REMEMBER SABBATH DAY, KEEP IT HOLY II

In the first of the “Remember the Sabbath Day” series, we established that the true Sabbath day is Saturday, the seventh day, not Sunday, which is the first day of the week. This was confirmed by scripture, including the fact that it is common knowledge that Jesus died on Friday at 3pm and that they came down from the cross because Sabbath was approaching, which is Saturday, the following day.

According to Sabbath laws, given before there were any Jews, it starts at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday. We all know about Easter Friday and the Easter holiday that the Christian family celebrates worldwide. Therefore, we all know that the true Sabbath, referred to in the Bible is Saturday, not Sunday.

The people who made the change are known through history, and it is not God (‘Yahweh’), Jesus (Yeshua), or his eleven remaining disciples, nor even Apostle Paul, who wrote most of the Bible. This week, we continue to try to understand why the Almighty God (‘Yahweh’) would choose to write the fourth commandment in this way: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” as if  He knew we would forget. “Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God ‘Yahweh’… rested on the seventh day.

Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it (Exodus 20:8-11). We need to note that the Ten Commandments are the only part of scripture that is written by the personal finger of God and written twice. Exodus 31:18 states, “And He gave unto Moses when He had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God (‘Yahweh’). The rest of the Bible is written by men inspired by God, but the Ten Commandments are written by God Himself. This means only God Himself can change it.

Remember Jesus through Holy Communion. Last week, we learned that Jesus the Christ - Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) did not change it; for He said in His own words that He has not come to change the laws given to the prophets but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17-19). Some say He did change the Sabbath Day because He rose on Sunday, thus we remember Him on Sunday to honour Him. Jesus (Yeshua) says we should remember or honour Him through Holy Communion, not through Sunday worship. Jesus (Yeshua), at His most difficult time just before the crucifixion, during His last supper, breaks bread and says, “This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me” in Luke 22:19. Paul later repeats this phrase in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.

Christians were persecuted in the Roman Empire
Historically, the apostles Peter and Paul started Christianity in Rome by travelling to preach there. Paul originally went because, as a Roman citizen, he had the privilege of appealing his conviction to the Emperor’s Court, but he helped organise the first Christian congregation there. Christians would later be persecuted within the Roman Empire from the 1st century AD to the 4th century.

The persecution was due to the ideological conflict between Christianity and the Roman Empire’s polytheistic religion, which meant they worshipped many gods and goddesses. Christians were punished for a variety of reasons, including treason, rumored crimes, illegal assembly and introducing an alien cult. Millions of Christians perished, but it was only the beginning.

Emperor Constantine the Great
On March 7, 321, Roman Emperor Constantine I became the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity and issued a civil decree making Sunday a day of rest from labour, stating: All judges and city people and craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable day of the sun. The name ‘Sunday’ comes from the Latin diēs sōlis, which means ‘sun’s day’. The day was named after the ‘Sun’ because the pagans worshipped the god Zeus, the god of the Sun. The Romans named the days of the week after their gods, with the sun being the first and foremost god, Zeus. The biggest challenge for Emperor Constantine was convincing the original Christians to abandon the true Sabbath on Saturday and take Sunday.

The Jewish religious leaders made his work easy by making the Sabbath (Saturday) worship very difficult and strict. For some time, both days were observed: Sabbath remained a ‘holy day’ or sacred day, and Sunday a ‘holiday’ or happy free day of the sun. The emperor now had to find a religious reason from scripture for why they had to worship on Sunday.While Jesus Himself did not change the Sabbath, the true Sabbath Saturday was associated with religious restrictions, and Sunday was a day associated with the joyous freedom brought about by the resurrection of Jesus. This was the perfect reason and has been used ever since.

How you worship tells who you worship
Emperor Constantine did not convert to Christianity but infiltrated Christianity to destroy it from within. The first act was to destroy their worship, the Sabbath, and get them to worship their god on their day. The Roman Empire was dying and needed to be renewed and take on a new form. From political power, it took on a more powerful form, the religious power. It became the Roman Catholic Church, led by the Pontiffs (Popes). Catholic means universal. It ruled for 1,260 years unchallenged and has continued to this day through certain families, religions (like Islam), and secret societies.

During this time (historians call this time the Dark Ages), an estimated fifty million Christians perished through brutal persecution.
Next week, we will look at the final installment, Part 3 (Tuesday), of the “Remember the Sabbath Day” series and learn how the Catholic Church changed everything and was challenged through what is known as the Reformation. This was the birth of Protestant churches protesting the Roman Catholic Church and the Papal Power.

This was a time of great religious persecution and heroes like Martin Luther (Lutheran Church), John Wesley (Emaweseli), and many others. It is not just the Sabbath that was changed without the authority of ‘Yahweh’ (God), including the Hebrew name of our Lord, ‘Yeshua’ to a pagan name Iēsous, a Greek translation, and later ‘Jesu’, the English version. Did you know that Greek names ending with ‘sus’, ‘seus’, or ‘sous’ were attached by the Greeks to honour their god Zeus? ‘Iesous’ or ‘Jesus’ literally translates to ‘Hail Zeus’, in praise of the pagan god Zeus and the pagan goddess Iaso. Google it if you are not sure. septembereswatini@gmail.com

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