Is our Seventh-day today the same day that was honoured by Christ and the apostles? Hasn't the weekly cycle changed over time?

LESSON 11

IS OUR SEVENTH-DAY TODAY THE SAME DAY THAT WAS HONOURED BY CHRIST AND THE APOSTLES? HASN'T THE WEEKLY CYCLE CHANGED OVER TIME?

You are welcome to another edition of Insights from God's Word, a Bible study programme that is committed to sharing God's Word by allowing the Bible to speak for itself.

In this edition, we continue with our series on The Sabbath Question. The topic for this study is: Is our Seventh-day today the same day that was honoured by Christ and the apostles? Hasn't the weekly cycle changed over time? These are credible questions that many have asked in recent times. In this study, I want us to review some evidence from secular history, the various languages of the world and the custom of ancient and modern Israel to ascertain whether the Seventh-day on our calendar today is the same day that Christ and the apostles honoured about 2000 years ago.

1) SECULAR HISTORY - THE CHANGE OF THE CALENDAR

One event in history that people usually think may have affected the weekly cycle, and hence the correct order of the various days in the week is the change of the Julian calendar in October 1582. The Julian Calendar was instituted by Julius Caesar around 46 B.C., and was continuously in use for about 15 centuries. In fact, during the time of Christ, it was the Julian calendar that was utilized in reckoning the days, months and seasons in the civilized nations of the world. However, the Julian calendar had a minor problem. It was a quarter (1/4) of an hour too long in reckoning the days in the year. This discrepancy added up until by October 1582, the Julian calendar was ten days out of harmony with the solar system.

Pope Gregory fixed this problem in the Julian calendar by dropping ten days out of the numbering of the calendar. This calendar change was implemented on Thursday, October 4, 1582. The next day which should have been Friday, October 5 was shifted by pope Gregory to Friday, October 15 instead; thus dropping ten days to bring the calendar back in sync with our solar system. Today, the nations of the world use the Gregorian calendar, which was named after pope Gregory.

Friends, it is important to note that this minor calendar adjustment in secular history did not affect the weekly cycle in anyway; for Friday still followed Thursday, Saturday still followed Friday and Sunday still followed Saturday in that order. This vital calendar change by pope Gregory did not affect the weekly cycle, and hence the Seventh-day Sabbath in anyway. In fact, we can be sure that our Seventh-day today is the same Seventh-day that Christ and the disciples honoured as the Sabbath of the Creator God (see Luke 4:16; Luke 23:56; Acts 16:13; Acts 17:1-2).

2) THE VARIOUS LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD

It is interesting to note that various ancient and modern languages remind us of the memorial of God's creation: the Seventh-day Sabbath. In more than 108 languages of the world, the name of the Seventh day is not Saturday (which was carved to be used in honour of the pagan God Saturn), but rather Sabbath which literally means "rest day". Here are some few examples of languages whose original names for the Seventh day is Sabbath:

Spanish - Sabado; Italian - Sabbato; Russian - Subbota; Portuguese - Sabbado; Prussian - Sabatico; Latin - Sabbatum; Arabic - Assabt; Swahili - Assabt; Assyrian - Sabata; Hebrew - Shabat.

Friends, these are few of the over a hundred languages of our world in which the Seventh day is called Sabbath, which literally means "rest day". These languages which render the Seventh day as simply Sabbath also go a long way to prove the seven-day weekly cycle, with the Seventh day as the Sabbath rest of the Creator God. It is interesting to note that immediately after God had finished creating our world, He instituted the Seventh-day Sabbath to be a perpetual memorial of His creatorship (see Genesis 2:1-3). Thus, it is not by accident that we find various languages of the earth call the Seventh day, Sabbath, which literally means "rest day".

3) THE CUSTOM OF ANCIENT AND MODERN ISRAEL

After God had finished His work of creation, He set aside the Seventh-day to be a perpetual memorial of His Creatorship. God gave the Sabbath to our first parents right after creation (see Genesis 2:1-3). As sin increased in the world, mankind chose to worship the creature instead of the Creator God. As the people dabbled in idolatry, it wasn't long before they forgot the Sabbath of the Creator God.

In the course of time, God called the patriarch Abraham, and through him established the Jewish nation as His own peculiar people (see Genesis 12:1-7; Exodus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 14:2). The Lord gave the Jews His Laws, Statutes and Judgements which included the Seventh-day Sabbath (see Exodus 16; Exodus 20:8-11). It was God's plan that through the Jews, the whole world will come to have a good knowledge of the Creator God, and thus worship Him in the right manner (see Zechariah 8:20-23; Isaiah 2:2-3). However, as many of us are aware, the Jews woefully disappointed the Lord by often turning away from His commandments, and finally rejecting the Redeemer in whom all their worship symbols had pointed (see Isaiah 1:2-4; Hosea 1:2; Acts 7).

Despite their rebellion, the Lord did not cut off the Jewish race. Can it be that God preserved them so that He can teach us something important through them? You see friends, every other ancient near eastern nation such as the Philistines, Amorites, Hittites, Jebuzites, Assyrians, Babylonians etc. have disappeared. Yet, the Jewish nation still remains today, and with them the Seventh-day Sabbath. Orthodox Jews had faithfully kept the Sabbath for over 2000 years. And through the keeping of the Sabbath, they had kept track of the weekly cycle from ancient times until today. If there had been a change in the weekly cycle through a calendar change or any other medium, they will have made it known. In fact, it will interest you to know that any faithful Jew you meet on the street will tell you that the Sabbath is the Seventh-day of the week, and that it falls on none other day, but our Saturday as we find on the Gregorian Calendar.

4) Beloved, the only reason why our world has a seven day weekly cycle is because God made it so when He created our world. From The Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed. vol. 4, p. 988, we read the following: "The week is a period of seven days, having no reference whatever to the celestial motions--a circumstance to which it owes its unalterable uniformity... It has been employed from time immemorial in almost all eastern countries." It is interesting to learn that the U.S. Naval Observatory has also reported that there has never been any change in the continuity of the weekly cycle.

Friends, the word of God is clear. The Seventh day is the Sabbath (see Exodus 20:10). From the evidence we have gone through so far in this study, it is clear that the weekly cycle has never been changed since the creation of mankind. This means that the Sabbath time that the patriarchs and prophets honoured, the Sabbath time that Christ and the apostles honoured, the Sabbath time that the early church honoured, is the same Sabbath time that we are privileged to honour today.

Exhortation: "For I am the LORD, I change not" (Malachi 3:6).

"22 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. 23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD" (Isaiah 66:22-23).

In our next study, we will consider the topic: How do we observe the Seventh - day Sabbath from the light of the Bible? The Bible study references for this study are Exodus 20:8-11, Isaiah 58:13-14, Leviticus 23:32, Leviticus 23:3, Nehemiah 10:31, Nehemiah 13:15-22 and Mark 2:27. Please do well to go through these passages before the next study is released.

Stay blessed and keep shining for King Jesus.

Maranatha!

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