Sabbath?????

Question

" Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shall you labour and do all your work. But the SEVENTH-DAY IS THE SABBATH OF THE LORD YOUR GOD......." Exodus 20:8-10

isn't the seventh day saturday....so why do so many christians worship on sunday??

even Jesus worshipped on Sabbath (the seventh day)

God never changed the day, so what right do we have to change it??????

Answer 1

Saturday is the sabbath. True Christians do observe this on Saturday. Jewish people definately do. This is old testament. Christians are new testament. Many have adapted the ways of the world on the monthly calendar. Hence, Sunday is overtime, etc.....

Answer 2

Some religious organizations (Seventh-Day Adventists, Seventh-Day Baptists, and certain others) claim that Christians must not worship on Sunday but on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. They claim that, at some unnamed time after the apostolic age, the Church "changed" the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday.

However, passages of Scripture such as Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2, Colossians 2:16-17, and Revelation 1:10 indicate that, even during New Testament times, the Sabbath is no longer binding and that Christians are to worship on the Lord’s day (the day Jesus rose from the dead), or Sunday.

The early Church Fathers compared the observance of the Sabbath to the observance of the rite of circumcision, and from that they demonstrated that if the apostles abolished circumcision (Gal. 5:1-6), so also the observance of the Sabbath must have been abolished. The following quotations show that the first Christians understood this principle and gathered for worship on Sunday.

The Didache

"But every Lord’s day . . . gather yourselves together and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one that is at variance with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned" (Didache 14 [A.D. 70]).

The Letter of Barnabas

"We keep the eighth day [Sunday] with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead" (Letter of Barnabas 15:6–8 [A.D. 74]).

Peace and every blessing!

Answer 3

Because none of us were around when the universe was first created, we can't know when the first day was; consequently, we can't know when the seventh day was either. Jews believe that the first day was Sunday, and therefore that the Sabbath is on Saturday; (most) Christians believe that the first day was Monday, and therefore that the Sabbath is on Sunday; and Muslims believe that the first day was Saturday, and therefore that the Sabbath is on Friday. Unless you assume that one of their religious traditions is inerrant, there's no real way to determine which of those days is correct. So, while you can rightly criticize the Christians and Muslims for arbitrarily changing the day on which the Sabbath occurs, you can't say that the Jews were necessarily correct while the Muslims and Christians aren't. Realistically speaking, the Jews, Muslims, and Christians are each one-seventh likely to be correct. It's equally likely that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday is the Sabbath; even if one believes that humans have been around since the creation of the universe, a trivial error at any point in history in counting of the days since then could easily lead to the wrong day being considered the Sabbath.

Answer 4

Jesus knew that Jehovah had instituted the Sabbath as a sign between God and Israel, and that it was meant to bring them relief from their labors. Jesus also was aware that his own death would provide the basis for setting aside the Mosaic Law as having found its fulfillment in him. He appreciated that the Law, with its sabbath requirement, provided “a shadow of the good things to come.” (Heb. 10:1; Col. 2:16, 17) In connection with those “good things” there is a “sabbath” of which he is to be Lord.
Did Jesus observe the sabbath? The religious leaders of his day found fault with Jesus in this regard, but the fact remains that as a Jew born under the Law, he did indeed observe the sabbath. (Gal. 4:4) He kept the sabbath as God’s Word (not the Pharisees) directed. When challenged, he argued, not that the sabbath did not apply to him, but, rather, that it was “lawful to do a fine thing on the sabbath.” (Matt. 12:12) However, he also said that he came “to fulfill” the Law. (Matt. 5:17) How did this affect his disciples?
After Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension into heaven did they continue to keep the sabbath? No. But they did take advantage of local customs to preach to the people who usually gathered on the sabbath. Thus we read that Paul and his companions entered a synagogue on the sabbath. Why? Because that is when people were there. (Acts 13:14-16) And it was their listeners, accustomed to gathering on the sabbath, that asked that they be permitted to hear more on the following sabbath. (Acts 13:42-44) Whenever the sabbath is mentioned in the book of Acts, it is in connection with non-Christian worship, either at a synagogue or other place of prayer.—Acts 16:11-13; 17:1-3; 18:4.

Answer 5

In Acts chapter 20 verse 7 it states:

"And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them..."

Paul the apostle was a prophet of God. If it had been unlawful at that time, or any to worship on Sunday, Paul could have and would have received revelation concerning it, and would have admonished the disciples to cease congregation on Sundays.

I believe that the reason for this is that is that our Heavenly Father never said that we had to observe the sabbath on saturday. The commandment was merely given that His Church should congregate every seventh day and should worship Him. Our Heavenly Father never set the seven day week as starting specifically on Sunday and ending specifically on Saturday, that was established by some man. We need not take the week as it is establised by men and take it as if it were given by the Lord.

Answer 6

God didn't work on Saturday, hence why his son spent a weekend dead, Jesus was raised on Sunday (after Sabbath was over). Christians celebrate the raising of Jesus-which happened on a sunday.

Christians don't keep Kosher either.

Answer 7

Great question. If you ever watch any of the Way of the Master shows with Kirk Cameron (I'm thinking specifically of the one where they use the banana to prove God's existence) you'll notice that they use the 10 Commandments to prove how everyone is going to hell (without the intercession of Jesus).

Have you ever told a lie? You're going to hell.

Have you every looked at a woman and wanted to boink her? You're going to hell.

But the one they always skip is the 4th commandment. Why? Because no Christian honors the Sabbath. It's funny, because do you know what the punishment for working on Saturday is? Death by stoning. Immediately. And without a trial. Everybody grab some rocks.....

Answer 8

The sabbath, like the other rituals and holidays, were signs or shadows that looked ahead to Jesus and what he would do with his life, death and resurrection. Once Jesus fulfilled one of those rituals, such as becoming the Passover Lamb, the ritual was no longer needed.

Following his crucifixion, Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath by resting from his work on the seventh day in the tomb before raise on the morning of the first day of the week. Once he had fulfilled the Sabbath, it was no longer a requirement for his followers.

God is the one who ended the Sabbath in Colossians 2:16,17 "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."

By the time the book of Revelation was written (around 90-95 AD) the day had moved to the first day of the week, known as "the Lord's Day". There was no longer a need to have a Sabbath to look ahead to the death of Jesus, it had already happened. So instead Christian look back to the day of his resurrection.

Answer 9

Are Christians under obligation to keep a weekly sabbath day?

Ex. 31:16, 17: “The sons of Israel must keep the sabbath, so as to carry out the sabbath during their generations. It is a covenant to time indefinite [“a perpetual covenant,” RS]. Between me and the sons of Israel it is a sign to time indefinite.” (Notice that sabbath observance was a sign between Jehovah and Israel; this would not be the case if everyone else were also obligated to keep the Sabbath. The Hebrew word rendered “perpetual” in RS is ‛oh‧lam′, which basically means a period of time that, from the standpoint of the present, is indefinite or hidden from sight but of long duration. That can mean forever, but not necessarily so. At Numbers 25:13 the same Hebrew word is applied to the priesthood, which later ended, according to Hebrews 7:12.)

Rom. 10:4: “Christ is the end of the Law, so that everyone exercising faith may have righteousness.” (Sabbath keeping was a part of that Law. God used Christ to bring that Law to its end. Our having a righteous standing with God depends on faith in Christ, not on keeping a weekly sabbath.) (Also Galatians 4:9-11; Ephesians 2:13-16)

Col. 2:13-16: “[God] kindly forgave us all our trespasses and blotted out the handwritten document against us, which consisted of decrees and which was in opposition to us . . . Therefore let no man judge you in eating and drinking or in respect of a festival or of an observance of the new moon or of a sabbath.” (If a person was under the Mosaic Law and was judged guilty of profaning the Sabbath, he was to be stoned to death by the whole congregation, according to Exodus 31:14 and Numbers 15:32-35. Many who argue for sabbath keeping have reason to be glad that we are not under that Law. As shown in the scripture here quoted, an approved standing with God no longer requires observance of the sabbath requirement given to Israel.)

Answer 10

All the standard denominations that I know leave the Sabbath on Saturday and keep the Lord's Day on Sunday, at least they did orginally. I believe that the phenomenon of saying that the Sabbath has moved has more to do with a modern misunderstanding. At exactly what time this occured, I am not sure.

Jesus was certainly the cause of it all. Most stories in the gospel concerning the Sabbath has either Jesus or His disciples "breaking" it. Jesus also quoted back the ten commandments at one time, ommiting the first four commandments, which included keeping the Sabbath, and only mentioning in their place: "there is none good but one, that is, God" (see Matt 21:18b) and "go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me" (see Matt 10:21b). This is consistent with the two greatest commandments (which Jesus also acknowledge as being the root of all commandments) and would, if you think about it, include the vital parts of the first three commandments, but not the one about the Sabbath. Why?

One good reason was because Jesus was not breaking the Sabbath, as they accused Him, but rather trying to restore it saying that it is good to do good on the Sabbath day. (see Matt 12:12, Mark 2:27, Luke 13:16) Furthermore, Jesus seemed to go out of His way to heal on the Sabbath day, even when the Jews were watching Him. Included in the healings were instructions to work ("take up your bed and walk").

When Jesus was crucified, He was in the tomb for two Sabbath days! They had to take Jesus down off the cross fast after His death because the next day was a High Sabbath Day (see John 19:31, presumably this was a Thursday, and this was EXACTLY why that High Sabbath day existed in the first place!). Jesus rose on or by the first day, presenting Himself to the disciples. He was not resting during this time, He was working during both these days of rest!

Jesus also gave the gift of the Holy Ghost on to the disciples on the first day. They seemed to meet on the first day from then on.

It is very interesting to note that Paul organized the collections in the churches to be taken up on the first day, that the disciples came together to "break bread" on the first day of the week, and that the Sabbaths seemed to be the days when Paul had discussions in the Synagogues. The Sabbath seemed to have no significance to the churches, and in fact, Paul had to speak on the matter and even stated that we are not to judge people on the matter. Why did he have to do that?

Obviously the disciples and Paul understood what Jesus was trying to tell them. In Hebrews, the author practically tosses out the Sabbath Day altogether. This is done to such an extent, that he has to go back and explain how we are still keeping the Sabbath day, without keeping it on the seventh day. Why did he have to explain a thing? Obviously someone was asking if there was still a Sabbath Day to keep (see Hebrews chapters 3 and 4).

Those who keep the Sabbath Day do not understand what the Sabbath is or what it means, or its purpose. When one comes to God Almighty, through Jesus Christ His Son, they enter into His Sabbath. This is a permanent condition which occurs on the day one accepts Christ into their heart and life. That day is their Sabbath, and everyday from then on, forever. From that day on, we cease from our own works, just as God did His, and continue on working then for God (see Hebrews 4:9 and 10). Keep in mind that Sabbath is God's Rest, not a day or a date!

Many people could not and cannot accept this. Either they are not Christians, refusing Christ's gifts, or they are ignorant of what Christ has done for them. If they are new to Christianity, they may have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that they are free from the Law, especially if they are Jews, or if they are religious. It takes time for them to learn and adjust, which is why Paul asks us not to judge people on this matter.

Furthermore, people have their own special days with God. Our relationship with God is now based upon intimacy, we are not limited to this day or that day as our Holy Days. For you, your Holy Day with God might be the day Christ came into your life, or one of your children's lives, or maybe it is the day when God did some miracle for you.

The way I see it all personally is that Sabbath is on the seventh day, that would be our Saturday (as far as we know). We made the first day the Lord's day a day of worship. We rest and do good works for God, studying and reading the bible on these days. As far as I am concerned, the more days we can give to God the better. But, all days are now as one day, they belong to the Lord. Resting in the Lord is now our Sabbath.

If you will note, in God's kingdom, there will be no seven days. There will only be one day, the Sabbath. It will not be the seventh day, and it will be the only day. (see Rev 21:23, Rev 21:25, Rev 22:5)

In fact, it will begin on the eighth day (which is the first day), because it will be the first day of the new kingdom (the day after the last day of the old, fallen kingdom). Remember the very first eighth day? (Check out the first and eighth day Sabbath's in the Law, and their meanings). Also see the "solemn assembly" verses, like: Le 23:36, Nu 29:35, De 16:8, 2Ch 7:9, etc. Especially see Joel 2:15-16 and Zephaniah 3:18-20.

So, in a way, the first day is a rememberance of Christ's Resurrection and a solemn assembly.

In other words, "Why do so many Christians worship on Sunday?" the simple answer: because they understand a lot of the above.

As you can see, none of this discards the Sabbath, it more than embraces it, we enter into His Sabbath. Like going from dating, into holy marriage, and then into the bedchamber.

I will say it again, the Sabbath is God's Rest, not just a date or a day. Look it up this time and see for yourself.