Saturday Vs. Sunday Sabbath

Q

I would like to know if you believe that Saturday is the Sabbath and not Sunday. Do you believe that God rested on the seventh day from creation and we are to keep his holy Sabbath?

A

I believe that God rested on the 7th day and commanded us to keep the Sabbath Holy. At some point in time this was determined to refer to Saturday, although the Bible never comes right out and says so. In the early Church Sunday morning was chosen for worship because that’s the day the Lord rose from the grave.

Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27) and Paul said , “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” (Col. 2:16-17). He also said, “One man considers one day more sacred than another, another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5).

In Hebrews 4 the writer explained that the fulfillment of the Sabbath commandment is to be found in the believer’s rest from the work of His salvation by accepting the Lord’s work on his behalf. He called it entering our Sabbath rest.

The endless debate about Saturday vs. Sunday Sabbath completely misses the point. It’s not about the day on which we worship. It’s about whether we’ve rested from our own work and entered into our life-long Sabbath rest.