Let's explore with open minds, the ideas that the Seventh Day Sabbath was only for the Jewish people; that the Sabbath was automatically changed to Sunday when Jesus Christ was resurrected on Sunday and, finally as some think, that the God's Laws were done away with when Christ died so we so we no longer have to keep any of God's Laws, including the Sabbath.
When God created the earth, He rested on the seventh day, and thus made it holy time. Genesis 2:3 tells us that He blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all his work which God created and made. What does" blessed" mean? According to dictionaries, blessed can mean held in veneration and reverence, honored, and sanctified. A day that is sanctified is set apart for holy use. Why did He set Saturday apart? He was setting an example for us. He made the Sabbath so that we too, can rest from our work. The Sabbath was created by Him for us so that we would have a special day to worship Him and to rest from our labors.
He created the Sabbath before there were any religions. Some people think that the seventh day Sabbath is for the Jews and because we are not Jewish, we don't have to keep it. Don't forget that God made the Sabbath before he made any Jewish people, so the idea that the Sabbath is a Jewish institution is something that we people have come up with, not God. Also, in Exodus 20:10 God says, that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. Do you think that we have the right to change the day of worship that the Creator of the universe commanded? When God gave us the Ten Commandments, He told us specifically to remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. How can we remember the seventh day and keep it holy if we change it to another day? Who are we to try to change what God commanded?
Some churches believe that when Jesus Christ our Savior was resurrected, the Sabbath automatically changed to Sunday. However, 28 years after the resurrection of Christ, around 60A.D., Luke wrote in his Gospel, in Luke: 23:56,"And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments: and rested the Sabbath Day according to the Commandment ". The Sabbath was still Saturday, and the Commandment still in effect 28 years after the resurrection of our Lord.
If Jesus, thought changing His Sabbath to another day was fine with Him, wouldn't He say so throughout the New Testament? If God wanted us to change the day that He sanctified and blessed, it follows logically, that He would have to tell us. Nowhere in the Bible is there a statement that the Sabbath has been changed. Logically speaking, a tremendous change like that would have to be discussed at length. Jesus never mentioned that, after his death, the Sabbath would be changed to Sunday. Such a change would require that the disciples start keeping Sunday, and explaining the change, since they were to preach the Gospel to both Jews and gentiles as Matthew 28:19-20 tells us. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Let's look at what the apostles and disciples did to fulfill Christ's commission. The apostles went about the known world preaching the Gospel and starting churches and meeting on the Sabbath. Acts 13 through 19 explains that Paul met on the Sabbath in all of these cities, with not one word about changing the Sabbath to Sunday. Churches were started in Philippi, Antioch, Ephesus, Thessalonica, and Corinth, among Jews and gentiles on God's Sabbath. The gentiles in Antioch, Pisidia asked Paul to please come back the next Sabbath to teach them more. They didn't even suggest that he come back on Sunday which would be the next day.
Some people are of the opinion that God's Laws were done away with at the cross and that we are only under grace and don't need to be concerned with God's Laws. We are saved by grace, but we are still responsible for keeping God's Laws because we love Him, and know that His Laws are for our own good. We are not trying to earn our salvation by law keeping, which is impossible, because we all sinners.
We can look at the world around us and see what not obeying God will do. Lying, cheating, adultery, stealing, worshiping nature instead of God, and killing are all the products of not obeying God's Laws. Surely anyone can see that lawlessness will only bring destruction on the world. Paul knew that people could not save themselves, but he also knew that they had to strive to obey God. Acts 13:43 encouraged them. "After the synagogue had been dismissed, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and persuading them to continue in the grace of God".
2 Peter 1:5 tells us what is required for us to please God. "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 10, Peter tells us that we must give all diligence to make your calling and election sure. This implies that we must do something besides just relying on God's grace. We must combine our diligence and perseverance with God's grace.
