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Do We Keep the Sabbath
Sabbath and Sunday were chosen as a sacred day for many early Christians in various regions. Sunday became sacred because of the resurrection of Jesus on a Sunday. Therefore, this day has also been referred to as the Lord's Day. The resurrection on the first day of the week did fulfill prophecy of the day of Firstfruits (Lev. 23:9-14).
 
There were those early church leaders who taught Sunday was to replace the original Sabbath such as Pope Sylvester I (A.D. 314-335) but this was not always the case. Other church leaders taught the original Sabbath was fulfilled, an interpretation of Hebrews 4, and because they understood it as fulfillment of prophecy only,  they believed it no longer needed to be put in to practice. Those who believed in Sabbath fulfillment only continued to choose Sunday in light of the resurrection, as the special day to give honor to the Lord. They also taught that Sunday became the eighth day, a new beginning, with His resurrection.
 
Later churches who have chosen Sunday as their sacred day of worship use quotes from Justin Martyr and letters from Ignatius of Antioch (student of the apostle John) for verification of this belief. Both of these sources are from the early part of the second Century, before Christianity was legalized under Constantine I.
 
Churches that believe in observance of the Sabbath as the seventh day according to the original fourth of the Ten Commandments disagree with the quotes of Justin Martyr due to the fact that he was of pagan background, known for his antisemitism, and admitted there were those at the time who were seventh day Sabbath keepers although he chose the first day of the week as the Lord's day.
 
They also disregard the letters of Ignatius of Antioch because it is not sure how much of his letters are original. It is believed that some interpolations were added later to some of his original letters, but no proof is given to signify for certain which parts of his writings were later added, or exactly when.
 
Some believe that certain practices of Judaism such as observance of the Sabbath became disregarded due to antisemitism that had become increasingly prominent after the first century and continuing to the second, particularly due to Hadrian (emperor of Rome, A.D. 117-138) who chose to "root out Judaism" and anything Jewish, including the Torah. This antisemitism continued into the time of Constantine (emperor of Rome, A.D. 306-337).
 
Those who believe in remembering the Sabbath also believe that disregard for the Seventh day is an incorrect practice due to the fact that both Jesus and Paul (according to above quoted verses) stated that we are to keep the Commandments and that, although the coming of Jesus is a prophetic fulfillment of the original Sabbath Commandment, this fulfillment does not mean the Sabbath should no longer be remembered. They believe the Sabbath Commandment is not prophecy fulfillment only but should be kept and remembered with the other Commandments. They cite New Testament Scripture verses to show that Jesus recognized the seventh day Sabbath and that it continued to be remembered by His apostles throughout the New Testament.
 
Those who observe Sabbath also believe that in Scriptural verses such as Galatians 4:8-12, v. 10 ("Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years") is not in reference to Jewish days according to verse 8, and that Colossians 2:16-17 does not say that days such as holydays or special Sabbaths are in regard to the original Sabbath day or are no longer to be observed but rather that no one should judge another on how to observe them.
 
This is my opinion:
 
The Sabbath is held in honor of the crucifixion which gives the soul rest because of Jesus' death (Hebrews 4).  The day of Firstfruits is kept in honor of Jesus' resurrection (1 Cor. 15:19-20). We cannot have salvation without the Sabbath prophecy, nor eternal life without the Firstfruits prophecy fulfilled. Our Lord fulfilled both, not just one. Therefore, both are important and to be remembered because one goes with and cannot be without the other. Also since the day of firstfruits is fulfilled yet still observed on Sunday, it seems understandable that we also remember Holy Sabbath though fulfilled, particularly since it is one of the Commandments written in stone.
 
Why would we as Christians deny the very Day of which Jesus is Lord?
    Mark 2 28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
When this Scripture was written (quoted from the words of Jesus), it was understood that the Sabbath was the seventh day according to the Ten Commandments.
 
It was this same day of which Jesus made reference because it was a discussion about keeping the Sabbath holy according to Jewish law.
    Mark 2 23 And it came to pass, thathe went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. 24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? 25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? 26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? 27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: 28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
Jesus did not say the Sabbath is no longer to be remembered. What He did say is that it was made to be remembered to benefit "man," therefore confirming its remembrance. The Sabbath is one of the Commandments which Jesus explained how to keep in the story of the good samaritan (Matt. 22:35-40; Luke 10:25-37) where it, like the other Commandments, is remembered by using it to benefit "man."
 
Since the day of firstfruits is fulfilled yet still observed on Sunday, it seems understandable that we also remember Holy Sabbath though fulfilled, particularly since it is one of the Commandments written in stone.
 
It is also my opinion that in the Letter to the Magnesians (if fully written by Ignatius of Antioch) reference to Sabbath observance was specifically mentioned for those who chose to keep it according to tradition which should be a right of choice and not forced on others. The Sabbath, of which Jesus is Lord, was not to be observed as the fashion of Judaism previously, under a strict code of ethics. Rather, it was to be kept according to the example of the Lord of the Sabbath Who kept it holy by doing His Father's work.
John 5 15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. 16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. 17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Jesus did not make reference to "work" that was of this world. He "worketh" every day for His "Father."
    Matthew 26 55 In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me.
He kept every day as the Sabbath was originally to be kept, by doing the will of His Father. He taught Scripture and healed. Again, this does not show Jesus ignoring the Holy Sabbath, only confirming it.
 
Jesus did not change law. He came to fulfill it (Matt. 5:17-19 previously quoted). The Sabbath was fulfilled at His crucifixion for as He was laid to rest in a tomb so also do we find rest in Him as our salvation (Matt. 11:28-30; Heb. 4:1-9). The seventh day Sabbath is fulfilled in Christ.
 
Because of its fulfillment, we fashion our lives after the practice of Yeshua who is Lord of the Sabbath in how to remember it. We work every day to serve God in all that we do. We do not just serve Him on Sabbath or Sunday. We live the life of a Christian every day of the week
 
 
We live by grace through Him. This does not mean we deny the Sabbath day, nor do we tell others how to keep it. It does mean that we remember the Lord's Holy Sabbath by remembering what He did for us. Because of what He did for us, and because we live according to His grace, we remember to fashion our lives after the Lord's Holy Day by doing as our Lord did this day and each and every other day, by remembering to serve the Father by serving others and telling others about the gift of salvation through Jesus. In so doing, we put in to practice the story of the good samaritan.
 
As Christians, we are not simply to attend service on a holy day. We are to live the life as called by our Maker.
 
As it is through the gift of His salvation that we receive Sabbath "rest," it is by the Lord's resurrection we receive eternal life, symbolic of the resurrection day Sunday, also called the Lord's (resurrection) Day.
 
Does the Ignatius letter mention Sabbath observance in contrast to Sunday? The original translation of Ignatius' letter to the Magnesians perhaps shows Sunday observance but it is difficult to tell.
    If then those who had walked in ancient practices attained unto newness of hope, no longer observing sabbaths but fashioning their lives after
    the Lord's day, on which our life also arose through Him and through His death which some men deny -- a mystery whereby we attained unto belief, and for this cause we endure patiently, that we may be found disciples of Jesus Christ our only teacher -- if this be so, how shall we be able to live apart from Him? seeing that even the prophets, being His disciples, were expecting Him as their teacher through the Spirit. And for this cause He whom they rightly awaited, when He came, raised them from the dead (Kirby "Ignatius").
In this version, we are told not to observe Sabbaths but instead to live in observance of the Lord's Day. It does not directly say the "Lord's Day" is a reference to Sunday instead of Sabbath so it is possible Ignatius was telling his readers not to observe the Sabbath in its previous manner but instead to "fashion their lives after the Lord's (millennial) Day as disciples of Christ (looking for the resurrection) (Rev. 20:5). However, "which also our life has sprung" could be a reference to Sunday since Sunday is the day Jesus "sprung" to life. It is also possible that this passage was added to the rest of the letter (interpolation). 
 
Although one may disagree with certain interpolations that may or may not have been later added to the letters of Ignatius, according to historical information given, it is very likely that he wrote in reference to this subject in his letter to the Magnesians, as did Paul on the subject of holy days in Colossians 2.
Colossians 2 16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
The implication would have been to help us better understand the days that we celebrate, and their meaning, rather than to be against anything Jewish, as has often been interpreted.Because Ignatius was taught by the apostle John, it would seem odd that a man of God who was taught by a someone Jewish and who believed that His very Lord was Jewish would have adamantly spoken against the Jewish culture itself.
 
The Didache, an early Christian writing which is believed to be apostolic (written by the apostles, date given in the latter part of the first century to the first part of the second century), makes reference to that which the "Lord's own day" (Kirby "Didache"). Because chapter 14 discusses the observance of breaking bread, it is believed to be a reference to Sunday because of the breaking of bread as read in Scripture, an event which took place on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). However, Scripture also gives reference to a daily observance of breaking bread (Acts 2:46).
 
Here is part of a letter that Pliny the Younger (governor of Pontus and Bithynia from A.D. 111-113) wrote to the Emperor Trajan in reference to the Christians during his time period:
    Meanwhile, in the case of those who were denounced to me as Christians, I have observed the following procedure: I interrogated these as to whether they were Christians; those who confessed I interrogated a second and a third time, threatening them with punishment; those who persisted I ordered executed. For I had no doubt that, whatever the nature of their creed, stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy surely deserve to be punished. There were others possessed of the same folly; but because they were Roman citizens, I signed an order for them to be transferred to Rome...They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food--but ordinary and innocent food. Even this, they affirmed, they had ceased to do after my edict by which, in accordance with your instructions, I had forbidden political associations.Accordingly, I judged it all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two female slaves who were called deaconesses. But I discovered nothing else but depraved, excessive superstition. (Kirby "Pliny").
Notice the believers met on a certain day before sunrise. This day could have been Sunday in honor of the resurrection, especially since Jesus was resurrected early Sunday morning. However, this passage does not say for sure which day it was they met nor does it specify whether they stilled observed Sabbath.
 
Sources that show observance of both Sabbath and Sunday include the Apostolic Constitutions (believed to be written in the fourth century) ("Apostolic Constitutions"), and Sozomen (a historian from the beginning of the fifth century) and Socrates Scholasticus (a church historian also from the beginning of the fifth century) (Strand). According to these and several other sources, worship on both Sabbath and Sunday were in effect in most churches (except Rome and Alexandria) in early Christianity past the fifth century.
 
 
The seventh day Sabbath is symbolic of "the seventh day" millennium which is also referred to as the Lord's Day (Rev. 1:10).
    Revelation 20 1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
It is believed by some that Revelation 1:7 ("I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day") is a reference to Sunday. Yet, in the New Testament Sunday is always referred to as the first day of the week whereas Sabbath is called the Lord's Day . If this verse was a reference to Sunday as the Lord's Day, then it would seem likely that the use of the Lord's Day as Sunday would appear more often in Scripture.It seems more plausible that the Revelation 1 verse refers to the millennial Sabbath especially when reading the Scripture verses that follow. John was seeing in to the future the day of the Lord's return, a special millennial Sabbath.
 
 [Also compareRevelation 6:12-17 with Joel 1:15, 2:30-31, Zephaniah 1:14-17, and Isaiah 13:6-13, the "Day of the Lord."]
 
The regular Sabbath is a foreshadow of the millennial Sabbath. As we fashion our lives after the Lord's Holy Sabbath day through serving God by serving others, we also fashion our lives after the millennium and how all mankind will live under the King who is Lord of the Sabbath. 
 
Scriptural verses indicating the seventh day as the Lord's day still remembered include those such as Acts 13:12,13, Acts 16:13 showing observance of the seventh day Sabbath by apostles, 2 Peter 3:8 in reference to the seventh Day Millennium, and Isaiah 66:22-23 prophesying proof of future observance of the seventh day as the Lord's, remembered with Him.
    Isaiah 66 22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. 23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.

("flesh" from Hebrew basar: of man, mankind, people.) (Strong 1320)].
    Isaiah 58 13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Note that Isaiah refers to the Sabbath day as the holy day of the Lord.
 
Many Christians remember the holy days given in the Old Testament as such: 
    passover, as Jesus the Lamb of God
    feast of unleavened bread, in which Jesus removed our sins
    day of firstfruits, Sunday, the resurrection
    holy Shavu'ot, known as day of pentecost, for the gift of the Spirit, in which we are united with our Lord and given the Kingdom of God, also celebrated on a Sunday.
Notice that these days are still remembered, but they are remembered in a way that tells what our Lord accomplished on our behalf. Thus, the emphasis should be on our Lord and how we can serve Him in return for what He has done for us.
 
While some observe Sabbath once a week, others may celebrate it yearly, including with the feast of unleavened bread. Christ depicted on the Cross is another way of remembering this salvation.
 
There is no disagreement of the resurrection of the Lord taking place on Sunday amongst Christian churches. Therefore, Sunday is indeed the Lord's Resurrection Day. It is observed, in particular, on Easter.
 
As the Sabbath day is a foreshadow of the millennial Sabbath, so also is the day of firstfruits (Sunday, the day of the Lord's resurrection) a foreshadow of the final "day" that follows the millennium. 
 
The Lord's resurrection is everlasting. So also is this final day.
    Revelation 211 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
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Works Cited
 
"Apostolic Constitutions (Book VII)." New Advent. 2017. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/07157.htm. Accessed 28 August 2018.

Kirby, Peter. "Didache." Early Christian Writings, Ch. 14:1, 2018, http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/didache-lightfoot.html. Accessed 28 August 2018.

Kirby, Peter. "Ignatius to the Magnesians." Early Christian Writings, Ch. 9:1-2, 2018, http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-magnesians-lightfoot.html. Accessed 28 August 2018.

Kirby, Peter. "Pliny the Younger."Early Christian Writings, 2018, http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/pliny.html. Accessed 28 August 2018.

Strand, Kenneth A. The Sabbath in Scripture and History. Washington D.C., Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1982. 

Strong, James. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Hendrickson Publishers, Incorporated, 2009.