THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH

THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH The 12th study in the series. Studies written by William Carey. Presentation by Michael Salzman. All texts are from the New King James version. All rights reserved.

THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH What is the only holy day mentioned in the Bible? Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9- Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

1-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH 10- But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord your God: in it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.

1-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH 11- For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

1-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH The only weekly Sabbath or weekly holy day ever mentioned in the Bible is the seventh day which Christ the Lord, as Creator, blessed and set apart for man at the beginning of this world’s history. (Genesis 2:1-3)

2-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH Does Jesus alter the things he has made? Psalm 89:34 My covenant will I not break, Nor alter the word that is gone out of My lips.

2-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH Since the Lord will not alter what has come from His lips, the command to keep the seventh day, as spoken by His lips (Ex. 20:1, 10) must stand unchanged forever. God has never changed the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day. There is not one word in the New Testament about a change of the Sabbath.

2-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH The book of Acts of the Apostles contains positive proof that the first day, Sunday, was not substituted for the seventh day as the divine day of rest and worship. It should be noted that the book of Acts covers a period of history when the apostles were still alive.

3-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH Which day did the Apostle Paul keep? Acts 13:14, 42; 18:4 But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.

3-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH 42- So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. 18:4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.

3-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH The book of Acts in describing various events that happened from 14 to 23 years after Christ’s resurrection, refers to the seventh day, the identical day that the Jews met for worship in their synagogues, as the Sabbath day.

3-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH If the first day had taken the place of the seventh day as God’s holy day at the resurrection of Christ, the book of Acts COULD NOT AND WOULD NOT have called the seventh day THE SABBATH for 23 years after the resurrection. This proves the Apostles regarded the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord.

3-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH Since the transfer of the day of worship from the seventh to the first was not made in New Testament times, it must have been made by uninspired men at a later time. Hence the change rests only on human authority.

3-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH The first law ever made setting Sunday apart as a day of rest was made by Constantine on March 7, A.D. 321. The first rule directing Christians to rest on the first day of the week, in place of the seventh, was made by the Council of Laddicea in A.D. 364.

4-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH Does the book of Acts give us a warning about trouble to come? Acts 20:29-32 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

4-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH 30- Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. 31- Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

4-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH 32- So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Paul foretold of a great apostasy that would corrupt the teaching of the Word of God.

5-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH Does this apostasy involve the Ten Commandments? Daniel 7:25 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time.

5-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH God foretold that the Catholic power would attempt to change the law of God that dealt with time. This must mean that the papal power would attempt to change the Sabbath.

5-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH The Fourth commandment (Remember the Sabbath) is the only place in God’s Ten Commandments that deals with time. Here God directs man to count time, devoting the first six days of the week to labor, and resting on the seventh.

5-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH Under the centuries of rule of the Catholic Church, God’s arrangement was reversed, so that now men are resting on the first day of the week, and devoting the last six days to their labor.

5-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH The last part of this Daniel 7:25 denotes that this substitution was to prevail for 1260 prophetic days, or literal years (Rev. 12:14,6; Eze. 4:6; Num. 14:34), or from 538 to 1798. It is a fact that light on this wrong substitution of the first day for the seventh did not come to the whole world until after 1798.

6-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH Why was this change not known? Daniel 12:4 “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” This truth from the book of Daniel would be made known near the end of time.

7-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH What about all those who did not know of this change? John 9:41 Jesus said unto them, “If ye were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ’We see.’ Therefore your sin remains. None will be condemned for keeping the wrong day in ignorance.

8-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH What about those who do understand this change? James 4:17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

8-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH When the light of the seventh day Sabbath as God’s holy day, is shown to us, then if we do not keep it, it is held against us as sin.

9-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH Is the keeping of God’s Commandments important? 1 John 3:4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

9-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH To fail to keep the seventh day as God commands in the fourth precept of His Ten Commandments is sin. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

10-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH Who should we serve? Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience to righteousness?

10-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH Whomever we obey as supreme, his servants we are. We must now decide whether we’ll obey God by keeping His Sabbath and be His child, or obey the papal power by keeping Sunday and be man’s servant. Obeying God brings eternal life -- the other: death.

11-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH Who should we obey? Acts 5:29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men. We should obey God. What is to be gained by obeying man?

12-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH What can we gain by obeying God? Hebrews 5:9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

12-CS THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH We must obey Jesus for salvation. Obedience to Christ includes the Sabbath, the day that Jesus made for man, (Mark 2:27-28).

THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH Fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel 7:25 “Think to change times and laws” From a Catholic Catechism: THE THIRD COMMANDMENT 192. What is the third Commandment? The third Commandment is, “Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.”

THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH 193. What are we commanded by the third commandment? By the third Commandment we are commanded to keep Sunday holy. The Jew’s Sabbath Day was Saturday; we Christians keep Sunday holy. The Church, by the power our Lord gave her, changed the observance of Saturday to Sunday.

THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH A word about Sunday. God said, “Remember that thou keep holy the SABBATH DAY.” The Sabbath was Saturday, not Sunday; why then, do we keep Sunday holy instead of Saturday? The Church altered the observance of the Sabbath to the observance of Sunday in commemoration of our Lord having risen

THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH from the dead on Easter Sunday, and the Holy Ghost having descended upon the apostles on Whit Sunday. Protestants who say that they go by the Bible and the Bible only, and that they do not believe anything that is not in the Bible, must be rather puzzled by the keeping of Sunday when god distinctly said, “Keep holy the Sabbath Day”.

THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH The word Sunday does not come anywhere in the Bible, so, without knowing it, they are obeying the authority of the Catholic Church. -- THE CATECHISM SIMPLY EXPLAINED, H. Canon Cafferata, Page 89.

THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.” --FAITH OF OUR FATHERS, James Cardinal Gibbons, Page 89.

THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH Do you now understand the importance of the Sabbath and how it is under attack. Do you wish to obey Jesus and keep His day?

The End