To begin God's Word tells us that "the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God's law" (Romans 8:7, Holman Christian Standard Bible). Let’s begin our analysis of the Fourth Commandment with questions:
What's your view of God's most disregarded commandment in light of the clear instructions in His Word?
It's instructive to note what God said when He revealed His Sabbath to the Israelites in Exodus 16 through the miracle of the manna to feed them in the wilderness. Unlike on other days, the people were not to go out to gather on the Sabbath, as there would be none. Rather, they were supposed to gather double the day before to prepare for the Sabbath. Notice God's intent: "that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not" (Exodus 16:4). Indeed, the Sabbath was a test commandment then—and it remains so today.
Since the Sabbath is a test commandment, wisdom would indicate approaching all aspects of it with carefulness as it indeed reveals a lot about our attitude. Exodus 20:8-11: “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”.
After creating the physical universe in six days, God added one more day to establish the seven-day week, and, significantly, the seven-day cycle has continued throughout human history. God “blessed the seventh day and sanctified it” (Genesis 2:1-3). “Sanctified” means He made it sacred and holy.
Therefore, the only day we can “keep holy” is the seventh day (Exodus 20:8). We honor God by honoring His holy day or we disrespect God by profaning His holy day. A person’s attitude about this commandment reveals a lot about that person, as anything that tests us should.
When does the Sabbath begin and end?
The Bible’s first chapter defines a “day” as an “evening” and “morning,” our first indication that a day begins at sunset (Genesis 1:5). God, who created the heavenly bodies and set them in motion to mark the passage of time in Genesis 1:14), counts time differently, from evening to evening. We see this clearly indicated in the creation account in Genesis 1.
After dividing day from night, God tells us that "the evening and the morning were the first day" (Genesis 1:5). Evening" is mentioned first, followed by "morning." God describes each day's creation in similar terms (Genesis 1:8, Genesis 1:13, Genesis 1:19, Genesis 1:23, Genesis 1:31). In the Bible, evening began when the sun went down, and at that time a new day began. Let’s read Nehemiah 13:19 “So it was, at the gates of Jerusalem, as it began to be dark before the Sabbath (evening as the Sabbath began), that I commanded the gates to be shut, and charged that they must not be opened till after the Sabbath. Then I posted some of my servants at the gates, so that no burdens would be brought in on the Sabbath day”. (see also Joshua 8:29; 2 Chronicles 18:34; Mark 1:32) Regarding His Sabbaths, God commands that they be observed "from evening to evening".
Another clear example is found in Leviticus 23:32 with respect to the annual Sabbath Atonement; “It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.” Beginning at evening and progressing from evening to evening. From creation on, this was the usual way of calculating the beginning and ending of days. Another Sabbath example is found in Exodus 12:18: “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening”.
In New Testament times, days were calculated the same way as we can clearly see. Mark 1:32 records that, after the sun had set, marking the end of one Sabbath, crowds brought many ailing people to Jesus to be healed, having waited until after the Sabbath to come to Him.
The Gospel accounts also record that Joseph of Arimathea entombed Jesus' body before evening to keep from working on an approaching annual high-day Sabbath. Mark 12:42-48 “Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, (the annual Sabbath was soon to begin – at sunset) Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb”. (see also Matthew 27:57-60; Mark 15:42-46; Luke 23:50-54; compare John 19:31).
These clear scriptural examples show the Sabbath (as with all days) began at evening (sunset) and progressed from evening to evening!
God, Creator of the Sabbath, the only one who can make something holy determines when the day begins, and ends. The Sabbath was observed from evening to evening throughout the Bible. God has given us a sanctuary of time that is holy, His Sabbath which begins Friday evening at sunset and ends Saturday evening at sunset. One of the benefits is that everyone on Earth has an equal opportunity to keep this holy time.
When did Sunday—the first day of the week—come to be seen as a substitute for the seventh-day Sabbath?
In the New Testament we see Jesus Christ (Luke 4:16), His closest followers (Luke 23:56) and the apostle Paul (Acts 13:42-44; 17:1-4) continuing to honor and uphold the Sabbath.
We find no record of the Sabbath being abolished or changed in the New Testament (although some scriptures are alleged to do so, those arguments are thoroughly refuted in our booklet Sunset to Sunset: God's Sabbath Rest and for sake of time I will refer you there). So, when did Sunday, the first day of the week, come to be seen as a substitute for the seventh-day Sabbath?
This is somewhat a summary: As waves of anti-Semitism swept the Roman Empire as a result of the two Jewish wars in the first and second centuries, members of the early Church began to distance themselves from practices that were commonly viewed as Jewish. At the same time, false teachers arose within the Church as indicated would occur in 2 Peter 2:1 introducing new teachings and beliefs. Over time the Church drifted from the teachings and practices of Christ and the apostles (this is spelled out in detail in our booklet The Church Jesus Built again for sake of time I will refer you there).
In the third and fourth centuries, as the Catholic Church rose to prominence in the Roman Empire, it increasingly incorporated customs adapted from pagan worship practices. Among these was the elevation of Sunday, the day devoted to honoring the sun god, a deity extremely popular among the Roman masses.
Meanwhile, those who held to the original teachings of the apostles were increasingly persecuted. By A.D. 365 an edict by Catholic leaders at the Council of Laodicea declared: "Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather, honouring the Lord's Day [Sunday]; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be Judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ [i.e., excommunicated]" (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 19, p. 148, emphasis added).
Sunday-keeping came to be enforced and Sabbath-keeping ruthlessly suppressed. While some doctrinal reform occurred as a result of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, Protestant churches as a rule continued to follow the lead of the Catholic Church in regard to Sunday worship.
Not until the Reformation period was the idea born that Sunday worship was instituted originally as a direct replacement for the Fourth Commandment Sabbath. The Catholic Church took strong exception to this Protestant argument, saying the Catholics' reason for dropping strict Sabbath observance was to avoid appearing Jewish, not to change the Fourth Commandment. In fact, the Catholic Church continued honoring the Sabbath as a consecrated day-though reduced in importance and altered to a day of fasting-for several centuries after Sunday observance became prominent.
Most Catholic and some Protestant theologians are willing to admit that Sunday observance cannot be justified from the Scriptures. Notice what James Cardinal Gibbons, archbishop of Baltimore, wrote in The Faith of Our Fathers: "Is not every Christian obliged to sanctify Sunday and to abstain on that day from unnecessary servile work? Is not the observance of this law among the most prominent of our sacred duties? But 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" (1917, p. 89, emphasis added).
He goes on to explain that this, like other practices "nowhere found in the Bible," was instituted by the Catholic Church on its own authority. In effect by doing so, at a minimum, they violate the Second Commandment.
I want to close this pastor’s message with the reminder that the Sabbath is indeed a test commandment. Reminder, the inspired Word of God tells us that "the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God's law" (Romans 8:7, Holman Christian Standard Bible).
When Jesus offers us the incredible privilege of personal discipleship in calling to us, “Follow Me”. He offers an important parameter in John 8:31-32 that we cannot forget, nor neglect: “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Abiding in His words is not merely reading the Bible but obeying His words and following His example as the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Lord of the Sabbath. As the great “I Am” of Scripture, He inspired Moses to write, “Whatsoever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it” (Deuteronomy 12:32). What’s your view of the Sabbath? Remember Exodus 16:4, we are all tested whether we will walk in His law or not! We will continue the analysis of the Fourth Commandment in the next pastor’s message.