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There are those who maintain that the sabbath as a day of worship has been changed
from the seventh to the first day of the week. Therefore, they refer to Sunday as "the
Christian sabbath." Others insist that the seventh day of the week should still be
observed as a holy day as it was kept by the Jews under the law of Moses. Both of
these positions are erroneous.
We recently attended a service at which an investigation of the sabbath question was being conducted after the order of a court trial. But the "defendant" was not present, nor was he represented by "defense counsel." The evangelist served as "prosecuting attorne" and proposed to introduce evidence to prove seven propositions in support of his charge that the Sabbath had been changed from the seventh day to the first. At this writing, we are concerned chiefly with his first three propositions as listed on the "Jury Ballot." They are, (a) God never changed the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first.We concede these three propositions. Neither God, Christ, nor the apostles changed the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first. All advocates of these propositions are right in this. But, those who contend that the Sabbath has been changed from the seventh day to the first, by anyone, are wrong in this contention. No one changed the Sabbath — God abolished it! 1. The Sabbath law was given to the Jews only. "And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and observe to do them. Jehovah our God made a covenant with us in Horeb" (Deut. 5:1-2). "And thou shalt remember that thou was a servant in the land of Egypt and Jehovah thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore Jehovah thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day" (Deut. 5:15). The above passages clearly indicate that the covenant which God made through Moses was for Israel and that the Sabbath was to be kept in commemoration of their deliverance from Egypt. 2. The Sabbath was included in the law of Moses. The Bible makes no mention of the "ceremonial" part of the law and the "moral" part. Those who thus seek to divide the law of Moses and maintain that the one was abolished while the other was retained, do so without authority from God. Equally without divine authority is the contention that a distinction should be made between the law of Moses and the law of God. The ten commandments were written on tables of stone by the finger of God, yet the same commandments were recorded in the book of Moses and it was placed by the side of the ark (Ex. 20:1-17; Deut. 5:1, 21; 31:24-35). In Nehemiah 8:1, we read that the people gathered themselves together and asked Ezra to bring "the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had commanded to Israel." In verse 18, the same book is called "the book of the law of God." Among other laws, this book set forth the law regarding the Sabbath. 3. This law, written and engraven in stone, was done away. In Second Corinthians 3:7-11, Paul refers to that which was written and engraven in stone at the time the face of Moses shone. This refers to Sinai and the giving of the ten commandments (Ex. 31:18; 32:16) . Paul says this was done away. Notice the following:
Who changed the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first? No one changed it. God abolished it, ended it, took it away. It is a mistake to contend that the seventh day Sabbath law is still in effect. It is also a mistake to regard the first day of the week — even though we worship on that day — as the "Christian Sabbath." Let us now consider what the Bible says concerning the passing of the Old Covenant and the establishment of a New Covenant under which a new day of worship is designated. 1. The New Covenant is different from the Old Covenant. "Behold, the days come, Saith Jehovah, that I will make a New covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt" (Jer. 31:31-32). This prophecy is quoted in Hebrews 8:7-12 and applied to the gospel — the covenant which God established through Christ. From First Kings 8:9, 21, we learn that the covenant which God made with our fathers, when he brought them out of Egypt, was placed in the Ark and that this was on tables of stone. One thing that was on the "tables of stone" was the Sabbath Law. Therefore, the Sabbath Law was a part of the Old Covenant and is no part of the New Covenant. Other commandments that were on the tables of stone are also set forth in principle in the New Covenant, but not the commandment to keep the Sabbath day. They are part of the New Covenant, not because they were on the tables of stone, but because they are contained in the gospel as proclaimed by Christ and His apostles. The following statements emphasize the distinction between the two covenants: "For if the first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for the second" (Heb. 8:7). "In that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old. But that which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing away" (Heb. 8:13). 2. The Old Covenant was abolished and the New Covenant was established by the same means — the death of Christ. The Old Covenant — including the Sabbath Law — was abrogated by the death of Christ upon the cross. Paul wrote, that Christ abolished in his flesh..."the law of commandments contained in ordinances" (Eph. 2:15), and that Christ "blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross" (Col. 2:14). It was also through the death of Christ that the New Covenant was established. "And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth" (Heb. 9:15-17). The difference in the two covenants is clearly seen from the fact that the one was abolished and the other established by the same act — the death of Christ. 3. Following the death of Christ, the first day of the week came into prominence. Our Lord arose from the dead on the first day of the week and made many appearances to His disciples upon that day (Mk. 16:9; Mt. 28: 9-10; Lk. 24:13-15, 33-36; Jn. 20:26). Jesus commanded His disciples to partake of the Lord's Supper (Lk. 22:19; Mt. 26:26-28; 1 Cor. 11:24-25) The disciples ate the Lord's Supper when they assembled (1 Cor. 11:20- 23) and Luke records that they "came together to break bread upon the first day of the week" (Acts 20:7). This "breaking of bread" which they "came together" to do, was the Lord's Supper, because this is the only things God's people are required to come together to eat under the New Covenant. The Bible nowhere teaches that the Sabbath Law was a part of the New Covenant. The disciples of Christ in the first century, under apostolic guidance, "met upon the first day of the week". The Biblical conclusion that the first day of the week is the day of worship under the New Covenant is, therefore, inescapable. |