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extremium

BREAKING A DATE WITH GOD

Kevin D. Paulson

           

            No one enjoys being “stood up” on a date! 

            Now I realize romantic protocol differs from culture to culture, but I doubt it would be considered proper in any cultural context for one with whom such an appointment was made, to make oneself ready on an entirely different day from the one appointed and agreed upon.

Last evening we spoke of God's day of rest, established at the creation of the world.  Yet the question obviously arises:

            Why do so many Christians observe the first day of the week, rather than the
seventh day, as God commanded?

            Sometime ago a friend of mine, Michael by name, wrote of how, when he was dating the woman to whom he is now married (following his divorce from his first wife), he was trying to explain to her the significance of the Bible Sabbath. 

            She had come from a different faith background from his, and she said at one point, “I don’t think God cares which day we worship Him on, so long as we worship Him.”

            Whereupon Michael replied, “Diane, I have trouble remembering your birthday.”

            “But I’ve had 23 years to remember my ex-wife’s birthday.  What do you say we celebrate your birthday on my ex-wife’s birthday?  Please understand: I won’t be thinking about her at all.  Only about you.  It’s just easier for me to remember her birthday because of all the years she and I spent together.”

            Diane replied, “Maybe I need to take a closer look at this Sabbath business!”

             I truly doubt there are very many women who would want their birthday celebrated on an ex-girlfriend’s or ex-wife’s birthday!

            So as we consider the issue we are going to study tonight, the question must be asked:

            Does a day, or a date, matter?

            If a romantic appointment is made with someone, does the person making that appointment except the time of the appointment to be honored?

            I think we all know the answer.

            Tonight, in essence, we are speaking of professed Christians actually breaking a date with God Himself.

 

I.  Can God's law be changed?

            Psalm 89:34:
            "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips."

            According to Scripture, the Ten Commandments came directly from God's lips (Ex. 20:1-17).

            Deut. 4:2:
            "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God."

            Prov. 30:5-6:
            "Every word of God is pure. . . . Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."

            Matt. 5:17-19:
"Think not that I have come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.                  "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.    
"Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
 

II.  The first day of the week in Scripture

Does the Bible support a change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday?

Well, there are nine verses in all the Bible which mention the first day of the week. 

            1.  Gen. 1:5:
            "And God called the Light Day, and the darkness He called Night.  And the evening and the morning were the first day."

            2.  Matt. 28:1:
            "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre."

            3.  Mark 16:1-2:
            "And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and the Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had brought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint Him.
            "And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun."

            4.  Mark 16:9:
            "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils."

            5.  Luke 23:56-24:1:
            "And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments: and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.
            "Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them."

            6.  John 20:1:
            "The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre."

            7.  John 20:19:
            "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you."

            8.  Acts 20:7:
            "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight."

            9.  I Cor. 16:1-2:
            "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.
            "Upon the first day of the week let every one lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come."

            Is there anything, in any of these verses, which indicates that the first day of the week is holy?

            Is there anything, in any of these verses, which commands the Christian to observe the first day of the week in place of the seventh day?

 

III.  What about those who believe Sunday should be observed in honor of Jesus' resurrection?

            There is no command in the Bible to do this.  No more than we find a command to keep Friday in honor of the crucifixion. 

            There is an ordinance God has given to symbolize the resurrection of Jesus:

            Rom. 6:3-5:
            "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?
            "Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
            "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection."

 

  1. The Change of the Sabbath

So who in fact was responsible for the change of God’s rest day from the seventh to the first day of the week?

            We’re going to talk at greater length about this in future meetings.

            But let’s look at some of the following statements from historians and churchmen:

            James Carroll, in his recent book Constantine's Sword, sheds some light on how this change came about:

            "For centuries, Christians' celebration of Easter coincided exactly with Passover, and their observance of the Sabbath continued to take place on Saturday.  It took the order of Constantine, referred to earlier, and the decrees of the fourth-century Church councils to draw fast distinctions between Jewish and Christian observances."
            James Carroll, Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews, A History (New York: Houghton Mifflin Co, 2001), p. 145.

            "As seen in Constantine's originating piety, that supreme deity would have been associated with the sun, and pagans would have recognized, with reason, their own solar cult in such Christian practices as orienting churches to the east, worshipping on 'sun day,' and celebrating the birth of the deity at the winter solstice."
            p. 183

            Listen to the following candid confessions from clergyman of various faiths on this subject:

            Anglican Isaac Williams asks:

            “Where are we told in Scripture that we are to keep the first day at all?  We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day. . . . The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the church has enjoined it.”
            Isaac Williams, D.D. Plain Sermons on the Catechism, vol. 1, pp. 334-336.
 
            “There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath was not Sunday. . . . It will be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week. . . . Where can the record for such a transaction be found?  Not in the New Testament—absolutely not.  There is no Scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week.”
Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, author of The Baptist Manual, in a paper read before a New York minister’s conference, Nov. 13, 1893.

            “The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh, is absolutely without authority in the New Testament.”
            Dr. Lyman Abbott, Christian Union, Jan. 19, 1882.

            And from a more recent statement:

"The Sunday that we hold sacred was not commanded by Jesus.  However, the disciples felt that the resurrection should be appropriately celebrated, and so they transferred their interest in the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sunday, the first day of the week, the day on which Jesus was raised from the dead.  Sunday became an official holiday in A.D. 321 when Constantine issued a decree saying that it was to be observed as an official day of rest.  For that reason the Sabbath, our Lord's Day, should be a gladsome day."
            Donald C. McHenry, "Delight in the Lord's Day," Sunday, Spring 1985, p. 11. 

           
V.  One day in seven?

            Some Christians will say, All that matters is that we observe one day out of seven. 

            Ex. 16:22-23,25-29:
            "And it came to pass, they gathered twice as much bread,  two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.  And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth lay up for you to keep until the morning. . . .
            "And Moses said, Eat that to day: for to day is a Sabbath unto the Lord: to day ye shall not find it in the field.  Six days ye shall gather it: but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none.  And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.  And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep My commandments and My laws?  See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore He giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days."

            It is clear from this passage that only one specific day out of the seven was sacred.  The people were not told to pick any day they wished to dedicate to God, and to rest on that day. 
 
            Still others would have us believe that as Christians, we rest in Jesus Christ every day of the week, so it doesn’t really matter if we do or do not keep any one specific day holy.

            This is like a man saying that because he loves every woman equally, he refuses to restrict that love exclusively to his wife! 

            Sounds absurd, of course.  That’s because it is absurd.

            My friends, is God still the Creator of this world?

            Why, then, should the memorial of His creation, as designated by the Fourth Commandment, be changed?

            The apostle Paul declares, as we noted in an earlier study:

            Heb. 8:10:
            "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people."

            And who is included among Israel now?

            Gal. 3:29:
            "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

            Some say, All that matters is that we know and love Jesus.  Obedience to specific laws isn't important.

            I John 2:3-4:
            "Hereby do we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
            "He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

            And what did Jesus Himself say?

            John 14:15:
            "If ye love Me, keep My commandments."