21 Reasons

 21 REASONS FOR SUNDAY OBSERVANCE

Reason # 1:  Although God’s Ten Commandment Law (Exodus 20:10) clearly demands the observance of the seventh day of the week, Paul in his letter to the Galatians tells us that “we are no longer under the supervision of the law, but rather under grace.”  In Romans 7:6 he further reiterates that “we are discharged from the law.”  This proves that the seventh day Sabbath is obsolete.

TRUTH:  The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatians and to the Romans does not mean we are discharged to resume violation of the law, but rather discharged from the penalty of the law.  We are not saved to sin, but saved from sin.

If God's holy Ten Commandment law could have been changed or somehow abrogated, then Christ need not have died.  Christ died on Calvary, to enable those who are willing to become His little children; ask Him for enabling grace to be obedient children and live good, clean, godly lives.  Now that is genuine Christianity!  

The Great Deceiver, who also said to Eve in the Garden of Eden "you shall not surely die," would have us believe that we can live as we please:  "You will go to heaven anyway; this is all because, at some earlier point in your life, you said you accepted Christ as your Savior.  Just because you earlier said it is all that will be necessary; obedience to Bible principles and God's moral law is not."

Reason # 2:  Obedience to the fourth commandment is legalism;  because the Sabbath of The Ten Commandment law was part of that which was done away with in Christ at the cross.

TRUTH:  If one believes that God’s Ten Commandment Law is complete, eternal and unchangeable and that sincere obedience to this law is New Testament doctrine, than one can also be accused of being a “legalist.”  However, the same law that commands us not to steal also commands us to keep the seventh day holy.  Would it be reasonable to accuse someone who refuses to commit murder, a legalist?

Reason # 3:  The seventh day Sabbath was a covenant exclusively between God and the Children of Israel.

TRUTH:  Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man (Mark 2:27),” i.e., for mankind.  The Bible also says that “woman was made for man ( I Corinthians 11:9).”  So if the Sabbath is only for the Jews than marriage would only be for the Jews as well!  The seventh day Sabbath is no more exclusively Jewish than is the institution of marriage.  God blessed and sanctified them both and they are equally just as universal as is mankind.  Read Isaiah 56:6-7 and Deuteronomy 4:5-6.

Reason # 4:  Seventh day Sabbath observance served only as a memorial of the deliverance of the Jews from Egyptian captivity and since the Gentiles were not a part of this deliverance, the Sabbath is not for them.  (Deuteronomy 5:15)

TRUTH:  What about the Jews who lived after the “delivered” generation died?  They had no direct part in that deliverance either.  We find the Lord saying through His prophet Isaiah, many centuries after  the “deliverance” that the seventh day Sabbath was for the Gentiles, too.  (Read Isaiah 56:6 and Acts 13:42-47)

Reason #5:  There is no record of seventh day Sabbath observance from its institution in Genesis 2:1-3 until we reach the Jews in the Book of Exodus.  God’s commandments never existed prior to Mount Sinai.

TRUTH:  If that argument were applied to the other nine commandments, it would mean that all those men between Adam and Moses were liars, thieves and profaners of the Lord’s name because we cannot find where the Lord ever told them not to do these things!  Centuries before Moses, God judged His people by His law.

“Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day, he saw it and rejoiced.”  John 8:56
                                                                                                                                                                                  "Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."  Genesis 26:5

“For if the inheritance be of the Law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.” Galatians 3:18    

Exodus 16:22-29: Well before the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai, the Lord ordered preparation for the Sabbath.  The people were to gather a double portion of manna on the 6^th day, so that they could rest on The Holy Seventh Day.  Some did not heed the instructions and God was displeased:  “And the Lord said unto Moses, how long ‘refuse’ ye to keep my commands and my laws? (v. 28)  See, for that Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore He giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days... let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.”  (v. 29)  We have no record that Moses ever questioned God on this admonition.  He had perfect knowledge of God's laws and commandments well before God transcribed them onto two tablets of stone at Mount Sinai.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
Following the same argument (Reason # 5 above), the first day of the week was not mentioned until 20 years after the day of Pentecost and then it is not mentioned as a day to be observed but rather as a working day!  (Read I Corinthians 16:2)

It’s interesting to note that the fourth commandment is the only one that begins with the word “Remember.”  So, were the children of Israel told to remember something they had never known?  The truth is that they were being told to remember what they once knew before their many years of captivity in the land of Egypt.

Reason # 6:  The Commandment to observe the seventh day Sabbath was incorporated into The Law of Moses.

TRUTH:  Nowhere in Holy Scripture is there evidence that any of the 10 Commandments of the Law of God were transferred to or incorporated into The Law of Moses.  These are two separate and distinct laws.  In Deuteronomy 4:13 Moses makes reference to The Ten Commandment Law of God.  In verse 14 he makes reference to the “statutes and judgments” required under the Law of Moses.

Reason # 7:  Sunday should be kept in honor of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  In the Day of Pentecost, the first day of the week was instituted.

TRUTH:  The importance of the event taking place on that day is not what makes it the Sabbath.  Rather, it is the legislative act of God.  The law of God specifies the seventh day, not the first, no matter what has happened since on the first day of the week.  There is no record of God blessing and sanctifying the first day at that time, about 27 years before it is ever mentioned again in the book of Acts.  (Read Genesis 2:3)

Nothing in the scriptural references to the Day of Pentecost even remotely suggests that (a) it was the “Lord’s Day,” (b) God commands us to observe it, (c) it is set apart as a memorial to God’s creation or Christ’s resurrection, (d) it has been declared a “sign” of God’s authority over His people, or that (e) God commands that it should be done every first day of the week as a “perpetual” covenant.  (Read Exodus 31:13-17 & Genesis 2:2-3)

We don’t keep Friday in honor of the crucifixion, we don't keep Thursday in honor of the "Holy Communion."  Christ gave the ordinance of baptism in honor of His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:3-6).  The Bible never suggests Sunday keeping in honor of the resurrection.  We honor Christ by obeying Him (John 14:15) –not by substituting man-made requirements in place of His.

Reason # 8:  The only reason the Apostles attended worship on the seventh day Sabbath was to gain access to the Jews; and not because they had any regard for the sacredness of that day.

TRUTH:  There is no sacred scriptural passage to back up this contention.  There is scriptural documentation however, that the Apostles preached to the Gentiles on the seventh day Sabbath.  (Read Acts 13:14-16, Acts 13:42-43 and Acts 18:4)  The Gentiles were not observers of the seventh day until after they became Christians.  There is also scriptural evidence that the Apostles convened on the seventh day Sabbath for fellowship and prayer.  (Read Acts 16:13-14)

Reason # 9:  The first day of the week was set apart for religious worship by the Apostles themselves and furthermore, it was proclaimed as the new “Lord’s Day.”

TRUTH:  There is no scriptural evidence supporting this contention.  Nowhere did Jesus ever command the disciples to observe His resurrection day or to take the Lord’s Supper on this day.  Not once did Jesus even mention the first day of the week in His entire ministry and teachings; nor did His followers teach others to observe it.

Jesus commanded seventh day observance, and at one time said to the disciples, “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day” (Matthew 24:20).  He was talking to them about the destruction of Jerusalem, which would take place in thirty nine years after Jesus had returned to heaven.  This text proves, in Jesus’ own words, that the seventh day Sabbath did not cease to exist at the cross, any more than the winter ceased to exist then!  Because of the sacredness of the Sabbath, the Christians were to pray that their flight be “not on the Sabbath day.”

There are numerous texts about keeping the Ten Commandment Law of God in New Testament scripture. There are numerous texts about resting on the seventh day Sabbath in New Testament scripture. (Hebrews 4:4-11)  Jesus never deleted a single commandment – only man has tried to do that.  The Apostle Paul wrote an admonition regarding seventh day “rest” in his epistle to the Hebrews.  (Read Hebrews 4:1-11)

Luke tells us he had perfect understanding of all things from the very first (Luke 1:3).  Moreover he said that in his gospel, he gives us a “treatise” of “all  that Jesus began both to do and to teach (Acts 1:1).  In all of Luke’s writings we find nothing in the Apostolic preaching on Sunday observance.  (Also read John 14:15 & John 15:9-10)

In A.D. 63 (about 30 years after Christ’s resurrection) Luke was still not calling the first day of the week the “Lord’s Day.”  (Read Luke 23:56)  The book of Acts covers a period of 23 years and mentions the Sabbath in 8 different chapters without a hint of any change!

Matthew still called the seventh day “the Sabbath” and the following day “the first day of the week” a good many years after the event.  (Read Matthew 28:1) 

In A.D. 60, when Mark wrote about the life of Christ, he was still referring to Sunday as “the first day of the week” and not using sacred titles for that day.  He also says that when the first day of the week comes, “the Sabbath is past (Mark 16:1).”

The gospel of John, written in A.D. 100 still refers to Sunday as the first day of the week (John 20:1).  Four years prior, in Revelation 1:10 John says he “was in the Spirit on The Lord’s Day.”  Logic follows that if John held that the first day of the week had become the “Lord’s Day,” why did he not refer to it as such, four years later?

John, while in captivity on the Island of Patmos, was worshiping on the Sabbath day and was given a vision:  "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice."  (Revelation 1:10)

Sunday is never referred to as the “Lord’s Day” in God’s Holy Word.  Furthermore, there is no historical record that the early Christians observed any day but the seventh day Sabbath as a day of worship following the resurrection of The Savior.

“...for centuries even many Gentile Christians also observed the seventh day, or Sabbath.”  Reference: A History of Christianity Beginnings to 1500,” Kenneth Scott LaTourette, pg. 198

Reason # 10:  Since we are under the New Covenant, it is no longer necessary to keep God’s law.

TRUTH:  The Ten Commandment Law of God remains at the heart of the New Covenant.  (Read Hebrews 8:8-10 &               Jeremiah 31:31-33)

Reason # 11:  Hosea 2:11 indicates that God abolished the seventh day Sabbath.

TRUTH:  Some have seized upon this verse as proof that the weekly Sabbath was to be abolished.  However, careful attention to the content and the context of the passage proves the fallacy of such reasoning.  The prophet here declares that all the various feasts and days of holy joy of the northern kingdom would cease, owing to the coming captivity of the nation.  Not the abolition of the Sabbath, or of any religious service for that matter, is foretold by this text, but rather the abolition of a rebellious nation.  All Christians agree that God did not desire that the Passover, or any other annual feast that He had instituted, be abolished at that particular time, which was several hundred years before the first advent of Christ.  Then consistency calls for us to believe that the Bible writer is not here, even hinting that the weekly Sabbath of the Lord was to be abolished, either then, or at any future date.  Reference: “The S.D.A. Bible Commentary,” pg. 893

Reason # 12:  Colossians 2:16 states “Let no man judge you in meat, drink, holy day, new moon or a Sabbath day.”

TRUTH:  The Bible mentions two kinds of Sabbaths:  the seventh day Sabbaths and the yearly Sabbaths.  The seventh-day Sabbaths, instituted as creation and part of The Ten Commandments, are a weekly reminder of the loving, all-powerful, Creator.  The yearly Sabbath relates specifically to the history of Israel and is part of the Law of Moses.  Colossians 2:16-17 specifically states “let no one judge you regarding Sabbath days which are a ‘shadow’ of things to come.”  Hebrews 10:1 connects the “law of shadows” with animal sacrifice.  Ezekiel 45:17 uses the exact same expressions in the exact same order as Colossians 2:16-17 and connects it all with the ceremonial system of feasts and sacrifices (meat offerings, drink offerings, feasts, new moons and Sabbaths) to make reconciliation for the house of Israel.  Leviticus 23:5-32 discusses the ceremonial Sabbaths (Passover, verse 5; unleavened bread, verse 6; wave sheaf, verse 10; first fruits, verse 17; trumpets, verse 24; tabernacles, verse 24; and the day of Atonement, verse 32; are specifically called Sabbaths).  These annual Sabbaths were intimately connected to events foreshadowing Christ’s death and His second coming.  They were designed by God to be shadows or pointers to the coming Messiah.  Leviticus 23:37 uses the language of Colossians 2:16-17 to describe these ceremonial Sabbaths.  Leviticus 23:38 distinguishes the ceremonial Sabbaths from the seventh day Sabbaths by using the expression “Besides the Sabbaths of the Lord.”  Since Christ has come, the “shadowy” Sabbaths of the ceremonial law have found their fulfillment in Him.  The seventh day Sabbath continues to lead us back to the Creator God who made us.  God’s people will keep it as a distinguishing sign of their relationship to Him.                                                                                (Read Revelation 14:12, Ezekiel 20:12 & Ezekiel 20:20)

Reason # 13:  Romans 14:5-12 states “one man considers one day more sacred than the other, another man considers every day alike… he who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord.”

TRUTH:  Sometimes it’s helpful to carefully notice what a Bible text does not say as well as what it does say.  Verse 5 and 6 say nothing about either worship or the Sabbath.  They simply talk about regarding a day.  To say this particular day is the Sabbath is an unwarranted assumption.  Romans 14:1 sets the tone for the entire passage indicating that the discussion focuses on “doubtful disputations” or disputes on doubtful matters.  Is the seventh day Sabbath set apart by God at creation (Genesis 2:1-3) placed within the heart of the moral law (Exodus 20:8-11) a doubtful matter?  Certainly not!  The key to our passage is found in verse 6 which states, “He that regards the day regards it unto the Lord.  He that eateth, eateth to the Lord for he giveth God thanks, and he that eateth not to the Lord, he eateth not for he giveth God thanks.”  The issue revolved around fast days, not Sabbath days.  Some Jewish Christians believed there was particular merit in fasting on certain days.  They judged others by their own standards.  The Pharisees fasted at least twice a week and boasted about it (Luke 18:12).  In Romans 14, Paul is pointing out that to fast on a certain day is a matter of individual conscience, not a matter of God’s command.

Reason # 14:  There are two Sabbaths, the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) and the Christian Sabbath (Sunday).

TRUTH:  As a Christian, one has to admit that salvation and Christianity are open “to the Jews first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).  Would it be a sin for a Jewish Christian to break the Sabbath and those of other nationalities the Sunday?  Did not Jesus say “a house divided would fall?”  Are there two kinds of Christians?  (Read Exodus 12:49)

Reason # 15:  One does not really know for sure which is the original and the true seventh day of the week.  It has been some 6.000 years since creation and the calendar has been changed several times throughout the course of history.

TRUTH:  God cannot be wrong about His Holy Day.  In Exodus 16:22-26 God showed His displeasure with His people for violating the fourth commandment.  If there had been even one hour lost during the past three thousand years, the science of astronomy could discover it.  The leading astronomers in the world testify to the fact that the weekly cycle has never been altered.  Centers like The Royal Naval Observatory in the U.S. and The Royal Observatory, Greenwich in England affirm the fact of a constant weekly cycle.

In 1976, Seventh-day Adventist Pastor Mark Findley wrote the following letter to the Astronomer Royal at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich for information regarding the unbroken sequence of the weekly cycle.  He wanted to be absolutely sure there was no evidence of any change.  Here is his letter and please notice carefully the information officer’s reply:

Dear Sir;                                                                                                                                                                  
I am currently doing research regarding the unbroken sequence of the weekly cycle.  Various European astronomers state that the weekly cycle has come down to us unbroken from ancient times.  In other words, that the seventh day of the week of Bible times.

My question is threefold:

1.  What does your investigation show regarding the unbroken antiquity of the weekly cycle from ancient times?
2. Have other changes in the calendar in past centuries (Julian to Gregorian, etc.) affected, in any way, the cycle of the week?
3. Is the Saturday of our present time lineal descent in unbroken cycles of seven from that Saturday mentioned in the Bible record of the crucifixion?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

I greatly appreciate your time in answering these questions and look forward to your soon reply.                              

Sincerely,                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Mark Finley   
                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Reply from R.H. Tucker, Information Officer, Royal Observatory, Greenwich 1974:                                                          

Dear Sir,

Your letter to the Astronomer Royal at Greenwich has been sent on to us here and the Director has asked me to reply.  The continuity of the seven-day week has been maintained since the earliest days of the Jewish religion.  The astronomer may be concerned in the decisions relating to the time, the calendar date, and the year number.  But since the week is a civil, social, and religious cycle, there should be no reason why it should be disturbed by any adjustment to the calendar.  Any attempt to disturb the seven-day cycle has always aroused the most determined opposition of the Jewish authorities, and we are quite certain that no such disturbance has ever been put into effect.  The change from the Julian to Gregorian calendar (1582-1927) has always been made to leave the weekday sequence undisturbed.                                                                          
Yours faithfully,                                                                                                                                                            

R. H. Tucker, Information Officer  
        

The only calendar change in recorded history is the Gregorian calendar, which we now use in our homes – and according to which nearly all the world recons time.  That change had absolutely nothing to do with the order of the days of the week.  It was, as has been said, established by proclamation of the pope of Rome in A.D. 1582.  The change that put it into effect – a change of 10 days between it and the old Julian calendar - was made on Friday, October 5, 1582.  The way the ten days were made up was merely to call that day, which under the Julian calendar was the 5^th of October.  This is all that was done.  And this made the calendar year uniform with the vernal equinox. 

The day was still Friday, but instead of being Friday the 5^th, it was Friday the 15^th.  There was no difference in the month.  It was still October.  There was no difference in the week.  It was still Friday.  The difference was in the day of the month.  It was the 15^th instead of the 5^th.  That is all.

The next day was Saturday, just as it would have been if the calendar had not been changed.  Only it was the sixteenth instead of the sixth.  The change of the calendar made no change in the Sabbath of the Lord, and creates no difficulty in locating the identical seventh day now.

Reason # 16:  The Sabbath cannot possibly be kept on a round world with its many time zones.

TRUTH:  It is true that the Sabbath Day does not began everywhere on the globe at the same time, but that does not in any sense prove that the same seventh day does not arrive to all people once every seven days!

Reason # 17:  The first day of the week (Sunday) is called a Sabbath eight times in the original Greek Bible.  The English Bibles have been incorrectly translated.

TRUTH:  If this is the case, then the entire Bible – or at least The New Testament – loses all credibility.  Thus, any Bible passage is challengeable!

Reason # 18:  It really makes no difference which day you keep, so long as you keep one day in seven holy.

TRUTH:  It is not a matter of days, it’s a matter of obedience to God’s authority.  There is no earthly reason for Saturday to be any more special than any other day of the week.  It simply does not make any sense to us mortal beings.   But if we ignore the Holy Scriptures and refuse to obey all of God’s commandments, we are calling God’s authority into question.  (Read Leviticus 23:3)

God never said "remember a  seventh day to keep it holy," but rather He said "remember the  Sabbath day to keep it holy."

This kind of mentality is a classic example of created beings telling their own Creator that He had no right to authorize, bless and make holy the seventh day of the week.  God’s commands do not always compute in our little finite minds, but that doesn’t exempt us from obeying the Almighty God.  Daniel prophesied about man’s attempts at changing God’s set times and laws in Daniel 7:25.

Reason # 19:  We as Christians should keep every day holy!

TRUTH:  How can we possibly keep “every day holy” as defined by God (in Exodus 20:9-10) when He specifically commands us to labor six days out of seven?

Reason # 20:  The majority of Bible believers cannot possibly be wrong on the Sabbath issue.

TRUTH:  Were not the majority of Bible believers walking in error at Christ's first coming?  We cannot trust what the "majority" practices.  Jesus warned that the masses would follow the broad path that leads to destruction.  In contrast, He said "Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."  Matthew 7:13-14.

Reason # 21:  There are much more important themes in the Bible than on which day we should observe and keep  holy.

TRUTH:  That’s slippery slope mentality and it is precisely what the enemy of God would have us rationalize in order to distract and re-direct man from God’s holy law.  The whole theme of the Bible can be summarized in two simple words: sin and salvation.  Salvation demonstrates God’s love for us.  There is no theme of greater importance in the Holy Scripture than to love God and His only begotten son, Christ Jesus, who died on the cross to save man from sin.

And how does one demonstrate love for God?  Jesus instructs us in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”  And in Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus summarized the 10 commandments of the Law of God as (1) Loving our Lord and (2) loving our neighbor.  “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

What Jesus Christ is telling us here is that if we love our neighbor (fellow-man) we will not (1) kill, (2) commit adultery, (3) covet, (4) steal or (5) lie, and we will also (6) honor our parents.  If we sincerely love God we will not (1) take His name in vain, (2) worship other Gods, (3) make or serve any graven image and (4) we will “remember the Sabbath (seventh) day to keep it holy.”  Exodus 20:8

COMMENTARY

Will all the Saints of God come together to worship before the Lord on His Holy Sabbath Day in God’s heavenly kingdom?  Read Isaiah 66:22-23.

What makes no sense at all is that God at creation would initially bless and sanctify His seventh day Sabbath, eliminate it for a period of time, reinstate it on Mount Sinai for His chosen people,  eliminate it again with the resurrected Savior, and then reinstate it when “all flesh” are united in His heavenly kingdom, after the resurrection of His people!  God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  (Read Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8, Psalms 19:7, 89:34 and Luke 16:17)

In Deuteronomy 8:20, God lays down very specific and severe consequences for those who would choose to disobey Him.  He also warns us not to tamper with His perfect and complete law (Deuteronomy 4:2, Luke 16:17, Matthew 5:17 & 19 and Galatians 3:15).

“The Lord says… (These people) their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”  (Isaiah 29:13)  The fate of apostate pastors, teaching disobedience to God’s eternal law is stated in Matthew 5:19 and also in Ezekiel 22:21:  “I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath…”  Why?  Because the priests, the pastors, “have violated my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and the profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them."  Ezekiel 22:26

“You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men… You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe you won traditions.”  Mark 7:6-9 (Also read Matthew 15:3-9)

“The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant.  Isaiah 24:5  (Also read I John 2:3-6, Isaiah 30:8-14, II Peter 2:21, Proverbs 28:9, Hosea 4:1, 2 & 6,            Psalms 89:30-34 & Psalms 89:39, Romans 2:13 & Romans 16:17)

What is this “everlasting covenant” mentioned above and referred to by the prophet Isaiah?  Read Exodus 31:16-17

Satan desires to destroy us by causing a separation between our heavenly Father and us.  Sin causes separation.  Sin is the transgression of, or breaking of any part of God’s Ten Commandment Law.  In God’s Holy Book you will find no other definition of sin that is more clear and inclusive.  (Read I John 2:3-6, I John 3:4, Romans 2:20-21, Romans 4:15,  Romans 5:13 and Romans 7:7-25)

“Blessed is the man… that keepeth the Sabbath.”  Isaiah 56:2 (Also read Revelation 22:14)

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