Sabbath keeping with all it's rules and regulations, was part of a covenant with Israel that is not applicable to Christians under the New Covenant. Even when Christians set out to worship on the Sabbath, they aren’t truly "keeping the Sabbath." To "keep the Sabbath" as it was required in the Old Testament would involve compliance with stringent regulations (Exodus 16:23; 35:3; Leviticus 23:32; Jeremiah 17:21) that were strictly enforced.
If Sabbath-day observances are still required, so would the burnt offerings which went along with them (Leviticus 19:30; 23:2-3; Numbers 28:1-10; 29:39-40; I Chronicles. 23:30-31; II Chronicles 31:2-4; Isaiah 1:13). These were commanded by God to the sons of Israel. If the seventh day Sabbath is still in affect, then why do not the Sabbatarians seek to obey ALL that the LORD commanded? How can a person say he keeps a certain law when he keeps only part of it?
If the Sabbath day laws were still in effect today, then according to Exodus 31:12-18; 35:1-3; and Numbers 15:32-36, anyone who profaned the Sabbath was put to death and any person who does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from his people. Who is going to enforce that? The Jewish synagogue? The Christian Church? The Seventh-day Adventist church? Or the State? Since we do not live under a theocratic state as ancient Israel did, no Sabbatarian can live consistently under the Mosaic regulations.
St. Paul said in Galatians 4:9-11: "...You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain."
In Romans 14:1-23, the Apostle Paul says: "... One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind.." In other words, for the Christian, the Apostle is saying that no day is to be regarded holier than another.
Although the Torah was read every Saturday in the synagogues, the early Gentile Christians were never commanded to be circumcised, or to rest on Saturday as the Jews were (Acts 15:1-21).
Colossians 2:16 - Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
The early Christians began to worship God on Sunday (the Lord's Day), because the first day of the week became associated with Christ's resurrection (Matthew 28:1-10; Luke 24:1; John 20:1; Revelation 1:10). We see from Acts 20:7 and I Corinthians 16:1-3 that the early Church gathered together on the first day of every week in order to "break bread," and also to take up a "collection for the saints." Nowhere in the New Testament is the Church commanded to gather together to worship on the Jewish seventh day Sabbath. The Seventh-day Adventist Church teaches that the Roman Catholic Church originated Christian worship on Sunday.
History records that the early Christians were worshipping on Sunday as far back as the first and second centuries A.D. For example:
"But every Lord's Day, gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, so that your sacrifice may be pure." (Didache c. 80-140)
"No longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day." (Ignatius, c. 105) Ignatius here reveals that the “Lord’s Day” is separate from the Jewish Sabbath.
"I will make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world. For that reason, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead." (Barnabas c. 70-130)
"And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read... But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God... made the world. And Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead on that same day." (Justin Martyr c. 160)
"There was no need of circumcision before Abraham. Nor was there need of the observance of Sabbaths, or of feasts and sacrifices, before Moses. Accordingly, there is no more need of them now." (Justin Martyr c. 160)
"We do not follow the Jews in their peculiarities in regard to food nor in their sacred days." (Tertullian c. 197)
"Just as the abolition of fleshly circumcision and of the old Law is demonstrated as having been consummated at its specific times, so also the observance of the Sabbath is demonstrated to have been temporary." (Tertullian c. 197)
"On the day of our Lord's resurrection, which is the Lord's Day, you should meet more diligently, sending praise to God who made the universe by Jesus... On this day, there is the reading of the Prophets, the preaching of the Gospel, the oblation of the sacrifice, and the gift of the holy food." (Apostolic Constitutions, compiled c.390)
So the actual Sabbath day according to the Jews is sundown on our Friday to sundown on our Saturday.
Sabbath keeping [with all it's rules and regulations], was part of a covenant with Israel that is not applicable to Christians under the New Covenant and the Sabbath day did not change from Saturday to Sunday.
Christians worship God on Sunday (the Lord's Day), because the first day of the week became associated with Christ's resurrection (Matthew 28:1-10; Luke 24:1; John 20:1; Revelation 1:10).
We are not to get hung up on the Sabbath day, which is a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ (Colossians 2:16-17).
