The Sabbath vs. Sunday

James White · Oakland, Cal. · Jun 4, 1874

The Sabbath vs. Sunday.

FIFTY-ONE BIBLE FACTS CONCERNING THE SEVENTH DAY.

Reader, if you fear God and regard his commandments, we earnestly entreat you to prayerfully consider the following facts, concerning the claims of God's ancient Sabbath as contrasted with the authority for Sunday keeping:

1. The great God rested on the Seventh day. Gen. 2:2, 3.

2. The Creator has blessed the seventh day. Ex. 20:11.

3. The Lord has sanctified the seventh day. Gen. 2:3.

4. It was made the Sabbath day in the garden of Eden. Gen. 2:1-3.

5. It was made before the fall of man, hence it was not a type. Gen. 2:1-3.

6. It was made for man. Mark 2:27.

7. It was a memorial of Creation. Ex. 31:17.

8. The word Sabbath means rest. The Creator rested, or sabbatized, on the seventh day; therefore, the Sabbath of the Lord is the day on which the Lord rested. Hence the Seventh, and no other day of the week, is still the rest, or Sabbath, of the Lord our God.

9. It was made 2300 years before there was a Jew; hence it was not Jewish.

10. It was given to the head of the human race. Mark 2:27; Gen. 2:1-3.

11. Hence through him, as the representative, to all nations. Acts 17:26.

12. It was a part of God's holy law before Sinai. Ex. 16:4, 27-29.

13. God placed it in the moral law. Ex. 20:1-17.

14. It was commanded by God's voice from heaven. Deut. 4:12, 13.

15. And that command was written by the finger of God. Ex. 31:18.

16. It was engraven in stone. Deut. 5:22.

17. It was deposited in the ark in the holy of holies. Deut. 10:1-5.

18. God forbade work upon it, even in the most hurrying time. Ex. 34:21.

19. God promised that Jerusalem should stand forever if they would keep it. Jer. 17:24, 25.

20. He sent the Jews into captivity for breaking it. Neh. 13:18.

21. God destroyed Jerusalem for its violation. Jer. 17:27.

22. God has pronounced a blessing on all the Gentiles who will keep it. Isa. 56:6.

23. God has promised to bless any man who will keep it. Isa. 56:2.

24. The Lord requires his people to call it honorable. Isa. 58:13.

25. It was a sign between God and his people. Ex. 31:17.

26. By this, they were to know they were sanctified. Eze. 20:12.

27. The patriarchs kept it. Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 16:4, 27-29; Gen. 26:5.

28. All the holy prophets kept it, as all admit.

29. The Son of God kept it. Luke 4:16; John 15:10.

30. He was its Lord, that is, to honor and protect it. Mark 2:27.

31. He vindicated it as a merciful institution. Matt. 12:7, 8.

32. He recognized the law of the Sabbath in the New Testament. Matt. 12:12.

33. He taught how it should be kept. Matt. 12:1-13.

34. He taught his disciples that it would exist at least forty years after the resurrection. Matt. 24:20.

35. The holy women kept it after the crucifixion. Luke 23:56.

36. The Holy Spirit called it the Sabbath day twenty-two years after the resurrection. Acts 17:2.

37. Paul called it the Sabbath day. A. D. 45. Acts 13:27.