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IX. Sabbath

Chapter 96 :

The Sabbath in the New Testament

1. ACCORDING to the New Testament, what day immediately precedes the first day of the week?
"In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week." Matt. 28:1.

NOTE.-According to the New Testament, therefore, the Sabbath had passed when the first day of the week began.

2. After the crucifixion, what day was kept by the women who followed Jesus?
"And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke 23:56.

3. What day is the Sabbath, "according to the commandment"?
"But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Ex. 20:10.

4. What was Christ's custom respecting the Sabbath?
"And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read." Luke 4:16.

5. In what instruction to His disciples did Christ recognize the existence of the Sabbath long after His ascension?
"But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day." Matt. 24:20.

NOTE.-The destruction of Jerusalem under Titus occurred in the spring and summer of 70 A.D. The flight of the Christians took place three and one-half years earlier, or late in October, 66 A. D., following the arrival and sudden withdrawal of Cestius and his army. See readings in Chapter 68. of this book.

6. On what day did the Jews meet for worship?
"Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day." Acts 15:21.

7. On what day did Paul and Barnabas preach at Antioch?
"They came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day." Acts 13:14.

8. When did the Gentiles request that Paul should repeat the sermon he had preached at Antioch on the Sabbath?
"And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath." Verse 42.

9. On what day did Paul and his companions preach to the devout women at Philippi?
"And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither." Acts 16:13.

10. What was Paul's manner respecting the Sabbath?
"They came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures." Acts 17:1,2.

NOTE.-It was Paul's manner, as it was Christ's custom (Luke 4:16), to attend religious services on the Sabbath.

11. How did the apostle spend the working days of the week when at Corinth?
"After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; . . . and because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tent-makers." Acts 18:1-3. See Eze. 46:1.

12. What did he do on the Sabbath days?
"And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." Acts 18:4.

13. How long did he continue this work there?
"And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them." Verse 11.

NOTE.-Here, then, were seventy-eight Sabbaths on which Paul preached in one city. The record further says that he worked at his trade, and we may justly infer that Paul worked at tent-making just as many Sundays as he preached Sabbaths. If to these seventy-eight Sabbaths we add the three he spent at Thessalonica, the one at Philippi, and the two at Antioch, we have a record of eighty-four Sabbaths on which the apostle held religious services, while, so far as the record shows, he held only one meeting on the first day of the week, and that a night meeting, immediately following the Sabbath. See Acts 20. Evidently Sunday was not the Sabbath in Paul's day.

14. On what day was John in the Spirit?
"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Rev. 1:10.

15. Who is Lord of the Sabbath?
"The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Mark 2:28.

16. What, through the prophet Isaiah, does the Lord call the Sabbath?
"If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day." Isa. 58:13.

17. Why does the Lord call the Sabbath His day?
"For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Ex.20:11.

18. Through whom did God create the world?
"God. . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, . . . by whom also He made the worlds." Heb. 1:1,2.

NOTES.-From beginning to end, the Bible recognizes but one weekly Sabbath,- the day upon which God rested in the beginning; which was made known to Israel at Sinai (Neh. 9:13,14); was observed by Christ and His apostles; and is to be kept by the redeemed in the world to come. Isa. 66:22,23.
The terms Sabbath, Sabbaths, and Sabbath days occur sixty times in the New Testament, and in every case but one refer to the seventh day. In Col. 2:16,17, reference is made to the annual sabbaths connected with the three annual feasts observed by Israel before the first advent of Christ.
The first day of the week is mentioned but eight times in the New Testament, six of which are found in the four Gospels, and refer to the day on which Christ arose from the dead. See Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1,19. The other two (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2) refer to the only religious meeting held on the first day of the week after the ascension, in apostolic times, recorded in the New Testament and to a systematic accounting and laying by in store at home on that day for the poor saints in Judea and Jerusalem.
It is evident, therefore, that the Sabbath of the New Testament is the same as the Sabbath of the Old Testament, and that there is nothing in the New Testament setting aside the seventh-day Sabbath, and putting the first day of the week in its place.

The Law of God