After reading the tract “Birthday Switcheroo,” you may have wondered, If Saturday is really the day God wants us to honor as His Sabbath, why do so many good people go to church on Sunday?
There are several reasons. First, tradition is a powerful thing. For example, if you grew up attending church on Sunday, it would probably be difficult to seriously consider another viewpoint. Also, most Christians think the seventh-day Sabbath was intended only for the Jewish people. But as the tract pointed out, the Sabbath was established at creation, before there were any Jewish people! Jesus Himself stated, “The Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27).* In the original language, “man” means all humanity, not just Jews.
Another reason so many Christians have chosen Sunday as their day of worship is that there are a few verses in the New Testament that appear to support the idea. One of these verses is Acts 20:7: “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people . . .” This must be a Sunday church service, right? No. This was a special gathering, “because [Paul] intended to leave the next day” (verse 7).
Another classic verse that is thought by many to do away with seventh-day Sabbath-keeping is Colossians 2:16: “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.”
There it is—no more Saturday Sabbath-keeping! Not so fast. A closer study shows that these verses refer to Jewish ceremonial days, which were indeed abolished when Jesus died on the cross. There were many “sabbaths” in the Jewish calendar that were not the weekly Sabbath.
Finally, some people think Revelation 1:10, which mentions the “Lord’s day,” means Sunday. But what day is this really? Jesus said, “So the Son of Man [Jesus] is Lord even of the Sabbath [Saturday]” (Mark 2:28).
Further study on the Sabbath in the Bible will clearly show that Jesus intended that His people would be honoring the seventh-day Sabbath when He returns to earth. God’s end-time people will “obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus” (Revelation 14:12). The “saints” will be keeping all ten of God’s commandments, not nine of them.
There are many more exciting things to learn about the true Sabbath. Here are some good places to begin your journey!
