Faithful Writers

We’re about to begin a series of articles that will examine how the modern church has misappropriated and misinterpreted certain New Testament verses in their attempts to invalidate the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy. However, before we begin our analysis, there are two important foundational questions we need to ask ourselves. 1) Did Paul ever contradict the teachings of Christ? and 2) Did Paul ever break Jewish law (Torah) ? So let’s start with question one: Does Paul contradict Christ? First, what does Christ Himself have to say about the Law? “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear , not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven , but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” -Matthew 5:17–19 Look, if we accept traditional church teaching that the Sabbath is done away with, optional, or can be changed, we’d have to conclude that Paul contradicted Jesus. If that’s the case, then we might as well dump our Bibles in the trash. However, we don’t have to worry about that because Paul’s teachings do not ever contradict Jesus’s teachings. The above Scriptures make it clear that until heaven and earth disappear the validity of the Law stands. Jesus said that he came not to “abolish” but to “fulfill” the Law. “Fulfill” does NOT mean to “finish” but to “complete." The Greek word is “ pleroo ." Any reputable concordance will tell you that “pleroo” means to “fill up” or “to accomplish." For example, if you want your empty glass refilled with water, “pleroo” would be the appropriate word to tell a waitress at a restaurant. It literally means to fill up. When you ask your waitress to fill up your glass with water, you’re not asking her to terminate or put an end to your glass, are you? In the same sense, Jesus came to fill the Law with meaning and bring its meaning to its fullest purpose. This is what “pleroo” means. My point is, when we come across a couple of passages that seem to imply that the Sabbath has been done away with… Or that we can make the Sabbath any day we choose, such an interpretation cannot possibly be correct… Because it would contradict Christ and the foundational principle that God NEVER changes. It would be a classic case of Biblical contradiction. We would also have a situation of the disciple challenging his master. Can you see how ridiculous it is to have Jesus say that the Law will never be changed or abolished and then have Paul turn right around and say the opposite? Fortunately, that is not what Paul says. Let’s move on to the second question. Did Paul ever break Jewish law? If Paul taught that the Sabbath was done away with… Or that God’s eternal commands concerning the Sabbath are no longer valid… Then he has disobeyed Jewish Law… And disregarded the very sign that God gave to Israel in the Mosaic Covenant. Even if the argument that Jewish believers are still subject to the Torah while Gentile believers are not were true (which by the way, is not )… Such a line of reasoning wouldn’t be applicable here because Paul was a very patriotic and proud Jew. So did Paul ever break Jewish Law or say that parts of it were now done away with? Let’s take a look at some New Testament verses. In reply, Paul said, ‘I have committed no offense — not against the Law to which the Jews hold, not against the Temple , and not against the Emperor.’” -Acts 25:8 “After three days Paul called a meeting of the local Jewish leaders. When they had gathered, he said to them: ‘Brothers, although I have done nothing against either our people or the traditions of our fathers , I was made a prisoner in Yerushalayim and handed over to the Romans.’” -Acts 28:17 The above Scriptures make it clear that NOT ONLY did the Apostle Paul NOT go against the Law (Torah)… But he also kept the “traditions of our fathers." Meaning that he scrupulously adhered to the Jewish oral law traditions. Let’s get something straight. Sabbath observance was the very center of Jewish Law and life. If Paul was running amuck telling people that it was okay to stop observing the Sabbath or the Biblically ordained feasts. He would have been committing a very serious offense against Jewish Law (I’m talking about the death penalty). AND He would be contradicting the plain words of His Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the point I want you to keep in mind as we begin Scripture tear-downs of certain New Testament verses that the church has traditionally used to teach that the Sabbath is no longer valid. STAY TUNED!!! © Richoka

In July of 1519, Martin Luther was debating Dr. Eck. ChatGPT Martin Luther was the founder of the Reformation. Dr. Eck was the most staunch defender of the catholic faith at the time. During the debate, both men were coming down to their final appeals to the people. Martin Luther’s final argument was essentially that, “Dr. Eck doesn’t know a thing about Scripture and isn’t willing to listen to a thing about Scripture.” Dr. Eck’s refutation of Luther’s accusation was so devastating that it rendered Luther speechless and ultimately caused him to lose the debate. What he said is a matter of historical record and here it is. “If you turn from the church to the Scriptures alone, then you must keep the Sabbath with the Jews, which has been kept since the beginning of the world.” -Dr. Eck’s Enchiridion pp. 78–79. You can almost see Dr. Eck twisting the knife as he says those words. Dr. Eck had a good point. Martin Luther was accusing Dr. Eck of not knowing anything about Scripture. He was accusing the catholic church of going in the wrong direction by not following him in the Reformation. But as Dr. Eck pointed out, Luther himself was not keeping the Sabbath. And if he wanted to go by SOLA SCRIPTURA, then he needed to start keeping the Sabbath. Needless to say, Martin Luther lost that debate. © Richoka

In the last post I made it clear that what the majority of the institutional church has been practicing for 1700 years is NOT a Sabbath that has been moved from the 7th day to the 1st day; instead it is an entirely different celebration established by the Roman Church at the Council of Laodicea in 364 AD at the command of the then current emperor of Rome, Constantine. Let’s take a look at an excerpt from the “Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine” QUESTION: What day is the Sabbath day? ANSWER: Saturday is the Sabbath day. QUESTION: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? ANSWER: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. What’s really refreshing about this situation (and makes it much easier for me to do my research) is that the Catholic church is perfectly upfront and out in the open about what they’ve done. They make it very clear and openly say… … .”That’s right homies, we’re the ones who changed the day from Saturday to Sunday”.(That’s a paraphrase). The following are some quotes from Catholic scholars attesting to this. “It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible does NOT support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday . Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church .”-Priest Brady in an address reported in the Ness, Elizabeth, New Jersey, March 18, 1903. “Sunday is a Catholic institution and its claim to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles. From beginning to end of Scripture, there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first. ” -Catholic Press, Sydney Australia, August 1900. “Nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today, most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the (Roman Catholic) church outside the Bible .” -Catholic Virginian, October 3, 1947 article “To Tell You the Truth. “I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic church alone. The Bible says ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy’. The Catholic Church says: ‘No! By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week. ‘ And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic church.” -Father T. Enright, C.S.S.R of the Redemptoral College, Kansas City, in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, February 18, 1884 printed in History of the Sabbath pg. 802. “Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the church ever did, happened in the first century. The Holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. ‘The Day of the Lord’ was chosen not from any direction noted in the Scriptures , but from the (Catholic) church’s sense of its own power. People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority, should logically become 7th day adventists, and keep Saturday holy.” -St. Catherine Church Sentinel, Algonac, Michigan, May 21, 1995. “Most Christians assume that Sunday is the biblically approved day of worship. The Catholic church protests that it transferred Christian worship from the biblical Sabbath (Saturday) to Sunday, and that to try to argue that the change was made in the Bible is both dishonest and a denial of Catholic authority. If Protestantism wants to base its teaching only on the Bible, it should worship on Saturday .”- Rome’s Challenge, www.immaculateheart.com/maryonline Dec 2003. “Some theologians have held that God likewise directly determined the Sunday as the day of worship in the New Law, that He Himself has explicitly substituted the Sunday for the Sabbath But this theory is now entirely abandoned. It is now commonly held that God simply gave His church the power to set aside whatever day or days she would deem suitable for holy days. The (Roman Catholic) Church chose Sunday, the 1st day of the week, and in the course of time added other days as holy days.” -John Laux, A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies, 1936 edition Vol. 1, pg. 51. “Unquestionably, the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the sabbatical observance of Sunday is known to have been ordained is the Sabbatical edict of Constantine , AD 321.- Chambers Encyclopedia, Article “Sunday” “Where are we told in Scripture that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh, but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day . The reason why we keep the 1st day of the week holy instead of the 7th is for the same reason that we observe many other things. Not because of the Bible, but because the church has enjoined it.” -Isaac William, Plain Sermons on the Catechism, Vol.1, pp. 336, 338. “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday.” -James Gibbons, The Faith of our Fathers, pp. 72–73. “But since Saturday, NOT Sunday, is specified in the Bible , isn’t it curious that non-Catholics who profess to take their religion directly from the Bible and not from the Church, observe Sunday instead of Saturday?” -Father John A. O’Brien, The Faith of Millions, pp. 400–401 Personally, I agree with the Catholics on one point. Most definitely there is NOT one line of Scripture that warrants changing the Sabbath from the 7th day (Saturday) to the 1st day (Sunday) . The Catholics laugh at the Protestant sects who claim Biblical support for their Sunday worship practices. However, where I vehemently disagree with the Catholic Church is I’ll be damned if I’m going to accept the idea that church authority supersedes the plain teaching of Scripture on this issue or any other issue. So this is what it comes down to: Scripture or Tradition. Which one are you going to choose? © Richoka

ChatGPT In the series of articles leading up to this post, I believe I have firmly established that the 7th day that God refers to in Genesis chapters one and two ONLY refers to Saturday ( technically, Friday sundown to Saturday sundown ) and that the Sabbath was given to all mankind and not just the Jews. Finally, I have also provided Scriptural evidence that even after Jesus’s death the early Christians kept the Sabbath. So before moving on, if you are a Christian who worships on Sundays, I want to ask you if you would be willing to concede to the following point. When you gather together together on Sundays, you are obviously NOT observing the 7th day Shabbat. Putting arguments aside that “ we can make the Sabbath any day we want ”, or “ Christ did away with the law, so we don’t have to worry about it blah, blah, blah ”, or “It’s only for the Jews blah, blah, blah ” aside are you willing to concede to this one point? SUNDAY IS NOT THE 7th DAY SHABBAT THAT GOD SANCTIFIED AND COMMANDED HIS FOLLOWERS TO OBSERVE! Can you concede to this one point? If you did, congratulations!!! Why don’t you go get yourself a drink to celebrate? Don’t worry. I’ll still be here. Okay, welcome back! First, you should be aware that there have been many preeminent Christians and Christian institutions who openly admitted that when they gather on Sundays, it is not the the 7th day Shabbat. “I honestly believe that this commandment [the Sabbath commandment] is just as binding today as it ever was. I have talked with men who have said that it has been abrogated, but they have never been able to point to any place in the Bible where God repealed it .-Moody Bible Institute: “Sabbath was before Sinai” “We will now endeavour to show that the sanctification of the Sabbath has its foundation and its origin in a law which God at creation itself established for the whole world, and as a consequence thereof is binding on all men in all ages .” Evangelisten (The Evangelist). Stockholm, May 30 to August 15,1863 (organ of the Swedish Baptist Church) “It will surely be far safer to observe the seventh day, according to the express commandment of God , than on the authority of mere human conjecture to adopt the first.” John Milton, ENGLAND Sab. Lit. 2, 46–54 So how did Christians go from centuries of keeping the Sabbath to Sunday worship? The truth is we are observing a law enacted by Constantine and the Catholic Church in the 4th century AD who created a day of Christian fellowship that would be called The Lord’s Day. This is not speculation, nor is it criticism, it is simply well documented fact acknowledged by historians and Bible scholars alike. All you need to do to know the truth is read the actual church documents from the several meetings of the ecumenical councils convened by Emperor Constantine. Here is an excerpt from the Council of Laodicea document, Canon # 29. “Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord’s day; and, if they can, resting as Christians. But if any of them be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.” And on March 7th, 321AD, Constantine set down the following decree: “Let all judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades rest on the venerable day of the Sun.” Do you know why we call Sunday, Sunday? It is because this was the day that the whole Roman empire met to worship the widely accepted Roman sun god, known as Mithras. © Richoka

Let’s take a trip back in time. Jesus and His disciples are sitting on top of the Mount of Olives overlooking the great temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. While the disciples are gazing with pride at this monumental piece of architecture symbolizing the eternal glory and power of the God of Israel, Jesus points to it and says: “You see all these? Yes! I tell you, they will be totally destroyed — not a single stone will be left standing!” The disciples are shocked and they ask Jesus, “When will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And thus begins a conversation that has fascinated and perplexed Bible scholars throughout the centuries. I am referring to Matthew Chapter 24. While Jesus is relating the events that are to occur, the disciples probably thought that the destruction of the temple and the end of the age would all happen at the same time. However, Jesus makes it clear in this chapter that there will be a whole sequence of events. He talks about the generation that would witness the destruction of the temple in 70AD and he speaks about the abomination of desolation standing in the Holy Place. Now what is of particular noteworthy mention is one piece of advice Jesus gives His followers about what to do to escape the inevitable slaughter that will accompany the destruction of the temple. Let’s take a look at Luke 24:20. “Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath .”-Luke 20:24 Can you see the tremendous significance of this statement? Jesus believed that His disciples were going to be keeping the Sabbath 40 years after His death. In other words, the Sabbath was still sacred at 70AD! I believe that God has made it clear that He believed His disciples would be keeping the Sabbath to the end of time. © Richoka

Even the writings of the Gospel writer Luke testify that the Sabbath was being kept by Christians after the resurrection of Jesus. Let’s take a look at the following excerpt dealing with the burial of Jesus. “Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day,and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.” Luke 23:50–56 Notice the last sentence which I bolded and underlined. According to this passage, the women who began to embalm and prepare the body of Jesus on the preparation day stopped what they were doing midway. They did NOT complete their work. Two important points can be gleaned from this. First, they were still keeping the Sabbath after Jesus died. Jesus’s death did not do away with the Sabbath. Second, and this is the main point I want to make. The earliest that the Book of Luke could have been written was about 62AD or about 30-plus years after the events that are being described here. Now if Luke wanted to make the point that the Sabbath had been changed, it would have been easy to do. He could have said that they kept the Sabbath “ according to the traditions of the Jews ”. However, he didn’t say that. Instead, Luke records that they kept the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. I believe that this is as clear evidence as there can be that at least 30 to 40 years after the time of Jesus, the Christians were not only keeping the Sabbath but doing it in obedience to God. © Richoka

The modern church has been pretty consistent and insistent in its view that following the death of Jesus, the early believers immediately instituted Sunday as the new day of worship. For example, here is an excerpt from the popular Christian site www.gotquestions.org . “Scripture never mentions any Sabbath (Saturday) gatherings by believers for fellowship or worship.” Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy???!!!! I’m sorry but this is simply not true and I’m about to demonstrate the falsity of this statement. When we get to The Book of Acts, which is another way of saying the actions of the church, we find over and over again that God’s people, the disciples, the Apostle Paul, Peter, and others are keeping the Sabbath. “As they left, the gentiles invited Paul and Barnabas to tell them more about these matters the following Shabbat . When the synagogue meeting broke up, many of the born Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke with them and urged them to keep holding fast to the love and kindness of God. The next Shabbat, nearly the whole city gathered together to hear the message about the Lord.-”Acts 13:42–44 Here, the apostle Paul is preaching the gospel. Now an interesting thing you need to know is that there were two groups of people in the synagogue right from the start. There were the “men of Israel” and the “God fearers." The term “God-fearers” is widely regarded by scholars as a special designation for Gentiles who didn’t convert to become Jews but loved the Jewish scriptures and loved the teachings of Judaism. During the times of Jesus, these Gentiles were not allowed inside the temple but instead were restricted to an area called “The Court of the Gentiles." “So Sha’ul stood, motioned with his hand, and said:“ Men of Isra’el and God-fearers , listen!” Acts 13:16 So when Paul leaves the synagogue, it is these God-fearers that approach Paul and say, “We heard those powerful words! Would you preach those words to us? ” How does Paul respond? Keep in mind that this would have been the perfect opportunity for Paul to say to the Gentiles, “Sure. If you want to hear the gospel, why don’t you come back tomorrow (Sunday), which is the new day of worship?” However, he doesn’t say that. Instead, he says he tells them to come back on the next Sabbath! As a result, nearly the whole city comes out to listen on the Sabbath. And remember this is following Jesus’s death and resurrection. Both Jews and Gentiles together were listening to the Word of God from the Apostle Paul on the Sabbath. CONNECTING THIS TEACHING THE NEW TESTAMENT “There is neither Jew nor Gentile,neither slave nor free,nor is there male and female,for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua.” Galatians 3:28 © Richoka

One idea commonly promoted in the mainstream church is that the Sabbath should be observed by Jews but Gentile believers don’t have to. What saddens me is that many messianic synagogues also promote this belief. It is like God created two sets of rules. Track A for the Jew and Track B for the Gentile. I know a Messianic Rabbi married to a Gentile (Japanese) woman who holds to this belief. They have two daughters. What I find interesting is that when they go out to eat, the Rabbi and his two daughters will refrain from eating pork and shellfish but it’s okay for his gentile wife to eat all manner of unclean food. Talk about oxymoron! I believe teaching that the Sabbath is ONLY for the Jewish believer is perverse, sinister and and creates a theological divide between the Jewish and Gentile believer. This is an issue that the Apostle Paul spent a lifetime trying to break down. How can it be sinful for a Jewish believer to desecrate the Sabbath but not for a Gentile believer? This is nothing less than the creation of two totally different flocks! I’m sorry, but theologically, this is absurd and practically speaking, ridiculous. It goes against the unity that Jesus and the Apostles sought for all believers. “Also I have other sheep which are not from this pen; I need to bring them, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock, one shepherd. ”John 10:16 This teaching also seems to overlook another fundamental Scriptural truth. The Gentile believer is grafted into the commonwealth of Israel. So even if it is true that only Israel is obligated to keep the Sabbath, this doesn’t give the Gentile church an out because the Scriptures make it crystal clear that through their faith in Jesus, the church has been grafted into Israel and are now also in a spiritual sense (not ethnic) Sons of Abraham and are subject to all the principles of Israel’s covenants. “For in union with the Messiah, you are all children of God through this trusting faithfulness; because as many of you as were immersed into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah, in whom there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor female; for in union with the Messiah Yeshua, you are all one. Also, if you belong to the Messiah, YOU are seed of Abraham and heirs according to the promise”. -Galatians 3:26–29. And “Therefore, remember your former state: you Gentiles by birth…called the uncircumcised by those who, merely because of an operation on their flesh, are called the Circumcised….at that time you HAD no Messiah. You were estranged from the national life of Israel. You were foreigners to the covenants embodying God’s promise. You were in this world without hope and without God. But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah’s blood”.-Ephesians 2:11–13 Are you a Gentile believer? Then understand that there is no escaping the fact that you have been made seed of Abraham by joining Israel’s covenants through your faith in Jesus. Let me say that again. You have been brought into the covenants that God made with Israel. Does that make you a physical Jew? Of course not! I’m not preaching some dumb and evil replacement theology. All I’m saying is that through your faith in Christ you are grafted into the covenants of Israel. So the Sabbath applies to the Gentile believer as well because he or she is now a part of what Paul calls “Spiritual Israel." © Richoka

Was the Sabbath (meaning Friday sundown to Saturday sundown) only given to the Jewish people to observe? ChatGPT I believe the answer is NO for the following reasons. 1) The Sabbath is part of the basic structure of the universe. The Sabbath account as told in Genesis chapters one and two actually takes place before sin. Sin doesn’t come into the picture until Genesis Chapter three. So in Genesis one and two, we have the Sabbath as a pre-sin institution. My reasoning is if the Sabbath goes all the way back to creation, then it’s for the whole human race. This is fascinating because it tells us that the Sabbath is NOT the result of or a response to sin. Hence, it is part of God’s original plan for all mankind. 2) The Israelites were keeping the Sabbath BEFORE they received the 10 commandments at Mount Sinai In Exodus Chapter 16, it is clear that by the time the Israelites receive the 10 commandments in stone at Mount Sinai, it is clear that they have already been keeping the Sabbath. So this reveals that the Sabbath was nothing new when the 10 commandments were given. It was something they had already been keeping. 3) Jesus Himself said, “The Sabbath was made for man (all mankind)” “And he said unto them, ‘The sabbath was made for man , and not man for the sabbath’ ”-Mark 2:27 A lot of believers misinterpret Mark 2:27 thinking that Jesus was implying that we can make the Sabbath any old day we want. However, that is not what this verse means and it is actually a powerful statement supporting the idea that the Sabbath was NOT just given to the Jews to observe. The Greek word for “man” being used here is “anthropos” from where we get our word “anthropology” . And what is anthropology? It is the study of mankind. It is important to understand that Jesus was referring back to the creation when He made this statement. Adam and Eve were NOT Jews. The Sabbath was given to them as representatives of all humanity, not just a part of it. 4) The prophet Isaiah foresees a time when the Sabbath will be kept by both Jew and Gentile The following from the prophet Isaiah is a powerful appeal from God Himself to everyone both Jew and non-Jew to embrace the Sabbath. Here is what Adonai says: “Observe justice, do what is right,for my salvation is close to coming,my righteousness to being revealed.”Happy is the person who does this,anyone who grasps it firmly, who keeps Shabbat and does not profane it,and keeps himself from doing any evil. A foreigner joining Adonai should not say,“Adonai will separate me from his people”; likewise the eunuch should not say,“I am only a dried-up tree.” For here is what Adonai says: “As for the eunuchs who keep my Shabbats, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant:in my house, within my walls,I will give them power and a name greater than sons and daughters;I will give him an everlasting name that will not be cut off. “ And the foreigners who join themselves to Adonaito serve him, to love the name of Adonai,and to be his workers, all who keep Shabbat and do not profane it,and hold fast to my covenant,I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer;their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar;for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples .” Isaiah 56:1–7 © Richoka

Chat GPT The timing of Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection is one of the strongest pieces of evidence proving that the Sabbath is on a Saturday and NOT a Sunday. Let’s take a look at the following text. The setting is immediately following the crucifixion. Jesus has just been taken down from the cross and put into a tombstone (or sepulcher) . “And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. ” -Luke 23:54–56 There are three days we need to examine closely. 1) The day when Jesus was crucified. 2) The day when Jesus lay in the tomb. 3) The day when Jesus was resurrected. Before we proceed, a short reminder: Remember that the Hebrews, including today’s modern Jewish community, calculate a day as STARTING at sunset, and ending at the next sunset. The new day begins in the evening. This also means that the last supper Jesus had with his disciples occurred before sundown, in spite of what all the movies portray. This is important to understand when attempting to ascertain WHEN certain Biblical events occurred. So what day did Jesus die on the cross? People everywhere know that day as Good Friday . But we’re gonna have to depart from BS Roman Catholic theology here. And a word of appreciation and thanks to Mark Johnson for correcting me! In fact, I’m going to share what he shared in the comments below. “Jesus (the messiah) was to be “cut off” in the middle of the week! He was to be cut off in the middle of Daniel’s 70th week, in the middle of God’s 7000 year week and in the middle of the simple seven day week. The middle of the week of 30 A.D. was a Wednesday Passover. The following day, Thursday, was as is any day that follows Passover, a High Sabbath — the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread when NO WORK was to be done. On Friday (no longer the High Sabbath) the women went about procuring the items they needed to prepare Jesus’ body. (And I suspect they did their shopping as quietly as possible, without drawing attention to themselves as they may have thought they might be next.) After gathering the items they needed on that Friday, they again rested on the seventh day, Saturday Sabbath. Three days and three nights Jesus lay dead in the tomb (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) and rose to life just after sunset beginning the 1st day of the week, Sunday. ” So what do we see here? That Jesus was resting inside the tomb EVEN ON THE SHABBAT (both Friday and Saturday until sunset) … And wasn’t resurrected until after sunset beginning the 1st day of the week (Sunday) . So Jesus Himself before His resurrection in His death was keeping the Sabbath. Awesome! © Richoka