Sabbath Short Explanation
Honoring the seventh day of the week is also no
longer binding. Saint Paul states that the legal demands of the Old
Covenant are canceled and explicitly mentions the Sabbath as one of
these. We read how Christ
Colossians 2:14-16
“…having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal
demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross… Therefore let no
one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard
to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath."
The festival, new moon, and Sabbaths are
references to the yearly, monthly, and weekly observances of the Mosaic
calendar. Therefore the whole Jewish festal calendar including the
Sabbath is no longer binding.
Saint Paul rebukes the Galatians for reverting
back to their Jewish customs and observance of feast days of the Mosaic
calendar as if they were still binding.
Galatians 4:9-11
“…but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God,
how can you turn back again to the weak and destitute elemental powers?
Do you want to be slaves to them all over again? You are
observing days, months, seasons, and years.
I am afraid on your account that perhaps I have labored for you in
vain." NAB
This is a reference to
“days” – the Sabbath or 7th day, -
“months” -new moon or monthly feasts, - and
“years” - the festive or yearly feast days of the Mosaic calendar.
When giving the 10 commandments God wanted
Israel to remember how they as a nation were freed from slavery to the
Egyptians.
Deuteronomy 5:12-15
“Observe the sabbath day, to keep it
holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall
labor, and do all your work; 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath to
the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or
your daughter, or your manservant, or your maidservant, or your ox, or
your ass, or any of your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your
gates, that your manservant and your maidservant may rest as well as
you. 15 You shall remember that you were a
servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you
out thence with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm;
therefore the Lord your God commanded you to
keep the sabbath day.”
There is nothing in the Sabbath commandment
about worshipping God, nothing at all.
We are just told to not to work and set aside
the seventh day. The instructions about worship are given in the
previous commandments. And we see more instructions and commands about
worship and the Sabbath in Leviticus 23 and Numbers 28.
The reference in the Sabbath commandment about
being set free from slavery in Egypt can only have a symbolic or
spiritual reference to the non-Jews who were never in Egypt nor were
they actual slaves. This prefigures as an Old Testament type of Jesus
Christ who would free us not from earthly slavery, but slavery to sin
and bondage to Satan. Jesus defeated Satan by His Life, Death and
Resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Colossians 2:16-17
“Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in … regard to a
festival or a new moon or a sabbath.
These are only a shadow of what is to
come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”
And so, for Christians the Church in the time of
the Apostles moved the Holy Day of Worship to the Eighth Day, or the
First Day of the week, and every 7 days after that in honor of Jesus
Christ who Himself had established the pattern of choosing and setting
aside this special day.
In the Old Covenant the Jews honored God with
the Sabbath commemorating His creative act of making the world and how
they were set free from slavery to the Egyptians. But the Old Covenant
Sabbath was just a shadow. It was just a type of the fulfillment that
belongs to Jesus Christ. We honor Him on the day fallowing the Sabbath,
the eighth day, and every seven days after that because Jesus rose from
the dead on that day. He set us free from slavery not to the Egyptians,
but from slavery to sin. In Him we are a New Creation.
The Sabbath directed the Jews to rest. They
celebrated this in honor of being set free from slavery as they looked
forward to finding rest in the promised land. In the New Covenant we
celebrate the Lord’s Day, the First day of the week, as we look to
finding our eternal rest with Him in heaven.
CHRIST HONORS THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK
Jesus chose to defeat Satan and sin and death by His Life, Death,
and Resurrection on Easter Sunday when He rose from the dead. Jesus
also choose the first day of the week to appear to His Apostles. And
seven days later on the following Sunday He also chose to appear again
when Saint Thomas was present. John 20:19, 26. “Pentecost” comes from
the Greek word for “fiftieth.” Leviticus 23:15 gives the method for
computing the day of "Pentecost,” also called the Feast of Weeks. It
always falls on the first day of the week. And it was on this day that
God chose to inaugurate the Christian Church with the coming of the Holy
Spirit on Pentecost Sunday. Cf. Acts 2:1.
Christians gathered on the first day of the week because that was
the day of the Lord’s greatest triumph over Satan and death. Luke’s
Gospel proclaims that Christ rose on the first day of the week.
Luke 24:1, 2, 6, 7, 13,
19-21
“1. But at daybreak on the first day of the
week they took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
2. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb …
6. He is not here, but he has been raised.
Remember what he said …
7. that the Son of Man must be handed
over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on
the third day.” …
13. Now that very day two of them were
going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus …
19 … Jesus the Nazarene …
20. how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence
of death and crucified him.
21. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and
besides all this, it is now the third day
since this took place.”
In the Old Covenant the Jews communed with God by worshipping Him
on the Sabbath. This only prefigured and has given way to the greater
method of communing with God in the New Covenant by our reception of the
Eucharist, Holy Communion, on the first day of the week.
Also, in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 24, we read about Christ’s example
that we all should follow.
Luke 24:1, 13, 27, 30, 35.
(1) “But on the first day of the week…(13)
That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, …(27)
And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he (Jesus) interpreted to
them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself…(30) When he
was at table with them, he took the bread and
blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them…(35) Then they told
what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the
breaking of the bread.” RSV
Christ’s actions signify the two elements of the Lord’s Supper,
the celebration of which Catholics call the Mass. Jesus opens up the
Word of God to their hearts and then blesses and brakes bread with
them. And He does this with the disciples on the first day of the week.
“Sunday recalls the day of Christ’s Resurrection. It is Easter
which returns week by week, celebrating Christ’s victory over sin and
death, the fulfillment in him of the first creation and the dawn of
‘the new creation’ (cf. 2 Cor 5:17) …
[I]n commemorating the day of Christ's Resurrection not just once a year
but every Sunday, the Church seeks to indicate to every generation the
true fulcrum of history, to which the mystery of the world’s origin and
its final destiny lead …
As in every Eucharistic celebration, the Risen Lord is encountered in
the Sunday assembly at the twofold table of the word and of the Bread of
Life.”
[Dies Domini, Apostolic letter of Pope John Paul II 1998]
St. John begins his first chapter with the words
“In the beginning…” as we see in Genesis 1:1.
We also see a new creation week. At Cana, the new Adam, Christ
(cf. 1 Cor. 15:45), changed the water into wine, symbolizing the change
from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. St. John tells us that there
were seven days from “In the Beginning” to the beginning of Christ’s
work here at Cana.
These seven days correspond to the seven days of creation in
Genesis.
John 1: 1, 29, 35, 43.
“In the beginning…(29)
The next day…(35)
The next day… (43)
The next day…” this brings us to
the fourth day. The next reference to time is found in
John 2:1
“On the third day there was a marriage at Cana…”
But the third day from the fourth day is
the seventh day.
The “third day,” the day He Rose from the dead,
is our new seventh day.
Thus the third day and the seventh day are the same day.
In the New Covenant of Jesus Christ we have a new seventh day, but it is
also the third day - the day He rose from the dead, Luke 24:
46. The third day was also the day that the child Jesus was found
teaching His Word in the temple. We also find a close connection
between the third and seventh day in Numbers 19:12 “…he shall cleanse
himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so
be clean…” Saint John makes these parallels with the book of Genesis,
including the new seven days, so that we might see that
we are a new creation in Christ. Along with the New Covenant and the
new creation we have a new seventh day.
This day replaces the Sabbath for the day especially consecrated
to God by the community’s worship. Christians celebrated their worship
service in each others homes.
Acts 2:42-46
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and the
prayers… breaking bread in their homes…"
We can see in the New Testament the beginning of this substitution
of the first day of the week for the seventh day that the Jews had
honored.
Acts 20:7
“On the first day of the week, when we
were gathered together to break bread,
Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and he
prolonged his speech until midnight."
Here we see the two basic elements of Sunday worship which have
been followed by the Church to this day: 1) the breaking of bread,
which designates the celebration of the Lord’s Supper (Catholics call it
the Mass); and 2) the sermon.
That the Christians came together on the first
day of the week is also found in Saint Paul’s writings.
1 Corinthians 16:2
“On the first day of every week, each
of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so
that contributions need not be made when I come.”
Saint Paul thought that the most opportune time
to collect funds for the poor was when they gathered for their
celebration of the Lord’s Supper - the Mass.
Saint Luke must have had a special purpose for mentioning that
they “gathered” on the “first” day of the week in Acts 20:7. This is
evident because no where else in Acts, with one exception, does he list
the date or the day of the week that this or that momentous missionary
journey began, or this or that significant event happened. This implies
that Luke was intending to convey the special significance that the
"first" day of the week had come to represent.
Saint Paul who says in 1 Corinthians 11:1 “Be imitators of me,
as I am of Christ,” gives us an example to follow in Acts 20:7 when
he celebrates the Eucharist on the first day of the week.
The book of Revelations a blueprint for the Sacred Liturgy of the
Christian community’s weekly worship. There is the reading of the Word
of God (chapters 2 -5), and the partaking of the wedding banquet of the
Lamb of God, our Passover Sacrifice (chapter 19) and this takes place
on the Lord’s Day.
Revelation 1:10
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a
loud voice like a trumpet…” RSV
The reference to the “Lord’s day” was always a reference to the
first day of the week when Jesus rose from the dead, appeared to the
Apostles, and instituted His Church on Pentecost Sunday. EVERY example
of the use of this term, “the Lord’s Day,” is always a reference to the
first day of the week. Examine the way the term is used in the early
church below.
The book of Revelation was written by Saint John. For an
explanation of the “Lord’s Day” see the quote listed below by Saint
Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch, who was also a disciple of Saint John.
Tertullian : An Answer To The
Jews 206 AD
Chap. 4. Of The Observance Of The Sabbath.
“It follows, accordingly, that, in so far as the abolition of
carnal circumcision and of the old law is demonstrated as having been
consummated at its specific times, so also the observance of the
Sabbath is demonstrated to have been
temporary… He predicts through Isaiah:
‘And there shall be,’ He says, ‘month after month, and day after day,
and sabbath after sabbath; and all flesh shall come to adore in
Jerusalem, saith the Lord;’ which we understand to have been fulfilled
in the times of Christ, when ‘all flesh’--that is, every nation—‘came to
adore in Jerusalem’ God the Father, through Jesus Christ His Son, as was
predicted through the prophet…But the Jews are sure to say, that ever
since this precept was given through Moses, the observance has been
binding. Manifest accordingly it is, that the precept was not eternal
nor spiritual, but temporary, which would one day cease…”
Justin Martyr : The First
Apology 155 AD
Chap. 67 Weekly Worship Of The Christians
“…And on the day called Sunday,
all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place,
and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are
read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the
president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good
things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when
our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the
president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to
his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a
distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have
been given (Eucharistic elements)... And they who are well to do, and
willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited
with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who,
through sickness or any other cause, are in want, … and in a word takes
care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all
hold our common assembly, because it is the
first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and
matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day
rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that
of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the
day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught
them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your
consideration.”
The Epistle Of
Ignatius To The Magnesians 107 AD
Chap. 8:1 - 9:2 Caution Against False Doctrines.
“Be not deceived with strange doctrines,
nor with old fables, which are unprofitable. For if we still live
according to the Jewish law, we acknowledge that we have not received
grace… If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient
order of things have come to the possession of a new hope,
no longer observing the Sabbath, but
living in the observance of the Lord's Day,
on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death…”
Complete, Longer Answer
The rest of this article begins with the "Question" which presents the arguments of the
Seventh
Day Adventists for celebrating the Sabbath on the seventh
day of the week. Following this are eight reasons explaining that
the Sabbath has been replaced with the eighth day- that is the first day
- of the week, the Lord’s Day - and how the early church understood this
to be so. Click on the underlined words to go to that section.
QUESTION
Why do Catholics work on Saturday ? Exodus 20:8-10
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor,
and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your
God; in it you shall not do any work…" RSV And the Sabbath
has been established as a "perpetual covenant." Exodus 31:16-18
"Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath
throughout their generations, as a perpetual covenant. …And he gave
to Moses… the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with
the finger of God." With the dramatic event of God writing
these commandments with His own finger "in stone" He shows that the Sabbath
would last forever. After all, we Seventh Day Adventists claim
that Jesus honored the Sabbath by resting in the tomb on the seventh day
and waited until the first day to work His miracle of the Resurrection.
Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today
and for ever." Matthew 5:17-18 "Think not that I have come to abolish the
law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.
For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota,
not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished."
RSV
CATHOLIC
RESPONSE Sabbath Article Index
1. JESUS’S AUTHORITY: Jesus has complete authority over the Sabbath
and the right to change it in any way He wishes to. 2. PURPOSE
AND MEANING: The Sabbath prefigures a higher purpose that is
more perfectly fulfilled by the first day of the week. 3. BETTER SABBATH PREFIGURED: and
TYPES: The better
Seventh Day of the New Covenant, the first day, was
prefigured in the Old Testament. 4.
TWO ASPECTS: The Sabbath of the
Old Covenant had two aspects. Only the ritual
aspect of the seventh day has changed. The
spiritual aspect of celebrating our covenant
relationship with God every seven days is the only
permanent binding aspect. 5.
COVENANT:
The Sabbath was a sign of the Old Covenant which is no
longer binding. 6. FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK:
The Sabbath has been replaced by the First Day of the
week, the Lord’s Day. 7. CHRIST
HONORS THE FIRST DAY:
Christ honored the first day of the week which is our
new seventh day. 8. NEW
CREATION: God
rested on the seventh day and the Old Covenant focused
on His Creation of the world. Christians are a new
creation in Christ and He has given us a new and better
seventh day.
9. EARLY WRITERS:
The early writers of the Church show that the followers
of the Apostles and Christ understood that the Sabbath
had been replaced by the First Day.
CATHOLIC
RESPONSE
Celebrating the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week was a sign
of the Old Covenant that God made with the Jews. The Sabbath honored
God as the Creator. It was very good. However, the fullness of
its importance was not to be realized until the coming of Christ and the
New Covenant. The Sabbath of the Old Covenant pointed toward a greater
reality beyond itself, a new and better Sabbath that honors God not just
as Creator, but also as Redeemer and Sanctifier as God remakes us into His
adopted children. Since Christians are under the New Covenant
we have a new seventh day which is the eighth day, or first day of the week
and every seven days after that. Just as the Old Covenant prefigured
the New Covenant, celebrating the Sabbath on the seventh day prefigures and
points us toward the celebrating our community worship and the renewing of
the consecrating of ourselves to God in Christ who was "raised for
our justification" [ Romans 4:25] on the first day of the week in the
New Covenant. And so for Christians the Lord's Day, the First Day of
the week, and every seven days after that became the new day for community
worship and the breaking of the bread. This change, which is God's
will, took place while Jesus’ faithful apostles were still alive.
Luke 24:1,32-35 1 But on the first day of the week .. .
32 They [the disciples] said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn
within us while he [Jesus] talked to us on the road, while he opened to us
the scriptures?" .. . .. 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known
to them in the breaking of the bread.
JESUS’S AUTHORITY OVER
THE SABBATH
Jesus is God. Accordingly, He has full authority to interpret
His own law, and to change it. Jesus offended the Pharisees of his day by working on the sabbath and
performing miracles. It was on the Sabbath that He healed a man’s withered
hand in Matthew 12:9-14. Also on the Sabbath, He healed a woman who
had curvature of the spine, Luke 13:10-17. And in John 9:1-33, He heals
a man born blind on the Sabbath. The Pharisees also complained that
Jesus let His disciples work on the Sabbath in Matthew 12: 1-8. Jesus
replied Matthew 12:8 "…For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath."
Instead of the Pharisee’s strict literal interpretation of the command "You
shall do no work," Jesus provides us with a deeper understanding of Sabbath.
The Sabbath is not an end in itself. Mark 2:27 "And he said to
them, ‘The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath;’ "
PURPOSE OF THE SABBATH
God commanded man to rest on every seventh day not because God
got tired and He needed it, but because man needed it. God was
giving us an example to follow. Man was made on the sixth day
with the other animals. We work as do the animals of the field (e.g.
oxen.) We have dominion over the earth as other animal have dominion
in their areas, for example lions and tigers in the jungle, bears in the
woods and arctic, and alligators in the swamp, etc. However, unlike
the other animals, even though we are made on the sixth day we are made for
the seventh day. We are made in the image of God.
God blesses and sanctifies or hallows, that is, He sets apart the
seventh day, to reveal man’s ultimate destiny. The Sabbath signifies
two things: One, unlike the other animals we will not find our fulfillment
and happiness in just working for our food and our other bodily needs because
we have a spiritual as well as physical nature. Second, the purpose
of man’s creation is to be in a covenant relationship with God and only in
Him will we find true rest for our souls and lasting happiness. We
are made to love and worship God and to be united with Him in His Covenant.
By establishing the Old Covenant God entered into a relationship with man
and He blessed him with the privilege to worship his Creator.
Because of Original Sin man has a tendency to wonder away from
God. Perhaps this is why God commanded the Jews to "remember" the sign
of the Old Covenant in order to help them regain their focus.
"It (the sabbath) is a day of protest against the servitude of work and the
worship of money." CCC # 2172 - The Catechism
of the Catholic Church.
Sabbathing on the seventh day is a sign of the glory of the Old
Covenant. However, it only prefigured the glory of the New Covenant.
Our destiny is to worship God in heaven.
2 Corinthians 3:5-10 "…our competence is from
God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not
in a written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the
Spirit gives life. Now if the dispensation of death, carved in
letters on stone, came with such splendor that the Israelites could not look
at Moses’ face because of its brightness, fading as this was, will
not the dispensation of the Spirit be attended with greater splendor?
For if there was splendor in the dispensation of condemnation, the dispensation
of righteousness must far exceed it in splendor. Indeed, in this
case, what once had splendor has come to have no splendor at all, because
of the splendor that surpasses it." RSV
The Sabbath ceremonial law was carved in stone, but it has been replaced with
the greater glory that comes to us in the New Covenant.
"The eighth day. But for us a new
day has dawned: the day of Christ's Resurrection. The seventh day completes
the first creation. The eighth day begins the new creation. Thus, the
work of creation culminates in the greater work of redemption. The
first creation finds its meaning and its summit in the new creation
in Christ, the splendor of which surpasses that of the first creation."
CCC # 349.
If we only follow our animalistic instincts we
will not find lasting peace and true joy. We are set apart from the
other animals. The Sabbath indicated man’s need to worship God.
In order to find true happiness in our lives we must become united to the
One in who’s image we are made.
However, we are only able to reach our full destiny and become His children
and worship God as we should by entering into the New Covenant, but this is
only made possible by receiving the grace that was won for us by Jesus Christ.
The Sabbath of the Old Covenant only prefigured the new seventh day set apart
by Christ in the New Covenant, the first day of the week. Jesus set
apart the first day of the week by manifesting His power and glory with His
resurrection. Since the Sabbath pointed to our need to worship God
and to be united with Him in Covenant it has given way to our new seventh
day of the New Covenant since only the New Covenant enables us to worship
God as He desires and to be united with Him in heaven.
Only by His power and grace are we enabled
to worship God as we should. John 4:23-24 "But the hour is coming,
and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and
truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit,
and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." RSV
God desires that we worship Him with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which
is only made possible by the New Covenant. (Cf. Jn 16: 7) And
Jesus desires that we worship Him in His Church that He founded (Cf.
Mat. 16: 13-19.) and to which He sent the Holy Spirit, And of
this Church it is called in 1 Timothy 3:15 "…the household
of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of
the truth." RSV Under the New Covenant the Church received the
Holy Spirit on the first day of the week on Pentecost Sunday so that they
could worship God as they should. Romans 8:26 "Likewise the Spirit
helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but
the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words."
RSV Because He is our older Brother His resurrection on the first day of the
week points to our own resurrection when He will raise us up after
our death so that we will be able to enter heaven, our eternal rest, so that
we may worship God forever. So, the first day of the week is set apart
as we look to that heavenly rest that is only made possible by the New Covenant.
Acts 4:10-12 "…the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth… And there
is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given
among men by which we must be saved." In order to enter heaven we must
receive the grace that was won for us by Jesus Christ and thereby become
justified. What Jesus did for us on the first day of the week cannot
be over stated. It was on that day that He was "raised for our justification"
Romans 4:25.
A BETTER SEVENTH DAY PREFIGURED IN THE OLD
TESTAMENT
The Feast of Booths (Tabernacles) was celebrated to commemorate God
leading the Jews through their journeying in the desert and eventually
into the promised land where they found rest and were blessed with bountiful
harvests. Leviticus 23: 34, 42-43 "Say to the people
of Israel, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days
is the feast of booths to the Lord… 42 You shall dwell in booths for seven
days; all that are native in Israel shall dwell in booths, that your
generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when
I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."
RSV
This feast is also mentioned in Deuteronomy 26: 1-11
" (8) ... and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an
outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders; and
he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with
milk and honey." RSV
For the Feast of Booths the Jews had a solemn rest (a Sabbath) on
the first and eighth day on which they held a sacred assembly to worship
God. Leviticus 23: 34 -36, 39 "…LORD’S feast of Booths, which shall
continue for seven days. On the first day there shall be a sacred
assembly, and you shall do no sort of work. For seven days
you shall offer an oblation to the LORD, and on the eighth day you shall
again hold a sacred assembly and offer an oblation to the LORD. On that
solemn closing you shall do no sort of work… 39… you shall celebrate a
pilgrim feast of the LORD for a whole week. The first and the eighth day
shall be days of complete rest." NAB
We see a close connection between the first and eight day.
The Jews held a solemn (Sabbath) rest and worshipped God on the first and
the eighth day to celebrate His leading them into the promised land.
God had blessed them with the rest from their wondering in the desert by
giving them the promised land. Saint Paul alludes to this journey
through the desert in 2 Corinthians 5 when he speaks of our present journey
in this life and he refers to our bodies as "tents" or "tabernacles."
With the coming of the New Covenant Jesus reveals a better rest, the chance
to be united with God in Heaven. And He offers not just physical
food, but spiritual food. Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all who
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
This Feast of Booths prefigures our new day of rest in the New Covenant
as we journey toward that ultimate rest that we will have in our
Heavenly home with God. Moses led the Jews out of the bondage of
slavery to the Egyptians, and through the desert to find rest in the promised
land. Similarly, Jesus leads us out of the bondage of slavery to
sin, and through the deserts of this life- the dying to ourselves (Luke
9:23f) - to that promised land in the Heavenly Jerusalem where we find
our ultimate rest in God. As will be shown later, we are a new creation
in Christ and so we have a new and better seventh day, which is the first
day or the eight day of the week.
This new day of rest prefigures that ultimate rest that we will only
find with God in heaven. "…you (God) have made us for
yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." St. Augustine,
Confessions 1, 1, 1. Since Jesus is the only way to heaven,
the day that He especially hallowed, that is set part, with His miracles
has become our new seventh day. "In Christ's Passover, Sunday surpasses
the spiritual truth of the Jewish Sabbath and announces man's eternal rest
in God. For worship under the Law prepared for the mystery of Christ,
and what was done there prefigured some aspects of Christ,"
CCC 2175
Another foreshadowing is when God gave the requirements for Passover
in Exodus 12. Exodus 12:1-8 "…. they shall take every
man a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household…
Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening. Then they shall take
some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts … They shall eat the
flesh that night, roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they
shall eat it." Interestingly, God began these instructions
with the announcement of a new way of measuring time. Exodus 12:1
"The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ‘This month shall
be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the
year for you…’ "
Israel’s new year had been Yom Kippur in the autumn, but Passover
is in the Spring. There was a natural calendar, which began with
Yom Kippur. It coincided with the harvesting of the crops.
But, now God establishes a second calendar, or a sacred calendar.
The early Fathers of the Church saw in these events a foreshadowing or
a type of what would take place in the New Testament Passover. When
Christ up came out of the tomb, up out of Egypt in a sense, He inaugurated
a new measurement of time and of days. Whereas, the natural calendar
centered on the harvesting of crops, the fruits of the natural creation,
the new sacred calendar centered on the spiritual benefits of the new creation
- Redemption. Mankind’s focus is now centered on the greater work
and gifts of God- our Salvation. As children of God
under the New Covenant we live not for the naturally created goods, worldly
things, but instead for the supernatural gifts and promises of Jesus Christ
and our heavenly home.
TYPES AND
SHADOWS POINTING
AHEAD AND REVEALING GOD'S GLORY
The Holy Bible has both human authors and a Divine Author.
Scripture scholar Scott Hahn, Ph.D.,
writes:
So when we read the Bible, we need to read it on two
levels at once. We read the Bible in a literal sense .. .. .
But we read it also in a spiritual sense, searching out what the Holy Spirit
is trying to tell us through the words (see Catechism, nos. 115 -19).
We do this in imitation of Jesus, because this is the way He
read the scriptures. He referred to Jonah (Mt 12:39), Solomon (Mt 12:42),
the temple (Jn 2:19), and the brazen serpent (Jn 3:14) as "signs"
that prefigured Him. We see in Luke's gospel, as our Lord comforted
the disciples on the road to Emmaus, that "beginning with Moses and
all the prophets, He interpreted to them what referred to Him in all the scriptures"
(Lk 24:27). After this spiritual reading of the Old Testament, we are
told, the disciples' hearts burned within them.
What ignited this fire in their hearts ? Through
the scriptures, Jesus had initiated His disciples into a world that reached
beyond their senses. A good teacher, God introduced the unfamiliar in
terms of the familiar. Indeed, He had created the familiar with this
end in mind, fashioning the persons and institutions that would best prepare
us for the coming of Christ and the glories of His kingdom.
Learning to Type
The first Christians followed their Master in reading the Bible
this way. In the letter to the Hebrews, the Old Testament tabernacle
and its rituals are described as "types and shadows of heavenly realities"
(8:5), and the law as a "shadow of the good things to come" (10:1).
Saint Peter, in turn, noted that Noah and his family "were saved through
water," and that "this prefigured baptism, which saves you now"
(1 Pt 3:20-21). Peter's word translated as "prefigured"
is actually the Greed word for "typify," or "make a type."
The apostle Paul, for his part, described Adam as a "type" of
Jesus Christ (Rom 5:14).
So what is a type ? A type is a real person, place,
thing, or event in the Old Testament that foreshadows something greater in
the New Testament. From "type" we get the word "typology,"
the study of Christ's foreshadowing in the Old Testament (see Catechism, 128-130).
[Hail, Holy Queen, pages 22-23.]
We are told in the New Testament that the Sabbath was just a shadow, or
type, of a greater reality revealed in Christ. Colossians 2:16-17
"Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink
or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. These are only
a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ." The
Sabbath was not permanent. It prefigured a more glorious rest that
we can find in Christ and with Him in Heaven. Because of sin we cannot
be reconciled with God and get to Heaven unless we are Redeemed, and Justified
before God. Christ was "raised for our justification" (Romans
4:25) on the first day of the week. The glory of
the Sabbath prefigured the greater glory of this new day, on which, we were
enabled to enter that perfect rest in Christ.
TWO ASPECTS
The Sabbath had two aspects, one ritual and one spiritual.
The ritual aspect of not working on the seventh day signified a deeper spiritual
aspect. It signified the consecration of the Jews to God and all that
He had revealed and their acceptance and their living out of that Covenant
that he had established with them. Cf. Exod. 31: 13. The Pharisees
criticized Jesus because they got so caught up with the ritual aspect that
they missed the more important spiritual one.
In the New Covenant the ritual aspect has been changed from the
seventh day of the week to the first day, and every seven days after that.
This change in the ritual signifies an even deeper change in the spiritual
aspect. Greater spiritual benefits are available to those who live under
the New Covenant. With the coming of Christ and all that He has accomplished
we now have a new and better Covenant.
With the fuller revelation that He has
given to mankind we can know God in a deeper way. Matthew 13:17
"Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you
see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."
John 14:9 "…He who has seen me has seen the Father…" Because
of the grace that was won for us by Jesus Christ we can live out a deeper
and more intimate relationship with God than was ever made possible under
the Old Covenant. Romans 8:16-17 "…we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided
we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."
When we receive the Eucharist, Communion, we renew the New Covenant that
Christ established at the Last Supper.
COVENANT
The book of Exodus tells us that the Sabbath is a sign of
the covenant that God had made with the people of Israel. Exodus 31:13
"Say to the people of Israel, ‘You shall keep my sabbaths, for this is a
sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that
I, the Lord, sanctify you.’ " RSV Circumcision was also a sign
of the Old Covenant because it was the way to enter into it. Genesis
17:11 "You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins,
and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you." RSV
The Sabbath was the sign of the Old Covenant, but the Old Testament
prophets foretold a New Covenant. The Old Covenant would cease to be,
and it would be replaced by a New and more perfect Covenant. Jeremiah 31:31-32
"Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant
which I made with their fathers…" Jesus established
the New Covenant during the Last Supper.
Matthew 26:26-28 "…Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke
it, and giving it to his disciples said, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’
Then he took a cup… ‘…for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be
shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.’ " NAB
The Seventh Day was a sign of the Covenant that the Jews had when God had
written in stone with His own finger. However, we now have a New
Covenant, not written with a finger, but with Christ’s own Blood on
the cross. He gave His Apostles the chalice to drink
and declared in Luke 22:20 "This cup which is poured out
for you is the new covenant in my blood." RSV
In Hebrews we read; Hebrews 8:6-7, 13 “Now he has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is mediator of
a better covenant, enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant
had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second one. … When
he speaks of a ‘new’ covenant, he declares the first one obsolete. And what
has become obsolete and has grown old is close to disappearing.”
Development and change. Hebrews
13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever."
RSV The passing away of the Old Covenant and the giving way to
the New Covenant should not be viewed as a reversal in God’s plan.
Rather, it is like the second part of an overall plan, but even more it is
the culmination of God’s plan. For example, a father may teach his
young son obedience and forbid him to cross the street. When he is
older the father may require him to get a job across the street. His
overall plan is to raise him up to maturity. The Old Covenant foreshadowed
the New, but now it has given way to the New and more glorious Covenant.
Honoring God as our Creator on the seventh day of the week has given way
to that which it foreshadowed, that is honoring Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer
on the first day of the week. Hebrews 7:18 "On the one hand, a former commandment is set
aside because of its weakness and uselessness…" Hebrews 9:15
"Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called
may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred
which redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant."
THE OLD COVENANT
AND ITS
SIGNS
We saw above how there are two signs of the Old Covenant, circumcision
( Genesis 17:11) and the observance of the Sabbath ( Exodus 31:13.)
However, when the Old Covenant completed its usefulness and passed away so
did the signs. Circumcision is no longer an obligation, Galatians
5:2 "Now I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision,
Christ will be of no advantage to you."
Honoring the seventh day of the week is also no longer binding.
Saint Paul states that the legal demands of the Old Covenant are canceled
and explicitly mentions the Sabbath as one of these. We read how Christ
"…having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands;
this he set aside, nailing it to the cross… Therefore let no one pass
judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival
or a new moon or a sabbath." Colossians 2:14-16 The festival, new moon,
and Sabbaths are references to the yearly, monthly, and weekly observances
of the Mosaic calendar. Therefore the whole Jewish festal calendar including
the Sabbath is no longer binding.
The Mosaic calendar is found in Numbers
28 and 29. This terminology, "Sabbath, new moon, and festival,"
is used there. Numbers 28: 10, 14 "Each sabbath there shall
be the sabbath holocaust …14 … This is the new moon holocaust for every
new moon of the year." NAB Since our word for month comes
from the word for moon it is sometimes translated as "month." This
Bible passage then goes on to list the major feasts of the year, Passover,
Feast of Pentecost (Weeks), New Year’s Day, Day of Atonement, and Feast of
Booths (Tabernacles). Then it concludes with Numbers 29:39
"These are the offerings you shall make to the LORD on your festivals…"
NAB The festivals are the yearly holy observances in the Mosaic calendar.
Instead of "festivals" it is sometimes translated as "feasts."
Exodus 31:16 "Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the
sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout their generations, as a perpetual
covenant." This is applicable to the people of Israel, the Jews,
the people of the Old Covenant, whereas Christians are living in the new
age, and they are the New Israel, therefore it does not apply to them.
There is a similar requirement concerning circumcision as an "everlasting
covenant," but it is also not applicable to Christians. Genesis
17: 11-13 "You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your
foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
…both he that is born in your house and he that is bought with your money,
shall be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting
covenant." There are other examples of perpetual
ordinances that are no longer binding in Exodus 29:9 and 30:8 and Ezekiel
46:14-15.
CIRCUMCISION
AND BAPTISM
Just as Jesus gave us the New Covenant He also gave us new signs
for it. A person entered the Old Covenant by circumcision, whereas the
rite of initiation into the New Covenant is Baptism.
The prophet Ezekiel foretold how God would
regenerate His people through a baptismal ritual. Ezekiel 36:16-27
"…(25) I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean
from all your uncleannesses, …A new heart I will give you… And I will put
my spirit within you…" In the book of Romans, chapter 5:12 - 6:8,
Saint Paul relates how because of original sin everyone in Adam’s family,
that is all mankind, is separated from God. In order to be righteous
we must get out of Adam’s family and into Christ’s family and he says that
this is accomplished through Baptism. Romans 6:3-8 "Do you not
know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death,
so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we
too might walk in newness of life. …if we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him." Acts 2:38
"Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit." RSV John 3:3-5 "Jesus answered and
said to him, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom
of God without being born from above.’ … Jesus answered, ‘Amen, amen,
I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water
and Spirit.’ " NAB Matthew 28:18-19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…"
Galatians 3:27-29 "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ
have put on Christ." Circumcision has been replaced by Baptism.
Saint Paul speaks of this parallel in Colossians 2:11-12 "In
him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by
putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ; and you
were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through
faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead."
SABBATH AND
THE
FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK - THE LORD’S DAY
Just as circumcision, a sign of the Old Covenant, has been replaced
by a new way to enter into God’s Covenant we also have a new holy day.
It is the Lord’s day, which is the first day of the week.
We can see that the term "the Lord’s Day" is a reference
to the eighth or the first day of the week by examining the early writings
of the church. In each instance where the context clarifies the day of the
week, "the Lord’s Day" is always the first day of the week. This
still holds true even for the apocrypha. (For example, see the Gospel
According to Peter Chapter 9, written in 150 AD.
Unlike the Jews, Christians recognize Jesus as their Ruler and Lord.
The first day of the week is called the "Lord’s Day," because it exemplifies
Him as Lord. On that day He defeated death and conquered the Prince
of darkness. John 12:31 "Now is the judgment of this world,
now shall the ruler of this world be cast out;"
This day replaces the Sabbath for the day especially consecrated to God
by the community’s worship. Christians celebrated their worship service
in each others homes. Acts 2:42-46 "And they devoted themselves to
the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers…
breaking bread in their homes…" We can see in the New Testament
the beginning of this substitution of the first day of the week for the seventh
day that the Jews had honored. Acts 20:7 "On the first
day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked
with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and he prolonged his speech
until midnight." Here we see the two basic elements of Sunday worship
which have been followed by the Church to this day: 1) the breaking
of bread, which designates the celebration of the Lord’s Supper (Catholics
call it the Mass); and 2) the sermon.
Seventh Day Adventist argue that the phrase
"On the first day of the week" modifies when Paul intended to depart on the
following day since he had preached beyond midnight. They claim that
the Christians had actually met on the Sabbath. Adventists believe that
the King James Version of the Bible is the most authoritative. It reads
in Acts 20:7 "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples
came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on
the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight." KJV
According to ENGLISH GRAMMER AND COMPOSITION by John
E. Warriner, published by Harcourt, Brace and Company, on page 331 it instructs
that a writer should "Place phrase and clause modifiers as near as possible
to the words they modify." On page 335 it instructs writers to place
modifying phrases either at the beginning of the sentence or at the end in
order to clarify that they definitely modify the nearest applicable word
or phrase as opposed to leaving the phrase in the middle of the sentence
and leaving doubt. Therefore, if one admits that the authors of the
King James Version used correct English, then one must conclude that the
phrase "And upon the first day of the week" must modify the clause "when
the disciples came together to break bread." The same indication that the Christians came together on the first day
of the week is also found in Saint Paul’s writings. 1 Corinthians 16:2
"On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and
store it up, as he may prosper, so that contributions need not be made when
I come." Saint Paul thought that the most opportune time to collect
funds for the poor was when they gathered for their celebration of the Lord’s
Supper -the Mass.
Saint Luke must have had a special purpose for mentioning that
they "gathered" on the "first" day of the week in Acts 20:7. This is
evident because no where else in Acts, with one exception, does he list the
date or the day of the week that this or that momentous missionary journey
began, or this or that significant event happened. This implies that
Luke was intending to convey the special significance that the "first" day
of the week had come to represent. His only exception is when he states
that Paul or some other missionary went to the synagogue on the Sabbath.
Their purpose for going there on the Sabbath was to get a large audience to
preach to. The Jews had not assembled there to celebrate a Christian
service.
Saint Paul was always willing to meet
people on their own ground in order to win them for Christ. 1 Corinthians
9:19-20 "…I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more.
To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews; to those under the law
I became as one under the law—though not being myself under the law—that I
might win those under the law." Many Jews converted, but many also rejected
them and kicked them out of the synagogue. See Acts 14:1-6 and
17:1-9. Jesus had prophesied in John 16:2 that they would be kicked
out. The Council of Jerusalem, see Acts 15, passed a law for Gentile converts
to Christianity. This Council which was presided over by Saint Peter,
with the other Apostles attending, exempted the Gentiles from the law of Moses
with a few exceptions. However, the observance of the Sabbath was not
listed as one of those exceptions that would still be binding on them.
When Jesus was asked what a person had to do to enter heaven in
Matthew 19:16-22, he listed the commandments, but he did not mention the
Sabbath.
An Adventist might object that this passage
does not explicitly mention what they would call the first four and what they
call the last commandments. Therefore, they might reason, that Jesus
just assumed ones obedience to the first four commandments that deal with
our relationship with God.
First, in order to clarify the different methods
in which the commandments are numbered, a few points must be mentioned.
Protestants traditionally separate the commandment, "Exodus 20:2-3 "I
am the Lord your God… (3) You shall have no other gods before
me," and the command in verses 4 through 5,
(4) "You shall not make for yourself a graven image…(5) you shall not bow
down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God…"
[RSV], and they count them as two commandments, whereas Catholics consider
making worshipping graven images a violation of the first commandment and
therefore, part of it. Catholics count all of this as the first commandment.
Protestants traditionally group together
"you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife" with the prohibition
against coveting "his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s,"
as one commandment, whereas, Catholics count them as two. It should
be noted that the numbering of verses is not in the original manuscripts -
actually the originals are no longer in existence, but the oldest copies that
we have which are copies of copies of copies of the originals, do not have
them. Therefore, the numbering of them is not inspired.
They were added after the invention of the printing press in order to facilitate
that process.
It probably would be a lot easier for a man to
forgive his neighbor who just used his brand new lawnmower against his explicit
prohibition to do so, than it would be for him to forgive another neighbor
who raped his wife. Both sins are evil and wrong, but the second is
much more serious (Cf. 1 Jn. 5:16-17), and so Catholics count
prohibitions against them as two different commandments.
Contrary to the Adventist position that the commandment
against violating the Sabbath was just assumed it should be noted that the
other 9 commandments are mentioned in other texts but nowhere can we find
Jesus’s affirmation of the Sabbath commandment. In this discourse in
Matthew, besides explicitly stating most of the commandments, Jesus paraphrases
the following commandments. Matthew 19:17 "There is only
One who is good," [NAB] is a paraphrase of the first commandment, or
the first two, counting as Protestants do. His words in
Matthew 19:19 "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," [RSV]
is a paraphrase of the last two.
Jesus also repeats these commandments in other
Bible passages: Matthew 4:10 "You shall worship the Lord your
God and him only shall you serve." Mark 12:29-30 "…The
Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart…"
Against taking God’s name in vain we read Matthew 5:33-34
"Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘Do not take a
false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow.’ But
I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God’s throne;"
NAB An oath is more than a promise because an
oath means to invoke God’s holy Name. Cf. Heb. 6: 13-17. Therefore, to take
a false oath was to take God’s Name in vain. VINE’S EXPOSITORY
DICTIONARY defines oath as "HORKOS (o{rko" , (3727)) is
primarily equivalent to herkos, a fence, an enclosure, that which restrains
a person; hence, an oath. The Lord’s command in Matt. 5:33 was a condemnation
of the minute and arbitrary restrictions imposed by the scribes and Pharisees
in the matter of adjurations, by which God’s Name was profaned."
And against coveting Christ also said;
Matthew 5:28 "But I say to you that every one who looks at a
woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
RSV
Matthew 5:40 "…and if any one would sue
you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well;" RSV
Luke 14:33 "So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that
he has cannot be my disciple." Cf. Lk 12: 13-15, Mat.
6: 24-33
Therefore, Jesus mentions all ten commandments except
the Sabbath. The Sabbath which is a sign of the Old Covenant is no longer
binding under the New Covenant. Saint Paul rebukes the Galatians for reverting back to their Jewish customs
and observance of feast days of the Mosaic calendar as if they were still
binding. Galatians 4:9-11 "…but now that you have come to know
God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak
and destitute elemental powers? Do you want to be slaves to them all over
again? You are observing days, months, seasons, and years.
I am afraid on your account that perhaps I have labored for you in vain."
NAB
A reference to Sabbath (7th day), new
moon (monthly), and festive (yearly) feast days of the Mosaic calendar.
Colossians 2:14-16 "…Therefore let no one pass judgment on you … with regard
to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath."
CHRIST HONORS
THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK
Christians gathered on the first day of the week because that was the
day of the Lord’s greatest triumph over Satan and death. Luke’s
Gospel proclaims that Christ rose on the first day of the week.
Luke
24:1, 2, 6, 7, 13, 19-21
“1. But at daybreak on the first day of
the week they took the spices they had prepared and went
to the tomb.
2. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb …
6. He is not here, but he has been raised.
Remember what he said …
7. that the Son of Man must be
handed over to sinners and be crucified, and
rise on the third day.” …
13. Now that very day two of them
were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus
…
19 … Jesus the Nazarene …
20. how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a
sentence of death and crucified him.
21. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem
Israel; and besides all this, it is now
the third day since this took place.”
Jesus also choose the first day of the week
to appear to His Apostles. And seven days later on the following Sunday
He also chose to appear again when Saint Thomas was present. John 20:19,
26. “Pentecost” comes from the Greek word for “fiftieth.” Leviticus
23:15 gives the method for computing the day of "Pentecost,” also called
the Feast of Weeks. It always falls on the first day of the week.
And it was on this day that God chose to inaugurate the Christian Church
with the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday. Cf. Acts 2:1.
In the Old Covenant the Jews communed with God by worshipping Him on
the Sabbath. This only prefigured and has given way to the greater method
of communing with God in the New Covenant by our reception of the Eucharist,
Holy Communion, on the first day of the week.
Also, in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 24, we read about Christ’s example that
we all should follow.
Luke 24:1, 13, 27, 30, 35.
(1)
“But on the first day of the week…(13) That very day two of them were
going to a village named Emmaus, …(27) And beginning with Moses and all the
prophets, he (Jesus) interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things
concerning himself…(30) When he was at table with them, he took the
bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them…(35) Then they
told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking
of the bread.” RSV
Christ’s actions signify the two elements
of the Lord’s Supper, the celebration of which Catholics call the Mass.
Jesus opens up the Word of God to their hearts and then blesses and brakes
bread with them. And He does this with the disciples on the first day
of the week.
Saint Paul who says in 1 Corinthians 11:1 “Be imitators
of me, as I am of Christ,” gives us an example to follow in Acts
20:7 when he celebrates the Eucharist on the first day of the week.
“Sunday recalls the day of Christ’s Resurrection. It is Easter
which returns week by week, celebrating Christ’s victory over sin and
death, the fulfillment in him of the first creation and the dawn of
‘the new creation’ (cf. 2 Cor 5:17) … [I]n commemorating the day of Christ's Resurrection not just once a year
but every Sunday, the Church seeks to indicate to every generation the
true fulcrum of history, to which the mystery of the world’s origin and
its final destiny lead … As in every Eucharistic celebration, the Risen Lord is encountered in
the Sunday assembly at the twofold table of the word and of the Bread of
Life.” [Dies Domini, Apostolic letter of Pope John Paul II 1998]
SEVENTH
To make a covenant is to establish a family bond, and it is accomplished
by the swearing of an oath. ( Ezekiel 16:8 “… I swore an oath to you
and entered into a covenant with you; you became mine, says the Lord GOD.”
NAB. Also see Ez 16:59, 17:13, Lk 1:72-73. ) However,
Jesus came to give us a better Covenant. Hebrews 8:6
“Now he has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is mediator
of a better covenant, enacted on better promises.” NAB
To make an oath is to make a promise and to invoke God’s Holy Name to that
promise. When Jesus makes a promise His Holy Name is already attached
to it, so Jesus’ promises are His oaths. He has established the New
Covenant by these better promises, His better oaths. When Jesus established
the New Covenant, He made a new and better family bond with His people by
His oaths.
The Hebrew word for “seven" is “sheba.” (Strong’s # 7651)
The word “sheba” is built on the Hebrew verb “shaba - to swear an oath.” (Strong’s
# 7650) Because of the close connection of the Hebrew words for
“oath” and “seven” it could be said that when God established a covenant
with us by His oaths that He “seventhed” Himself to us. Because we
Christians have a much better covenant than what the Jews had it could be
said that God has “seventhed” Himself to us in a much better way than what
He had done with the Jews. Therefore, it is appropriate that
God has given us a new and better “seventh day” to signify this better “seventhing”
of Himself.
God had wanted the Jews to celebrate the Sabbath on the seventh
day. It was a sign of the Old Covenant that He had made with Israel
as they accepted Him as their Creator and God. Saturday had special
significance for the Jews because it was dedicated to the completion of God’s
creative work. But, God’s redemptive work is greater than His creative
work.
“Justification is the most excellent work of God's love made manifest
in Christ Jesus and granted by the Holy Spirit. It is
the opinion of St. Augustine that 'the justification of the wicked is a greater work
than the creation of heaven and earth,' because 'heaven and earth will pass
away but the salvation and justification of the elect . . . will not
pass away.' [43] He holds also that the justification of
sinners surpasses the creation of the angels in justice, in that it bears witness to a
greater mercy.” CCC 1994
The first day of the week, and every seven days after that, signifies
Jesus’ saving and redemptive work, His greater work, that he accomplished
by His death on the cross and His resurrection on Easter Sunday, Cf.
Romans 4:25. Jesus choose this day to manifest His
glory and inaugurate His Church as seen above. By redeeming us in Christ,
we are God’s New Creation.
The Latin word for oath
is “sacramentum” and it is from
this word that we get the English word “Sacrament.” CCC
# 1210 “Christ instituted the sacraments of the new law. There
are seven…” # 1131 “The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace,
…entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us.”
Genesis 21:28-31 “Abraham set seven ewe lambs of
the flock apart. And Abimelech said to Abraham, ‘What is the
meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set apart?’ He
said, ‘These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that you may be
a witness for me that I dug this well.’ Therefore that place
was called Beer-sheba; because there both of them swore an oath." RSV
Some Bible footnotes point out how Beer-sheba can be interpreted as “well
of the oath,” or “well of the seven.”
NEW HEAVEN
AND EARTH
The world is being transformed by His grace. Matthew 5:17-18
“Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come
not to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, till
heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law
until all is accomplished.” An Adventist might contend that the previous
passage does not allow for the abolishment or replacement of the Sabbath with an
even better seventh day.
However, upon closer study we can see that this is not so.
Jesus perfectly fulfilled the requirements of the Law and the Prophets
and ushered in a New Covenant where we might enter into the kingdom of God
either mystically or at least partially here on earth and completely in
heaven. John’s death happens
at some point between Luke 7:20 and 9:9. (Cf. Mat. 4:10) Sometime after
his death we read in Luke 16:16 “The law and the prophets
lasted until John; but from then on the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and
everyone who enters does so with violence.” NAB Luke 16:16-17
“The law and the prophets were until John; since then the good news of the
kingdom of God is preached, and every one enters it violently.
But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one dot of the
law to become void.” RSV Jesus doesn’t say that it
is impossible for part of the law to become void, only that it is very difficult.
And we will see that it was very costly.
Now, we already know that some of the Old Testament ritual laws are
void, no longer binding, such as circumcision, temple sacrifices, etc.
Cf. Galatians 5 :2, and Acts 15. Therefore the “heaven and earth pass(ing)
away" must be some sort of spiritual reality that has already occurred or
is in the process of occurring. It is not a reference to the
end of the world, but the coming of the new age, which occurs with the coming
of the Messiah, and the New Covenant. Hebrews 9:26 “…But
as it is, he (Jesus) has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” We are living in the new and
final age that was prophesied by Isaiah as the time of the “new heavens and
a new earth." Isaiah 66:22-23 “As the new heavens and the new
earth which I will make Shall endure before me, says the LORD, so shall your
race and your name endure. From one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, All mankind shall come to worship before me, says the
LORD.” NAB cf. Isa. 65: 17-20. The early leaders
of the Church understood this prophesy to be fulfilled in Jesus Christ who
brings both Jews and Gentiles to worship God the Father.
Jesus says that it was not easy for the Old Covenant laws to be dispensed
with. It was only by the sacrifice of God the Father of His only begotten
Son that has freed us from the requirements of circumcision and the other
Old Testament rituals, like Sabbathing on the seventh day, that are no longer
binding.
When Jesus took a human nature he also took upon himself
all the sufferings that come with every day life and this eventually led to
his crucifixion. It seems that Saint Matthew wanted to remind
his readers about the great cost with which we were sent free before telling
them about that which is probably one of Jesus’s most difficult teachings
to accept. The verses immediately following Luke 16:16-17 record
Jesus’s prohibition against divorce and remarriage. In verse 16 when
Jesus says, “…the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone who enters does
so with violence.” [New Am Bible], He is probably referring to how
we must die to ourselves to follow Christ.
The world has been corrupted by sin, but it also has been redeemed by
Christ. As the infinite grace of Jesus Christ is applied to ourselves
and the world it transforms us and makes us holy. The kingdom of God
is not just in heaven but it is supernaturally made present here on earth.
The Church is the New Jerusalem. Cf. Rev. 21:2, Gal. 4:26 Luke
10:17-18 “The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons
are subject to us in your name!’ And he said to them, ‘I saw Satan
fall like lightning from heaven.” Matthew 12:28
“But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom
of God has come upon you.” We have a new heaven and earth transformed
by God’s grace.
The writing of Pseudo -Barnabas shows that this idea was not unknown
of in the early church. THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS 130 AD
CHAP. 15:8 - 9. THE FALSE AND THE TRUE SABBATH.
“… Further, He says to them, “Your new moons and your Sabbath
I cannot endure.” Ye perceive how He speaks: Your present Sabbaths
are not acceptable to Me, but that is which I have made, [namely this,] when,
giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that
is, a beginning of another world. Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day
with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead.
And when He had manifested Himself, He ascended into the heavens.”
Also see Saint Ignatius Bishop of Antioch’s letter to the Magnesians 8:1
-9:2 written about 107 AD.
NEW CREATION
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is
a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” Galatians 6:15
“For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45
“For as in Adam all die, so
also in Christ shall all be made alive… (45) Thus it is written,
‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving
spirit.” Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus…”
RSV In the New Covenant Christians are created anew in Christ.
God is the creator of
time and space. The creation of the day and night, and the sun ,
the moon and the stars show God as the creator of time. The
creation of all the fish, birds, and all the animals that occupy the
world that God created show God as the creator of space. The two
key elements in the Jewish worship service, the Temple and the Sabbath,
manifested God’s Lordship over these. The Temple manifested God’s
sovereignty over space. Although God is everywhere the Temple was
especially consecrated to God. He dwelt there in a special way.
However, in the New Covenant it is replaced with the new Temple, the
Church, the Body of Christ. Likewise, the Sabbath which manifested
God’s sovereignty over time has been replaced with a better seventh day
in the New Covenant.
Saint John the Evangelist, in the fourth Gospel, also shows how Christ’s
redemptive work is also recognized as His new creation. In the prologue
to this Gospel we find several allusions to Genesis with this motif of the
“new creation.” They are;
1) St. John begins his first chapter with the words
“In the beginning…”
as we see in Genesis 1:1.
2) We see the theme of the light shinning into the darkness John
1:4-5 “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
This theme of light had been a prominent feature in the first creation as
well. Genesis 1:2-3 “The earth was without
form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit
of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there
be light’; and there was light.”
3) The Spirit in the form of a dove descends at Jesus’ baptism
in the Jordan River John 1: 32, and the Spirit hovers over the waters
in Gen. 1: 2.
4)The theme of God’s creation coming through His Word is found in
John 1:3 and Gen. 1: 3. John 1:1-3 “In the beginning
was the Word… (3) all things were made through him, and without him
was not anything made that was made.” Genesis 1:3 “And God said,
“Let there be light”; and there was light. Our
creator and our redeemer are one in the same.
5) We also see a new creation week. At Cana, the new Adam, Christ
(cf. 1 Cor. 15:45), changed the water into wine, symbolizing the change from
the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. St. John tells us that there were seven
days from “In the Beginning” to the beginning of Christ’s work here
at Cana.
These seven days correspond to the seven days of creation in Genesis.
John 1: 1, 29, 35, 43. “In the beginning…(29) The next day…(35)
The next day… (43) The next day…” this brings us to the fourth
day. The next reference to time is found in John 2:1 “On
the third day there was a marriage at Cana…” But the third day from
the fourth day is the seventh day. Thus the third day and the seventh
day are the same day. In the New Covenant of Jesus Christ we have a
new seventh day, but it is also the third day - the day He rose from the
dead, Luke 24: 46. The third day was also the day that
the child Jesus was found teaching His Word in the temple. We also
find a close connection between the third and seventh day in Numbers
19:12 “…he shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and
on the seventh day, and so be clean…” Saint John makes these parallels
with the book of Genesis, including the new seven days, so that we might
see that we are a new creation in Christ. Along with the New Covenant
and the new creation we have a new seventh day.
John writes at the end
of his Gospel John 21:25 “But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them
to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books
that would be written.” Saint John has more things to write about
than he has paper to write it on. With so many important things to
write about he doesn’t waste words. The Holy Spirit must of had a reason
to inspire the Evangelist to record the chronology of these seven days.
The book of Revelations a blueprint for the Sacred Liturgy of the Christian
community’s weekly worship. There is the reading of the Word of God
(chapters 2 -5), and the partaking of the wedding banquet of the Lamb of God,
our Passover Sacrifice (chapter 19) and this takes place on the Lord’s
Day. Revelation 1:10 “I was in the Spirit on
the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet…” RSV
The book of Revelation was written by Saint John. For an explanation
of the “Lord’s Day” see the quote listed below by Saint Ignatius, the bishop
of Antioch, who was also a disciple of Saint John.
Under the New Covenant the day of public worship has been changed to
the first day of the week. “Because it (the first day) is the “eighth
day” following the sabbath, it symbolizes the new creation ushered
in by Christ's Resurrection. For Christians it has become the first
of all days, the first of all feasts, the Lord's Day (he kuriake hemera,
dies dominica) - Sunday.” CCC 2174.
Jesus was given full authority to alter or change the Sabbath in any
way that He wished to. Ref. Matthew 12:8 and Matthew 28:18-20.
And He gave that Authority to the Church that He founded on Peter.
Matthew 16:15-19 “He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I
am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For
flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and
the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give
you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall
be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’
” RSV
Cf. Isaiah
22:15, 19-24 and Isaiah 36:1-3
Luke 22:29-32 “…and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to
me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom,
and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Simon,
Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you (plural), that he might sift you
like wheat, but I have prayed for you (singular) that your faith may
not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren.”
RSV
“This practice of the Christian assembly dates from the beginnings of
the apostolic age. The Letter to the Hebrews reminds the faithful
‘not to neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but to encourage
one another.’ [Heb. 10:25] Tradition preserves the memory of an
ever-timely exhortation: Come to Church early, approach the Lord, and confess
your sins, repent in prayer.... Be present at the sacred and divine liturgy,
conclude its prayer and do not leave before the dismissal.... We have often
said: ‘This day is given to you for prayer and rest. This is the day that
the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.’ ” CCC
# 2178
Click below to see how
Hebrews chapter 10 tells
us why we should participate in the Mass, the Eucharistic, Liturgy.
This change from the seventh day to the eighth or the first day
of the week can also be verified by looking at the testimony of the early
church.
EARLY WRITERS IN
THE CHURCH
This change can also be verified by looking at the testimony of
the early church.
Saint Basil : Letter
93 AD 372
“It Is Good And Beneficial To Communicate Every Day, And To
Partake Of The Holy Body And Blood Of
Christ. For He Distinctly Says, ‘He That Eateth My Flesh And
Drinketh My Blood Hath Eternal Life.’ And Who Doubts That To Share
Frequently In Life, Is The Same Thing As To Have Manifold Life. I,
Indeed, Communicate Four Times A Week, On
The Lord's Day, On Wednesday, On Friday, And On The Sabbath,
And On The Other Days If There Is A Commemoration Of Any Saint”
(To The Patrician Coesaria, Concerning Communion.)
The Didascalia AD 225
“The Apostles Further Appointed: On The
First Day Of The Week Let There Be
Service, And The Reading Of The Holy
Scriptures, And The Oblation,
Because On The First Day Of The Week Our
Lord Rose From The Place Of The Dead, And On The First Day Of
The Week He Arose Upon The World, And On The First Day Of The Week
He Ascended Up To Heaven, And On The First
Day Of The Week He Will Appear At Last With The Angels Of
Heaven”
(Chapter 2)
Tertullian : An Answer To The
Jews AD 206
“It Follows, Accordingly, That, In So Far As The Abolition Of
Carnal Circumcision And Of The Old Law Is Demonstrated As Having
Been Consummated At Its Specific Times, So Also The Observance Of
The Sabbath Is Demonstrated To Have Been
Temporary… He Predicts Through
Isaiah: ‘And There Shall Be,’ He Says, ‘Month After Month,
And Day After Day, And Sabbath After Sabbath; And All Flesh Shall
Come To Adore In Jerusalem, Saith The Lord;’ Which We Understand
To Have Been Fulfilled In The Times Of Christ, When ‘All
Flesh’--That Is, Every Nation—‘Came To Adore In Jerusalem’ God The
Father, Through Jesus Christ His Son, As Was Predicted Through The
Prophet…But The Jews Are Sure To Say, That Ever Since This Precept
Was Given Through Moses, The Observance Has Been Binding. Manifest
Accordingly It Is, That The Precept Was Not Eternal Nor Spiritual,
But Temporary, Which Would One Day Cease…”
(Chap. 4. Of The Observance Of The
Sabbath.)
Justin Martyr : The First
Apology AD 155
“…And On The Day Called Sunday,
All Who Live In Cities Or In The Country Gather Together To One
Place, And The Memoirs Of The Apostles Or The Writings Of The
Prophets Are Read, As Long As Time Permits; Then, When The Reader
Has Ceased, The President Verbally Instructs, And Exhorts To The
Imitation Of These Good Things. Then We All Rise Together And Pray,
And, As We Before Said, When Our Prayer Is Ended, Bread And Wine And
Water Are Brought, And The President In Like Manner Offers Prayers
And Thanksgivings, According To His Ability, And The People Assent,
Saying Amen; And There Is A Distribution To Each, And A
Participation Of That Over Which Thanks Have Been Given (Eucharistic
Elements)... And They Who Are Well To Do, And Willing, Give What
Each Thinks Fit; And What Is Collected Is Deposited With The
President, Who Succours The Orphans And Widows And Those Who,
Through Sickness Or Any Other Cause, Are In Want, … And In A Word
Takes Care Of All Who Are In Need. But Sunday Is The Day On Which We
All Hold Our Common Assembly, Because It Is
The First Day On Which God, Having Wrought A Change In The Darkness
And Matter, Made The World; And Jesus Christ Our Saviour On The
Same Day Rose From The Dead. For He Was Crucified On The Day
Before That Of Saturn (Saturday); And On The Day After That Of
Saturn, Which Is The Day Of The Sun, Having Appeared To His Apostles
And Disciples, He Taught Them These Things, Which We Have Submitted
To You Also For Your Consideration.”
(Chap. 67 Weekly Worship Of The
Christians)
The Epistle Of Ignatius To The
Magnesians AD 107
“Be Not Deceived With Strange Doctrines,
Nor With Old Fables, Which Are Unprofitable. For If We Still Live
According To The Jewish Law, We Acknowledge That We Have Not
Received Grace… If, Therefore, Those Who Were Brought Up In
The Ancient Order Of Things Have Come To The Possession Of A New
Hope, No Longer Observing The Sabbath,
But Living In The Observance Of The Lord's
Day, On Which Also Our Life Has Sprung Up Again By Him And By
His Death…”
(Chap. 8:1 - 9:2 Caution Against
False Doctrines)
The Didache (Teaching Of The
Twelve Apostles) AD 70
“But every Lord’s day gather
yourselves together, and break bread,
and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions,
that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one who is at odds with
his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that
your sacrifice may not be profaned. For this is that which was
spoken by the Lord: ‘In every place and time offer to me a pure
sacrifice; for I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is
wonderful among the nations.’ ”
(The Lord’s Teaching Through The Twelve Apostles To The
Nations
Chapter 14:1 - 5. Christian Assembly On The Lord’s Day)
THE KEYS
We look to the Bible for the understanding of
the keys and what Jesus was referring to. The keys refer to the
passage from Isaiah 22.
Isaiah 22:15-25
15 "Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, "Come, go to this steward,
to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him:
What have you to do here and whom have you here,
that you have hewn here a tomb for yourself, you who hew a tomb on the height,
and carve a habitation for yourself in the rock? Behold, the Lord
will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold
on you, and whirl you round and round, and throw you like a ball into
a wide land; there you shall die, and there shall be your splendid chariots,
you shame of your master’s house.
19 I will thrust you from your office, and you will be cast down
from your station. In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son
of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your girdle
on him, and will commit your authority to his hand; and he shall be a father
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And
I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open,
and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I
will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he will become a throne of
honor to his father’s house. And they will hang on him the whole weight
of his father’s house, the offspring and issue,
every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons.
In that day, says the Lord of hosts, the peg that was fastened in
a sure place will give way; and it will be cut down and fall, and the
burden that was upon it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken."
Isaiah 36:1-3 "In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah... there came out to
him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the
secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder." RSV
The key of the house of David implies succession because King David
had been dead for hundreds of years at the time of King Hezekiah’s rule.
Just as the king had a successor so did the head of the household, the master
of the palace, or in today’s language the ‘prime minister" or even better
"the king’s regent", "viceroy", or "vicar" since he had absolute authority
under the king. His office was one of being a father to the people.
END
Sabbath Article Index
1. JESUS’S AUTHORITY: 2. PURPOSE
AND MEANING: 3. BETTER SABBATH PREFIGURED: and
TYPES: 4.
TWO ASPECTS: 5.
COVENANT:
6. FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK:
7. CHRIST
HONORS THE FIRST DAY:
8. NEW
CREATION:
9. EARLY WRITERS:
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