katherine. The inscription on the monument over his grave says Dr. Chamberlain was "a Christian, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, being baptised about the year 1648, and keeping the seventh day for the Sabbath above thirty-two years."
America. "Stephen Mumford, the first Sabbath-keeper in America came from London in 1644." History of the Seventh day Baptist General Conference by Jas. Bailey, 237, 238.
England. "It will surely be far safer to observe the seventh day, according to the express commandment of God, than on the authority of mere human conjecture to adopt the first." John Milton, Sab. Lit., 2, 46-54.
18th Century: Romania. (1760). "Joseph II’s edict of tolerance did not apply to the Sabbatarians, some of whom again lost all their possessions." Jahrgang 2, 254.
Bohemia and Moravia. "The condition of the Sabbatarians [from 1635 to 1867] was dreadful. Their books and writings had to be delivered to the Karlsburg Consistory to become the spoil of flames." Adolf Dux, Aux Ungarn, 289-291, Leipzig, 1880.
America. Before Zinzendorf and the Moravians at Bethlehem thus began the observance of the Sabbath and prospered, there was a small body of German Sabbath-keepers in Pennsylvania. See Rupp’s History of Religious Denominations in the United States, 109-123.
19th Century to present: America. The Seventh-day Adventist movement was formed in 1844.
China. "The Taipings, when asked why they observed the seventh day Sabbath, replied that it was, first, because the Bible taught it, and second, because their ancestors observed it as a day of worship." A Critical History of the Sabbath and the Sunday.
Sweden. "We will now endeavor to show that the sanctification of the Sabbath has its foundation and its origin in a law which God at creation itself established for the whole world, and as a consequence thereof is binding on all men in all ages." May 30, 1863, p. 169. Evangelisten (The Evangelist) Stockholm, May 30 to August 15, 1863, (organ of the Swedish Baptist Church).
We gratefully acknowledge J. F. Coltheart, who personally consulted old manuscripts and the original sources of many of these quotations in the libraries and museums of Europe, Constantinople and the East.
HAS THE CALENDAR BEEN CHANGED?
How can we be absolutely sure that our seventh day today is still the Sabbath? Could the calendar have been changed? In over 100 languages of the world, the seventh day is still called Saturday the Sabbath. In Italy it is called Sabbato, in Spain Sabado, in Portugal Sabbado, in Russia Subbota, in Poland Sobota. All of these names mean "Sabbath" or "rest day" in their various languages. Except for those languages that have adopted the pagan names for the days of the week, the seventh day is still called the Sabbath, as the Lord named it at the time of the creation of the world.
10th Century: Church of the East, Kurdistan. "The Nestorians eat no pork and keep the Sabbath. They believe in neither auricular confession nor purgatory." Schaff¾ Herzog, The New Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, art. Nestorians.
11th Century: Scotland. "They held that Saturday was properly the Sabbath on which they abstained from work." Celtic Scotland, col. 2, 350.
12th Century: Wales. "There is much evidence that the Sabbath prevailed in Wales universally until A.D. 1115, when the first Roman bishop was seated at St. David’s. The Old Welsh Sabbath-keeping churches did not even then altogether bow the knee to Rome, but fled to their hiding places." Lewis, Seventh Day Baptist in Europe and America, vol. 1, 29.
13th Century: Waldenses of France. "The inquisitors . . . [declare] that the sign of a Vaudois, deemed worthy of death, was that the followed Christ, and sought to obey the commandments of God." History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, H.C. Lea, vol. 1.
"And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ . . . Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Revelation 12:17; 14:12.
15th Century: Norway. "We are informed that some people in different districts of the kingdom, have adopted and observed Saturday-keeping. It is severely forbidden¾ in the holy church canon¾ one and all to observe days excepting those which the holy Pope, archbishop, or the bishops command. Saturday-keeping must under no circumstances be permitted hereafter further than the church canon commands. Therefore, we counsel all the friends of God throughout all Norway who want to be obedient towards the holy church to let this evil of Saturday-keeping alone; and the rest we forbid under penalty of severe church punishment to keep Saturday holy.""
Catholic Provincial Council at Bergen, 1435. Dip. Noverg., 7, 397.
"He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law." Daniel 7:25
THE SABBATH IN LATER HISTORY
16th Century: Council of Trent. "On the 18th of January, 1563, the Council of Trent ruled that Tradition is greater than Scripture, after a powerful speech by the Archbishop of Reggio, in which he said that the fact that the Church had changed the Fourth Commandment clearly proved that Tradition was greater than the Scripture." H.J. Holtzman, Kanon und Tradition, 1859 edition, 263.
Jesus replied, "Why do you also transgress the commandments of God because of your tradition? . . . Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." Matthew 15:3, 6-9
Holland and Germany. "Barbara of Thiers, who was executed in 1529, declared: ‘God has commanded us to rest on the seventh day.’" Martyrology of the Churches of Christ, commonly called Baptists, during the era of the Reformation, from the Dutch of T.J. Van Bright, London 1850, 1, 113, 114.
Russia. "The accused [Sabbath-keepers] were summoned; they openly acknowledged the new faith, and defended the same. The most eminent of them, the secretary of state, Kuritzyn, Ivan Maximo, Kassian, archimandrite of the jury Monastery of Novgorod, were condemned to death, and burned publicly in cages, at Moscow, December 27, 1503." (Council, Moscow, 1503). H. Sternberf, Geschichte der Juden (Leipzig, 1873), 1117, 1122.
Sweden. "This zeal for Saturday-keeping continued for a long time; even little things which might strengthen the practice for keeping Sunday were punished." Bishop Anjou, Svenska Kirkans Historia efter Motet I Upsala.
Europe. About the year 1520 many of these Sabbath-keepers found shelter on the estate of Lord Leonhardt of Liechtenstein, "as princes of Lichtenstein held to the observance of the true Sabbath." History of the Sabbath, J. N. Andrews, 649.
India. "The famous Jesuit, Francis Xavier, called for the Inquisition, which was set up in Goa, India, in 1560, to check the ‘Jewish wickedness’ (Sabbath-keeping)." Adeney, The Greek and Eastern Churches, 527, 528.
Abyssinia. "It is not therefore, in imitation of the Jews, but in obedience to Christ and His holy apostles, that we observe that day." (Abyssinian legate at court of Lisbon, 1534). Geddes’ Church History of Ethiopia, 87, 88.
7th Century: England. "Here in England are about nine or ten churches that keep the Sabbath, besides many scattered disciples, who have been eminently preserved." Stennet’s letters, 1668 and 1670. Cox. Sab., 1, 268.
Dr. Peter Chamberlain. Dr. Peter Chamberlain was physician to King James and Queen Katherine. The inscription on the monument over his grave says Dr. Chamberlain was "a Christian, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, being baptised about the year 1648, and keeping the seventh day for the Sabbath above thirty-two years."
America. "Stephen Mumford, the first Sabbath-keeper in America came from London in 1644." History of the Seventh day Baptist General Conference by Jas. Bailey, 237, 238.
England. "It will surely be far safer to observe the seventh day, according to the express commandment of God, than on the authority of mere human conjecture to adopt the first." John Milton, Sab. Lit., 2, 46-54.
18th Century: Romania. (1760). "Joseph II’s edict of tolerance did not apply to the Sabbatarians, some of whom again lost all their possessions." Jahrgang 2, 254.
Bohemia and Moravia. "The condition of the Sabbatarians [from 1635 to 1867] was dreadful. Their books and writings had to be delivered to the Karlsburg Consistory to become the spoil of flames." Adolf Dux, Aux Ungarn, 289-291, Leipzig, 1880.
America. Before Zinzendorf and the Moravians at Bethlehem thus began the observance of the Sabbath and prospered, there was a small body of German Sabbath-keepers in Pennsylvania. See Rupp’s History of Religious Denominations in the United States, 109-123.
19th Century to present: America. The Seventh-day Adventist movement was formed in 1844.
China. "The Taipings, when asked why they observed the seventh day Sabbath, replied that it was, first, because the Bible taught it, and second, because their ancestors observed it as a day of worship." A Critical History of the Sabbath and the Sunday.
Sweden. "We will now endeavor to show that the sanctification of the Sabbath has its foundation and its origin in a law which God at creation itself established for the whole world, and as a consequence thereof is binding on all men in all ages." May 30, 1863, p. 169. Evangelisten (The Evangelist) Stockholm, May 30 to August 15, 1863, (organ of the Swedish Baptist Church).
We gratefully acknowledge J. F. Coltheart, who personally consulted old manuscripts and the original sources of many of these quotations in the libraries and museums of Europe, Constantinople and the East.
HAS THE CALENDAR BEEN CHANGED?
How can we be absolutely sure that our seventh day today is still the Sabbath? Could the calendar have been changed? In over 100 languages of the world, the seventh day is still called Saturday the Sabbath. In Italy it is called Sabbato, in Spain Sabado, in Portugal Sabbado, in Russia Subbota, in Poland Sobota. All of these names mean "Sabbath" or "rest day" in their various languages. Except for those languages that have adopted the pagan names for the days of the week, the seventh day is still called the Sabbath, as the Lord named it at the time of the creation of the world.
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The weekly cycle of seven days comes directly from the Creation week. The heavenly bodies control all the other measurements of time. The year is dependent on the revolution of the earth around the sun. The month has to do with the lunar cycles. The seasons have to do with the revolution and rotation of the earth. Only the weekly cycle has no natural origin, and so only can point back to the Creation week when the Sabbath was instituted.
If the theory of evolution were correct, every nationality would by the law of averages, have come up with different weekly cycles¾ some five days, some ten days, etc. But we all have the same seven-day weekly cycle because God Established it at Creation and it has continued to the present day.
Has the calendar been changed? Yes, but the weekly cycle has never been changed. Pope Gregory initiated a change in the calendar to make up for an error in the Julian calendar by dropping ten days. In October 1582, Thursday the 4th was followed by Friday the 15th in Italy and a few other countries. England changed its calendar in 1752 and Russia finally in 1914. Yet the weekly cycle was never affected. During the time that England, Russia, and Italy had different calendars, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were always the same in each country.
History has exact calendar records going back to Julius Caesar, several decades before Christ, and the weekly cycle has always remained intact. We have exactly the same weekly cycle today as was used in Jesus’ day, and Jesus said that the day then called the Sabbath by the Jews, the seventh day of the week, was His day, the true Lord’s Day. Moreover, since Jesus’ day, millions of Jews have continued to keep track of the Sabbath each week.
It would be absolutely impossible to mix up a whole nationality overnight and have them all wake up unified and worshipping on another day, thinking it was the Sabbath. Moreover, since it is Jesus’ day, and He has commanded us to worship on that day to show allegiance to Him, don’t you think He would preserve its identity?
From the book Your Amazing Calendar, "The week of seven days has been in use ever since the days of Moses, and we have no reason for supposing that any irregularities have existed in the succession of the weeks and their days from that time to the present."
Jesus was killed on Good Friday, rested over the Sabbath in the tomb on the seventh day of the week, or Saturday, and arose from the grave on the first day of the week and went back to work. Luke 24:1, Mark 16:9
BY WHAT STANDARD WILL WE BE JUDGED?
Can we earn salvation? "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10.
What experience must we have to receive this free gift? "Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’" John 3:3.
If the theory of evolution were correct, every nationality would by the law of averages, have come up with different weekly cycles¾ some five days, some ten days, etc. But we all have the same seven-day weekly cycle because God Established it at Creation and it has continued to the present day.
Has the calendar been changed? Yes, but the weekly cycle has never been changed. Pope Gregory initiated a change in the calendar to make up for an error in the Julian calendar by dropping ten days. In October 1582, Thursday the 4th was followed by Friday the 15th in Italy and a few other countries. England changed its calendar in 1752 and Russia finally in 1914. Yet the weekly cycle was never affected. During the time that England, Russia, and Italy had different calendars, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were always the same in each country.
History has exact calendar records going back to Julius Caesar, several decades before Christ, and the weekly cycle has always remained intact. We have exactly the same weekly cycle today as was used in Jesus’ day, and Jesus said that the day then called the Sabbath by the Jews, the seventh day of the week, was His day, the true Lord’s Day. Moreover, since Jesus’ day, millions of Jews have continued to keep track of the Sabbath each week.
It would be absolutely impossible to mix up a whole nationality overnight and have them all wake up unified and worshipping on another day, thinking it was the Sabbath. Moreover, since it is Jesus’ day, and He has commanded us to worship on that day to show allegiance to Him, don’t you think He would preserve its identity?
From the book Your Amazing Calendar, "The week of seven days has been in use ever since the days of Moses, and we have no reason for supposing that any irregularities have existed in the succession of the weeks and their days from that time to the present."
Jesus was killed on Good Friday, rested over the Sabbath in the tomb on the seventh day of the week, or Saturday, and arose from the grave on the first day of the week and went back to work. Luke 24:1, Mark 16:9
BY WHAT STANDARD WILL WE BE JUDGED?
Can we earn salvation? "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10.
What experience must we have to receive this free gift? "Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’" John 3:3.