This is a topic that has been argued about for probably forever. It is my firm belief that every day that is given to us is the Lord’s Day and we should honor it as such, giving praise and glory to Him. There is however a day that God set aside for His people to honor, a day He sanctified and blessed, a day we should honor above all others. Oddly enough this was one of the first questions I sought to answer when I began my journey of understanding God’s word and doing research. I think it’s a question that comes to the mind of everyone regardless of their religious background.
Many Christians believe that the Old Testament traditions should be ignored and that the Sabbath was given to the Jews, and therefore as Christians they are not bound by it. Christians believe that Sunday, the Lord’s Day, should be observed because of Jesus’ resurrection and the signification of a ‘new’ birth. The New Testament on several occasions’ points out that Christians often met on Sunday because that was the day the Lord rose, the day(s) he appeared to the apostles, and the day they received the Holy Spirit. There is no scriptural evidence that says that Jesus ordered them to do so, nor did he direct them to observe Sunday instead of Saturday.
**Interesting side point: I wonder if anyone ever took into consideration that the reasoning for Jesus’ appearances to the apostles on Sunday was due to the fact that He was observing the Sabbath and in actuality had nothing to do with the fact that it was the day He rose. Please keep in mind this is only speculation on my behalf, but when I was praying on this subject it came to mind.
** This was a tradition set forth by man and no other. This tradition eventually banned the Jewish law of observance of the Sabbath altogether when Sylvester I backed up the edict given by Constantine in 321 AD. Paul clearly observed the Sabbath (Saturday) and it is said as much within scripture. Paul and his companions had no worry of traveling on Sunday because it had no sabbatical meaning to them. (
Acts 23:9, 24:14, 25:8, 28:17, 20:06-14)
Genesis 2:2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
As can be seen by the above passage, God clearly blesses the seventh day (Saturday) and makes it holy, this is the day that He rested. By blessing and sanctifying the seventh-day Sabbath, God showed that His presence is IN this day in a very special way. For of all the days of the week, this one ALONE points to Him in a unique way as the true God, the One who created and now governs the entire universe. God is very clear to Moses when he directs that the Jews not do any work on the seventh day witch can be shown by the following passage:
Exodus 16:29 Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out.”
God further confirmed this by including the direction to observe the Sabbath within the Ten Commandments.
Exodus 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor you manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
The Old Testament clearly enforces the observance of the Sabbath, but does the New Testament? I believe it does. Let’s take a look at what Jesus has to say about the commandments given by God to His people.
Matthew 5:17-21 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Many believe that the first part of Matthew (5:17) ‘everything is accomplished’ refers to Jesus’ resurrection. All things will not be accomplished until the end times are fulfilled.
Mark 2:27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
The above passage opens an eye, does it not? The Sabbath was made for man, it does not say for Jew, Christian, Catholic, or Protestant, but for man.
Luke 6:9 “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath; to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”
Jesus defined the rules of the commandment of keeping the Sabbath; however, he never nullified it, nor said it was to be abolished after his resurrection. In Matthew 5:17 (above) Jesus clearly says that he has not come to abolish the Law (commandments). We are under the Lord’s Grace; however this does not give us privilege to negate the laws of God.
Pope Benedict XVI
I find it fascinating to see prophetic words take formation, weather it is from biblical prophets, or the prophets of today. I have read many a prophecy that stated that after Pope John Paul II his successor would not reign for a long period of time, but that he would do great deeds. Pope Benedict has stated that he does not intend on being Pope for very long. It has been prophesied that there will only be one other Pope after Benedict, weather this is true or not remains to be seen. Today while doing some surfing I came across a rather interesting prophecy from Malachy. It’s amazing what you can learn while surfing, and it seems I learn quite a lot that I had no idea of before.
Malachy (St. Malachy to Catholics) had prophesied on the last ten Popes. I won’t go into detail about the others; however I will include this
link for those of you who are interested in checking this out.
Pope Benedict XVI is the ninth Pope that Malachy prophesied about…here is what it says on the
website about this, and it was evidently on the site before the death of John Paul II:
9. The Glory of the Olive. The Order of St. Benedict has said this Pope will come from their order. It is interesting that Jesus gave his apocalyptic prophecy about the end of time from the Mount of Olives. This Pope will reign during the beginning of the tribulation Jesus spoke of. The 111th prophesy is "Gloria Olivae" (The Glory of the Olive). The Order of Saint Benedict has claimed that this pope will come from their ranks. Saint Benedict himself prophesied that before the end of the world his Order, known also as the Olivetans, will triumphantly lead the Catholic Church in its fight against evil. Traditionally, the olive branch has been associated with peace, but in both the Old and New Testaments it also serves as an emblem for the Jews. Putting the two together, some commentators believe that the reign of this pope will be a peaceful one during which the prophesied conversion of the Jews will take place. Several ex-Jews are said to be highly placed in the Catholic Church now. And, it is noteworthy that the previous Benedict (XV) was a pope obsessed with peace. Some others say, he will lead all faithful followers of the Lord Jesus to martyrdom and others say that he will tear down the walls of the Vatican, auctioning off all the objects within, in order to feed and enlighten those in the 3rd World who have not yet heard the Gospel of Christ.
Oddly enough, I believe I read someplace that Benedict XVI said quite the same thing about bridging the gaps between religion, especially focusing on Islam. Interesting. Very Interesting. (I really have got to stop watching Pirates of the Caribbean so much…it’s getting in my head.) Just an interesting tidbit, take it with a grain of salt if you wish.
Changes In order Yes, I’ve decided to make some changes. I’m getting pretty tired of the limitations I have with the current set up I have for my blog, so I will be moving everything over to Blogger. I will be keeping the download sections, as well as some other stuff, but it will be added onto a new page where I will posting some templates for other blogger-maniacs out there who don’t particularly care for the current templates that are offered. Yes, it’s my creative outlet, I suppose. I probably won’t be posting much while the changes are taking effect, but I will be sure to post a lovely picture of my new niece who is due any day now, and no worries, there will be a link to my new and improved blog. Now, if you will excuse me, but there is this fly in my house that has been bugging me for the better part of two hours and he is about to meet the bad end of my fly swatter. J Have a Blessed week!
