Most languages of the world still call Saturday the Sabbath. In Italian it is called Sábato, in Spanish Sábado, in Portuguese Sabádo, in French Samedi, in German Samstag, in Russian Subbota and in Polish Sobota. All these names mean “Sabbath” or “rest day” in their various languages. Except for those languages that have adopted the pagan names for the days of the week, the seventh day is still called the Sabbath, as the Lord named it at the time of Creation.
Have you ever wondered where the weekly cycle came from?
We have the yearly cycle because of the seasons, and the monthly cycle because of the moon. But nothing in nature indicates the seven-day weekly cycle. If the evolutionary theory were correct, every nationality would, by the law of averages, have come up with a different weekly cycle—some five days, some ten days, etc. But we all have the same seven-day weekly cycle because God established it during the Creation week.
Has the calendar ever been changed? Yes, but not the weekly cycle. Pope Gregory initiated a change to make up for an error in the Julian calendar by moving the date ten days forward. In October 1582, Thursday the 4th was followed by Friday the 15th in Italy and a few other countries. England changed its calendar in 1752 and Russia in 1914. Yet, the weekly cycle was never affected. During the time that England, Russia and Italy had different calendars, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were always the same in each country.
History has exact calendar records that date back to Julius Caesar, several decades before Christ, and these records show that the weekly cycle has always remained. We have exactly the same weekly cycle today as was used in Jesus’ day, and Jesus said that the day that was called the Sabbath by the Jews, the seventh day of the week, was His day, the true Lord’s day.
Since Jesus’ day, millions of Jews have continued to keep track of the Sabbath each week. It would be impossible to change a whole nation’s day of worship overnight, then have them wake up, unified and worshiping on another day, thinking it was the Sabbath. Moreover, since it is Jesus’ day, and He has commanded us to worship on that day to show allegiance to Him, don’t you think He would preserve its identity?
Adapted from Steps to Life Sabbath Calendar, Steps to Life Ministry, Wichita, Kansas.
