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| Despite relentless peer pressure from those that rest on Sundays, Christians knowledgeable about both sides of the Saturday Sunday day of rest controversy, after reading this page, should be more inclined to agree that no Biblical justification, absolutely none whatsoever, exists for resting on Sundays when they learn that Jesus Christ was, according to the Bible, actually resurrected on a Saturday during the daytime, before Saturday sunset, instead of a Sunday morning. A Saturday resurrection instantly collapses any remaining support for resting on Sundays instead of Saturdays. Read this page first, then click the SATURDAY RESURRECTION page to read about verses clearly explaining that Jesus must have been resurrected on a Saturday. Isaiah 66:22-24: "I will make NEW HEAVENS and the NEW EARTH, which will last forever,' says the Lord ........ 23 'ALL PEOPLE will come to worship Me every SABBATH (Saturday) and every New Moon,' says the Lord." --- New Century Version. (This means that all people [everyone] will be forced to attend church services on Saturdays, not Sundays, whether they and their ministers agree with that or not, assuming they want to continue staying alive.) 24 'And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me ....... They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh." Isaiah 56:6-7: "........ Everyone who keeps from defiling the SABBATH, ........ 7 ........ I will ........ make them joyful in MY HOUSE of prayer. ........ For MY HOUSE SHALL (shall is a future tense verb referring to the future) be called a house of prayer for ALL NATIONS." The word "Sabbath" in both the Old and New Testaments always refers to the seventh day of the week, Saturday. Sabbath is never translated as "Sunday" in the Bible. The words "My house" above refer to Christianity, which in the entire history of mankind has certainly never been universally accepted by all nations. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, and many other nations for centuries have been Islamic, not Christian. Muslims rest on part or all of Friday and can work on Saturday each week. Isaiah 56:6-7 therefore must be referring to a future time that has not yet arrived, an age in which people seeking salvation in every country around the world will regularly rest on each Saturday instead of some other day. The "new heavens and the new earth" clearly refers to an age following a future event that has not yet occurred, the reshaping of the outer surface of the entire Earth by a global firestorm so hot and massive that even the oceans will be dissolved (Revelation 21:1). The worldwide Noachian Flood reshaped the Earth's surface with water, but fire, probably of nuclear intensity mostly, will be used next time to purge the world of evil. 2 Peter 3:10,13: "........ the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; ........ the earth ........ will be burned up. 13 ........ we, according to His promise, look for NEW HEAVENS and a NEW EARTH in which righteousness dwells." In this future new age seventh day Saturday rest and worship will be observed by people in every nation without exception, or at least by those who attach any value to their eternal lives, and it will be divinely enforced. Concerning Isaiah 56:6-7, 66:22-24 either A) the Lord is not telling the truth or doesn't know what He's talking about, or B) He changed the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday or allowed it to be changed to Sunday, then will change it back to Saturday in the future, or C) the original day of sanctified rest on Saturday memorializing the fabulous six days of creation was never abolished or changed and people are seriously sinning every time they labor or work on Saturday, excluding the noncommercial preparation of food for Sabbath meals, attend church, etc. Since A is of course false because God does not lie and most certainly always knows what He's talking about, and B is illogical and silly, especially since there is no Scriptural evidence for it, only C must be valid. Only one of the previous choices is correct, and C is it. Also, if Jesus Christ changed the day of rest from the seventh day Saturday Sabbath to the first day of the week Sunday or allowed it to be changed, then why in the world did He ever say in Matthew 24:20: "And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the SABBATH (Saturday)," referring to the terrible Great Tribulation, a future event that has not yet been fulfilled ? ? Many people mistakenly claim that the Sabbath day of rest commandment is never directly commanded in the New Testament, and that it therefore no longer needs to be obeyed. Doesn't Matthew 24:20 and the two verses below show that they are wrong? If they don't, for what purpose are they in the Bible? Entertainment? A printing error? Jesus said in Mark 2:27: ".........The SABBATH (Saturday) was made for man ........." Hebrews 4:9: "There still exists, therefore, a full and complete rest (Sabbath [Saturday] rest) for the people of God." The original Greek word for "rest" in the preceding Phillips Modern English translation is sabbatismos, Strong's number 4520, which literally means "a Sabbath rest." For a discussion showing that the above verse provides not only additional but very strong confirmation that Saturday is still the correct day for New Testament Christians to rest on, instead of Sunday, click gnmagazine.org/booklets/SS/sabbath-rest.asp. Verses commonly used by most Christians to help justify rest and worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, are the following, followed by more reasonable explanations which are also more in harmony with the entire Bible, as they of course should be: 1) Revelation 1:10: John said "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day .........." Some people believe that this means John was observing Sunday as a day of rest and had the vision on that day. However, the Bible nowhere says that the "Lord's Day" is the first day of the week, or Sunday. This verse in Revelation is the only place in the entire Bible where this term is used. The context of John's vision indicates that he was not referring to any particular day of the week. John said, instead, that the vision transported him into the future at a time referred to in the Bible as the "day of the Lord Jesus Christ" or "day of the Lord" or "day of Christ" (Jeremiah 46:10, 1 Corinthians 1:8, 5:5, 2 Corinthians 1:14, 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 2 Thessalonians 2:2, Acts 2:20, and 2 Peter 3:10). These terms refer to the day when man's rule ends and the millenium begins when Jesus returns in great power and glory, an event that will occur only one time. This is the central idea of the entire book of Revelation and the "Lord's Day" that John saw in his vision. 2) Acts 20:7,9-11: "Now on the first day of the week (Saturday night since Biblical days began at sunset), when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day (Sunday at sunrise), spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. 9 ........ a certain young man ........ as Paul continued speaking, ........ fell down from the third story (after falling asleep) and was taken up dead. 10 But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, 'Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.' 11 Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till day-break, he departed." Today's English Version Bible, Phillips Modern English Bible, New English Bible, and several other New Testament translations record the disciples coming together to break bread on a SATURDAY NIGHT. Many people think that "breaking bread" refers to the bread and wine of the New Testament Passover service and conclude that this is a religious service on Sunday. Breaking bread, though, refers to dividing flat loaves of bread to be eaten at a regular meal. Breaking bread does not refer to a religious service. "It means to partake of food and is used of eating as in a meal .......The readers (of the original New Testament letters) could have had no other idea or meaning in their minds." (E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, 1991, pages 839-840). Additional proof occurs when, after Paul finished speaking for a while, they broke bread again and ate after miraculously reviving someone who had fallen from the third floor (verse 11). Luke 24:30, 35 and Acts 27:35 also mention breaking bread for the purpose of eating a meal. The words "to break bread" or words referring to bread being "broken" or "broke" do not appear anywhere else in the entire Bible except in the five verses above. After talking most of the night, Paul departed at sunrise (Acts 20:11) to walk from Troas (Acts 20:6) to Assos (Acts 20:13), a distance of about 16 to 20 miles (look at an ancient map yourself). Getting little if any sleep all night long and walking that far beginning at daybreak can hardly be described as a day of rest and worship, especially for a strict Saturday Sabbath keeping Pharisee such as Paul ! ! 3) 1 Corinthians16:2: "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 collections when I come." To interpret this as an account of a collection taken up during a supposed or imagined worship service is unjustified and unwarranted. Concerning this verse the Bible nowhere says that a church service was involved. This collection was a special one primarily for the members, called "the saints"(1 Corinthians 16:1) in Jerusalem (verse 3). No indication is given that the money was to be given to the Apostles for their living expenses. The collection was part of a more general relief effort that involved church members in Galatia (verse 1), Macedonia, and Achaia (Romans 15:25-26). This charitable collection effort could have been the one described in Acts 11:28-30 in which church members in Judea received assistance from the brethren in other areas at a time when a famine affected the whole world. In 1 Corinthians 16:2 Paul instructed the church members to "lay aside" and "store up" contributions "that there be no collections when I come" (1 Corinthians 16:2), not brought to a church service for collection. To believe that the above verse 2 involves a collection taken up during an imagined religious worship service is twisting that verse out of context. James Cardinal Gibbons was a Catholic educator and archbishop of Baltimore in the early 1900s. Commenting on the change from Saturday to Sunday worship, he said "You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify." The Catholic Church correctly teaches that our Lord and his Apostles inculcated certain important duties of religion which are not recorded by the inspired writers. .....We must, therefore, conclude that the Scriptures alone cannot be a sufficient guide and rule of faith" (The Faith of Our Fathers, 1917, page 89). This archbishop admits that Sunday observance is nowhere authorized in the Bible and that Saturday is the only day Biblically sanctified. His justification for the change to Sunday is based on the assumption that the Catholic Church, (incredibly), has the authority to make its own laws concerning salvation, even after the Bible was written hundreds of years before the Catholic Church was formed. Emperor Hadrian, who ruled from 117 to 135 A.D. harshly persecuted Jews in the Roman Empire prohibiting Saturday Sabbath observance. This oppression apparently convinced many Christians in Rome at the time to abandon resting on Saturdays and to turn to Sundays, which is the day the sun worshipping Romans rested on. Within several hundred years Saturday rest by Christians was basically eliminated in the Roman Empire and replaced by Sunday. Although the Protestant Reformation produced doctrinal changes, Sunday observance has continued to this day in most Protestant churches. Protestant leaders generally justify Sunday rest and worship in honor of Jesus Christ's supposed resurrection on Sunday (actually on Saturday before sunset). Honoring Jesus in such a way of course seems very nice, but unfortunately, it involves entering dangerous territory, usurping divine authority to decide what is sacred and what is not, tampering with ancient, sanctified laws. In simple terms it is a very, very big no-no, potentially a capital offense. No other verses exist in the Bible mentioning anything even remotely resembling worship services on Sunday. The New Testament was written decades after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and not a single verse indicates the day of rest was changed from Saturday to Sunday. Some people who lack understanding claim that the New Testament does not directly command Saturday Sabbath observance, and that it therefore no longer needs to be observed. If that is true, why in the world did Paul, a major Apostle if there ever was one who lived an exemplary life after his conversion, himself repeatedly and faithfully keep resting on and preaching on the seventh day of the week, Saturdays, as recorded in a number of verses? For an expanded discussion of the Saturday Sabbath visit gnmagazine.org/booklets/ss/sabbath-age-to-come.asp. ............ One of the most important concepts in this entire website, in case you have not read the other pages, is that the Old Covenant was abolished after the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, not all of the separate and eternally beneficial, humane Mosaic laws. Only the animal and grain sacrificial laws and circumcision law were done away with, not all of the other Old Testament laws. Both the Old and New Testaments then become harmonious, as they of course should be, and Jesus' dire warning in Matthew 7:21-23, using the anomia word, about living apart from the Mosaic laws, makes sense. The Old Covenant promised only physical blessings for obedience, not the gifts of the Holy Spirit and immortality which the New Covenant now promises to those who obey all Biblical laws. The home page of this website is LITTLE PUBLICIZED ANOMIA. | |
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