Question: .

I read an article about the Roman Catholic Church, and how it has perverted the laws of God. The scriptures of Daniel 7 seem to refer to the Pope especially 7:25. In fact, the day Sunday is derived from that of an ancient sun god. I know all Christians observe that as the Sabbath, are we wrong?

Tell me what you think.

-Pete

Answer:

Dear Pete,

It seems to me that you have at least four questions/comments.

1) The Catholics have perverted the laws of God. My response: I believe that virtually all churches have misrepresented God and caused human beings to stumble. The Catholic church may lead in some categories, while any number of Protestant churches would lead in others.

2) Dan. 7:25 seems to refer to the Pope. My response: That depends on who is reading the passage, when that person lives(d), the reader's denominational teachings, etc. It is true that many Protestants have used this passage to refer to the Pope - this application has become much more popular in the past 150 years. Before that time, other interpretations were much more popular. You may wish to study the history of how this passage was interpreted by Christians before deciding upon a precise and specific understanding.

3) I presume you must have reference to "try to change the set times and the laws" (vs. 25) as a reference to your comment about Sunday. But we must ask several questions about this interpretation.

What laws and times does the context of the passage have reference to? The calendar and probably the sacrifices? Do we understand this passage in terms of the Hebrew calendar and Hebrew sacrifices? If so, it has historical value to Christians at best - for Christ forever became our perfect sacrifice and Christ forever changed the calendar (we use the terms B.C. and A.D.) - we celebrate his birth and resurrection, etc.

Or, second option, do we understand this passage to have no meaning in its original setting at all (a violation of a primary law [speaking of laws] of understanding the Bible) and see it as only having meaning after the time of Christ? If that is the case, we must try to understand how Christian commentators over almost 2,000 years have understood this passage - and interpretations run the gamut from Napoleon, some of the Roman emperors (Charlemagne) as well as Hitler and WWII Germany, of more recent date.

Still more current, some feel that this passage will be fulfilled today. When we take that view, at the very least, we must understand that many generations of Christians before us took the same view, affixing names and political entities to Dan. 7 (and some try to combine Daniel and the book of Revelation). So caution is called for - many have already been wrong in trying to be too specific.

A third option, followed by sabbatarians who worship only on Saturday, is to combine the two - and try to have this passage mean both the Hebrew calendar as well as the Christian era - and that the seventh day was still "in force" and that people masquerading as Christians "changed" Saturday to Sunday.

4) Christians in fact do not observe Sunday as the Sabbath. Christians observe the resurrection of our Lord every week, as a memorial and commemoration. History clearly shows the historic Christian church (the one that Jesus said the gates of hell would not prevail against) began to worship on Sunday, even though Jewish believers in the New Testament met on Saturday. When Christians began to realize that Jesus was their rest, and that they needed to come to him for eternal rest (Hebrews 4, Matthew 11:28-30, Colossians 2, Galatians 4, Romans 14) they decided on a weekly celebration of his resurrection, for the fact that he is alive gave them (and us) the only hope we have (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).

Christians do not have a Sabbath, but a time when they worship the resurrected Lord. Christians realize that they are not under the dictates of the Hebrew law, but instead they are bought and paid for with precious blood of Jesus Christ, who is both Savior and Lord.

I hope this answer is helpful to you. May God bless you as you study his Word that you might find the Word of life!

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht