The story of the Sabbath is: God blessed the seventh day of the week as holy for rest at the beginning, and that was when the sabbath was made - and it wasn't just in name only, but made for us to keep from the beginning, as Christ said, "The sabbath was made for man" (Mk 2). Because God made it at the beginning, this is why those who follow the Scripture should keep it, the reason given in the Ten Commandments: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. ... for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Yahweh blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." (Ex 20).

Then, because it is a day of rest, when the circumcised came God made the keeping of the day of rest a sign of his covenant with them, because he gave the circumcised rest from their labour in Egypt: this is why, for the circumcised, there is the punishment for the circumcised if they do not keep the day of rest. For uncircumcised believers there is no punishment given, only blessing if they keep the day God hallowed for them.

Later, Constantine and the Romans were mixing paganism with the truth, and he commanded the weekly Roman day of sun worship to be a weekly day of rest instead of what was commanded by God:
"On the venerable day of the Sun let the Magistrates and the people residing in the cities rest, and let all workshops be closed." Edict of Constantine A.D. 321
The Roman Catholics confirmed this and threatened anyone who kept the Scriptural sabbath with damnation and persecution. They called the keeping of the sabbath "Judaising", though the sabbath existed over a thousand years before the Jew, and it would not have been made a sign to the circumcised if it wasn't already a day of rest for everyone. Guess they didn't read Genesis, which is not surprising. 😄

After so many people were forced to keep "the day of the sun", some Roman Catholics even changed God's order of the week, and claimed that "the day of the sun", the first day, was now the seventh day according to them. In the industrial revolution, when factories and tax-collectors were making official schedules and people were casting off old traditions, this man-made week arrangement was preferred rather than the ancient week that God made, and now whole countries are confused, with "monday" marked as the first day of the week, and "the day of the sun" as the seventh. Some also refer to "the day of the sun" as "the sabbath", confusing things more.

These days Christian groups that broke off of the Roman Catholics but still follow some (or many) of their man-made traditions still rest on the first day of the week and gather for worship then - it's the most common and familiar thing (thanks to hundreds of years of oppression). Though it is of course man-made and there is nothing about it in the Bible, many try to point to mentions of people doing things on the first day of the week (which they were also doing other days of the week) and claim that Christ must have changed the days without saying so. It is understandable that people would want to keep doing what they're used to doing, and will work very hard to find reasons to do it. It isn't wrong to gather to worship on the first day, of course: so long as no one says that a person must do it, that would be "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Mt 15).

The group called the Seventh Day Adventists keep the biblical seventh day for rest, and gather for worship then - they have some of their own man-made traditions, which are not scriptural, but have actually been improving over time in some ways. 🙂 I go to a Seventh Day Adventist church some sabbaths, when I can, and go with my family to a Baptist church on the first day - so I get to go to church twice! 🙃 I also try to get some work done too on the first day.

#sabbathposts 2024/02/24