'attempts to demolish the historical validity of Judaism by voiding its historical events and institutions of their literal meaning and reality' are presented. 'Though the covenant, for example, was given by God to the Jews, 'they lost it completely just after Moses received it' (4:7) because of their idolatry and it was never reoffered to them.' 'Justin similarly by a tour de force establishes a causal connection between the 'murdering of Christ and of His prophets' by the Jews, and the two Jewish revolts of A.D. 70 and 135, concluding that the two fundamental institutions of Judaism, namely circumcision and the Sabbath, were a brand of infamy imposed by God on the Jews to single them out for punishment they so well deserved for their wickedness.'3

Of course the sheer absurdity that God withdrew His covenant from Israel after their sins in the Wilderness, is fully proven false to anyone who has read about Joshua's conquest of the Promised Land. God's plans for Israel, for their good, are an integral part of the Bible, from start to finish. But in a day when not many had access to the Bible, it was easy for the 'leaders' to concoct these lies and distortions and pass them on to their people. In another instance, the Epistle of Barnabas attacks both the Jews and their God given Torah:

'As a people, the Jews are described as 'wretched men' (16:1) who were deluded by an evil angel (9:5) and who 'were abandoned' by God because of their ancient idolatry (5:14).' 'As to the fundamental Jewish beliefs (such as the sacrificial system, the covenant, the promised land, the circumcision, the levitical laws, the Sabbath and the temple) the writer endeavors to demonstrate that they don not apply literally to the Jews, since they have a deeper allegorical meaning which finds its fulfillment in Christ and in the spiritual experience of the Christians.'4

Justin, in his Apologies and Dialogue with Trypho in Rome (about 148-161 A.D.)5

'ignored the moral and corporal value of the Mosaic legislation, and regarded the law, as James Parkes states, 'an unimportant portion of the Scriptures, a temporary addition to a book otherwise universal and eternal, added because of the special wickedness of the Jews.'6

As Justin speaks to Trypho of the reason why the Sabbath and Feasts days were given to the Jews, he explains that they 'were imposed upon you, namely, because of your sins and your hardness of heart.'7

'While Paul recognizes the educative value of the ceremonial law, Justin considers it 'in a negative manner as the punishment for the sins of Israel.'8

'The Sabbath then, according to Justin, is a temporary ordinance deriving from Moses, enjoined to the Jews on account of their unfaithfulness for a time, precisely until the coming of Christ.'9

Isn't this what one might hear today from many Christians? It isn't new. Of course, nowhere can one find any Scripture to substantiate this denigration of God's Jewish people, His Sabbath or Law. But these are some of the initial 'theological' reasons that clawed away at the Sabbath and God's Law, to gave Christianity, Sunday and Easter, etc. The time period was right after all the Apostles had died. If they would have been alive, they would have rightly condemned these Christian men.

Unfortunately, not much has changed in the Church since the Epistle of Barnabas or Justin's works were written. Of course, this totally misses that all the first believers in Jesus were only Jews, and that until the spectacular inclusion of the first Gentile, Cornelius, in Acts 10. 10 And that they all kept the Sabbath day holy (Acts 21:20).

The first 'positive' theological justification for Sunday that we have comes from the Epistle of Barnabas. The writer introduces 'the eighth day' concept as a way of 'one-upping' the 7th day Sabbath. (For example, Jesus allegedly rose on the '8th day'.)

Sunday, which Barnabas 'designates as the 'eighth day,' is the prolongation of the Sabbath of the end of time and marks 'the beginning of another world' (15:8).'11

Justin, like Barnabas, also uses the 8th day as the primary reason for its priority over the 7th day 'Jewish' Sabbath. Even though they both speak of the resurrection as happening on Sunday, the value of the 8th day takes precedence over the resurrection. As W. Rordorf states,

'the primary motivation for the observance of Sunday is to commemorate the first day of the creation of the world and only secondarily, in addition, the resurrection of Jesus.'12

Bacchiocchi writes that it

'is noteworthy that both Barnabas and Justin who lived at the very time when Sunday worship was rising, present the resurrection as a secondary motivation for Sunday-keeping, apparently because initially this was not yet viewed as the fundamental reason. Nevertheless, the resurrection of Christ' would 'emerge as the primary reason for the observance of Sunday.'13

What Barnabas and Justin were trying to do was to show that the first day of Creation was superior to the 7th Day Sabbath and could be seen at the end of time as well. Unfortunately, there is no eighth day of the week. There are only seven and then Sunday becomes again the first day of the week, as at Creation. The 8th day though was a pagan mystical concept that Barnabas and Justin 'borrowed' from paganism that spoke of the end of time. It is not found in the Bible. But what of the resurrection? Can that provide biblical justification for Sunday?

Viewing all the resurrection texts 'reveals the incomparable importance of the event'14 but

'it does not provide any indication regarding a special day to commemorate it. In fact, as Harold Riesenfeld notes, 'in the accounts of the resurrection in the Gospels, there are no sayings which direct that the great event of Christ's resurrection should be commemorated on the particular day of the week on which it occurred.'15

'Moreover, the same author observes, 'the first day of the week, in the writings of the New Testament, is never called 'day of the Resurrection.' This is a term which made its appearance later.'16

As interesting as the above two quotes are, they assume a Sunday resurrection. What most don't seem to realize though, is that although Yeshua was first seen on Sunday, the actual time and day of His resurrection is not given in the New Testament (see Mark 16:9 and the Resurrection for why Mark 16:9 doesn't help us with the day of the resurrection). In other words, when the women got to the tomb and saw the angel, Messiah had already been raised from the dead. The angel didn't say, 'He was just raised before you got here', but that 'He has risen, just as He said.'

'He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.' (Mt. 28:6)

'And he said to them, 'Do not be amazed. You are looking for Yeshua the Nazarene who has been crucified. He has risen! He is not here. Behold! Here is the place where they laid Him.' (Mk. 16:6)

'He is not here but He has risen! Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee'. (Lk. 24:6)

Although the writers may not have recorded exactly the words of the angel, the essence is identical: Messiah rose from the dead. As to time or day, the angel (and the rest of the New Testament), is silent. Therefore, to think that Jesus rose on Sunday is an assumption that cannot be verified by the New Testament. We believe that Yeshua rose from the dead on Saturday afternoon, just a few hours before, or near sundown, which would have been the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is one of God's great theological gems. It is the 'Crown of His Creation', (it was made last but it was the only day that was both blessed and called holy by God; Gen. 2:1-3). It is also the day of Redemption or Salvation, a very fitting epitaph to the Resurrection of Yeshua. In Deut. 5:12-15, the reason God gives for keeping the Sabbath day holy is because He delivered Israel from Egypt, and the Sabbath day was to typify or reflect that salvation experience. For Yeshua to resurrect on Sabbath would coincide with the Sabbath's two major themes of Creation and Redemption (see also Ex. 20:8-11).

Yeshua Himself also gives us reason to believe that the Sabbath was the day of His resurrection. He tells the Pharisees that the only sign that the Son of Man would give them that He was the Messiah, was the sign (or miracle, as 'sign' means in Hebrew), of Jonah:

'for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth.' (Matt. 12:40)

That Jonah truly was three days AND three nights hidden in the whale is attested in the book of Jonah:

'And Yahveh appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days AND three nights' (Jonah 1:17)

The importance of both the days and the nights gives us the time and day of his resurrection. He would have to resurrect at the same time he died or was buried, three days later. That's why it's impossible for Yeshua to have been crucified on Friday night, as the Catholics and many Christians maintain. For then, Yeshua wouldn't have been raised till Monday evening, around sunset. We know He dies at 3:00 PM (Mt. 27:45-46; Mk. 15:33-34; Lk. 23:44-46), and that He is buried by sunset so, whenever one begins the counting of the three days and three nights, one has to come to the same hour that He either died, or was buried, three days later. A number of Christians opt for a Thursday crucifixion but this too falls short of the 72 hours, for His resurrection then would place it at sunset on Sunday. And since we know He was raised by Sunday morning, it fails to meet the criteria of Yeshua's words about the length of His time in the heart of the Earth.

Wednesday though, which a minority of Christians support, gives us three full days and nights. If Yeshua dies at 3 PM on Wednesday and is buried by 6 PM, He would be raised either at 3 PM or 6 PM on Saturday, which would still be the Sabbath. His appearance on Sunday morning is not in doubt but to use this as a reason for Sunday over Sabbath flies in the face of biblical reality as that Sunday was known as First Fruits, and shows us what He did after His resurrection.

It was the Sunday of Passover week (Lev. 23:9-14) and as such, provides the reason why Yeshua tells Miryam (Mary), not to cling to Him as He still needed to ascend to the Father (John 20:17). He would be mirroring what the High Priest in the Temple was doing in offering up the very first grain as first 'fruits' to God, that the rest of the grain would be able to be eaten by Israel. God demanded that no new grain (at the beginning of spring), could be eaten before the first part of it was offered to Him (Lev. 23:14). In other words, the first of the grain that would sustain Israel was first offered in thanksgiving to God, then Israel could eat of it. Yeshua was first raised from the dead on the holy Sabbath of God. This is the reason why the Sabbath was made holy, it reflected Him. The grain, offered as a thanksgiving to God on the Sunday of Passover week (again, the theme of salvation), pictures Him as the First Fruits of the Resurrection, and then after His resurrection, believers in Him could partake of the Bread of Life, He having offered Himself to His Father in thanksgiving.17

These two facts, that no Scripture tells us that Jesus rose on Sunday, and Yeshua's very words pointing to His Messiahship (three days and three nights), blend together with both the Sabbath and Passover as repositories of God's Salvation. They tell us that Yeshua rose on God's holy Sabbath day.

They offer us a fuller understanding that the Sabbath and Passover were not done away with, but on the contrary, were super-saturated with the reality of Messiah Yeshua as our Savior. No one can have a biblical problem with the celebration of one's birthday or the anniversary of one's marriage. In this exact same concept, God calls us to remember the Sabbath day and Passover as holy because it commemorates not only His Creation of the world, and now the New Creation through the Blood of Yeshua, but also the salvation of Israel from Egypt by the blood of the lamb, and the salvation of Israel (both Jew and Gentile believer), from the Kingdom of Satan, by the Blood of the Lamb. How could anyone ever think that God's holy Sabbath and Passover were done away with? 18 These are the reasons we celebrate them. They honor and glorify the Lamb of God, and God has commanded it.

Whether one believes Yeshua rose on Sunday or Sabbath is immaterial to Sunday overpowering the Sabbath. First of all, there is nothing in the New Testament to authorize Sunday as the day of assembly (Lev. 23:1-3), or holy (Gen. 2:1-3, Ex. 20:8-11, etc.), or made a day of rest from one's work, to enter into God's Work (Heb. 4:9; Deut. 5:12-15). If Sunday cannot display any of these things that make the Sabbath day special, how can it overwhelm the Sabbath and take its place?

Second, for Sunday to obliterate the Sabbath of God, the New Testament would have to contain explicit statements and theological reasons for such an enormous shift of biblical reality. A passing reference to Sunday cannot provide sufficient justification for overturning the Sabbath.

Just a glimpse at Church history will reveal that Sunday did not come immediately after the resurrection, or even within the first fifty years:

'We have indications, however, that in the East' (modern day Turkey and Syria where many churches were ), 'the substitution of the Sabbath by Sunday worship was gradual since Jewish observances there constituted, as A. P. Hayman points out, 'a perennial attraction...for the Christian.'19

In the 'Gospel of Thomas', written about 150 A.D. it states,

'(Jesus said): 'If you fast not from the world, you will not find the kingdom; if you keep not the Sabbath as Sabbath, you will not see the Father' (E. Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, 1963, I, p. 514.'20

Also, the Martyrdom of Polycarp 8, 1, records that Polycarp's death occurred on 'a festival Sabbath day.'21 Polycarp died in 155 A.D. These are just a small portion of what Church history records in terms of those who 'obstinately refused' to follow Sunday, holding unto God's Sabbath day.

In order for the Church of Rome to supplant the 7th day Sabbath of Yahveh, it had to first denigrate it. This they did by saying that it was only given to the Jews as a curse for their sins but that with Christ, it would be done away with.

Sunday was made to appear as first in prominence, to justify it. This they got from their perception of Creation Week. Unfortunately, they left out that God made the 7th day then, before any Jews were around, and elevated it to prominence, not Sunday. But this didn't phase them because things can be said 'to be hidden until the time of Christ,' when Sunday would take its alleged rightful place over Sabbath due to it's mystic quality of being 'the 8th day'.

Although the resurrection, in the early post New Testament documents, wasn't the primary reason used to elevate Sunday, it would soon become so. Eventually, it would supersede both the negative arguments of Jewish sin and the 8th day. But as we saw, the resurrection most likely took place on the Sabbath, for both theological reasons (creation and redemption), and also Yeshua's 'three days and three nights' sign of His being the Messiah. Sunday therefore is very suspect. Yet, even if it weren't, we noted that there was no authorization whatsoever in the New Testament for Sunday claiming to be a day that God wanted observed for any reason, resurrection or otherwise.22 Therefore, to place it in the position of God's Sabbath is not only unjustifiable, it is actually sin:

Deut. 12:32: 'Whatever I command you, you must be careful to do. You must not add to nor take away from it.'

'The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.' (Is. 40:8)

The Word of God must be our authority as to what God wants of us, how He wants us to walk out this new life in Messiah Yeshua, not the traditions of men that nullify His Word (whether Jewish or Christian traditions).

Matt. 15:3: 'And He answered and said to them, 'Why do you yourselves transgress the Commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?'

Matt. 15:7-9: 'You hypocrites! Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 'This people honors Me with their lips but their heart is far away from Me! But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'

Most of Christianity has been entrapped by the theology of the Catholic Church concerning God's 7th day Sabbath. It is not too late to study the matter out and change one's thinking and behavior. This is an indication that one is not only teachable, but also a follower of the Messiah of Israel.