Let’s allow the Bible to answer the question: which day does God command us to keep Holy?
The Seventh Day Sabbath in the Old Testament
1-God instituted the observance of the seventh day Sabbath at the beginning of the world. “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (Genesis 2:2-3). The Lord sanctified it over 2000 years before the existence of the Jews, to be a blessing to all people (Isaiah 56:6-7).
2-The fourth commandment stated that the seventh day is the Sabbath.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 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. 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” (Exodus 20:8-11). The Sabbath day is not Jewish, but is called “the Sabbath of the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:10).
3-The Sabbath is a sign between God and man. “hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God’ (Ezekiel 20:20).
The Seventh Day Sabbath in the New Testament
4-Jesus Christ regularly kept the seventh day Sabbath (Luke 4:16), taught much about it (Matthew 12:12; 24:20), and clearly stated that He is “Lord even of the Sabbath day” (Matthew 12:8). And He declared that He didn’t come to abolish it (Matthew 5:17,18). In the books of Mathew Mark, Luke and John, Christ never mentioned “the first day of the week” (Sunday).
5-The Sabbath day was sacredly observed by Jesus Christ’s true followers after He died. For after His body was placed in the tomb, Christian women “rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment” (Luke 23:56). Also, Christ expected His people to be still keeping the Sabbath in A.D. 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed. He said, “pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath” (Matthew 24:20).
6-The Sabbath day was kept in the book of Acts by both Jews and Gentiles. “But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day”; “when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath … the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.”
“on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made”; “Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures”; “he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks” (Luke 23:56; Acts 13:14, 42-44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4).
7-The sabbaths that were abolished at the Cross (Colossians 2:14-17; Ephesians 2:15; Romans 14:5) were the annual feast sabbath holidays of the Mosaic law (Leviticus 23) which were also called sabbaths. These (yearly) holidays were in addition to or “beside the (weekly) Sabbath of the Lord” (Leviticus 23:38). https://bibleask.org/doesnt-colossians-214-17-abolish-the-seventh-day-sabbath/
8-The “seventh day” of the week falls on Saturday, not Sunday. To verify, check your calendar, or dictionary. Sunday is “the first day of the week,” which means it is a regular working day (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1-2; etc.).
9-The New testament referred to Sunday only eight times (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1,19; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). Yet, it is completely silent about Sunday being sanctified in honor of our Lord’s resurrection. There is no New Testament authorization for the change of Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.
10-Bible prophecy (Daniel 7:25) and church history both testify that the Roman Catholic Church changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. https://bibleask.org/who-changed-the-sabbath-from-saturday-to-sunday-and-when/
11-Rediscovering God’s original Sabbath day is part of Bible prophecy in the end times (Compare Revelation 14:7,12 with Exodus 20:11).
Also see: What is the Mark of the Beast?
The Seventh Day Sabbath in the New Earth
12-The seventh day Sabbath will be kept in the New Earth. “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord, so shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord” (Isaiah 66:22, 23).
For more on the Sabbath, please check (Lessons 91-102) of the Bible Lessons.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
