A Day Never to Forget
In today’s fast-paced society, our lives are filled with work, worries and hardships. When we forget to rest, we can easily get exhausted. Did you know that there is one special day which many of us are forgetting? Did you know this same special day will help us maintain our friendships, ensure our happiness, bring joy to our families and help us recover from our weekly toil? Keep reading to find out more about this day that we should never forget!
WHAT IS THIS SPECIAL DAY?
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 2:2-3 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Answer: The 7th day Sabbath is the special day that God set aside. After the major events composing the creation of heaven and earth, God rested. Right in the beginning, God set aside a special day for His creation to spend time with Him.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Deuteronomy 9:10 And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.
Answer: The 7th day Sabbath is important because God commanded His people to keep the 10 Commandments. One of the commandments is to keep the Sabbath holy. This commandment along with the other commandments, God wrote on two tables of stone with His finger. Not only did God write them, He also spoke them too (Exodus 20:1)
DID JESUS KEEP THE 7TH DAY SABBATH?
Luke 4:16 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 16:17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
Psalm 89:34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
Answer: We read that Jesus Christ went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and read. Jesus taught that God’s Ten Commandments are unchangeable. God has not, nor will He ever, alter the Ten Commandments He both declared and wrote.
DID JESUS’ FOLLOWERS KEEP THE 7TH DAY SABBATH?
Acts 17:2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
Acts 18:4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
Acts 13:13-14 Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.
Acts 16:13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
Answer: Jesus’ followers kept the Sabbath day holy. Paul, just like Jesus, reasoned from the Scriptures on the Sabbath day. The Bible even says that while Paul was in Corinth that he reasoned from the Scriptures every Sabbath. Christ’s followers were 7th day Sabbath keepers.
DID JESUS’ FOLLOWERS TEACH THE OBSERVANCE OF THE 7TH DAY SABBATH?
Acts 13:42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
Acts 13:44 And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
Answer: Jesus’ followers taught 7th day Sabbath keeping to the Gentiles, and we know this because almost the whole city came to hear the word of God on the Sabbath. Even Jesus expected people to keep it when Jerusalem was destroyed (see Matthew 24:20).
WHEN THE EARTH IS MADE NEW, WILL WE STILL KEEP THE 7TH DAY SABBATH?
Isaiah 66:22-23 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
Answer: God has firmly declared that the Sabbath will be kept by those living in the new earth.
DO WE KEEP SUNDAY IN HONOR OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION?
Romans 6:3-6 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Answer: Jesus Christ instituted baptism in honor of the resurrection. He definitely did not teach that we should observe Sunday as a day of rest and worship in honor of the resurrection. If we love Jesus, we will keep His commandments.
WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO KEEP SUNDAY?
Daniel 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Matthew 15:6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
Matthew 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Answer: The book of Daniel foretells of a power that will think to change times and laws. The 4th commandment of the Decalogue is considered both a time and a law. It is a time because the command specifies a special day (time) for rest and worship. It is a law because the 4th commandment is one of the ten laws of God’s government. No other power fulfills the Daniel 7:25 prophecy as strikingly as the Roman Catholic Church with all its man-made traditions. Read the Ten Commandments Table to find out how that church has tried to change God’s law.
The Bible 10 Commandments |
The Roman Catholic 10 Commandments |
||
1 |
Exodus 20:2-3 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. | 1 | I am the LORD thy God. Thou shalt have no strange gods before Me. |
2 |
Exodus 20:4-6 You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my Commandments. | Deleted.
(The second Commandment has been deleted or sometimes it has been absorbed into the first. All remaining Commandments are therefore shifted along one count.) |
|
3 |
Exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God In vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. | 2 | Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain. |
4 |
Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. | 3 | Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
(The Sabbath is the fourth Commandment by normal count.) |
5 |
Exodus 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. | 4 | Honour thy father and thy mother. |
6 |
Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill. | 5 | Thou shalt not kill. |
7 |
Exodus 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery. | 6 | Thou shalt not commit adultery. |
8 |
Exodus 20:15 Thou shalt not steal. | 7 | Thou shalt not steal. |
9 |
Exodus 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. | 8 | Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. |
10 |
Exodus 20:16 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. | 9 | Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife.
(The Tenth Commandment is split into two to get back to Ten Commandments.) |
|
|
10 | Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s goods | |
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH & THE SABBATH CHANGE
The following is a question and answer section from the Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine:
Q. Which is the Sabbath day?
A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea, (AD 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday….
Q. Why did the Catholic Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday, because Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday, and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on a Sunday.
Q. By what authority did the Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her!
—Rev. Peter Geiermann, C.SS.R., (1946), p. 50
DOES SABBATH KEEPING AFFECT ME?
John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Revelation 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Answer: The keeping of the Ten Commandments, especially the 4th commandment, directly affects us. If we love Jesus, we will keep His commandments. When we do His commandments, we are blessed. We will have the right to the tree of life and enter into New Jerusalem. There are blessings in store for those who keep the 7th day Sabbath holy.
THE SEARCH BEGINS
Martin Luther, who inspired the Protestant Reformation, said that the Christian Church “keeps all words of God in its heart and turns them round and round and keeps their connection with one another and with the Scripture. Therefore, anyone who is to find Christ must first find the church. How could anyone know where Christ is and what faith is in him unless he knew where His believers are?” (A History of the Reformation by Thomas M. Lindsay).
