13 Revelation’s Forgotten History
Discovering Revelation • Sermon • Submitted
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Welcome
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Question 1: How can we be sure the 7-day cycle hasn't been broken? Weren't there lots of calendars and even an 8-day week back in the early church?
I did a little calendar research to understand what’s going on with calendars and I found out some very interesting things.
Keep in mind that this question is about the continuity of the 7-day week, and the question implies that either a particular calendar or an 8-day week may have been responsible for throwing things off kilter for the early Christians.
I want to assure you that this is not the case.
Every society has had some way of telling the seasons. That’s a calendar. However you organize it, a calendar is just a way to figure out the time of the year that you’re in. The primary functions of the calendar are for determining social and religious festivals, and for planting and harvest.
The Jews maintained a solar/lunar calendar that had a 7-day week, and a 30 day month. When the calendar was off by a few days, they would add an extra month into the year to make up for it. That’s called intercalation.
Babylon’s calendar had months that alternated between 29 and 30 days, and they’d do some intercalation from time to time as well. But again, they had a 7-day week. Any added month would continue to follow the same 7-day pattern for the week.
By the time you get to the time of Jesus the world was using the Julian calendar, which made an attempt to regulate the year so that they didn’t have to add a month every few years. Again, they used a 7-day week.
Except there was this group of Italians called the Etruscans who had an additional component to the Roman calendar—an 8-day market cycle. This was alongside the 7-day week, but regulated the trading schedule for a section of Italy. This practice wasn’t widespread, and didn’t impact the Jews or the Christians because it didn’t replace the 7-day cycle, it just added a layer on top of it.
As we discussed last night, when the calendar was adjusted in the 1500’s to fix some inaccuracies in the calculations of the Julian calendar, 10 days were dropped from the calendar, but the 7-day cycle continued unchanged.
From my research, I am confident that the secular authorities haven’t messed with the 7-day cycle. Like modern Jews, we can be confident that the 7th day of the week is Saturday and can be safely observed as the biblical Sabbath.
Question 2: Who is Michael the Archangel? Pt 2
What we know so far is that Michael is called the Chief Prince, the Prince of Daniel’s People, and the Archangel. If there is anyone who’s going to be fighting directly with the Devil in Daniel and Revelation, it’s Michael.
We also know that angels refuse worship because they know they are not the creator.
There’s one more piece to this puzzle and then we’ll see what the Bible seems to indicate about Michael.
There are all kinds of angel messengers in the Bible, but notably Gabriel is one of them. Other angels appear all over the Bible and God promises to send angels as ministering spirits to help us.
But then there’s this one being that is called “the angel of the lord” who seems to be in a whole different category than these other angels — somewhat like Michael.
The first place we read this title: angel of the lord is when Hagar fled from Sarah. The story is in Genesis 16.
In this story The angel of the Lord appears to Hagar by a spring of water and says,
9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.”
10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.”
Notice how the angel of the Lord speaks as though he IS the Lord.
In Exodus 3:2 it becomes a little more dramatic when Moses stepped aside from his sheep to see a bush that was burning but not consumed.
2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
Notice the title is “angel of the Lord,” but shortly there’s a voice calling to Moses out of the bush saying “do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” (v 5). This is a call to worship, and if you think that an angel is asking Moses to worship him, think again because the voice, which has just recently be described as “the angel of the Lord,” says,
6 Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
In Numbers 22:21-35 the Bible tells the story of Balaam who was doing something that God told him not to do. and it says that GOD’s anger was aroused, and the Angel of the Lord stood in Balaam’s way. The donkey saved Balaam from destruction and got a beating for it, so “God” opened the donkey’s mouth. This passage doesn’t equate the angel of the Lord with the God himself like Exodus does, but clearly God is the acting agent—God is angry, god opens the mouth. And so it would seem that this Angel of the Lord is God himself.
To be fair, the Bible does use the phrase “angel of the Lord” to indicate a being that is clearly not God, but usually they are addressed as an angel who is sent by God, or they are called AN angel of the Lord.
But when the Bible uses the phrase THE Angel of the Lord, we find that this being receives worship (note that Gideon even offered sacrifice to this angel of the lord, which the angel of the lord accepted). we find this being speaking on behalf of God, even saying “I am That I am” when Moses asked its name.
So, I conclude that there are occasions in the Bible when The Angel of the Lord IS the LORD.
So, what about Michael?
Here’s the simple connection that I’m going to make and I’ll let you take it wherever you want to from here:
25 “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.
Notice that phrase, “Messiah the Prince.”
And now look at Daniel 12:1
At that time Michael shall stand up, the Great prince who stand watch over the sons of your people...
Back in Genesis God promised that a seed of the woman would do battle with Satan. And every time we see Michael, he’s doing battle with Satan. And then we see that Michael is called ‘your prince’ and the ‘chief prince’, and in the prophecy about the Messiah in Daniel 9 the Messiah is called “Messiah the Prince.” When Jesus comes to earth he does battle with Satan, defeating him for good.
Just to be clear, the Bible says that there is only one name given among men whereby we must be saved — Jesus Christ. But maybe, before Jesus was incarnate as the Son of God and son of man, maybe he was known as Michael — who is like God — the chief prince and ruler over the angels.
I’ll let you decide.
Upcoming Topics
Upcoming Topics
Tonight’s topic: “Revelation’s Forgotten History”. The last time we met, we ripped the lid off of one of the biggest issues in Bible prophecy: God’s right to sit on the throne of the universe. We discovered that God has a right to be worshipped because He is the Creator and the only Source of life.
Tonight, we’re going to continue that study and dig just a little bit deeper. We’re going to go looking for a verse that many people assume is in the Bible - and we’re going to see if they’re right.
Then on Tuesday night, we’re going to change things up a little bit and look at another thread that begins in the book of Genesis and ends in the book of Revelation. It’s one of my favorite subjects, and many people discover that once you understand the river that runs through the whole Bible, it brings you unparalleled peace of mind.
Then on Wednesday night, we’re going to take some of the things we’ve learned, and we’re going to start examining Revelation 13: that incredible passage where a strange-looking beast crawls up out of the sea. This is going to be one of those nights where steady attendance really pays off, and you’re going to see why reading the whole Bible is the only way to make sense of the book of Revelation.
Then on Friday night: what really happens the moment you die? Do you go straight to heaven? Do you spend a little time in purgatory? Does the Bible speak of a place called “Limbo?”
I don’t know about you, but given the fact that everybody else in the human race has died up to this point, personally, I’d like to know what happens! And you’d be amazed at the level of detail the Bible actually provides.
Just to make sure we cover everything, we’re going to be having an extra meeting or two, so this coming Saturday morning at 11 a.m. we’ll be looking at “Secrets of Answered Prayer.” And this is no gimmick: there really IS a key in the Bible that ensures that ALL of your prayers get answered, all the time. I’m sure many of you would be interested in learning about that.
On Saturday night, our subject will be “God’s Strange Act,” which is kind of a strange name for a topic. But if you go back to some of the older translations - like the King James Bible - you’ll see that very phrase connected with something that appears to be completely out of character for God. It’s an important last-day subject . . . and it might just include a study of hellfire.
Then on Sunday night, we’re going to move away from hellfire and study some of the details the Bible provides about heaven. Jesus told us, in the gospel of John, that’s He’s busy preparing a place for us - and on Sunday night, we’ll look at some of the things the Bible says about that place. We’re also going to unpack a really fascinating prophecy that talks about a moment when planet Earth becomes completely desolate.
But tonight, our subject is “Revelation’s Forgotten History.”
We’re going to wrap up the subject that we started last night. And we’re going to really slow down, because I know that some of you have questions, and I want to be really sure that it’s clear from the pages of the Bible. Did you know that something like 3,000 people a day - all over the world - are rediscovering the beauty of the Bible Sabbath?
We’re starting to see what we’ve all been missing out on. But still, some people have questions.
And tonight, before the meeting is over, I’m going to give you a chance to respond and tell me whether or not this is making sense from the Bible.
So let’s pray.
Father in heaven, tonight the only voice we really want to hear is Yours. The only opinion that matters is Yours. So give me the ability to think clearly, to speak clearly, and to stay completely faithful to Your Word. And again, when You speak to our hearts, we pledge that we will follow the Lamb wherever He leads us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Last night, we looked at the biggest issue in the universe - the issue of God’s throne. And as we examined that issue, we reviewed some very ancient history. Way back in the early days of this universe, Lucifer became self-absorbed and jealous, and he began to covet the throne of God. He wanted to be worshipped like the Creator.
But of course, he failed to seize the throne of God, and ever since that day, he’s been trying to distract attention away from God, because he wants to build his own empire.
But it will never work - Lucifer ultimately CAN’T be worshipped - because that’s a privilege that belongs to the Creator alone.
Tonight, we’re going to go back to the Bible for a little more clarity. You and I always want to stand on what the Bible says - when it comes to what we’re going to believe, we want a plain, “It is written,” or “Thus saith the Lord.”
You’ll notice that’s how Jesus responded to the devil in the wilderness: He always quoted Scripture, and that’s what WE need to do too. Ultimately, the truth is not found in books, or movies, or sermons. The truth is found in the Word of God.
In the Bible, there’s this story about Pontius Pilate, a Roman governor who condemned Jesus to die. And history tells us that Pontius Pilate was an exceptionally brutal and cold-hearted man. There’s a reference, in the 13th chapter of Luke, to an incident where Pilate mingled the blood of Galileans with their sacrifices - and historically, we know what happened: he ordered his soldiers to disguise themselves and hide in the crowd of worshippers - and at a given signal, they drew out their swords and killed them all.
So we know that Pilate was not the kind of man to be easily swayed by emotion. But at one point in his career, he came face to face with Jesus . . . and that moment, he wavered. He hesitated - which was completely out of character.
And then he asked a very important question - maybe the most important question ever asked.
John 18:37, 38
Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are you a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born,
and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.
The truth about what? The truth about God. Jesus came to reveal the Father’s name - or the Father’s character - to the world. “If you have seen Me,” Jesus said, “you have seen the Father.”
Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” Pilate said to Him, “what is truth?”
That might be the most important question in the world - especially in a world that says there is no such thing as absolute truth.
In a world where someone is deliberately trying to deceive the human race - trying to distract our attention away from God - that might be the most important question ever asked.
You and I can’t afford to take peoples’ word for anything. We have to know what the truth is, and that means we have to go to the Bible.
So how can you know for sure if something is true? Well, God actually makes it pretty easy: the Bible gives us three great standards of truth. It gives us three reference points, which means we can triangulate our position and know exactly where we are.
The first great standard of truth comes from the mouth of Jesus Himself. This is Jesus speaking to Thomas - a man who was wrestling with doubt.
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. no one comes to the Father except through Me.”
The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the truth. So if something is true, you should be able to back it up with Jesus, the ultimate Source of truth.
That’s the first great standard.
The second great standard also comes from the words of Jesus, and you can find it in John chapter 17:
John 17:17
Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth.
God’s Word is the truth! The Bible says, in Isaiah 8:20: “If they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.”
If something is true, especially in the world of religion, you ought to be able to back it up with the Word of God. That’s why the devil hates the Bible - it’s because he’s a liar, and the Bible exposes his lies. That’s why he’s always raising doubts about the Bible - putting question marks over the clearest statements from God.
“Did God REALLY say that? Are you sure? Will you REALLY die if you eat from that tree? Come on - you can’t take this too seriously - everybody has a different opinion, and you can never know who’s right!”
But Jesus says the Word of God is the truth.
Now that’s two great standards of truth - Jesus Christ and the Word of God. And the book of Psalms gives us another one:
Psalm 119:142
Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth.
God’s moral law is always the truth, because it’s a striking picture of His character. The law of God shows us what God is actually like - and God never changes. So if God is the truth, then His law is the truth.
And there you have it: three great biblical standards of truth: Jesus Christ is the truth, the Word of God is the truth, and the law of God is the truth. If you have three reference points, you can’t go wrong. It’s like putting out fence posts. One single fence post doesn’t tell you if you’re going in the right direction - and two fence posts is better, but it’s still not absolutely certain. If you have three fence posts, then you know for sure if you’re going in a straight line.
So now let’s take these three key reference points and triangulate our position on the stuff we learned last night.
The last time we met, we searched through the Bible and we saw that God took the seventh day at creation, and He established it as a permanent memorial. He did three things with that day: He rested on it, He blessed it, and He sanctified it, or set it apart for holy use.
And then we discovered that nowhere in the Bible is there any record of God changing His mind about that. But just to be sure, let’s check the Sabbath against these three big standards of truth.
Standard number one: Jesus Christ. Do you find the Sabbath in the life and teachings of Jesus? Yes, you do! First of all, Jesus IS the Creator - you’ll find that in John 1, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1 - so we know that Jesus is the One who blessed the seventh day in the first place.
But we also looked at this verse last night:
Luke 4:16
So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
The Bible teaches that Jesus grew up keeping the Sabbath. It was His custom - and He never anticipated a change.
In fact, in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus looked forty years into the future and He STILL didn’t see a change.
Matt 24:20
And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.
If you read all the way through the gospels, you make an incredible discovery. Not only did Jesus NOT change the Sabbath, He even went to great lengths to correct peoples’ understanding about the Sabbath. After the children of Israel came back from Babylonian captivity, some of them became really paranoid - they didn’t want to make the same kinds of mistakes that brought about the captivity in the first place.
So groups like the Pharisees went out of their way to make all kinds of extra rules to make sure that nobody even came CLOSE to breaking the Sabbath. For example, they had a rule against spitting on the Sabbath, because you might accidentally hit a blade of grass and irrigate it, which would be farm labor on the Sabbath!
Another rule said that you had to be really careful about eating eggs that were laid on the Sabbath, because if it came from an egg-laying chicken, that chicken had worked on the Sabbath and broken the law. But if the egg came from a chicken being raised for meat, then the egg was not the chicken’s primary job, and it DIDN’T break the Sabbath, and you could safely eat it.
Some of the rules were ridiculous - they were man-made, and there were more than 600 of them. There were so many rules, that some people hated the Sabbath. So in passages like Matthew 12, Jesus starts to correct their understanding. “The Sabbath is made for man,” He said, “and not man for the Sabbath.”
So yes, the Sabbath was absolutely there in the life and ministry of Jesus.
And of course, we also discovered that Jesus is LORD of the Sabbath day:
Matt 12:8
For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.
That’s standard number one: the life and teachings of Jesus - and it all checks out.
Standard number two was the Word of God - and there’s just no question about this one.
The Sabbath was there, in the Garden of Eden, before the human race ever sinned against God. In Genesis chapter 2, God rested on the Sabbath day, He blessed the Sabbath day, and He sanctified it.
Last time we met, we also saw that the Sabbath was in existence BEFORE God wrote down a copy of His Ten Commandments and gave them to Moses on Mount Sinai. That happens in Exodus chapter 20 - but in Exodus chapter 16, the Israelites already knew that the seventh day was the Sabbath.
Exodus 16:26
“Six days you shall gather (manna),” the Bible says, “but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”
Then of course, the Sabbath appears in the heart of the Ten Commandments, and the Israelites went on keeping it (or sometimes breaking it) for a long, long time.
We saw that the Sabbath was there in the life of Jesus, and He even predicted it would still be in existence some forty years after He went back to heaven.
Then we saw that the New Testament church went on keeping the Sabbath - you find it all through the book of Acts - and there was no mention of a change.
And then we discovered, in Isaiah chapter 66, that God’s people will go on keeping the Sabbath for all eternity AFTER Jesus comes the second time. It said, “From one Sabbath to the next shall all flesh come to worship ME!”
So does the Sabbath square up with the Word of God? Absolutely.
Standard number three: the Law of God. This one is really obvious . . .
. . . because there it is, in the very heart of the Ten Commandments. What’s really interesting is that the Ten Commandments were written on two tables: the first four commandments show us our duty to God, and the last six commandments teach us how to treat other people.
That’s why Jesus summed up all the commandments the way He did: “Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, soul and mind” - the first four commandments - “and love your neighbor as yourself” - the last six.
And in the first four commandments, which teach us our duty to God, you find a command to keep the Sabbath holy. Read text, click and keep reading.
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.
There it is, in all three standards of truth: the life and teachings of Jesus, the Word of God, and the Law of God.
Now I want to switch gears a little because most people are convinced that Sunday worship comes from the Bible. So let’s take a look at that.
Sunday is the first day of the week - and there are eight passages in the New Testament that specifically mention the first day of the week. So what I thought we would do is look at them all.
The first one comes from John chapter 20, right after the crucifixion of Christ.
John 20:19
Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where
the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, jesus came and stood in the midst, and said tot them, “Peace be with you.”
So there it is: a worship service on the first day of the week!
Or is that what it says? Why were they gathered? Was it really a worship service?
the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, jesus came and stood in the midst, and said tot them, “Peace be with you.”
It says they were “assembled for fear of the Jews.” At this point, they don’t even KNOW that Jesus has come back from the dead, so there’s no conceivable way they’re keeping the day in honor of the resurrection!
The disciples are terrified - they’re hiding - because they’re not sure when the mob might come back for them and nail THEM to crosses!
So let’s be honest with the text: it mentions the first day of the week, but does it say anything about abolishing the Sabbath or changing it to the first day of the week? No.
The second passage comes from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church.
1 Cor 16:1, 2
Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: on the first day of the week let each one of you
lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.
“Well, that settles it! They took up an offering on the first day of the week, so obviously, they were all in church, and the Sabbath was changed.”
But is that what it actually says? Let’s take a good look at this.
lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.
There was a famine going on in the city of Jerusalem, and Paul tells them to “lay something aside” for famine relief - so that when he comes, he won’t have to run around collecting money from people. These people aren’t in church - they’re at work, or in their homes.
In fact, many translations of the Bible simply say “lay something aside” “privately” or “at home.” It says nothing about bringing the money to church. This is something people did when they went back to work on the first day of the week. They did it AT work - and what Paul is teaching them is to think of God first. It’s a biblical principle. “Honor God with the firstfruits of your increase,” the Bible says in Proverbs 3:9.
When you start the business week, that’s when you set something aside.
But let’s be really honest with the text: is there anything there that says the Sabbath is abolished, or transferred to the first day of the week? No.
Passage number three comes from Acts chapter 20.
Acts 20:7-11
Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day,
spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together.
And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking,
he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, “Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.”
It’s a really remarkable story - Eutychus is healed - he is raised from the dead.
now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed.
Now doesn’t that prove that the early disciples had a worship service on the first day of the week? When it says that they “broke bread” together - wasn’t that a reference to the communion service?
Well, Acts chapter 2 says the disciples broke bread together every day - so even if it WAS a communion service, it still doesn’t establish a change of the Sabbath.
Let’s think about this very carefully. Did the story mention a transfer of the Sabbath? Absolutely not - and we’re talking about changing one of the Ten Commandments, so you’d think there would be SOME mention if that’s what happened.
When you’re reading the Bible, you have to be very careful that you don’t read something into the story that simply isn’t there.
Let’s look at the facts. The Bible says that Paul preached “until midnight,” and then after Eutychus came back from the dead, he continued preaching until the sun came up.
Now some people will tell you, because it mentions the first day of the week, that Paul started preaching Sunday afternoon, and he kept on preaching until Monday morning.
But that’s modern, western thinking. You and I calculate our days from midnight to midnight. But in the Bible, they did it differently: they measured days from sunset to sunset.
That’s why Genesis chapter 1 says “evening and morning were the first day,” and “evening and morning were the second day.” The day was finished when the sun went down, and evening was actually the first part of the next day.
That’s why the Sabbath actually begins on Friday night when the sun sets. In Leviticus 23:32, the Bible says, “from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.”
So in Paul’s day, the first day of the week really started on OUR Saturday night, when the sun went down - and that’s why some modern translations (like the New English Bible) actually say the story happened on Saturday night. Let me show you:
Acts 20:7 (NEB)
On the Saturday night, in our assembly for the breaking of bread, Paul, who was about to leave the next day, addressed them, and went on speaking until midnight.
Once you understand THAT - once you understand that this story actually begins on Saturday evening - then it’s really simple to figure it out.
The believers have gathered for a farewell party, because Paul is getting ready to leave in the morning. He preaches Saturday night - Eutychus is raised from the dead around midnight, and then Paul continues preaching until Sunday morning.
Then on Sunday morning, the same chapter tells us that Paul walked some 20 miles to go and catch a ship. Now, if the new Sabbath was Sunday, walking 20 miles was a really lousy way to keep it. That’s not a day of rest!
This has nothing to do with the weekly day of worship. This is a farewell service for Paul. There’s nothing here to indicate that the Sabbath was abolished.
The fourth text comes from Luke chapter 23, right after the death of Jesus.
Luke 23:56-24:1
Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Now on the first day of the week,
very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.
Let’s be honest - was there anything there to indicate that the Sabbath was abolished? No. On the contrary, it says they “rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.”
Let’s move on to text number five:
Mark 16:1, 2
Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.
Again, was there anything there? No. All it says was that they visited the tomb on the first day of the week. There is no mention of the Sabbath, or a change of the Sabbath.
Text number six comes from the same chapter.
Mark 16:9
Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.
Again: was there anything there about changing the Sabbath? Absolutely not. Text number seven:
John 20:1
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
Was there anything there to suggest that the Sabbath has been abolished or changed? No. Text number eight:
Matt 28:1
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.
Anything there? No.
And that’s it. That’s every single text from the New Testament that mentions the first day of the week.
And there is not one indication anywhere in the Bible that the Sabbath has been transferred to the first day of the week.
But maybe, if it hasn’t been transferred, it’s actually been abolished. Maybe God just did away with it.
Aren’t there passages in the Bible that clearly say the Sabbath has been abolished?
No. There aren’t. That’s not even possible, because the law is a transcript of the character of God, and that can’t be changed.
But what about Colossians chapter 2? Doesn’t THAT say the Sabbath is abolished? Well, let’s look at it.
Some people find this one a little confusing.
Colossians 2:16-17
So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
What are we supposed to make of that? Well, first of all, did Paul actually say the Sabbath was abolished? No. You won’t find that in the text. So let’s take a good look at what he IS saying. Let’s go through this one more time.
So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
Now pay attention very carefully, because what Paul is saying is VERY important.
Why do you think Paul talks about Sabbath DAYS - in the plural? It’s because there was more than one kind of Sabbath.
The word “Sabbath” simply means “rest,” and obviously, that’s what God did on the seventh-day Sabbath He established at creation: He rested. And then He commanded US to rest. That was a weekly, 7-day cycle of work and rest.
But there were other holidays in the Jewish calendar where people also rested - they took the day off - so they also called THOSE days a “sabbath” - not because they were the same thing, but because they rested.
And those OTHER Sabbaths didn’t come weekly - they came YEARLY, based on the cycles of the seasons - like Christmas or your birthday. They were the feast days that we looked at when we studied Daniel chapter 8: the Passover, Pentecost, the Day of Atonement, and so on.
These were annual feasts that all pointed forward to Jesus. They were shadows of something to come.
Notice how the Bible describes the Day of Atonement:
Leviticus 23:32
It (the Day of Atonement) shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls.
These special days came once a year, and they were also called “sabbaths.” They weren’t THE sabbath - the seventh day - but they WERE sabbaths in the sense that you took the day off. On some of these festivals, more than one day in a row would be considered a day of rest—a sabbath.
And all these annual sabbaths were part of the ceremonial law, and they involved special rituals and sacrifices, and food and drink offerings, and sometimes fasting:
Here’s how the book of Leviticus describes it.
Leviticus 23:37, 38
These are the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering
made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day.
These were special sabbaths that involved sacrificial rituals, and they were clearly part of the ceremonial law. They were shadows of the cross, prophecies that pointed forward to the real Lamb of God.
And the book of Hebrews tells us that once Jesus came, those shadows were no longer needed. In fact, the book of Hebrews tells us EXACTLY which law was a shadow - not the moral law - but the ceremonial law:
Hebrews 10:1
For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.
Now: which law is this talking about? It’s not the moral law, because the moral law never commanded sacrifices. The moral law is not a shadow - and the seventh-day Sabbath is not a shadow pointing forward to the cross.
It’s a memorial pointing back to Creation.
Now let’s go back to Colossians chapter 2 and look at it one more time.
So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
Which law is Paul talking about? Which law had food, and drink, and festivals? It’s the ceremonial law - the one that pointed forward to the cross and became unnecessary when the real Lamb of God came to give His life.
We all know THAT law is gone. That’s what Paul is talking about.
There’s one more text in Romans chapter 14 that we should probably look at.
Let’s read it all the way through.
Romans 14:5, 6
One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.
He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it.
Now: doesn’t that fly in the face of everything we’ve been studying? Does that say that the Sabbath is optional? “If you want to keep it, fine - and if you don’t want to keep it, that’s fine, too.”
But let me ask you a rather important question: did Paul even MENTION the Sabbath? No, he didn’t. You have to ASSUME that if you want this to be about the Sabbath. But if you read the whole thing, you quickly discover: that’s not what Paul is talking about.
Let’s read the rest of the verse:
He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.
Now Paul is talking about eating, and there’s nothing in the fourth commandment that talks about food.
The biggest issues in the early church had nothing to DO with the Sabbath. Read the whole New Testament very carefully. The biggest issues had to do with Jewish rituals and ceremonies. They had to do with the ceremonial issues: circumcision, feast days, fast days, ceremonial washing of hands, and food offered to idols.
This has nothing to do with the Sabbath. In fact, if you back up a little bit and read the whole chapter, this becomes really obvious.
Look at what it says in verse one.
Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.
Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.
Again, this has nothing to do with the seventh-day Sabbath. There’s nothing in the commandment that has to do with eating or not eating.
Paul is talking about ceremonial issues. And if you read First Corinthians 8, you’ll see that one of the biggest disputes of the day was over whether or not it was okay to eat food offered to idols. Some people said it WAS okay, because idols were just meaningless pieces of wood, and other people said it WASN’T okay, because idols were false gods.
And the conclusion they came to was simple: each to their own. Follow your own conscience. And that’s what’s going on here in Romans chapter 14. It’s talking about ceremonial days, and ceremonial feasting and fasting. “Do whatever seems appropriate,” Paul says, “because it’s optional.”
But there’s nothing optional about the Ten Commandments.
So there it is: there is nothing in the New Testament that even remotely suggests that the Sabbath was transferred or abolished. So, of course, the big question is:
How did it change? How did practically the whole Christian world manage to get this wrong?
Well, there’s a big hint in Revelation 13: it says all the world would eventually wonder after the beast. So we know that at some point, the whole world WILL be wrong.
Paul said that the mystery of lawlessness was a major problem, and that it would grow and grow until the final crisis when the antichrist was revealed.
Biblically speaking, there is no safety in numbers. If the whole world is doing something, that doesn’t mean it’s right. For the Christian, there is only safety in the Word of God.
So how did it change?
Last night, I gave you a sneak peek. We looked at the Convert’s Catechism, which made a rather startling admission:
Question: Which is the Sabbath day?
Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.
Now THAT is very honest. It tells the truth: God didn’t change the Sabbath day - WE did it. And we did it without permission.
Last night, we saw how Cardinal Gibbons agrees:
“You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday.”
The Cardinal is absolutely right: if you want to live by the Bible, there is no question that Saturday is the Sabbath.
So how did it happen? Well, let’s review some history.
We’ve already studied that - true to Paul’s prediction - there was a period of compromise in the history of the Christian church. After Constantine stopped the persecution against the Christian church, and he actually began to FAVOR Christianity, the church became quite popular.
People joined for all the wrong reasons, and that wasn’t good for the culture or doctrine of the church.
The pagans who joined for political benefit wanted to keep a lot of the paganism they actually preferred, and some of their beliefs started to show up in the church. And in order to keep the peace, instead of dealing with pagan practices, the church actually started “Christianizing” some of the pagan artifacts to let people keep them.
So, for example, in the city of Rome, there’s a very old pagan temple known as the Pantheon. It’s a magnificent structure that was dedicated to numerous pagan gods. (That’s what the word “pantheon” means - “all gods”). But after Christianity became popular, they converted it to a Christian church, and today, it serves as the final resting place for a lot of notable Christians.
Here’s another example. If you visit St. Peter’s Basilica, just to the right of Bernini’s canopy, you’ll see a very old statue of Peter. Everybody KNOWS that it’s Peter . . . except for one little problem. A lot of historians will tell you that the statue actually predates the Christian faith - and that means it CAN’T be Peter.
So who is it? It’s actually Jupiter, the chief of the Roman gods - but after Christianity becomes the religion of the empire, you can’t have a statue of Jupiter in the church, so they simply relabeled it, and now it’s Peter.
Visit the city of Rome, and you’ll see thousands of examples. After Constantine, a lot of pagan artifacts and beliefs simply got repurposed. And one of the things the pagans of Rome LOVED was the first day of the week. It was the day they worshipped the Sun, which is why it’s still called the “Sun Day.”
It was a day when the pagans loved to party - and they wanted to keep it.
So - to make a long story short - there was tension between the sincere Christians and the pagans who joined for all the wrong reasons.
History records that most of the Christians kept the Sabbath on the seventh day - hundreds of years after Jesus. But many of the new Christians wanted to keep partying on Sunday.
And to complicate matters even more: by the time you get to the fourth century, some Christians had already gone over to the first day of the week, because it helped them fit in to Roman society and helped distance them from the Jews.
So in the city of Rome, you really have two groups. Sincere Bible Christians, and half-hearted pagan converts. And those two groups coexist until . . .
. . . eventually, Constantine passed a law that enforced worship on the first day of the week. That happened in 321 AD. Here’s what the law said:
“On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all the workshops be closed.”
So Constantine passes a law - and later on, as Sunday worship becomes more and more acceptable to Christians, the church does the very same thing. They pass a resolution enforcing the observance of Sunday, and they did that . . .
. . . in 364 AD, at the Council of Laodicea. Here’s what they said - and remember, this is more than three hundred years after Jesus:
“Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day, but the Lord’s day they shall especially honour.”
Now, all of a sudden, Sunday is “the Lord’s Day.” They call keeping the Sabbath “Judaizing” - hundreds of years after Jesus, and hundreds of years AFTER the New Testament was written.
So here’s what I want you to think about. If Christians actually started keeping the first day of the week all the way back in the beginning - in the days of the apostles - then why did they NEED this law?
It’s because Christians were still keeping the Sabbath in the fourth century. If they weren’t, you wouldn’t need this!
The historian and Catholic priest James Carroll tells us why they thought they needed this law:
“For centuries, Christians’ celebration of Easter coincided exactly with Passover, and their observance of the Sabbath continued to take place on Saturday.”
They only passed the law because faithful Christians were still keeping Sabbath - on the seventh day of the week. Just as the Bible predicted, the church began to compromise, and church leaders started to think of themselves as more authoritative than the Bible.
Remember what the historian Heinrich Holtzmann told us in his book, “Canon and Tradition.”
“The authority of the church could therefore not be bound to the authority of Scriptures, because the Church had changed… the Sabbath into Sunday, not by command of Christ, but by its own authority.”
Do you see it? God didn’t change the Sabbath - we did. And the Bible predicted it. In fact, when we get to Daniel 7, you’re going to see this even more clearly. It clearly predicts that out of the Western Roman Empire, there would be a power that . . .
. . . “shall intend to change times and law.”
Bible prophecy was clear: somebody was going to tamper with God’s law and God’s times. It just happens to be US.
Let that sink in: it’s remarkable. WE did it. The Bible spoke of a great falling away, and it spoke of the mystery of “lawlessness” - a disregard for the law of God - and here we are. It was absolutely right.
And this is something the historians know.
Father T. Enright, early last century, in the Worker’s Bulletin said:
Sunday is not the Sabbath. Saturday is the Sabbath. Any schoolboy knows that Sunday is the first day of the week. I have
repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who will prove by their Bible alone that Sunday is the day we are bound to keep, and no one has called for the money...
Do you know WHY nobody ever collected the money? It’s because the Bible teaches the seventh-day Sabbath.
Stephen Keenan, in his doctrinal catechism, asks this question:
Question
Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?
Answer
Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday,
the first day of the week for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural evidence.
How much scriptural evidence? None. He’s absolutely right.
Tonight, we started with a very big question: what is truth?
You don’t find truth in man-made traditions; you find it in the Word of God.
Jesus once said, “In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:9)
That’s not what I want. I want the truth, and the truth is found in Jesus.
I know it can be a little unsettling when you first discover this, but then you need to remember the promise of God:
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.
You know, personally, I’ve discovered that this is absolutely true. This is a promise you can take to the bank.
I know a man who lives in Kentucky where I grew up. He and his young family were nominal Christians, but he began to study his Bible and be convicted to give His heart and life fully to Jesus. One day, he came across the subject of the Sabbath and was convicted to follow God’s word.
At the time he was the owner of a successful used car lot with four or five mechanics and at least as many sales people working for him. If you tracked their sales, Saturday alone was almost always close to equal in sales with the rest of the weekdays combined. So, when he decided to keep the Sabbath and honor the commandment that says not to make your employees work on the Sabbath, he was putting his livelihood, and the livelihood of the rest of his employees on the line.
Would God supply his needs? Or would he loose the business?
He determined to honor God and let God be in charge of His success or failure. So he had a meeting with his staff, explained his conviction, and then closed the shop on Saturday and opened it on Sunday.
In the first month sales dropped for a short period of time and then picked back up and then started growing. Sunday became their highest grossing day, and beat out Saturday for profitability.
Not only did this man experience financial success, but he saw God interacting with him in real life. He tested God’s promises and he found God to be an engaged, and loving Lord.
I know that for a lot of you, this is brand new - but tonight, God is asking you to trust Him - to try Him out and see if His promise is true. Tonight, He’s offering to help you ride on the high places of the earth and experience Him in ways you never dreamed possible.
Right now, the whole world is tired. Creation is groaning under the weight of our sins, and our hearts are aching for the kingdom of God. And right now, even before Jesus comes, God says He has a little piece of heaven you can enjoy every single week.
God is offering you everything. He created you. He gave His life for you. He offers you a personal relationship with the Creator of the universe - and He also offers rest.
“Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
A lot of people wonder where God is - they wonder why they don’t sense His presence, or why they never seem to hear from Him. Tonight, God is offering you the most precious gift any Father can offer: the gift of time. He’s offering you a weekly appointment: and it’s yours for the taking.
Tonight, I promised you an opportunity to respond. So right now, the ushers are going to bring you a card, and I’d like you to look at it with me. They’re going to drop off a stack of cards at each row, and I’d like everybody to take one and pass the rest along.
And this isn’t something you HAVE to do - but I would like to know: was this clear? Did it makes sense from the Bible? And if it is clear, have you given some thought as to what this might mean for you?
I’m going to ask the ushers to move quickly, and then we’ll look at the card.
Let’s take a look at this together. Again, you don’t HAVE to do this, but I’m pretty sure there’s something here for everybody.
The first line says, “I have heard about the Sabbath Day before.” I just want to know if this is something that was entirely new to you, or if this is information you’ve heard before.
The second line says, “It is clear to me from the Bible that Saturday, the Seventh day, is God’s Sabbath.” If it’s been clear to you, from the pages of the Bible, that the seventh day Just check yes, or no. If it’s not clear, that fine, I’d really appreciate knowing that.
The third line says, “Pray for me. I am considering what this means for me.” In a culture where Sabbath is not a prominent idea, many times taking a step in faith to obey God out of love, means you have to adjust your work life and home life and relationships. It’s understandable if that’s something you need to take some time to figure out. If you’d like pray as you go through that process, please check that box.
The last line says, “I would like more information.” I’ve mentioned before that when we are faced with God’s will from His Word, we need to respond. If everything is clear, then take a step of faith. If it’s not yet clear, then keep digging. If you’d like more resources on this subject, then check that box and I’ll make sure to get with you to help you find the resources you need.
After you’ve filled it out, go ahead and write your name on that card and let me know who you are, because I really DO pray for every one of you by name - and I want to pray for you. Let me know what you’re thinking.
Take a minute to finish, and then ushers - go ahead and collect those cards, because we’re going to have a special time of prayer.
Would you stand with me tonight as we close in prayer?
Father in heaven, it’s been a busy couple of nights studying Your Word, and the picture is clear: You are real, and You deserve to be on the throne of the universe and the throne of our hearts. Tonight, we believe in You. We believe that You are the One who made us - the One who redeemed us - and the One who’s coming back.
Tonight, give us the courage in these last days to follow You completely. Thank You for the people who are here tonight. Thank You for their earnest desire to know You better and follow You more completely. Bless our understanding, and continue to pull us into a deeper and deeper relationship with You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Tuesday night, we’re going to move on to another subject: A River Runs Through It. Thank you for coming - good night, and God bless!
Remember: never argue. Always smile. And if someone doesn’t like the Sabbath - if they appear agitated - give them room to disagree. A good approach is, “I really have nothing to urge, except that you check your Bible and follow what IT says. If you go home and study this out and find the Bible absolutely doesn’t teach it, then you need to follow your conscience.”
Always stick to the positive - and if someone has a lot of questions, offer to meet with them. Make an appointment.