APOCALYSE or ARMAGEDDON? by Archie Facey - HTML preview

18
IS THE SABBATH COMMANDED FOR CHRISTIANS?

Most Christians would claim that for the day of worship, Saturday’s out, Sunday’s in. A minority would claim that a Saturday Sabbath is still commanded. They are both wrong as we’ll see by looking at the facts alone. As with many of the teachings of man that we’ve examined, they add or subtract from what the Bible reveals. Some people love to add extras into the simple teachings of the Bible. They’re like control freaks who put extra burdens on the sheep or lead them astray with lies about GOD. It’s no wonder Christ says they’re worshipping Him in vain. Mark 7:7. He’s not impressed at all.

Proponents of the Sabbath can put up a reasonably convincing case for observing the Saturday Sabbath. The same can be said about those who promote Sunday as the only day of worship but neither of their arguments stand up to close scrutiny. They are very superficial, with lots of confirmation bias. As with the world’s media and politicians, they leave out information that doesn’t support their stance.

Firstly, let’s look at the history of the Sabbath teachings. Prior to the Exodus from Egypt there was no mention of a Sabbath or even a 7-day week for that matter. It was given to Moses, at Mt. Sinai, as one of the 10 Commandments. Moses passed it onto the Israelites, no one else. Exodus 20:8-11. It was given as a day of rest from their usual work. Even GOD rested on the seventh day. Naturally, working 7 days a week every week is not good for anyone’s health, or wellbeing. Notice that it was solely given as a sign for the Israelites. “it is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Exodus 31:17

Note also there was no mention of assembling together, just resting in or around home. Yet, in Leviticus 23:3 there is seemingly a contradiction as most versions of the Bible state that a ‘sacred assembly’ or ‘holy convocation’ should take place. The Douay-Rheims Bible states simply that the seventh day should “be called holy”. This seems to be supported by this statement in Exodus 16:29- “…Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.”

Generally, the times when the people were commanded to come together was on each of the annual festivals. Maybe modern Sabbath promoters should take heed. Instead of following the command to rest at home with the family, some will drive for 2 hours or more and back, to meet at Church-hardly restful. “Work may be done for six days, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD.” Exodus 31:15 CSB

Many centuries later, after Judah was taken captive to Babylon, some leading Jews got it in their heads to make extra rules about what should and should not happen on the Sabbath. They placed onerous burdens on the people. ‘They’ were the ones with the ‘knowledge’. Much of this came in for strong criticism from Christ, another reason why they wanted Him dead, besides jealously and their loss of prestige with the people. They were so twisted that they criticized Him for healing people on the Sabbath, yet it was OK to circumcise on that day.

Christ observed the Sabbath and often taught in the synagogues. He called Himself ‘Lord of the Sabbath’ (he instituted it after all) and said that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,” and that believers would have their rest in Him. Matthew 11:28,29

After the first Pentecost, when believers were empowered by the Holy Spirit, the news spread far and wide. All those thousands of new believers from many different nations went home and made more disciples. There is no record of the Sabbath being commanded to these new Christians, or the Gentiles who were converted not long after. It’s inconceivable that people who had no concept of the Sabbath, or possibly even a 7-day week, would not have needed to be informed of such a life impacting teaching.

When the apostles did write to all the churches the only things they specified to do was - “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.” Acts 15:19-20. NIV. There is no command anywhere in the New Testament to observe the Sabbath. (Notice it was James taking the lead and making this judgment, not Peter)

Paul also attended synagogues whenever he went to a town, sometimes at risk to his life. He declared, “Let no one judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a feast, a new moon, or of sabbaths. These were a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” Colossians 2:16-17. And further, “One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.” Romans 14:5. If keeping the Sabbath was commanded surely this was a time to say it?

Whenever Paul or the other apostles attended a synagogue on the Sabbath, it was a meeting of Jews and converts to Judaism, not a meeting of Christians. If we are going to use these occasions to justify meeting on the Saturday, perhaps we should also attend a synagogue? Maybe rich preachers could follow Paul’s other example and work for a living instead of bleeding the poor believers? LOL, yeah sure.

Whether or not the early church met regularly on Sunday is also debatable. The most common reason given is the claim that Christ was resurrected on the first day of the week. To believe this requires us to call Christ a liar. He stated that He would be in the grave 3 days and 3 nights. That’s 72 hours and yet mainstream Christianity claims He died on Friday. This means that someone’s maths is wrong, and it certainly wouldn’t be Christ’s. Let’s briefly examine how this confusion came about. It basically boils down to very poor shallow research, or worse, an evil sleight of hand. Just a few Bible facts destroy the Sunday resurrection myth. If one reads the 4 gospels closely these points stand out: -

• Christ died around 3pm in the afternoon and was entombed just before sunset. This means that 72 hours later he was resurrected around sunset.
• He was already risen- “Early on the first day of the week, after He had risen, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had driven seven demons.” Mark 16:9. Some versions differ, saying He had risen on the first day of the week. Some translators take a lot of license when they want to prove their biased opinions.
• Most scholars ignore or are unaware of the annual feast Sabbaths, especially the first day of Unleavened Bread which occurred the day after Christ’s death/Passover. They falsely assume the Bible is referring to the weekly Sabbath.
• GOD marks each day as starting and ending at sunset, not sunrise.
• The only sign that Christ gave the Pharisees that He was the Messiah was that like Jonah, he would be in the grave for 3 days and 3 nights.
• For Christ to rise on Saturday, He must have died on a Wednesday.
• Much confusion reigns over which year the first feast day fell on a Thursday, so we really don’t know exactly which year it was.
• The women purchased the spices after the Sabbath so it could not have been Saturday. “Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him” (Mark 16:1). This was the annual Sabbath. This means they bought the spices on Friday and rested on the Saturday.
• It makes perfect sense that the “Passover Lamb” would be sacrificed on Passover. All of GOD’s Holy Feast days corresponded to some past or future events. (There’s a very strong possibility that Christ will return on the Feast of Trumpets of that year, whenever it is.) Christ was sacrificed to pay the death penalty in our stead. Read Isaiah 53:1-12, written hundreds of years prior. There’s also confusion amongst scholars about whether Christ was actually sacrificed on the day of Passover. We can be sure that Christ would have known the proper day even if they can’t figure it out. See the timeline below for more clarity. (Thanks to BiblicalTruths.com)

In general, we should never trust what any man says until it’s proven beyond doubt.

Proponents of Sunday use the few occasions where Sunday is mentioned in connection with Christians meeting together as proof we should meet on that day. Whilst there’s nothing wrong with meeting on Sunday, or any other day, or night, which suits, using the Bible to ordain any day is wrong, according to Paul at least. Hopefully, this chapter has cleared up what can be a confusing subject. Don’t let humans steal your freedom in Christ and weigh you down with their rules and myths.

Used with permission.