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Is Sunday, the first day of the week, the
Christian Sabbath? Did it replace the seventh day (Saturday) as the
rest day of Yahweh the Almighty God of Israel? Has the fourth
of the Ten Commandments as recorded in
Exodus 20:8-11
been changed or done away with? If all the praiseworthy characters
mentioned in the Bible - including the Saviour and his twelve
apostles - kept the seventh day Sabbath, then why oh why are the
majority of Christians keeping Sunday?
These and similar questions are being asked
today by believers all over the globe and the answers to them fall
into three distinct categories.
In your own interests, therefore, we will
advise you to carefully study this page and be ready to answer this
critical question: Is Sunday the Christian Sabbath?
Below taken from The American Heritage
Dictionary
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Sab·bath
1. The seventh day of the week,
Saturday, observed as the day of rest and worship by
the Jews and some Christian sects.
2. The first day of the week,
Sunday, observed as the day of rest and worship by most
Christians. [Middle English sabath, from Old French
sabbat and Old English sabat, both from Latin
sabbatum, from Greek sabbaton, from Hebrew
šabb³t, from š³bat, to rest.]
Notice which day is the 7th day of
the week....(Saturday)
"Study this for yourself and seek the truth." |
Before we present our answer it is obvious
that we should first settle the issue of whether or not a Sabbath
day exists. In other words, does the Almighty still want mankind to
observe a Sabbath day - or are all the days of the week alike?
The answer to that question is: Yahweh's
Sabbath still exists and He most certainly wants people to observe
it. The following verses will prove that the Sabbath commandment
was not done away with at the cross, but is still on the statute
books of heaven.
The First Proof Text is:
Matthew 24: 20
But pray that your flight be
not in the winter,
neither on the Sabbath day.
In this passage the Master advised His followers to request his
Father to so arrange circumstances for the early church that Sabbath
observance would be made easier for them at the time of Jerusalem's
capture; an event which took place some 40 years after the
crucifixion.
Now pause and think about that advice: If the
Sabbath commandment was scheduled for cancellation at the cross - as
some suppose - then why did Jesus give his disciples this
instruction about keeping the Sabbath? What was the point in
advising them to pray to the Father about a commandment that would
not be in existence in AD 70?
The answer is perfectly obvious: The
Sabbath commandment was not scheduled for cancellation at the cross;
it was to continue. The Saviour knew this, and that is why He
advised his followers, who were mostly Israelites at that time, to
pray to God to arrange a weekday flight from Jerusalem. They would
not then be exposed to the temptation of breaking the Sabbath
commandment in their haste to get away from the besieged city.
The presence of this text is irrefutable
evidence that the Saviour had absolutely no intention of doing away
with the Sabbath commandment at Calvary; a fact which he had
previously pointed out in the Sermon on the Mount when he said:
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Matthew 5:
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17
Think not that I am come to destroy the
law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
18 For verily I say unto you,
Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no
wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. |
The Second Proof Text is:
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Hebrews 4:
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9 There remaineth therefore a
rest to the people of God.
10
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased
from his own work as God did from his.
11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any
man fall after the same example of unbelief.
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In this passage, written about AD66, believers are reminded that the
weekly Sabbath remains, and that all of us should endeavour
to rest after a week's work just as the Almighty did after the
Creation week.
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Genesis 2:
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1 Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them.
2 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.
3 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. |
Sabbath keeping, in other words, is imitating the Almighty: doing in
our small way what He did at Eden in order that we may enter that
great spiritual REST OF GOD of which the weekly Sabbath is but a
token. The writer of Hebrews goes on to warn the church that
some rebellious believers risk being lost by copying the
example of disobedience. Isn't that a sobering warning to all who
would violate the Sabbath commandment? We think it is.
The Third Proof Text is:
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Isaiah 66:
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22 For as the new heaven and the
new earth, which I shall make, shall remain before me, saith the
Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.
23 And it shall come to pass, that from one moon to another,
and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship
before me, saith the Lord. |
This passage tells of the future - our future - when Yahshua,
the Holy One of Israel will re-create the universe.
(Revelation
21:1) And on that new earth all flesh (all of earth's redeemed
host) will observe the weekly Sabbath. The above text proves
conclusively that the Sabbath of the Almighty will last throughout
eternity, from generation to generation - for ALL TIME.
(Exodus 31:12-18)
The argument that the weekly Sabbath was
done away with at Calvary is, therefore, groundless and too feeble
to consider any further. The question remaining to be answered,
however, is: Is Sunday the Christian
Sabbath, and did it replace the seventh day of the week as the rest
day of the Almighty God?
To answer this question we will do two
things: Please click next page below.....
Next page
>
Worship Schedules
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Friday |
7:00pm. |
| Saturday
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5:00pm. |
| Wednesday
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6:30pm. |
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