THE SABBATH

STUDY – 1 INSTITUTION OF THE SABBATH
A- HOW THE SABBATH WAS MADE
1- When and by whom was the Sabbath made?
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.” Genesis 2:1 2.
2- What is the reason for keeping the Sabbath day holy?
“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:11.
Note: The Sabbath is the memorial of creation, the sign of God’s creative power. God designed that through keeping it man should forever remember Him as the true and living God, the Creator of all things.
“Six days shalt thou do all manner of work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord day. He claims it for His own. He always did claim it for His own, even from the beginning of the world. In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it. He hallowed it; that is, He made it holy: He reserved it for His own service. He appointed, that as long as the sun or the moon, the heavens and the earth, should endure, the children of men should spend this day in the worship of Him who gave them life and breath and all thing...” John Wesley. “A Word to a Sabbath-Breaker” in “Woks”, vol. 11 (1830 ed.), pp. 164-166.
3- Did Christ have anything to do with creation and the making of the Sabbath?
“All things were made by him; and without hi was not any thing made that was made.” John 1:3 – see Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2.
Note: Christ was the active agent in creation. The Creator rested on the seventh day form the work of his creation; therefore, Christ must have rested on the seventh day with the Father. Consequently, it is His rest day as well as the Father’s.
4- After resting on the seventh day, what did God do?
“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it be had rested from all his work which God created and mad.” Genesis 2:3.
Note: By three distinct acts then, was the Sabbath made: God “rested” on it; he “blessed” it: He “sanctified” it. “Sanctify” means “to make sacred or holy,” to “consecrate,” “to set apart as sacred.”

B- MAN AND THE SABBATH
5- For whom did Christ say the Sabbath was made?
“And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27.
“Jesus says: ´The Sabbath was made for man; and the necessary inference is that from the beginning man knew the primary uses of the day, and received the benefits which it was designed to impart…
“Before the giving of the law from Sinai the obligation of the Sabbath was understood.” J.J.Taylor (Baptist). The Sabbatic Question (Revell, 1914 ed.), pp.20-24.
6- When did God bless and sanctify the seventh day?
“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Genesis 2:3.
Note: “If we had no other passage than this of Genesis 2:3, there would be no difficulty in deducting from it a precept for the universal observance of a Sabbath, or seventh day, to be devoted to God as holy time, by all of that race for whom the earth and its nature were specially prepared. The first men must have know it. The words ´He hallowed it´ can have no meaning otherwise. They would be a blank unless in reference to some who were required to keep it holy.” – John Peter Lange, A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, on Genesis 2:3, vol. 1, p. 197.

C- THE SABBATH TEST IN ISRAEL
7- What does the Sabbath commandment require?
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.” Exodus 20:8-10
Note: Luther says, on Exodus 16:4, 22-30: “Hence you can see that the Sabbath was before the law of Moses came, and has existed from the beginning of the world. Especially have the devout, who have preserved the true faith, met together and called upon God on this day.” – Translated from Auslegung des Alten Testaments (Commentary on the Old Testament, in Sammtliche Schhriiften (Collected Writings), edited by J.G.Walch, vol. 3, col. 950.
8- How did God prove Israel in the wilderness?
“I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no” Exodus 16:4.
9- On which day was a double portion of manna gathered?
“And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man.” Exodus 16:22.
10- What did Moses say to the rulers?
“This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord.” Exodus 16:23.
Note: The Sabbath is indispensable to man, being promotive of his highest good, physically, intellectually, socially, spiritually, and eternally.
11- What did some of the people do on the seventh day?
“It came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.” Exodus 16:27.
12- How dig God reprove their disobedience?
“And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? Exodus 16:28.
13- Why was double manna given on the sixth day?
“See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days: abide ye every man in his place let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” Exodus 16:29.
14- How, then, did the Lord test the people?
Over the keeping of the Sabbath.
Note: Thus we see that the Sabbath commandment was a part of God’s lay before this lay was spoken from Sinai; for this incident occurred before Israel came to Sinai. Both the Sabbath and the law existed from creation.
“As presented to us in the Scriptures the Sabbath was not the invention any religions founder. It was not at first part of any system of religion , but an entirely independent institution. Very definitely it is presented in Genesis is the very first institution, inaugurated by the Creator himself. It was purely religious, wholly moral, wholly spiritual. It had no prescribed ceremonies, no sacramentarian significance. It required no priest, no liturgy, it was for man as God’s creature, steward and friend.” W.O. Carver, Sabbath Observance, p. 41. Copyright, 1940, by the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission.

STUDY – 2 GOD`S MEMORIAL
A- EXAMPLES OF A MEMORIAL
1- What was the monument erected by Joshua declared to be?
“And these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.” Joshua 4:7.
2- What were these stones to commemorate?
“And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying. When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying. What mean these stones? Then we shall let you children know, saying Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.” Joshua 4:21, 22.
Note: These stones were to be a standing memorial, or reminder, of Israel’s coming dry shod over the Jordan.
3- What was the Passover called?
“And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.” Exodus 12:14.
Note: This, the Passover, was a periodical memorial, to be observed on the fourteenth day of the first month of each year, the day on which the Israelites were delivered from Egyptian bondage, and its celebration was to be, with the seven days feast of unleavened bread following and connected with it, in commemoration of that event – see Exodus 13:3-9.

B- A MEMORIAL OF GOD`S CREATION
4- What has God commanded men to observe in memory of His work of creation?
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; …for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8-11.
5- Of what was this memorial to be a sign?
“And hallow my Sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Ezekiel 20:20.
6- How long was the Sabbath to be a sign of the true God?
“It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Exodus 31:17.

C- MEMORIAL OF DELIVERANCE AND REDEMPTION
7- What besides creation was Israel to remember when they kept the Sabbath?
“And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.” Deuteronomy 5:15.
Note: The recollection of their bondage and oppressed condition in Egypt was to be an additional incentive for keeping the Sabbath in the land of freedom. The Sabbath, therefore, besides beings memorial of creation, was to be to them a memorial of their deliverance from bondage, and of the great power of God as manifested in this deliverance. And as Egypt stands as a symbol of the condition of every one in the world under the slavery of sin, so the Sabbath is to be kept by every saved soul as a memorial of the deliverance from this slavery by the mighty power of God through Christ.
8- Of what else does God say is the Sabbath to be a sign, or reminder to His people?
“Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” Ezekiel 20:12.
Note: Sanctification is a work of redemption – of making sinful or unholy beings holy. Kike the work of creation itself, this requires creative power (See Psalm 51:10; John 3:3, 6; Ephesians 2:10). And as the Sabbath is the appropriate sign, or memorial, of the creative power of God, so it also of God’s recreative power. This will be one great reason for the saint keeping it throughout eternity. It will remind them not only of their own creation and the creation of the universe but also of their redemption.
9- Through whom do we have sanctification?
“But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” 1 Corinthians 1:30.
Note: The Sabbath is a sign, or memorial, of sanctification through Christ, and of creation. Through the Sabbath, therefore, God designed that the believer and Christ should be very closely linked together.
10- How often will the redeemed congregate to worship the Lord?
“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all fresh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Isaiah 66:22, 23.
Note: The Sabbath, which is the memorial of God’s creative power, will never cease to exist.

STUDY – 3 THE SABBATH IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
A- THE SABBATH AND THE CROSS
1- What day immediately precedes the first day of the week?
“In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to day toward the first day of the week.” Matthew 28:1.
Note: According to the New Testament, therefore, the Sabbath had passed when the first day of the week began.
2- After the crucifixion, what day was kept by the women who followed Jesus?
“They returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56.
3- Which day of the week is the Sabbath, “according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56.

B- JESUS AND THE SABBATH
4- What was Christ’s custom respecting the Sabbath?
“And 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 for to read.” Luke 4:16.
5- In what instruction to His disciples did Christ recognize the existence of the Sabbath long after His ascension?
“But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.” Matthew 24:20.
Note: The flight of the Christians took place late in October, A.D. 66, three and one half years before the fall of Jerusalem.

C- PAUL AND THE SABBATH
6- On what day did Paul and Barnabas preach at Antioch?
“They came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.” Acts 13:14.
7- When did the Gentiles ask Paul to repeat his sermon?
“And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.” Acts 13:42.
8- On what day did Paul preach to the women at Philippi?
“And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the woman which resorted thither.” Acts 16:13.
9- What was Paul’s manner respecting the Sabbath?
“They came to Thessalonica, here was a synagogue of the Jews: and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scripture.” Acts 17: 1, 2.
Note: It was Paul’s manner, as it was Christ’s custom (Luke 4:16), to attend religious services on Sabbath.
10- How did the apostle spend the working days of the week when at Corinth, and what did he do on the Sabbath?
“Because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.” Acts 18:3 (– see Ezekiel 46:1.) “And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.” Acts 18:4.
Note: “He continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among tem” Acts 18:11.
These texts do not definitely prove that the apostle held seventh-eight Sabbath meetings in Corinth, but they show conclusively that it was his custom to observe that day by devoting it to religious purposes. Wherever he was, Paul utilized every opportunity to pursue his gospel work on the Sabbath. The same is true, not only of the apostles, but of most Christians during the first three centuries.

D- JOHN AND THE LORD`S DAY
11- On what day was John in the Spirit?
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” Revelation 1:10.
12- Who is Lord of the Sabbath?
“The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:28.
Note: It is evident, therefore, that the Sabbath of the New Testament is the same as the Sabbath of the Old Testament and that there is noting in the New Testament setting aide the seventh-day Sabbath, and putting the first day of the week in its place.

STUDY – 4 THE CHANGE OF THE SABBATH
A- THE SABBATH AND THE LAW
1- Of what is the Sabbath commandment a part?
The law of God – see Exodus 20:8-11.
2- What was foretold of Christ’s attitude toward the law?
“He will magnify the law, and make it honourable.” Isaiah 42:21.
3- How enduring did He say the law is?
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” Matthew 5:17.
4- How enduring did He say the law is?
“Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Matthew 5:18.
5- What did He say of those who should break one of the least of God’s commandments, and teach men so to do?
“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:19.
Note: From this it is evident that all Ten Commandments are binging in the Christian dispensation, and that Christ had no thought of changing any of them. One of these commands the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath. But most Christians keep the first day of the week instead.
“It is a remarkable and regrettable fact that while most Christians regard the Decalogue as a whole as being of personal and perpetual obligation, so many should make the fourth commandment an exception. It is the most complete and comprehensive of them all, and, unlike the rest, is expressed both positively and negatively.” W.C.Procter in Moody Bible Institute Monthly, December, 1933, p. 160.
Many believe that Christ changed the Sabbath. But, from His own words, we see that He came for no such purpose. The responsibility for this change must therefore be looked for elsewhere.

B- BIBLE PREDICTS ATTENPET CHANGE
6- What did God, through the prophet Daniel, say the power represented by the “little horn” would think to do?
“And he shall speak words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High: and he shall think to change the times and the law.” Daniel 7:25.
7- What did the apostle Paul say the “man of sin” would do?
“For that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4.
Note: An effective way by which a power could exalt itself above God, would be by assuming to change the law of God, and to require obedience to its own law instead of God’s law.

C- PAPAL POWER ACNOULIEDGES THIS ACT
8- What power has claimed authority to change God’s law?
The Papacy.
Note: “the pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even divine laws…The pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man but of God, and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth.” Translate from Lucius Ferraris. Prompta Bibliotheca (Ready Library), “Papa” art. 2.
9- What part of the law of God has the Papacy thought to change?
The forth commandment.
Note: “They (the Catholics) allege the change of the Sabbath, into the Lord’s day, contrary, as it seemeth, to the Decalogue; and they have no example more in their mouths than the change of the Sabbath. They will needs have the Church’s power to be very great, because it hath dispensed with a precept of the Decalogue.” The Augsburg Confession (Lutheran), part 2, art. 7, in Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (Scribners, 4th ed.), vol. 3, p. 64.
“It (the Roman Catholic Church) reversed the Fourth Commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God’s word, and instituting Sunday as a holiday.” N.Summerbell, History of the Christian Church (1873), p. 415.
10- Why did God command Israel to hallow the Sabbath?
“And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Ezekiel 20:20.
Note: As the Sabbath was given that man might keep God in mind as creator, it can be readily seen that a power endeavouring to exalt itself above God could do this in no other way so effectually as by setting aside God`s memorial – the seventh-day Sabbath. To this work of the Papaciy Daniel had reference when he said. “And he shall …think to change times and laws.”
11- Does the Papacy acknowledge changing the Sabbath?
It does.
Note: The Catechismus Romanus was commanded by the Council of Trent and published by the Vatican Press, by order of Pope Pius V, in 1566. this catechism for priests says: It pleased the church of God, that the religious celebration of the Sabbath day should be transferred to the Lord’s day.” Catechism of the Council of Trent (Donovan’s translation 1867), part 3, chap. 4, p. 345. the same, in slightly different wording, is in the McHugh and Callan translation (1937 ed.), p. 402.
“Ques. – How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holydays?
“Ans. – By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same Church. “ –Henry Tuberville, An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine (1883 approbation), p. 58. (Same statement in Manual of Christian Doctrine, ed. By Daniels Ferris (1915 ed.), 67.
“Ques. – Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?
“Ans. – 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 authority – Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism (3rd ed.), p. 174.
“The Catholic Church… by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.” – the Catholic Mirror, official organ of Cardinal Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893.
“1. Is Saturday the 7th day according to he Bible and the ten commandments.
“I answer yes.
“2. Is Sunday the first day of the wee and did the Church change the 7th day – Saturday – for Sunday, the 1st day:
“I answers yes.
“3. Did Christ change the day
“I answer no! Faithfully yours. “J. Card. Gibbons”
12- Do Catholic authorities acknowledge that there is no command in the Bible for the sanctification Sunday?
They do.
Note: “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, a day which we never sanctify.” James Cardinal Gibbons. The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.), pp. 72, 73.
“If we consulted the Bible only, we should still have to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is, Saturday.” – John Laux, A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies, vol. 1 (1936 ed.), p. 51. Quoted by permission of Benzigers Brothers., inc., proprietors of the copyright.
Note: “If protestants would follow the bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the Cardinal in a letter of Feb. 10, 1920.

STUDY – 5 THE SABBATH IN HISTORY
1- When and by what acts was the Sabbath made?
“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and he rested an the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. Because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Genesis 2:2, 3.

A- THE SEVENT-DAY WEEK
2- What division of time is marked off by the Sabbath?
The week.
Note: The week is “a time unit that, unlike all others, has proceeded in absolutely invariable manner since what many be called the dawn of history.” Nature, June 6, 1931
Genesis 7:4, 10; 8:10, 12, shows that the week was known at the time of the Flood.

B- SABBATH IN OLD TESTAMENT TIMES
3- Why did God set apart the seventh day as holy?
“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Exodus 20:11.
4- What promise did God make to Israel, through Jeremiah, if they world keep the Sabbath?
“If ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein; then shall there enter into the fates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David…. And this city shall remain for ever.” Jeremiah 17:24,25.
5- What would happen if they did not hallow the Sabbath?
“But if ye will not hearken unto Me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in the gates thereof, and if shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” Jeremiah 17:27.
6- What befell Jerusalem in fulfillement of this when it was captured by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon?
“And all the vessels of the house of God… he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire.” 2 Chronicles 36:18, 19.

D- SABBATH IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES AND LATER
7-How did Christ, while on earth, regard the Sabbath?
“As his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Luke 4:16.
8- By what did Christ recognize the Sabbath law?
“And he said unto them, … it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath day.” Matthew 12:11, 12.
Note: The fact, however, that Christ until His death, and His Apostles at least for a time after Christ’s Ascension, observed the Sabbath is evidence enough that our Lord Himself did not substitute the Lord’s day for the Sabbath, during His lifetime on earth.” Vincent J. Kelly ( Catholic), Forbidden Sunday and feast-Day Occupations (1943 ed.), pp. 19, 20.
William Prynne says: “It is certain that Christ Himself, his Apostles, and the Primitive Christians, for some good space of time did constantly observe the seventh day Sabbath.” – A Briefe Polemicall Dissertation, Concerning…The Lordsday-Sabbath, p. 33.