This
article might be a little difficult for believers of mainstream fundamentalist
or evangelical Christian Churches, not to mention those who practice another
religious faith or spiritual tradition. As a matter of fact, I doubt the
remaining secular humanist, agnostic, rational pragmatist, atheist, free
thinker, philosopher, metaphysical or esoteric adept, as well as the average
person on the street ill agree that the Sabbath is still sacred to God. I wrote
a couple articles about this subject back in 2009, but the more I continue to
read the Bible I am increasingly convinced of the certainty of this conviction.
However, I want to state for the record that I am not a Seventh day Adventist,
Hebraic Christian, Messianic Jew (“Netzarim”), or Christian Sabbatarian; just a
believer who has a love for studying the Word of God. So, with that out of the
way, let’s begin this fascinating study (again).
Genesis
2: 2-3
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, because in it He
rested from all His work which God had created and made.
NOTE: God sanctified
this special day as a memorial for the work of creation which had now been
accomplished, and it had nothing to do with religion or even a racial/ethnic
group of people.
Exodus
20: 8-11
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, or your son, or your daughter, or your
male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or 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.
NOTE: According to “Merriam
Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary” 10th. Ed. remember 1: to bring to mind or
think of again. This commandment was not to inaugurate something new or
unfamiliar, but rather to remind the Israelites to set this day apart by
observing it as it was originally intended by God from the beginning.
Leviticus
25: 1-2, 8
The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the people
of Israel and say to them, when you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to
the Lord.” You
shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven
weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years.
NOTE: Not only are people required the Sabbath but it applies to
the land (agricultural practices) also.
Psalms 92: 1
A Psalm, a Song for the Sabbath day. It is
good to give thanks to the LORD And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
Ezekiel 22: 8
You have despised
my holy things and profaned my
Sabbaths.
Ezekiel 23: 38
Moreover, this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my Sabbaths.
Matthew 12: 5
Or have you not read in the Law how on the
Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?
NOTE: In “Merriam
Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary” 10th Ed. profane
1: to treat something sacred with irreverence. In this particular it carries
the meaning of treating this “day” as ordinary, without any particular special
significance or meaning.
So,
what about the “first day of the week”?
Matthew
28: 1
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first
day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb
(Cp. Mark 16: 1-2; Luke 24: 1; John 20: 1).
NOTE: There is nothing
mentioned here about this day replacing the Sabbath or as particularly special
in and of itself. It just so happens to be the day the Lord Jesus arose from
the grave, but this is explained below, in the following:
Matthew 12: 40
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in
the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth.
Mark 8: 31
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man
must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and by the chief priests
and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
John 2: 19
Jesus answered and said unto them, “Destroy this
temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
Ok, so what about other places in the New
Testament mentioning the first day?
Acts 20: 6-7, 11
And we sailed away from
Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread and came unto them in five days at
Troas, where we stayed seven days. And upon the first day of the week,
when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them,
ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his speech until midnight. When he therefore had
come up again, and had broken bread and eaten and talked for a long
while, even until break of day, he departed.
Acts 2: 42, 46
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship,
and in the breaking of bread and in prayers. And continuing daily
with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they
ate their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.
1 Corinthians 11: 18-21
For first of all, when
ye come together in the church, I hear that there are divisions among you,
and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that
those who are approved may be made manifest among you. When ye therefore come together into one place, this is not to eat
the Lord’s Supper.
For in eating, every one
taketh his own supper ahead of another, and one is hungry and another is
drunken.
NOTE: The main purposes of these meetings were more social than
religious observance or worship because “breaking bread” had more to do with eating
than anything else. Even today, Christians often pray together before partaking
of their meals. The Lord’s Supper” or ‘Eucharist’ doubtless started from these
common meal gatherings.
1 Corinthians 16: 1-3
Now concerning the
collection for the saints: As I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, even so do
you. Upon the first day of
the week, let every one of you lay aside in store as God hath prospered
him, so that there need be no gatherings when I come. And when I come, whomever you shall approve by your
letters I will send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem.
NOTE: This was a special occasion to send
relief to the saints in Jerusalem, and this was the day the Apostle Paul chose
for that purpose. Again, nothing special about that day, even if the primitive
Church decided to worship on that day.
Still not convinced?
Matthew 12: 8b
For the Son of Man is Lord
even of the Sabbath day.” (Cp. Mark
2: 28; Luke 6: 5)
NOTE: Jesus as the Son of Man is Lord of, not “over” the Sabbath
day. The conjunction “of” gives the meaning as pertaining to deriving its
source or origin from.
Hebrews 4: 4, 9-10
For He spoke in a certain
place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day
from all His works.” here remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For
he that has entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as
God did from His.
Revelations 1: 8-10a
I Am Alpha And Omega, The Beginning And The Ending,” says the Lord, who is, and
who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. I, John, who also am
your brother and companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of
Jesus Christ, was on the isle that is called Patmos, for the Word of God and
for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in
the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a great voice as of a
trumpet,
NOTE: It is doubtful that the meaning applies to the first day of the
week.
CONCLUSION (short):
There isn’t anywhere in the
entire Bible that the “First day of the week” is given any mention as being
sanctified, consecrated, or holy to God. It (Sunday/”Sol” day) has become a day
of worship for Christians thanks to the pagan sun worshiping Emperor
Constantine. The blessings of observing the Sabbath are included below and I
think it not only refers to the Israelites but to anyone who honors this day
because it is for all people, and not just a certain Semitic family out of all
the nations on earth.
Isaiah 56: 2
Blessed is the man that
doeth this, and the son of man that lays hold on it; that keeps the Sabbath
from polluting it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.
Isaiah 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, honorable; and shalt honor 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 feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Robert
Randle
776
Commerce St Apt 701
Tacoma,
WA 98402
May
3, 2017
