"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (Exodus 20:8-11)
There is no commandment in the entire Bible that says for us to abolish the Sabbath. Likewise, there is no such command to change the Sabbath from the seventh day (Saturday) to the first day (Sunday).
So, why do most Christians worship on Sunday? In a word - tradition. It was a tradition that can be traced back to a decree from Emperor Constantine. It was not a command from Jesus or a teaching of the Apostles, but a decree that came from a the Pagan High Priest who merged Christianity with Paganism. It has been passed down from generation to generation as a Christian tradition, but it has no Biblical foundation. It is a man-made tradition that causes people to break the commandments of God and therefore worship Him in vain.
"'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!" (Mark 7:6-9)
There is a popular thought in Christianity that says we no longer have to obey the Commandments (Torah). This is a misunderstanding of some of Paul's writings. Apparently Peter knew that some people misunderstood some of the things that Paul wrote about, because he gave this warning.
"Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him… His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position." (2Peter 3:15-17)
Some people misunderstand some of Paul's writings to mean that the law was done away with, but Paul himself explained that this is not the case. Paul said, "Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we establish the law." (Romans 3:31)
Similarly, people say that Jesus put an end to the law, but Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." (Matthew 5:17)
So, if Jesus did not come to abolish the law, and Paul exhorts us to establish the law, then why do so many Christians continue to break the law? We have been deceived into believing a lie.
The Pharisees were always looking for a reason to accuse Jesus of breaking the law, so they watched his life with close scrutiny. On several occasions they claimed that Jesus broke the Sabbath by healing people and accused his disciples for picking grain to eat (Matt. 12, Mark 2, Lk. 6, Lk. 13). What Jesus and his disciples did was not breaking the Sabbath, it was breaking the traditions of the Pharisees concerning the Sabbath. Jesus never broke a single commandment of God.
When he was accused, Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" (Mark 3:4) He did not question the law, he questioned the Pharisees' interpretation of the law. Jesus continually upheld and confirmed the law. In fact, Jesus said, "Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:19)
Jesus also said, " If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." (Matt. 19:17)
It seems that obedience to God's commandments is upheld and encouraged by Jesus and all of the New Testament writers.
Some people have gotten the idea that obedience to the law is disobedience to Christ, that obeying the commandments somehow nullifies our faith. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This idea is contradictory, because Christians believe that Jesus is God, and teach that we are to be obedient to Jesus, yet in the next breath teach that we no longer have to obey the law that was given by God.
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Hebrews 13:8)
"God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind." (Numbers 23:19)
In Revelation, John writes, "This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus." (Revelation 14:12) He confirms that those who do these two things are not only compatible, but encouraged. We should "obey God's commandments" and "remain faithful to Jesus", this is what it means to be God's people.
So, what happened to the Sabbath? Tradition, false-teachings, and ignorance have paved the way of disobedience to the Commandments of God. To follow Jesus requires that we obey God's commandments, not the teachings of men.
"Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God." (Acts 4:19)
"We must obey God rather than men!" (Acts 5:29)
"For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous." (Romans 2:13)
I find it confusing that many Christians teach that we are to obey nine of the ten commandments. They tell people not to even have lustful thoughts, because that is adultery, and it breaks the Commandments. Yet, these same people seem to have no problem with forgetting about the Sabbath. Have they forgotten that it was one of the Ten Commandments that were written in stone by the hand of God himself?
It isn't just a tradition of man to observe the Sabbath, it is a commandment of God. They wouldn't tell people its ok to steal and murder, but they are convinced that it is ok to neglect the Sabbath.
It is interesting to note that the Sabbath was established before God ever gave any commandments. It was set apart as holy during creation.
"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." (Genesis 2:2-3)
The Sabbath is considered a weekly holiday celebration by Jewish believers, yet a large number of Christians remain ignorant and blind to this special appointed time.
"The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. "'There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD.'" (Lev. 23:1-3)
It is considered a "sacred assembly", a special time that God has set apart on His calendar for the purpose of gathering His people. It is listed among the Feasts of the Lord as one of God's appointed days for celebration and rest.
So, what happened to the Sabbath?
Nothing, its still here, waiting for God's people to remember it.