Why I Keep the Saturday Sabbath

August 27, 2014

Why would anyone keep the Saturday Sabbath in the year 2014 and in Northwest Arkansas even? Isn’t it an archaic law that was done away with? These are the reasons why I keep the Sabbath holy and attend Sabbath services every week in Cave Springs, Arkansas:

1. Because it was instituted at creation

Long before there was an Abraham or a Jew, and before it was a thing between God and Israel, it was between God and mankind.

Mark:2:27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.

2. Because Jesus kept it

He tried to show the Pharisees that their added rules, which they themselves did not follow, had made the Sabbath a burden on the people, but not once did He say don’t keep the Sabbath. He continued to keep the Sabbath and yearly Sabbaths throughout His life.

3. Because the Apostle Paul kept it

Some try to say Paul changed the worship to Sunday, but a mere man does not have the authority to make a day holy. Paul would not be a true follower of Christ if He changed the day of worship from the day that Jesus kept. Acts:17:2, states that it was Paul’s custom to go to a synagogue on the Sabbath.

4. Because the Bible never changed it to Sunday

Some use Acts 20 to say this changed the day of worship. This just shows Paul having a meal, and speaking with some of the leading men before he was to leave on Monday.

Some use the resurrection of Christ on Sunday to say this sanctified the day – but when the women came to the tomb on the 1st day of the week – while it was still dark – Christ had already risen.

There were two Sabbaths in the week that Christ was crucified. There was the yearly Sabbath of the First Day of Unleavened Bread (which comes right after Passover) and the weekly Sabbath. The day they were hurrying to bury Him before was one of the yearly Sabbaths. You cannot get three days and three nights from Good Friday to Easter Sunday –and that was the only sign of His messiahship that Jesus gave, that he would be three days and three nights in the grave. I believe He was a full three days and three nights in the grave, just as He said He would be.

5. Because the followers of Christ continued to keep the weekly and annual Sabbaths

The day of Pentecost (which means ”count 50″, after the method used to determine what day it falls on) was called the Feast of Weeks in the Old Testament, because you count seven weeks plus one day. It was not simply a onetime occurrence in Acts 2. It was a yearly Sabbath. They also kept the feast where you remove leaven (Days of Unleavened Bread) and also the Feast of Booths, or temporary tabernacles, in Jerusalem each year. That is why I keep these festivals too.

Acts:18:21 …but [Paul] took leave of them, saying, “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, God willing.” And he sailed from Ephesus.

1 Cor:5:8 Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

There were only two changes of custom recorded from that time period. 1) Gentiles were not required to be physically circumcised, but rather God required circumcision of the heart. 2) There was a change in how the Passover was to be kept. It was now to be taken with the bread and wine that represents the broken body and blood of Christ our Savior, who became our Passover lamb.

Worship on Sunday was instituted by Constantine at the Council of Nicea 325 A.D., and he made it against the law to worship on Saturday, calling it Jewish. Constantine was not even a Christian when he made these rulings, but a worshiper of the sun god. He just wanted his kingdom to be united, and the church at Rome was a church divided, which was causing unrest throughout Rome. Those who wanted to continue keeping the Sabbath that Jesus kept had to go into hiding, and the church at Rome became a harsh taskmaster, with the backing of the government. This set a precedent of rulers having to have the backing of Rome for centuries. For a period of time they even made it against the law to own a Bible.

The true followers of Christ were never involved in crusades or spreading the gospel through bloodshed. They became a very small group that often accepted death and persecution over relinquishing the truth. And I will never relinquish the truth and the keeping of God’s holy Sabbath day.

~By Kathy Sanny