Jesus warned His hearers time and again that the truth can be illusive and inspired the apostle Paul to urge believers to “prove all things” as spiritual error once taking hold can be almost impossible to shake off. Most Christians, though certainly not all, when reading how “the sabbath drew on” as Christ’s disciples laid His body in the tomb FALSELY ASSUME this was the weekly sabbath spoken of in this text in Luke 24:54, and that, therefore Jesus was placed in the tomb as the sun was setting on Friday, what many call “Good Friday.” And most Christians have no idea that the Jews had seven annual sabbaths, called High Holy Day Sabbaths, that fell on various and sundry days of the week so that some few weeks each year had TWO sabbaths during a given week, that being a High Holy Day Sabbath as well as the weekly seventh day sabbath. (Again, read Leviticus chapter 23 for the listing of these seven annual sabbaths).
When reading John 19, verse 31, many Christians FALSELY ASSUME the sabbath mentioned in that verse was the weekly sabbath, a Friday, ignoring the fact that this verse plainly says “that sabbath day was an High Day” – that is, an annual sabbath, NOT the weekly sabbath!
Is Sunday a holy day, a day that replaces God’s seventh day ETERNAL sabbath as the “Christian” sabbath. Multiplied millions believe that to be true. For centuries the Roman Catholic Church has boasted that it was that ancient body of believers that authorized changing God’s eternal Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. If one will search carefully and minutely each and every text that seemingly, on the surface, appears to validate Sunday observance they might be compelled to do the same with every Bible text wherein the Sabbath is mentioned. It is only when all related scriptures are correlated and put together that one sees quite clearly that God’s seventh day sabbath is, as scripture states, ETERNAL, changeless, and that Sunday is as ordinary a day in God’s mind as Monday, Tuesday or any other common work day.
Satan again and again has nullified each and every one of the Ten Commandments. In Jesus’ day, the time period in which He came to earth to serve as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind, Satan nullified and made void the fifth commandment, “Honor thy father and thy mother.” We read of this horror in the 7th chapter of Mark’s gospel. “Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him (Jesus), ‘Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?’ He answered and said unto them, ‘Well has Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips (their speech, what they teach and proclaim), but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, for laying aside the (fifth) commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men….And He said unto them, Full well you reject the (fifth) commandment of God that you may keep your own tradition, for Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother…'” (See verses 1 through 13).
Shortly after the founding of God’s church, Satan moved again to nullify and make void one of God’s eternal Ten Commandments. This time it was the fourth commandment he made void, “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy,” replacing that commandment with Sunday observance. Satan knew he had to have a convincing argument in order to deceive Christians into abandoning sabbath observance and adopting HIS “sacred” day, the day of the sun, a day held sacred by sun worshippers for centuries. And Satan, at that moment, had a stroke of genius. He thought, “I know how to get them to abandon God’s eternal sabbath. I will deceive them into believing Jesus was resurrected on Sunday, that He abolished God’s law when He died on the cross, and that Christian’s should now hold Sunday as a sacred holy day of worship in honor of their Lord having come out of the tomb on a Sunday morning!” And I believe Satan was pleasantly surprised that his deception worked so well and continues to this day.
Jesus Christ was not crucified on Friday. He was crucified on Wednesday. The very next day was the first day of unleavened bread, an annual Sabbath, even though the day of the week was literally a Thursday. This was the Sabbath His disciples intensely desired to honor as they hastened to place Jesus’ body in the tomb. When scripture says the women rested the Sabbath day, having failed to properly wash and anoint the Lord’s body, again it was this annual Sabbath, the first day of unleavened bread – a Thursday – they felt compelled to honor. Brethren, study to show yourselves approved by God, workers who need not be ashamed.
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley