The Sabbath Truth
Did you know there is a very important day in the Bible that almost everyone
has forgotten about? It’s astounding that only a few people are aware of it,
because it’s one of the most significant days in all of human history! It’s not
only a day in the past, but it also has meaning for us now and in the future.
Furthermore, what happens on this neglected day can have a positive effect
on your life. Want to know more amazing facts about this lost day of history?
Then read over this Study Guide carefully.
When Jesus was here on earth, He worshiped on the Sabbath.
1. On what day did Jesus customarily worship?
"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.
Answer: Jesus’ custom was to worship on the Sabbath.
2. But which day of history has been lost?
“The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:10).
“When the Sabbath was past … very early in the morning, on the first day of
the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen” (Mark 16:1, 2).
Answer: A little detective work is necessary to answer this question. Many
believe that the Sabbath is the first day of the week, Sunday, but the Bible
actually says that the Sabbath is the day that comes just before the first day
of the week. According to Scripture, the Sabbath is the seventh day of the
week—that is, Saturday.
3. Where did the Sabbath come from?
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. … 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” (Genesis 1:1; 2:2, 3).
Answer: God made the Sabbath at the time of Creation, when He made the
world. He rested on the Sabbath and blessed and sanctified it—that is, He set
it apart for a holy use.
4. What does God say about the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments?
“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 male
servant, nor your female servant, 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).
“Then the Lord delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of
God” (Deuteronomy 9:10).
Answer: In the fourth of the Ten Commandments, God says we are to
observe the seventh-day Sabbath as His holy day. It seems God knew that
people would be prone to forget His Sabbath, so He began this commandment
with the word “remember.”
5. But haven’t the Ten Commandments been changed?
Exodus 20:1 says, “God spoke all these words, saying … [the Ten
Commandments follow in verses 2–17].” God said, “My covenant I will not
break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips” (Psalm 89:34). Jesus
said, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the
law to fail” (Luke 16:17).
Answer: No, indeed! It is impossible for any of God’s moral law to change. All
Ten Commandments are still binding today. Just as the other nine
commandments haven’t changed, neither has the fourth commandment.
6. Did the apostles keep the Sabbath on the seventh day?
“Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths
reasoned with them from the Scriptures” (Acts 17:2).
“Paul and his party … went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat
down” (Acts 13:13, 14).
“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).
“[Paul] reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews
and Greeks” (Acts 18:4).
Answer: Yes. The book of Acts makes it clear that Paul and the early church
kept the Sabbath.
7. Did the Gentiles also worship on the seventh-day Sabbath?
God said, “Blessed is the man … who keeps from defiling the Sabbath. …
Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord … everyone
who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant—even them
I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer …
for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:2, 6,
7, emphasis added).
The apostles taught it: “When the Jews went out of the synagogue, the
Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next
Sabbath. … On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear
the word of God” (Acts 13:42, 44, emphasis added).
“He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews
and Greeks” (Acts 18:4, emphasis added)
Answer: The apostles in the early church not only obeyed God’s Sabbath
command, but they also taught the converted Gentiles to worship on Sabbath.
8. But wasn’t the Sabbath changed to Sunday?
Answer: No. There is no suggestion anywhere in the Scriptures that Jesus,
His Father, or the apostles ever—at any time, under any circumstance—
changed the holy seventh-day Sabbath to any other day. Indeed, the Bible
teaches the opposite. Consider the evidence for yourself:
A. God blessed the Sabbath.
“The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:11).
“God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it” (Genesis 2:3).
B. Christ expected His people to be still keeping the Sabbath in A.D. 70 when
Jerusalem was destroyed.
Knowing full well that Jerusalem would be destroyed by Rome in A.D. 70,
Jesus warned His followers of that time, saying, "But pray ye that your flight be
not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day." (Matthew 24:20, emphasis
added). Jesus made it clear that His people would be keeping the Sabbath
even 40 years after His resurrection.
C. The women who came to anoint Christ’s dead body kept the Sabbath. "
(Mark 15:37, 42), which is now called Good Friday.
Jesus died on “the day before the Sabbath” (Mark 15:37, 42), which is often
called “Good Friday.” The women prepared spices and ointments to anoint His
body, then “rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment” (Luke 23:
56). Only “when the Sabbath was past” (Mark 16:1) did the women come “on
the first day of the week” (Mark 16:2) to continue their sad work. They then
found Jesus “rose early on the first day of the week” (verse 9), commonly
called “Easter Sunday.” Please note that the Sabbath “according to the
commandment” was the day preceding Easter Sunday, which we now call
Saturday.
D. Luke, the author of Acts, doesn’t refer to any change of the day of worship.
There’s no biblical record of a change. In the book of Acts, Luke says that he
wrote his Gospel (the book of Luke) about “all” of Jesus’ teachings (Acts 1:1–
3). But he never wrote about a change of the Sabbath.
Everybody in God's eternal kingdom will keep the Sabbath holy.
9. Some people say the Sabbath will be kept in God’s new earth. Is this
correct?
“ ‘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).
Answer: Yes. The Bible says the saved people of all ages will keep the
Sabbath in the new earth.
10. But isn’t Sunday the Lord’s Day?
“Call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord” (Isaiah 58:13).
“The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8).
Answer: The Bible speaks of the “Lord’s Day” in Revelation 1:10, so the Lord
does have a special day. But no verse of Scripture refers to Sunday as the
Lord’s Day. Rather, the Bible plainly identifies the seventh-day Sabbath as the
Lord’s Day. The only day the Lord has ever blessed and claimed as His own is
the seventh-day Sabbath.
Jesus instituted baptism--not Sunday keeping--in honor of His resurrection.
11. Shouldn’t we keep Sunday holy in honor of Christ’s resurrection?
“Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism
into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been
united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the
likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with
Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer
be slaves of sin” (Romans 6:3–6).
Answer: No! The Bible never suggests keeping Sunday holy in honor of the
resurrection or for any other reason. We honor Christ by obeying His direct
commandments (John 14:15)—not by substituting man-made traditions in
place of His eternal law.
12. Well, if Sunday-keeping isn’t in the Bible, whose idea was it?
“He … shall intend to change times and law” (Daniel 7:25). “You have made
the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. … And in vain they
worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:6,
9). “Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things. … Her
prophets plastered them with untempered mortar … saying, ‘Thus says the
Lord God,’ when the Lord had not spoken” (Ezekiel 22:26, 28).
Answer: About 300 years after Jesus’ resurrection, partly because of hatred
against the Jews, misguided men suggested that God’s holy day of worship be
changed from Saturday to Sunday. God predicted it would happen, and it did.
This error was passed on to our unsuspecting generation as fact. However,
Sunday-keeping is a tradition of mere men and breaks God’s law, which
commands Sabbath-keeping. Only God can make a day holy. God blessed
the Sabbath, and when God blesses, no man can “reverse it” (Numbers 23:
20).
13. But isn’t it dangerous to tamper with God’s law?
“You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you
may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you”
(Deuteronomy 4:2). “Every word of God is pure. … Do not add to His words,
lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar” (Proverbs 30:5, 6).
Answer: God has forbidden people to change His law, either by deletions or
additions. Tampering with God’s law is one of the most dangerous things a
person can do, because God’s law is perfect and is designed to protect us
from evil.
14. Why did God make the Sabbath anyway?
A. Sign of Creation.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. … 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).
B. Sign of redemption and sanctification.
“I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they
might know that
I am the Lord who sanctifies them” (Ezekiel 20:12).
Answer: God gave the Sabbath as a twofold sign: (1) It is a sign that He
created the world in six literal days, and (2) it is also a sign of God’s mighty
power to redeem and sanctify people. It is a natural response for the Christian
to love the seventh-day Sabbath as God’s precious sign of Creation and
redemption (Exodus 31:13, 16, 17; Ezekiel 20:20). It is very disrespectful to
trample upon God’s Sabbath. In Isaiah 58:13, 14, God says all who would be
blessed must get their feet off His holy day.
15. How important is keeping the Sabbath holy?
“Sin is lawlessness [transgression of the law]” (1 John 3:4).
“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
“Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty
of all” (James 2:10).
“Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His
steps” (1 Peter 2:21).
“He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:9).
Answer: It is a matter of life and death. The Sabbath is protected and upheld
by the fourth commandment of God’s law. The deliberate breaking of any one
of the Ten Commandments is sin. Christians will gladly follow Christ’s example
of Sabbath keeping.
16. How does God feel about religious leaders ignoring the Sabbath?
“Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not
distinguished between the holy and unholy … and they have hidden their
eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. … Therefore I
have poured out My indignation on them” (Ezekiel 22:26, 31).
Answer: While there are some religious leaders who keep Sunday sacred
because they don’t know any better, those who deliberately do so profane
what God has called holy. In hiding their eyes from God’s true Sabbath, many
religious leaders have caused others to profane it. Millions have been misled
on this matter. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for pretending to love God while
making void one of the Ten Commandments by their tradition (Mark 7:7–13).
17. Does Sabbath keeping really affect people personally?
“If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
“To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:
17).
“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).
“He [Jesus] said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for
the Sabbath’ ” (Mark 2:27).
Answer: Yes! The Sabbath is a gift from God, who made it for you as a
respite from the world! It’s natural that the people who love Him would want to
keep His Sabbath commandment. Indeed, love without commandment-keeping
is really not love at all (1 John 2:4). It’s a decision we all must make, and we
cannot avoid it. The good news is that choosing to keep the Sabbath will bless
you profoundly!
On the Sabbath, you can feel free to cease—guilt-free!—your regular daily
activities, such as work and shopping, and, instead, spend time with the
Creator of the universe. Worshiping God with other believers, spending time
with family, walking in nature, reading spiritually uplifting materials, and even
visiting and encouraging the sick are all good ways to keep the Sabbath holy.
After the stress of six days of work, God has given you the gift of the Sabbath
to rest from your labors and to feed your soul. You can trust that He knows
what’s best for you!
18. Would you like to honor God by keeping His seventh-day Sabbath holy?
Answer:
________________________________________
Thought Questions
________________________________________
1. But isn’t the Sabbath for the Jews only?
No. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27). It is not for the
Jews only, but for mankind—all men and women everywhere. The Jewish
nation did not even exist until 2,500 years after the Sabbath was made.
2. Isn’t Acts 20:7–12 proof that the disciples kept Sunday as a holy day?
According to the Bible, each day begins at sundown and ends at the next
sundown (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; Leviticus 23:32) and the dark part of
the day comes first. So Sabbath begins Friday night at sundown and ends
Saturday night at sundown. This meeting discussed in Acts 20 was held on
the dark part of Sunday, or on what we now call Saturday night. It was a
Saturday night meeting, and it lasted until midnight. Paul was on a farewell
tour and knew he would not see these people again (verse 25). No wonder he
preached so long! (No regular weekly service would have lasted all night.)
Paul was “ready to depart the next day” (verse 7). The breaking of bread has
no particular significance here, because they broke bread daily (Acts 2:46).
There is no indication in this passage that the first day is holy, nor that these
early Christians considered it so. Nor is there any evidence that the Sabbath
had been changed. (Incidentally, this meeting is probably mentioned only
because of the miracle of raising Eutychus back to life after he fell to his
death.) In Ezekiel 46:1, God refers to Sunday as one of the six “working days.”
3. Doesn’t 1 Corinthians 16:1,2 speak of Sunday school offerings?
No. There is no reference here to a public worship meeting. The money was
to be laid aside privately at home. Paul was writing to ask the churches in Asia
Minor to assist their poverty-stricken brethren in Jerusalem (Romans 15:26–
28). These Christians all kept Sabbath holy, so Paul suggested that on
Sunday morning, after the Sabbath was over, they put aside something for
their needy brethren so it would be on hand when he came. It was to be done
privately—in other words, at home. There is no reference here to Sunday as a
holy day.
4. But hasn’t time been lost and the days of the week changed since the time
of Christ?
No. Scholars and historians agree that although the calendar has changed,
the weekly seven-day cycle never has. Therefore, you can be certain that our
seventh day is the same seventh day Jesus kept holy!
5. Isn’t John 20:19 the record of the disciples instituting Sunday keeping in
honor of the resurrection?
No. The disciples at this time did not believe that the resurrection had taken
place. They had met there “for fear of the Jews.” When Jesus appeared in
their midst, He rebuked them “because they did not believe those who had
seen Him after He had risen” (Mark 16:14). There is no implication that they
counted Sunday as a holy day. Only eight texts in the New Testament mention
the first day of the week, and none of them implies that it is holy.
6. Doesn’t Colossians 2:14–17 do away with the seventh-day Sabbath?
Not at all. It refers only to the annual, ceremonial sabbaths that were “a
shadow of things to come” and not to the seventh-day Sabbath. There were
seven yearly holy days, or festivals, in ancient Israel that were also called
sabbaths (see Leviticus 23). These were in addition to, or “besides the
Sabbaths of the Lord” (Leviticus 23:38), or seventh-day Sabbath. Their main
significance was in foreshadowing, or pointing to, the cross and ended at the
cross. God’s seventh-day Sabbath was made before Adam’s sin, and
therefore could foreshadow nothing about deliverance from sin. That’s why
Colossians 2 differentiates and specifically mentions the sabbaths that were
“a shadow.”
7. According to Romans 14:5, isn’t the day we keep a matter of personal
opinion?
Notice that the whole chapter is on judging one another (verses 4, 10, 13)
“over doubtful things” (verse 1). The issue here is not over the seventh-day
Sabbath, which is a part of the moral law, but over other religious days. Jewish
Christians were judging Gentile Christians for not observing them. Paul is
simply saying, “Don’t judge each other. That ceremonial law is no longer
binding.”
________________________________________
Quiz Questions
________________________________________
1. Jesus kept (1)
_____ Sunday as a holy day.
_____ The seventh-day Sabbath holy.
_____ Every other day holy.
2. The Lord's day is (1)
_____ Sunday, the first day of the week.
_____ Sabbath, the seventh day of the week.
_____ Any day that we dedicate to the Lord.
3. The Sabbath was made (1)
_____ For the Jews only.
_____ By God at Creation for all men and women everywhere for all time.
_____ Only for people who lived in the Old Testament times.
4. The change from Sabbath to Sunday was made by (1)
_____ Christ.
_____ The apostles.
_____ Misguided men.
5. God's law, which includes the Sabbath commandment, (1)
_____ Is no longer in effect today.
_____ Can never change. It is still binding today.
_____ Ended at the death of Christ.
6. In the New Testament church the converted Gentiles and the apostles (1)
_____ Observed Sunday as a holy day.
_____ Taught that any day will suffice as a holy day if you are sincere.
_____ Observed the Sabbath.
7. The Sabbath (1)
_____ Ended at the cross.
_____ Will end at Jesus' second coming.
_____ Will be kept in God's new eternal kingdom by the redeemed of all
ages.
8. Since the Sabbath is part of God's law, breaking the Sabbath is (1)
_____ Nothing to be concerned about since Christ's death.
_____ A dangerous sin because it tramples upon holy things.
_____ Of no importance today.
9. All who really love and follow Jesus will (1)
_____ Observe the Sabbath, as Jesus did.
_____ Keep every other day holy.
_____ Keep Sunday as a holy day.
10. The Sabbath is (1)
_____ Sunday, the first day of the week.
_____ Saturday, the seventh day of the week (Friday night to Saturday
night).
_____ Any day we dedicate to God.
11. Sunday-keeping (1)
_____ Is an invention of men that was predicted in the Bible.
_____ Is God's plan for today.
_____ Originated at Christ's resurrection and was approved at Pentecost.
12. Sabbath-keeping is (1)
_____ A sign of legalism.
_____ Important only to the Jews.
_____ God's twofold sign of Creation and redemption.
13. I am willing to follow Jesus’ example of Sabbath keeping.
_____ Yes.
_____ No.
has forgotten about? It’s astounding that only a few people are aware of it,
because it’s one of the most significant days in all of human history! It’s not
only a day in the past, but it also has meaning for us now and in the future.
Furthermore, what happens on this neglected day can have a positive effect
on your life. Want to know more amazing facts about this lost day of history?
Then read over this Study Guide carefully.
When Jesus was here on earth, He worshiped on the Sabbath.
1. On what day did Jesus customarily worship?
"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.
Answer: Jesus’ custom was to worship on the Sabbath.
2. But which day of history has been lost?
“The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:10).
“When the Sabbath was past … very early in the morning, on the first day of
the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen” (Mark 16:1, 2).
Answer: A little detective work is necessary to answer this question. Many
believe that the Sabbath is the first day of the week, Sunday, but the Bible
actually says that the Sabbath is the day that comes just before the first day
of the week. According to Scripture, the Sabbath is the seventh day of the
week—that is, Saturday.
3. Where did the Sabbath come from?
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. … 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” (Genesis 1:1; 2:2, 3).
Answer: God made the Sabbath at the time of Creation, when He made the
world. He rested on the Sabbath and blessed and sanctified it—that is, He set
it apart for a holy use.
4. What does God say about the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments?
“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 male
servant, nor your female servant, 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).
“Then the Lord delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of
God” (Deuteronomy 9:10).
Answer: In the fourth of the Ten Commandments, God says we are to
observe the seventh-day Sabbath as His holy day. It seems God knew that
people would be prone to forget His Sabbath, so He began this commandment
with the word “remember.”
5. But haven’t the Ten Commandments been changed?
Exodus 20:1 says, “God spoke all these words, saying … [the Ten
Commandments follow in verses 2–17].” God said, “My covenant I will not
break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips” (Psalm 89:34). Jesus
said, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the
law to fail” (Luke 16:17).
Answer: No, indeed! It is impossible for any of God’s moral law to change. All
Ten Commandments are still binding today. Just as the other nine
commandments haven’t changed, neither has the fourth commandment.
6. Did the apostles keep the Sabbath on the seventh day?
“Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths
reasoned with them from the Scriptures” (Acts 17:2).
“Paul and his party … went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat
down” (Acts 13:13, 14).
“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).
“[Paul] reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews
and Greeks” (Acts 18:4).
Answer: Yes. The book of Acts makes it clear that Paul and the early church
kept the Sabbath.
7. Did the Gentiles also worship on the seventh-day Sabbath?
God said, “Blessed is the man … who keeps from defiling the Sabbath. …
Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord … everyone
who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant—even them
I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer …
for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:2, 6,
7, emphasis added).
The apostles taught it: “When the Jews went out of the synagogue, the
Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next
Sabbath. … On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear
the word of God” (Acts 13:42, 44, emphasis added).
“He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews
and Greeks” (Acts 18:4, emphasis added)
Answer: The apostles in the early church not only obeyed God’s Sabbath
command, but they also taught the converted Gentiles to worship on Sabbath.
8. But wasn’t the Sabbath changed to Sunday?
Answer: No. There is no suggestion anywhere in the Scriptures that Jesus,
His Father, or the apostles ever—at any time, under any circumstance—
changed the holy seventh-day Sabbath to any other day. Indeed, the Bible
teaches the opposite. Consider the evidence for yourself:
A. God blessed the Sabbath.
“The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:11).
“God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it” (Genesis 2:3).
B. Christ expected His people to be still keeping the Sabbath in A.D. 70 when
Jerusalem was destroyed.
Knowing full well that Jerusalem would be destroyed by Rome in A.D. 70,
Jesus warned His followers of that time, saying, "But pray ye that your flight be
not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day." (Matthew 24:20, emphasis
added). Jesus made it clear that His people would be keeping the Sabbath
even 40 years after His resurrection.
C. The women who came to anoint Christ’s dead body kept the Sabbath. "
(Mark 15:37, 42), which is now called Good Friday.
Jesus died on “the day before the Sabbath” (Mark 15:37, 42), which is often
called “Good Friday.” The women prepared spices and ointments to anoint His
body, then “rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment” (Luke 23:
56). Only “when the Sabbath was past” (Mark 16:1) did the women come “on
the first day of the week” (Mark 16:2) to continue their sad work. They then
found Jesus “rose early on the first day of the week” (verse 9), commonly
called “Easter Sunday.” Please note that the Sabbath “according to the
commandment” was the day preceding Easter Sunday, which we now call
Saturday.
D. Luke, the author of Acts, doesn’t refer to any change of the day of worship.
There’s no biblical record of a change. In the book of Acts, Luke says that he
wrote his Gospel (the book of Luke) about “all” of Jesus’ teachings (Acts 1:1–
3). But he never wrote about a change of the Sabbath.
Everybody in God's eternal kingdom will keep the Sabbath holy.
9. Some people say the Sabbath will be kept in God’s new earth. Is this
correct?
“ ‘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).
Answer: Yes. The Bible says the saved people of all ages will keep the
Sabbath in the new earth.
10. But isn’t Sunday the Lord’s Day?
“Call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord” (Isaiah 58:13).
“The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8).
Answer: The Bible speaks of the “Lord’s Day” in Revelation 1:10, so the Lord
does have a special day. But no verse of Scripture refers to Sunday as the
Lord’s Day. Rather, the Bible plainly identifies the seventh-day Sabbath as the
Lord’s Day. The only day the Lord has ever blessed and claimed as His own is
the seventh-day Sabbath.
Jesus instituted baptism--not Sunday keeping--in honor of His resurrection.
11. Shouldn’t we keep Sunday holy in honor of Christ’s resurrection?
“Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism
into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been
united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the
likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with
Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer
be slaves of sin” (Romans 6:3–6).
Answer: No! The Bible never suggests keeping Sunday holy in honor of the
resurrection or for any other reason. We honor Christ by obeying His direct
commandments (John 14:15)—not by substituting man-made traditions in
place of His eternal law.
12. Well, if Sunday-keeping isn’t in the Bible, whose idea was it?
“He … shall intend to change times and law” (Daniel 7:25). “You have made
the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. … And in vain they
worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:6,
9). “Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things. … Her
prophets plastered them with untempered mortar … saying, ‘Thus says the
Lord God,’ when the Lord had not spoken” (Ezekiel 22:26, 28).
Answer: About 300 years after Jesus’ resurrection, partly because of hatred
against the Jews, misguided men suggested that God’s holy day of worship be
changed from Saturday to Sunday. God predicted it would happen, and it did.
This error was passed on to our unsuspecting generation as fact. However,
Sunday-keeping is a tradition of mere men and breaks God’s law, which
commands Sabbath-keeping. Only God can make a day holy. God blessed
the Sabbath, and when God blesses, no man can “reverse it” (Numbers 23:
20).
13. But isn’t it dangerous to tamper with God’s law?
“You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you
may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you”
(Deuteronomy 4:2). “Every word of God is pure. … Do not add to His words,
lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar” (Proverbs 30:5, 6).
Answer: God has forbidden people to change His law, either by deletions or
additions. Tampering with God’s law is one of the most dangerous things a
person can do, because God’s law is perfect and is designed to protect us
from evil.
14. Why did God make the Sabbath anyway?
A. Sign of Creation.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. … 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).
B. Sign of redemption and sanctification.
“I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they
might know that
I am the Lord who sanctifies them” (Ezekiel 20:12).
Answer: God gave the Sabbath as a twofold sign: (1) It is a sign that He
created the world in six literal days, and (2) it is also a sign of God’s mighty
power to redeem and sanctify people. It is a natural response for the Christian
to love the seventh-day Sabbath as God’s precious sign of Creation and
redemption (Exodus 31:13, 16, 17; Ezekiel 20:20). It is very disrespectful to
trample upon God’s Sabbath. In Isaiah 58:13, 14, God says all who would be
blessed must get their feet off His holy day.
15. How important is keeping the Sabbath holy?
“Sin is lawlessness [transgression of the law]” (1 John 3:4).
“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
“Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty
of all” (James 2:10).
“Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His
steps” (1 Peter 2:21).
“He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:9).
Answer: It is a matter of life and death. The Sabbath is protected and upheld
by the fourth commandment of God’s law. The deliberate breaking of any one
of the Ten Commandments is sin. Christians will gladly follow Christ’s example
of Sabbath keeping.
16. How does God feel about religious leaders ignoring the Sabbath?
“Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not
distinguished between the holy and unholy … and they have hidden their
eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. … Therefore I
have poured out My indignation on them” (Ezekiel 22:26, 31).
Answer: While there are some religious leaders who keep Sunday sacred
because they don’t know any better, those who deliberately do so profane
what God has called holy. In hiding their eyes from God’s true Sabbath, many
religious leaders have caused others to profane it. Millions have been misled
on this matter. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for pretending to love God while
making void one of the Ten Commandments by their tradition (Mark 7:7–13).
17. Does Sabbath keeping really affect people personally?
“If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
“To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:
17).
“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).
“He [Jesus] said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for
the Sabbath’ ” (Mark 2:27).
Answer: Yes! The Sabbath is a gift from God, who made it for you as a
respite from the world! It’s natural that the people who love Him would want to
keep His Sabbath commandment. Indeed, love without commandment-keeping
is really not love at all (1 John 2:4). It’s a decision we all must make, and we
cannot avoid it. The good news is that choosing to keep the Sabbath will bless
you profoundly!
On the Sabbath, you can feel free to cease—guilt-free!—your regular daily
activities, such as work and shopping, and, instead, spend time with the
Creator of the universe. Worshiping God with other believers, spending time
with family, walking in nature, reading spiritually uplifting materials, and even
visiting and encouraging the sick are all good ways to keep the Sabbath holy.
After the stress of six days of work, God has given you the gift of the Sabbath
to rest from your labors and to feed your soul. You can trust that He knows
what’s best for you!
18. Would you like to honor God by keeping His seventh-day Sabbath holy?
Answer:
________________________________________
Thought Questions
________________________________________
1. But isn’t the Sabbath for the Jews only?
No. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27). It is not for the
Jews only, but for mankind—all men and women everywhere. The Jewish
nation did not even exist until 2,500 years after the Sabbath was made.
2. Isn’t Acts 20:7–12 proof that the disciples kept Sunday as a holy day?
According to the Bible, each day begins at sundown and ends at the next
sundown (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; Leviticus 23:32) and the dark part of
the day comes first. So Sabbath begins Friday night at sundown and ends
Saturday night at sundown. This meeting discussed in Acts 20 was held on
the dark part of Sunday, or on what we now call Saturday night. It was a
Saturday night meeting, and it lasted until midnight. Paul was on a farewell
tour and knew he would not see these people again (verse 25). No wonder he
preached so long! (No regular weekly service would have lasted all night.)
Paul was “ready to depart the next day” (verse 7). The breaking of bread has
no particular significance here, because they broke bread daily (Acts 2:46).
There is no indication in this passage that the first day is holy, nor that these
early Christians considered it so. Nor is there any evidence that the Sabbath
had been changed. (Incidentally, this meeting is probably mentioned only
because of the miracle of raising Eutychus back to life after he fell to his
death.) In Ezekiel 46:1, God refers to Sunday as one of the six “working days.”
3. Doesn’t 1 Corinthians 16:1,2 speak of Sunday school offerings?
No. There is no reference here to a public worship meeting. The money was
to be laid aside privately at home. Paul was writing to ask the churches in Asia
Minor to assist their poverty-stricken brethren in Jerusalem (Romans 15:26–
28). These Christians all kept Sabbath holy, so Paul suggested that on
Sunday morning, after the Sabbath was over, they put aside something for
their needy brethren so it would be on hand when he came. It was to be done
privately—in other words, at home. There is no reference here to Sunday as a
holy day.
4. But hasn’t time been lost and the days of the week changed since the time
of Christ?
No. Scholars and historians agree that although the calendar has changed,
the weekly seven-day cycle never has. Therefore, you can be certain that our
seventh day is the same seventh day Jesus kept holy!
5. Isn’t John 20:19 the record of the disciples instituting Sunday keeping in
honor of the resurrection?
No. The disciples at this time did not believe that the resurrection had taken
place. They had met there “for fear of the Jews.” When Jesus appeared in
their midst, He rebuked them “because they did not believe those who had
seen Him after He had risen” (Mark 16:14). There is no implication that they
counted Sunday as a holy day. Only eight texts in the New Testament mention
the first day of the week, and none of them implies that it is holy.
6. Doesn’t Colossians 2:14–17 do away with the seventh-day Sabbath?
Not at all. It refers only to the annual, ceremonial sabbaths that were “a
shadow of things to come” and not to the seventh-day Sabbath. There were
seven yearly holy days, or festivals, in ancient Israel that were also called
sabbaths (see Leviticus 23). These were in addition to, or “besides the
Sabbaths of the Lord” (Leviticus 23:38), or seventh-day Sabbath. Their main
significance was in foreshadowing, or pointing to, the cross and ended at the
cross. God’s seventh-day Sabbath was made before Adam’s sin, and
therefore could foreshadow nothing about deliverance from sin. That’s why
Colossians 2 differentiates and specifically mentions the sabbaths that were
“a shadow.”
7. According to Romans 14:5, isn’t the day we keep a matter of personal
opinion?
Notice that the whole chapter is on judging one another (verses 4, 10, 13)
“over doubtful things” (verse 1). The issue here is not over the seventh-day
Sabbath, which is a part of the moral law, but over other religious days. Jewish
Christians were judging Gentile Christians for not observing them. Paul is
simply saying, “Don’t judge each other. That ceremonial law is no longer
binding.”
________________________________________
Quiz Questions
________________________________________
1. Jesus kept (1)
_____ Sunday as a holy day.
_____ The seventh-day Sabbath holy.
_____ Every other day holy.
2. The Lord's day is (1)
_____ Sunday, the first day of the week.
_____ Sabbath, the seventh day of the week.
_____ Any day that we dedicate to the Lord.
3. The Sabbath was made (1)
_____ For the Jews only.
_____ By God at Creation for all men and women everywhere for all time.
_____ Only for people who lived in the Old Testament times.
4. The change from Sabbath to Sunday was made by (1)
_____ Christ.
_____ The apostles.
_____ Misguided men.
5. God's law, which includes the Sabbath commandment, (1)
_____ Is no longer in effect today.
_____ Can never change. It is still binding today.
_____ Ended at the death of Christ.
6. In the New Testament church the converted Gentiles and the apostles (1)
_____ Observed Sunday as a holy day.
_____ Taught that any day will suffice as a holy day if you are sincere.
_____ Observed the Sabbath.
7. The Sabbath (1)
_____ Ended at the cross.
_____ Will end at Jesus' second coming.
_____ Will be kept in God's new eternal kingdom by the redeemed of all
ages.
8. Since the Sabbath is part of God's law, breaking the Sabbath is (1)
_____ Nothing to be concerned about since Christ's death.
_____ A dangerous sin because it tramples upon holy things.
_____ Of no importance today.
9. All who really love and follow Jesus will (1)
_____ Observe the Sabbath, as Jesus did.
_____ Keep every other day holy.
_____ Keep Sunday as a holy day.
10. The Sabbath is (1)
_____ Sunday, the first day of the week.
_____ Saturday, the seventh day of the week (Friday night to Saturday
night).
_____ Any day we dedicate to God.
11. Sunday-keeping (1)
_____ Is an invention of men that was predicted in the Bible.
_____ Is God's plan for today.
_____ Originated at Christ's resurrection and was approved at Pentecost.
12. Sabbath-keeping is (1)
_____ A sign of legalism.
_____ Important only to the Jews.
_____ God's twofold sign of Creation and redemption.
13. I am willing to follow Jesus’ example of Sabbath keeping.
_____ Yes.
_____ No.
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