ESPERANZA ROAD
What, When and Why…
Honor the Sabbath…
By Jolie Gonzalez-Padilla
WHICH DAY IS THE SABBATH - SATURDAY OR SUNDAY?
Which day is the Sabbath? Since most
churches observe Sunday as their day of
rest and worship, many people assume that
Sunday is the Sabbath.
Since embracing what we believe to be
our ancestral religious/spiritual and cultural
background, that of our Sefardic Jewish
ancestors who followed and continue
to follow the true biblical Sabbath. The
Sabbath is celebrated in most religions on
Sundays, people go to church on Sundays,
and prepare for the start of the week…..
“Monday”., however the true Sabbath day
is actually on Saturday, and to be precise
the Sabbath or as it is called in Hebrew
“Shabbat” starts on Friday at sun down.
(15) Work shall be done for six days, but
the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to
the Lord. Whoever does any work on the
Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
(16) Therefore the children of Israel shall
keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath
throughout their generations as a perpetual
covenant. (17) It is a sign between Me and
the children of Israel forever; for in six days
the Lord made the heavens and the earth,
and on the seventh day He rested and was
refreshed.’”-Exodus 31:15-17
God commanded that the seventh day be
observed as the Sabbath. A glance at almost
any dictionary, encyclopedia or calendar will
show you that Saturday is the seventh day
of the week, while Sunday is the first day of
the week. According to God›s calendar, the
seventh day is—and always has been—the
Sabbath day. Although man has modified
calendars through the centuries, the sevenday weekly cycle has remained intact
throughout history. The days of the week
have always remained in their proper order,
with Sunday as the first day of the week and
Saturday as the seventh.
Time has not been lost in this regard, as
some may think. “The oracles of God”—
His divine words and instructions—were
entrusted to the Jewish people (Romans: 3:12), and they have preserved the knowledge
of the seventh-day Sabbath faithfully since
well before Christ’s time to this day. Jesus/
Yeshua himself repeatedly confirmed that the
day the Jews observed as the Sabbath. And
since then the Jewish people, even scattered
in many nations and in different sects, have
all preserved the same day.
Moreover, the mainstream Christian
churches, though rejecting the Sabbath,
indirectly confirm when it is by maintaining
their early tradition of worshipping on Sunday,
which they acknowledge to be the first day of
the week. Obviously that makes the previous
day the seventh—the biblical Sabbath.
There is no biblical authorization for
changing the Sabbath
So how did Sunday become the primary
day of rest and worship for most churches?
Although the concept of rest has largely
disappeared today, most denominations
continue to hold their worship services on
Sunday, however if you search throughout
the Bible, you will find no authority to alter the
day of worship.
Change to Sunday was made after the
New Testament was