Are you certain the Bible changed the Sabbath to Sunday, or have you simply inherited a tradition you’ve never been challenged to examine? For centuries, millions have accepted the practice without questioning its roots, but this teaching breaks down the biblical arguments step-by-step to give you a clear understanding of why the Sabbath isn’t Sunday.
For centuries, millions of believers have accepted Sunday worship without ever questioning its true roots. In this eye-opening teaching, we break down the key biblical and historical arguments step by step, giving you the clarity and confidence you need to align your faith directly with Yahweh’s Word.
So join us as we learn the God Honest Truth about why the Sabbath isn’t Sunday.
#BibleStudy #BiblicalSabbath #ChristianApologetics #GodsLaw #Sabbath #SabbathTruth #SabbathVsSunday #SeventhDaySabbath #SundaySabbath #GodHonestTruth
AI Reports
GHT Notes
Transcript
Teaching Introduction
What if one of the most widely accepted beliefs within Christianity is not actually taught in the Bible? If you’ve ever been taught that Sunday is the Sabbath, you really need to examine the passages that are put forth that try to support this idea. Well, in this episode, we’re actually going to look at three more proof texts that are put forth from scripture to support the idea that Sunday is the Sabbath. Do they hold up? Do they not hold up? Well, that’s what we’re going to get into in this episode. So, join us as we examine the arguments that are commonly put forth for Sunday as the Sabbath.
Video Start
So, this teaching is going to be all about Shabbat and three of the common arguments that are put forth to prop up the idea that Sunday is the Sabbath. Last episode, we looked at three of the top arguments that I thought was the most common or at least the most impactful, I guess you could say. Now, we’re going to finish up with the Sunday arguments in our second episode of Sunday arguments in our Shabbat series, and we’re going to examine three more that are commonly put forth. Now, if you would like the notes for this particular episode, even more notes than what we’re going to present to you here, more information, more resources, stuff like that, make sure to go to our website at godhonesttruth.com. Click on the article post for this particular episode and there you’ll be able to find the on demand video. You’ll be able to find the draw slides that you see here on your screen, but you’ll be able to go through them at your own pace, even out of sync with the video if you’d like. Go back and forth, whatever it is.
Very, very beneficial for those of you who are out there like nerds or like me. But you’ll also be able to find the AI research papers that we had put together or produced as well as our own personal notes on the subject of the Sabbath and the transcript if that is so beneficial to you. It’s all right there on that article post on our website at godhonesttruth.com. And of course, like always, the best way to get to that particular article post is through the link that we have provided for you down below in the description. And that link should be down there. Whether you’re watching on an audio podcasting platform or a video podcasting platform, that link should be down there in the description all the same.
If it’s not, let us know in our email at team@godhonesttruth.com and we can get that link out to you or try to help resolve whatever issues there may be. Now, just a quick recap or overview of these series so far.
Series Overview
Number one, in our first episode, we went over how the Shabbat is presented and put forth and created and commanded in the Tanakh. We looked at Shabbat and the Tanakh in the first episode. Naturally, in the second episode, we went forward and looked at the Shabbat in the Brit Hadashah, or what some people call the New Testament. Third episode, we looked at Shabbat and the early centuries. And that was a very, very educational and informational episode which really shows the turning point there of where the quote unquote church went from the actual Sabbath of scripture to the Roman pagan Sabbath of the first day of the week. So very good information there and explains how we got so off course.
And then in episode 4, we looked at Shabbat and the Reformation and also a few miscellaneous things and some really good information there, especially a guy that you’ve probably never heard of, but is a powerhouse in the Reformation. So, if you missed it, definitely go back and watch that episode as well. Last episode and episode 5, we looked at the three top common arguments, or at least in my opinion, the most impactful arguments for putting forth Sunday as the Sabbath, and we debunked those. We looked at the context. We looked at definitions. We looked at common sense and a whole bunch of stuff. We examined various passages and we found those three arguments did not hold water when it comes to trying to say that Sunday is the Sabbath.
Now, in this episode, in episode 6, we’re looking at three more arguments for Sunday as the Sabbath as well. In our next episode, we’re going to be taking a look at what’s called the lunar Sabbath. Now, if you haven’t learned or know anything about the lunar Sabbath, that’s fine. We will explain to you what it is and actually go over the biblical and historical evidence that goes along with that as well. However, like I said earlier, this is going to be in a couple of weeks because we’ve got some things planned and time off. So, we’re going to get to it, but just hang out with us.
And we’re actually thinking about doing an eighth episode, sort of like a series wrap-up to get everything all in a nutshell as it were, a complete recap of the entire series. We haven’t decided yet, but we’ll see how that works out.
Elementary My Dear Watson
Now, like we did last time, let’s go over a few basics real quick. We’ll go over them even quicker this time since we went over them in last time a little bit more in depth. So, this is going to be just a quick review, a quick overview of the basics that you need to keep in mind when examining these passages that we’re going to examine. But in general, also every time you do a Bible study, these are some good principles to keep in mind and to apply when you’re doing your Bible study.
First off, let’s look at some hermeneutics, what people will call hermeneutics. And this is going to be very important for studying scripture. First off, we have the literal principle which states that the literal words in their plain meaning is actually what they mean. It’s what we actually start with before we actually look at metaphorical or symbolic or poetic or things like that. Then we get into the contextual principle which is taking things into context. And last episode we saw that once we did take things into context that it really illuminated and disproved the whole Sunday Sabbath argument. Then you got the principle of scriptural harmony. Whereas in a nutshell basically the Bible does not contradict itself between the Tanakh and the Brit Hadashah, there is no conflict. It’s all in unity.
Then we got the grammatical principle which is looking at the grammar of the original languages that the scriptures were written in. Hebrew for the Tanakh and Greek for the Brit Hadashah. Then we’ve got the historical cultural principle, which is looking at various passages or doing your Bible study in reference and taking into account the culture and the history that was going on at the time of whatever it is that you’re studying. And we got the genre principle which is you take each book or each passage in the context or in whatever genre it is where it’s a narrative or a historical or apocalyptic or poetic or things like that.
And we got the progressive revelation principle. And don’t take this too far. This doesn’t mean like you know the Book of Mormon is a progressive revelation or anything like that. No, nothing like that. This basically says that whatever is in scripture, sometimes it’s not fully spelled out in the beginning, but over time, bits and pieces of it are revealed and shown to us. And but again, none of that contradicts itself with previous revelations. Then we got the authorial intent principle. And this is what the author intended for his audience to know and understand and how the audience would have taken it at the time that it was written by the author to the audience.
And we got the concept of sola scriptura and this is definitely a Protestant thing and this is the principle that the scriptures alone are the ultimate infallible authority for faith and practice serving as the final court of appeal for all doctrine. And sola scriptura says if it’s not in the Bible or if the Bible doesn’t state it then either it’s tradition or we need to get rid of it. So if it doesn’t come from scripture it’s definitely not the ultimate final authority as far as doctrine goes. Then we got the whole concept of descriptive versus prescriptive. When it comes to descriptive that’s a passage that records or details what happened historically. Basically just telling the tale without necessarily commanding or approving of the behavior for anyone.
Then you got the concept of prescriptive and this is a passage that explicitly commands or establishes an ongoing rule for how readers should live, think or act. So prescriptive is something that tells you what to do. Think of the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt, thou shalt not. Things like that, those are prescriptive. Whereas saying, you know, so and so went to this city on this day and they walked down the road. That was descriptive. Then you got the concept of eisegesis versus exegesis. And exegesis is the process of drawing out of the original true meaning. Drawing out the original true meaning from a text based on what the author actually intended to communicate.
On the flip side of that is eisegesis. And that means the practice of reading one’s own biases, modern assumptions or preconceived ideas into a text, forcing it to say what the reader wants. Obviously, we want to do exegesis when it comes to scripture. We had the scriptures change us instead of performing eisegesis which is taking our own personal desires and trying to read it back into scripture and twist the text to make it read what we want it to say. No, scripture needs to change us. We don’t need to try to change scripture. Then we got the concept of anachronism and this is the act of taking something that is out of time historically and placing it back earlier. Like for instance, if we talk about Abraham Lincoln’s Facebook account, that would be anachronistic because obviously the internet wasn’t around then, much less Facebook. So that’s anachronism.
We got confirmation bias. This is the mental tendency to search for, favor, and recall information that supports your existing beliefs while completely ignoring or downplaying evidence that contradicts them. Now, this is something to keep in mind because we all have bias. We all have confirmation bias. We need to be aware of that when we’re studying and not just take things like we think they are coming at us because it may be something that we’ve already thought or already believe and we need to take it for what it actually says not for what we already believe. Then there’s the concept of taking things in context. And this is examining a specific statement within its surrounding verses, within its historical setting, and also within its literary genre to ensure its meaning aligns with the author’s complete message.
And we saw that last time with the three arguments that we looked at for Sunday as the Sabbath. And we saw that a lot of times when you just take things into context, it completely destroys the argument that Sunday is the Sabbath at least when we looked at those three passages. We’ll see what it means here in just a minute too when we examine three more passages. Now, let’s look at some various attributes that are ascribed to the Sabbath back in the Tanakh. Number one is described as the day of rest. This is the most important and most significant attribute of the Sabbath as it was initially created, as it was commanded, as it was performed back in the Tanakh. It was a day of rest. No other day was described as a day of rest. The Sabbath, if nothing else, it was the day of rest. So keep that in mind.
When people were putting forth another day of the week as the new day of rest, do any of the passages they put forth describe it that new day as being a day of rest? Because if not, there’s absolutely no way they can claim that is the Sabbath because the Sabbath was initiated and put forth initially and commanded initially as a day of rest. The Sabbath is also described as a sign between Yahweh and his people. Again, new arguments that are put forth. It doesn’t say that it’s a sign between Yahweh and his people. The Sabbath in the Tanakh is also described as being directly in connection with the creation. And we see that within the Ten Commandments of Exodus. And then it’s attributed or connected to the Exodus from Egypt in the book of Deuteronomy. It’s also being directly described as being made holy by Yahweh.
And the very first thing to be made holy or set apart is directly described as being blessed by Yahweh. We see that in the creation account as well. There’s also various gathering times that people gathered together back in the Tanakh. And it wasn’t just on the Sabbath. There were many days that Israel came together and worshiped. And I say this all the time, but I love asking people what the day of worship is during the week. And a lot of people, if they’re Sunday Sabbath people, they say, “Well, Sunday.” Or if they are Messianic, they’ll say, “Okay, well, it’s Saturday. That’s the day of worship.”
No. Every day should be the day should be a day of worship. We should worship Yahweh every single day. But the Sabbath is the day of rest. Get the distinction? But Israel came together and gathered together on many different days. They worship together on many different days. So just because people get together doesn’t mean that is the Sabbath or even the new Sabbath. And they got together on many days back in the Tanakh for multiple reasons. The temple itself, as we looked at back in the first episode, the temple functions on a daily basis, seven days a week. Sacrifices were offered and occurred morning and evening, seven days a week. Prayer occurred throughout the day as well. And sometimes they prayed together.
Likewise, Christians may gather on any day. You can see that even in today’s day and age, they gather together on Wednesday nights. Just because they’re gathered together on Wednesday night doesn’t mean that they considered that Wednesday to be the Sabbath. Acts records gatherings on various occasions. You can see in scripture in the book of Acts that they gathered together and broke bread together daily. Not just one day of the week but daily. Gathering on Sunday is not identical to declaring Sunday the Sabbath. The distinction is crucial and very important. And one common misunderstanding is assuming that any religious gathering occurring on a particular day automatically establishes that day as a holy day. Just because people get together doesn’t mean it’s the Sabbath and it doesn’t mean it is a holy day either.
However, Hebrew life included gatherings throughout the week. We had synagogue gatherings. They had prayer times. They had festival assemblies. Remember they got together on Passover and Shavuot and Yom Kippur and Sukkot, and so on and so forth. They got together for temple services. They got together for study gatherings. They got together for community meetings. So there’s all kinds of things, all kinds of reasons that people would get together. Even back in the Brit Hadashah, the existence of a gathering does not automatically define the day as a Sabbath.
Colossians 2:16-17
So now let’s go ahead and start with Colossians 2:16-17. And this is going to be the first of the three arguments that we look at during this particular episode. The passage goes as such. Let no one therefore judge you in eating or in drinking or in respect of a festival or a new moon or Sabbath, which are a shadow of what is to come, but the body of the Messiah. Right there it says it in black and white. Let no one therefore judge you in respect of the Sabbath. Right? Because all of that was just they used to be shadows and the shadow who was casting the shadow, Messiah, has come. So therefore, those shadows are done and gone away with, right? Right there in black and white.
No, no, no, no, no. Let’s not just take this out of context. Let’s take everything into context. Number one, here is something that is going to be, or at least it sticks out to me like it’s like someone punching me in the face. But it says here, look very closely at the language that Paul uses here to the Colossians. Let no one therefore judge you in eating or in drinking or in respect of a festival or a new moon or Sabbath which are a shadow of what is to come. But the body of Messiah, are. For those of you who haven’t it hasn’t clicked yet or you don’t actually know this, are in English is a conjugation of the verb to be. It’s a present tense of the verb to be. It’s present conjugation of the verb to be. That means that when Paul wrote that, he says that those things, the festivals, the new moons, the Sabbath were still ongoing. He says they are. He didn’t say they were. He says they are indicating that they are still relevant. They are still ongoing. They have not been done away with. Remember, this is many, many years after the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Yeshua. And Paul is still saying that these things are still in effect. They are ongoing and they are still relevant.
For those of you who would like even more evidence, more proof, here is the breakdown of that from blueletterbible.org and verify with other sources as well. But that word right there in the Greek is still in the present tense just like it is in English. And we showed you the various translations. They all do it in that exact tense, the present tense that Paul was writing at. So Paul still thought these things were ongoing and hadn’t been done away with. That included the weekly Sabbath as well as the other Sabbaths that are mentioned in scripture. But what about that other part where it says, “Let no one therefore judge you.” Well, take this into account there. It starts at the beginning. Let no one therefore judge you has given you the command and telling you what not to do. Don’t let anyone outside in this context especially not let anyone who’s not a believer outside the faith judge you.
And it says which are shadow of things to come. But who is to judge you? Paul says here but the body of Messiah. Take out that little tangent part that he wrote there. Let no one therefore judge you in eating or in drinking or in respect of a festival or a new moon or Sabbath, but the body of the Messiah. So don’t let the unbelievers try and judge you. Don’t let those who are outside of the faith judge you. But those who are in the faith, those who have been educated, those who are your brothers and sisters who love you and want to see you advance and you know better yourself. Those are the ones who are to judge you, not the people outside who just want to tear you down a lot of times or try and destroy your faith. Don’t let them judge you. Let those who are in the faith, those are the ones who are to judge you.
Also, notice some things right here. This is some parts where I disagree with some of these translations. It says, “But the body of Messiah.” Now, when it says here in the King James, it’s I know it doesn’t put it correctly here on screen because of all my formatting, but if you look at the King James version, it says at the very end, “But the body is of Christ.” And that term right there is italicized in the King James version. And that indicates that it’s not actually in the original Greek. It’s actually inserted by the translators just to help the flow of the way the English goes in comparison to the way the Greek goes, which is nice. That’s a great feature of the King James. But take it out. That’s not that the body is of Christ. It’s referring to the body of Christ, that there’s a distinction there. I don’t know if you caught that or not. It’s talking about the assembly, the believers, the church, whatever term you want to use.
But also notice some of these other ones like the ESV, the LSB, and TLV, and also the Wycliffe as well. Well, actually the Wycliffe’s just like the King James, so it’s not that much different. But the other ones, the ESV, the LSB, and the TLV, it says the reality is Messiah and the Tree of Life version. That’s not right. It’s talking about the body, the assembly. And I’ll show you that coming up here in just a moment. The LSB says the substance belongs to Christ. What substance? We’re not talking about a substance here. We’re talking about a congregation. We’re talking about people and it’s talking about the body or the assembly of Messiah. Such and same thing with the ESV there. It says substance. But when you break it down and look at the actual Greek, the word there is for body or metaphorically speaking the body like the assembly or like the church and so on and so forth. So hopefully that explains a little bit more in detail about this one particular passage.
But again that’s still taken out of context with the surrounding verses. So let’s look at everything in context with some of the surrounding verses of Colossians 2:16 and 17. And now we’re going to look at a greater passage which is Colossians 2:11-23. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Messiah having been buried with him in baptism in which you also were raised with him through the belief in the working of Elohim who raised him from the dead. And you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him, having forgiven you all your trespasses, having blotted out that which was written by hand against us. By the dogmas which stood against principalities and the authorities, he made a public display of them, having prevailed over them in it. Let no one therefore judge you in eating or in drinking or in respect of a festival or a new moon or Sabbath, which are a shadow of what is to come, but the body of the Messiah. Let no one deprive you of the prize. One who takes delight in false humility and worship of messengers or angels. Taking his stand on what he has not seen, puffed up by his fleshly mind and not holding fast to the head, from whom all the body nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments grows with the growth of Elohim.
If then you died with Messiah from the elementary matters of the world, why as though living in the world do you subject yourselves to dogmas? Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which are all to perish with use, according to the commands and teachings of men. These indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed worship, humiliation, and harsh treatment of the body, of no value at all, only for satisfaction of the flesh. But here’s a greater context, and hopefully this is helping you to understand exactly what’s being referred to here in Colossians 2:16 and 17. There’s the very beginning before these two verses. We see it’s talking about how you came into the faith, how you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, how you were buried with Messiah and raised with Messiah through baptism, how you were forgiven all your trespasses, blotted out which is written against us. He has taken those dogmas which is man-made traditions, aka the Pharisaic oral law and so forth, which stood against us and taken out of the way and stripped the principalities and authorities of their power basically and made a public display of them prevailing over them then.
So who is he talking about here? Well, so far what he’s been talking about is how you came into the faith, how you became saved and was born again and this goes right into the body of Messiah making up the church. Then it talks about the outsiders and getting rid of them, their authority, their powers, stuff like that, and their dogmas, which they had come against us with. So now he’s talking about let no one therefore judge you. Well, who’s the no one? He’s talking about what he’s just talked about before, and that is those who are outside who had those dogmas against us. But he goes on to reference them again after this. He says, “If then you died with Messiah from the elementary of the world, elementary matters of the world, why as though living in the world do you subject yourselves to dogmas? Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which are all to perish with use according to the commands and teachings of men.” Well, obviously this isn’t talking about the Torah because the Torah is not the commands and teachings of men. Obviously, right? So the dogmas, the teachings of men, the commandments of men, and the outsiders. That’s what the context is talking about here within Colossians chapter 2:16 and 17. It says, “Do not let the outsiders judge you. Rather, let the body of Messiah judge you.” Again, going back to that iron sharpening iron, getting set straight. I mean, we’ve all got things we mess up on from time to time. I know I do. I’m not going to list them out here for you. They’ll take for a while. But yeah, it’s nice to have someone that you are accountable to, who loves you and wants to see you get better. And therefore, their judgment is a righteous judgment, hopefully a righteous judgment and an educated judgment to help you advance your faith and your walk in the faith and become closer to Yahweh and Yeshua.
Now, if Paul was talking in Colossians or writing to the Colossians saying that the Sabbath had been done away with as some people put forth when they put forth verses 16 and 17, he would actually be contradicting himself from what he wrote in other places as well. If Paul argued that the seventh day Sabbath was obsolete, he would be contradicting his own public testimonies where he claimed to believe everything written in the law and the prophets and asserted he had committed no offense against the Torah. You can find various examples of like that in Acts chapter 21, Acts chapter 24, Acts 25, and so on and so forth. We saw last time and also in other episodes where Paul himself, they said, “Oh, there’s people coming against you. They’re saying that you are doing away with the word of Moses.” And Paul takes a Nazarite vow to show that he does keep the Torah. So why would he now in Colossians or in the book of Colossians write that the Sabbath was obsolete? He wouldn’t. That would be a contradiction. And that’s not what Paul’s doing. Paul is reinforcing the Torah, but he’s telling us, “Do not let others outside the faith judge you in the way that you keep the faith. Let those who are in the faith judge you and guide you.” That’s what Paul’s saying here in Colossians.
Romans 14:5
Moving on to Romans 14:5. One indeed judges one day above another, another judges every day alike. Let each one be completely persuaded in his own mind. So obviously it’s saying here that you can pick whatever day you want to have the Sabbath, right? No, no, no, no. But a lot of times that’s what’s put forth by the Sunday Sabbath people. And again, as we saw in the last episode when looking at the main three arguments for Sunday Sabbath, that context would completely obliterate the argument for Sunday Sabbath. Same thing happens here. Let’s look at Romans 14 verses 1 through six. And receive him who is weak in the belief, not criticizing his thoughts. One indeed believes to eat all food, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. He that eats, let him not despise him who does not eat. And he that does not eat, let him not judge him who eats. For Elohim received him. Who are you that judges another servant? To his own master he stands or falls, but he shall be made to stand. For Elohim is able to make him stand.
One indeed judges one day above another. Another judges every day alike. Let each one be completely persuaded in his own mind. He who minds the day minds it to Yahweh. And he who does not mind the day to Yahweh he does not mind it. He who eats eats to Yahweh for he gives Elohim thanks. And he who does not eat to Yahweh he does not eat and gives Elohim thanks. So does this provide a greater context to you? It’s not talking about just a day in general. It’s not talking about holy days and stuff like that. What is it talking about? Well, it’s actually talking about days in relation to food.
And in this context, I think the information and the evidence strongly points to the fasting days that were tradition back then. For instance, the Pharisees and the common understanding back then or common tradition was to fast on Mondays and Thursdays. We see in the Didache it tells them not to be like the hypocrites who fast on Monday and Thursday but you should rather fast on like Tuesdays and Fridays and that’s what the context here we see in context talking about food before verse 5 and it’s talking about food after verse 5 and then it’s talking about in verse 5 days. So you put that together food and days what are they actually talking about? Well it’s not the Sabbath obviously. In fact, the word Sabbath isn’t there in this particular passage. Not in verse 5, not in verses 1 through 6. It’s not even in chapter 14, nor is the word Sabbath ever used in the entire book of Romans, which is interesting, isn’t it?
So, Romans 14:5, I would definitely say the information is strongly against 14:5 referencing the Sabbath, but instead the evidence overwhelmingly in my opinion points to the fasting days instead. And we also did an episode a long time ago about fasting and we’ve seen even in that episode and also the episodes that we’ve done on Yom Kippur that fasting is not actually commanded in scripture. Nowhere. It’s a good idea. We see lots of people doing it but it’s not actually commanded. Not even for Yom Kippur. So when Paul says don’t judge each other in regards to your fasting that’s because there’s no command. There’s nothing to judge people on. It’s like, you know, trying to judge someone based on how they tie their tzitzit. There’s no command on how to tie the tzitzit. There’s not even command on the number of tzitzit you’re to have. It just says on the borders of your garment, and make sure it has a blue thread. Other than that, you could have white thread, you could have black thread, which I saw with some law enforcement that I’ve personally known, or you can have pink and stuff like that with it as well, as long as it’s got the blue.
So yeah, when it’s not a command, we shouldn’t be judging each other. We should allow each other the grace to go about that. But you know, in fasting, that is one of those areas. If you want to fast, that’s great. If you don’t want to fast, that’s great as well. So don’t fast. And also in this particular time frame where there’s rampant paganism especially in Rome and in other places as well, but a lot of times the people, when it says that they would only eat vegetables, some would only eat vegetables that’s because they would not want to buy meat at the market because they were scared that it would have been sacrificed to an idol and they would be eating idolatrous meat, so they would only eat vegetables and Paul says okay that’s fine too. And also whichever day they fast or whichever day they don’t fast, that is acceptable as well.
Notice when we read in other passages that Paul writes, he says that if you don’t know where the food came from or whether or not it was sacrificed to idols, don’t ask. Just eat it as it sat in front of you. But if you do know, then you don’t eat it. That’s good advice, I think, as well. We don’t have to worry about that so much nowadays, I don’t think, especially not in most of America where I’m at, but maybe different in other parts of the world. But we really don’t have a lot of pagan sacrifices going on and then going into the supermarket as it were. No, we just have salmonella outbreaks and stuff like that. So, going on and it’s going pretty quick tonight. We got a lot of the information, a lot of the processes in last week. So, this week’s going to go pretty quick since you know a lot about how to do the context, stuff like that.
Revelation 1:10
The last one we’re going to look at for tonight is the passage in Revelation 1 verse 10. And it reads as such. I’ll read from the King James version this time. And the King James version for Revelation 1:10 says, “As such, I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet.” Now, if you’re looking here on the screen, if you’re watching the video, you can see here that I’ve got three different sections. And the first two, it says instead of the Lord’s day, it says the day of Yahweh or the day of the Lord. The next section, it actually says Sunday instead of Lord’s Day. And then the final section, I’ve got the three down there, the ESV, the King James version, and the LSB that say the Lord’s Day. Now, why did I put all this up here? Well, this is very interesting.
Number one is look at these middle two right there for just a quick second. Is that when it says Sunday here in the Coverdale translation and the Matthew translation and there’s a few others as well. When they put the word Sunday there, that is classic eisegesis reading and also anachronism as well, but reading and putting something in the scriptures that isn’t actually there. It does not say Sunday because the days of the week did not have names in scripture. First day of the week, second day of the week, third day of the week except for the seventh day and the seventh day was called Shabbat or Sabbath. So, putting Sunday there is definitely incorrect. And it’s a how do I put this in an accurate kind of way? Well, it’s bastardizing the scriptures. In other words, because this doesn’t actually say Sunday. It actually says the Lord’s day. That’s why I read from the King James because in the Greek, it actually says the Lord’s day. And the translation that we normally use, the Scriptures 2009 says the day of Yahweh. And that’s not as true to the Greek as I think it should be. So again, no translation is perfect. And even the one we like has its imperfections like you see here. Yeah. The actual Greek is the Lord’s day. The adjective form that is referencing that word day.
Now does this actually reference the first day of the week? Does it actually reference what we know of as Sunday nowadays? Well, I don’t think so. Take into account context. And the context of Revelation is about the end times. It’s called an apocalyptic writing the apocalypse of John otherwise known as Revelation it’s about Armageddon and so on and so forth and therefore that’s what I think the day of the Lord’s day is actually referencing here is talking about the end time events. Now this is the only time in all scripture this actual wording comes through so it’s rather difficult to tie it to other references in scripture where it actually uses that exact same phraseology, but there is a similar phrase we find back in the Tanakh. And this is called there. This is the phrase the day of Yahweh or the day of the Lord.
And every single time back in the Tanakh when it uses this phrase, the day of Yahweh or the day of the Lord in certain translations, it’s referencing end time events, apocalyptic events such as Isaiah 13 verses 5-6. They are coming from a distant land from the end of the heavens, even Yahweh and his weapons of displeasure to destroy all the earth. Howl, for the day of Yahweh is near. It comes as a destruction from the Almighty. We also see this in Ezekiel 13:5. You have not gone up into the breaches, nor do you build a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle on the day of Yahweh. And finally looking at Zephaniah chapter 1 verse 7. Hush in the presence of the master Yahweh. For the day of Yahweh is near for Yahweh has prepared a slaughter. He has set apart his invited ones. So we can see here that back in the Tanakh, at least when it has this phrase the day of Yahweh, that it’s referencing end times events. That’s why I think personally that when it’s talking about the Lord’s day in Revelation 1:10, it’s actually speaking about the end times events, not the first day of the week and not even the seventh day of the week.
Because remember back in scripture, Yeshua said he is Lord of the Sabbath. And the Sabbath in scripture is only ever described as the seventh day. So if he’s Lord of the Sabbath, then the Lord’s day that would, you know, naturally lead you to think that would be the seventh day. But when you put it together with this phrasing from the Tanakh, I actually think that the Lord’s day in Revelation 1:10 is referencing the apocalyptic times and not any particular day of the week. Not the seventh, not the first, anything like that. Here is some more nerdy information for you guys. The Lord’s day there as it’s used in Revelation 1:10 is actually an adjective where Lord’s is reference or acting as an adjective to modify that noun day. So Lord’s day then we got the other phrase that we looked at from the Tanakh and this happens even in the Greek Septuagint but it says day of the Lord. So there it is the more like a possessive thing where the Lord is the possessor of that day. But I can also see that working with Lord’s day as well. People make a distinction between these two different phrases, but I think it’s a distinction without a difference as they say.
Again, feel free to disagree. If you think this means this Lord’s Day in Revelation 1:10 means Sunday, that’s great. I disagree and I think it took some time for the Lord’s day to be referred or in connection with the first day of the week and it wasn’t happening here in the book of Revelation at this point in history. So again, decide for yourself and disagree. That’s fine. We can still break bread and fellowship together. But also take into account as well that this is the only time it occurs in all of scripture and it’s the only time that this phrase is used in the book of Revelation, obviously. And there’s nothing there in that context. And I should put up the context for you, but you can look at it for yourself. Revelation chapter 1. This whole context is about the apocalypse. And it has nothing to do with day of rest. It has nothing to do with a sacred assembly or getting together or anything like that. Look at it for yourself and tell me what you think. Let me know down in the comments.
Do you think this means a particular day of the week, the first, the seventh, or do you think like me and it means or is actually referencing the apocalyptic times? Be interesting to see if anyone out there has a differing opinion on that and also why if you have a different opinion by all means let us know a little bit of the explanation down there as well.
Summary
So now in summary in Colossians chapter 2 verses 16-17 Paul references the festivals the new moons the Sabbaths and so on and so forth as things which are remember that’s the present tense are still currently active and ongoing not as things that have been done away with. Colossians chapter 2 verses 16-17 teaches that we do not allow those outside the body of Messiah to judge us on eating, drinking, festivals, new moons or Sabbaths, but rather only those within the body of Messiah. Those are the ones who are to judge us. The word Sabbath does not appear in Romans 14:5, the entire chapter of Romans 14, or in the entire book of Romans. The context of Romans 14:5 is regarding food and days and most likely is strongly pointing to the practice of fasting, not Sabbath keeping. The wording of Revelation 1:10, the Lord’s day, is most likely referring to the end times events, which is in keeping with the entire theme of Revelation and also the previous phrase that we looked at, day of the Lord in the Tanakh, which is referencing end times events.
Context generally illuminates the fallacy that the Sabbath has changed to Sunday or that the Sabbath is done away with when examining the passages used. And we saw that in this particular teaching when we look at the verses that are put forth, we see they’re taken out of context. When we take all that into context, we see that no, it’s usually not referencing that Sunday is the Sabbath or it’s in context referencing something completely different. And finally, the Sabbath has not been done away with and the Sabbath has not changed to Sunday. And that’s just the God honest truth.
So, thank you for joining us for this episode in our Shabbat series examining three more arguments and passages from the scriptures that are commonly put forth to say that Sunday is the Sabbath. If you enjoyed this content, make sure you go down below, let us know in the comments one particular thing that stuck out about this particular teaching. Then after you get done with that, make sure you hit that like button if you liked it. Hit that down vote button if you didn’t like it, but let us know in the comments so that we can improve videos in the future.
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