Can You Explain The Sabbath Day???

Question

Now I'm a little confused about it because the people who have told me about the sabbath, referred to it as being on a Sunday but I read the bible and did not see anything in reference to the sabbath being on a Sunday (maybe I didnt look in the right place). I only read that the Sabbath should be on the 7th day after 6 days of laboring.?????? Could it very well be on a Wednesday??? Or even a Friday????

Answer 1

The Sabbath was on Saturday in the old testament. The 7th day was saturday, because Sunday is the 1st. So during the old testament Saturday was observed to be the Sabbath and even Jesus observed Saturday as the Sabbath. But Jesus was resurrected on the 1st day of the week, Sunday. (Luke 24:1) That is when the Sabbath was changed to Sunday to remember the resurrection of Jesus.
The disciples met afterwards. (John 20:19,26)

Answer 2

You only seem bothered about the day of the week to keep the Sabbath (or is there another question in the pipeline?) The Jewish Sabbath began at 6 pm on the Friday night, ending 24 hours later. The Jewish calendar called the next day (commencing 6 pm) the 1st after Sabbath, then the 2nd after Sabbath, then the 3rd after Sabbath (I think - or halfway between), then 2 before Sabbath, then 1 before Sabbath, then Sabbath - their 7th day of the week.

After Christ's resurrection Christians kept going to the synagogues on Sabbath, proclaiming the gospel, until the synagogues closed to them. So they then met together the following day (our Sunday) probably early morning and evening as they would have a day's work to do inbetween. It took time, but eventually Christians caused the first day of the week to become their day of public worship and it became a public rest day. It is no surprise that our secular society is trying to do away with this.

Answer 3

I think originally it was considered Saturday, now Most Christians celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday.

I think God will be happy with any day we honor him!

Peace!

Answer 4

You go ahead and choose your day, hon.
MINE is Sunday---when I choose to worship God.

Answer 5

*** it-2 pp. 830-831 Sabbath Day ***

SABBATH DAY

A day set apart by God for rest from regular labors; the Sabbath was given by Jehovah as a sign between him and the sons of Israel. (Ex 31:16, 17) The Hebrew expression yohm hash·shab·bath´ is drawn from the verb sha·vath´, meaning “rest, cease.” (Ge 2:2; 8:22) In Greek, he he·me´ra tou sab·ba´tou means “sabbath day.”

The history of a weekly 24-hour sabbath observance begins with the nation of Israel in the wilderness in the second month after their Exodus from Egypt in 1513 B.C.E. (Ex 16:1) Jehovah had told Moses that the miraculous provision of the manna would be double on the sixth day. When this proved true, the chieftains of the assembly reported the matter to Moses and then the arrangement for the weekly Sabbath was announced. (Ex 16:22, 23) That Israel was obligated from that time forward is shown by Jehovah’s words at Exodus 16:28, 29.

The weekly Sabbath was made an integral part of a system of sabbaths when the Law covenant was formally inaugurated at Mount Sinai a short time later. (Ex 19:1; 20:8-10; 24:5-8) This sabbatical system was composed of many types of sabbaths: the 7th day, the 7th year, the 50th year (Jubilee year), Nisan 14 (Passover), Nisan 15, Nisan 21, Sivan 6 (Pentecost), Ethanim 1, Ethanim 10 (Atonement Day), Ethanim 15, and Ethanim 22.

That the Sabbath was not enjoined upon any of God’s servants until after the Exodus is evident from the testimony of Deuteronomy 5:2, 3 and Exodus 31:16, 17: “It was not with our forefathers that Jehovah concluded this covenant, but with us.” “The sons of Israel must keep the sabbath . . . during their generations. . . . Between me and the sons of Israel it is a sign to time indefinite.” If Israel had already been observing the Sabbath, it could not have served as a reminder of their deliverance from Egypt by Jehovah, as shown at Deuteronomy 5:15. The fact that some of the Israelites went out to pick up manna on the seventh day, in spite of direct instruction to the contrary, indicates that Sabbath observance was something new. (Ex 16:11-30) That there was uncertainty in handling the case of the first recorded Sabbath breaker after the Law had been given at Sinai also shows that the Sabbath had only recently been instituted. (Nu 15:32-36) While in Egypt the Israelites, being slaves, could not have kept the Sabbath even if they had been under such law at the time. Pharaoh complained that Moses was interfering even when he asked for a three-day period to make a sacrifice to God. How much more so if the Israelites had tried to rest one day out of every seven. (Ex 5:1-5) While it is true that the patriarchs apparently measured time in a week of seven days, there is no evidence that any distinction was made as to the seventh day. Seven was prominent, however, as a number that often denoted completeness. (Ge 4:15, 23, 24; 21:28-32) The Hebrew word “swear” (sha·va`´) is evidently from the same root as the word meaning “seven.”

The Sabbath was celebrated as a sacred day (De 5:12), a day of rest and rejoicing for all—Israelites, servants, alien residents, and animals—ceasing from all labors. (Isa 58:13, 14; Ho 2:11; Ex 20:10; 34:21; De 5:12-15; Jer 17:21, 24) A special burnt offering, along with grain and drink offerings, was made, in addition to the regular daily “constant burnt offering.” (Nu 28:9, 10) The showbread was renewed in the sanctuary, and a new division of priests took up their duties. (Le 24:5-9; 1Ch 9:32; 2Ch 23:4) Priestly duties were not curtailed on the Sabbath (Mt 12:5), and infants were even circumcised on the Sabbath if that happened to be their eighth day of life. In later times the Jews had a saying, “There is no sabbath in the sanctuary,” meaning that the priestly duties went right on.—Joh 7:22; Le 12:2, 3; The Temple, by A. Edersheim, 1874, p. 152.

According to rabbinic sources, in the time when Jesus was on earth three trumpet blasts at about the ninth hour, or three o’clock, on Friday afternoon announced the Sabbath day’s approach. At this, all work and business were to cease, the Sabbath lamp was lit, and festive garments were put on. Then three more blasts indicated that Sabbath had actually begun. The outgoing division of priests offered the morning sacrifice on the Sabbath and the incoming division offered the evening sacrifice, both spending Sabbath in the sanctuary. Each one of the divisions would give to the high priest half of its portion of the bread. It was eaten during the Sabbath in the temple itself by the priests who were in a state of cleanness. The heads of the families of the incoming divisions determined by lot which of the families were to serve on each special day of their week of ministry and who were to discharge the priestly functions on the Sabbath.—Le 24:8, 9; Mr 2:26, 27; The Temple, pp. 151, 152, 156-158.

There was a distinction in requirements for the regular weekly Sabbath and the Sabbaths or “holy conventions” that were connected with the festivals. (Le 23:2) Generally speaking, the weekly Sabbath was more restrictive; no work, laborious or otherwise, could be done (except in the sanctuary). Even gathering wood or lighting a fire was prohibited. (Nu 15:32-36; Ex 35:3) Travel was also restricted, this apparently being based on Exodus 16:29. The Day of Atonement was likewise a time of rest from all sorts of work. (Le 16:29-31; 23:28-31) However, on the holy convention days of the festivals no laborious work, trade, or business activities could be engaged in, but cooking, festival preparations, and so forth, were allowed.—Ex 12:16; Le 23:7, 8, 21, 35, 36.

Sometimes two legal Sabbaths would fall on the same 24-hour period, and this was called a “great” Sabbath, such as when Nisan 15 (a sabbath day) coincided with the regular Sabbath.—Joh 19:31.

--PLEASE KEEP IN MIND--that this in particular was for the Israelites to keep and is not binding on Christians, this text shows that dates for celebrating EXCEPT for Christs memorial are not sanctioned in the Bible:

---(Colossians 2:16-17) 16 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; 17 for those things are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Christ. "

*** it-2 p. 832 Sabbath Day ***

NOT ENJOINED ON CHRISTIANS: Jesus, being a Jew under the Law, observed the Sabbath as God’s Word (not the Pharisees) directed. He knew it was lawful to do fine things on the Sabbath. (Mt 12:12) However, the inspired Christian writings state that “Christ is the end of the Law” (Ro 10:4), which results in Christians’ being “discharged from the Law.” (Ro 7:6) Neither Jesus nor his disciples made any distinction between so-called moral and ceremonial laws. They quoted from the other parts of the Law as well as from the Ten Commandments and considered all of it equally binding on those under the Law. (Mt 5:21-48; 22:37-40; Ro 13:8-10; Jas 2:10, 11) The Scriptures plainly state that Christ’s sacrifice “abolished . . . the Law of commandments consisting in decrees” and that God “blotted out the handwritten document against us, which consisted of decrees . . . and He has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the torture stake.” It was the complete Mosaic Law that was “abolished,” “blotted out,” taken “out of the way.” (Eph 2:13-15; Col 2:13, 14) Consequently, the whole system of Sabbaths, be they days or years, was brought to its end with the rest of the Law by the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. This explains why Christians can esteem “one day as all others,” whether it be a sabbath or any other day, with no fear of judgment by another. (Ro 14:4-6; Col 2:16) Paul made the following expression concerning those scrupulously observing “days and months and seasons and years”: “I fear for you, that somehow I have toiled to no purpose respecting you.”—Ga 4:10, 11.

After Jesus’ death, his apostles at no time commanded Sabbath observance. The Sabbath was not included as a Christian requirement at Acts 15:28, 29, or later. Nor did they institute a new sabbath, a “day of the Lord.” Even though Jesus was resurrected on the day now called Sunday, nowhere does the Bible indicate that this day of his resurrection should be commemorated as a “new” sabbath or in any other way. First Corinthians 16:2 and Acts 20:7 have been appealed to by some as a basis for observing Sunday as a sabbath. However, the former text merely indicates that Paul instructed Christians to lay aside in their homes for their needy brothers at Jerusalem a certain amount each first day of the week. The money was not to be turned in at their place of meeting but was to be retained until Paul’s arrival. As for the latter text, it was only logical that Paul would meet with the brothers in Troas on the first day of the week, since he was leaving the very next day.

From the foregoing it is clear that literal observance of Sabbath days and years was not a part of first-century Christianity. It was not until 321 C.E. that Constantine decreed Sunday (Latin: dies Solis, an old title associated with astrology and sun worship, not Sabbatum [Sabbath] or dies Domini [Lord’s day]) to be a day of rest for all but the farmers.