DISCUSSING THE SABBATH/SUNDAY ISSUE
Welcome to Sabbath Conversations.
Sabbath Conversations is an initiative designed to encourage discussions on perhaps the most misunderstood, debated and contended doctrine of the Christian faith, God’s Sabbath.
While most Christians agree on the other nine of God’s Ten Commandments; much contention arises when the issue of God’s Sabbath comes up. Some say it is Sunday, the first day of the week; while others maintain that God’s Sabbath is Saturday, the seventh day of the week.
Further, many Christians believe that they no longer are required to keep God’s Sabbath once they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. On the other hand, there are those who insist that it should be kept, by God’s grace, just as the other nine precepts of His moral law.
Whatever your position on this issue, we invite you to share your thoughts, comments, ideas and convictions on this crucially important topic that impacts all of us. Let’s have a conversation.
Beyond sharing your thoughts and asking your questions on this site, we will welcome an invitation from your church or other group to have a Sabbath Conversation at your location. That conversation will be recorded and posted on this platform for all see and help others examine the different positions on this rather vital topic of apocalyptic proportions. Also, you can share a 1-3 minute video with our visitors. All we ask is that you be polite, respectful of others and Christ-like in your discussions.
As the Sabbath/Sunday issue becomes more and more a topic of discussion, as is already happening, we strongly recommend that you get a copy of the book, God’s Sabbath Truth…a decision to make. Regardless of your belief, you will find this volume to be a valuable resource. It is a simple, systematic study of God’s Sabbath from creation through redemption. The book is written from the perspectives of the Bible, prophecy, history and contemporary world affairs.
It explores the attempted change of God’s Sabbath to Sunday and brings to the forefront the great end-time struggle between God’s law and the tradition of man. The volume examines the vital role the United States of America is playing in these closing scenes in the Drama of the Ages as she (America) enables the Roman Papacy to regain control of the world and establishes a one world religion–hers (Revelation 13:11-17;17). The book addresses most of the common objections to keeping God’s Sabbath.
More importantly, God’s Sabbath Truth provides the information you need to help you make an informed decision on the Sabbath /Sunday issue. Such a decision is most crucial as we are witnessing the human family rapidly advancing towards its prophetic destiny.
You will be blessed, edified and challenged by your participation in Sabbath Conversations. Please join the conversation today.
Church in North Carolina switches to Sabbath Observance.
Recently, St. Luke Church of Opportunity in Morganton, North Carolina switched their Sunday Services to the Bible Sabbath. Having studied the Bible prayerfully with his congregation, Pastor Aaron Hooper declared, “Nowhere is it recorded in Scripture that God said, ‘Go to church on Sunday…So why do we?” He continued, “Understanding that the God-given time of public convocation is Sabbath (as stated in) Leviticus 23:3 (KJV), and that both Jesus and his disciples observed the holy Sabbath, (as stated in) Mark 1:21, Mark 6:2, Luke 4:16, Mark 2:27, Luke 6:6, Acts 13:14, Acts 18:4, Acts 20:7 (KJV), we were moved to do the same.”
Hooper concluded, “Through teaching, conversations and fellowship, our knowledge of the sacredness of the holy Sabbath has grown…It has truly been a delight”.
You can learn more about Pastor Hooper and his Sabbath experience by going here:
http://bit.ly/2QIlQK9
The topic of the Sabbath is the simplest topic to handle in the Bible. It is the topic that shows those who have read the Bible for themselves and those who have not.
The topic highlights failure to know when the church started, failure to understand biblical distinctions and failure to rightly divide the word of truth. It is a topic that exposes the faulty human theology.
It is my prayer that this forum will help millions to come to the truth.
Very true. The prophet Isaiah declared, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them (Isaiah 8:20).
It is our purpose on this forum not only to give the TRUTH; but we also welcome, in the Spirit of Christian love, divergent views on the topic.
A simple, systematic study of God’s Sabbath from creation to redemption can be obtained here: http://amzn.to/1kZQEyG
Dear Brother Aubrey, thank you for this comment thread.
We respect the work of your ministry and the dedication that you have towards God our Saviour Jesus Christ, bringing a true understanding of the sacredness and importance of the seventh day Sabbath to God’s people all over the world.
We have republished “The Seventh-day Sabbath Sought Out and Celebrated” by Seventh-day Baptist Minister of the Gospel Thomas Tillam.
Originally published in 1657, “The Seventh-day Sabbath Sought Out and Celebrated” has been out of print for more than 350 years. Wilderness Publications has reprinted this important historical work for the benefit of all Christians.
Thomas Tillam was a prominent preacher at Hexham, north of London. His vigorous exhortations, usually based on graphic adaptations of Revelation, brought scores of people to baptism by immersion. By 1655 Tillam had moved to Colchester. About a year later, Tillam began holding services in the parish church on Saturdays. He closed it on Sundays, and urged people to carry on with their business as usual. This brought him into conflict with the authorities, who put him into Colchester Castle Prison.
Whilst he was in prison, Tillam wrote this book in answer to a pamphlet by William Aspinwall, a leading Fifth Monarchist. Of great historical significance is the fact that Tillam was one of the first authors to identify the Mark of the Beast as being its change of the Seventh-day Sabbath to Sunday.
Using graphic and eloquent language throughout this treatise, pointing his readers back at times to the original Hebrew and Greek languages, Thomas Tillam explains that the final great controversy in these very last days will be between the Saints and the Man of Sin over the Seventh-day Sabbath.
We believe that this reprint will be of especial interest to Christian organisations.
To view book promotional video, go here:
You can preview the book here:
For more information and to purchase the book, go here:
We would finally like to thank God through our Lord Jesus Christ for the completion of this project.
May the Lord richly bless you with the power of His love.
Yours sincerely
John Noel
Voice in the Wilderness
London, England
Thank you Bro. John for your contribution. The book you mentioned, “The Seventh-day Sabbath Sought Out and Celebrated”, written about 400 years ago, by a Seventh-day Baptist minister, clearly shows the validity of God’s Sabbath and the crucial role it is playing in these closing scenes of earth’s history.
My sincere prayer is that my Baptist friends will take serious note.
Let me ask Aubrey Dunncan….ARE U AN ISRAELITE OR A GENTILE? I will ask more questions once u answer this simple question.
Hello Brother Roy,
Thank you so very much for your rather plain, but nevertheless, profound question.
First of all, I would like to respond by saying that such is the precise purpose for which this platform was established. I want us to talk even if we disagree. The direct answer to your question, however, is to say with full confidence that I am a blood-bought child of Creator God. The sacrifice of His Son on Calvary’s cross has made this possible. As such I must agree with the apostle Paul that I AM AN ISRAELITE.
God’s messenger assures me, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus…And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:28-29). He then reiterated,”For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Romans 2:28-29). Consequently, I am not only entitled to the blessings; but am also obligated to His laws.
One of the main objectives of this conversation is to show, by God’s grace and from His word, that our commitment to Creator God, through faith in His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, is much deeper than on what day we choose to have public worship. It’s a matter beyond the days as you can discover here:
My earnest prayer is that I have sufficiently answered your question. I am sincerely looking forward to hearing and answering your additional questions. In Christian love, let’s have a conversation.
The sabbath
The sabbath is part of the old(Deut. 4:13), broken(Deut. 31:16, Is. 24:5, Rom. 3;23, 1 John 1:8&10), cast out(Gal. 4:20-31) and vanishing(Heb. 8:1-13) covenant. The sabbath is also the sign(Ex. 31:16-17) of the old covenant between God and Israel and thus cant be included in the new covenant.
The old covenant is not made with christians(Deut. 5:2-3) but we have a new(Jer. 31:31-34, Heb. 7-8) and better(Heb.7:22-8:6) covenant with a new and better sabbathrest(Mat. 11:28, Heb. 4:8-10) that we enter the day we hear the gospel(Heb. 3:10-4:3).
The sabbath is part of the ministration of death acording to 2 Cor. 3 and that is why christians cant be under the law, sabbath included. The rest that believers get is commanded in Mat. 11:28 and that rest we enter when we hear and believe the gospel if you would have read Heb. 3-4 and the 7thday sabbath just cant give that rest to mankind.
Hello Christiaan,
Much thanks for your comments on the Sabbath/Sunday issue we are discussing in this conversation. Permit me please to address the points that you raised.
1) God’s Sabbath with regards to Old Covenant vs New Covenant.
A covenant is an agreement between two or more parties, all agreeing to fulfill the terms of the agreement. With regards to the Biblical Old Covenant you mentioned, the terms of the agreement were God’s Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath Commandment, the 4th term in the contract (Ex. 20:3-17; Deut. 4:13; Deut. 6:6-21). The parties to this covenant was Creator God and the nation of Israel. God dictated the terms and the people agreed to obey (Exodus 19:8).
As is abundantly clear from the inspired record, the nation of Israel failed in their obligation. It was not the covenant that was faulty; but rather that the people failed to keep their part of the bargain. Hence, God in His infinite love and mercy, gave them and us a New Covenant, not based on our promise to perform (as in the Old); but rather based on the sacrifice of His and our Savior, Jesus Christ, the One who kept the law perfectly. Hence, Jesus would declare (Matthew 5:17-19).
The apostle Paul, having a perfect understanding of this New Covenant, emphatically declared, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31). He later related to his Jewish brethren and to us today (Hebrews 8:7-10). Notice carefully, he did not say that Creator God did away with, nor in anyway alter the terms of the covenant; but rather write them in our hearts as we accept His Son and allow Him to transform our our lives to become like Him, among other things, a perfect law keeper…performing all the terms of the covenant including The Sabbath commandment (2 Corinthians 3:3:13; 4:6).
Thus, Paul was ultimately able to declare (Romans 8:1-4). No where can it be found in Paul’s nor any of the writings of God’s servants a spot where we are told not to keep God’s law. Quite the contrary, without exception, they admonish, persuade and appeal to us to keep all of God’s Ten commandments, including His Sabbath commandment.
2) With respect to who is Israel to whom the law was given, I refer you to my recent reply to Bro. Roy in this thread.
3) Regarding Jesus being your rest and therefore you don’t have to keep His Sabbath, I invite you to let us reason together. That passage of Scripture, Matthew 11:28-30 which you mentioned is one of my favorites in all Scripture. Talking in the context of an agricultural society, Jesus uses the terms ‘find rest’ and and ‘taking His yoke upon ourselves’. This would have been clearly understood by His audience. Being yoked up simply means the joining together of two animals around the necks by a wooden instrument called a yoke. The purpose was twofold: first to lighten the burden being undertaken; for example, ploughing the soil in preparation for planting the seeds. Secondly, one could be a younger animal connected to to the older or more mature animal for the purpose of training the younger. Now here’s my question, my dear brother: If you claim that Jesus is your rest and that you are yoked up with Him (demonstrably the older and more more mature) where would you go when He makes His way to church on His Sabbath? (Luke 4:16; John 15:10).
Finally, It is TOTALLY impossible to separate Jesus from His law, including His Sabbath rest which He instituted at creation (Genesis 2:1-3). It is so very important to Him that He embodied it in and reminded us to keep it holy in His Holy covenant, the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8-11). He provided us a means to accomplish that task through the sacrifice of His Son on Calvary’s cross (Matthew 1:21, John 3:16-17; Romans 5:8; Romans 6:23). He is sending out a clarion call for His children to worship Him by returning to the keeping of His holy Sabbath, thus rejecting the mark of the man of sin (Revelation 14:6-12). All His prophets, patriarchs, apostles and disciples keep it in highest regard. He assures us that we will be keeping it with Him throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity (Isaiah 66:22-23). I plan on being there. What about you?
Again, Christiaan, I thank you for your thoughts; even though we view the matter from different perspectives. I pray that we will continue to have thoughtful, intelligent, Bible-based, Christ-like conversations on this matter so vitally important to God’s people in these times in which we live.
Thank you Brother Aubrey Duncan for your insightful and uplifting words. The Lord convicted me many years ago to “enter into His rest”. It was a difficult decision at first as it was so foreign and against my family religious upbringing. I had a relationship with Jesus when I became a follower of Him, but it wasn’t until I began observing the Sabbath that my faith began to flourish and grow immensely. The Sabbath has become such a delight for me as I greatly look forward to the blessing that God promises to pour out upon me at the end of every week. I look forward to more Sabbath conversations and the blessings that God promises to those that follow His ways. Revelation 22:14