In Revelation there is repeated mention of the last world power, which is called the beast, as well as of the image of the beast, of the mark and the number of his name. This was certainly done to inform us, upon whom the end of the world has come, so that we can discern what it is all about, make the right decision, and take the right stand before God. However, there are denominations that consider the keeping of the Sabbath, as commanded to the people of Israel in the law, to be the sign of God and the seal of the Holy Spirit, and imply that anyone who does not keep the Sabbath has the mark of the beast. Even in circles of Bible believers there is unrest here and there about this, so a few points should be briefly noted here.

It is known from history that Sunday has been celebrated in a special way by the heathens since the days of Nimrod. His widow Semiramis, after his death, issued the proclamation that Nimrod would henceforth shine from heaven on all the inhabitants of the earth, and that this was to happen by the sun. Since then, this day has been appropriately honoured as the "Day of the Sun".

However, the day after the Sabbath, the first day of the week, also had a special meaning in biblical times. In Leviticus 23, there is reference to the observance of the Sabbath and the annual feasts. The priest was to wave the sheaf of the firstfruits "on the morrow after the sabbath" to make the congregation well-pleasing unto the LORD. "And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD." (vs. 15-16)

The day on which our Lord rose from the dead and on which His disciples gathered when He came into their midst was also the day after the Sabbath. The same thing happened a week later. (John 20:19, 26) The outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost also occurred on the first day of the week. In the beginning, those who had become believers in Christ took part in both Jewish worship services and Christian meetings. (Acts 3:1; 5:20-25; 21:26; 22:17-18) Wherever possible, they preached the gospel to the Jews, who continued to gather on the Sabbath (Acts 13:14-16), just as the Lord had done before. (Luke 4:16-21)

In 321, Constantine declared Sunday a day of rest which had to be observed. With this, he allowed his hatred against the Jews, which the self-proclaimed Christian leaders from heathenism had sown in him, to break forth and thus forced them to desecrate the Sabbath and observe the Sunday. That was the truly devilish thing about this decree.

The term "day of the LORD" does not apply to the Sabbath or Sunday. In the Old and New Testaments, we are told very clearly what is meant by this. (Isaiah 13:6-9; Malachi 3:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Peter 3:10 et al.) We have also dealt with it in various places.

God goes His way with His Old Testament covenant people, and He walks His way with the congregation of the New Covenant. There is no explicit command to observe Sunday, nor is there an obligation for Christians to keep the Sabbath. It is not uncommon for worship services to take place on the Sabbath and Sunday. In early Christianity they gathered daily in the temple (Acts 2:42-47), but also met back and forth in the houses, where they broke bread and thus maintained fellowship amongst themselves. Of a meeting that took place with Paul, we are told: "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow…" (Acts 20:7)

The Apostle Paul addressed this issue repeatedly, as the transition from Judaism to Christianity gave rise to controversy over it. To the church in Rome he wrote: "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind!" (14:5) The Apostle neither pronounced a command nor a prohibition, leaving everyone free to act according to their own convictions.

Without becoming legalistic, he goes on to write: "He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks." One's own conviction always applies only to oneself and must not be imposed on anyone else. Incidentally, believers should also be as tolerant to respect the convictions of others as they would like to see their own respected.

The Apostle continues: " For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost…Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died! … Hast thou faith? have it to thyself (not for the other) before God! (Romans 14) Whoever tries to enslave others through the keeping of days, eating and drinking, deprives them of personal liberty in Christ and gives himself the testimony of being enslaved. Paul did not have the THUS SAITH THE LORD for these insignificant trivialities, so he leaves it as a matter of personal discretion. Neither the dispute about days nor the quarrelling about food have helped a single person to this day; on the contrary: one who makes these things a hobbyhorse cannot be a blessing to anyone.

The apostles could then say: "For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well." (Acts 15:28-29) There is no mention here of keeping the Sabbath or of observing the Sunday, nor are there any further regulations regarding food. It has been clearly stated what needs to be observed. There is therefore not the slightest reason to go beyond the decision of the Holy Ghost imparted by the apostles, or to arbitrarily add to it.

In Colossians 2:16 the apostle writes: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." It is about this nature of Christ. "Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, e.g. 'Touch not; taste not; handle not'?"

The Sabbath is about the temporal rest that was for God in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament about the eternal rest that is in God. Hebrews 4 also gives insight into this. "Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, 'To day', after so long a time; as it is said, 'To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.' For if Jesus [Joshua] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his."

The context makes it clear that a child of God having found peace with God enters into this Sabbath rest, and he who has come to rest in God also rests from his own works. This puts an end to all self-righteousness through one's own deeds. In the New Testament, true believers do not just rest before God on a 24-hour day, they rest in God every day of their lives until eternity. Amen.

The bible passage from the prophet Daniel, chapter 7:25 is misused by the people who demand that Christians keep the Sabbath. This verse, as it is written, refers to the Antichrist, and not even to his entire period of seven years, corresponding to the seventieth week of years, but only to the last three and a half years, when he will break the covenant with Israel. It therefore has nothing to do with the New Testament church and the development of church history at the time of Constantine or afterwards. The papacy has admittedly overridden the New Testament teachings of the Holy Scriptures and introduced its own dogmas and traditions.

Thus saith the LORD in the misinterpreted verse from the prophet Daniel: "And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they (the Israelites) shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time." Immediately after that, after the last three and a half years of tribulation, as verse 26 says, judgment will be held and, as verse 27 says, the kingdom will begin with the saints of the most High. It cannot be said more clearly. The revelation given unto Daniel concerned his people Israel and the holy city of Jerusalem (chapter 9:24), not the congregation from the nations. This bible passage does not allow for any private interpretation at all.

The assertion that he who keeps Sunday and not the Sabbath automatically bears the mark of the beast, and whoever rejects Sunday and keeps the Sabbath holy, automatically bears the seal of God, has no biblical foundation. The Sabbath was to be observed by the people of Israel as a perpetual covenant (Exodus 31:12-17). The Sabbath is even a sign of the covenant between God and the people of Israel, and thus this divine order will exist once again in the millennial reign: "'And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me,' saith the LORD." (Isaiah 66:23)

The doctrine that the sign and seal of God is the keeping of the Sabbath is completely unbiblical and leads to a false sense of security. A sign is a sign, a seal is a seal. The Sabbath remains the Sabbath. Everything remains as it originally was and as God purposed it. In the days of Noah, God made a covenant with His servant and all creation repeating several times in Genesis 9:8-17 that the rainbow would be a token of the covenant: "This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth…"

In the days of Moses, the blood of the Passover lamb smeared on the doorposts was the sign that the firstborn in that particular house was not to be touched. The destroyer had to spare the house for the sake of this sign. "And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt." (Exodus 12:13)

Through the prophet Isaiah, we are informed of the greatest of all signs that ever existed, the sign that was later disputed: "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14)

When the scribes asked our Lord for a special sign, He said, "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas." (Matthew 16:4) That is the sign of the resurrection!

In Romans 4:11, the apostle writes with reference to Abraham, who was justified by faith: "… And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised." Here, in connection with the sign and the seal, there is no mention at all of the Sabbath nor of Sunday. With God there are obviously neither Sabbath nor Sunday Christians; with God there are only children whom He Himself has begotten and who walk and are connected with Him daily.

The term "seal" is also used in various ways. Sealing with the Holy Spirit is the most important thing of all. But even this is independent of the observance of a day. It is a direct supernatural experience that believers have with God. "… Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." (2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Ephesians 4:30 and other verses) "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, 'The Lord knoweth them that are his'. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." (2 Timothy 2:19)

In Revelation there is repeated mention of the last world power, which is called the beast, as well as of the image of the beast, of the mark and the number of his name. This was certainly done to inform us, upon whom the end of the world has come, so that we can discern what it is all about, make the right decision, and take the right stand before God. However, there are denominations that consider the keeping of the Sabbath, as commanded to the people of Israel in the law, to be the sign of God and the seal of the Holy Spirit, and imply that anyone who does not keep the Sabbath has the mark of the beast. Even in circles of Bible believers there is unrest here and there about this, so a few points should be briefly noted here.

It is known from history that Sunday has been celebrated in a special way by the heathens since the days of Nimrod. His widow Semiramis, after his death, issued the proclamation that Nimrod would henceforth shine from heaven on all the inhabitants of the earth, and that this was to happen by the sun. Since then, this day has been appropriately honoured as the "Day of the Sun".

However, the day after the Sabbath, the first day of the week, also had a special meaning in biblical times. In Leviticus 23, there is reference to the observance of the Sabbath and the annual feasts. The priest was to wave the sheaf of the firstfruits "on the morrow after the sabbath" to make the congregation well-pleasing unto the LORD. "And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD." (vs. 15-16)

The day on which our Lord rose from the dead and on which His disciples gathered when He came into their midst was also the day after the Sabbath. The same thing happened a week later. (John 20:19, 26) The outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost also occurred on the first day of the week. In the beginning, those who had become believers in Christ took part in both Jewish worship services and Christian meetings. (Acts 3:1; 5:20-25; 21:26; 22:17-18) Wherever possible, they preached the gospel to the Jews, who continued to gather on the Sabbath (Acts 13:14-16), just as the Lord had done before. (Luke 4:16-21)

In 321, Constantine declared Sunday a day of rest which had to be observed. With this, he allowed his hatred against the Jews, which the self-proclaimed Christian leaders from heathenism had sown in him, to break forth and thus forced them to desecrate the Sabbath and observe the Sunday. That was the truly devilish thing about this decree.

The term "day of the LORD" does not apply to the Sabbath or Sunday. In the Old and New Testaments, we are told very clearly what is meant by this. (Isaiah 13:6-9; Malachi 3:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Peter 3:10 et al.) We have also dealt with it in various places.

God goes His way with His Old Testament covenant people, and He walks His way with the congregation of the New Covenant. There is no explicit command to observe Sunday, nor is there an obligation for Christians to keep the Sabbath. It is not uncommon for worship services to take place on the Sabbath and Sunday. In early Christianity they gathered daily in the temple (Acts 2:42-47), but also met back and forth in the houses, where they broke bread and thus maintained fellowship amongst themselves. Of a meeting that took place with Paul, we are told: "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow…" (Acts 20:7)

The Apostle Paul addressed this issue repeatedly, as the transition from Judaism to Christianity gave rise to controversy over it. To the church in Rome he wrote: "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind!" (14:5) The Apostle neither pronounced a command nor a prohibition, leaving everyone free to act according to their own convictions.

Without becoming legalistic, he goes on to write: "He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks." One's own conviction always applies only to oneself and must not be imposed on anyone else. Incidentally, believers should also be as tolerant to respect the convictions of others as they would like to see their own respected.

The Apostle continues: " For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost…Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died! … Hast thou faith? have it to thyself (not for the other) before God! (Romans 14) Whoever tries to enslave others through the keeping of days, eating and drinking, deprives them of personal liberty in Christ and gives himself the testimony of being enslaved. Paul did not have the THUS SAITH THE LORD for these insignificant trivialities, so he leaves it as a matter of personal discretion. Neither the dispute about days nor the quarrelling about food have helped a single person to this day; on the contrary: one who makes these things a hobbyhorse cannot be a blessing to anyone.

The apostles could then say: "For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well." (Acts 15:28-29) There is no mention here of keeping the Sabbath or of observing the Sunday, nor are there any further regulations regarding food. It has been clearly stated what needs to be observed. There is therefore not the slightest reason to go beyond the decision of the Holy Ghost imparted by the apostles, or to arbitrarily add to it.

In Colossians 2:16 the apostle writes: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." It is about this nature of Christ. "Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, e.g. 'Touch not; taste not; handle not'?"

The Sabbath is about the temporal rest that was for God in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament about the eternal rest that is in God. Hebrews 4 also gives insight into this. "Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, 'To day', after so long a time; as it is said, 'To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.' For if Jesus [Joshua] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his."

The context makes it clear that a child of God having found peace with God enters into this Sabbath rest, and he who has come to rest in God also rests from his own works. This puts an end to all self-righteousness through one's own deeds. In the New Testament, true believers do not just rest before God on a 24-hour day, they rest in God every day of their lives until eternity. Amen.

The bible passage from the prophet Daniel, chapter 7:25 is misused by the people who demand that Christians keep the Sabbath. This verse, as it is written, refers to the Antichrist, and not even to his entire period of seven years, corresponding to the seventieth week of years, but only to the last three and a half years, when he will break the covenant with Israel. It therefore has nothing to do with the New Testament church and the development of church history at the time of Constantine or afterwards. The papacy has admittedly overridden the New Testament teachings of the Holy Scriptures and introduced its own dogmas and traditions.

Thus saith the LORD in the misinterpreted verse from the prophet Daniel: "And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they (the Israelites) shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time." Immediately after that, after the last three and a half years of tribulation, as verse 26 says, judgment will be held and, as verse 27 says, the kingdom will begin with the saints of the most High. It cannot be said more clearly. The revelation given unto Daniel concerned his people Israel and the holy city of Jerusalem (chapter 9:24), not the congregation from the nations. This bible passage does not allow for any private interpretation at all.

The assertion that he who keeps Sunday and not the Sabbath automatically bears the mark of the beast, and whoever rejects Sunday and keeps the Sabbath holy, automatically bears the seal of God, has no biblical foundation. The Sabbath was to be observed by the people of Israel as a perpetual covenant (Exodus 31:12-17). The Sabbath is even a sign of the covenant between God and the people of Israel, and thus this divine order will exist once again in the millennial reign: "'And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me,' saith the LORD." (Isaiah 66:23)

The doctrine that the sign and seal of God is the keeping of the Sabbath is completely unbiblical and leads to a false sense of security. A sign is a sign, a seal is a seal. The Sabbath remains the Sabbath. Everything remains as it originally was and as God purposed it. In the days of Noah, God made a covenant with His servant and all creation repeating several times in Genesis 9:8-17 that the rainbow would be a token of the covenant: "This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth…"

In the days of Moses, the blood of the Passover lamb smeared on the doorposts was the sign that the firstborn in that particular house was not to be touched. The destroyer had to spare the house for the sake of this sign. "And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt." (Exodus 12:13)

Through the prophet Isaiah, we are informed of the greatest of all signs that ever existed, the sign that was later disputed: "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14)

When the scribes asked our Lord for a special sign, He said, "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas." (Matthew 16:4) That is the sign of the resurrection!

In Romans 4:11, the apostle writes with reference to Abraham, who was justified by faith: "… And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised." Here, in connection with the sign and the seal, there is no mention at all of the Sabbath nor of Sunday. With God there are obviously neither Sabbath nor Sunday Christians; with God there are only children whom He Himself has begotten and who walk and are connected with Him daily.

The term "seal" is also used in various ways. Sealing with the Holy Spirit is the most important thing of all. But even this is independent of the observance of a day. It is a direct supernatural experience that believers have with God. "… Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." (2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Ephesians 4:30 and other verses) "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, 'The Lord knoweth them that are his'. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." (2 Timothy 2:19)