WHAT IS THE MARK OR SIGN OF GOD FOR BELIEVERS ?
Did God give His people a sign or mark that would define and set apart true believers in God from all the paganism ? Yes, He did give them a sign to label them as God's people.
Exodus 31:13, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.’” (NKJV)
Further, the apostle Paul is clear that the Old Testament and Israel are still the core of Christianity. He states this in Romans chapters nine thru eleven- clearly take note:
Romans 11:24, “For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree…into their own olive tree?”
We gentile believers have been grafted into the theological system of the Bible including of course, the sign of God- the Sabbath. Also read Hebrews 4:5-10. Paul says remember:
Romans 11:18, “…do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.”
Catholics know that the authority of their Universal church altered the Sabbath to Sunday while Protestants do not want to admit that they inherited Sunday. So the switch of days must be in the Bible they claim. It was changed at the resurrection, if so what does this mean?
WHAT IF THE SABBATH WAS QUIETLY CHANGED AT THE RESURRECTION?
This would mean that during the entire period of the New Testament, the believers were Sunday Easter adherents. Do the scriptures support such a proposition? Did the true believers see themselves as an entirely different religion with an entirely different Sabbath from their Jewish heritage the very day Jesus rose? Remember the original church was all Jewish. Note Peter's thoughts a number of years after Christ rose.
Acts 10:14 & 28, “But Peter said, ‘Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.’ … 28 Then he said to them, ‘You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.”
It is beyond any doubts that the Christians were keeping Old Testament laws just like the other Jews. Further it would seem odd for them to have altered one of the most important laws of Israel without any written justification or discussion. After returning from the captivity, the people of God learned hard lessons, reject idolatry and Sabbath breaking. Peter was clearly obeying the only Bible that existed at that time. What about the apostle to the gentiles, Paul?
Acts 13:5, “And when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews…”
Paul spoke in synagogues on the Sabbath many times in his ministry to gentiles. Note this:
Acts 16:13, “And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.”
If the true believers had been keeping Sunday for the last 25-30 years why did believers still meet on the Sabbath at the river. That city had no synagogue so Paul found believers, the Sabbath keepers that did exist in this city to start off his ministry. Needless to say this undercuts any idea of Sunday quietly brought in from the very beginning of Christianity. Did Paul take new converts and move them over to the new day of meeting, Sunday?
Acts 13:42-44, “So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. 43 Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. 44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.”
Paul had the opportunity to tell them, “Well we now meet on Sunday, the day you gentiles are accustomed to using. Why not comeback to meet tomorrow or next Sunday? We have been meeting this way for nearly thirty years, as you might have heard.” No such statement was made because it was not true. Paul believed in all of the Old Testament laws, including the Sabbath.
Acts 24:14, “I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets.”
One can have no doubts about Paul's position on the Sabbath laws. None.
WHAT WERE CHRISTIANS CALLED BEFORE THE ANTIOCH CONVERSIONS
Many gentiles became converted at Antioch which eventually became the headquarters for Paul's four missionary journeys that converted much of the world. Then we must ask what were believers called before this event?
Acts 11:25-26, “Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. 26 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”
Thepublic in Antioch became aware of a difference between the Jews and the larger and growing number of mostly gentiles leaving paganism. Prior to this moment in church history they assumed they were a sect or branch of Judaism. This title was not necessarily meant as a compliment originally. The open hostility among the mainline Jewish leaders and pagan leaders who feared loss of members, made them stand out as different than other Jews. The Greeks and Romans in Antioch called them Christians as an offense. However because they lived like Jesus of Nazareth it became an honor. But how were they seen by most?
Acts 24:14, “But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets."
This would be impossible for true believers to have been thought of as a sect within Judaism if they had been keeping Sunday-Easter sunrise for the last twenty five years. The legal system of the Roman Empire also saw believers as a sect within Judaism as well. Note:
Acts 18:14-15, “…Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, ‘If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you. 15 But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves…’
Verse 19, “…but had some questions against him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who had died, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.”
At the very end of the New Testament cannon, regarding believers the Jews still considered them an unpopular sect within Judaism. This would not have happened if they had been keeping Sunday-Easter for an entire generation. They would be considered apostatized and lost years ago by other Jews. It is clear that Sunday came centuries later.
Acts 28:21-22, “Then they said…'We neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren who came reported or spoken any evil of you. 22 But we desire to hear from you what you think; for concerning this sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere.’”
The only alteration the church made was making an exception to the circumcision rule for gentiles only.
Acts 15:19-21, “Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, 20 but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. 21 For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath."
This slams the door on any idea that they had been Sunday keepers all along! Every Sabbath the supposed unclean gentiles would learn all the many other biblical laws for them to follow.
