The practice of gathering for worship on Sunday is not found in the bible, but was enacted as a day to be observed by Emperor Constantine, and then was officially backed up by the Roman Papal Empire in the 3rd century AD. However the Sabbath day, which all people are asked to observe, which is so clearly explained in scripture, is not observed by millions of Christians. As Christians we simply follow along in droves on this matter, and don't observe the Sabbath, but instead do our church services on Sunday. When everyone you know is going to church on Sunday, what need would you have to question this, right? And why would worshiping on Sunday be wrong, by well meaning Christians?
I myself did this for years as a new believer, not knowing any better. But that's one of many things I learned from others, instead of diligently studying God's word and following Him. But today I do keep the Sabbath and only because God has asked me to, and he says if you love me keep my commandments. Following along, or following the crowd is not what he asks us to do, he asks us to follow him.
It has helped me to understand history and that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday by Emperor Constantine in 321 AD. It's worthwhile to study Constantine to understand what he was up to at the time, which I won't get into here. Additionally, the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Laodicea in 364 AD, went further to re-establish Sunday as the Christian day of worship over Saturday, and please note the hateful spirit in which these words read, and how they directly oppose what God has said in His word:
"Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday (Sabbath), but shall work on that day: but the Lord's day, they shall especially honour, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out from Christ".
*source "A History of the Councils of the Church: AD 326-AD 429" by Rev. Charles Joseph Hefele, page 316
In fact the many religious leaders at the time worked concertedly to scrub away any type of reference to Hebrews or the Jewishness of the Holy Scriptures in their newly sanitized, yet sadly paganized Christian landscape. Anti-Semitism was ripening during this time, as they wanted to divorce the idea of a Christ from God's chosen people and His historical relationship with them. Yet the early church was a mesh of Jews and Gentiles who somehow got along until the religious leaders took over and began legislating how people should serve God, which was according to their ways not God's ways. The early church prior to these changes kept the Sabbath as Yeshua and all his forbearers had done.
Now if you go on your own quest to answer this question for yourself, which I would encourage you to do, you may find a great deal of controversy on the Saturday-Sunday debate. I've watched videos and read enough to see how people cherry pick the scriptures to support their point of view on this matter. The general sense I get from Sunday folks is that God understands and that the Saturday-Sunday debate is not an issue with God, because God looks at the heart. This is true that God looks at the heart, but why is that an excuse for not following what He established in the first place. The scripture is clear and provides us with God's point of view on this matter and for anyone who carefully examines the scripture there is no way around it, mainly because it is so clearly stated. So this point of whether to show him reverence on the matter of keeping the Sabbath, only has become an issue because we make it into one.
Yeshua observed the Sabbath honoring our heavenly Father when he was on the earth, as did the Apostles, so we must ask ourselves why would it change? We are in the dispensation of his grace, but that isn't a license to do what ever we think is fine, it's not a license that says "God understands, we are under grace now, it's no big deal". No, on the contrary we should be all the more vigilant, faithful and careful to be drawing close to God, studying his word for ourselves, keeping his commandments and not listening to others because we are living in very evil times. I would encourage anyone to draw close to him and study his word, it will keep you and he will guide you. Don't listen to me but do this for yourself, for your salvation, and for your relationship with him.
Some people will go back to Paul and misquote the scriptures about the laws being nailed to the cross, not understanding the spiritual significance of the passage, as if we are no longer to follow what he has put in place.
Somehow we conveniently forget to read verses in the bible like these ones:
Matthew 5: 17-20 (Yeshua speaking: Sermon on the Mount)
Don't think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah - not until everything that must happen has happened. So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others do do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness is far greater than that of the Torah-teachers and the P'rushim, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven!
Romans 11: 16-27
Now if the hallah offered at firstfruits is holy, so is the whole loaf. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you - a wild olive - were grafted in among them and have become equal sharers in the rich root of the olive tree, then don't boast as if you were better than the branches! However if you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root, the root is supporting you. So you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." True, but so what? They were broken off because of their lack of trust. However, you keep your place only because of your trust. So don't be arrogant; on the contrary, be terrified! For if God did not spare the natural branches, he certainly won't spare you! So take a good look at God's kindness and his severity: on the one hand, severity toward those who fell off; but, on the other hand, God's kindness toward you - provided you maintain yourself in that kindness! Otherwise, you too will be cut off! Moreover, the others (Israelites), if they do not persist in their lack of trust, will be grafted in; because God is able to graft them back in. For if you were cut out of what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree!
For, brothers, I want you to understand this truth which God formerly concealed but has now revealed, so that you won't imagine you know more than you actually do. It is that stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Isra'el, until the Gentile world enters it its fullness; and that it is in this way that all Isra'el will be saved. As the Tanakh says,
"Out of T'ziyon will come the Redeemer;
he will turn away ungodliness from Ya'akov
and this will be my covenant with them,...
when I take away their sins."
Scriptures on the Sabbath
Genesis 2: 1-3
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, along with everything in them. On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce.
Exodus 20: 8-11 The Ten Commandments [the 4th]
Remember the day, Shabbat, to set it apart for God. You have six days to labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Shabbat for ADONAI your God. On it, you are not to do any kind of work - not you, your son or your daughter, not your male or female slave, not your livestock, and not a foreigner staying with you inside the gates to your property. For in six days, ADONAI made heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. This is why ADONAI blessed the day, Shabbat, and separated it for himself.
Exodus 31: 16-17
The people of Isra'el are to keep the Shabbat, to observe the Shabbat through all their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the people of Isra'el forever; for in six days ADONAI made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and rested.
Leviticus 23: 1-3
ADONAI said to Moshe (Moses), "Tell the people of Israel: The designated times of ADONAI which you are to proclaim as holy convocations are my designated times. Work is to be done on six days; but the seventh day is a Shabbat of complete rest, a holy convocation; you are not to do ant kind of work; it is a Shabbat for ADONAI, even in your homes."
Isaiah 58: 13-14
"If you hold back your foot on Shabbat
from pursuing you own interests on my holy day;
if you call the Shabbat a delight,
ADONAI'S holy day, worth honoring;
then honor it by not doing your usual things
or pursuing your interests or speaking about them.
If you do, you will find delight in ADONAI -
I will make you ride on the heights of the land
and feed you with the heritage of you ancestor Ya'akov,
for the mouth of ADONAI has spoken."
Blessings and Peace to you.
A useful video which is also very helpful and elaborates on the time-frame for observing the Sabbath based on scripture.
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