Church in a field
  • The Seventh Day of Creation – 4004 BC
  • The Sabbath in Bible Times – 1950 > 1775 BC
  • Who Officially Changed the Sabbath
  • How is the Sabbath Regard Today
  • How Should we Proceed the Sabbath

Have you ever wondered why unlike churches worship on dissimilar days? Some churches worship on Sunday and others worship on Saturday. Which day is the true Sabbath?

Without understanding the historical context of the Sabbath, it can be really confusing to know which day is the right day to worship!

Who changed the day of worship? Is keeping the Sabbath even so important today? And how do you keep the Sabbath holy anyway?

These are great questions!

Let's wait at the history of the Sabbath and learn how we can keep the Sabbath the fashion God intended from the very first.

Bronze statue of Roman emperor, Constantine

How the Sabbath Came Most

4004 BCone: When the Sabbath was Established

If we really want to know what God says nearly a subject, the Bible is the best source for information! In fact, God never leaves the states wondering. He tells us the truth in His Word!

If we get dorsum to the very starting time week of creation, we observe that on the seventh day, God rested from His work of creating.

Information technology's interesting because God didn't really need to residue. And yet, He rested from His piece of work as an example to all flesh.

Genesis 2:ii,3 says, "And on the 7th day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. Then God blessed the seventh mean solar day and made it holy, because on information technology God rested from all his work that he had done in cosmos."

You see, God doesn't grow weary the way nosotros do. Subsequently a full week of working, our bodies are tired and gear up for a interruption. Who doesn't love the weekend!?

But God isn't similar the states. He doesn't grow weary. He doesn't need slumber and rest like we do.

"The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary…" Isaiah 40:28

God knew in His infinite wisdom that we would need a day set apart. And that'southward exactly what He gave u.s.a. on the 7th day of creation.

The Sabbath was Set Apart as Holy

God spent six days creating our earth and everything in it. He thought of every item. He's such a good Begetter!

Practise you always look around at the world and wonder at how miraculous even the smallest beast is? God thought of everything. In fact, equally He created this world, you were on His mind. He chose yous earlier the foundation of the world.

"…just every bit He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world." Ephesians one:iv NASB

The Sabbath was not created for God's benefit. Remember, He doesn't grow weary. God's gift of the Sabbath was for all of mankind from the very beginning. He wanted us to have a special day to rest and spend fourth dimension with Him.

Since the time of creation, the Sabbath has been a day for God's people to rest and worship. The weekly cycle of working 6 days and resting on the seventh day was instituted past God.

What is the Weekly Cycle?

If you lot look at our agenda, you lot'll notation the weekly wheel is the only part of our calendar non dictated by astronomy.

  • The 24-60 minutes day is based on the rotation of the world on its axis.
  • The month is based on the lunar bike or rotation of the moon around the earth.
  • The yr is based upon the earth'due south rotation around the sunday.

The seven-solar day calendar week is unique in that it has no basis other than the fact that God created the weekly wheel at the very first of time! There's no mystery about where the Sabbath originated. Nosotros simply need to look at Scripture.

The Sabbath day is the perfect time to find refreshment for our weary hearts and our weary minds. Our minds are made clearer and our faith made stronger when we dwell on the things of God.

Having one day ready apart for holy apply ways we tin leave behind the stress of this world and residue without guilt!

An old book on an old wooden background

The Sabbath in Bible Times

1950 > 1775 BC

Did people keep the Sabbath in early on Biblical times? We don't know how many people were keeping God'due south laws before the exodus, simply the Bible tells united states of america that Abraham was faithful to keep God'south laws.

"…Abraham obeyed my vocalization and kept my accuse, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." Genesis 26:5

Which laws did Abraham keep?  The Bible tells us God's laws are eternal.

"God'southward laws are pure, eternal, only." Psalm nineteen:9

God eternal laws are found in the Ten Commandments. The Quaternary Commandment tells u.s.:

"Recollect the Sabbath day, to keep information technology holy." Exodus 20:8

So, while we don't know how many people were keeping the Sabbath, it'south credible that some people, like Abraham, were faithfully keeping God's moral laws.

The Bible tells us that God'south commandments are eternal. Unfortunately, people don't ever follow God'south Word or proceed His commandments.

Sabbath Observance in Israel

1450 BC

When the Hebrew people fled from Egypt into the wilderness, God commanded them to go on the seventh day Sabbath. They were hungry and worried they would dice in the wilderness.

God performed a phenomenon and gave them manna from heaven to eat. They were to gather just enough manna to swallow each day. If they gathered more they could consume in 1 solar day, it would rot. On the sixth twenty-four hour period the people were to gather twice as much manna so they would have plenty to swallow on the seventh mean solar day also.

In non gathering manna on the seventh 24-hour interval, they were able to remainder from their labor, keeping the Sabbath day holy.

"On the 7th day some of the people went out to gather, just they plant none. And the Lord said to Moses, "How long will yous pass up to continue my commandments and my laws? Run into! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his identify; let no one get out of his identify on the 7th day." And so the people rested on the seventh 24-hour interval." Exodus xvi:27-30 ESV

Keeping the Sabbath became a regular exercise for the Jewish people. After, God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on height of Mountain Sinai.

The X Commandments were and so important God wrote them in stone with His own finger!

The 4thursday commandment says:

"Remember the Sabbath day, to go on it holy. Six days yous shall labor, and do all your work, only the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you lot shall not do any work, y'all, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

"For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the body of water, and all that is in them, and rested on the 7th twenty-four hours. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." Exodus 20:8-11

The Sabbath police force begins with the word "remember." God didn't want us to forget to observe the Sabbath. To this twenty-four hour period, the "Shabbath" or Sabbath is an important part of living a true-blue life in Christ.

"And so and then, at that place remains a Sabbath residuum for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's residuum has besides rested from his works as God did from his. Permit the states therefore strive to enter that balance, and so that no one may fall past the same sort of defiance." Hebrews 4:9-11

Hands praying in a church service

Jesus' Teachings well-nigh the Sabbath

27 AD

Jesus was raised in a Jewish household. He grew upwardly attending Sabbath services in the synagogue. Information technology was Jesus' custom to keep the Sabbath day and He would oft go into the synagogue to worship.

"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read." Luke four:sixteen

Jesus observed the Sabbath each week and never changed the twenty-four hours of worship to Dominicus. In fact, the Lord's twenty-four hours is the seventh day Sabbath – not Sunday.

"So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!" Marking two:28

Considering Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, we can believe Him when He said:

"The Sabbath was made for man, not human being for the Sabbath." Marking 2:17

Sometimes people recollect the seventh day is the Jewish Sabbath. However, Jesus said the Sabbath was made for all mankind!

Jesus explained very clearly, He never came to destroy the police force.

"Do not recollect that I have come to abolish the Police force or the Prophets; I have not come up to abolish them but to fulfill them." Matthew five:17

Early Christians Kept the Sabbath

31 AD

After Jesus'southward ascension into heaven, early on Christians continued to detect the Sabbath. Their faith was on fire and the message of the gospel spread far and broad.

Paul exhorted faithful Christians to encounter together to worship and encourage 1 another. Small house churches popped upwards everywhere and early Christians gathered as a regular practice.

"Not neglecting to run across together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another." Hebrews 10:25

"And day by day, attention the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts." Acts 2:46

"As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the side by side Sabbath." Acts xiii:42

Paul knew God's people needed to worship and pray together if they were going to stay faithful to the cause of Christ.

Asian man standing with arms raised outdoors. Concept about freedom, faith and celebration.

The Sabbath Challenged

321 Ad

Have y'all ever wondered who inverse the Sabbath to Sunday? Information technology'due south interesting to notation the seventh day is withal God'southward holy Sabbath mean solar day. However, people began worshiping on Sunday a long fourth dimension ago.

In 321 Advertizing, the Roman Emperor Constantine issued a decree declaring Sunday as the day of worship for Christians. The Edict of Constantine 2 which stated the Christians were to remainder on the "venerable day of the sun."

Constantine called Sunday the "venerable twenty-four hours of the lord's day" because infidel people worshiped the sun. His acceptance of Christianity was nominal. He connected to worship the sunthree and wasn't baptized until years afterwards on his deathbed.

Hand with pen writing on calendar page closeup

The Council of Laodicea

343 >381 Advertizement

Every bit time went on, there were more challenges confronting the commandment of God. At the Quango of Laodicea the Catholic church building decreed:

Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Sabbatum (Sabbath), but shall piece of work on that 24-hour interval: but the Lord'due south Day, they shall especially honor; and every bit being Christians, shall, if possible, do no piece of work on that twenty-four hour period. If nevertheless, they are constitute Judaizing, they shall be shut out from Christ.

Council of Laodicea iv

Incredibly, the endeavour to change the Sabbath was foretold hundreds of years before past the prophet Daniel.

"He shall speak words against the Most Loftier, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall remember to change the times and the police…" Daniel 7:25

Daniel told united states there would be a kingdom that would try to alter God's constabulary. How do nosotros know which constabulary Daniel was talking virtually?

Whenever nosotros have a question like this, the safest approach is to wait to the Bible for answers.

"God'southward laws are pure, eternal, just." Psalm nineteen:9-eleven

The Ten Commandments are God's eternal law. There are many laws in the Old Attestation simply just the X Commandments are eternal. The Mosaic laws were ceremonial laws and "a shadow of things to come."

Simply how do we know?

In the book of Exodus, we notice ii types of laws. The Moral Police force and the Mosaic Law. These two types of laws were dissimilar from each other:

The Ten Commandments

  • God's eternal law (Psalm xix:nine)
  • Written by God's ain finger (Exodus 31:18)
  • Kept within the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:xvi)
  • Commanded past God (2 Kings 21:8)

The Mosaic Law

  • A shadow of things to come (Hebrews 10)
  • Written downwardly past Moses (Deuteronomy 31:9)
  • Kept outside the Ark of the Covenant (Deuteronomy 31:26)
  • Commanded past Moses (ii Kings 21:eight)

Daniel prophesied there would be a kingdom who would rise upward and think to alter God'due south law. If we look at the Ten Commandments today, which one of the ten is the merely one that'due south been changed?

The Sabbath Commandment!

Yous run into, Jesus didn't change the day of worship. Yous won't find any poesy in the Bible that suggests we should keep the first day of the week holy.

The day of worship was not changed by God. It was changed past man!

Faithful Sabbath Keepers in History

400s AD

Despite the attempt to change the 24-hour interval of worship to Sun, in that location remained faithful people all through history who kept the true Sabbath. The early Celtic Church kept the Sabbath and St. Patrick of Irelandfive kept the seventh twenty-four hour period Sabbath.

It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early on times, in Republic of ireland too as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, every bit a day of residue from labor. They obeyed the quaternary commandment literally upon the seventh mean solar day of the week.

James C. Moffatt, D.D. The Church building in Scotland p.140

Yous may know of St. Patrick because of St. Patrick's Day. Merely did y'all know he was a Sabbath keeper? He was a true-blue servant of God!

St. Patrick was born around 387 Advertising and his existent name was Maewyn Succat. He was captured from his home in Scotland at the age of 16 and taken to Republic of ireland as a slave. After escaping, he felt called to return to Republic of ireland and preach the gospel.

Silhouette of man kneeling and praying at sunset

The Sabbath in the Dark Ages and Reformation

The Waldensesvi kept the Sabbath in France and Italy in the 12th century. And some Anabaptistsseven kept the Sabbath in the 16thursday century.

Sabbath keepers were scattered all over Europe during the dark ages and into the reformation age. History shows us there accept always been true-blue people who have kept the seventh day Sabbath!

So why do most Christians worship and attend church on Lord's day today?

The Alter of the Sabbath Day

How did Sunday Become Known as the Day of Rest?

How did Sunday Become Known as the Day of Remainder?

More and more church building leaders rejected what they called the "Jewish Sabbath." Despite the fact Jesus said the sabbath was made for "man" and not merely for the "Jews," more than and more Christians wanted to separate themselves from the Jewish people.

Judaizing on the Sabbath was frowned upon. "Judaizing" means to follow Jewish community or practices. Ignatius of Antioch was a bishop of Antioch and early Christian author. He wrote:

Let usa therefore no longer go along the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness …. let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's Day every bit a festival.

Ignatius, Epistle to the Magnesians viii

Unfortunately, the Christian practice of keeping Sabbath declined. Christians began to call Sunday the Lord's 24-hour interval and claimed that because Jesus was resurrected on Sunday they were to worship on that twenty-four hour period.

But the Bible never tells the states to worship on Sunday as a memorial of Jesus' resurrection. In fact, the Bible tells us we are to be baptized in remembrance of the resurrection of Christ.

"We were buried therefore with him by baptism into expiry, in order that, just every bit Christ was raised from the dead past the glory of the Father, we besides might walk in newness of life." Romans 6:4

The close up shot of the planner. Close up on Saturday

Who Officially Changed the Sabbath Day?

Yous'll find lots of different opinions on why Christians attend church on Sunday. The fact remains, the Bible does non tell us to worship on the starting time twenty-four hours of the calendar week.

All the same, the Roman Catholic Church claims to accept changed the day of worship from Sabbatum to Sunday.

The Catholic Church building for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant past virtue of her divine mission, changed the twenty-four hour period from Saturday to Sun.

The Cosmic Mirror, September 23, 1894

"If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sun they are following a law of the Cosmic Church." Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the Primal in a letter, February 10, 1920

As God's people, practice we desire to follow God's Give-and-take or the commandments of men? Jesus said:

"…in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." Matthew xv:9

Amazing foggy landscape in the morning sun.

The Sabbath Today

Sabbath keeping continued to decline effectually the world, but in the 1800s the Sabbath was once again discovered by a group of true-blue believers.

During that fourth dimension, at that place was a religious revival known as the Great Awakening. The movement was led by a grouping of Baptist and Methodist pastors and spread speedily through their congregations.

These faithful people expected Jesus to return on the Day of Atonement in 1844. In their study of the cleansing of the sanctuary they misunderstood the meaning of the prophecies. Thousands of people were disappointed when Jesus did not return.

Joseph Bates, a retired body of water captain and follower of the Millerite movement, went back to study the Bible for himself and discovered the truth nigh the seventh day Sabbath. He wrote a Bible tract about the Sabbath in 1846.

Later that same year, Ellen and James White read the tract written past Bates. They were convinced about the 7th day Sabbath and began observing the Sabbath.

Ellen and James White led the Adventist movement. In 1863 the 7th-day Adventist church was officially established and now has more than 21 one thousand thousand members today.

Every Saturday morning time around the globe you'll find Adventists attending church, worshipping, and resting on God's holy day.

Landscape of a field at sunset with a town in the background

How Is the Sabbath Regarded Today?

Today there is still much confusion amid Christians about which day is the Sabbath. In fact, many Christians have never heard the history of the Sabbath. They have no idea the day of worship was changed past man and has no basis in the Bible.

Millions of Christians attend church building on the 7th twenty-four hours Sabbath. But principal-stream Christianity even so worships on Lord's day.

The question is, exercise you lot desire to follow the Bible or man?

Learning Bible truths that are new can be heady and scary all at the aforementioned time. What's important is that we ever strive to follow God'southward Word.

Woman worshiping god, close up on hands

How Should Nosotros Keep the Sabbath Today?

Today, nosotros can go on the Sabbath just like Jesus did during His earthly ministry. When y'all find the seventh day Sabbath yous are following in the footsteps of many faithful Christians throughout history. Isn't that exciting?

Retrieve, God has chosen yous.

He wants to have a human relationship with you lot and the Sabbath provides the perfect opportunity for you to build your relationship with Him. 24 hours of fourth dimension defended to rest and worship.

"You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His ain special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who chosen you out of darkness into His marvelous low-cal." 1 Peter 2:nine NKJV

If you've never kept the Sabbath before, you may be wondering where to start.

Just like with anything new, keeping the Sabbath gets easier with practice! So, let's talk about a few means you tin first keeping the Sabbath today.

When does the Sabbath begin?

The Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday evening and ends at sundown on Saturday night. This is because during the beginning week of Creation, God said:

  • "And there was evening and there was morning, the first day." Genesis ane:5
  • "And there was evening and there was morning, the second solar day." Genesis 1:8
  • "And there was evening and in that location was morning, the 3rd day." Genesis ane:13

See the pattern? The evening came before the morning. Unproblematic!

How do you proceed the Sabbath holy?

The Fourth Commandment tells us to keep the Sabbath holy. This means you can refrain from all piece of work and secular activities similar:

  • Have the day off from your place of employment.
  • Don't use the day to do housework or one thousand piece of work.
  • Prepare your food ahead of time.
  • Don't purchase and sell on Sabbath.
  • Fill your gas tank before sundown on Friday evening.
  • Refrain from secular amusement.

The Sabbath isn't only a long listing of "don'ts" or rules. There are a lot of wonderful activities you tin can participate in that help yous keep the twenty-four hours holy.

  • Relish a special Sabbath meal on Friday evening.
  • Nourish Sabbath Schoolhouse and Worship at your local Adventist Church.
  • Written report the Bible.
  • Savour the day out in nature on a walk, hike, or even camping.
  • Invite friends over for worship on Friday or Saturday evening.
  • Remainder from all your piece of work and even have a nap!

Keeping the Sabbath today tin be a claiming, but information technology's worth the endeavor. The blessings of the Sabbath are too numerous to count! In fact, God tells u.s. when we "call the Sabbath a delight" He will bless us! (Isaiah 58:13)

Are y'all ready to follow in the footsteps of faithful Christians throughout history? Decide today to proceed the Sabbath holy.

  1. According to Ussher'south Chronology[↩]
  2. Constantine and the Sabbath Change by Professor Walter J. Veith, PhD [↩]
  3. Was the Emperor Constantine a True Christian or Was He a Secret Pagan? by Natalia Klimczak[↩]
  4. Rev. Charles Joseph Hefele, Henry N. Oxenham (trans.), A History of the Church Councils from 326 to 429 Volume ii (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1896): 316.[↩]
  5. ST. PATRICK AND THE SABBATH past Curtis Rittenour[↩]
  6. The Groovy Controversy, Ellen White, Chapter iv[↩]
  7. HISTORY OF THE SABBATH
    AND THE FIRST Day OF THE WEEK[↩]
  8. Sabbath in Christianity[↩]