Most christians think that Jesus changed the day of worship to Sunday because of His resurrection.  But you won't find any evidence of that change in scripture.  As you study the Bible, what you will find is a group of christians who continued to observe the Sabbath on Saturday, even after Christ's resurrection.

>>>>> To see the evidence, click here to review (pg. 8 of 9) Facts about Sunday worship <<<<<

Acts 1  (v. 1) The former account I made, Oh Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, (v. 2) until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, (v. 3) to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

Jesus left instructions for the apostles whom He had chosen, to continue the work that He had started.  In chapter 12 of Acts, we find Barnabas and Saul Appointed for that work:

Acts 12  (v. 25) And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.

Acts 13  (v. 2) As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” (v. 3) Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.

Now when Barnabas and Saul (Paul) the Apostle was appointed to do the Lord's work they went to Antioch and preached on the Sabbath day.

Acts 13  (v. 14) But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch....and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.... (v. 15) And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets.... (v. 16) Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen: ....{ he then preached a long sermon from verses 17 to 41 }....

This incident took place in approximately A.D. 45, about 14 years after the resurrection.…Since the book of Acts traces the history of the church from the Ascension of Jesus, in A.D. 31, to the approximate date of A.D. 62, it was interesting for me to walk through those early years of Christianity and see the apostles continuing to follow in the steps of Jesus, relative to.…the seventh-day Sabbath.[1]

Later on in the scripture, when the Gentiles wanted to hear the message, the Apostle Paul did not say to them: come back tomorrow for Sunday worship; but rather to come back the next Sabbath, waiting a whole week.

Acts 13  (v. 44) On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. (v. 42) And when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.

As the ministry of the Holy Spirit flowed through such vessels as Peter, Paul, and Barnabas, many Gentiles were accepting Jesus as their Saviour.…Quite a dissension developed and it was determined that a special meeting be held to discuss the problems.…This chapter contains the record of the Jerusalem Council Meeting, which convened in approximately A.D. 51, about 20 years after the resurrection.…James the moderator of the meeting, gave his determination as recorded in verses:[1]

Acts 15  (v. 19) Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God. (v. 21) For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.

Also, look at verse 21 again.…“every Sabbath day.”  I remember asking myself, “Why would James mention the Sabbath day, if the Sabbath was not still in effect as the designated “day” for recognition?”[1]

Since the last book of the Bible (Revelation), was written as the door of the first century was about to close, it was necessary for me to allow history to give information into whether or not the seventh-day Sabbath continued to be observed after the death of the apostles.…John knew exactly what Christ meant when He stated: “Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:28).  So as late as 95 A.D.─100, the seventh-day Sabbath was recognized as valid and full of value.[2]

….even though a change took place somewhere along the way in the minds and hearts of the majority of the Christian church relative to the importance of being a “Sabbath-keeper,” there were also other christians, down through the centuries, who chose to remain committed to adhering to what the scriptures, and not other influences, said….on this subject.[3]

2nd Century.  Early Christians

“The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons.  And it is not to be doubted but they derived this practice from the apostles themselves, as appears by several Scriptures to that purpose.”[4]

>>>>> What did they do on the Sabbath day? <<<<<

3rd and 4th Centuries.  Orient and Most of the World

“The ancient Christians were very careful in the observation of Saturday, or the seventh day.  It is plain that all the Oriental churches, and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival.  Athanasius tells us that they held religious assemblies on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath.  Epiphanius says the same.”[5]

5th Century.  Constantinople

“The people of Constantinople and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria.”[6]

We have few written records of Christian missionaries who traveled to remote areas of the globe between the close of the New Testament times and the collapse of the Roman Empire.  But, sometime between the years of 410 A.D. and 476, there was a man named Patrick who descended on an island remote from the Empire, bringing a more pristine version of the Christian faith to Celtic barbarians who cared nothing for the power structures of Rome.^[7]   

A christianity more closely aligned with the message and mission of the 1st century church, suddenly emerged at the edge of the world....Early Celtic christianity was a distinctly non-Roman version of the faith, free from the cultural and political baggage of imperial Rome.^[7]

With nothing but the Bible, they discovered truths about how to worship the Creator of all heaven and earth, such that:

Toward the end of the 6th century, Pope Gregory the Great, sending monks to live in Britain, inevitably came in contact with these Celtic missionaries....and a report was sent back to Rome, noting that: the Celts were practicing an older form of full-immersion baptism, and they kept Saturday as a day of rest.^[8]  

The monks discovered there was another form of Christianity, one that had grown up outside the reach of the Roman Empire, and because it only had the Bible as its authoritative source, it more closely resembled the church of the New Testament.^[8] 

You see, back in Europe....as Constantine consolidated his power over the Roman Empire, he had to harmonize two segments of the city's population: the pagans....and the christians.  The pagans observed the first day of the week in honor of the sun god, which is why the first day of the week is still labeled "Sun Day;" and in an act apparently intended to appease them, Constantine declared the first day of the week to be a day of rest.^[9]

"On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed."[10]

Most of the christian world continued to observe the seventh-day Sabbath on Saturday for many generations after the close of the New Testament canon....It was after Constantine that the mainline Christian church of the west began to observe Sunday as "the Lord's Day" and reject the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.^[11]

The Celts were not alone in preserving biblical Christianity.  We know of many groups that lived outside the boundaries of Rome, ranging from North Africa to the Far East....many of the same curious practices were found in these other "outsider" christian groups, including a high regard for Scripture and observing the seventh-day Sabbath.^[12]

Another group of people, who continued to preserve the New Testament gospel message, were known as the Waldenses or the Vaudois people.  They lived in the mountain passes of the Alps or the five valleys of Piedmont, located between Italy and France.   

Doing an internet search will produce an official line stating that, they were founded by Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant from Lyons in the year 1170 A.D.  But a deeper investigation will reveal that this group is much more ancient, possibly related to the group of christians who fled Rome during the brutal persecutions brought on by the pagan empire during the 1st and 2nd centuries.

As they fled to the north, they found refuge in the remote valleys of the Piedmont region and continued to believe and live as 1st century christians did for many long centuries.  In favor of this theory is the unique Latin Bible used by the Waldenses known as the "Italic."  It predates Jerome's "Vulgate" edition by more than two centuries (created in 157 A.D.) and uses a form of Latin that existed during the Roman persecution of Christians.^[13]    

Even though the Apostle Paul left no personal record of a successful trip to Spain, the early christian church certainly seems to remember that he had been there.

Rom 15  (v. 23) But now no longer having a place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come to you, (v. 24) whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you.  For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while.

If Paul had made the journey from Rome to Spain on land, he would have had to pass through the Piedmont region, precisely the place where the Vaudois church emerged (Waldenses).

The 19th century historian, Alexis Muston, describes the very early genesis for the Vaudois church: "Their own account of the matter uniformly has been  that their religion has descended with them, from father to son by uninterrupted succession from the time of the apostles....The common passage from Rome to Gaul (France) at that time lay directly through the Cottian Alps, and Gaul we know received the gospel early in the second century at the latest, probably before the close of the first century."[14] 

"....the conversion of the Waldenses was begun by some of the very early christian missionaries, perhaps by some of the apostles themselves, on their way to Gaul, and that it was completed....after the first general persecution of Nero.  The christians of Rome, scattered by this terrible event, would naturally flee from the plain country to the mountains, carrying with them the gospel and its institutions."[14]

The scriptures are silent on whether or not Paul ever succeeded in making the journey to Spain, but the writings of early christians suggest that he did.

"Such is the opinion of Henry Arnaud, one of the most intelligent of the Waldensian pastors....The Waldenses are in fact descended from those refugees from Italy, who after St. Paul had there preached the gospel, abandoned their beautiful county, and fled....to these wild mountains, where they have, to this day, handed down the gospel from father to son, in the same purity and simplicity as it was preached by St. Paul."[14]

Like the Celts, the Waldensians were mission-minded, and consumed by a passion to share the Scriptures and Christ.  Their motto was Lux Lucet in Tenebris: "Light shines in darkness."  They were resolved to maintain a biblical Christianity....^[15]

What makes many students of Waldensian history suspect that there were indeed Sabbatarians among the Vaudois are the curious nicknames they were given: Sabbati, Sabbatati, and Insabbatati.  The etymological similarity to the word "Sabbath" is hard to miss.^[16]

Melchior Goldast, the noted historian and Swiss jurist, writing in the early 17th century, certainly believed it: "They were called Insabbatati, not because they were circumcized, but because they kept the Jewish Sabbath."[17]

And we know that the Bible does not say “Jewish” Sabbath but rather:  Mark 2  (v. 27) And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man….”  I believe that this is clear, that it means all men and not just the Israelites!

Nowhere in the Bible is the Sabbath called "the Sabbath of the Jews"....The Sabbath is more than a memorial of creation.  It is a weekly reminder of the profound relationship between God and man, an acknowledgement of God's divinity, "that you may know that I am the Lord your God."[18]

What we do know for certain is that the beliefs of the Waldenses differed enough from the official mainline church-state doctrine that they endured unbelievable persecution as a result, much more than did the Celts, whose relative isolation and early historical appearance likely spared them much of the suffering heaped on the Waldenses.^[19]

References:

1. Dan Jarrard, (2008). Why I am a Sabbath-keeping Christian, p.38-41

2. Dan Jarrard, (2008). Why I am a Sabbath-keeping Christian, p.46-47

3. Dan Jarrard, (2008). Why I am a Sabbath-keeping Christian, p.53

4. Dialogue on the Lord’s Day, p.189. London: 1701. By Dr. T.H. Morer (Church of England).

5. Antiquities of the Christian Church, Vol. II. Book XX, chap 3, Sec. 1 66.1137, 1138.

6. Socrates, Ecclesiastical History, Book 7, chap. 19.

7. Shawn Boonstra, (2017). A Pale Horse Rides, p.84-85, Voice of Prophecy. 

8. Shawn Boonstra, (2017). A Pale Horse Rides, p.98-99, Voice of Prophecy.

9. Shawn Boonstra, (2017). A Pale Horse Rides, p.94-95, Voice of Prophecy.

10. Codex Justinianus, 3.12.3. Philip Schaff, (1902). History of the Christian Church (vol.3) p.380, 5th Ed.

11. Shawn Boonstra, (2017). A Pale Horse Rides, p.95-96, Voice of Prophecy.

12. Shawn Boonstra, (2017). A Pale Horse Rides, p.104, Voice of Prophecy.

13. Shawn Boonstra, (2017). A Pale Horse Rides, p.106, Voice of Prophecy.

14. Alexis Muston, (1853). The Waldenses: Sketches of the Evangelical Christians of the Valleys of Piedmont, p.28-29

15. Shawn Boonstra, (2017). A Pale Horse Rides, p.113, Voice of Prophecy.

16. Shawn Boonstra, (2017). A Pale Horse Rides, p.120, Voice of Prophecy.

17. Robert Robinson, (1792). Ecclesiastical Researches, p.303, Note 10.

18. Mark Finley, (1995). Beyond Orion's Gates, p.148, Hart Research Center.

19. Shawn Boonstra, (2017). A Pale Horse Rides, p.123, Voice of Prophecy.