Tonight’s study continued with the little horn that has/had a major impact in world history. You will not find this in history textbooks because its impact has largely been on God’s people and limited to a religious scope. Nevertheless, the Bible provides ample warning regarding the little horn, not to scare us, but to prepare us.

We have talked in depth (and written in depth) about the gradual change of the Sabbath in this blog post, so in this we took a look at the DNA of the Sabbath and addressed some of the concerns people have had.

The little horn does not only think to change laws, but times as well. With the Sabbath, the little horn did not simply try to override God’s law, but God’s timing as well.

The Sabbath, perhaps best described in Exodus 20:8-11 in the fourth commandment, is the only commandment that begins with the word remember. You cannot remember something unless you have heard it before. As a result, the Sabbath must have been given before Sinai. A further study of the Bible indicates that the Sabbath was given at Creation, in Genesis 1.

A Jewish Sabbath?
Some people say that they keep the Jewish Sabbath, and others argue that they do not keep the Jewish Sabbath. However, Mark 2:27 tells us that the Sabbath was made for man. So it technically is inaccurate to say the Sabbath is a Jewish thing only, the Sabbath was made for mankind.

Done away at the cross?
It is a common belief to think that Jesus did away with the Sabbath at the cross with His death. And since His resurrection was on Sunday, we are to celebrate the Resurrection by worshipping on Sunday. Aside from the fact that there is no command from God to worship on a different day, there is another line of reasoning that explains why this argument does not carry much weight. Jesus’ death on the cross was to deal with the sin problem that began in Eden. His death was to provide a way out of sin and connect humanity to God, the connection that had been broken (i.e. remember sin separates us from God). The Sabbath was created and given to man before man sinned. Jesus did not do away with anything that existed before sin with His death.

Calendar changes made Sabbath into Sunday?
This is a serious concern by some, questioning that calendar changes in the past have led to a confusion of the seventh day and therefore Sunday is the true Sabbath. While creative in detail, it still does not hold up against the overwhelming evidence in support of the Biblical Sabbath. If you look at the image of this blog post, you’ll see one such change to the calendar. The Julian calendar had allowed too many leap years, and as a result the calendar was not in sync with the solar system. So in the switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, to make up the discrepancy ten days were dropped from the calendar. So October 4 flowed into October 15. However, this change did not mess with the order of the days of the week! Thursday, October 4, was followed by Friday, October 5. In addition, the Jews have faithfully and consistently observed the seventh day of the week without failing. We can trust that Saturday is the seventh day. In addition, over 105 languages the word used for Saturday basically means Sabbath.

With all of these technical concerns, it is easy to forget the true purpose of the Sabbath. Ezekiel 20:12,20 reveal that the Sabbath is a sign between us and God, to remind us that it is God who sanctified us. It is God who saved us. We need this reminder. The Sabbath reminds us of God, and if the devil can get us to forget about God, then we will become comfortable in the sin that is enveloping us in this world. Let us be grateful for this gift that God has provided, as a friendly reminder that He is there to help us, guide us, and strengthen us for the tough times ahead!