How Sunday Came Into The Church

HOW SUNDAY CAME INTO THE CHURCH

A. WHEN WE URGE UPON OUR SUNDAY FRIENDS THE KEEPING OF THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH, WE ARE TOLD THAT SUNDAY IS THE CHRISTIAN REST DAY; THAT OUR LORD INSTITUTED THE OBSERVANCE OF THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK TO

COMMEMORATE THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST

1. Some claim that our Lord gave a direct command to keep Sunday:

2. Others say that the apostles instituted the observance of Sunday, being guided by the Holy Spirit:

3. And some Sunday friends maintain that Sunday, and not Saturday, is the seventh day of the week:

B. HOW SUNDAY CAME INTO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

1. It is not of biblical origin:

a. Christ never, to the best of my knowledge, even mentioned the first day of the week, much less set it aside as a day of rest.

b. This fact is important! For Sunday to be the Christian rest day it must be instituted by Christ, the Author of Christianity.

2. For Christ to set the first day of the week apart for rest, He would have to change the Ten Commandments:

a. The fourth commandment teaches us to keep holy the seventh and last day of the week, and not the first day - Ex. 20:8-11

b. His attitude toward the law, of which the seventh day Sabbath is a part, is stated very plainly in the Bible - Compare Matt. 5:17-20 with Luke 16:17; Isa. 42:18-21; Matt. 12:8-12; 24:20; Mark 2:27, 28; Luke 6:5; Matt. 22:34-38; Luke 4:16

3. The disciples had neither the power nor the mind to tamper with the law of the Ten Commandments, of which the seventh day Sabbath is a part:

a. They were Sabbath keepers - Luke 23:56; Acts 13:42-44; 16:13

b. They gave strong emphasis to the keeping of the Ten Commandments - Luke 23:56; Rom. 3:31; 8:1-3; 1 John 2:4-7; 5:4, 5; Rev. 12:17; 14:12; Jas. 2:8-11; Heb. 10:15, 16

c. No, neither Christ nor the apostles instituted Sunday observance.

C. HOW SUNDAY CAME INTO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

1. Bible prophecy foretold:

a. A falling away from the truth - Acts 20:26-31; 2 Tim. 4:1-4

b. It focuses upon a counterfeit system which would attempt to alter God’s weekly Sabbath.

2. The prophet Daniel saw this power which, according to Bible prophecy, would attempt to "change times and laws": Dan. 7:25

a. It would speak great words against the Most High - Dan. 7:25; 2 Thess. 2:3-7

b. Wear out the saints of the Most High - Rev. 13:7; 17:4-7

c. Attempt to change the law of God - Dan. 7:25; Ps. 94:20

3. The church of Rome boastfully acknowledges:

a. That she substituted Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh and last day of the week.

b. She altered the reading of the Ten Commandments - See her official Catechism.

c. Her official books are full of very elaborate explanations as to why she made the change from Saturday to Sunday.

d. Many Protestant church leaders are fully cognizant of this crime by Rome.

4. But these Bible facts remain:

a. That Saturday, the last day of the week, is the Lord’s day, the Christian Sabbath.

b. It was made for man by Jesus Christ when He created the world in six days and rested on the seventh - Compare Gen. 2:2, 3 with John 1:1-3; Col. 1:15-17; Eph. 3:9; Heb. 1:1-3

c. He and the prophets call the seventh day of the week "the Lord’s day" - Ex. 20:8-11; Isa. 58:13; Mark 2:28; Matt. 12:8; Luke 6:5; Rev. 1:10

d. A Sabbath reform was foretold in Bible prophecy - Isa. 56:1-7; 58:12-14; Acts 3:19-21

e. Sunday observance is a commandment of man and those who keep it make void the fourth commandment - Mark 7:7-13

f. We, on our part, say "we ought to obey God rather than man" - Acts 4:19; 5:29