Firstly, there is not a single place in the New Testament, where, after the Death of the Lord Jesus Christ, is anyone told, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8).
Secondly, in Exodus 31:12, 16, it is clear that the Sabbath Day is a "Covenant" between God and Israel, "“You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all 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...Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a Covenant forever".
Thirdly, Paul says that the Sabbath was a "shadow" of things to come, and that no person should be judged on this issue. "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 a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to Christ." (Colossians 2:16-17). Paul would not have said this, if the Sabbath Day was still applicable to Christians.
Fourthly, In Romans 14 Paul is very clear that the Seventh Day is NOT the day for worship of the Lord God. "One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord.". Here Paul says that there are some who "observe" one day, while there are others, who "observe" all days to the Glory of the Lord. Surely he would have reminded those who were disputing about which day, by quoting ""Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy"? This, as part of the Great Ten Commandments, should have settled the issue. But he does not.
"You shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.” (Exodus 35:3)
This means that you cannot cook, have hot water and heating in the winter. Do you obey this?
Exodus 34:21 says, "“Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest". Complete REST. which means that you cannot drive or take the bus to go to Church. You can do NO activities on the Sabbath. Do you?
Numbers 15:32-35 says, "While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. And the LORD said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the LORD commanded Moses.". Would you fully obey this, even when a member of your own family were the guilty one?
Nehemiah 13:15-18 says, "In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food. Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself! Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”
Do you EVER do shopping on the Sabbath Day? This is FORBIDDEN!
Exodus 16:28-30 says, "And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” So the people rested on the seventh day.". Do you EVER leave your home of the Sabbath Day, for anything?
Look at John 20:19, (and the other Gospels), "then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said unto them, Peace be unto you"; and then, verse 26, "And after eight days again his disciples were inside, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.", where, After eight days (meth' hêmeras oktô). That is the next Sunday evening, on the eighth day in reality just like "after three days" and "on the third day.Then look at Acts 20:7, ""And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to depart the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight,". 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week let each one of you put aside and save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come,". Rev. 1:10-11, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea,"
First Day=Sunday, because the Lord Jesus Christ was Raised from the dead, the devil defeated, death was forever conquered, and there was real hope for the whole human race. And all because of the RESURRECTION of the Great Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ!!!
Pentecost
"And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed ‘Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD." (Leviticus 23:15-16)
Then, in Acts 2:1, we have the Birth of the Church and giving of the Holy Spirit, which is known as "Pentecost", which is from the Greek, "pentēkostē", which means "fiftieth day".
Thursday, 14th day of the month Nisan, Christ institutes the Lord’s Supper.
Friday, 15th day of Nisan, He is crucified.
Saturday, 16th day of Nisan, He rests in the grave.
Sunday, 17th day of Nisan, He rises from the dead.
From the end of Saturday the 16th day of Nisan forty-nine days are counted, and fiftieth, or feast of Pentecost, falls on a Sunday.
God chose SUNDAY, not any other, for the giving of the Holy Spirit, and the Birth of the Church. This, together with the RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ, is CELEBRATION time!
Σάββατον, used for “a week”
Matthew 28:1, “At the end of the Sabbath (Σάββατον), day, as it began to dawn toward the first [day] of the week (Σάββατον), came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher
“ὀψέ σαββάτων, the sabbath having just passed, after the sabbath, i. e.: at the early dawn of the first day of the week” (J H Thayer, Greek lexicon)
“after the Sabbath” (W F Arndt & F W Gingrich, Greek lexicon)
“at the end of the sabbath, i.e. after the Sabbath, the Sabbath being now ended, toward the dawn” (E Robinson, Greek lexicon)
“ὀψέ σαββάτων, after the Sabbath day” (H Liddell & R Scott Greek lexicon)
Mark 16:1, 2, 9, “And when the Sabbath (Σάββατον), was past (διαγίνομαι, elapsed) Mary Magdalene, and Mary the [mother] of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint him. And at dawn on the first day of the week (Σάββατον), they come to the tomb when the sun was risen… Now when He was risen early on the first (πρώτως, first) day of the week (Σάββατον),, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.”
Luke 24:1, “But on the first day of the week (Σάββατον), at early dawn (ὄρθρου βαθέως, Lit., at deep dawn, or the dawn being deep) they came unto the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared”
John 20:1, “Now on the first day of the week (τῇ μιᾷ τῶν σαββάατον, The Hebrew idiom, day one of the week) cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken away from the tomb.”
It is very clear from these passages, and others, that the word “Σάββατον”, is also used to denote the English word “week”, and not just The Sabbath Day. Mark, for example, clearly shows this, when he says, “the Sabbath (7th day, Saturday) had elapsed…at dawn on the first day of the week…He was risen early on the first day of the week”. This can only mean the day after the Sabbath, our Saturday, the 7th day of the week. Since The Sabbath Day is the 7th day of the week, the next day has to be Sunday, which is the first day of the week.
