Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath?
By M. Lukens
Which day is the Christian Sabbath?" was asked five prominent men, members of different denominations. The first answered, “Sunday, because Christ was raised from the dead on that day.” The answer of the second was, “The seventh day was the Sabbath until the death of Christ, but since then we observe the Lord’s day.” The third stated, “Sunday is the seventh day of the week.” The fourth said, “There is no Sabbath. Since Christ, all days are alike.” The answer of the fifth one was, “Saturday is the Christian Sabbath, for it is the seventh day of the week, and the Bible says, ‘The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.’” All of these answers can not be correct, for no two are alike. At least four of them must be wrong. It is not the object of this article to disprove that which is wrong, but simply that we may learn that which is truth. That there is a Lord’s day in the New Testament, is evident from Rev. 1:10, which reads as follows: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.” That the Lord’s day is the Sabbath day, is clearly shown by reading Mark 2:27, 28: “And He said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” The fourth commandment also states that the “seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Christ, the Son of God, was associated with the Father in the creation of the world as shown by the following scriptures: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds.” Heb. 1:1, 2. “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.” Eph. 3:9. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:1-3. Christ is called the Word, for at His Father’s suggestion at the time of creation, He spoke the word. “Let the dry land appear: and it was so.” Gen. 1:9. Therefore, as Christ was the one who did the work at creation, He is the one who rested; hence the Sabbath day, which means rest day, is the Lord’s day. After God had delivered the children of Israel with a stretched-out hand from Egyptian bondage, He brought them to Mount Sinai, where amidst the splendors of the mountain, the fire and smoke, God spoke His Ten Commandment law. Ex. 20:1-18. Afterward, He wrote them upon two tables of stone with His own finger. Ex. 31:18. And fearing the people had forgotten which day was the Sabbath, He told them to “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; . . . for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:8-11. Thus he points out the definite day that He blessed and sanctified at creation, and afterward chiseled this statement upon a table of stone so that there would be no mistake. And that we might be sure no time was lost, and that the great God of the universe had His eye on His blessed rest day, Inspiration says, in speaking of those noble women who followed their Lord and Master to the sepulchre, “And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56. The question now naturally arises, Which day is the seventh day? Mark 15, after telling of the cruel death of our Saviour, says in verse 42, “And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath.” Every one knows that Christ was crucified on the sixth day (Friday), and the Bible here states plainly that the day following was the Sabbath. Since the day following Friday is Saturday, therefore we must conclude that the Bible teaches that Saturday is the Sabbath. The English names for the days are derived from the Saxon. The ancient Saxons had borrowed the week from some Eastern nations, and substituted the names of their own divinities for those of the gods of Greece. In legislative and judiciary acts, the Latin names are still retained. | LATIN |
ENGLISH |
SAXON |
|---|
| Dies Solis |
Sunday |
Sun’s day |
| Dies Lunae |
Monday |
Moon’s day |
| Dies Martis |
Tuesday |
Tiw’s day |
| Dies Mercurii |
Wednesday |
Woden’s day |
| Dies Jovis |
Thursday |
Thor’s day |
| Dies Veneris |
Friday |
Friga’s day |
| Dies Saturni |
Saturday |
Set erne’s day. |
(“Encyclopædia Britannica,” the new Warner edition, Vol. 4, p. 665, art., “Calendar.”) A mother dressed her young son for Sunday-school, and as the little fellow, all clean and white, started off, he was met by an older boy who had a fishing-line. “Where are you going, Johnnie?” he asked. “O, it is too hot,” he stated, “let us go fishing.” But the little boy reasoned, “I have no fishing-line.” “But mother wouldn’t like me to go.” “O, come on, she will not need to know.” So Johnnie yielded. He was successful in catching some fish, and not wishing to lose his treasures he took them home. He was in a sorry plight when he returned with his clothes all soiled with mud. When his mother saw him, she asked, “Where have you been?” Johnnie answered, “To Sunday-school.” “No, you haven’t,” said his mother, and then spying the fish which Johnnie had tried in vain to hide, she said, “I’ll teach you to go fishing on Sunday.” After whipping him, she told him to go to his room and read the fourth commandment fifty times. By that time he could say it from memory. A few days after this, Johnnie went to school. The teacher asked the first boy to name the first day of the week, and he said, “Sunday.” The next boy in answer to a question said that Monday is the second day of the week, and it so happened that Johnnie had to answer the question as to which is the seventh day of the week. Remembering his experience on the previous Sunday, and that the commandment said that the seventh day is the Sabbath, he answered, “The seventh day of the week is Sunday.” The teacher told him it was not, and told him to listen while she asked the other boys again. But Johnnie still persisted that the seventh day is Sunday, adding, “If you had read that commandment as many times as I have, you would know which day is the seventh.” Then, taking up the calendar the teacher pointed out carefully which is the first day of the week, the second, the third, and so on, and then told him that Saturday is the seventh day. Upon asking him again, he answered, “If I say Sunday is, you will whip me; and if I say Saturday is, mother will whip me, so what shall I do?” How can we expect our children to be clear upon these subjects, when the commandment says the seventh day is the Sabbath, and the Bible as well as the calendar teaches the seventh day is Saturday, and yet so many people keep Sunday, the first day of the week, thinking they are observing the Sabbath of the Lord. The Sabbath was not changed by Christ (Matt. 5: 17, 18), nor by His apostles (Rom. 3: 31; James 2: 8-12); but it is just as binding to-day as when spoken amidst the splendors of Sinai. It was kept by the Saviour (Luke 4: 16), and we are admonished to walk even as He walked. It was observed by all the apostles after the resurrection, also by Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles, as shown by his holding meetings on 84 Sabbaths. Acts 13: 14, 42, 44; 16: 12, 13; 17: 1, 2; 18: 1-4, 11.8 When Inspiration mentions the seventh day of the week, it always calls it the Sabbath; but when it speaks of the first day, it does not give it any holy title. Therefore, we must conclude that the seventh day is the Sabbath, that the seventh day is Saturday; and that the Christian Sabbath is Saturday, the seventh day of the week. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.”