The Weekly Day of Rest & Assembly (known as the Sabbath), 7th Day, 1st Day or What?

(All scriptures below are from the Orthodox Study Bible. We accept the authority of the Greek scriptures.)
(To read this same article with KJV, please click here.)

Note: My purpose for teaching the weekly day of rest & assembly (known as the sabbath) is not to condemn or judge any person. We all must follow God according to what our current understandings are according to God's will for our lives today. With that said, I do think that over time, all of God's people will eventually be brought into unity of one faith and one doctrine. Therefore it is still necessary to provide the proper teaching on the weekly day of rest & assembly (known as the Sabbath). With that said, I now hereby provide this teaching for the edification of the church. God bless.

There is much proof that God wants us to keep the Weekly Day of Rest & Assembly on the 7th day of the week and to keep it Holy. The 7th day of the week is Saturday. Out of all the 10 Commandments, it's the only commandment Christians try to say was done away or changed. It's the only Commandment in which God used the words "Remember" and "Keep" in the same verse in the account of the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20 because He knew it would be the one we would have a hard time accepting. There is no evidence that He did away with the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly. Jesus and the apostles and the early church kept the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly.

Hebrews shows that there still remains a observance of the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly.

Hebrews 4:1-11
:1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, (G2663, reposing down, rest.) any of you should seem to come short of it.
2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
(You don't have to work on the 7th day. You too can rest on the 7th day as God Himself also did. But don't think that your works, that is your keeping of the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly, is going to earn you salvation, you must also enter in Spiritually and depend of the Blood of Jesus which also was pre-ordained before the foundation of the Earth.)
4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested (G2664 to settle down, that is, literally to colonize, or figuratively to desist: - cease, give rest) on the seventh day from all His works”;
5 and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”
6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience,
(They refused to rest on the seventh day and they refused to rest in the assurance that they could trust in God and rely on Him.)
7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.
("Joshua" is not the correct translation! They did enter into rest under Joshua! Read Joshua 1:13, 21:44, 22:4. The correct translation would say "Jesus". The King James Version and The Alpha & Omega Bible translate it correctly as "Jesus". The Alpha & Omega Bible is based upon the ancient Greek manuscripts, which match what Christians in the first century A.D. would have actually read. Jesus did not speak to them of another day of the week for them to rest. "Afterward" is referring to after His resurrection. It very clearly says that if Jesus had changed the day, that he would have said so!
During his walk on Earth, Jesus clarified the upgrade in the law concerning adultery, hate, swearing and that it's not what enters the mouth that defiles the man {the cleansing of the unclean meats}. But He did not speak of changing the day of the week. He did not come to change the day of worship and rest. But He did come to give us rest from our own legalism. But it's not legalism to go to church on the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly. It's remembrance and worship.)

9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.
("Remains" is the opposite of change. The Sabbath did not change. Instead, it remains. The Greek word for "remains" means to be left over after something else is removed. The Sabbath remains after circumcision, sacrifices & unclean meats were removed.
The word "rest" is Strong's Greek word #4520 sabbatismos = A keeping/observance of the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly. From a derivative of G4521; the "Shabbath", the Assyrian Aramaic word which is now applied to the day of weekly repose from secular avocations. also the observance or institution itself). In the original bibles, the New Testament actually said that the Sabbath still remains! But the translators of KJV, NKJV, the Greek Orthodox Bible and most other translations have purposely mistranslated this for the express purpose of deceiving the people into thinking that the Sabbath has been done away. The New American Standard Bible {NASB} and The Alpha & Omega Bible both translates the word "sabbatismos" correctly as Sabbath, instead of "rest". All the other times that the word "rest" appears in Hebrews 3 and 4, it's a different Greek word from Hebrews 4:9. The other times, it actually does means "rest". But in verse 9, it means "the observance of the Sabbath/7th day".

10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as (like) God did from His.
(How did God cease from His works? He didn't cease from law on the 7th day. In fact, He actually declared a law on the 7th day! He blessed it and sanctified it, making it illegal to work on the 7th day of the week. What He rested from was working. Not from the law!)

11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

Did you read the above scriptures in your personal paperback/hardback bible today or just only on this website?
If only online, I encourage you to please open your bible and read these verses both on our website and in your bible. There is power in reading the real bible. Also, did you pray before beginning to read about this specific subject today? If not, I encourage you to take the time now to pray for understanding of truth.

Let us not fall short of either side of this edification. This is both spiritual (forehead) and in action (hand). Exo. 13:9, Deut. 6:8, 11:18. Let's not be just a hearer of the word but also a doer of the word. James 2:17-26. The weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly and the Holy Days present a picture of God's plans. The weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly also pictures the 7000 years of mankind with the Millennium being the 7th Day or the 7th thousandth year. Observing the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly helps us to understand Prophecy and God's overall creation plan and our future destiny.

What "rest" is verse 9 speaking about? The original Greek word in this verse is "sabbatismos", pronounced säb-bä-tç-smo's, a keeping of the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly! The other "rest" in each of the above verses is "katapausis" which is a putting to rest. Verse 8 is saying Jesus did not give another day! If He had given us Sunday for a rest, He would have told us so! Some translations say "Joshua" instead of Jesus. It's the same Greek word. But is it talking about Jesus or Joshua? It's talking about Jesus! Some people render this as that the people did not receive rest under Joshua. However, the truth is that they did receive rest under Joshua!
Joshua 1:13 Remember the word of the LORD which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, The LORD your God has caused you to rest, and has given you this land.
Joshua 21:48 (verse 44 in KJV) The LORD gave them rest all around, as He had sworn to their fathers, and no one rose up against them from all their enemies...

Who did not receive rest? It was the people in the day of Moses, wandering in the wilderness for 40 years because of unbelief! But the people who made it to the promised Land did enter in (into the Promised Land/Rest)!
Hebrews 3:17-19
17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

So clearly it is talking about Jesus, that He did not give us a different day. There still remains a keeping of the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly to the People of God. It's clear.

Vs. 10 = as God did from His. How did God rest from His Work? By resting on the 7th Day. Period. Vs. 7 = limited = specify, fenced, declared, ordained.

Spiritual Principal/Purpose: To remember God as Creator, that He created all things and to give man a physical rest on a weekly basis on the same day God rested. And to give man an appointed day of worship.

Jesus' Fulfillment

Jesus is the Creator (See Jesus is LORD article). He rested the Seventh Day. He went into the synagogue on the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly. He gives us rest from the letter of the law and from our sins. He is our Peace. He is our Comfort. We enter into rest through Him but we are also still appointed the same day of rest to remember, to commemorate what God started at creation and to take the physical rest that our bodies do need and to have a set time to worship. We worship every day but we are still appointed a set time for worship as well. This is the Fourth Commandment. None of the Commandments were destroyed or abolished. To fulfill does not mean to do less but rather more. "You shalt not kill" is now also "you shalt not hate". "you shalt not commit adultery" is now also "you shalt not look upon a wife to lust after her". Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep it Holy, Six days shalt you labour and do all your work, but the Seventh Day is The Sabbath of the LORD thy God...

It is not "do not keep the 7th Day as a Sabbath", but rather that we should continue to keep and remember this day but start doing so in even more of a spiritual sense. That is, we should make sure we go to church and actually worship on this day (Lev. 23:3, Hebrews 10:24-26), but it doesn't have to be in a physical temple, it can be in a living congregation or in a basement or in a barn. But we are not to neglect having church with other people (Hebrews 10). And we should take the time to rest on this day. The spiritual aspects of the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly is worship and rest. But we should not be legalistic about it to the point of going hungry, leaving our car in the ditch, leaving our friends at the airport with no one to pick them up, etc. It is acceptable to buy a can of soda from the vending machine on the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly because the reason that we don't buy or sell on the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly is because we don't want to force labor on someone else on the Day of Rest. But with a vending machine, we are not forcing any human labor to occur on the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly, so the spirit of the Law is not broken. A police officer, firefighter or a doctor that is called in on an emergency on the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly is not breaking the spirit of the Law because the main principle of the Commandments is to love another and to take care of one another, not to hurt one another. To refuse to go to help someone on the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly is to break the Commandments!

Matt. 12:1-13
:1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”
3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:
4 how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
5 Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?
6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.
7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.
8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
9 Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.
10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him.
11 Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?
12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
13 Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.

But we are not only to keep the Spirit of the Law but we are also to worship Him in Truth. John 4:23-24
23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

Many people argue that as long as we keep a weekly Rest & Assembly one day a week, it doesn't matter which day. But God commanded the 7th day, not the 1st day and not just any day. He did not say pick a day. And He said to keep it holy. He did not say keep it holy until any certain event. He never changed it or revoked it. The facts show that the weekly Day of Rest & Assembly was always the 7th Day, Saturday, not Sunday. The bible gives absolutely no instruction to change the weekly Day Rest & Assembly from the 7th Day to the 1st day of the week. Just because the disciples met on the first day of the week in Acts 20:7 and collected offerings on the 1st day of the week in 1 Cor.16:2 does not mean that the weekly Day of Rest & Assembly was switched to a different day. They also met on the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly in Acts 13:14, 42, 44; Acts 17:2, Acts 18:4. They also met daily in Acts 2:46,47 Acts 3:2, Acts 5:42.

It is a deception that the day was changed by God. It was not changed by God, it was changed by men (the Catholic church, as a compromise with paganism) who did not have the authority to do so. That is recorded history. Look it up. It is wrong to stay under a deception and continue to accept and teach the traditions of men over the Commandments of God. (Matthew 15:9). We must Worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. (John 4:23-24). I pray and encourage you to grow into the full knowledge of the Will of God.

Not Keeping 7th Day: Same As Committing Murder or Adultery

Jesus recently revealed to me that not keeping the weekly commanded 7th Day is just as serious as committing murder or adultery. The observance of the 7th Day is one of the Ten Commandments, just like murder and adultery. Is the First Commandment serious? The Second? The Third? (The Fourth Commandment is the 7th Day), The Fifth? The Sixth? The Seventh? The Eighth? The Ninth? The Tenth? I am sure that the majority of people reading this article would agree that all of the other nine Commandments are all extremely serious. Yet the majority of people that think they are saved, do not believe that the Fourth Commandment is serious! Babylon (man's religions) has taught people to completely disrespect/disregard the Fourth Holy Commandment of Jesus Christ! According to James 2:7-13, if you break one Commandment, you break them all, and if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, then you are guilty of both and of breaking all the Commandments. All of the Commandments are tied together. You cannot remove one. All of them are based on whether or not you love and show love to Jesus and to people. If you break any of the Commandments, including the 7th Day, you show that you do not truly Love and Respect The Creator that commanded that we do these Commandments. 1 John 2:3-6
3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Objection:

Romans 14 says that no day is different than the other.

Answer:

Romans 14 never says that the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly is done away with. It never says that you can just pick a day of your choosing. People need to stop adding into the Word of God what they think it should say. Let's read and examine Romans 14:1-23
:1 Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.
2 For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.
(Right away, we msust acknowledge it's talking about food.)
3 Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.
4 Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. (Judging about food.)
5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.
(Context remains about food. Judging whether someone is eating or not eating meats on certain days. Fast days. This has absolutely nothing to do with holy days of rest and assembly! You should not insert the idea of Sabbath days or Holy Days when the context does not indicate any such thing!)
6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.
(The words "day" and "eat" are in the same verse. The words eat, meat, drink, wine are throughout the entire chapter. We must realize the entire context is food. Not days of rest and assembly. Some people were regarding special fast days. Others were not. This has nothing to do with days of rest and assembly.)
7 For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.
8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
9 For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11 For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.”
12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.
13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.
14 I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
15 Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died.
16 Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil;
17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
18 For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.
19 Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.
20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense.
21 It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.
22 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.
23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.

In Romans 14, the word "eat" appears 14 times!, meat 4 times, unclean 3 times, drink 2 times, wine 1 time. The words "sabbath, feast days, festivals, rest, holy days, holy convocations, assembly" never appears in Romans 14. So very clearly the context is food, not days of rest & assembly!

Weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly & 10 Commandments intact before Old Covenant instituted, during Old Covenant and after Old Covenant. In Genesis 2:1-3 we see that Jesus created the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly at creation. Mark 2:27-28 confirms that Jesus created the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly at creation. Not at Mount Sinai. The creation was thousands of years before the Old Covenant. It doesn't make sense that God would create it during creation and then lay it aside for thousands of years to be instituted for the first time at Mount Sinai. Jesus created the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly on the day after He created Adam & Eve. So very clearly God would have told Adam & Eve about the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly that He had just made. Adam and Eve were already in existence before the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly. Then God created the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly. Do you really believe that Adam and Eve never knew anything about the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly? Very clearly God instructed Adam & Eve concerning the 10 Commandments including the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly. Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, all knew that it was wrong to kill, to commit adultery, to steal, to bear false witness and to break the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly. All of these laws were enforced from the beginning of creation. These are spiritual laws which govern right and wrong. They are just as much intact as the law of gravity which was also created at creation. Jesus spoke of the 10 Commandments when He said that none of the law and the prophets would be done away with until these heavens (universe) and Earth pass away (at the beginning of the New Heavens and Earth after the millennium reign of Christ on Earth in the future). Some people try to apply Matthew 5:18 to every law of the old covenant. But Jesus was speaking specifically of only the Law of the 10 Commandments. See the entire context of chapter 5 to see that He only spoke of the 10 Commandments. He was not talking about unclean meats, circumcision, killing of goats and other elements of the temporary old covenant.

In Genesis 4:3, the "in process of time" (as written in the KJV) that it is referring to is the end of the days of the week, the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly. In my bible, in the margin, it says "end of days". It is not referring to the end of time. The context is the family of Adam & Eve coming to Worship Services on the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly. The 2 sons bring their offerings at the appointed time, at the end of the days of the week. Even many of the well known and respected bible scholars that don't believe in the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly, such as Adam Clarke, admit that this was speaking about the "Sabbath Day".

Genesis 26:5 says "Because that Abraham your father obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, my ordinances, and My laws." But how can that be, if the 10 Commandments and laws did not exist until Mount Sinai? We also see in Exodus 5 that God wanted Moses and the Israelites to go 3 days journey to keep a Feast unto the LORD. This was before Mount Sinai. In Exo.12, they kept the Passover and the Days of Unleavened bread before Mount Sinai. In Exo.16 they kept the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly before Mount Sinai.

Feast Days and weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly after Jesus Returns: Isaiah 66:23 "It shall come to pass from month to month, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall worship before me in Jerusalem, says the LORD."

This is talking about during the millennium rule of Christ on Earth in the future after He returns. See Zech.14 which is even more clear that the Feast of Tabernacles will be kept after He returns, and it won't just be the Jews. It will be all Nations including the Gentiles that will be expected and required to observe the Holidays of Our Kingdom of God. The weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly and Feast Days were never meant to be just for the Jews only. The Jews are only the tribe of Judah. But there were 12 tribes of Israel. Even the gentile servants and visitors that worked and lived with the 12 tribes were also expected to observe the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly and Feast Days.

Churches Admit Bible Never Changed Day of Sabbath

(Thanks to brother Johnny for his part in this research.)

Roman Catholic Church
"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 (Catholics) never sanctify." (Source: "The Faith of Our Fathers" page 111 by James Cardinal Gibbons.)

"Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday (Sabbath), but shall work on that Day. But the Lord’s Day, they shall especially honour; and as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out from Christ." (Source: The Catholic Church Council of Laodicea. Around 364 AD)

Constantine (Roman Emperor & leader of Roman Catholic Church from 306 to 337 AD) "On the venerable Day of the sun (sounds like N. Korean sun worship. The Sun was universally celebrated as the invincible guide & protector of Constantine.) let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits: because it often happens that another Day is not so suitable for grain sowing or for vine planting: lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost." (Source: Constantine 321 A.D.)

Sabbath revealed in newspaper

See also many other confessions of the Roman Catholic Church concerning the 7th day & Sunday at https://www.church-of-god-bismarck.org/2021-0028/linked/the_christian_sabbath.pdf

The so called "Church Of Christ" "I do not believe that the Lord's day came in the room of the Jewish Sabbath, or that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day." (Source: Alexander Campbell, Washington Reporter, October 8, 1821.)

Methodist Church "Take the matter of Sunday...there is no passage telling Christians to keep that day, or to transfer the Jewish Sabbath to that day." (Source: Harris Franklin Rall, Christian Advocate, July 2, 1942.)

Congregationalist "The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament." (Source: Dr. Lyman Abbott, Christian Union, January 19, 1882.)

Lutheran Church "The observance of the Lord's day (Sunday) is founded not on any command of God, but on the authority of the church." (Source: Augsburg Confession of Faith. Quoted in Catholic Sabbath Manual, part 2, Chapter 1, Section 10.)

Episcopal Church "Is there any command in the New Testament to change the day of weekly rest from Saturday to Sunday? None." (Source: Manual of Christian Doctrine, page 127.)

"Christian Church" denomination "There never was any change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. There is not in any place in the Bible any intimation of such a change." (Source: "First Day Observance", pages 17, 19.)

Presbyterian Church "The Christian Sabbath (Sunday) is not in the Scriptures, and was not by the primitive church called the Sabbath." (Source: Dwight's Theology, vol. 4, page 401.)

Baptist Church "There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day but that Sabbath day 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 of 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." (Source: Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, author of The Baptist Manual.)

Encyclopedias:
"Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the Sabbatical observance of that Day is known to have been ordained, is the edict of Constantine, 321 A.D." (Source: “Sabbath,” Chamber’s Encyclopedia Volume 11 1982. Page 401. As quoted in Bible Readings for the Home Circle revised edition. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1920)

"It must be confessed that there is no law in the New testament concerning the first day." (Source: M'Clintock and Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. 9, page 196.)

Dictionaries:
"The notion of a formal substitution by apostolic authority of the Lord's Day (meaning Sunday) for the Jewish Sabbath ..... and the transference to it, perhaps in a spiritualized form, of the sabbatical obligation established by the promulgation of the Fourth Commandment, has no basis whatever either in Holy Scripture or in Christian antiquity." (Source: Sir William Smith & Samuel Cheertham, A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, vol. 2, page 182, Article 'Sabbath'".)

"The Pope has the power to change times, to abrogate laws, and to dispense with all things, even the precepts of Christ." "The Pope has the authority and often exercised it, to dispense with the command of Christ." (Source: Decretal, de Tranlatic Episcop. Cap. Ferraris' Ecclesiastical Dictionary.)

Objection: Isaiah says "I hate your Sabbaths and Feast Days"
Answer: Let's take a look at that!
Isaiah 1:10-17
:10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah.
11 What is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? says the LORD. "I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of lambs. I do not desire the blood of bulls and he-goats.
12 When you come to appear before Me, who required these things from your hands to tread My courts?
13 Although you should bring fine wheat flour, it is vain. Incense is an abomination to Me. I cannot endure your new moons, and Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies, and fasting and holy day.
14 Your new moons and feasts My soul hates. You have become a dissatisfaction to Me; I will not forgive your sins.
15 When you stretch forth your hands to me, I will turn My eyes from you. Although, you make many prayers, I will not listen to you. Your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean.Put away the evil of your souls from before My eyes. Cease from your evils.
17 Learn to do good. Seek judgment and redeem the wronged. Defend the orphan and justify the widow.

Very clearly the context is that the people were sinful. Their sacrifices, offerings, oblations, incense, celebrations, observances, were all in vain due to their sinful ways. This was written during Old Testament times. Surely the Holy Days were commanded and required during that time. The Almighty was not saying that He hated his own Sacred Holy Days which He commanded. But rather, He was saying that He was tired of the hypocrisy of the people. In no way can anyone accurately use this verse to prove that the Sacred Holy days and weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly are done away! To try to do so is absurd.

Objection: Colossians 2
Answer: Colossians 2:16-17
16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

The context of Colossians 2:16-17 is that Paul was talking about a sect of Gnosticism that thought that the flesh was evil. They taught strict denial of pleasure, denying the self any physical pleasure. Through "neglect of the body" (v.23), they thought they attained more holiness. They did not believe in drinking any alcohol, feasting or enjoying themselves. Paul was saying to the New Testament Christians, to not let those strict, legalistic Gnostics judge them for enjoying the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly, Holy Days and food and alcohol. The verse does not in any way condemn the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly and Holy Days nor does the verse say that we should not observe the days. In fact, it supports the observance of the days by telling us to not let people judge us for keeping these days that God appointed for us which foreshadow things to come (prophecy). Verse 14-15 speaks of Jesus blotting out our sins. It does not speak of blotting out the law. For more information on these verse, I recommend the following article of a different ministry. I do not endorse all articles and writings of their website. I am just recommending this one specific article: http://www.british-israel.ca/colassians.htm

Objection: The law is done away.
Answer:

I agree that the old covenant is done away. We are now under the New Covenant. But all covenants have laws. If do not have any law, then we are free to steal, murder and lie. Very clearly, the Ten Commandments are still in effect including the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly. You cannot separate the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly from the other Holy Days (Feast Days). The weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly is the weekly Holy Day or Festival. This Holy Day is part of the Ten Commandments that the Almighty Himself wrote in the tablets of stone with His own Finger and spoke directly to the people without a mediator. Moses wrote the ordinances and spoke them to the people. But God wrote and spoke the Ten Commandments. Please see the article What Is Done Away With.

Objection: It is unrealistic that we could keep the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly in today's modern times, with our economy and work standards.

Answer

I don't think it's unrealistic or impossible to obey God in our modern times. He saw in the end from the beginning and knew all about today's economy when He instituted the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly for all time until the new heavens and new Earth. In Matthew 24, He said that we are to pray that our flight will not be in the winter nor on the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly. He was not talking about any pre-tribulation rapture. There is not going to be any such pre-tribulation rapture and it wouldn't matter what season or what day that we could be caught up. He also was not speaking about 70 A.D., as the context of the question that He was answering and what He was talking about was about the end times and His Return. It had nothing to do with 70 A.D. Jesus didn't return in 70 AD, yet His Return was exactly what the context of the chapter is all about and the great tribulation which will lead up to it. Why would He say that we are to pray that our flight (our fleeing from the armies of the son of perdition and escape into the wilderness) be not on the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly, if there would not be a specific weekly Day of Rest & Assembly in the end times? If the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly is contrary to the New Covenant as some assert, then why would Jesus be concerned about whether or not we would have to flee on that day? Very clearly, Jesus wants us to be able to rest on the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly in the Great Tribulation and end times.

Over the years, I have worked in grocery stores and restaurants, etc. Yet I have never been refused a job because of the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly and Feast Days. I always told the perspective employers either on the application and/or interview that I could not work the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly, but that I could work every Sunday and every Christmas, Easter, etc. (since those are ancient pagan holidays). They always hired me. It was never a problem. Of course Saturdays are the most busy time for restaurants and stores, yet God still blessed me and made a way because I was committed to keeping His Sacred Days of Rest & Assembly. When you make up your mind to serve the LORD and follow His Ways, He will make a way. We should not be trying to find excuses to break the 10 Commandments. There will not be any excuses accepted on Judgment Day. We are told in Matthew 6 to seek first the Kingdom and then He would make a way for our food and clothing, etc. He is Faithful to do so.

Objection:

Matt.9:13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”.
Hosea 6:6 “For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than whole burnt offerings.”

Answer:

These verses are not saying that we are not required to obey The Creator. To believe and teach that these verses declare that Jesus does not require obedience to the 10 Commandments is the same as to teach people that we should disobey The Creator in order to get to Heaven! In fact, that's exactly what most "Christian" denominations teach, i.e. that we should disobey the Law of the 7th Day & Holy Days so that we can go to Heaven! What these verses actually teach is that Jesus wants sincere repentance and sincere relationship instead of religion based only on ritual and trying to earn your way to Heaven. Contrary to false accusations of most churches against Sabbath keepers, not all of us keep the Holy 7th Day in order to try to earn our way to Heaven or into the fullness of the Kingdom, but rather out of our sincere love & relationship with Jesus. All 10 Commandments including the 7th Day teach us how to worship The Creator in Spirit and Truth, in the Spirit of Love. The Commandments teach us how to show our love toward God & fellow mankind. We keep the commandments because we love God and want to obey Him, not because we are being forced to by law. Good children show love, respect & honor toward their parents by respectfully obeying, instead of being rebellious. However, the Babylonian Jews during the times that these verses were written, were trying to earn their salvation via works. So Jesus was addressing that issue. And some people today still try to earn their salvation by works. But that still does not mean that everyone who keeps the 7th Day is doing the same thing. The bible is very clear that we are required to keep the 7th Day and Holy Days and all of the 10 Commandments. To refuse to keep these Commandments is to disrespect & hatred toward The Creator and His Ways. To teach that we must disobey Him, is to show hatred toward Him. Working iniquity (which means breaking the law) is not the way to Heaven.

Lunar Sabbath?

The "Lunar Moon Sabbath" Theory says that you start counting on the first day of the lunar month, thus, the 7th day of the month is always the Sabbath regardless of what day it falls on. Also the 14th, 21st and 28th are always a Sabbath. Then you come to the 29th day of the month, and possibly the 30th day of the lunar month, you do not count these days. You just disregard them completely. That's insane. There is nothing in scripture to hint at starting the week on the first day of the month, nor that the 7, 14, 21, 28th days of every month are days of rest or assembly, nor that there are days that we just don't count at all. The Almighty Creator has given me a great scriptural proof plus a divine revelation/confirmation against the lunar sabbath false teaching. Jesus died on the 15th of the 1st month, on the day after Passover which is always the 14th of the month. That's very very clear. Most people believe He died on the 14th, the Passover day itself. Either way, my next point is still valid. In the lunar moon sabbath theory, the 14th is always a weekly sabbath day. The 15th is also the first day of the week. We know that Jesus was in the tomb 3 days and 3 nights; Matthew 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Yet the women came to the tomb at the end of the weekly sabbath, just before the first day of the week; Matt. 28:1 (KJV) "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."
The KJV and The Alpha & Omega Bible translates this more accurately than the NKJV & Orthodox Bible. The women came before the Sabbath was ended at sunrise.

Since Jesus died on the 14th or 15th, was in the tomb 3 days (72 hours), and rose on the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly before the women arrived while it was still dark, before sunrise which would begin the 1st day of the week, it was totally impossible for the 14th to be a "sabbath" or a 7th Day of Rest & Assembly.

Divine Revelation/Confirmation

One day a lady basically told me that the "Sabbath" varies from week to week on different days. It's called the lunar Sabbath theory. It says that you start counting 7 days from the first day of the month and every 7 days is the Sabbath regardless of what day it falls on. I have heard this before, but I know it's wrong. I told her I would read all the scriptures she gave me and I did. None of them say anything about a lunar Sabbath count starting on first on month. I went to get a box to ship bibles and evangelism materials to Nigeria and when I get the box home, I noticed someone had written on every side of the box "JESUS CALLING, SATURDAY ONLY"! That was very clearly Jesus speaking to me and basically saying "I am Jesus and I am telling you, the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly is Saturday only!" I received a divine revelation from God on this subject! That settles it for me. But I also know that there are many people out there that do not have Faith and do not believe in miracles, so for those that would prefer research over and above divine Revelation, or else, just for more clarification, please click here for more proof against the Lunar Sabbath Theory.

How To Observe The weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly

Rest and Worship:
Many people believe that all you need to do on the 7th day (Sabbath) is to just rest and not work. But the bible also requires worship on that same day and also assembling/gathering together with other true followers of Jesus for that worship and for fellowship.
Lev. 23:3 "Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath rest, a holy convocation to the Lord. You shall do no work on it; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings."
The word "convocation" is the Assyrian Aramaic word "miqra", which means "gathering, assembly, calling together". Therefore we see that the bible commands us to assemble/gather together (for worship since it says "holy") on the weekly Sabbath.
Of course, God does not want you to gather together with Babylon (false Christians and false churches). It is extremely difficult to find anyone who is a true Christian, as most people are in spiritual Babylon. Rev.12:9 says that the devil has deceived the entire/whole world. Therefore, for most people who read this website, the only way that you are able to gather together with true followers of Jesus is to do so on the internet or telephone. We offer live worship services every Saturday at 2 pm Eastern time. You can listen on the telephone because we have phone numbers in many nations. Or you can listen on the internet. If our live worship services are too late at night in your local time zone, then you can choose any time during the day to listen to the recorded sermon from the previous/last week. I recommend that you worship at the same time every week, every Saturday. Always start with worshipping with the help of worship music, and worship with raised hands. Then follow with listening to the sermon.
Please click here for the article "Forsake Not The Assemble".
Please click here for instructions on how to listen to our worship services and sermons.

In Addition to Resting, Assemble/Gathering, Worship & Fellowship, How To Keep/Observe The 7th Day

The purpose of this list is to help people observe the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly in a way that is edifying to the worshiper and acceptable and pleasing to The Almighty Creator. Doing these things remind us that it is the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly and we do not end up sleeping in all day and wasting the day. Exodus 20:8 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy."

"Remember" means to remember, recall, call to mind. The origin seems to lie in the ideal of pricking, piercing, penetrating, to keep, to preserve. It is not something that you should allow yourself to forget to observe. It should not be just another ordinary day. It should not be a day where you just lay around and waste the day. It should not be just like any other day that you are off from work. It should be different from your normal routine. This is a day that is set aside and made different from the rest of the week. Genesis 2:3 "Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God began to make."

Things We Should Not Do on The weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly:

Isa. 58:13-14
13 "If you turn away your foot from work because of the Sabbath, so as not to do your desires on the holy day, and if you shall call the Sabbath joyful, holy to your God, and not take away your foot for work, nor speak a word in wrath from your mouth, 14 then you shall trust in the LORD; and He will bring you to the good things of the land; and feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken these things."

The purpose of this "do not do" list is to be a generalized guideline for people to consider for their choices of what to refrain from on The Sacred Days. It is not meant to be a concrete list for everyone. Again this is just a generalized list which will not be true for everyone. But I do believe it will be true for most people.

Permissible:

For information about weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly Services of I Saw The Light Ministries, Please Click Here!

Names of Days

Originally each day of the week was known by their order of the week, for example, Sunday was actually simply called "The first day of the week". Monday was originally called "The second day of the week", etc. The 7th day of the week was called "The 7th Day". Eventually the Assyrians, Babylonians, Romans & Greeks added pagan names to the days & months. By doing so, people could lose track of what day was the 7th Day. God said to remember the 7th day to keep it Holy. I encourage everyone to return to God's given names of each day & month. Sunday is the "first day of the week". Saturday is the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly. Although you have never heard this before, even the word "sabbath" is not the original name of the day of rest & assembly. The word "sabbath" actually originated with the Assyrians in worship to the month on the 7th, 14th, 15th, 21st, 28th, 29th day of each month. Not the 7th Day. It is not a sin to use the pagan Roman names of the days & months. We are not honoring the demons which these days & months are named after. We are just using the current vocabulary of the people. If we say "2nd month, 1st day, 2nd day" to worldly people, they will not know what we are talking about. So we must continue to use their language, but when speaking among other true followers of Jesus, we should say "2nd month, the 1st day, 2nd day, ... the 7th Day". For proof that the word "sabbath" is pagan, Please click here.

Months

Jewish Names of the Month also Pagan Tammuz is named after the pagan false god Tammuz. The other Jewish names of the month are also Babylonian, Assyrian pagan names. In scripture, The Almighty Creator always calls the months by the number of the month. First month, 7th month, etc.

And please be sure to check out the other articles in the navigation bar on the left side of the page.

Download this printable Bible Study on the subject of the weekly 7th Day of Rest & Assembly.

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