Question: How do we know that the seventh day of the week today is
the same seventh day as when God created this planet?
Answer:
Who is the Author of the weekly cycle?
It is certain that if some man figured it out and established it as a
way to keep time and days straight, it would be recorded in the history
books. But, then, if man did it, how did
the weekly cycle become known in every country and tribe in the world? We know about the history of the sundial,
about the calendar, and about Augustus Caesar changing the calendar. But the weekly cycle stayed the same through
it all.
Considering
the development of and changes to the calendar; the addition of months; the
addition or subtraction of days due to calendar errors; the addition of “leap
years”; the complete change from one calendar to another; changes to the
beginning of the year; and many other changes noted in the historical record
lead to one inescapable discovery: There is no historical record suggesting
that the steady, seven-day week has ever been broken! When Julius Caesar added his 90 days to
correct for errors in the Babylonian/Roman calendar, the date changed, not the
day of the week. When the Gregorian
calendar came into effect in 1582, the date changed, not the day of the
week. Considering the supreme power
emperors, kings, and rulers have had over the millennia, none have changed the
day of the week.
Our
best resource is the Bible—even though there are many other evidences. If we believe the Bible, we accept the
creation story as it is written. “And on
the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the
seventh day from all his work which he had made.” Genesis 2:2.
The
fourth commandment says: “For [in] six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the
sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord
blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
Exodus 20:11. Here the Lord
Himself acknowledges the seven-day weekly cycle and the creation of the world
in six days.
When
Jesus was here on earth, He kept the commandments, including the fourth: “And, as his custom was, he went into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Luke 4:16.
Then, in Revelation we read: “Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life,
and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Revelation 22:14. Therefore, we may come to the conclusion that
the best and real source to believe that the seventh day is still the same day
as the one at creation is the Bible. If
we believe that the Bible is God’s Word, we should have no trouble believing
that the Sabbath is still God’s holy day, and it is the same day of the week as
when our world was created.
The
seventh day was the last day of the cycle, and was the Sabbath set aside for
God. Despite a long history since the
resurrection of the Messiah where the “Christian Church” has foolishly
attempted to change the day of rest to the first day, Sunday, the seven-day
cycle still has not been broken. Those
who wish to obey God and observe the Sabbath and keep it holy may be comforted
to know that if you can determine the number of years which have passed since
Adam, and divide the total number of days since then by seven, you will know
exactly the number of weeks that have passed and know that the Sabbath you are
observing is the same Sabbath observed since the beginning! The fact is that since the dawn of man, by
the hand of God, the seven-day period was established, the seventh day declared
“set aside” and “holy,” a day of rest, and despite the many opportunities by
man to alter it (even still today), it has never been altered!
If
you have a Bible question you wish to have answered, please e-mail it to:
ruthgrosboll@stepstolife.org.