The audio for this devotional is not available for now, but you can have your device read it to you.
Reading options
Verse:“He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law.” —Daniel 7:25
Since the Bible teaches the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath (Exodus 20:8–11; Hebrews 4:4–11), why do so many Christians keep Sunday? The most common answer to this question is that Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday, and therefore, it became the new day of worship. As popular and attractive as this theory may appear, it is supported neither in the New Testament nor by reliable historical sources.
It requires reading into the New Testament some later historical developments. The book of Daniel actually foretold a dreadful power that would “cast truth down to the ground” (Daniel 8:12) and “change times and law” (Daniel 7:25).
Christ referred to this “‘abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through Daniel the prophet” (Matthew 24:15, NIV) as still in the future in His own day. Undeniably, this prediction was fulfilled in the post-apostolic era, when Christianity embraced numerous pagan beliefs and rituals, including Sunday worship.
The process of transforming Sunday into the Christian day of worship was largely advanced by the first official Sunday law promulgated by the Roman emperor Constantine on March 7, 321. The law read, “On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of Heaven should be lost.”21 This civil order was soon followed by a sequence of ecclesiastical laws imposing Sunday observance and classifying any who did not abide by those laws as heretics. Though time has passed, neither Jesus’ resurrection on a Sunday nor all the Sunday laws have ever transformed it into the new Lord’s Day, as many claim.
The seventh-day Sabbath remains as holy today as when God instituted it at the end of the Creation week (Genesis 2:2, 3) and when He proclaimed it at Sinai as part of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8–11).
Let’s keep it holy!