Is Sunday the New Sabbath?
by Charles H. Clever
Every person that recognizes the importance of observing all of God's ten-commandment law is painfully aware that the truths they cherish are often diminished by those who would denigrate the Sabbath. "Nailing it to His cross," well-meaning Christians erroneously claim Sunday as the New Testament's "Lord's Day" and link the Saturday Sabbath commandment with the symbolic holy days of the Old Testament that were, in fact, abolished as "shadows" of future events (Colossians 2:14-17). Those who study deeper Bible truths may often wonder, "Just why do others keep Sunday?" because it was actually Sunday that was "nailed to the cross".
It is a well-known truth that Christ's resurrection occurred on Firstfruits Sunday; in fact, Jesus is called "Christ the firstfruits" (1 Corinthians 15:23); likewise, seven weeks later the Holy Spirit descended on the Pentecost Sunday (Acts 2:1-4). Possessing a "zeal of God, but not according to knowledge" (Romans 10:2), many exalt Sunday and attempt the abolishment of the fourth commandment. They probably fail to notice that the resurrection of Christ, and the inauguration of the New Testament church at Pentecost, were plainly "shadowed" in the Torah (Leviticus 23:9-21, Deuteronomy 16:9). Because these events were previously kept-in-type and met fulfillment, they should not be celebrated and Sunday can never become a new holy day.
*At the time of Christ, Firstfruits was annually kept by the Jews on Abib 16. Their calendar is similar to ours in the sense that dated events land on a different day of the week each year. By observing Abib 16, Firstfruits and Pentecost would often coincide with the Sabbath; yet Deuteronomy requires work on Firstfruits, that is, to "begin to put the sickle to the grain" on the day after the Sabbath (Ibid.). God would never command anyone to begin harvest on the weekly Sabbath of His holy law (Exodus 20: 8-11). This increases the probability that God really wanted these Jewish festivals to be kept annually on "the day after the sabbath," which is really Sunday, a common working day (Genesis 1:1-5; Leviticus 23:10,15,16). That means Sunday was "atypical" with the other holy days. That subject has been argued for centuries and is not really significant because:
Firstfruits and Pentecost literally
coincided with Sunday in the very year these "shadows" met their substance.
Knowing this, we must understand that there is no substance to claims of
Sunday sacredness today. This is because Christ's resurrection and the
church's inauguration on Pentecost were previously symbolized; Sunday
will remain a working day and never be kept sacred throughout the endless
days of eternity (See Isaiah 66:22,23).
It is obvious that the reason God
typified these important events in the Old Testament is because He
did not want the church to celebrate them by changing His eternal Sabbath
commandment or appoint a different day of worship. You can understand
this by studying Isaiah 66:22:23. On the new earth, all of mankind will
"from one Sabbath ot another... come to worship before me, says the Lord."
The Sabbath will be kept perpetually throughout the endless days of eternity.
Instead of a change to "Holy Sunday",
that fateful Passover weekend is now celebrated in the New Testament because
Christ instituted communion as a new symbol. The communion service commemorated
His great sacrifice as follows: "And when he had given thanks,
he brake [it], and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for
you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner
also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new
testament in my blood: this do, as often as you drink, in remembrance
of me" (1 Corinthians 11:24,52).
In a similar manner, Christ's resurrection
must be commemorated, not on Sunday alone, but daily, every day of
the week, as Christ dwells within us through the power of His Holy
Spirit. Paul, the apostle, emphasizes this in First Corinthians,
fifteenth chapter, as he discusses our baptism into the dead and resurrected
Savior, and sums it up by saying: "I die daily" (verse 31). Our first
baptism was public. That was when we made the statement to the world: "I
am deciding to make Jesus my Savior." When we descended into the water,
we commemorated Jesus' death and burial in the tomb. Upon rising from the
water, we arise "born again." The epistle to the Roman church
upholds this principle: "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4).
At this new-birth experience, God sees us perfect through Christ's perfection,
and our life of "growing up" has just begun (Ephesians 4:15; 2 Peter 3:18).
We are commemorating Christ's resurrection through this born-again experience.
There is another way to understand
that baptism, or the new birth experience, unites us in Christ's resurrection
and gives us eternal life. When Adam sinned, God saw all of humanity as
sinners, "for as in Adam all die..." (1 Corinthians 15:22). Without Christ's
sacrifice, humanity is guilty and perpetually dead. Perverted, stunted,
weakened, we are born without hope and eternally lost. But, "even so in
Christ all shall be made alive" (Ibid. ). Everyone
must die for Adam's sin, but there are two resurrections and everyone "shall
be made alive." Let me repeat that point: There are two resurrections when
humanity will be alive again.
Through Christ's substitute death,
the innocent dying for the guilty, God sees everyone alive. He does not
view the entire human race as holy, or perfect through Christ's perfect
sacrifice. He just sees us alive again--we all die for Adam's sin, and
will live again through Christ's sacrifice. And, make no mistake,
"all shall be made alive--you have no choice in that matter and,
unless translated alive, your resurrection from the grave is assured. There
are, however, choices that determine which resurrection you will be in.
Those who were never "born again" will be "made alive" in the resurrection
of damnation, and suffer eternal death--God sees them guilty of Adam's
transgression and "insulting the Spirit of grace" (Hebrews 10:29). They
never commemorated Christ's resurrection through obedience. They have sinned
"willfully after... [they] have received the knowledge the truth, [and]
there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation
of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries" (Hebrews
10:26,27).
Those commemorating Christ's resurrection
by baptism into the "born again" experience, will be in the "resurrection
of life", and live eternally. Jesus clarified the issue by saying that
the time will come when "all [all of humanity] who are in the grave will
hear His voice and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection
of damnation " (John 5:29). Only those who have
"run the race" lawfully can finish with the crown (1 Corinthians 9:24)
"Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with
me by sacrifice [not by Sunday observance]" (Psalms 50:5).
God views these born-again Christians as "perfect in Christ." These saints
rose from their watery graves as Christ was resurrected, and now they will
receive their "crowns of life" (Romans 6:1-13; James 1:12; Revelation 2:10).
No, my friends. Switching to a Sunday
Holy-Day insults the changes that an omnipotent God wishes to effect in
us, and the meaning of His great atonement. It belittles what God did at
Calvary, and will do in the lives of those who trust and obey Him. Jesus
emphasized this very thought: "And why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and
do not the things which I say?"--(Luke 6:40). And, "More... blessed [than
my mother, Mary,] are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" (Luke
11:27-28).
From the pulpit many ministers are busily nailing "jots and tittles" of God's commandments to the cross (Colossians 2:14). This is an eternally fatal mistake because no part of God's ten-commandment law is atypical--it is eternal. Jesus warns: "Until heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, until all is 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 will do and teach [them], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:18).
The minority who "does and teaches" God's commandments (Matthew 5:19, Revelation 12:17; 14:12) know Christ's resurrection is now typified through our "resurrected" new life, but they have not fully proclaimed that Christ's Sunday resurrection and the Sunday Pentecost experience were prefigured and met an exact fulfillment. And those who know these events were typified, and continue to exalt Sunday, and are breaking what they consider the "least of these commandments, and teaches men so", they will be called "least in the kingdom of heaven" (Ibid.). Those "least in the kingdom" may very well be outside the Holy City with those who "cause... a lie" or "love and practice a lie" (Revelation 21:27; 22:15). How important it is to present the Gospel and other Bible truths and not neglect to speak in defense of Saturday and the validity of God's sacred ten-commandment law.
*This paragraph may be eliminated without
markedly changing the thought of the article.
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