God, Time and a Prophecy About Change
Time is very important to God. The Bible talks about time a lot. The book of Daniel predicted there would someday be a power on earth so influential that it would actually attempt to change time. Daniel 7 describes four great world-ruling empires — kingdoms not of God, but of Satan. Second Corinthians 4:4 says Satan is the "god of this world." Of one ruling system, Daniel 7:25 says:
"And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change the times and laws…."
— Daniel 7:25What does "think to change the times" mean in practice? Here are three examples:
- God begins His year in the spring — but this system starts its new year in the dead of winter.
- God begins His months at the new moon — but this system begins its months regardless of any lunar observation.
- God begins His day around sunset — but this system begins its day in the middle of the night.
God has His way of calculating time, but as a result of this prophesied system, the world has created a counterfeit system of calculating time. And so much of this counterfeiting revolves around which day should be observed as holy by believers of the great God of the Bible.
Is it Friday as most Muslims believe? Is it Sunday as most Christians believe? Is it Saturday, which most believe should be observed only by Jews? Or could God's day of rest be any day you choose?
Please ask yourself — do you go to the Scriptures just to "prove" what you already believe? Or do you search the Scriptures for the truth that God has given? We should hunger and thirst for righteousness and never just go through the motions of Bible study to justify some position. We should be willing to change what we believe if we find that we are in error.
The Sabbath Was Created, Blessed and Sanctified at Creation
Everyone in Christianity agrees that the seventh-day Sabbath was created by God. And most agree that God's days begin and end around sunset — not at midnight.
"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."
— Genesis 2:2–3God blessed the seventh-day Sabbath and sanctified it — meaning set it apart as holy. The weekly Sabbath was created by God in the first week of Creation, long before Moses ever went up to Mt. Sinai. The Sabbath existed before the Ten Commandments were given to the Israelite people.
"The Sabbath predates Israel, predates Moses, predates the giving of the Law at Sinai. It is woven into the very fabric of Creation itself."
— Genesis 2:2–3When Does God's Day Begin?
"The evening and the morning were the first day."
— Genesis 1:5"From evening to evening, you shall celebrate your Sabbath."
— Leviticus 23:32We get the word "evening" from the word "even" — meaning to divide something evenly into two equal halves. Evening is when the sun is even on the horizon at the start of the dark part of the day. When you can see just half of the sun as it sets, that is the end of one day and the beginning of the next. This is not just a biblical definition — it is the same definition found in secular dictionaries.
God's Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday.
The Only Day God Named Himself
God only named one day of the week — the Sabbath. He gave no names to the other six. The Bible only refers to those as the first day, second day, third day, etc. The day names we use today are man's names, chosen after pagan gods:
- Thursday — named after Thor, the Norse god of thunder
- Wednesday — named after Woden (Odin)
- Monday — named after the moon deity
- Saturday — named after Saturn, the Roman god
The seventh day is so special to God that He named it Himself. And that name — Sabbath — has endured across the world's languages for thousands of years.
The Word "Sabbath" Across the World's Languages
English is unusual in calling the seventh day "Saturday" — a pagan name for Saturn's day. Most world languages preserve the word "Sabbath" for the seventh day, a remarkable global testimony of which day God set apart as holy:
| Language | Word for Saturday (7th Day) |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Sábado |
| Italian | Sabato |
| Arabic | Sabet |
| Armenian | Shabat |
| Polish / Slovak / Czech | Sobota |
| Croatian | Subota |
| Russian | Subbota |
Jesus Christ and the Sabbath
Mark 1:38–39 tells us Jesus preached throughout all Galilee in synagogues. Luke 4:16 confirms He did this on the Sabbath — because that was when the people gathered. Someone might say, "Of course He went on the Sabbath — that's when Jews were there." Let's read on.
In Mark 2:23, the Pharisees condemned Jesus' disciples for plucking grain on the Sabbath. Notice Jesus' response:
"The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath."
— Mark 2:27–28He did not say "I have the power to do away with the Sabbath." He did not say "The Sabbath will be abolished after my resurrection." He declared Himself its Lord — affirming its continuing authority.
The dispute was never about whether the Sabbath should be kept. The Pharisees were talking about extra-biblical commands they themselves had instituted. Jesus never broke any biblical commandments — He taught against the pharisaical additions to God's Word. The religious leaders had made the Sabbath a burden, when God intended it to be a delight.
Did Jesus "Fulfill" and Therefore Abolish the Law?
Why do preachers say that Jesus abolished the law when Jesus' own words said:
"Think not that I came to destroy the law but to fulfil it. Heaven and earth shall pass away but not one jot or tittle of the law shall ever pass away."
— Matthew 5:17–18The word "fulfill" in Greek is pleroo (Strong's 4137). It means "to fully preach." Compare it with 1 John 3:8, which says Jesus came "that he might destroy the works of the devil." If Jesus came to destroy the law, why is a completely different word used when describing the destruction of evil? How did we ever confuse "fulfill" with "destroy"?
"Not one jot or tittle of the law shall ever pass away" — this includes the Fourth Commandment, the Sabbath.
— Matthew 5:18The Sabbath in End-Time Prophecy
If the Sabbath was done away with at the resurrection, why did Jesus refer to it as still being observed during the Great Tribulation?
"But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day."
— Matthew 24:20Matthew 24 is not merely about the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. Verse 21 says "For then will be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world." Verse 30 prophesies the return of Christ in the clouds — which never happened in AD 70. Jesus assumed His followers would still be keeping the Sabbath at the very end of the age. He never taught them to abandon it.
The Apostles Kept the Sabbath After the Resurrection
Jesus' followers continued to observe the Sabbath long after His death:
"And Paul, as was his custom, went in unto them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures."
"And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks."
"They came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on."
"And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God."
There is no evidence whatsoever that the earliest Christians were worshipping on Sunday. Sunday worship came to Christianity later as Gentile influences infiltrated the Body of Christ and corrupted the teachings of Moses and the apostles.
How Sunday Worship Entered Christianity
Between AD 200 and 400, there was a strong bias against anything Jewish in the Roman Empire. The Roman government banned circumcision, the Passover, and the seventh-day Sabbath. Christians in Rome, for their own safety and convenience, began distancing themselves from Jewish practices — including the Sabbath.
They adopted Sunday — the day the pagan Roman world already honored as the "venerable day of the sun" — as their day of worship. In doing so, they absorbed many pagan practices into what was being called Christianity.
By the time Emperor Constantine officially recognized Christianity in the fourth century, he placed the full power of the Roman Empire behind Sunday observance. By the time of the Protestant Reformation, Sunday was so established that even the great Reformers — who claimed authority from the Bible alone — couldn't dislodge it. Today, Sunday observance is based solely on tradition and not on Scripture.
Science, Rest and the Bible
As modern science continues to learn more about the human body, it increasingly recognizes that people actually need a day of rest. Scientists don't recommend which day to rest, but they increasingly agree that people need it. This is one more piece of science that backs up the Bible.
God has provided us with a manual — the same way Ford provides a manual for each car it produces. The manual for man is the Bible. God's laws were made to help us find the only true happiness that exists. We only find happiness through the blood of Jesus and obedience to His Father.
The Sabbath is so important that God included it in the Decalogue — the Ten Commandments. Today, Christians eagerly promote the Ten Commandments by preaching against murder, adultery, and bearing false witness — yet they stop short of promoting the Fourth Commandment as written in Exodus 20. Why would God include it and then remove it after Jesus' resurrection? As the Scriptures show, He did not. It's still there for us today — for our own good, for the good of all mankind.
"If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."
"Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."
"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."
What Other Churches Have Admitted
Denominational Admissions on the Sabbath
These quotes are taken from official denominational publications and SundayLaw.net. These churches openly admit the Sabbath was never scripturally changed to Sunday.
Most Christians will tell you that the resurrection of Jesus is very important to them because it proves He is the Son of God and gives us assurance of eternal life. These statements are absolutely correct. However, many also claim Jesus was crucified on a Friday evening and resurrected on a Sunday morning — a statement that is totally self-contradictory. There is no way to squeeze three days and three nights into a Friday evening to Sunday morning window. The truth is that Jesus was crucified late Wednesday afternoon and was resurrected late Saturday afternoon.
The New Testament mentions the first day of the week eight times. Let's look at all of them and see if any give credence to Sunday worship as a replacement for the seventh-day Sabbath.
The First Day of the Week in the Old Testament
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day."
— Genesis 1:1–5We see God working on the first day of the week. There is nothing here to demonstrate a day of worship on the first day of the week.
"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."
— Exodus 20:8–11God commands us to work six days a week — including the first day. In the entirety of the Old Testament, we don't find Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or the prophets worshipping on the first day of the week. For at least 4,000 years, the Hebrews worked on the first day of the week.
"The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days, but on the Sabbath it shall be opened."
— Ezekiel 46:1Once again God commands His people to work on the first day of the week. As the son of a carpenter, the first day of the week was just another work day for Jesus too. The New Testament never calls the first day of the week "the Christian Sabbath," never associates a blessing with it, and Jesus never mentioned it as a day of worship.
The Four Gospels — Women at the Tomb
The first four New Testament references to the first day of the week all describe the women coming to the tomb after the Sabbath:
"In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre."
"And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun."
"Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared."
"The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre."
There is no mention of a church meeting, a special assembly, or a day of worship. These women went to the tomb to work — carrying supplies to perform funerary functions. They didn't even know Jesus was resurrected. Mary asked a man she thought was a gardener, "What have you done with the body?" There was no Sunday worship service here.
John 20:19 — Assembled "For Fear of the Jews"
"Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst."
— John 20:19What was the purpose of this assembly? Was it a religious observance? No. These men had just seen their leader tortured and killed. They believed they were next on the hit list of the religious leaders. They were assembled out of fear of the Jews — not for Sunday worship. They didn't even know Jesus was alive until He unexpectedly appeared at this meeting. This was not a Sunday church service.
Acts 20:7 — "Breaking Bread" Was a Saturday Night Meal
"And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight."
— Acts 20:7Many churches try to use this verse to argue for weekly Sunday communion. But this was a Saturday night meal — because God begins His days at sunset, the first day of the week began at Saturday sundown. Paul had already preached to this group during the Sabbath. He was leaving the next morning and continued teaching into the night.
"Breaking bread" means a full meal including bread, meat, vegetables, and beverage. And Paul had an extremely hard journey ahead — almost 20 miles over steep, rough roads by foot. If Sunday had replaced the Sabbath, Paul was violating this "new Christian Sabbath" by doing hard physical labor on it. This passage actually shows they worshipped on the Sabbath and worked on the first day of the week.
1 Corinthians 16:2 — A Famine Food Drive
"Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come."
— 1 Corinthians 16:2This verse is dealing with a famine. Paul wanted to take up a collection for the brethren suffering in Judea. He is telling the people to work as they collect money and foodstuffs to be transported from Corinth to Jerusalem. This was not a worship assembly on the first day of the week. It was a food drive requiring considerable labor and transporting.
In all of the above, there is no indication it was their custom to meet on the first day of the week for worship. Nowhere in the New Testament is there an instruction to commemorate the resurrection on the first day of the week. Nowhere is there an instruction to transfer the holiness of the Sabbath to the first day of the week.
What Is "The Lord's Day" in Revelation 1:10?
"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and heard behind me a great voice."
— Revelation 1:10The book of Revelation is John's recounting of how he is transported in a vision into the future. The "Lord's Day" he enters is the prophetic Day of the Lord — a cataclysmic time period also seen by Isaiah, Joel, and Micah. It is not a 24-hour day. It is a time period lasting at least several days, weeks or months.
There is no church meeting in Revelation 1. There is no transference of the Sabbath to Sunday. We have already read in Mark 2:27 that "the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." If we are going to call a day of the week the Lord's Day — the Lord's Day is without a doubt the seventh-day Sabbath. The seventh-day Sabbath belongs to Jesus. The seventh-day Sabbath is Jesus' day.
A Simple Yes or No Comparison
Let's ask some straightforward questions — first about the first day of the week, then about the Sabbath:
| Question about the First Day of the Week | Answer |
|---|---|
| Does the Bible say that God blessed the first day? | No |
| Does the Bible say that God hallowed the first day? | No |
| Does the Bible say God commands keeping the first day? | No |
| Does the Bible say God rested on the first day? | No |
| Does the Bible call the first day a holy day? | No |
| Does the Bible offer a reward for keeping the first day? | No |
| Will the first day be kept in the Kingdom of God? | No |
| Was it Jesus' custom to keep the first day? | No |
| Was it Paul's manner to worship on the first day? | No |
| Question about the Sabbath (7th Day) | Answer | Where? |
|---|---|---|
| Does the Bible say that God blessed the Sabbath? | Yes | Genesis 2:3 |
| Does the Bible say that God hallowed the Sabbath? | Yes | Exodus 20:11 |
| Does the Bible say God commands keeping the Sabbath? | Yes | Exodus 20:8 |
| Does the Bible say God rested on the Sabbath? | Yes | Exodus 20:11 |
| Does the Bible call the Sabbath a holy day? | Yes | Isaiah 58:13 |
| Does the Bible offer a reward for keeping the Sabbath? | Yes | Isaiah 58:13–14 |
| Will the Sabbath be kept in the Kingdom of God? | Yes | Isaiah 66:23 |
| Was it Jesus' custom to keep the Sabbath? | Yes | Luke 4:16 |
| Was it Paul's manner to worship on the Sabbath? | Yes | Acts 17:2; 16:13 |
It's not uncommon for people to ask, "Why would anyone want to keep the Ten Commandments? After all, the Decalogue was given to Moses for the nation of Israel — for the Jews, but certainly not for Christians in the 21st century." Is this true? We can answer this by finding out whether the Ten Commandments were kept before Moses. If they were, that clearly shows these commandments are not just for the Jews — they are for all people of all time.
Sin in the Garden of Eden — Proof of Pre-Mosaic Law
Romans 5:12 says, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." Verse 14: "Death reigned from Adam to Moses." Sin existed in the Garden of Eden. But what is sin?
"Sin is transgression of the law."
— 1 John 3:4Then there was law during the time of Adam! Romans 7:7 says Paul "had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." When Adam and Eve disobeyed God by lusting, they broke the commandment against coveting. They also broke the commandments against stealing and dishonoring their Father. In Luke 3:38, Adam is called a son of God.
At least four commandments existed in the Garden of Eden: the Sabbath (created at Creation — the Fourth Commandment), "You shall not covet," "You shall not steal," and "Honor your Father." God's law predates Moses entirely.
Cain and Murder — Long Before Moses
"Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?… What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth."
— Genesis 4:8–11God did not say, "There is not yet a law against killing." He did not say, "People won't know about the commandment against murder until Moses." God made it very clear that what Cain did was wrong. The Commandments were in existence in the earliest days of mankind — long before Moses.
Joseph and Adultery — Long Before Moses
When Potiphar's wife attempted to seduce Joseph, he refused:
"How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"
— Genesis 39:9Joseph said he didn't want to sin against God — not merely against his master. He knew that God forbade adultery. This was hundreds of years before Moses received the law at Sinai.
Regarding idolatry — Joshua 24:2 tells us that Abraham's father Terah "served other gods." This was a violation of the commandments against idolatry, practiced long before Moses. And regarding stealing — Genesis 30:33 shows that Jacob and Laban's negotiations explicitly treat taking someone else's animals as theft. The commandment against stealing was understood long before Moses.
The Law Is for All People of All Time
The evidence is overwhelming — God's law, including all Ten Commandments, existed and was understood long before Moses went up Mt. Sinai. The Commandments are not a Jewish institution. They are for all people of all time. This is confirmed by Jesus Himself:
"The Sabbath was made for man" — not just for the Jew, not just for the Hebrew, but for man.
— Mark 2:27"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
— 1 John 2:4We hope this study has been helpful. If you would like more help in understanding this important topic, please contact us at cgijamaica.org@gmail.com. All our information is free.
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