The Sabbath

After the fall of man in the garden, the world and mankind were under curses. Due to the curse placed on the earth, man's toil for his daily existence would be endless. Each person is also under a personal curse due to his own sin. His toil to earn God's approval by his good works is also endless. However, God provided an end to man's struggle. He gave the Sabbath as a temporary end to man's toil for survival. The rest of the seventh day was a temporary redemption from the previous six days of labor, and it pointed to the ultimate redemption from our attempts to earn God's approval by our good works. This use of the sabbath to point to redemption is shown in:

DEU 5:12-15: "Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 'Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God. . .And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day."

In other words, the Sabbath pointed to Jesus, our Redeemer. Let's examine the scripture, as Jesus points to the 'rest' He offers and contrasts it to the 'rest' of the Sabbath. The Bible teaches the Sabbath 'rest' was not the ultimate 'rest', but pointed to it. Jesus spoke of His 'rest' in:

MAT 11:28-30: "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light."

Jesus was gentle, but the Pharisees were strict and harsh with their use of the Sabbath.

MAT 12:1-6, "At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grainfields, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, 'Behold, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.' But He said to them, 'Have you not read what David did, when he became hungry, he and his companions; how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath, and are innocent? But I say to you, that something greater than the temple is here."

The life and ministry of Jesus demonstrated His compassion, but the use of the Sabbath demanded sacrifice.

MAT 12:7-8, "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

The use of the Sabbath as a legal observance demands sacrifice to it, and thus Jesus stated that He is above the sabbath commandment. Jesus showed humility, but the sabbath commandment resulted in attitudes of arrogance.

MAT 12:9-14, "And departing from there, He went into their synagogue. And behold, {there was} a man with a withered hand. And they questioned Him, saying, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?' - in order that they might accuse Him. And He said to them, 'What man shall there be among you, who shall have one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it, and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.' Then He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand!' And he stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other. But the Pharisees went out, and counseled together against Him, {as to} how they might destroy Him."

Jesus said His yoke is easy, but the sabbath, as well as other laws were shown to be difficult to bear.

ACT 15:10-11, "Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are."

The load Jesus has for His followers is light, but the Sabbath commandment and other laws used by the Pharisees proved to be very heavy.

MAT 23:2-4, "saying, 'The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say {things,} and do not do {them.} And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with {so much as} a finger."

The 'rest' given by Jesus results in our changing from working for ourselves, to working for others. This results in 'good' to others. The 'rest' of the sabbath was simply quit work. This resulted in harm to those who need our help.

MAR 3:4-5, "And He said to them, 'Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?' But they But they kept silent."

While the 'rest' given by Jesus results in our redemption, the Sabbath commandment resulted in bondage, as shown by the following account. The episode of the healing of the crippled woman brings out rather clearly the relationship between the sabbath and the Savior's saving ministry. Notice the same verb was translated 'to free', 'to untie', and 'to loose. The verb is first used by Jesus in addressing the woman, 'you are freed from your infirmity.' The ruler of the synagogue was mad about Jesus' healing act. His reaction shows the result of the outward observance of a law, instead of being motivated by the love in a person's heart. For the ruler, the sabbath means rules to be obeyed, while Jesus was motivated by love and compassion for the needy.

To clarify the difference, Jesus twice again used the verb 'to free.' First, by referring to a customary concession: 'You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to water him?} And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?' Jesus demonstrated that what the sabbath commandment resulted in, was not what God had in-tended. An ox could be legitimately untied on the sabbath for drinking purposes, but a suffering woman could not be released on such a day from the shackles of her physical and spiritual infirmity.

LUK 13:10-17, "And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. And when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, 'Woman, you are freed from your sickness.' And He laid His hands upon her; and immediately she was made erect again, and {began} glorifying God. And the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, {began} saying to the multitude in response, 'There are six days in which work should be done; therefore come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day. But the Lord answered him and said, 'You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to water him?} And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?' And as He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire multitude was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him."

The imagery of loosing a victim bound by Satan, recalls Jesus' announcement of His mission 'to proclaim release to the captives' and to 'set at liberty those who are oppressed' (Lk 4:18).

The Sabbath rest was a weekly redemption from the previous six days of labor. It pointed to the rest and redemption Jesus would give from the old covenant attempt at salvation by works. The labor of the six days is really endless and is a result of the curse placed on the earth. The attempt to be saved by works is also never ending and is a result of the curse placed on mankind, by his sin.

The Sabbath gave a temporary redemption from the week's labor. Jesus gave a permanent redemption from the attempts of earning salvation by works.

It enables us to quit working for own salvation and begin working for others. This is how God rested. He worked the six days of creation to make things for Himself. He ceased working for Himself and began working for His creation. Jesus pointed out that His Father had not quit working, He had changed the nature of the work.

JOHN 5:17-21, "But He answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.' For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless {it is} something He sees the Father doing; for whatever {the Father} does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and greater works than these will He show Him, that you may marvel. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes."

HEB 4:10-11, "For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through {following} the same example of disobedience."

The arrival of the new 'rest' from Jesus demanded an end to the Sabbath 'rest' as a commandment. The sabbath was a 'type and shadow' pointing to the 'rest' Jesus would give. When the real thing had arrived, the sign was no longer necessary.

COL 2:16-17, "Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day - things which are a {mere} shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ."

This new 'rest' demanded new attitudes. A person's life was not to be centered around an obedience to laws, but around a love of, and service to, God and man. The commandment Jesus gave was to "love one another." He even said if we do not obey this command to love one another, we don't love Him.

JOHN 15:12-14, "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends, if you do what I command you."

Two of the Gospels precede the discussion of the apostles eating corn on the Sabbath with Jesus' words about the need for new attitudes.

MAR 2:21-22, "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and the skins {as well;} but {one puts} new wine into fresh wineskins."

The Pharisees were willing to suspend the observance of the Sabbath if it conflicted with another law, but not in order to help people. They were unable to see the inconsistency of this.

JOHN 7:22-24, "On this account Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on {the} Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on {the} Sabbath that the Law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on {the} Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."

Hebrews points out the coming 'rest' that Jesus would give. It shows the Jews did not accept it in Joshua's day, and warned people against rejecting it as they did.

HEB 3:10-12,"Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, 'They always go astray in their heart; And they did not know My ways'; As I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.' Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God."

HEB 4:1-3, "Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, 'As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest,' although His works were finished from the foundation of the world."

Why was faith necessary? It is not necessary to have faith in order to rest on the Sabbath. But we receive the redemption and 'rest' from Jesus by "grace through faith."

EPH 2:8-10, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, {it is} the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

Hebrews goes on to point out that Joshua did not give this promised 'rest' when they entered Canaan.

HEB 4:4-11, "For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh {day},' And God rested on the seventh day from all His works'; and again in this {passage}, 'They shall not enter My rest.' Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, 'Today,' saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before,' Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through {following} the same example of disobedience."

Again, to rest as God did, means to quit working for ourselves and to start working for others. How do we always know our motives for doing things. Many times it's not obvious why we do things. The scripture goes on to point out that God's word will point out the difference.

HEB 4:12-16, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as {we are, yet} without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need."

When the devil used the pride and arrogance of the Pharisees, he used the sabbath commandment and other laws against the people. Christ removed these laws when He disarmed the devil.

COL 2:15-19, "When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day - things which are a {mere} shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on {visions} he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God."

COL 2:20-22, "If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 'Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!' (which all refer to} things destined to perish with the using) - in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?"

The commandments, which were once the commandments of God, become the commandments of men when they continue to use them beyond the time God designates. They seem to be wise, but become now a substitute for complete obedience to Jesus. They are even used as an excuse for not obeying Jesus' command to love one another.

COL 2:23-3:4, "These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, {but are} of no value against fleshly indulgence. If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."

The sabbath 'rest' pointed to the 'rest' given by Jesus. It ended when the real 'rest' came. It was not changed to another day. It would be even worse to change a sign than it would be to use it after the object of the sign had come. The day used for worship was to be dictated not by law, but by the circumstances. It was to be chosen by the same method Paul used when he taught that even though he was not under the law, he controlled his actions in such a way as to win people.

1 COR 9:20-23,"And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law, though not being myself under the Law, that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it."

ROM 14:1-4, "Now accept the one who is weak in faith, {but} not for {the purpose of} passing judgment on his opinions....Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand."

ROMANS 14:5-6, "One man regards one day above another, another regards every day {alike.} Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God."

ROMANS 14:7-12, "For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived {again}, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, 'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God. So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God."

ROM 14:13-17, "Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this - not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way....Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."

ROM 14:18-23, "For he who in this {way} serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or {to do anything} by which your brother stumbles. The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because {his eating is} not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin."

ROM 15:1-3, "Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not {just} please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, 'The reproaches of those who reproached Thee fell upon Me."

The Sabbath commandment was given 430 years after the promise of Jesus' "rest" was given to Abraham. It was ordained for use only until Jesus came. From that time on, our obedience was to be to Him as supreme, not the law.

GAL 3:16-19, "Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as {referring} to many, but {rather} to one, 'And to your seed,' that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made."

The law, including the Sabbath commandment, only pointed out our need for Jesus and our imperfection without Him.

GAL 3:20-22, "Now a mediator is not for one party only}; whereas God is {only} one. Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe."

The Sabbath rest showed our need of the 'rest' Jesus would give and once He came the Sabbath was no longer needed.

GAL 3:23-25, "But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor {to lead us} to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor."

GAL 3:26-29, "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise."

While the law placed us in bondage by exposing sin, Jesus makes us free by forgiving sin and making us His sons instead of slaves.

GAL 4:1-6, "Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"

Any return to the legalistic observance of days, is a rejection of the "rest" which Jesus gives.

GAL 4:7-11, "Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain."

Let's examine the Scripture and church history to understand the history of Sabbath observance. God blessed the first seventh day, at the end of creation week.

GEN 2:1-3, "Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made."

There was no scripture to show that any person observed the Sabbath, until the time of Moses.

After the Israelites left Egypt, God first told them about the Sabbath when He gave them Manna to eat.

EXO 16:15-23, "When the sons of Israel saw {it,} they said to one another, 'What is it?' For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat. Now it came about on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,...then he said to them, 'This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning."

On Mt. Sinai God wrote the Sabbath commandment on stone with the other nine. He told them to remember the Sabbath, which He had just used to test them when He gave them the manna.

EXO 20:8-11, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; {in it} you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy."

In the New Testament times it was the custom of Jesus, the Jews, the early Church, and Paul to observe the Sabbath. Even the first Gentile converts met on the Sabbath.

ACT 13:42-44, "And as Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them the next Sabbath. Now when {the meeting of} the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God. And the next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of God."

However, Sabbath observance was never commanded in the New Testament. While all nine of the other Ten Commandments were given, the fourth one was not used. This fact implies that the Sabbath was used as a custom, for the day of worship - and not as a law.

The seven-day week was first adopted by the Roman Empire in the first century. The days of the week were named after the planets, as they still are. Saturn's Day (Saturday) was originally the first day of the week and Sun's day (Sunday) was originally the second day of the week. (NOTE: The Romans designated the day they considered most important as the first day of the week.) Therefore, during the New Testament times, the Biblical seventh day was the same as the Roman first day except that the Sabbath began at sundown while the Roman day began at midnight. This means most pagan Romans worshipped at the same time as Jews and Christians.

As the numbers of Romans worshipping the Sun increased during the second century, a change occurred in the Roman week. The Sun's day (Sunday) was advanced from position of second to first day of the week. (Each of the other days was advanced too, so Saturday became the seventh day, the same as in the Jewish calendar.) The early Roman use of Saturday as the first day of the week is shown on several stone calendars that have been discovered dating from the first century.

Since the emergence of the day of the Sun over that of Saturn occurred in the early part of the second century, at the same time as the Christian's adoption of Sunday observance in the place of the Sabbath, we could ask: Did the change among the pagans influence Christians who desired to differentiate themselves from the Sabbath of the Jews, to adopt and adapt this same day for their weekly worship.

A direct indication of this is provided by the frequent use of the symbology of the day of the Sun to justify Sunday observance. Justin Martyr (about 100-155) emphasizes that Christians assemble "on the day of the Sun...because it is the first day on which God, transforming the darkness and prime matter, created the world."

Eusebius (about 260-340) several times used the themes of light and of the day of the Sun to justify Sunday worship.

Jerome (about 342-420) expresses this when he writes, "If it is called day of the Sun by the pagans, we most willingly acknowledge it as such, since it was on this day that the 'light of the world' has appeared and on this day the 'Sun of Justice' has risen."

The adoption of Sunday observance in place of the Sabbath did not occur in the Jerusalem Church by apostolic authority to commemorate Christ's resurrection, but rather in the Church of Rome during the early part of the second century. The interplay of political, social, pagan-religious and Christian factors made it expedient to adopt Sunday as a new day of worship.

This treatment of the Sabbath is very consistent with the way other 'types and shadows' were treated by Paul and the apostles. Events that were once laws, such as circumcision and the passover feast, were used at some times and not used at other times, depending on the circumstances.

Not long after the recognition of Christianity by Constantine, the observance of Sunday was required by law. In 321 all courts of justice, all city dwellers and artisans were required to rest "on the venerable day of the Sun." The only exceptions were farmers, because their work could not be interrupted or delayed. The Sunday law was probably a neutral compromise measure because the 'day of the sun' was also sacred to the old Imperial god.

It was not until about 750 that the Christian Sunday came to be viewed as subject to the Jewish Sabbath laws. Charlemagne (about 789) forbade "all kinds of labor." These laws swept over the whole of Western Christendom and led to the Puritan observance of Sunday and the 'blue laws' of the American colonies.

The writings of the Catholic Church show they know the reason for using Sunday as the day of worship was church tradition. They argued against Protestants who would fight tradition and still worship on Sunday. Johann Eck (1486-1543) wrote, "If the church has had power to change the Sabbath of the Bible into Sunday and to command Sunday keeping, why should it not have also this power concerning other days?...If you omit the latter, and turn from church to the Scripture alone, then you must keep the Sabbath with the Jews, which has been kept from the beginning of the world."

He was guilty of the same error as many today. He thought the only choices consisted of which day should be kept as a law. When God ended the Sabbath law by sending the real 'rest,' it became just as wrong to set up a new law as it would be to keep the old one. The day of worship should be selected under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, not as a legislative edict.

REV 1:10-11, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like {the sound} of a trumpet, saying, 'Write in a book what you see, and send {it} to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." This does not refer to a day of the week, but to the end time, when the Lord returns.

ACT 2:20, "The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come."

1 TH 5:2, "For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night."

Many of the ones who call Sunday the "Lord's Day," use it in an attempt to justify their legalistic use of Sunday.

The resurrection and/or appearances of Christ which occurred on the first day of the week are generally regarded as the fundamental factor which determined the early abandonment of Sabbath keeping and the institution of Sunday worship. Do the earliest writers support this claim? No sayings can be found in the New Testament to even suggest that one should commemorate Christ's resurrection on the actual day on which it occurred. In fact, Sunday is never called the 'day of resurrection' in the New Testament, but consistently the 'first day of the week.'

Nowhere does the New Testament suggest that the Lord's Supper was celebrated on Sunday or that it commemorated Christ's resurrection. Paul, who claims to transmit what he "received from the Lord," repeatedly implies that the rite was celebrated at indeterminate times and days ("when you come together" - 1 COR 11:18, 20, 33, 34) and explicitly states that by partaking of the elements Christians "proclaim the Lord's death till he comes" (11:26). It is Christ's sacrifice, and not His resurrection, that Paul explicitly mentions.

JESUS' REST	THE SABBATH REST	SCRIPTURE
gentleness	strict	Mt 12:1-6
compassion	sacrifice	Mt 12:7-8
humility	arrogance	Mt 12:9-14
yoke is easy	difficult	Acts 15:10-11
load is light	heavy load	Mt 23:2-4
do good	do harm	Mk 3:4
redemption	bondage	Lk 13:10-17
forever	temporary, repeated weekly

The arrival of the new 'rest' from Jesus brought an end to the Sabbath 'rest' as a commandment. The sabbath was a 'type and shadow' pointing to the 'rest' Jesus would give. When the real thing had arrived, the sign was no longer necessary.

Bacchoicchi, S., From Sabbath to Sunday: A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity, Rome, 1977.