Sabbath

The Sabbath was instituted in Eden and is the cap stone of Creation.  This is the origin of the 7 day weekly cycle.  According to history, science, and astronomy it appears that this 7 day cycle has not been lost, but continues to be the same 7 day cycle since creation. Also, if Jesus kept the 7th day Sabbath that we keep it’s good enough for me. See Index 1, 2, 3 at the end of the study.

Note: Before you read the following study you need to undersand that the Sabbath commandment, like all the others,  is good if used lawfully! 1Ti 1:8  But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;
The commandments tell us God’s ideal for us, the way we should live to glorify Him. Our righteousness and salvation is soley by grace, faith and the merit and righteousness of Jesus Christ! We are not saved BY lawkeeping, but we are saved TO lawkeeping!! Never foreget it!

KJV: Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Ge 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 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.
(ASV)  And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.
(GW)  Then God blessed the seventh day and set it apart as holy, because on that day he stopped all his work of creation.

Note, that God has made this day different than any other!  There is no substitute.  It is set aside from all the other days of the week as holy.
It is set like a Gem in the Center of Yah’s Law given in Exodus 20.
Also, this commandment itself contains the seal of creation.  The reason to honor the 7th day is because that God rested from His work of Creation on that day!
This commandment cannot mean one day in seven, as it refers back to creation week and the first Sabbath which was the seventh day of the week. It’s like a birthday! You can’t change your birthday.
Ex 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 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:
11   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.
REMEMBER!! REMEMBER!! Why we are so determined to FORGET the one day or one commandment that God said to REMEMBER!!

This command is reiterated many times later in Scripture.
De 5:12   Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.
Ne 9:14   And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:
 It is apparently serious enough in nature that a man violating the Sabbath was to be put to death.
Ex 31:14   Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
Isa 56:2  Blessed [is] the man [that] doeth this, and the son of man [that] layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
If you read the context of Isa 56 you’ll see that this is in a last days setting and verse 10 comments on the false teachers which are as dumb dogs that would not bark!  I believe these false teacher will be cut down by the destroying angels of Eze 9:4-6.

Read Exodus 16:14-26. This story about the manna shows that the Sabbath Day was different from any other day.  The Manna would not keep overnight any night of the week except Friday night…   Friday night is really Sabbath eve…(We know that when we say Christmas eve, but forget it the rest of the year!) The manna would not spoil on Sabbath as it would any other day of the week!
Exo 16:24  And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.
Exo 16:25  And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day [is] a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field.
(GNB)  Moses said, “Eat this today, because today is the Sabbath, a day of rest dedicated to the LORD, and you will not find any food outside the camp.
Ex 16:26   Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.

There is a lot of discussion about when the day begins.  Is it noon, sunset, or midnight?
Let’s see what Scripture says.
Gen 1:5  And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Gen 1:8  And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Gen 1:13  And the evening and the morning were the third day.  Etc.
God starts the new day at sunset.
In Mark 1 you’ll read the story of Jesus casting out a devil in the Synagogue, then coming out of the Synagogue and going to Peter’s house.  There he healed Peter’s wife’s mother.  The people were afraid to come on the Sabbath so they waited till sunset, when the Sabbath was past.
Mar 1:32  And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils.

The gates of Jerusalem were closed on the evening of the 6th day of the week, when it began to be dark, before the Sabbath, to make sure no burden was borne on the Sabbath.
Ne 13:19   And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.

The Sabbath was a sign that we belong to God/Yahweh, that He is our Sanctifier (therefore Justifier).
Exo 31:13  And you speak to the sons of Israel, saying, Keeping you shall keep My sabbaths; for it is a sign between Me and you for your generation; to know that I am Jehovah your sanctifier.
Ex 31:17   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.
Eze 20:20  And keep My sabbaths holy, and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am Jehovah your God.
Eze 20:21  Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which [if] a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my Sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.

Isaiah tells us there is a special blessing for us who seek His will on His day!
Isa 58:13-14   If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth and will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob they father, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
The 7th day Sabbath, instituted at Creation, is so important it will be remembered and celebrated forever in the New Earth!            SEE ISAIAH 56!
Isa 66:23   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.

Jesus taught us how to keep the Sabbath...by blessings others on the Sabbath.
Mt 12:1   At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
Mt 12:2   But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
Mt 12:8   For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
Mt 12:11   And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
Mt 12:12   How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
Joh 9:14   And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.
The Jews sought to persecute Jesus for healing on the Sabbath.
John 5:16   And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.  Here we see that Christ was trying to show them how to keep the Sabbath correctly…by blessing others, and they accused him of throwing it out.

The Lord’s Day in Rev. 1:8 is frequently thought of as Sunday.  However, there are two other possibilities to consider.
1. It is most likely that John was referring to the Seventh Day Sabbath  here since that is the day that God has called his own all through Scripture.  As we just  read in Isa. 58…we are to call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord.  Then in Mark 2:28, quoted below He is the LORD of the Sabbath.
2.  This could refer to the fact that John was caught up in the Spirit to the time of the Lord’s day, as this book describes the closing times of this age–that’s what Revelation is about! For example: Isa 13:6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
Rev 1:10  I came to be in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet
Jesus claimed to be the Lord of the Sabbath and designed it to be a blessing to man.
Mr 2:27   And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
Mr 2:28   Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

It was Jesus custom to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath.
Lu 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.
1Pe 2:21  For you were called to this, for even Christ suffered on our behalf, leaving behind an example for us, that you should follow His steps.
The Sabbath was not only a sign of Creation, but it is a sign of Redemption.  Our resting on His holy day is an acknowledgment that we have accepted His finished work–of creation and redemption!  Therefore, the Sabbath is also at the heart of the Gospel!
Heb 4:4   For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
Heb 4:9   There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

Paul and the apostles continued with Christ’s example of Sabbath keeping.
Acts 13:44   And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
Ac 17:2   And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
Ac 18:4   And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.

So we see that the 7 day cycle was still valid in the time of Christ and Paul.  Read the Indexes for documentation on the 7 day cycle not lost since creation.
If Christ kept the 7th day of our current week, should we not follow his example?
Since the time of Christ no time has been lost.  The calendar we use today, with some modifications regarding the months that did not affect the week at all, was in use over 40 years before Christ, by the authority of Julius “Ceasar.
Astronomy says there is no lost time.  Almanacs, histories, encyclopedias, dictionaries, old family Bibles, all the laws of Christendom, the customs of Islam, the Greek Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant church, the Jewish people in all the world, and modern science—all testify that we have not lost track of the days of the week.

Here are all the first day texts in the Bible.
The word “Sunday” is not found in the Bible, but the term “first day of the week: is found eight times, as follows: Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1, 2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:1, 2.
The first six texts all refer to events connected with Christ’s resurrection.
Acts 20 reports a special meeting held by the Apostle Paul at Troas and was a night meeting (verse 8) as the day begins at sunset, according to the Bible.  (See section to follow.)  This meeting was on what we call Saturday night.  Paul walked 19 miles to Assos the next day (Sunday).
1 Cor. 16:2–A collection for the poor saints was to be “laid by in store” at home and has no reference to any public meeting.
None of these texts attribute any sacredness to any day except the seventh day Sabbath of the Lord.

              So how did the Old testament Sabbath, the sign of Creator of the heavens and the earth,  which was also the Apostolic Sabbath, get changed, by some, to the Modern Day Sunday?
Prophecy declared that man would attempt to change God’s times and laws.
Dan 7:25  And he shall speak words against the Most High, and he shall wear out the saints of the Most High. And he intends to change times and law. And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one half time. (See also 2Thess. 2:3, 4.)
By attempting to change the law of God, Yahweh, human power would thus exalt itself above God.
For the deep student who desires a detailed account from history as to the gradual change from Sabbath sacredness to Sunday sacredness we have Baccoicchi’s book “From Sabbath to Sunday.”  From Sabbath to Sunday   You will be amazed!  For the one who desires only the bird’s eye view, the quotes below are from a Catholic Catechism.
The Papacy claims to have changed the Sabbath according to her own words:
“Question: Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals or precept?
“Answer: Had she not such power she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her: she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”–A Doctrinal Catechism, by Rev. Stephen Keenan, p. 174.
“Question: What day was the Sabbath?
“Answer: Saturday.
“Question: Who changed it?
“Answer: The Catholic Church.”  From Rev. Dr. Butler’s Catechism, Revised, p. 57.
“It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, has transferred this rest to the Sunday in Remembrance of the resurrection of our Lord.  Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the (Catholic) Church.”  Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, by Msgr. Segur, p. 213.
The first Sunday law ever made was that issued by the Emperor Constantine, March 7, A.D. 321, which reads as follows:
“Let all the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades rest on the venerable day of the sun; but let those who are situated in the country, freely and at full liberty, attend to the business of agriculture; because it often happens that no other day is so fit for th sowing corn and planting vines; lest the critical moment being let slip, men should lose the commodities granted by heaven.”–Corpus Juris Civilis cod.: lib.3, tit. 12,3.
Note: Notice in this law of Constantine that there is nothing about Christ of God or the Bible.  It applies only to the people in towns, not country people.  It is interesting to note that Bishop Eusebius (A.D. 270-338) who worked closely with Emperor Constantine, says in his commentary, “All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord’s day.”–Commentary on the Psalms, Eusebius; cited in the commentary on the Apocalypse, Moses Stuart, Vol II, 9, 40.  Andover: Allen, Morrill, and Wardwell, 1845.
In A.D. 364 many Christians were still observing the true seventh-day Sabbath Lord’s day which Christ made at creation.  This is proved by the fact that the Church Council of Laodicea in that year forbade the observance of the Bible Sabbath:
“Sabbath, Change of, Action of Council of Laodicea on (about A.D. 364).  Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday (Sabbath, original), but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honor, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judazing, they shall be shut out from Christ.” –A History of the Councils of the Church: from the Original Documents, Rt. Rev. Charles Joseph Hefele, D.D., Bishop of Rottenburg, book 6, sec. 93, canon 29 (vol II, P. 316).  Edinburgh: T.& T. Clark, 1896

 Index 1   Wikipedia Online–I just entered Gregorian Calendar….
“In conjunction with the system of months there is a system of weeks. A physical or electronic calendar provides conversion from a given date to the weekday, and shows multiple dates for a given weekday and month. Calculating the day of the week is not very simple, because of the irregularities in the Gregorian system. When the Gregorian calendar was introduced, the week cycle was continued unbroken. So Thursday, 4 October 1582 was followed by Friday 15 October.”
“The motivation of the Catholic Church in adjusting the calendar was to celebrate Easter at the time they thought was agreed to at the First Council of Nicaea in 325.”
From another hit for Gregorian Calendar:
“The Protestant German countries adopted the Gregorian reform in 1700. By this time, the calendar trailed the seasons by 11 days. England (and the American colonies) finally followed suit in 1752, and Wednesday, September 2, 1752 was immediately followed by Thursday, September 14, 1752.”

Index 2   From Living Word Online
The Julian calendar was in use when Jesus Christ was upon the earth. Its originator, Julius Caesar, died 44 years before Christ was born. This calendar which continued in use for fifteen centuries was not accurate in the length of its year, for it was 11 minutes, 14 seconds too long. What was needed was our method of “leap years.” By 1582 the vernal equinox of March 21 had receded to March 11, making it ten days off schedule.
Astronomers recommended a change and made at the time that Gregory XIII was the pope, and so the corrected calendar with its “leap year” was called the Gregorian calendar. It began to function on Friday, the 5th of October 1582. Friday the 5th was changed to Friday the 15th. So that particular month was ten days shorter, but the length of its weeks was not affected. This is due to the simple fact that the number of days in the month or in the year has nothing to do with the number of days in the week. Thus the weekly cycle was not affected in any way.

Index 3 From Living Word—-Evidence from Jewish History
Our heavenly Father has given us more than written proof of the permanence of the Weekly Cycle and the Seventh-day Sabbath, He has given us living proof: The Jewish race.
It has been 3400 years since the time that God gave them manna in the wilderness and told them to carefully keep each Seventh-day Sabbath when no manna fell. But all during those long centuries since then, they have observed God’s Sabbath, week after week, month after month, year after year, century after century.
Ask any Jewish acquaintance what day is the Sabbath. He will tell you that it is Saturday, the Seventh day.
Orthodox Jews scattered throughout the world have kept strict record of time. They have carefully observed the Seventh-day Sabbath throughout the ages. The existence and testimony of the Jewish race is alone enough to settle the matter. It is the most amazing and conclusive means of knowing the ancient Sabbath of Jesus and earlier times. There is no doubt that the God of heaven has carefully guarded the day that He sanctified and blessed at Creation. We have no excuse for not keeping it holy as He commanded.
Evidence from Scientists, Historians and Astronomers
Historians have amassed an immense record of human events going back thousands of years. Those records tell us of people keeping the seventh day holy far back in recorded history.
Astronomers have kept an accurate record of time. And theirs is one of the most accurate that you will find anywhere.
They tell us that if all records of time should suddenly be lost, the astronomers could rediscover time from the mathematics of the stars in their motions. God put the stars in the heavens “for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years.” Genesis 1:14.
Statements by eminent scientists, historians and astronomers:
“One of the most striking collateral confirmations of the Mosaic history of the creation is the general adoption of the division of time into weeks, which extends from the Christian states of Europe to the remote shores of Hindustan, and has equally prevailed among the Hebrews, Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, and northern Barbarians, –nations some of whom had little or no communication with others, and were not even known by name to the Hebrews.”
Horne’s Introduction, Volum1, page 69
In the official League of Nations “Report on the Reform of the Calendar,” published at Geneva, August 17, 1926, are the following representative statements by noted astronomers:
“The week has been followed for thousands of years and therefore has been hallowed by immemorial use.”
Anders Donner, “The Report,” p. 51. [Donner had been a professor of Astronomy at the University of Helsingfors.]
“I have always hesitated to suggest breaking the continuity of the week, which without a doubt is the most ancient scientific institution bequeathed to us by antiquity.”
Edouard Baillaud, “The Report, p. 52. [Baillaud was Director of the Pris Observatory.]
“The week is a period of seven days.. It has been employed from time immemorial in almost all Eastern countries.”
The Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, Volume 4, p. 988, article, “Calendar.”
“As to Question (1)–I can only state that in connection with the proposed simplification of the calendar, we have had occasion to investigate the results of the works of specialists in chronology and we have never found one of them that has ever had the slightest doubt the continuity of the weekly cycle since long before the Christian era.
“As to Question (2) –There has been no change in our calendar in past centuries that has affected in any way the cycle of the week.”
James robertson, personal letter, dated March 12, 1932. [Dr. robertson was Director of the American Ephemeris, Navy Department, U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C.]
“As far as I know, in the various changes of the Calendar there has been no change in the seven day rota of the week, which has come down from very early times.”
F.W. Dyson, Personal letter, dated March 4, 1932. [Dr. Dyson was Astronomer Royal, Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London.]
“Some of these (the Jews and also many Christians) accept the week as of divine institution, with which it is unlawful to tamper; others, without these scruples, still feel that it is useful to maintain a time-unit that, unlike all others, has proceeded in an absolutely invariable manner since what may be called the dawn of history.”
Our Astronomical Column,” Nature, London, number 127, June 6, 1931, p. 869
“The week of seven days has been in use ever since the days of the Mosaic dispensation, and we have no reason for supposing that any irregularities have existed in the succession of weeks and their days from that time to the present.”
Dr. W.W. Campbell, Statement. [Dr. Campbell was Director of Lick Observatory, Mt. Hamilton, California.]
“For more than 3,000 years science has gone backward, and with profound research, reveals the fact that in that vast period the length of the day has not changed by the hundredth part of a single second of time.”
General O.M. Mitchell, Astronomy of the Bible, p. 235
“By calculating the eclipses, it can be proven that no time has been lost and that the creation days were seven, divided into twenty-four hours each.”
Dr. Hinckley, The Watchman, July, 1926. [Dr. Hinckley was a well-known astronmer of half a century ago.]
“In spite of all of our dickerings with the calendar, it is patent that the human race never lost the septenary [seven-day] sequence of week days and that the Sabbath of these latter times comes down to us from Adam, through the ages, without a single lapse.”
Dr. Totten, Statement. [Dr. Totten of New Haven, Connecticut, was Professor of Astronomy at Yale University when this statement was made.]
“The continuity of the week has crossed the centuries and all known calendars, still intact.”
Professor D. Eginitis, Statement. [Dr. eginitis was Director of the Observatory of Athens, Greecew.]