There is MUCH proof that God wants us to keep the Sabbath day on the 7th day of the week and to KEEP it Holy. The 7th day of the week is Saturday. Out of all the 10 Commandments, it's the only commandment Christians try to say was done away or changed. It's the only Commandment in which God used the words "Remember" and "Keep" in the same verse in the account of the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20 because He knew it would be the one we would have a hard time accepting. There is NO evidence that He did away with the 7th day Sabbath! Jesus and the apostles and the early church Kept the Sabbath day. The Catholic church Admits it is Responsible for the world keeping Sunday instead of the Biblical Sabbath! In Germany and other places, the catholic church still enforces government LAWS forcing people to worship Sunday!
Suggested Reading for proof of German Laws and Catholic governments: Article at Worldwide Religious News Spielgel Online (German publication)
The following is a quotation from:
http://www.ptgbook.org/index.html and I do agree mostly with what he says about this particular issue except that it is NOT even to even. To learn Why it is NOT even to even, please read the When Does the Day start article. Also, the first day of the month when to start counting the days of the month should be according to the New Moon events.
"The Weekly Sabbath Day
Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for mankind. "And He said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath' " (Mark 2:27-28). The account of when the Sabbath was made is given in Genesis. After renewing the face of the earth in six days, God created the Sabbath by resting. "Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made" (Genesis 2:1-3).
Later, Abram was born, whose name was changed to Abraham, and God called him and promised to make him into a great nation (Genesis 12:1-4, Genesis 17:1-5). Jacob was the son of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham, and Jacob's name was changed to Israel (Genesis 32:28). In time, the children of Israel multiplied in the land of Egypt until they became a nation, and when God brought them out of Egypt to bring them into the promised land, he told them they would be a special nation and a special treasure to Him. See Exodus chapters 1, 3, 6, and 19. "And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, 'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel' " (Exodus 19:3-6).
God intended the nation of Israel to obey God's laws, and by obeying God's laws and way of life to be a positive example for all other nations on the earth. God would bless Israel for obedience, and the rest of the world would learn from Israel's example that obedience to God's laws brings happiness and prosperity. "Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people' " (Deuteronomy 4:5-6). See also Deuteronomy 7:12-15, 8:11-19, 11:13-32, 26:16-19, and Deuteronomy chapters 27 and 28 for the blessings that would result from obedience and the curses that would result from disobedience. Especially note Deuteronomy 11:26-28: "Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known."
God gave Israel his laws. The ten commandments are the ten main points of God's law and are recorded in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:1-22. Although the individual commandments listed in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 are not individually numbered, Deuteronomy 4:13 and Exodus 34:28 show that the number of commandments was ten. The importance of this will be shown later.
Although the ten commandments are not listed in the Bible before the book of Exodus, it is evident that God's law existed before that time, because God specifically stated that Abraham obeyed God's laws. "And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws" (Genesis 26:4-5).
Among the ten commandments is the commandment to rest on the Sabbath day. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:8-11). Notice that in this command, God directly ties it in with the creation of the Sabbath day in Genesis. Notice the parallel statements:
Genesis: "Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it"
Exodus: "Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."
This confirms that the Sabbath day that God commanded Israel to observe by resting is the same Sabbath day God created in Genesis immediately after He created the first man, Adam, on the sixth day. This answers the question of when God created the Sabbath. Jesus said the Sabbath was created for man. Genesis and Exodus show that God created the Sabbath when He created man. This is very consistent.
God was not so tired or exhausted by the first six days of creation that He needed to rest. But by resting on the seventh day of creation, God created the Sabbath day for mankind by setting an example for mankind to follow.
It is clear that observing the Sabbath is included in the ten commandments. Are the ten commandments still in force for Christians today? Yes they are. Notice James 2:10-11, "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law." This is written in the New Testament, after Jesus Christ died for our sins and was resurrected and ascended into heaven. It is written by James, one of the "pillars" of the first century Church mentioned by the apostle Paul (Galatians 2:9). James says that if someone breaks one point of God's law, he is guilty of all. What "points" of God's law is James talking about? It is clear that he is talking about the ten commandments, with each commandment being a "point" of God's law, for James uses two of the ten commandments as examples, calling them "points". Why is it true that if a person breaks one of these commandments that he has become guilty of breaking "all"? Because, as James points out, the same God who commanded we keep one point also commanded we keep all of them. Therefore the ten commandments are still in force today.
This is consistent with what Jesus taught His disciples in the sermon on the mount when He said, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or 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 from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:17-19).
There are no passages in the New Testament that teach that God's Sabbath day is done away, or that the ten commandments are no longer in force, or that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday.
Paul said, "Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good" (Romans 7:12). Jesus said, in answer to the young man who asked Him how he may find eternal life, "keep the commandments". When asked which, Jesus quoted a number of the ten commandments. Here is the full passage: "Now behold, one came and said to Him, 'Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?' So He said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.' He said to Him, 'Which ones?' Jesus said, ' "You shall not murder," "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "Honor your father and your mother," and, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" ' " (Matthew 19:16-19). Jesus quoted a number of the ten commandments, plus the commandment to love one's neighbor as himself (Leviticus 19:18). He quoted these commandments to point the man to the ten commandments and to the two great commandments (Matthew 22:35-40). Why did He not quote all of the commandments? Because apparently it was with the commandments relating to loving one's neighbor that the man had a problem. Notice what the young man answered, and Jesus' reply in Matthew 19:20-22: "The young man said to Him, 'All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?' Jesus said to him, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.' But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions." Apparently, this man needed to have more love for his neighbor and for the poor and he had too much love for himself and his possessions.
The law of God expresses God's nature. The way of life that God teaches and commands men to live is the way of life that God Himself practices. God practices what He preaches. God sent Jesus Christ to live a perfect life, obeying all the commandments of God, to set an example for us, that we should live as He lived. It is a way of life that leads to everything right and good.
That way of life can be described with the one word, "love". Love can be described as an outgoing concern for the welfare and happiness of others. It can also be described with the one word, "give".
Mr. Armstrong often illustrated this by comparing the two possible ways of life, the "give" way and the "get" way. The give way of life is the way of outgoing concern for others, the way of honesty, the way of helping, of serving, of cooperating. It is the way that leads to peace, unity, and happiness. It is also the way of truth. This is the way that God practices and teaches.
The Bible teaches that God is love. Notice 1 John 4:7-11, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." Also, 1 John 4:16, "And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him." God expresses this love by giving. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Also, James 1:17, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." See also Matthew 5:42, 43-48, 7:7-11.
The "give" way of life is the way that God lives. But as Mr. Armstrong taught, the opposite way of life is the "get" way. It is the way of trying to selfishly take from others and get more for the self. It is the way of selfishness, hostile competition, vanity, greed, deception, and resentment towards others. This is the way of life that Satan the devil lives. Jesus said that Satan was a murderer from the beginning and the father of lies (John 8:44). This is the way of life that leads to suffering, destruction, and death.
God's law is an expression of God's very nature. It can be summed up in one word, love. It is the way of life that God lives and commands and teaches men to live. God's commandments teach us HOW to love. According to the Bible, there is a direct connection between practicing love and keeping God's commandments. Notice, "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome" (1 John 5:2-3). Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15).
The two great commandments teach us how to love God and love other people. Someone asked Jesus what the greatest commandment is. "Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40). In answering, Jesus was quoting the Old Testament scriptures (Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18). "The Law and the Prophets" is a reference to the Old Testament scriptures, which are composed of the "law" (the books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible), the "prophets" (books such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel as well as the other prophets), and the "writings" (such as Psalms). Jesus is saying that the Old Testament scriptures are based on love towards God and love towards neighbor.
The two great commandments are further defined by the ten commandments. The ten commandments fill in details about HOW to love God and love our neighbor. The first four of the ten commandments teach us how to love God, and the last six teach us how to love our neighbor. Then the whole rest of the Bible further teaches us how to practice the way of love and how to keep God's commandments in their practical application in our lives.
Jesus obeyed God's commandments and set an example for us in doing so. "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love" (John 15:10). "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them" (John 13:14-17).
The fact that Jesus kept God's law and commandments also means that Jesus did not sin, for sin is the transgression of the law. 1 John 3:4 says "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness". The King James Version renders this verse "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." By defining God's law, God's commandments teach us what sin is. Paul wrote, "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet' " (Romans 7:7). Jesus obeyed His Father's law. Jesus had to live a sinless life so that when He died He would pay the penalty for the sins of mankind, not his own sins. Jesus magnified the law, and taught us to keep the spiritual intent of the law not just the letter of the law (Matthew 5:21-28, Isaiah 42:21).
The first four of the ten commandments teach us how to love God and the last six commandments teach us how to love our neighbor. The Sabbath commandment is the fourth commandment. This may come as a surprise to some Catholics who may read this, because many Catholics have been taught that the Sabbath commandment is the third commandment, and I will explain why this is later in this chapter.
It takes faith for a person who has not been keeping the seventh day Sabbath to begin to keep it. This is true about the Sabbath commandment in a way in which it is not true for the other commandments. Why?
Faith is believing God. It means believing what God says, not just believing that God exists. Even the demons believe that God exists (James 2:19), but they do not believe in the way of life that God teaches. I do not think the demons believe what Jesus said when Jesus said that it is better ("more blessed") to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). Abraham became what some call the "father of the faithful" when He believed God's promises (Romans 4:3, James 2:23, Genesis 15:4-6). Note especially Romans 4:16-22: "Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, 'I have made you a father of many nations') in the presence of Him whom he believed-God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, 'So shall your descendants be.' And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore 'it was accounted to him for righteousness' ".
Why does it take faith to keep the Sabbath for someone who was not raised in a Sabbath tradition? Because it requires that person to believe what God says. This is not true to the same extent for the other nine commandments because often men have been able to discern the moral principles behind the other commandments without believing God or the Bible. For example, most societies all over the world are able to figure out that it is wrong to steal, murder, and commit adultery, and some people may even able to understand that it is wrong to worship idols or to use God's name disrespectfully. But human reason cannot determine, apart from the revelation from God, that we should rest one day out of seven, and WHICH day to rest on. Even societies that may rest one day each week often do not rest on the seventh day, but some other day of the week. But God tells us to rest on the SEVENTH day. God counts days from sunset to sunset (Leviticus 23:32), so God's Sabbath is from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.
It can require faith to obey the Sabbath commandment because keeping it can involve sacrifice. It can make one seem different from other people. It can sometimes involve financial sacrifice and some people have lost their jobs because of their obedience to the Sabbath commandment.
But there are also benefits that arise from keeping the Sabbath. But generally, one does not fully learn about those benefits until one begins to keep the Sabbath, and it takes faith to begin to keep it.
The Sabbath day provides much needed rest for man by providing one day a week to rest from his labors. God did not intend for a person to work non-stop without rest 7 days a week. But there are many other benefits. It is a time for people to draw closer to God in prayer, Bible study, thinking about God and His greatness, and assembling together for instruction and worship with others who also fear God. The Sabbath is not a time for personal entertainment and recreation, such as watching football games, playing cards, and watching movies. Notice Isaiah 58:13-14: "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the Lord honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words, Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken." The Sabbath is a day for a man or woman to build a closer relationship with God. It is part of properly keeping the greatest commandment, to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:36-40).
The weekly Sabbath also helps picture and symbolize God's plan for mankind. When Adam chose to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and thus disobeyed God, he cut himself off from the kind of relationship he could have had with God if he had obeyed. Adam and Eve were driven out from the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:22-24). From that point on, mankind in general has refused to obey God and has chosen instead to rule himself, living his own way, deciding for himself right and wrong. Mr. Armstrong explained that when Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he was taking to himself the prerogative of deciding what is good and evil, what is right and wrong, and mankind has followed that way ever since. Instead of allowing God to set moral standards men are to live by and looking to God's word to see what God says is right and wrong, each person decides for himself or herself what is right or wrong, and then lives according to his or her own standards, not God's.
But man's ways are not God's ways. " 'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts' " (Isaiah 55:8-9). "There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12, also see Proverbs 16:25). It is God who has the right to decide what is right and wrong, what is sin and what is not sin. Man can only decide WHETHER to sin. But Adam and Eve rejected God's rule and chose to decide for themselves, under Satan's influence, their own standards of belief and behavior. They chose to "go their own way", independent of God. And by their choice, they rejected God's government over them. And since all mankind has come from Adam and Eve, by making the decision to reject God's government over them, they made that decision not only for themselves, but for their children and the whole human race which came from them, and all mankind has been suffering the consequences ever since.
By following Satan, Adam and Eve rejected God's rule over them. Man's nature, under Satan's influence, has become evil. Note the following scriptures. "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings" (Jeremiah 17:9-10). In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:11). Notice that it is to His own disciples that Jesus said, "you...being evil". This shows that the evil and wickedness of man's heart is not just the characteristic of a few wicked men, but mankind in general. "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,..." (Romans 3:23). Just as Satan deceived Eve about the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, so Satan deceives the whole world into following the wrong way of life (Revelation 12:9).
God intends that the human race learn a lesson from experience that man's ways, apart from God's rule, lead to suffering, destruction, and death. Mankind is not able to rightly rule itself. "O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps" (Jeremiah 10:23). Man needs the rule and government of God over him for his own good and welfare. This is true individually as well as for the whole human race. God's laws define the way that leads to life and happiness, but men do not obey those laws because they do not believe what God says. So God is allowing man to go his own way, make his own decisions, decide for himself what he thinks is right and wrong, create his own moral standards for belief and behavior, and reap the painful consequences of rejecting God's rule and laws. The result has been war, sickness, suffering, and death from the time of Adam until now. And Jesus prophesied that by the time of the end conditions would be so bad that unless He returned the whole human race would bring destruction upon itself. "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened" (Matthew 24:21-22).
But then, at the time of the end, Jesus Christ will return to the earth in power to establish the Kingdom of God ruling over the nations on the earth, and God's rule will not only save man from destroying himself, but will bring an unprecedented period of peace, prosperity, and happiness to the earth. As God has allowed man to rule himself for six thousand years, under Satan's influence whose ways Adam and Eve chose, so God will establish a period of one thousand years when Christ will rule the earth, teach all mankind God's law, and bring peace, happiness, and prosperity to mankind. "And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years" (Revelation 20:4). "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:33-34). "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9).
Mankind is not learning the lesson now, but man is writing the lesson in painful history, that man's ways apart from God lead to suffering and death. But when God establishes Christ's rule over the earth and at last brings peace and happiness to mankind, mankind will be able to compare the fruits of his own rule with the fruits of God's rule, and then man will begin to learn that God's ways and laws are for man's good and are the true way to happiness.
The Sabbath pictures the millennial rule of Christ. Just as the weekly Sabbath is the last day of a seven day week, so the one thousand year rule of Christ over the earth will be the last one thousand years of a seven thousand year period from the time of Adam. Properly kept, the weekly Sabbath can be a day of delight, a day of rest, and a day of drawing closer to God, just as the millennial reign of Christ will be a day when all mankind learns the ways of God and enjoys peace and happiness.
The Sabbath commandment is also a test commandment. As I mentioned before, men can often figure out on their own that they should not murder, steal, commit adultery, and that they should honor their mother and father, and some have even been able to learn that it is wrong to worship an idol. But a man or woman must trust and believe God in order to begin keeping the Sabbath day according to God's word. This is why it is a test commandment. It tests man's belief and trust in God and in His word. God actually used the Sabbath to test ancient Israel in the wilderness after He brought them out of Egypt. "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily' " (Exodus 16:4-5). Notice that God says He will TEST Israel. "And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. Then he said to them, 'This is what the Lord has said: "Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning." ' So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. Then Moses said, 'Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.' Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, 'How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.' So the people rested on the seventh day" (Exodus 16:22-30). Notice that the Sabbath existed BEFORE the ten commandments were given as recorded in Exodus 20, and BEFORE the old covenant was made with Israel as recorded in Exodus 24:1-8.
I will mention one more purpose of the Sabbath, and that is that it is a special SIGN between God and His people. A sign identifies. The Sabbath sign identifies to God's people who the true God is, and it identifies to God who his people are. Notice Exodus 31:12-17: "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, '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. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed" ' ". It is a sign that identifies God because it points to the day that God rested after His work of creation, and thus identifies the true God as the Creator. Notice Ezekiel 20:18-20: "But I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols. I am the Lord your God: Walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them; hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.' " Notice that God says, "that you may know I am the Lord your God." This shows that the Sabbath day, properly kept, will help the Sabbath-keeper know who the true God is. It also identifies to God those who are willing to obey what he says, so the sign works both ways.
It is also good to point out that Sunday is not God's Sabbath and does not point to the true God of creation. It is the seventh day of the week, not the first, that points to the day God rested from the six days of creation, and it is the seventh day of the seven day week that points to the future millennial rule of Christ for one thousand years following six thousand years of man's rule over himself.
Some people think that the Church changed the Sabbath from the last day of the week to the first day of the week in the first century. Many people think this occurred because of the traditional belief of many churches today that Jesus Christ died on a Friday and was resurrected on a Sunday morning. But God's true Church never tried to change the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week, and the Bible indicates that the Friday-crucifixion, Sunday-resurrection tradition cannot be true.
Jesus said he would be in the grave for three days and three nights. He further indicated that this would be the sign that He was the Messiah. Notice these scriptures. "But He answered and said to them, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth' " (Matthew 12:39-40). "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights" (Jonah 1:17). From Friday night to Sunday morning would be one day and two nights, so that tradition cannot be true.
Many people are confused about this when they read scriptures that indicate that Jesus was buried right before the beginning of a Sabbath, such as the following: "Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb" (Mark 15:42-46). Many assume that the Sabbath referred to above is the weekly Sabbath, that is, the seventh day of the week. But there are annual Sabbaths also, days of commanded rest that are called "Sabbath" that fall on particular dates in the Hebrew calendar and can fall on any day of the week. I don't want to try to cover all the details of the proof of the timing of events that occurred when Jesus was crucified -- I will refer the reader to Mr. Armstrong's booklet, Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath?, and many of his other writings for more details -- but I will cover a few points.
There are seven annual Sabbaths given by God, and six of them fall on particular days of particular months in the Hebrew calendar (all except Pentecost). These are days of rest and assembly, just as the weekly Sabbath is a day of rest and assembly, and they are called "Sabbaths". Information about these days can be found in chapter 23 of Leviticus. These days are called "holy days", "Sabbaths", and except for Atonement they are called "feast days". Notice, for example, that the Day of Atonement, an annual holy day, is called a Sabbath in Leviticus 23:32: "It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath." Also, Leviticus 23:24: "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.' " More information can be found about these days in Deuteronomy chapter 16 and many other places, and I will review these days in detail, and their meaning, in the next section.
Was there an annual Sabbath day around the time of the crucifixion that could fall on a weekday? Yes. There is an annual Sabbath that follows the day of Passover. The Passover day, which is not a Sabbath, but is the day that God commanded ancient Israel to observe by eating the lamb they had slaughtered, is a memorial of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The Passover lamb represents Jesus Christ. "Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7). Here, Christ is called "our Passover", and elsewhere, He is called "the Lamb" as in John 1:29: "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, 'Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world' ". The sacrifice of the lamb in ancient Israel represented the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for the sins of mankind. And in fulfillment of that day, Jesus died on Passover day. Remember, as God counts days, they begin and end at sunset. As God counts days, the day of Passover began at sunset the evening that Jesus ate the Passover meal with His disciples. The night that Jesus ate the Passover with His disciples was same day therefore that he was crucified and died. See Mathew chapters 26 and 27, Mark chapters 14 and 15, Luke chapters 22 and 23, and John chapters 13 through 19. What was the annual holy day, a Sabbath, that follows Passover? The First Day of Unleavened Bread. Notice Leviticus 23:5-7: "On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it."
It was the First Day of Unleavened Bread, an annual Sabbath, not the weekly Sabbath, that was the Sabbath that immediately followed the crucifixion of Christ. An annual Sabbath can fall on any day of the week. Which day of the week did this day fall on when Jesus was crucified?
Jesus said He would be in the grave for three days and three nights, that is, 72 hours. He died and was buried in the afternoon, before sunset, on Passover day (Matthew 27:45-60, Mark 15:33-46, Luke 23:44-54, John 19:31-42). His resurrection would then also be in the afternoon, 72 hours later, in order for Him to be in the grave for three days and three nights as the sign of the prophet Jonah. Keeping in mind that His resurrection would be in the afternoon shortly before sunset, which day of the week was He resurrected?
When Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb as the first day of the week began to dawn, Jesus Christ had already been resurrected, and the angel told the women that He was going before them into Galilee. Notice Matthew 28:1-7: "Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.' " See also Mark 16:1-7, Luke 24:1-7, and John 20:1-2.
Since Jesus was already resurrected when the women went to the grave early Sunday morning, and if Jesus was to be resurrected three days and nights, 72 hours, after a late afternoon burial, then He must have been resurrected no later than late Sabbath afternoon, the seventh day of the week, not the first. Three days prior to this would be Wednesday afternoon, and the First Day of Unleavened Bread, an annual Sabbath, would be on a Thursday that year.
Some people think that in the controversies with the Pharisees, Jesus taught against the Sabbath or taught that the Sabbath was done away. That is not true. Jesus kept His Father's commandments (John 15:10). Jesus attended the synagogue on the Sabbath day as His custom was (Luke 4:16). But the Pharisees added many requirements and traditions to Sabbath observance, which God never intended, and made the Sabbath a burden rather than a day of delight. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and taught that it is lawful to heal and to do good on the Sabbath (Luke 14:1-6, Matthew 12:9-13, Luke 13:10-16, Luke 6:6-10)."
End of quatation from that website.
Many people argue that as long as we keep a sabbath one day a week, it doesn't matter which day. But God commanded the 7th day, not the 1st day and not just any day. He did NOT say pick a day. And he said to keep it holy. He did NOT say keep it holy until any certain event. He never changed it or revoked it.
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Another Alexander the Great to arise in 2010? 
