THE SABBATH AND THE CHURCH

The word "Sabbath" appears 137 times in 116 verses of the King James Version of the Bible.  Of those, fifty-five, or two fifths, are found in the New Testament.  Of course, this information is well known by the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Seventh Day Adventists, the Hebrew-Roots Movement, etc., and is used to support their insistence that Christians need to worship on Saturday, the seventh day of the week. 

However, I would like you to note that of those fifty-five times, fifty-four are found in the Gospels and in Acts (even one of those is translated "the first day of the week" - Acts 20:7), and the word appears only one time in the rest of the New Testament; it is Colossians 2:16 which reads:  "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days."  In other words, what Christians eat (Acts 10:9-16); drink (1 Tim. 5:23); holidays (the most important of which, Passover, is mentioned only once with reference to the Church - 1 Cor. 5:7)!  Also, one would think that if Sabbath Day worship was required of Christians, it would be mention far more than once!

As I just mentioned, the other fifty-four times the word "Sabbath" is found, are in the Gospels and Acts.  Most honest Bible students will acknowledge that the Gospels are focused upon Jesus Christ offering Himself, under the Jewish Law (Gal. 4:4-5) as Israel's Messiah.  The fact that Israel rejected Him and was instrumental in having Rome crucify Him, clearly shows that the prophecies concerning the Messianic Kingdom, are yet to be fulfilled.  John wrote:  "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (Jn. 1:11).  The Lord's First Coming was as the Pascal Lamb of God (Jn. 1:29, 36; 1 Cor. 5:7).  When He returns to literally fulfill the remaining prophecies, He will come as the "Lion of the Tribe of Judah" (Rev. 5:5), and establish His Davidic Kingdom (Isa. 7:13-25; Jer. 33:14-26; Ezek. 34:20-24; etc.)!  The Sabbath is part of the Law.

On the other hand, Christians assembling on the first day of the week is found in two verses:  "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight" (Acts 20:7) and "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come" (1 Cor. 16:2).  The first day of the week practice honors two significant events:  the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Mt. 28:1; Mk. 16:2, 9; Lk. 24:1; Jn. 20:1, 19), and Pentecost, the birth of the Church (Acts 2:1-47)!

If you believe you should worship on the first day of the week,

or you believe you should do so on the seventh day of the week,

I praise the Lord that you recognize Jesus is to be worshipped!