HOLY DAY

OR
HOLIDAY
 Pre-amble
At the end of the six days of Creation week,
God instituted the Sabbath. The book of
Genesis describes it this way: “Thus the
heavens and the earth, and all the host of
them, were finished. And on the seventh
day God ended His work which He had done,
and He rested on the seventh day from all
His work which He had done. Then God
blessed the seventh day and sanctified it,
because in it He rested from all His work
which God had created and made” (Genesis
2:1–3). God created “rest” on the seventh
• It stops the flow of endless time. It places a
pause in the routine of our daily grind. It calls a
halt to the rush of our daily work. The Sabbath is
God’s sacred escape in a frantic world. It is a day
set apart from all other days of the week. It is
special. It is quality time. It is a time we can
reflect on life’s most important relationships our
relationship with God and our relationship with
our loved ones. And yes, it is a time we can say No to
all other demands, all the other things which clutter up
our lives.
• Human beings desperately need this sacred
space, this divine boundary. We need it more
than ever before. The world is busier and noisier
and more intense and more demanding than any
• Rabbi David Wolpe notes, “The modern world never
whispers. Our cities are like arcades without
exits. Urgent voices, flashing signs, and an
endless stream of media images surround us.”
Our overcrowded, overstressed, oversaturated,
overstimulated lives need a rest! We need relief
from the constant bombardment of things to
find joy in the timelessness of a meaningful
relationship with God.
• The Sabbath is unique in the whole history of religion.
There are many holy things in the religions of
the world. People have ascribed holiness to
everything from cows to the bones of the saints.
Men have worshiped idols of every conceivable
• And there are many holy places in the history of the world. Hindus
travel thousands of miles to bathe in the sacred waters of the
Ganges River. Muslims make long pilgrimages to the holy city
of Mecca. Buddhists honor the site where Buddha received the
“enlightenment.” Some Christians travel to Rome or Jerusalem
to experience “sacred presence.” ZCC travel to Moriah
• But in the Bible, we find the unique idea of holiness in time. God
“blessed the seventh day and sanctified” it. God created a holy
setting—the Sabbath, where human beings could be specially
blessed. But He did not restrict it to a certain location. We
don’t have to make a long pilgrimage to arrive at God’s sacred
site. Each Sabbath, heaven touches earth. God’s eternal place
in time descends from heaven. He has placed His holy setting
in time, equally accessible to all humanity. It is a time to find rest
in Him. It is sacred space in a busy world. It is a divine invitation from
the King of the universe to leave the rat race of life to enter the palace
of the King.
 Take note
• The Sabbath has always been a central issue for the Seventh-
day Adventist Church, so much so that it is part of our
denominational name. We are “seventh-day” Adventists,
separating us from others who also believe in the second
coming of Jesus but do not link it to the biblical Sabbath.
• A book looking into the biblical Sabbath will interest some but
will arouse no interest at all for others. Some may have their
curiosity tweaked, but for many Christians today, the study of
any biblical doctrine is unappealing. They find pursuing those
studies boring and pedantic. They think, It may have been necessary
to study doctrines in the past, but not now. They seek relational
models of Christian identity, models that emphasize the love of
Jesus or make a person more “spiritual.” Still others find the
church and its doctrines unnecessary. They feel that they enjoy
greater blessings and benefits in nature. Moreover, church
leaders can’t seem to agree on many doctrinal issues anyway
• Studying anything, however, involves making
choices, whether it is religion, politics,
philosophy, or learning a skill. Ideas and beliefs
matter, and every person must decide what is
true. Not choosing is itself making a choice.
• There is no neutral ground. Even pluralism, which urges
tolerance, is a commitment to certain assumptions. And
the tolerance urged there ends when someone does not
accept the pluralistic platform.
• Christian faith has never been about merely gathering
the best combination of texts—though sometimes it
may seem so. It is about encountering, loving,
and wanting to serve the living God. To know
Him, a person must find where and how He has
revealed Himself.
• Exodus 20:8-11 – The law of the Sabbath . THE ISSUE OF THE
SABBATH IS PART OF THE LAW
• So many worship on Sunday - many churches , few worship
on Saturday actually most of the churches worship on Sunday
why ? Matthew 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen
• What are the reasons for worshiping on Sunday ,
Friday
• 1 The Sabbath was made for the Jews
• 2 Jesus is the sabbath
• 3 Christ abolished the law
• 4 You can choose your Sabbath
• 5– Jesus resurrected on Sunday
• 6 No one knows which day is the Sabbath
• 7 We are saved by grace Sunday
 Was the Sabbath made for the Jews ?
• MARK 2:27-28 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for
man, and not man for the sabbath:`Therefore the Son of man is
Lord also of the sabbath. Jesus is not the Sabbath , but the
Lord of
• – the Sabbath was made for man THE SABBATH WAS MADE FOR
THE GOOD OF MAN – NOT JEWS BUT MANKIND
• Did Christ abolish the law ?
• Matthew 5:17-20
• Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one
jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall
teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but
whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the
kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case
enter into the kingdom of heaven.
 LUKE 4:16
WHICH DAY DID JESUS KEEP
HE CAME TO NAZARETH WHERE
HE HAD BEEN BROUGHT UP
AND AS HIS CUSTOM WAS , HE
WENT INTO THE SYNAGOUGE
ON THE SABBATH DAY AND
STOOD UP FOR TO READ
Luke 4:16 Jesus kept the
Sabbath
Disciples kept the
Sabbath
And Paul kept the
Sabbath .Acts
13:14,42 . Acts17:1-
2; Acts 16:13.
How then did he
abolish it? If they
 Can one choose his or her Sabbath ?
• Levi 23: 3
• Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the
sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work
therein: it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your
dwellings
• Hebrew word for convocation > miqra' (mik-raw'); from;
something called out, i.e. a public meeting (the act,
the persons, or the place); also a rehearsal : KJV -
assembly, calling, convocation, reading.
• Sabbath is not mine but it is of the Lord given to
humanity - the second commandment asserts that Thou
shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any
likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is
in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the
So by violating the 4
th

commandment you violated the

first, second and third
What is the challenge Matthew
15:3, 8-9 violating the law as a
result of our customs – custom of
Jesus Sabbath worship – whom
are you following Acts 11:26
 Are days different ?
• Genesis 2:1-3 wayefunda esekhulile .
• Holy – what is holy Hagios indlubu ewele ephokweni
• Blessed – Isaiah 56:2
• Rested – not because he had done everything but he
finished for that particular time so that he will rest
• What about cooking ?
• Exodus 16:21-30 . No cooking how Long refuse ye to
keep my laws
• Exodus 34:21 during harvest .
 WHICH DAY IS THE
SABBATH ?
Luke 23:53-56; 24:1-3
 On which day did Jesus die ?
 On which day did Jesus resurrect?
 With this biblical explanation in view
Sunday is the first day of the week this
means that Saturday is the Sabbath thus
Sunday as the first day is a day for
working and not worship
 Why do we have Sunday Origin of
sunday?
• Some Christians keep Sunday in honor of Jesus’ resurrection . Is
that biblically correct ?
• While it is very true that Jesus rose on Sunday the first day of the
week , but there is nowhere in the bible for anyone to keep Sunday
because Jesus rose on Sunday there is no reference to keeping of
Sunday Holy . The basis for Sabbath keeping is the direct
handwritten command of God .
• Many wonderful events occurred on certain days of the week , but
we have no command to keep them Holy . Jesus died on Friday and
he died for our sins and that is probably the most significant event
recorded in History . It marked the moment my death sentence was
commuted and my salvation was assured . But not one Bible text hints
that we should observe this day of such great significance .
• It was a dramatic moment when Jesus rose from the grave that
Sunday morning , but there is not a scintilla of biblical evidence
that we should observe it in honor of the resurrection . Not one
instance of Sunday observance has been found in the recorded scriptures
• There is of course a memorial of the resurrection
commanded in the scriptures , but it is not
Sunday keeping . Romans 6:4 . That memorial is
baptism . So for us to honor resurrection we do so
by baptism. “Therefore we are buried with him by
baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we
also should walk in newness of life.
• Baptism is the memorial of Christ’s death , burial
and resurrection . So if we want to celebrate
death and resurrection , there are two ordinances
to practice in honor of resurrection that is
baptism and Passover, (holy communion) . Not
Sunday as a day of worship . As we look into this
arguments of Sunday observance , not one of the
 Origin of Sunday: 2 Thessalonians 2:2-
4,7.
• How did the Sabbath change came about –the change of the fourth
commandment was attempted gradually over A period of time so as not to
arouse anyone . But the change Is a masterpiece of Satan's work
• What is opposition .
• Daniel 7:24-25 try to change Laws.-
• Since heathen were used to worshipping, the
church ripped out the second commandment
which forbids image worship . They placed images
in the churches ! But instead of images of
heathen gods , they simply used images of dead
saints ! The people were taught that were merely
to help increase their learning and devotion , but
the result was far different
•Look at this it would think to
change times and laws – the
Pope has power to change , to
abrogate ( change )laws and to
dispense with all things , even
the precepts of Christ
•Climate change issue that is
taking place
Tammuz sun worship -Mithraism-sun worship.
• Ezekiel 8:16
• He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house;
and there, at the door of the temple of the Lord,
between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five
men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and
their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping
the sun toward the east
• The prophet Ezekiel saw these men following the
Babylonian practice of sun worship. Turning their
faces toward the east, they knelt and worshiped
the sun as a god, as the sun rose in the eastern
sky.
Ancient Babylonian calendars, with the sun at the center,
reveal the importance the Babylonians placed on sun
worship. The Babylonians did not believe that they were
fashioned by the hands of a loving Creator. They
believed the sun, the largest luminous body in the
heavens, was the source of life. In adoration, they bowed
to worship it. “In ancient Babylonia the Sun was
worshipped from immemorial antiquity.
• Down through the millennia, false worship
was often rooted in sun worship. Satan
exalted the objects of Creation above the
Creator. The Assyrians worshiped the sun-
god Shamash. The Egyptians worshiped the
sun-god Ra. The Hittites worshiped Arinna
the sun-goddess. The Konark sun wheel is
The Nordic Trundholm sun chariot symbolized the sun worship of the
Vikings. Helios of Greece and Mithra of Persia and Rome were
worshiped as sun-gods by multitudes.
• The Sabbath called God’s people to worship their Creator. Sun
worship beckoned them to worship an object of creation. Duet 4:15-
19
• The first and second century Christian church in Rome was largely
composed of Gentile Christians. This is quite different from the church
in Jerusalem and the Middle East, which was largely a Jewish/Christian
church. Gentile Christians coming from a pagan background in Rome
would likely have been influenced by sun worship.
• The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge makes this
startling observation: “In the first Christian century there were
organized at Rome associations of the followers of Mithra.”
• Among the Romans, the sun-god Mithra was known by the masses as
“Sol Invictus” (“the Invisible Sun”). The Emperor Aurelian’s mother
was a priestess of the sun. The emperor himself was especially devoted to
sun worship. His biographer, Flavius Vopiscus, states that the emperor officially
proclaimed the solar deity as “Sol dominus imperii Romani” (“The Sun, Lord of
the Roman Empire”).
• Well-known historian Arthur Weigall in his book, The
Paganism in Our Christianity, states, “As a solar
festival, Sunday was the sacred day of Mithra;
and it is interesting to notice that since Mithra
was addressed as Dominus, ‘Lord,’ Sunday must
have been ‘the Lord’s Day’ long before Christian
times.”
• The historian makes a telling point here. Since
Sunday was the day dedicated to the pagan god
Mithra, and Mithra was considered to be lord,
Sunday was considered the Lord’s day, not of
Christ originally, but of a pagan god. This is further
confirmed with the discovery of the el-Amarna letters,
which abound with such phrases as the following: “the
• The Catholic Encyclopedia adds this insight: “Sunday was kept holy in
honor of Mithra.” Scholar Franz Cumont adds, “ ‘The dies Solis
[Sunday] was evidently the most sacred of the week for the
faithful of Mithra and, like the Christians, they had to keep the
Sunday holy and not the Sabbath.’
• Professor Agostinho de Almeida Paiva, in his outstanding book on
Mithraism, rounds out the story this way: “ ‘The first day of each week,
Sunday, was consecrated to Mithra since times remote, as
several authors affirm. Because the Sun was god, the Lord par
excellence, Sunday came to be called the Lord’s day, as later was
done by Christianity.’ ”
• Gentiles converting to Christianity in Rome were influenced by Mithraism
—sun worship. They already had a sense that Sunday was the
Lord’s day, since they believed Mithra or Helios (the sun) was the
lord. It would not be difficult for these Gentile Christians to shift
their allegiance to Jesus rather than Mithra on the sun’s day.
• When Constantine became the emperor of the Roman Empire, he
chose as his family god Apollo—the sun god—identified with the
old Roman Sol since the time of the Caesars. “The Sun was
• With anti-Jewish sentiment rising in the empire,
social and political discord flourishing, and
corrupt church leaders grasping for power,
Sunday became the vehicle to unite the empire.
The pagan Roman emperor, recently converted
to Christianity, was urged by church leaders to
promote a common day of worship on Sunday, to
advance the power and glory of the church.
• Constantine himself, in a letter addressed to
Alexander, bishop of Alexandria (A.D. 313–325),
clearly states his religious policy for the Roman
Empire in these words, “ ‘My design then was,
first, to bring the diverse judgments formed by
all nations respecting the Deity to a condition,
as it were, of settled uniformity.’ ”16
• In passing his six civil Sunday
laws, Constantine hoped to unite
his empire. He wisely realized that
one way to do this was a common
day of rest, festivity, and worship
throughout the empire, a day that
both pagans and Christians could
agree upon. Arthur P. Stanley, in
his History of the Eastern Church,
writes,
• The retention of the old Pagan name of
“Dies Solis,” or “Sunday” for the weekly
Christian festival, is, in great measure,
owing to the union of Pagan and Christian
sentiment with which the first day of the
week was recommended by Constantine to
his subjects, Pagan and Christian alike, as
the “venerable day of the Sun.” His decree,
regulating its observance, has been justly
called “a new era in the history of the
Lord’s day.” It was his mode of
harmonizing the discordant religions of the
Empire under one common institution.
• History and prophecy are plain on the
change of the Bible Sabbath. God did
not change the seventh-day Sabbath
from Saturday to Sunday. Jesus did not
change it, and the first-century
disciples would not think of changing
the Sabbath. The Sabbath was
gradually changed over the centuries
as pagan sun worship infiltrated the
church through a union of church and
state in the early centuries.
 • The recognition of sun-day
came about AD 321. 7 March
when Constantine a Roman
How did the empire enacted that all courts
of justice and everything be On
change came rest on Sunday . Acts5:29
about • Sylvester Bishop of Rome
AD314-337 year of reign
officially changed the title of
the first day calling it rest day
or the lord’s day at the council
of Laodicea AD325 . He said
Christians should not Judaize
to keep the Sabbath.
• You may read the bible from
Genesis to Revelation you will
not find any verse authorizing
Sunday sanctification.(faith of
our Fathers pg 111-112]
• Sunday mentioned how many
times in the bible Mathew
28:1 ;Mark 16:2 ;Luke
24:1 ;John 20:1. Acts 20:7
breaking bread Corinthians
16:2 No gathering. So What
about Colossians 2:14-
 Paul Is Talking About The
2 PETER 3:15- Ceremonial Sabbaths Of
16 Leviticus 23 Which Were The
Feasts That Were Happening
Which Were Pointing To The Day
Of Atonement
• These Are ; Passover
Read Leviticus 5,unleavened Bread6, Weave
23: Sheaf 10; First
5,6,10,17,24,32 Fruits;17,trumpets;24,day Of
Atonement;32 Theses Feasts
Were Specifically Called The
Sabbaths
This Means That The Day Of
Passover Might Happen At Any
Exodus 31:14-15
 Death sentence for failing to keep the Sabbath holy
 Ye shall Keep the Sabbath day for it is holy –imperative mode it’s
a command and not a request . Everyone that defiles it shall
surely be put to death , for whosoever doeth any work that soul
shall be cut off from among his people
Psalms 51:21-22
 Warning tonight . You did these things and I kept silent
 Even pastors and priests
•Ezekiel 22:25-27
• Her priests have violated the my law
says GOD and have profaned holy
things , made no difference between
holy and profane hid their eyes from
the Sabbath and I am profaned
among them
•Isaiah 58:1-2,13-14. cry aloud an
spare not for they seek me daily but
do not my will
 • Isaiah 66:22-24
• In heaven the Sabbath will be kept those desiring to go
to heaven practice it here
• The Sabbath is so precious to God that He will have His
people observe it throughout all time to come in the
beautiful new earth . If it is so precious to Him , should
it be not be precious to us . If we are going to keep it
then , should we not keep it now ?
• In an age of false gods of atheistic evolution , and
traditions of men , the world needs the Sabbath more
than ever as a test of our loyalty to the great Creator-
God and a sign of our sanctification through his power .

• There is no Sunday observance in heaven

 Hebrews 4:1-9
• Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering
into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For
unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the
word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in
them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into
rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter
into my rest: although the works were finished from the
foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the
seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from
all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my
rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter
therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in
because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David,
To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then
would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There
remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God
 God bless you as you
accept the true Sabbath
amen