Is the Difference Between the Sabbath and Sunday Just One Day?

Is the difference between the Sabbath and Sunday worship really just one day? Some people say, “The difference between the Sabbath and Sunday is just one day. Why are you so sensitive about that?” In actuality, the difference between them is not just one day. The reason they insist that is from a misunderstanding caused by lack of basic knowledge about the Bible. If they just know that the Bible is composed of the Old Testament and the New Testament, and that the two Testaments have the meaning of promise, they can easily understand the difference between the two

The Sabbath Contains God’s Promise

There are so many promises around us, and we live in them. The easiest example can be bills. Although they are just paper, some of them are worth $10, $50, or even millions of dollars. Why is it that some pieces of paper have a tremendous value while others are nothing but a piece of paper. It is because bills are paper with a promise.

Why do you receive a few pieces of paper as a result of your hard work? It is because you believe in the social promise that you can buy food, a car, or even a house with those few pieces of paper. Suppose you have a piece of paper that looks very similar to a check. This is called a fake check. Does it have the value of the real check or even half its value just because they look similar? No, it doesn’t. It is just a piece of paper.

The same is true with the difference between the Sabbath and Sunday. God’s blessing is promised in the Sabbath day worship. The Sabbath is the day God promised to make us holy although we committed grievous sins that deserve of death in heaven (Luke 5:32; Romans 6:23).

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done

(Genesis 2:1–3)

God has made the Sabbath an everlasting sign between Him and His people. He also says that those who keep the Sabbaths will know that He is God who makes them holy.

“ ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death’ ”

(Exodus 31:13–14)

God wrote the command, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,” on the tablets of the Ten Commandments as the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8). Jesus, who came as the Savior in the New Testament times, said, “The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath,” and proclaimed the Sabbath as the day of Jesus, who is the Lord of our souls (Matthew 12:8; Luke 4:16–21). The disciples of the early Church, who followed Jesus, kept the Sabbath. They gathered together every Sabbath to pray, ruminating on Jesus’ words as their spiritual food (Acts 13:14; 17:2–3; 18:4).

Sunday Worship Has No Promise of God

“Not to mention other examples, is not every Christian obliged to sanctify Sunday and to abstain on that day from unnecessary servile work? Is not the observance of this law among the most prominent of our sacred duties? But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.”

(James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers)

“But since Saturday, not Sunday, is specified in the Bible, . . . They [Protestants] have continued the custom, even though it rests upon the authority of the Catholic Church and not upon an explicit text in the Bible.”

(Rev. John A. O’Brien, The Faith of Millions)

There is no promise from God in Sunday worship. God promised that He would bless us if we keep the Sabbath, but He never made any promises for Sunday worship. Even if there are hundreds or thousands of pieces of paper that look like a check, they are useless. Likewise, Sunday worship is meaningless because it does not have any promise of God. The value of the Sabbath and that of Sunday are incomparable just like a real check and a fake check.

Even if there is only one single check, it is worth as much as what is written on it. If $1 million is written on it, it is worth $1 million, and if $10 million is written on it, it is worth $10 million. Then, how much value does the Sabbath have?

People like to have rest. For example, most workers say that they feel totally different when they get off work on Fridays and when they go to bed on Sundays. They feel excited when they get off work on Fridays, but they don’t when they go to bed on Sundays. Why is that? It is because the former is the time when they can start resting after work, and the latter is the time when they have to start working again after resting.

A survey reports that 88.3% of workers agree with the four-day work system, and that they should have at least three weeks of paid vacation a year to be happy workers. Through this, we can see how much people love resting. God has opened the way to the everlasting rest and the glory that is beyond compare with the earthly rest, to those who keep the Sabbath day (Ezekiel 20:11–12; Hebrews 4:3–6). We truly give thanks to God for promising us tremendous blessings through the Sabbath worship, although it is a small act of faith.

[References]

• “88.3% of Office Workers Support a Four-Day Workweek… Wednesday Preferred as the Day Off,” The Dong-A Ilbo, April 30, 2021.
• “Three Weeks of Sabbatical Every Year: Company Draws Attention for Its Unconventional Leave Policy,” The Hankyoreh, May 8, 2013.