BEGINNING OF THE END!

CHAPTER SEVEN

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Here are additional points not covered earlier in this book:

1 - HAS THE WEEKLY CYCLE CHANGED?

The writings of historians, the records of chronographers, the languages of earth, the calendars of time, and the existence of the Jewish race—all testify to the fact that the weekly cycle on our calendars today is the same as in earlier centuries—going back to the time of Christ, to Moses, and beyond.

In the beginning, God gave us the weekly seven-day cycle, with the Sabbath as the last day. That pattern has never changed. The seventh day of the week today is the true Bible Sabbath. Our seventh day is the Sabbath which Jesus kept; it was the Sabbath in the time of Moses when the Ten Commandments were written down. Historians and scientists all agree that this is true.

If there had been any change in the weekly cycle, between the time of Creation and the time of Moses, a correction would have been made when the Ten Commandments were given to the Hebrews. From that time, on down to the present, there have always been Jews to testify as to the true Sabbath! It is the same seventh day of the week which is on our calendars. While all the other ancient races are now intermingled, the Jews have been kept separate so they could testify to the fact that our seventh day is the Bible Sabbath!

The yearly (not weekly) cycle has been changed. In 1582, the length of the year was changed to include the leap year. This changeover resulted in October 1582 having only 21 days! But each week remained the same; each was seven days in length. Thursday, October 4, was followed by Friday, October 15. God has divinely protected the weekly cycle down through the ages. If He had not done this, it would be impossible to keep the Sabbath holy, as He has commanded. But, because He has, there is no excuse for disobedience. The seventh day is a holy day, made holy by the command of God. All calendars agree: The seventh day is the Sabbath. Sunday is the first day; the day called “Saturday” in the English language is the Sabbath.

However, in 108 of the 160 languages of mankind, the seventh day is called “the Sabbath”! Dr. William Mead Jones of London prepared a chart proving this. (A copy of this chart can be obtained free of charge from the publisher of this book: Ask for “The Chart of the Week” [BS–27-28].) English is one of the few major languages in which the seventh day is not called “the Sabbath.” (The word, “Sabbath,” was originally a Hebrew word and means “rest.”)

Here are ten examples; all mean “Sabbath.” Hebrew: Shabbath / Greek: Sabbaton / Latin: Sabbatum / Arabic: Assabit / Persian: Shambin / Russian: Subbota / Hindustani: Shamba / French: Samedi / Italian: Sabbato / Spanish: Sabado.

Here are several statements by astronomers that the weekly cycle has never been changed, confused, or lost:

“By calculating the eclipses, it can be proven that no time has been lost and the creation days were seven, divided into 24 hours each.”—Dr. Hinkley, The Watchman, July 1926 [Hinkley was a well-known astronomer.].

“The human race never lost the septenary [seven day] sequence of week days and that the Sabbath of these latter times comes down to us from Adam, though the ages, without a single lapse.”—Dr. Totten, professor of astronomy at Yale University.

“Seven has been the ancient and honored number among the nations of the earth. They have measured their time by weeks from the beginning. The origin of this was the Sabbath of God, as Moses has given the reasons for it in his writings.”—Dr. Lyman Coleman.

“There has been no change in our calendar in past centuries that has affected in any way the cycle of the week.”—James Robertson, Director American Ephemeris, Navy Department, U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C., March 12, 1932.

“It can be said with assurance that not a day has been lost since Creation, and all the calendar changes notwithstanding, there has been no break in the weekly cycle.”—Dr. Frank Jeffries, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and Research Director of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, England.

God has given us many ways by which we can know that we today have the true Bible Sabbath, and that it is the seventh day of the week. He wants everyone to be sure, whether or not they have access to historical and astronomical records. He has given us more than written proof—He has given us living proof—the Jewish race. Every other Near Eastern ethnic group has disappeared: the Hitites, Summarians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Moabites—all gone. The Jews remain a distinct people—and with them the Bible Sabbath. It has been 3400 years since the time that God gave them manna in the wilderness—but all during that time they have been keeping the Bible Sabbath, week after week, century after century. Ask any Jewish acquaintance what day is the Sabbath. He will tell you that it is Saturday, the seventh day.

Orthodox Jews scattered throughout the world have kept strict record of time. They have carefully observed the seventh-day Sabbath throughout the ages. The existence and testimony of the Jewish race is alone enough to settle the matter.

It is remarkable how complete is the Biblical and historical evidences corroborating the fact that the Bible Sabbath was given to us by the God of heaven. Let us keep the Sabbath that Jesus kept! He worshiped on the Bible Sabbath, and never told us to stop keeping it. No one else in the Bible said to either. The seventh day is the Sabbath, for God never changed it.

For a copy of the 256-page book, Beyond Pitcairn, explaining in far more remarkable detail about the Bible Sabbath, Send $2.00 to the publisher of this book. It is an extremely readable book.

2 - WHAT DID JESUS THINK

ABOUT THE LAW OF GOD?

While here on earth, Jesus gave us a careful example of obedience to the Sabbath day He had earlier, at the Creation, given to mankind.

“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.

His custom should be ours, for He is our Example. He gave us an example of obedience that we should follow.

“He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.”—1 John 2:6.

“Leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps.”—1 Peter 2:21.

“I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.”—John 15:10.

“For this is the love of God: that we keep His commandments.”—1 John 5:3.

Throughout His earthly life, Jesus continually gave us an example of obedience to the Moral Law of Ten Commandments. And He told His disciples to obey it also.

“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.”—Matthew 5:17-19.

Not only did Christ give us a careful example of obedience while here on earth,—but He also rebuked man-made attempts to change His laws.

“But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”—Matthew 15:9.

“Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.”—Matthew 15:6.

“But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?”—Matthew 15:3.

Throughout His life, Christ did as Scripture predicted He would do: He magnified the law and made it honorable.

“The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honourable.”—Isaiah 42:21.

“Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me: I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.”—Psalm 40:7-8 [compare Hebrews 10:5, 7].

Christ also taught that others should obey the law of God, as He was doing.

“Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.”—Matthew 7:21.

“Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And He said unto him . . If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”—Matthew 19:16-17.

However, God’s faithful ones fully realize that they are incapable, in their own strength, of rendering this obedience to God. We must all lay hold of the enabling grace of Christ.

“I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.”—John 15:5.

3 - WHICH DAY

IS THE “LORD’S DAY”?

What day is the “Lord’s Day” mentioned in Revelation 1:10? The Bible is very clear about this; in fact, so clear it will surprise you.

Christ was in the beginning with God the Father.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.”—John 1:1-2.

Christ is the Creator, for God the Father created all things by Him.

“God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.”—Ephesians 3:9.

“God . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son . . by whom also He made the worlds.”—Hebrews 1:1-2.

“For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth . . all things were created by Him . . and by Him all things consist [hold together].”—Colossians 1:16-17.

Therefore it was Christ who, after creating the world in six days, rested on the seventh and made the Sabbath.

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 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 2:3.

What day 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, as of a trumpet.”—Revelation 1:10.

The Sabbath was “made”; it was made for man.

“The Sabbath was made for man.”—Mark 2:27.

The one who made it was Christ, our Creator. Christ is our Lord, and the Sabbath is the Lord’s day.

Did you know that, repeatedly, we are told in the Bible that the Bible Sabbath is the Lord’s day? Here are several examples:

The Sabbath is the day UNTO the Lord.

“This is that which the Lord hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord . . to day is a Sabbath unto the Lord: to day ye shall not find it in the field.”—Exodus 16:23, 25.

“Six days may work be done; but on the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord.”—Exodus 31:15.

“Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord.”—Exodus 35:2.

The Sabbath is the day OF the Lord.

“The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord.”—Exodus 20:10.

“The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work.”—Deuteronomy 5:14.

“Ye shall do no work therein; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.”—Leviticus 23:3.

The Sabbath is the Lord’s holy day.

“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord . .—Isaiah 58:13.

The Sabbath is the day blessed and hallowed by the Lord.

“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 2:3.

No other day of the week is ever claimed by the Lord as His day.

John the Revelator, who mentioned the “Lord’s day” in Revelation 1:10, earlier heard Christ call Himself “the Lord of the Sabbath day.”

“For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.”—Matthew 12:8.

“The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.”—Mark 2:28.

John well-knew which day was the Lord’s day. It is the memorial day of the Creator (Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 31:17) and the memorial day of the Redeemer (Ezekiel 20:12, 20).

God blessed the Sabbath (Genesis 2:2), sanctified it (Genesis 2:3), and hallowed it (Exodus 20:11). We are commanded to hallow it (Jeremiah 17:22, 24, 27; Ezekiel 20:20; 44:24); just as, in the Lord’s Prayer, we are told to hallow the name of the Lord (Matthew 6:9; Luke 11:2).

The Sabbath is the Lord’s day, a day that God wants to share with you. He plans to keep it with you all through eternity to come.

“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. 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

Come, worship Him on the best day, His day, the only day of worship your God ever gave you.

4 - WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY

ABOUT SUNDAY?

Are we told anywhere in the Bible that we should keep Sunday holy? Is there even one verse in all of Scripture that officially changes the sanctity of God’s holy Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day?

There is not one passage—not one—anywhere in the Bible that commands us to do such a thing.

Sunday is never called sacred or holy anywhere in the Bible. It is never called the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day.

Sunday is only mentioned eight times in the entire Bible. The first time is Genesis 1:5, where the first day of Creation Week is spoken of. No Sunday sacredness here. It is just one of the six working days of Creation Week.

Five times refer to Jesus’ appearances on Sunday to His disciples after His rest in the tomb on the Bible Sabbath (Matt 28:1; Mark 16:1-2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19). Jesus went and found His disciples and told them the good news that He was alive. But there is nothing here about Sunday holiness.

Here are the eight texts in the New Testament that mention the first day of the week:

Matthew 28:1 is the first first-day text in the New Testament. We are here told that the Sabbath ends before the first day of the week begins,—and that is all that this passage tells us. Matthew wrote his record several years after the resurrection of Christ.

Mark 16:1-2 is the second first-day text, and Mark 16:9 is the third. We learn here that the Sabbath was past before the first day began. They are two different days. The seventh-day Sabbath is holy; the other is one of the six working days. Years after the resurrection, Mark knew of no first-day sacredness.

Luke 24:1 is the fourth one. Nothing new here. Luke does point out in the two preceding verses (Luke 23:55-56) that some of Jesus’ most faithful followers “rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandment” (the Fourth Commandment of Exodus 20:8-11). In all His years of instruction, Jesus had said nothing about Sundaykeeping—or we would see His followers faithfully observing it. But this is not to be found, for Sunday sacredness is foreign to Scripture.

John 20:1 is the fifth first-day text in the New Testament. Again, the same simple record of the early morning experience and nothing more.

John 20:19 is the sixth one. As with the others, John’s record gives no account that Jesus ever mentioned the first day of the week. What John does say is that the disciples were gathered together “for the fear of the Jews.” He specifically points out that this was not a worship gathering. They were simply in hiding, fearful that they too would soon be killed as Jesus was. Some have suggested that the disciples were celebrating Christ’s resurrection. This is incorrect, for they did not yet believe Jesus had risen. They were frightened men with, for all they knew, a dead Saviour. Twice, Mark says that those men, gathered in that upper room, refused to believe that Christ had risen—even when others came and told them (Mark 16:11 and 16:12-13). Later Christ appeared to them (Luke 24:33-37), but even He had a difficult time convincing them.

Acts 20:7-8 is the seventh text, and the only one in the book of Acts. After having spent seven days at Troas, Paul and his missionary company held a farewell gathering with them that night, which lasted till midnight.

According to the Bible, each new day begins at sunset (Bible time: sunset to sunset—see Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). The first day of the week begins Saturday evening at sunset and ends Sunday evening at sunset. Because this meeting in Acts 20:7-11 was held on the first day of the week and at night, it must therefore have been held on Saturday night.

“It was the evening which succeeded the Jewish Sabbath. On the Sunday morning the vessel was about to sail.”—Conybeare and Howson, Life and the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, Vol. 2, p. 206. [This is the most authoritative and complete book on the life of the Apostle Paul.]

“The Jews reckoned the day from evening to morning, and on that principle the evening of the first day of the week would be our Saterday evening. If Luke reckoned so here, as many commentators suppose, the apostle then waited for the expiration of the Jewish Sabbath, and held his last religious service with the brethren at Troas . . on Saterday evening, and consequently resumed his journey on Sunday morning.”—Dr. Horatio B. Hackett, Commentary on Acts, pp. 221-222. [Dr. Hackett was professor of New Testament Greek in Rochester Theological Seminary.]

After the Saterday night meeting at Troas (Acts 20:7-11), Paul’s company immediately set to work. They set sail that night. Paul preferred to go alone part of the way; so, the next morning, Sunday morning, he walked nineteen miles across a point of land to Assos, where his friends took him on board ship (Acts 20:11-14).

If Sunday was Paul’s holy day, why then did he stay with the brethren at Troas seven days and then leave them on Sunday morning in order to walk eighteen and a half miles that day? The Bible says, “for so had he appointed” to do. That was planning quite a bit of work for Sunday.

They had spent seven days at Troas, and then on Saturday night (after the Sabbath was past) they had a farewell gathering with the believers, “ready to depart on the morrow.”

What does it mean “to break bread”? This is the common Bible expression for partaking of food. The disciples broke bread daily from house to house (Acts 2:46), and they “did eat their meat [“food” in the Greek] with gladness” (2:46). It should here be mentioned that even if they had held an actual communion service that night, this would in no way make it a holy day. The Lord’s Supper commemorates Christ’s death, not His resurrection. “Ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come.” 1 Corinthians 11:26.

So we see that the book of Acts is as silent on first-day sanctity as are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

1 Corinthians 16:1-2 is the eighth and last text. It is the final mention of the first day of the week in the New Testament—and only mentioned in all of Paul’s writings. Although Paul wrote many, many letters, this is his only mention of the first day of the week. That is very significant.

Paul wanted the folk to save aside money for the poor in Jerusalem. He was an evangelist who did not like to make calls for money in Sabbath services. “That there be no gatherings when I come,” is what he said. He evidently observed that if people did not lay aside at home systematically, on a basis of weekly income, there would have to be a gathering when he came—not only a gathering of money, but gatherings of people also.

“Let every one of you lay him in store.” This plan had no connection with a weekly collection at a church service. It was to be laid aside at home. This text also teaches us to total up our money and work up our budgets on the first day of each week, since there is not time in the sixth-day preparation on Friday afternoon to carefully give attention to such matters. For the Sabbath begins at sunset, and figuring up money totals might take longer than is expected—and run into the Sabbath. Bookkeeping and the keeping of accounts is not to be done on Sabbath; and is best not done at the end of the work week.

So there we have it: eight texts where Sunday is mentioned in the New Testament—and no indication of a new holy day, much less a direct command by the God of heaven to observe it in the place of the seventh-day Sabbath.

Thank God every day of your life for the Bible! It is your pathway to Christ and to eternal life. Never leave the pathway for that which relatives or learned men may tell you. If their ideas do not agree with the Voice of God, you had better stay with the plain words of Scripture.

5 - WHAT WAS ABOLISHED

AT THE CROSS?

But are we not told that the law was nailed to the cross, so we no longer need to keep the Sabbath? Here are the passages referred to:

“Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me) to do Thy will, O God. Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin Thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law. Then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second.”—Hebrews 10:7-9.

“Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace.”—Ephesians 2:15.

What do those passages mean? They cannot mean that either the moral law of Ten Commandments or the Creation Sabbath were destroyed at Calvary.

Hebrews 10:7-9 is talking about the sacrificial and offering laws. It says so. Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross eliminated the sacrificial laws (also called ceremonial laws). The death of God’s Lamb did away with the offering of lambs on the altar. The sacrificial laws were taken away and the moral law of Ten Commandments established.

Ephesians 2:15 is talking about “the commandments contained in ordinances.” The ordinances were the ceremonial laws. By His death, Christ eliminated the sacrificial laws and, as our Mediator, brought us to God.

Jesus did not come to earth to destroy the moral law! Keep in mind that it was because that law could not be abolished that Christ had to die. Christ did not die so we could keep sinning. He died to provide us miraculous, divine grace to empower us to keep the law.

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments.”—1 John 5:2.

“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”—Revelation 14:12.

• The moral law is a perfect law (Psalm 19:7; 119:172, 142; Romans 7:12). The ceremonial law was imperfect (Hebrews 7:18-19; 10:1-4).

• The moral law is in itself spiritual (Romans 7:14). The ceremonial law was not in itself spiritual (Hebrews 9:10).

• The moral law was spoken directly by God Himself (Deuteronomy 4:12-13, 22-23; Exodus 20:1). The ceremonial law was spoken by Moses (Leviticus 1:1-2; 7:37-38; etc.).

• The moral law was written by the Lord Himself upon two tables of enduring stone (Deuteronomy 5:22; Exodus 31:18). The ceremonial law was written by Moses in a book (Exodus 34:27; Deuteronomy 31:9).

• The moral law is eternal, requiring obedience from all (Romans 3:31; Matthew 5:17; Luke 16:17; Matthew 19:17; 1 Corinthians 7:19; Revelation 22:14). The ceremonial law was abolished at the cross, and therefore obedience to it is not required from anyone today (Ephesians 2:15; Colossians 2:14-17; Acts 15:24).

It is the Ten Commandment law of God that the saints will keep. When asked, “Which law?” Jesus replied by naming several of the Ten Commandments (Matthew 19:17-19). And the Apostle James did likewise (James 2:10-12).

Some today claim that there is no law since the death of Christ. But the Bible teaches that if there is no law, there is no sin! Indeed, without the law to identify sin, we cannot know what sin is. Apart from the presence of the law, sin does not exist.

“Where no law is, there is no transgression.”—Romans 4:15. “Sin is not imputed when there is no law.”—Romans 5:13. “For by the law is the knowledge of sin.”—Romans 3:20. “I had not known sin but by the law.—Romans 7:7.

“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law.”—1 John 3:4.

The only thing abolished at the cross was the ceremonial law, contained in ordinances. They were the sacrificial laws. After Christ’s death, it was no longer necessary to sacrifice lambs at the temple, for Christ our Lamb had died. But after the death of Christ we were still obligated to keep the moral law.

Daniel 9:26-27 predicted that at His death, Christ would “cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease.” And the Apostle Paul tells us that this is exactly what happened. When Christ died, the ceremonial ordinances were blotted out. The sacrificial services in the Temple no longer had meaning in the eyes of God.

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.”—Colossians 2:14.

“Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that He might reconcile both God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.”—Ephesians 2:15-16.

A leading Protestant writer, Dr. Albert Barnes, in commenting on Colossians 2:16, said this:

“But the use of the term [‘sabbaths’] in the plural number, and the connection, show that he [Paul] had his eye on a great number of days which were observed by the Hebrews as festivals, as a part of their ceremonial and typical law, part of the moral law,—and not on the moral law or the Ten Commandments. No part of the moral law—not one of the Ten Commandments—could be spoken as a shadow of things to come.”—Dr. Albert Barnes, Commentary on Colossians 2:16.

The “shadowy laws” were the ones that foreshadowed the coming of Christ: the slaying of the lambs and goats, the keeping of the yearly Passover, etc. All these ceremonial laws were taken away by the death of Christ.

“For the [sacrificial] law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have cease to be offered? . . But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.”—Hebrews 10:1-4.

And these sacrificial laws included yearly holy days, or yearly “sabbaths.” The weekly Sabbath was given to mankind at the foundation of the world and is the fourth of the Ten Commandments.

But the yearly sabbaths were gatherings for special sacrificial service and foreshadowed the death of Christ. At those services, there were special “meat offerings” and “drink offerings.” A list of the yearly sabbaths will be found in Leviticus 23:4-44.

The weekly seventh-day Sabbath is called “the Sabbath” in the Bible, but the yearly sabbaths are easily identified. When mentioned together, an “s” is added: they were the “sabbaths” or “sabbath days.” All those yearly gatherings were abolished at the cross. Paul calls them (and their meat and drink offerings) a “shadow.”

“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”—Colossians 2:16-17.

“For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.”—Hebrews 10:1.

This is because the meaning of the Temple services ended when Christ died. At that moment a hand reached down from heaven and tore the veil of the temple in two, thus desecrating it and destroying its significance:

“Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.”—Matthew 27:50-51.

“Then said I [Christ], Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me) to do Thy will, O God. Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law. Then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second.”—Hebrews 10:7-9.

The first—the shadow laws and ceremonies—were taken away by the death of Christ, that He might solidly establish by His death the principle that man must obey God—and, through the merits of Christ, he can be empowered to do it!

For a much larger history of Sunday laws in America, including major court decisions, send $2.00 for a copy of our book, National Sunday Law Crisis.

For an in-depth presentation of the Bible Sabbath, send $2.00 for a copy of our book, Beyond Pitcairn. It is full of fascinating details.

Over twenty years ago, the present writer offered a $500,000 reward to anyone who could find one verse in the Bible that said that the Sabbath had been changed from the seventh day of the week to the first, and that the verse would have to be obvious in the King James Version. (For half a million dollars, someone might try to print their own edition of the Bible!)

But no one ever claimed the reward. Back around the beginning of the 20th century, a Catholic priest in Missouri made a similar ($1,000) offer. But he never gave away the money either.

The reason is simple: There is no such passage. The seventh day is the Sabbath, for God never changed it.

Continue- APPENDICES