Preface: This is the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation! On OCTOBER 31, 1517, Martin Luther protested the selling of indulgences by the Roman Catholic Church. The selling of indulgences was a false method of forgiveness of sins that was used to raise money to build St. Peter’s cathedral in Rome. Luther nailed 95 Theses against the selling of indulgences on the Wittenberg Church door claiming that forgiveness was free, having been already purchased by the blood of Christ, and that a man is justified by faith in Jesus alone. His protest went viral. Thousands began to follow the light. Soon, Protestant scholars risked their lives to restore the Bible to the people in their own language. As a result, many truths that had been covered up by pagan customs in the Catholic Church were recovered by mighty students of the Bible in the Protestant Reformation. Today, few know much about the Reformation. Some are even saying that the Reformation is over. But this is far from the truth. There is a vital truth that the Christian world needs to re-embrace before Jesus comes again, for it is part of the immutable Moral Law of God, and Christ’s Church must be clothed in Christ’s righteousness by faith. This vital truth is found in the Ten Commandments themselves—God’s moral law—by which all who have professed His name will be judged. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judge by the law of liberty.” James 2:10-12. The original Biblical day of worship needs to be restored. It is the fourth commandment of the Decalogue found in Exodus 20:8-11. WHY keep the Sabbath day? What is the object of the Sabbath? Who made it? When was it made, and for whom? Which day is the true Sabbath? Many keep the first day of the week, or Sunday. What Bible authority have they for this? Here are the facts about both days, as plainly stated in the Word of God. 1. After working the first six days of the week in creating this earth, our Sovereign Creator rested on the Seventh day! (Genesis 2:1.3.) 2. God created all things through Jesus Christ (Eph. 3:9). Thus, Jesus rested on the Seventh day Sabbath, too. 3. God’s rest day is the Seventh day. The word Sabbath means “rest.” Every Seventh day of the week (known today as Saturday) is God’s rest, or Sabbath, day. (Exodus 20:8-11.) Therefore you cannot change God’s rest day to a day on which He did not rest. Hence the Seventh day is still God’s Sabbath day. 4. After He rested from His work on the seventh day, the Creator blessed and sanctified (set apart for holy use) the Seventh day. (Genesis 2:3; Exodus 20:11.) 5. He made the Seventh-day Sabbath in the Garden of Eden before the fall. Hence it is perfect. It is not a type—it is not a “shadow of things to come.” (Genesis 2:1-3; Col. 2:17.) 6. It is a memorial of creation. Every time we rest upon the Seventh day, as God did at creation, we commemorate that grand event. (Exodus 20:11; 31:17; Heb. 4:10; Rev. 14:7.) 7. The Sabbath was a gift to Adam, the father of the human race, given to him by JESUS, the SECOND ADAM, who kept the Sabbath as our Example—an Example to be followed by all nations and peoples. Thus, the Sabbath is a double gift to us. (Mark 2:27; Genesis 2:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:45; Luke 4:16; 1 Peter 2:21; Acts 17:26,27; Rev. 14:6,7.) 8. It is not a Jewish institution, for it was made over 2,000 years before the first Jew lived. The Bible never calls it the Jewish Sabbath, but always “the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Is it yours? (Exodus 20:10; Isa. 58:13; Rev. 1:10.) 9. Evident reference is made to the Sabbath and the seven-day week all through the Old and New Testaments. (Genesis 2:1-3; 8:10,12; 29:27-28; Luke 23:56; 24:1; Heb. 4:4,10; Rev. 14:7; etc.) 10. Moses taught the Israelites who had been slaves for decades that they must keep the Sabbath if they were to be delivered from Egyptian bondage. (Exodus 5:4,5.) 11. The Sabbath was a part of God’s law before Sinai. As the manna fell from heaven for 40 years of wilderness wandering, a wonderful miracle happened every Sabbath. (See Exodus 16:4, 27-29.) 12. God placed the Sabbath in the heart of His moral law. (Exodus 20:1-17.) Why did He place it there if it was not like the other nine precepts, which all admit to be immutable? 13. Just think, God is commanding us NOT to work, but TO REST, to get to know Him on the day He blessed and made holy. 14. Breaking the Sabbath is a moral sin. (1John 3:4.) Jesus came to save us from our sins. (Matthew 1:21.) Sabbath breaking is still a sin. (Lev. 4:1,2; 1 John 3:4; Exodus 34:21; Romans 3:31; 6:23; 8:3,4; Rev. 22:14.) 15. The 4th commandment is the only commandment that identifies who God is! “But the Seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God (God’s name): …For in six days the LORD made (God’s title—Creator), heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is (God’s territory of rule), and rested the Seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:8-11.) In the Sabbath commandment is the name, title, and territory of God—the Seal of living God! Will you receive the Seal of God in your forehead?
16. The Seventh-day Sabbath was commanded by the voice of the living God. (Deuteronomy 4:12,13.)
17. He engraved it in the enduring stone, indicating its imperishable nature. (Deuteronomy 5:22.)
18. Then He wrote the Ten Commandments, including the fourth, with His own finger—a symbol of the Holy Spirit! (Exodus 31:18; Matthew 12:28; and Luke 11:20.)
19. Now the Holy Spirit wants to write God’s Law, including the Sabbath, on the fleshy tables of our NEW HEART and MIND according to the NEW COVENANT Promise! (Ezekiel 36:26,27; 2 Corinthians 3:3; Hebrews 10:15,16.)
20. It was sacredly preserved in the ark in the holy of holies. (Deuteronomy 10:1-5; Rev. 11:19.)
21. The Seventh-day Sabbath is a flag of God’s power both to create and re-create His people. (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:15; Psalm 33:6,9; 2 Corinthians 5:17.)
22. It is the sign of the true God, by which we are to know Him from false gods. (Ezekiel 20:20.)
23. It is the SIGN that GOD IS SANCTIFYING US AS HIS PEOPLE! (Exodus 31:16,17; Ezekiel 20:12.)
24. In Jeremiah 17, God promised that Jerusalem should stand forever if the Jews would keep the Sabbath. The blessings of Sabbath-keeping goes with TRUSTING IN THE LORD (rather than man) found in the same chapter!
25. God sent His people into Babylonian captivity and destroyed Jerusalem for breaking the Sabbath. (Nehemiah 13:17, 18; Jeremiah 17:27.)
26. God has pronounced a special blessing on all the Gentiles, and upon all people who will keep the Sabbath! This prophecy refers wholly to the Christian dispensation. (Isaiah 56:2, 6, 7.)
27. The holy Sabbath has been trodden down for “many generations,” but Isaiah predicted that it is to be restored in the last days by people whom he called the “REPAIRERS OF THE BREACH.” (Isaiah 58:12-13.) This tract is a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy! Will you help to repair the “breach” in God’s law and be a part of the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy as well?
28. The Lord requires us to call the Sabbath “the holy of the Lord honourable” and “honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words.” (Isaiah 58:13.)
29. All the holy prophets kept the Seventh-day Sabbath.
30. When Jesus, the Son of God came, He kept the Seventh-day Sabbath all His life. (Luke 4:16; John 1:1-3; 15:10.) Thus He followed His Father’s and His own example at creation. Shall we not be safe in following the example of both the Father and the Son?
31. The Seventh-day Sabbath is the Lord’s Day. (See Revelation 1:10; Mark 2:28; Isaiah 58:13; Exodus 20:10.) JESUS WAS IN THE SPIRIT ON THE LORD’S DAY! Luke 4:16-18.
32. Jesus was Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28), that is, to love and protect it, as the husband is the lord of the wife, to love and cherish her (1 Peter 3:6.)
33. Jesus vindicated the Sabbath as a merciful institution designed for man’s good. (Mark 2:23-28.)
34. So far from abolishing the Sabbath, Jesus carefully taught His disciples to do well upon the Sabbath, preaching, healing, and all that is “lawful.” (Matthew 5:17,18; 12:1-13.)
35. He instructed His apostles that the Sabbath should be prayerfully regarded when Jerusalem would be destroyed in 70 AD forty years after His resurrection. (Matthew 24:20.)
36. The pious followers of Christ who had been with Jesus carefully kept the Seventh-day Sabbath “according to the commandment” after His crucifixion. (Luke 23:56.)
37. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, called it the “Sabbath day” in 57 AD. (Acts 13:27.) Paul knew.
38. The Gentile converts asked Paul to preach the Word to them on the Sabbath. (Acts 13:42.) And Paul did, not on the first day, the day of the sun god, but on the Seventh-day Sabbath.
39. Luke, the inspired Gentile Christian historian, writing as late as AD 62, calls it the “Sabbath day.” (Acts 13:42,44; Luke 23:56.)
40. In the great Christian council, AD 51, in the presence of the apostles and thousands of disciples, James calls it the “Sabbath day.” (Acts 15:21.)
41. It was customary to hold prayer meetings upon the Seventh-day Sabbath. (Acts 16:13.)
42. Paul read the Scriptures in public meetings on the Sabbath. It was his custom to preach upon that day. (Acts 17:2-3.)
43. The Book of Acts alone gives a record of his holding eighty-four meetings upon the Sabbath day! (See Acts 13:14, 44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4, 11.)
44. There was never any dispute between the Christians and the Jews about the Sabbath day. This is proof that the Christians (believing Jews) still observed the same day that the unbelieving Jews did.
45. In all their accusations against Paul, the unbelieving Jews never charged him with disregarding the Sabbath day. Why did they not, if he did not keep it? In fact, Paul said it was ESTABLISHED! (Romans 3:31.)
46. Paul himself expressly declared that he had kept the moral law. “Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all.” Acts 25:8. How could this be true if he had not kept the Sabbath? (Acts 24:16.)
47. The Seventh-day Sabbath is mentioned in the New Testament fifty-nine times, and always with respect, bearing the same title it had in the Old Testament, “the Sabbath day.”
48. Not a word is said anywhere in the New Testament about the Seventh-day Sabbath’s being abolished, done away, changed, or anything of the kind. Rather, it was just the opposite. (Romans 3:31; Hebrews 4:4, 10; 1 John 5:3; Rev. 14:7, 12.) It was the seven ceremonial sabbaths in the ceremonial law of the sanctuary service that were abolished at the cross when Jesus the Lamb of God was crucified. These sabbaths could occur on any day of the week and were not part of the Moral Law. (Colossians 2:14-17.)
49. God has never given permission to any man to work upon the Sabbath. Reader, by what authority do you use the Seventh day for common labor? (1 John 3:4.)
50. No Christian of the New Testament, either before or after the resurrection, ever did ordinary work upon the Seventh day. Find one case of that kind, and we will yield the question. Why should modern Christians do differently from Bible Christians?
51. There is no record that God has ever removed His blessing or sanctification from the Seventh day. This is impossible, since it is part of the Creation week. (Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:5,6.)
52. God’s last-day church is described as keeping the Seventh-day Sabbath and all Ten Commandments. (Rev. 14:7, 12.)
53. As the Sabbath was kept in Eden before the fall, and all through history even till today, so it will be OBSERVED ETERNALLY after God makes a NEW HEAVEN and NEW EARTH! (Isaiah 66:22-23.)
54. Jesus was the Word of God made flesh. He kept the Sabbath holy. In fact, Jesus was a living Ten Commandments. He was the Lamb without spot and blemish. He wants His last day church to be just like Himself—without spot or wrinkle and keeping the true Bible Sabbath—before He comes the Second time. (John 1:14; Psalm 40:8; John 1:29; Luke 4:16-18; Ephesian 5:25-27.)BIBLE FACTS CONCERNING THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK55. GOD MADE THE WORLD IN SIX DAYS and RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY. The Sabbath means rest from labor. God could have created the world in five, four, three, two, or one day(s), but the next day would have been the Sabbath. Because God would need at least one day to create the world, IT IS THUS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK TO EVER BE A SABBATH.
56. God commands men to work upon the first day of the week. (Exodus 20:8-11.) Is it wrong to obey God?
57. By the express command of God, His holy people have used the first day of the week as a common working day for over 6,000 years. (Exodus 20:8-11.) The Creator Himself did this. (Genesis l: l-5.) If God worked to make the earth and light on the first day, which we call Sunday, can it be wicked for us to work on Sunday?
58. God Himself calls it a “working” day. (Ezekiel 46:1.)
59. Sunday has never been blessed or sanctified by God or Jesus.
60. God did not rest upon it. Neither did Jesus Christ keep it.
61. No patriarch, prophet, apostle, or any of God’s people in the Bible ever kept Sunday, except maybe Jezebel and Baal worshippers. (1 Kings 18:12; 19:18; Rev. 2:20-23.)
62. Jesus was a carpenter (Mark 6:3), and worked at His trade until He was thirty years old. He kept the Sabbath and worked six days in the week, as all admit. Hence He did many a hard day’s work on Sunday.
63. The apostles worked upon it during the same time.
64. No law was ever given to enforce the keeping of it, hence it is no transgression to work upon it. “Where no law is, there is no transgression.” Romans 4:15 (See also 1 John 3:4.)
65. The New Testament nowhere forbids work to be done on it. No penalty is provided for its violation.
66. No blessing is promised for its observance.
67. No regulation is given as to how it ought to be observed. Would this be so if the Lord wished us to keep it?
68. It is never called the Christian Sabbath. It is never called the Sabbath day at all.
69. We can know for sure that the Seventh-day Sabbath is Saturday by reading Luke 23:50-56; 24:1-3. Jesus was crucified on Friday the “preparation” day—the day to prepare for the holy Sabbath. On that day, the sixth day of the week, He cried, “It is finished.” Christ’s work for us was perfectly finished—just as it was at the end of the sixth day of Creation. Jesus then rested in the grave on the Sabbath day. On the first day of the week He rose again to resume His labors.
70. It is never called the Lord’s day.
71. It is never called even a rest day.
72. No sacred title whatever is applied to it. Then why should we call it holy?
73. It is simply called the “first day of the week.”
74. In fact, God call’s on all mankind to REMEMBER the true Sabbath day, knowing that men would forget (Exodus 20:8.) and that an evil force would “think” to change it. (Daniel 7:25.)
75. Jesus said, In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:9.) The keeping of Sunday is only a tradition of men. Therefore, Sunday worship is in vain.
76. In fact, Paul says that “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Romans 8:7.) Do you have the carnal mind or the mind “filled with the Holy Spirit”? (Romans 8:8-14.)
77. Jesus never-mentioned Sunday in any way. He never took its name upon His lips, so far as the record shows.
78. After the death of the Testator, the covenant could not be changed. (Hebrews 9:15,16.) Jesus died on Friday. Sunday keeping is three days too late.
79. In fact, IF the Seventh-day Sabbath or any part of the Ten Commandments could have been changed, Jesus would not have had to die for us on the cross! (Matthew 1:21; 5:17,18.)
80. The Bible predicted that Jesus would rise “on the morrow after the Sabbath” 1500 years before it happened. (Leviticus 23:10,11; 1 Corinthians 15:20,23.)
81. Over 1500 years before it happened, the Bible predicted that the Holy Spirit would fall “on the morrow after the seventh Sabbath” (7 X 7 + 1 = 50) fifty days after the resurrection. On this day the Holy Spirit would descend to write God’s law on the fleshy tables of the 120 clean hearts according to the New Covenant promise. (Leviticus 23:15,16; Acts 2:1; Hebrews 10:15,16..)
82. Sunday was the day the pagans worshipped the Sun. It was a pagan holy day. The word Sunday never occurs in the Bible at all.
83. Neither God, Christ, nor any inspired human ever said one word in favor of Sunday as a holy day.
84. The first day of the week is mentioned only eight times in all the New Testament. (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2.) Six of these texts refer to the same specific first day of the week after Jesus rested in the grave on the Sabbath and rose again on the first day to resume His labors. It was a fulfillment of Leviticus 23:10.11.
85. Paul directed the saints to look over their secular affairs on the first day. (1Corinthians 16:2.)
86. In all the New Testament we have a record of only one religious meeting held upon that day, and even this was a night meeting ON SATURDAY NIGHT—THE EVENING OF THE FIRST DAY. (Genesis 1:5,8,13,19,23,31; Acts 20:5-12.)
87. There is no intimation that they ever held a meeting upon it before or after that.
88. It was not their custom to meet on that day.
89. There was no requirement to break bread on that day. We have an account of only one instance in which it was done—in the night—after midnight. (Verses 7-11.) Jesus Himself celebrated it on Thursday evening (Luke 22), and the disciples did it every day (Acts 2:42-46.)
90. The Bible nowhere commands men to observe the first day of the week to commemorate the resurrection of Christ. This is a tradition of men, which contradicts the law of God. (Matthew 15:1-9.) IT IS BAPTISM BY IMMERSION THAT COMMEMORATES THE BURIAL AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS. (Romans 6:3-5.)
91. Finally, the New Testament is totally silent with regard to any change of the Sabbath day or any sacredness for the first day.
92. The prophet Daniel points to the Little Horn power—a symbol of the Roman Catholic Church system—that would “think to change [God’s] times and laws.” (Daniel 7:25.) David said, “The law of the LORD is perfect.” (Psalm 19:7.) How can you think to change something that is perfect?
93. Sunday was first enforced in 364 AD at the Council of Laodicea, bringing in the Dark Ages of enforced Sunday worship. Notice that Sunday keeping came over 4400 years after the ancient Biblical Sabbath!
94. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BOASTS THAT SUNDAY KEEPING IS THE MARK OF HER AUTHORITY:
“Question: Which is the Sabbath day? Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day. Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.” Peter Geiermann, The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, 1957 edition.
“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. …And the act is a MARK of her ecclesiastical authority in religious things.” H.F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons, Nov. 1, 1895.
“The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.” Catholic Mirror, September 23, 1893.
95. We are warned not to worship the Beast or the Image of the Beast. (Rev. 14:9-11.) Worship is spiritual. This worship is something opposed to the Ten Commandments (Rev. 14:12.) Worship has to do with the first four commandments of God and has to do with the day of worship. (Rev. 14:7.) The Mark of the Beast will be enforced Sunday worship. APPEAL: We pray that the spiritual ministers of our nation and every individual would choose to be like Martin Luther and be willing to stand alone to repair the breach in the law of God by keeping the true Biblical Sabbath holy. Dear Reader, there is only one Way to keep the Seventh-day Sabbath, or any of the other Ten Commandments, and that Way is by faith in Jesus. Surrender your will to Jesus, choose to obey Him, ask for the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, and believe that you have received His strength to obey. Now go forward and walk in the light as Jesus is in the light. (1 John 1:7.) May God’s blessings rest upon you.
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