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Sunday is NOT the Sabbath!
This article is intended for those who may think that Sunday is the seventh day, or Sabbath day, that the Bible designates to be set aside for the worship of God. It is quite surprising how many people actually think this. They generally assume that since Saturday and Sunday are the "weekend", that Monday must be the first day of the week because it is their first work day of the week. This would then lead you to believe that Sunday is indeed the seventh day. Some Catholic Catechisms will even give one the impression that Sunday is the Sabbath. Note the following from the "Penny Catechism" of England and Wales:
The following quotation is from the Catholic Baltimore Catechism #1, popular in the United States for the last century or so, intended for the instruction of children. It also blurs the distinction between the Sabbath and Sunday:
Other people will suggest that somehow we have lost track of the days of the week and no one can be sure just what day is the seventh day of the week. Those who wish to cling to this notion have never actually researched the issue to discover the facts. The First Sabbath Keepers But then, when was the Sabbath begun? When was the first one observed and by whom?
The very first Sabbath was the seventh day of creation. Look up Saturday in most any dictionary and it will tell you that it is the seventh day of the week. So who observed the first Sabbath day?
Both Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day, before the Sabbath day, and so were present to observe the day of rest God created for them. Some will try to claim that the Sabbath was a Jewish festival, part of the Mosaic law that was done away with at the cross. Since Sabbath was established at creation as a memorial of that event, would that notion then make Adam and Eve Jews? Actually not a single Jew existed until the covenant made with Abraham, thousands of years later.
Adam lived for 930 years (Gen 5:5), and undoubtedly was a Sabbath keeper his entire life. Adam was not the only one of the first millennium to keep the Sabbath. The same can be said for Enoch, who was born within the lifetime of Adam. Enoch was so in harmony with God that he was taken up to heaven and never died (Gen 5:24). Sabbath Keeping After the Flood. The Patriarch Abraham, who was born some 1000 years after the death of Adam, and 300 years after the flood, can also be shown to have kept the seventh-day Sabbath:
Clearly since Abraham kept God's laws he must also have faithfully kept the Sabbath of the Lord. Moses and the Jews
Before Before the commandments of God were given on stone tablets atop mount Sinai, God had already shown Israel precisely which day was His Sabbath:
Some may think that any old day will satisfy God, but the Lord left no doubt about the day he wanted observed, he told Moses and the Israelites exactly which day was the Sabbath. For 40 years a double portion of manna fell on Friday, and no manna fell on Sabbath. Note that this began BEFORE the Ten Commandments were given to Moses on Sinai. The manna continued until the Israelites entered the promised land (Exodus 16:35, Joshua 5:12). With 52 weeks a year, that means God made the seventh day Sabbath plain to them for over 2000 weeks. It is a day that apparently does matter to G_d Mount Sinai. Note that at Sinai the following was said with regard to the Sabbath-
When Moses went up on Sinai, God commanded that the Jews were to REMEMBER the Sabbath day. The Sabbath was not first revealed to Israel on Sinai. On Sinai, they were told in no uncertain terms, to remember what they already knew .Will Just Any Seven Day Cycle Some may ask, why can't I pick my seventh day? Sunday is more convenient for me, or perhaps Monday, etc., so that will be my day of Sabbath rest to the Lord. I will keep every seventh day holy, but that day will be a day of my choosing. The problem with the above attitude is that it has no foundation in scripture. As we noted above, God designated a specific day as His Sabbath. Israel was never given a choice in what days they wanted to keep holy as a day of rest. The entire community was to keep God's designated day in unison. No one had the prerogative or authority to decide to start keeping some other day as their Sabbath. Note the reaction when some of Israel decided to look for manna on the seventh day Sabbath: Ex 16:27 And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. 28 And the LORD said to Moses, How long refuse you to keep my commandments and my laws? By not resting on God's designated Sabbath day, the law and commandments of God had been broken! Exo 16:29 See, for that the LORD hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide you every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. 30 So the people rested on the seventh day. Note that it is emphasized that G_d had given the Sabbath. Neither Moses or Israel had picked the day they wanted to observe... they were told specifically which day of the week to keep holy. Keeping the Sabbath on the day HE has said is the Sabbath is a sign of obedience and love for our Creator. Breaking it is the sin of rebellion, because it is breaking the law of God. No one has the authority to choose the day they will observe as the seventh day. God did not just institute a seven day cycle, He blessed and sanctified a specific day as holy. But there IS a choice involved. Either you choose to keep God's seventh day Sabbath, or you choose to break His commandment by not keeping it (although prior to this study today, the choice may indeed have been made by many in ignorance.)
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