Christ vs. Constantine (The SABBATH!)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Constantine, the emperor of Rome in the fourth century, wanted to establish his form of Christianity and bring the pagans in. He got rid of anything that was Jewish from the doctrine of the early believers. He brought many of the pagan traditions into his “Christianity.” Most churches follow this degraded form of Christianity and don’t even realize it. In this message I want to talk about a tradition that came from this pagan form of Christianity and show how it is not contained in the Word. It is so important that we research what beliefs we hold onto and make sure that they can be traced back to the word. If they cannot, then they need to be rejected. The first tradition that Constantine introduced from paganism into his Christianity is the replacement of the Sabbath with the day that pagans worshipped the Sun or Sunday. So many believers have not understood about the Sabbath:
The Sabbath is not just for the Jews. It was given before there were a Jewish people in the book of Genesis. After the Father created everything in six days, He sanctified and set the seventh day as holy (Gen. 2:1-3). The first day after creation He spent with His creation and still has this same desire. At the end of the week (Friday night sundown to Saturday night) He wants to spend time with us, correct what we did wrong, pat us on the back for what we did right and encourage us. He wants to get us ready for the next week which starts at Saturday night at sundown, (12:01AM was set up the pagans of Rome as the start of the day). The day starting at sundown is contained in Genesis 1:5 where the word says that evening and morning were the first day. We can’t base our walk with the Father on pagan traditions. In Exodus 20:8 the Father says “to remember the Sabbath Day.” Again, the Sabbath was given before there was a Jewish Nation. It is the fourth commandment and written with the finger of the Father. It cannot be erased, especially by man. When we honor the Father on the Sabbath, we honor Him as Creator as recorded in Exodus 20:11. There is no telling what the Father can create for us when we honor Him on the Sabbath! In the Millennium which is a thousand year period of time that we will be with Yahshua (Jesus) in Jerusalem after the Rapture and the Great Tribulation, every nation will have to come to Jerusalem every Sabbath to worship Yahshua (Isaiah 66:23).The Sabbath is forever! In the book of Acts 13:42-44, the Gentiles wanted Paul to preach to them on the next Sabbath and the whole city came out on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was and still should be the main day of the week for worship services. It is O.K. to worship on Sunday if the Father directs but one must not replace the Sabbath with Sunday as the “LORD’S DAY.”
As I mentioned earlier, Sunday worship came from Constantine the emperor of Rome who wanted the pagans to be assimilated into “his Christianity.” Sunday was set up by the pagans as special day to worship the Sun! As a matter of fact, in Ezekiel 8 the Father shows some abominations though a hole in the wall. In verse 16 the word says that Ezekiel saw 25 men worshipping the Sun.
Let’s look at some of the arguments that some people use to substitute Sunday as the Lord’s Day in place of the Sabbath:
1.) In 1 Cor. 16:2, Paul says to “lay up in store” their offerings upon the first day of the week. The term “lay up in store” in Greek means to lay by their house. The Sabbath services were over the day before and Paul wanted them to put the offerings from the service outside their houses so he could pick them up on his way to give to the needy saints at Jerusalem.
2.) In Colossians 2: 16, 17, Paul says not to let anybody judge you in respect to the Sabbath, or meat or drink or a holy day, or of the new moon which are a shadow of things to come, but the body of Christ. Paul is saying that the only people who can advise you concerning the Sabbath or meat, or drink or of a holy day or of the new moon is the Body of Christ. Paul is not down playing the Sabbath but is saying that the Sabbath also points to Yahshua coming back.
3.) In Romans 14 verse 1-8, Paul is talking about deciding what foods to eat or not to eat, what day to eat or not to eat. He is not talking about people deciding themselves to esteem any day above the Sabbath. He is only talking about eating or not eating food on certain days. He then says in v. 8 that we live unto the Father and that we belong to him. The Father himself sanctified the Sabbath, as I mentioned and it is a commandment (the fourth commandment) from Him to keep the last day of the week as the Sabbath. It is not open to any man’s personal choice what day to consider as the Lord’s Day. Yahshua himself said the He is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mt. 12:8). If the Sabbath is not forever than Yahshua is not Lord of anything!
It is such a beautiful thing to have an appointed set time made by the Creator of the Universe to refresh us and instruct us for the subsequent week. We can talk to him at any time, but it would be very foolish to miss this time which He set up and schedule our own appointment. He is the Boss and Bosses’ in the secular world, set up appointments, not the employees. It is so wonderful for Christians to attend a worship service on the Sabbath and spend time with their family on the first day of the week, Sunday, relaxing and getting ready for work on Monday! This is what the Father intended.
Please research this message for your self as we are responsible to trace what we believe back to the word. If what we believe is not backed up with the word that we must reject it outright!