DID JESUS ESTABLISH SUNDAY?
The mark and number of the beast are the culmination of the attack Satan has made on the Sabbath from the beginning of creation.[1] He has constantly tried to change it, eliminate it, pervert it, cause it to be a burden or curse, associate it with the “old covenant” or “the Jews who rejected Jesus” and transform it from the symbol of faith and redemption into a symbol of bondage. These attacks are a part of his war against the law of God, which Satan hates because it condemns his sin, aspirations and kingdom principles (he is called the “lawless one” in 2 Thessalonians 2:8). In an absence of scriptural support some of the arguments against the Sabbath are very creative. These are briefly touched upon here and examined fully in Appendix 6.
It is claimed that Jesus abolished the Sabbath and established Sunday as the day of worship by meeting with His disciples on the first day of the week. Some even assert that every time Jesus met with His disciples after the resurrection was on a Sunday. However, a careful analysis shows that several meetings were definitely not on Sunday, and those meetings that were on the first day were not worship services and there was no sharing of the Lord’s supper.[2] Instead, these meetings were an opportunity for Jesus to prove to His doubting disciples that He had risen from the dead, and to give them their commission to take the gospel to the world.
This is consistent with the symbolism in Genesis 1 of the first day as the day to start working, and of the Sabbath as a symbol of resting in the work God has already done. In other words, Sabbath is a symbol of faith, a day to worship and serve those in need. Sunday is a symbol of work and is a day, like every other working day, to prove to unbelievers that Jesus is alive. The resurrection is not a historical event to celebrate with a memorial service on Sunday; it is an experience of the power of the resurrected Jesus, which the Christian lives out every day.
There are no Biblical examples of Sunday being a special day of worship (see Appendix 6). In fact, if examples were to be followed, they should be that of Jesus who “went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was His custom” (Luke 4:16 NRSV), or Paul who, “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” (Acts 17:2, 18:4). Jesus consistently upheld the law of God and condemned those who would try to minimize its claims.[3]
It is obvious that neither Jesus nor the apostles changed the Sabbath because there is no Biblical record of a Sabbath controversy. When God made changes in the ceremonial law, such as abolishing animal sacrifices, circumcision and the Levitical priesthood, He made it perfectly clear in the New Testament that He was doing so, but this is not the case with the Sabbath.[4] Neither did a “new covenant” make the Sabbath, along with the rest of God’s law, obsolete.[5] Keeping the Sabbath is not evidence that one is “under the law” any more than honoring parents or refraining from idolatry or adultery puts one “under the law.” In reality, one must be “under grace” in order to keep any part of God’s law (including the Sabbath) because “the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Romans 8:7).
In summary, the first angel’s message, announcing “the hour of his judgment has come,” is an urgent call to every person from“every nation, tribe, tongue and people” to reject the human works-oriented beast religion and by faith accept the “everlasting gospel.” The command, “Worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water” is a compelling call to honor our Creator and Redeemer by resting on the seventh-day Sabbath.
Continue to next section: 14:8 THE SECOND ANGEL’S MESSAGE
[1] A Careful reading of the New Testament shows that the animosity of the Jewish leaders aginst Jesus had to do with His restoration of the true meaning of the Sabbath. See Matthew 12:1-15, Luke 13:10-17, 14:1-6, John 5:1-19, 7:19-24, 9:1-41, Acts 13:27,28.
[2] The only “Lord’s Supper” Jesus shared with His disciples was Thursday evening before His crucifixion.
[3] “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law of the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass form the law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18). It is sometimes argued that “all [was] fulfilled” on the cross, therefore the law could pass away. But all has not been fulfilled, because sin is still very much with us, both in and out of the church. Therefore the law is still needed to condemn sin. Moreover, “heaven and earth” have not “passed away” as the verse specifies.
[4] See Appendix 6.
[5] Jesus, referring to the last-day trials of the time of trouble, urged His followers to “pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath” (Matthew 24:20). This does not make any sense if the Sabbath was to be done away with. Even in the “New Heavens and News Earth…all flesh shall come to worship before Me…from One Sabbath to another” (Isaiah 66:22,23). One of the main provisions of the new covenant was that “I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts” (Hebrews 8:10). That this is not some new, watered down “law of love” is shown by the fact that Paul quotes from Jeremiah 31:33, an Old Testament passage that would not refer to any law except the law given on Mt. Sinai.