FAP Q&A: "Can you show Messiah's words as the reason you and your church or denomination observes Sunday instead of Sabbath? No, You Can't!"

We’d like to thank a viewer who goes by the name @mbrown6837 for submitting a question through our YouTube channel, Investigating Adventism. Here is our response.

"You 'First-Day' promoting pastors, can you show Messiah's words as the reason you and your church or denomination observe Sunday instead of the Sabbath? No, you can't! Let me remind you that over 3500 years ago, Moses was given the message directly from the Most High that when the Prophet/Messiah came, they were to LISTEN TO HIM. This same message has been repeated multiple times, even in the NT; a voice from heaven told those present at the Messiah's baptism to LISTEN TO HIM. Even after His death and resurrection, the Apostles quoted that we are to LISTEN TO HIM.

The apostles's doctrines, Acts 2:42, could not have been different than His, or they would have been called out as hypocrites! If you think your pastor has a bible verse where Messiah SAID, or that there were those who HEARD HIM SAY He abolished the Sabbath and substituted Sunday, 

Please come back here and share it with us all! What scriptures do you use to show that Jesus said to reject the Sabbath for Sunday? "

Response:

Excellent—thank you for bringing this up. This is a classic argument frequently wielded by Sabbatarian groups like Seventh-day Adventists, Hebrew Roots followers, and others, and it deserves a clear, biblical, and Christ-honoring response.

The Messiah did not come to "renew" the Old Covenant Sabbath but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17) and to inaugurate a New Covenant where the sign is no longer the seventh day but Himself—His death and resurrection. And the apostles, acting on His authority and commission, established the pattern of gathering on the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week, in honor of His resurrection.

1. Messiah Didn’t Reinstate Sabbath Legalism—He Declared Himself Lord of the Sabbath.

No, Jesus never said, "Keep Sunday." But neither did He command Christians under the New Covenant to keep the Old Covenant Sabbath. In fact, in the Gospels, Christ deliberately challenged and redefined the Jewish Sabbath restrictions, declaring:

"For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Matthew 12:8 (CSB)

By calling Himself the "Lord of the Sabbath," Jesus was asserting authority over it—meaning He alone had the power to fulfill it, reinterpret it, or set it aside within His New Covenant.

Jesus never reaffirmed the Mosaic Sabbath as binding upon His New Covenant church.

2. The sign of the New Covenant is Christ’s resurrection—not the Sabbath.

Under the Old Covenant, the Sabbath was a "sign between God and Israel" (Exodus 31:13, Ezekiel 20:12). 

“Tell the Israelites: You must observe my Sabbaths, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, so that you will know that I am the LORD who consecrates you." Exodus 31:13 (CSB)

"I also gave them my Sabbaths to serve as a sign between me and them, so that they would know that I am the LORD who consecrates them." Ezekiel 20:12 (CSB)

But Jesus instituted a "New Covenant in His blood" (Luke 22:20). 

"In the same way, he also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." Luke 22:20 (CSB)

The early church consistently met on "the first day of the week" because:

• Jesus "rose from the dead on the first day." (Luke 24:1-7)

"On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? ” asked the men. “He is not here, but he has risen! Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying, ‘It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day’? ” Luke 24:1-7 (CSB)

• Jesus "appeared to His disciples on the first day." (John 20:19, 26)

"When it was evening on that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because they feared the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” A week later his disciples were indoors again, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you." John 20:19, 26 (CSB)

• The Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost—a Sunday (Leviticus 23:15-16 places Pentecost always on the day after the Sabbath—i.e., Sunday)

“You are to count seven complete weeks starting from the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the presentation offering. You are to count fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD." Leviticus 23:15-16 (CSB)

• The apostles met for breaking bread and preaching on the first day. (Acts 20:7)

"On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight." Acts 20:7 (CSB)

• Paul instructed collections for the church to be gathered on the first day (1 Corinthians 16:1-2)

"Now about the collection for the saints: Do the same as I instructed the Galatian churches. On the first day of the week, each of you is to set something aside and save in keeping with how he is prospering, so that no collections will need to be made when I come."1 Corinthians 16:1-2 (CSB)

• John received the Apocalypse vision on the Lord’s Day (Revelation 1:10)—universally understood in the early church as Sunday.

Important: The apostles, who were told by the voice from heaven to "Listen to Him" (Matt. 17:5), obeyed His fulfillment of the Law and resurrection-centered gospel, not the perpetuation of Old Covenant types and shadows (Colossians 2:16-17).

While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him! ” Matthew 17:5 (CSB)

"Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ." Colossians 2:16-17 (CSB)

3. The New Testament Teaches the Sabbath is a Shadow Fulfilled in Christ

"Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ." Colossians 2:16-17 (CSB)

The inspired apostle Paul, a hearer of Christ by divine revelation (Galatians 1:11-12), taught that the Sabbath was "a shadow," not the substance. And those shadows pointed to "the rest in Christ" (Hebrews 4:9-10).

"Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from his." Hebrews 4:9-10 (CSB)

4. If You Want to ‘Listen to Him,’ Listen When He Says the Law Would Be Fulfilled in Him

"He told them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Luke 24:44 (CSB)

This includes the Sabbath, a ceremonial sign pointing to "rest in Christ" (Hebrews 4:9-11). To “Listen to Him” means to recognize that in His death and resurrection, He established the New Covenant and fulfilled the Old (Hebrews 8:13).

"By saying a new covenant, he has declared that the first is obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is about to pass away." Hebrews 8:13 (CSB)

5. The Apostles, Obeying Christ’s Commission, Shifted the Pattern of Gathering

As Acts 2:42 says, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.” And those teachings, as we see by example in Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2, and Revelation 1:10, reflect Sunday gatherings—not Seventh-day Sabbath-keeping.

Summary:

No, Jesus did not say, “Keep Sunday.” Nor did He command to perpetually keep the seventh-day Sabbath. What He did was fulfill the Law (Matt. 5:17), proclaim Himself Lord over the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8), establish a New Covenant (Luke 22:20), rise on the first day (Luke 24:1), and authorize His apostles to govern His church under His new covenant authority (Matt. 28:18-20).

To “Listen to Him” is to receive His fulfillment of the Law and follow the pattern of New Covenant worship centered on His resurrection, which the apostles themselves instituted.

Therefore, no Christian is bound to keep the Old Covenant Sabbath as Israel did. We are called to live in the substance: Christ.

Former Adventists Philippines’ official position:

"We uphold the Lord’s Day (Sunday) as the apostolic day of Christian worship, not as a legalistic Sabbath substitute, but as a joyful commemoration of Christ’s finished work and resurrection. The Sabbath was a shadow—Jesus is the reality."