The Sabbath Day
by Rav Mordecai Silver
Bereisheet-Genesis 22:3 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He abstained on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because on it He abstained from all His work which God created to make.
Here we have it! Plain and simple! God said it and God did it and God created it—the Sabbath. Did you catch what I said there? God created it! It was not created by man nor was it created by satan, the seventh day was created by God and in that act of creation He brought into being what we know to be the Sabbath Day. Now if God created the Sabbath day as part of creation did He re-create another day at some other time as some believe? I have read through the Bible from front to back and back to front and no where have I seen any passage in Scripture where it says that God undid creation and created a new Sabbath day.
What significance does this have for us? What it means is that any claim by anyone from whatever religion or belief system they are a part of that says that the Sabbath day is the first day instead of the seventh day has done that under their own power and not with God’s approval.
Shemot-Exodus 16:25-30 Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath for the Lord; today you shall not find it in the field. 26 Six days shall you gather it, but the seventh day is a Sabbath, on it there will be none." 27 It happened on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, and they did not find. 28 The Lord said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to observe My commandments and My teachings? 29 See that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why He gives you on the sixth day a two-day portion of bread. Let every man remain in his place; let no man leave his place on the seventh day." 30 The people rested on the seventh day.
4687 hwcm mitsvah {mits-vaw'}
1) commandment 1a) commandment (of man) 1b) the commandment (of God) 1c) commandment (of code of wisdom)8451 hrwt towrah {to-raw'} or hrt torah {to-raw'}
1) law, direction, instruction 1a) instruction, direction (human or divine) 1a1) body of prophetic teaching 1a2) instruction in Messianic age 1a3) body of priestly direction or instruction 1a4) body of legal directives 1b) law 1b1) law of the burnt offering 1b2) of special law, codes of law 1c) custom, manner 1d) the Deuteronomic or Mosaic Law
What is God saying to the people here? He is saying in verse 28 how long will the people keep refusing to follow my commandments and my Torah. The word translated as teaching in this verse is actually in the Hebrew Torah. Torah means teaching and instruction. As you can see from the Strong’s definition that Torah is also translated as law or Mosaic Law. It is not really the Law as indicated but should be always rendered as teaching or instruction because that is exactly what it is. The Torah is the teaching of God given to man. Part of the Torah is the Sabbath. In fact the command and the creation of the Sabbath precedes the giving of the Torah back in Genesis as part of creation. So for someone to say that the Sabbath on the seventh day is for the Jew only and that Sunday is the sabbath for the Christian is to effectively change the day that God created and set in place as a sign between Him and His people.
Shemot-Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it. 9 Six days shall you work and accomplish all your work; 10 but the seventh day is Sabbath to the Lord, your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son, your daughter, your slave, your maidservant, your animal, and your convert within your gates—11 for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.
1616 rg ger {gare} or (fully) ryg geyr (gare)
1) sojourner 1a) a temporary inhabitant, a newcomer lacking inherited rights 1b) of foreigners in Israel, though conceded rights
The word translated as convert is actually sojourner or foreigner who has chosen to reside among Israel. In doing this the individual has chosen to take upon themselves all that Israel has taken upon them as God’s people. God makes it perfectly clear here that there is no other day that can be called the Sabbath day and that trying to mix Sunday worship and elevating Sunday to a place that God has not given to it Himself is to transgress the Torah of God and His teachings as He has set them down and given them to us. To mix the seventh day and the first day together in some way or combination of ways is as strange a fire to God as was the fire that Nadab and Abihu brought before God and you know what happened to them.
Now many will say, when thy read this, that I am being harsh about those who are worshipping on Sunday or calling Sunday the Sabbath. Anyway, they will say, didn’t Paul say that we could worship on any day of the week and call any day the Sabbath? No he did not! What was the sin of Ephraim? They mixed the God given with the idolatry and called it holy and dedicated it to their gods. Were their gods the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? No! Is the god that is honored on Sunday the same God that created the seventh day and called it the Sabbath day? Think about it people.
How can Ephraim ever hope to make Judah jealous and to have them seek after what they have if Ephraim will not give up those things that made God angry with them in the first place! Many say what harm is there in worshipping on Sunday? After all as long as we honor Him on some day isn’t that what counts? Then what was the purpose in God creating the Sabbath Day in the first place if we can change it to any day that we choose to?
Shemot-Exodus 31:12-17 The Lord said to Moses, saying 13 `Now you, speak to the Children of Israel, saying ‘However, you must observe My Sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you for your generations, to know that I am the Lord, Who makes you holy. 14 You shall observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you; its desecrators shall be put to death, for whoever does work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among its people. 15 For six days work may be done and the seventh day is a day of complete rest, it is sacred to the Lord; whoever does work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.’ 16 The Children of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to make the Sabbath an eternal covenant for their generations. 17 Between Me and the Children of Israel it is a sign forever that in a six-day period the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed."
0226 twa 'owth {oth}
1) sign, signal 1a) a distinguishing mark 1b) banner 1c) remembrance 1d) miraculous sign 1e) omen 1f) warning 2) token, ensign, standard, miracle, proof
Interesting is it not, that the Sabbath is a sign between God and Israel? As you can see in the list of definitions above one of the meanings of the Hebrew word ‘oht’ is proof. What do you think of that meaning? God is the one who is making the statement in this passage of Scripture so God is the one who is stating that the Sabbath is a sign or is proof of His relationship between Himself and His people—Israel. And He says that it is the seventh day not the first! He goes on to say that it is an eternal covenant. We have looked at the Hebrew word before in other articles and have seen that it means just what it says—eternal—forever—has always been and will always be.
So then how can we have the audacity to say that it has been changed and the arrogance to say that it is for the Jews only? That is taking liberty with the word of God that He never intended. The only one that intended this to take place is Satan. He desires that the Sabbath day should be changed because in provoking man to do so he knows that we will be breaking the covenant that God made with His people. The seventh day Sabbath is a sign of His covenant. It is a covenant that precedes Mount Sinai and goes all the way back to the Creation. Creation itself was capped off with the creation of the Sabbath. It was the highlight, so to speak, of God’s work and in giving us the Sabbath He gave us a taste of what will come when mankind truly enters into that time beyond time when Sabbath peace will reign supreme.
Shemot-Exodus 35:2 On six days, work may be done, but the seventh day shall be holy for you, a day of complete rest for the Lord; whoever does work on it shall be put to death.
This is a hard thing for us to understand but one that is necessary for us to come to a complete acceptance of if we are to realize just how seriously God takes the Sabbath. Yes, I know, that many of you will be saying that if the Sabbath was really the seventh day then those of us who are keeping the Sabbath on the 1st day should be dead. So, you rationalize, that it must be alright to keep the Sabbath on the 1st day. Why is it that you think that God has to strike you down to show you the validity of His Sabbath day? Could this not be one of the things that God will judge you on in that day that He sits in judgment of all of mankind and those who have disregarded His Torah? Think about it long and hard. It could affect your eternal life.
Vayikra-Leviticus 16:31 It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall afflict yourselves; an eternal decree.
I have thrown this passage in at this point to show you that God has chosen other days to be equivalent to the Sabbath and should be observed as such. Remember that it is God who made this choice not us. And when you study His word you see that He has not created or instructed us to observe any other day of the week or time of the year the same as the weekly Sabbath. The Sabbath day in question in this passage of Scripture is the one of Yom Kippur—The Day of Atonement—one of God’s Moedim or Appointed Times. For more on God’s Appointed Times please read Vayikra-Leviticus Chapter 23. This chapter contains all of God’s Moedim and lo and behold the first Moedim in God’s list is the seventh day Sabbath.
Vayikra-Leviticus 23:3 For six days labor may be done, and the seventh day is a day of complete rest, a holy convocation, you shall not do any work; it is a Sabbath for the Lord in all your dwelling places.
Now some have said in defense of worshipping on the seventh day that to worship would be a form of work not rest. This is nothing more than justification for worshipping on Sunday. Because as you can clearly see in this passage that we are instructed to come together in a holy convocation. The Hebrew word for convocation used here is ‘mikra.’
4744 arqm miqra' {mik-raw'}
1) convocation, convoking, reading, a calling together 1a) convocation, sacred assembly 1b) convoking 1c) reading
So how could it be work to worship God if He is the one who is telling us to gather together to worship Him? That just does not make sense at all. He tells us to rest from our everyday labors and come together in an assembly and worship Him on the seventh day. Any other day than this is an ordinary day and you are not restricted from coming together and worshipping Him but you cannot call any day the Sabbath unless He has designated it as so.
Vayikra-Leviticus 23:24 Speak to the Children of Israel, saying In the seventh month, on the first of the month, there shall be a rest day for you, a remembrance with shofar blasts, a holy convocation.
Once again we see God setting apart another day to be kept as a Sabbath as in the way of the weekly Sabbath But we see that this is, once again, one of His Moedim—Appointed Times—what Judaism calls Rosh Hashanah or Head of the Year but Biblically it is called Yom Teruah or Day of the Blast.
Remember that God sets the times, not us. We seem to have a lapse of memory when it comes to understanding that God is the Creator, not us. We create nothing but adapt that which God has already brought into being or enables us to bring about. Satan cannot create. He just uses what God has already given to us and makes it into his own thing. We do the same. We have taken liberties with what God has given to us. Along with these liberties come responsibility. Have we handled what He has given to us responsibly? One only needs to take a look at what we have done to the Torah and with the Torah. We have interpreted the Torah as we have seen fit saying that we have the authority of God to do so. It is one thing to interpret it is another matter altogether to throw it out.
Essential to the heart of the Torah are God’s covenants—which He declares to be eternal.
Vayikra-Leviticus 25:2-4 Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall observe a Sabbath rest for the Lord. 3 For six years you may sow your field and for six years you may prune your vineyard; and you may gather in its crop. 4 But the seventh year shall be a complete rest for the land, A Sabbath for the Lord; your filed you shall not sow and your vineyard you shall not prune.
Once again we see instructions from God concerning a Sabbath time. This time it refers to allowing the land to have a Sabbath rest every seven years as we have a day of rest every seven days. In fact when you study Scripture you see that one of the reasons that Israel was exiled from the land was because she did not honor the Sabbath rest for the land. What does that say to us when our society is predicated on the belief of 24/7—24 hours a day seven days a week. Where is the rest that God commands? Should not our example be God and not man? God rested on the seventh day and set it apart and instructed us to do the same thing. How many of us really obey the Sabbath command whether we do it on the seventh day or the first? Do we rest and gather together in a holy convocation for Him or do we begrudgingly give Him maybe an hour or two? Is this honoring the Sabbath day let alone honoring the right day?
Bamidbar-Numbers 15:32-34 The Children of Israel were in the Wilderness and they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to the entire assembly. 34 They placed him in custody, for it had not been clarified what should be done to him.
The rabbinical commentary says this about this particular incident: Since the Torah stresses that he was found while committing the sin, the Sages derive that the witnesses had warned him that he was committing a capital offense and he persisted in doing it. This satisfied the halachic requirement that one is not liable to the death penalty unless he ignores a warning and his act is seen by two valid witnesses. Thereupon they brought him to the entire assembly or those who served as Moses’ court.
Only the nature and procedure of the death penalty had not been clarified, but they knew, as stated in Exodus 31:14, that Sabbath desecration incurs the death penalty. Had it not been known that Sabbath desecration was a capital offense, the transgressor would not have been executed, because part of the necessary warning is notification of the gravity of the penalty.
The penalty was to be carried out in the presence of the assembly, so that others would see the consequences of sin and be deterred from committing it.
The above is all rabbinic commentary on the passage in question and represents various rabbinical opinions and not just one. Whether you accept the commentary or not what is being shown here is just how seriously God takes His Sabbath day. It is a sign of His covenant with His people. When our earliest ancestors refused to follow the ways of God He chose individuals to carry His truth and ultimately He chose a people that He would call His own. This people would place their faith in Him and He would give them His Torah to guide them until the coming of His Son Yeshua. Then it would through faith in Yeshua and following the Torah that would set apart God’s people who He had named Israel. Compromise was not in God’s instruction. The mixing of clean and unclean together was not His intention. These things were done by man and man alone under the prodding of Satan. It was not under the power of the Ruach HaKodesh.
When man begins to tamper or I should say alter the word of God by changing His commands which involve His Sabbaths and Moedim among other things then we are not just interpreting the Word but we are doing away with His Word and bringing it to naught. This is not what He allows us to do and when we do this He is not pleased with our efforts. That is because it is not our efforts on His behalf but it is our efforts on our behalf. It is what we desire and not what He desires.
Devarim-Deuteronomy 5:12-15 Safeguard the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as Yahweh, your God, has commanded you. 13 Six days shall you labor and accomplish all your work; 14 but the seventh day is Sabbath to the Lord, your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son, your daughter, your slave, your maidservant, your ox, your donkey, and your every animal, and your sojourner within your gates, in order that your slave and your maidservant may rest like you. 15 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord, your God, has taken you out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord, your God, has commanded you to make the Sabbath day.
1616 rg ger {gare} or (fully) ryg geyr (gare)
1) sojourner 1a) a temporary inhabitant, a newcomer lacking inherited rights 1b) of foreigners in Israel, though conceded rights
In the translation of the Bible that I am using the word rendered stranger is translated as convert but for the sake of faithfulness to the Hebrew translation I have used stranger. Convert, in my estimation, is a poor translation as it is indicating to us that the stranger or foreigner who resides among Israel has converted to the faith of Israel but in reality what they have done is not convert but have done teshuvah or they have turned back to God from their former practices which were against God’s word—the Torah.
Another interesting point in this passage of Scripture is the fact that the Sabbath rest is extended to and expected to be kept by the servants or slaves of the Israelites. This brings us into a new understanding of the application of the Sabbath rest. The Sabbath rest applies to all Israel and that includes any and all persons residing in Israel and even down to the animals. In other words all mankind including the animal kingdom shall keep the Sabbath day. No exceptions!
2 Chronicles 36:21 This was in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, until the land would be appeased of its Sabbatical yeas—all the years of its desolation it rested, to the completion of seventy years.
The rabbinical commentary on this passage has this to say Most of Jeremiah’s fifty-two chapters warned of the impending Destruction and Exile. Leviticus 26:34-35 foretells that in retribution for Israel’s failure to observe the Sabbatical years properly, the land would rest because its inhabitants would be banished. The Sages teach that seventy such years were violated, and this exile lasted for seventy years.
What we now see is that the Sabbath rest did not apply solely to the people or the animals alone but was also to apply to the Land itself. Every seven years the land was to be left to rest. One of the main reasons that the Children of Israel were exiled from the Land was because of this violation of the Sabbatical year of rest for the Land. What we learn from this and the other Scriptures that we have read so far is that God takes His Sabbath rest seriously. So seriously, in fact, that violation of the Sabbath brings upon the person who does so the death penalty and in the case of violating the Sabbatical year exile from the Land.
Now I realize that some will make the comment or observation that if violating the Sabbath day brings the death penalty then it must be alright for Christianity to observe the Sabbath on the first day of the week because they are not being killed by God. Before one can make that assumption we need to remember that as Ephraim cast off the ways of God they were not killed but dispersed into all the nations of the earth. They lost their identity as Israelites which in many ways could be considered a fate worse than death.
Christianity has lost its identity and has continued to follow the ways of their ancestors Ephraim in casting off the ways of God. Yes, they have accepted Yeshua as Messiah but they have accepted very little else that God has promised to Israel. First and foremost among the instructions of God is His Sabbath and in that teaching He tells us that His Sabbath day is the seventh day!
Nehemiah 9:14 You made known Your sacred Sabbath to them; and You instructed them with commandments, decrees, and teaching through the hand of Your servant Moses.
4687 hwcm mitsvah {mits-vaw'}
1) commandment 1a) commandment (of man) 1b) the commandment (of God) 1c) commandment (of code of wisdom)2706 qx choq {khoke}
1) statute, ordinance, limit, something prescribed, due 1a) prescribed task 1b) prescribed portion 1c) action prescribed (for oneself), resolve 1d) prescribed due 1e) prescribed limit, boundary 1f) enactment, decree, ordinance 1f1) specific decree 1f2) law in general 1g) enactments, statutes 1g1) conditions 1g2) enactments 1g3) decrees 1g4) civil enactments prescribed by God8451 hrwt towrah {to-raw'} or hrt torah {to-raw'}
1) law, direction, instruction 1a) instruction, direction (human or divine) 1a1) body of prophetic teaching 1a2) instruction in Messianic age 1a3) body of priestly direction or instruction 1a4) body of legal directives 1b) law 1b1) law of the burnt offering 1b2) of special law, codes of law 1c) custom, manner 1d) the Deuteronomic or Mosaic Law
This passage from Nehemiah shows us that the Sabbath is part of the commandments and statutes that are contained in the Torah that God gave to Israel at Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses. And yet we also know that the Sabbath was given prior to Mount Sinai as evidenced in the opening verses of Genesis describing what God created. The Sabbath was God’s crowning achievement and capped off Creation.
Nehemiah 13:15-22 In those days I observed in Judah [people] bringing sheaves and loading them on the donkeys, as well as wine, grapes and figs and every burden, bringing them to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. I warned them on the day they sold their provisions. 16 [Also, the Tyrians who dwelled there would bring fish and every merchandise and sell [them] on the Sabbath to the people of Judah—and in Jerusalem! 17 So I contended with the aristocrats of Judah, and I said to them, `What is this wicked thing that you are doing, desecrating the Sabbath day? 18 Did not your ancestors do this, and then our God brought all this evil upon us and upon this city? And now you bring additional wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath!' 19 It happened when the gates of Jerusalem cast shadows before the Sabbath, that I spoke [the order] and the doors were closed, and I spoke [the order] not to open them until after the Sabbath. I stationed some of my servants at the gates, [so that] no burden could come in on the Sabbath. 20 So the merchants and the sellers of every merchandise lodged outside Jerusalem once and then a second time. 21 I warned them, and said to them, `Why do you lodge across from the wall? If you repeat this, I will send a force against you!' From that time onward thy did not come on the Sabbath. 22 Then I told the Levites that they should regularly purify themselves and come as guards of the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day.
This is one of the most difficult things that I have to deal with as a congregational leader. What I mean is that I have felt that God is dealing with me on this matter concerning what I allow to happen within my two congregations concerning buying and selling on the Sabbath. What I do concerning the books and tapes, etc. that we have to offer to the people I put out on tables for the people to look at and buy if they so desire? I have them put the money in our offering box on the table and do not handle the money myself. But in the end I have sanctioned buying and selling on the Sabbath day which would have to be considered a violation of God’s instructions concerning the Sabbath day.
I have not found a solution to this dilemma as when else would I be able to offer these materials to the people as these materials are good for the people. If I offered them on the days we hold Bible study the problem that I would have is that only a small portion of the people attend the Bible study. This is no small issue to me as it has been weighing heavy on my mind for some time now.
Psalm 9:21-16 1 A psalm, a song for the Sabbath day. 2 It is good to thank the Lord and to sing praise to Your Name, O Exalted One; 3 to relate Your kindness in the dawn and Your faith in the nights. 4 Upon a ten-stringed instrument and upon lyre, with singing accompanied by a harp. 5 For You have gladdened me, the Lord, with Your deeds; at the works of Your hands I sing glad song. 6 How great are Your deeds, O Lord; exceedingly profound are Your thoughts. 7 A boor cannot know nor can a fool understand this 8 When the wicked bloom like grass and all the doers of iniquity blossom, it is to destroy them till eternity. 9 But You remain exalted forever, O Lord. 10 For behold Your enemies, O Lord, for behold, Your enemies shall perish; dispersed shall be all doers of iniquity. 11 You raised my pride as a re’eim’s, I was saturated with ever-fresh oil. 12 My eyes have seen my vigilant foes; when those who would harm me rise up against me, my ears have heard. 13 A righteous man will flourish like a date palm, like a cedar in the Lebanon he will grow tall. 14 Planted in the house of the Lord, in the courtyards of our God they will flourish. 15 They will still be fruitful in old age, vigorous and fresh they will be, 16 to declare that the Lord is just, my Rock in Whom there is no wrong.
6697 rwc tsuwr {tsoor} or rc tsur {tsoor}
1) rock, cliff 1a) rocky wall, cliff 1b) rock (with flat surface) 1c) block of stone, boulder 1d) rock (specific) 1e) rock (of God) 1f) rock (of heathen gods) n pr dei 1g) Rock
It is very apparent that this Psalm was written for the Sabbath and it says so at the beginning. And in this Psalm we see how we are to celebrate the Sabbath. We are to sing songs and play instruments and give thanks and praise to the Name of God. We are to admire what God has done. The Sabbath rest is not for the wicked because we see in this Psalm that their fate is destruction for all eternity. Only those of Israel can enter into the Sabbath rest that He has given to the people of Israel.
Connected to all of this is the statement at the end of the Psalm that God is the Rock of Israel. He is the foundation stone upon which Israel is built. We, who are Believers in Yeshua, know that this Rock that is being described here is none other than Yeshua our Messiah—God Himself.
Are we celebrating the Sabbath the way that God intended us to? How many of you are setting the Sabbath day aside to honor Him all the day long? Does the Church truly set aside the day that they consider the Sabbath and give the whole time over to Him? Does Judah? Remember that one of the reasons that Judah and Ephraim were punished by God is because they did not keep His Sabbaths! This is not a little thing to God. Honor Him and He will honor us. Disobey Him and change that which He has given to us and be prepared to face His judgment. Remember that it is terrifying to fall into the hands of the Living God.
Yeshayahu-Isaiah 56:2-6 Praiseworthy is the man who does this and the person who grasps it tightly who guards the Sabbath against desecrating it and guards his hand against doing any evil. 3 Let not the foreigner, who has joined himself to Yahweh, speak, saying, ‘The Lord will utterly separate me from His people’; and let not the barren one say, ‘Behold I am a shriveled tree.’ 4 For thus said the Lord to the barren ones who observe My Sabbaths and choose what I desire, and grasp My covenant tightly 5 In My house and within My walls I will give them a place of honor and renown, which is better than sons and daughters; eternal renown will I give them, which will never be terminated. 6 And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to serve Him and to love the Name of the Lord to become servants unto Him, all who guard the Sabbath against desecration, and grasp My covenant tightly.
Verse 4 has some very important words that we need to allow to sink in and pay very close attention to what God is saying to us. He says...AND CHOOSE WHAT I DESIRE, AND GRASP MY COVENANT TIGHTLY. God desires the best for us but we have the free will to choose that which He does not desire for us. It is evident from this passage of Scripture that one of the foremost desires of God is that we observe His Sabbath. He and He alone has applied the title of Sabbath to those days that He has chosen. Among those days are the weekly Sabbath and those Sabbaths that are part of or stand alone as one of His moedim or Appointed Times. He has not, anywhere else in His word chosen any other days that He has called a Sabbath and that means most significantly the first day of the week or what we commonly now call Sunday. Nowhere in His word, both Old and New Testaments, does He address the first day of the week as anything special nor did He ever intend it to be so. To apply the title of Lord’s Day or Resurrection Day to Sunday is to elevate that day out of the other six to something that God never intended.
He chose the days and times that we were to hold apart and honor in a special way that He chose. He did not do this with the first day nor any other day of the week other than the 7th Day Sabbath. When we understand this fundamental teaching of God’s we will understand how it all fits into His plan not ours.
Isaiah 58:13-14 If you restrain your foot because it is the Sabbath; refrain from accomplishing your own needs on MY holy day; if you proclaim the Sabbath ‘a delight,’ and the holy [day] of the Lord ‘honored,’ and you honor it by not engaging in your own affairs, from seeking your own needs or discussing the forbidden—14 then you will delight in the Lord, and I will mount you astride the heights of the world; I will provide you the heritage of your forefather Jacob, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.
When we change the Sabbath day we are doing our own thing, not His! When we do our own thing we are doing what Ephraim and Judah both have done time and time again in that we have changed the ways of God to suit our needs rather than what is pleasing to God. Judah has returned to Torah and to God’s ways but lost the Spirit along the way as well as being blinded to the truth of Yeshua. Ephraim found Yeshua but made Him over into someone that was pleasing to them rather than accepting Him for who He was and is. While Judah has attempted to stay the course in God’s Moedim, Ephraim has rejected His Moedim and created their own much in the same way that Ephraim/Israel of old old did after splitting from Judah. Now it has come to the point where the days that Ephraim has created on her own are now being used as the benchmark against which all other Believers are being tested. That which God declared unclean has now been made clean by man and not by God.
Isaiah 66:23 It shall be that at every New Moon and on every Sabbath all mankind will come to prostrate themselves before Me, says the Lord.
God declared the seventh day to be the Sabbath Day and some of the Moedim. He did not declare the first day to be the ‘new’ Sabbath. Everything He did He did by using that which He had created not that which man had. Yes, Yeshua rose from the dead on the first day of the week but in fulfillment of the Festival of First Fruits—Hag HaBikkurim — hence the connection to Rav Shaul’s many references to Yeshua being the first fruits from the dead. This does not make the first day anything special as it was in fulfillment of one of God’s Moedim that came to pass on that day. Anything else accorded to that day is of man’s creation not God.
Jeremiah 17:21-23 Thus said the Lord ‘Beware for your souls; do not carry a burden on the Sabbath day to bring it into the gates of Jerusalem. 22 And do not bring a burden out from your houses on the Sabbath day; you shall not do any [manner of] work. Sanctify the Sabbath day as I commanded your forefathers.’ 23 But they did not listen and did not incline their ear; they stiffened their neck, in order not to hear and in order not to accept rebuke.
It has always been attributed to the Jewish people that they are stiff-necked and stubborn while that description should be applied equally to ALL of Israel—both Judah and Ephraim. Being stiff-necked and stubborn is not something that describes just Judah but I have met many of Ephraim who fit the same description. How many of Ephraim and those who have joined themselves to Ephraim keep the Sabbath Day the way God instructed us to keep it even if they are keeping it on the wrong day? Do they completely set apart that day to Him or do they figure that giving Him an hour or so is enough? The Jewish people may go overboard at times but they are trying to honor Him totally.
Yes, Judah is the elder son in the parable of the prodigal son and when Ephraim tries to return Judah gets angry and asks his Father why have you allowed to come back after he squandered the inheritance you gave to him and turned his back on you and your ways? The Father answers that all that He has left is given to Judah but that his brother has returned to His Father’s house and we must accept him back with no animosity or anger. When Ephraim repents of his ways and comes home Judah must open the door and welcome him back. The Father desires this and the Son gives us the ability to do this. Our love for the Father and the Son given to us through the Ruach—the Spirit will help pave the way home for Ephraim.
Ezekiel 46:1 Thus said the Lord God/the Mighty One `The gate of the inner courtyard that faces eastward shall be closed during the six days of labor, but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened.'
In order for us to change the 7th day Sabbath to the first day we would have to undo all of Scripture from Genesis through Revelation including all of the prophecies that are tied to the 7th day Sabbath. Maybe you want to tamper with what God has put in place but I certainly do not. Do you notice how closely at times the Sabbath day and the New Moon are tied together? How many of us keep the New Moon as God instructs? There are many things that God commands us to do that we simply just ignore. We all need to develop better habits concerning the ways of the Lord.
Mattityahu-Matthew 12:8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.
The power and authority over the Sabbath day is given to the Messiah, the Son of Man, the Son of God. It is into His hands that the authority is given because He was the instrument that the Father used to create all things. The authority over the Sabbath was not given to us. When authority is given to man we tend to abuse it. And in doing that we abuse His creation. The Holy Roman Catholic or just plain Roman Church claimed that as the true church of God they had the authority to change the Sabbath day and yet they also have admitted that they know that the seventh day is the Biblical Sabbath day. So what has man done to the ways of God? And while the rest of Christianity rebukes the ways of the Catholic Church they still cling to many of its creations like the Sunday Sabbath, Christmas, Good Friday and Easter and many other practices that the Catholic Church brought into being, not the early Believers of the Book of Acts.
Mark 12:1 They went into K’far-Nachum (Capernaum), and on Shabbat Yeshua went into the synagogue and began teaching.
Mark 6:2 On Shabbat he started to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded.
In both of these passages from the Apostolic Scriptures we see that Yeshua was in the synagogue on the Shabbat. Since synagogue is always associated with the Jewish people and the Jewish people do not consider the 1st day to be the Sabbath then Yeshua was teaching in the synagogue on the seventh day Sabbath. If you want to disregard the Tanach (Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament) here you have New or Renewed Testament confirmation that Yeshua observed the seventh day Sabbath. If we are called to imitate our Messiah is this not in all things that He did?
First and foremost is our call to follow Yeshua our Messiah in ALL that He said and did. So in that understanding we are called to imitate Him in all that He taught us not only through His teachings but also through His actions.
Luke 41:6 Now when he went to Natzeret, where he had been brought up, on Shabbat he went to the synagogue as usual.
1486 eqw etho {eth'-o}
1) to be accustomed, used, wont 2) that which is wont 3) usage, custom
The word translated as usual here is also translated as custom or in this meaning accustomed to. So it is speaking about the usual things that Yeshua did in His everyday life. According to this and other passages of Scripture He was accustomed to going to the synagogue on the Sabbath day which was the seventh day. So if it was good enough for Yeshua, why isn’t it good enough for us?
Luke 43:1 He went down to K’far-Nachum, a town in the Galil, and made a practice of teaching them on Shabbat.
Luke 6:6 On another Shabbat, when Yeshua had gone into the synagogue and was teaching…
Luke 13:10 Yeshua was teaching in one of the synagogues on Shabbat.
So far we have not seen any indication that our Messiah Yeshua and the Author of all and the Living Torah—the Word made flesh, did anything other than worship on the seventh day, the Shabbat. Once again I say to you, if it was good enough for Yeshua, it should be good enough for us. When one says to me, and they have, that what Paul wrote is scripture and if Paul indicates that one can worship on the first day as the Shabbat that that is from the inspiration of God so it is the word of God, how can that be if it goes against the words and actions of the Living Word Yeshua?
Could this be what is said to be another gospel or another Yeshua? Shaul-Paul would not go against Yeshua as He knew Yeshua to be God. He would not violate the word of God to come up with his own interpretation. So the bottom line is that if Yeshua was worshipping on the seventh day then shouldn’t we?
Acts 13:14 But the others went on from Perga to Pisidian Antioch, and on the Shabbat they went into the synagogue and sat down.
Now this passage is talking about Shaul and those who were with him. Once again we see the Scriptural evidence that Shaul worshipped on the Sabbath day. He did nothing against the Torah as he said he did not.
Acts 13:27 For the people living in Yerushalayim and their leaders did not recognize who Yeshua was or understand the message of the Prophets read every Shabbat…
Acts 13:42 As they left, the people invited Shaul and Bar-Nabba to tell them more about these matters the following Shabbat.
Acts 13:44 The next Shabbat, nearly the whole city gathered together to hear the message about the Lord.
Interesting enough if you really take a close look at these passages of Scripture one of the connections to the Shabbat is the reading of the Torah and the Prophets. If you take Acts 13:44 at face value you would have to assume that even those who were not Jewish showed up at the synagogue the following Shabbat to hear Shaul share about Yeshua. So the seventh day was a day of rest to apparently more than just the Jewish people. Could there have been perhaps some of the ten tribes thrown in the mix here?
Acts 15:21 For from the earliest times, Moshe has had in every city those who proclaim him, with his words being read in the synagogues every Shabbat.
This is a very oft ignored Scripture because in it we see not only the mention of being in the synagogues every Shabbat but that Moshe was being proclaimed. What does it mean that Moshe was being proclaimed? The Torah was being proclaimed in connection with the seventh day Shabbat. The Shabbat that Yahweh had created as the seventh day—not the first!
Acts 17:2 According to his usual practice, Shaul went in; and on three Shabbatot he gave them drashot from the Tanakh.
Do you see the connection between Shaul’s usual customs and those of Yeshua? They both went to the synagogues on the Sabbath and taught about Torah. So for one to claim that Shaul did otherwise would go against what Shaul did in the everyday course of his life just as Yeshua had done.
Acts 18:4 Shaul also began carrying on discussions every Shabbat in the synagogue, where he tried to convince both Jews and Greeks.
So we see that both Jews and Greeks were in the synagogue on the seventh day—the Sabbath day. How can one even intimate that Shaul or for that matter the other Believers did anything other than honor the seventh day as the Sabbath? That would fly in the reality of the Scriptures that we are reading here.
Hebrews 4:4 For there is a place where it is said, concerning the seventh day, "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works [Genesis 22]."
Shaul makes the connection back to the Creation account and what it has to say concerning the Sabbath. He is establishing the seventh day Sabbath as being created by God thereby saying that only God can change it not man!
Exodus 31:13 Now you speak to the Children of Israel, saying ‘However, you must observe My Sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you for your generations, to know that I am the Lord, Who makes you holy.'
0226 twa 'owth {oth}
1) sign, signal 1a) a distinguishing mark 1b) banner 1c) remembrance 1d) miraculous sign 1e) omen 1f) warning 2) token, ensign, standard, miracle, proof
The seventh day Sabbath is a sign, a distinguishing mark, a banner, a remembrance, proof of the covenant between God and the Children of Israel. If the Church’s claim that it is the new Israel is true then one of those signs would be their resting on the seventh day Sabbath. Are they? If they are as they claim themselves to be the new Israel then does that mean that the seventh day Sabbath is a sign for the Jews and the first day a sign for the Church? If that is so then one of those days is not the Sabbath and a sign from God. Since God never mentions the first day as being the Sabbath day then we must assume from Scripture that the first day is false and therefore it is not a sign of God’s covenant with His people.
So then we must come to the conclusion that the seventh day is still the Sabbath day and that His covenant between Himself and His people is marked by that day so then the Church cannot be Israel but that Judah can be part of Israel though they need to come to faith in Yeshua to remain a part of the Olive tree that is Israel. Ephraim must return to its Biblical heritage in order to remain part of the Olive tree that is the reunited, redeemed people of the covenant—Israel!
Leviticus 19:3 Every man Your mother and father shall you revere, and My Sabbaths shall you observe—I am the Lord, your God.
Leviticus 19:30 My Sabbaths shall you observe and My Sanctuary shall you revere—I am the Lord.
Leviticus 26:2 My Sabbaths shall you observe and My Sanctuary shall you revere—I am the Lord.
God has a tendency to repeat Himself but it must be something that is very near and dear to His heart for Him to do so. So I have to conclude that the Sabbath is something that God does not take lightly. He talks about it enough.
Leviticus 26:34-35 Then the land will be appeased for its sabbaticals during all the years of its desolation, while you are in the land of your foes; then the land will rest and it will appease for its sabbaticals. All the years of is desolation it will rest, whatever it did not rest during your sabbaticals when you dwelled upon her.
The important thing here is that even the land was entitled to a Sabbath rest of its own. That was one of the things that caused God to punish the Children of Israel. They did not give the land its sabbatical rest. All of God’s creation was entitled to rest on the Sabbath and the land was given a rest every seven years besides the weekly Sabbath rest when no work was to be done.
Leviticus 26:43 The Land will be bereft of them; and it will be appeased for its sabbaticals having become desolate of them; and they must gain appeasement for their iniquity; because they were revolted by My ordinances and because their spirit rejected My decrees.
Are not we doing this same thing today? Are we not rejecting His ordinances not just by physically turning away from them but by rejecting the commandments of God in our spirits? God is a holy and just God and He must turn His face away from His people until the time comes when they begin to turn back to Him and to His ways—His Torah! Contained within the Torah is the teaching of the Sabbath day and what He expects from us on this day. He set the pattern we are called to follow it. For if no one knows better than God then who are we to refuse to follow Him?
Isaiah 11:3 Bring your worthless meal-offering no longer; it is incense of abomination to Me. [As for] the New Moon and Sabbath, and your calling of convocations, I cannot abide mendacity with solemn assembly.
As defined by the dictionary, mendacity means untruthful or false. Taken in context with what Yahweh is saying here is that He cannot stand our convocations in His name because we are hypocrites. We do one thing and say something else. And yet has this not been the problem with us all along? Instead of doing as He has instructed us we choose our own way and then say that it is dedicated to Him and in our own minds we have sanctified that which is not holy to Him or what He told us to do.
Both Ephraim and Judah are guilty of this. We need to stop pointing fingers at one another and take a look in the mirror and examine ourselves first before we dare point to another.
Lamentations 2:6 He stripped His booth like a garden, He destroyed His place of assembly. The Lord made Zion oblivious of festival and Sabbath, and in His fierce anger He spurned king and Kohen.
Turn away from God and do not expect that He will bless you if you reject His ways. Now some will say that if this is true then the Church must be doing what He wants because He is blessing the Church. If we take this premise as being true how do we explain that Judah, who for the most part have rejected Yeshua and Torah, is kept intact and no one would argue that His hand is not upon the state of Israel because how else do you explain its miraculous rebirth and being kept safe despite the attacks of its enemies? Is it not possible that God can bless us in spite of ourselves? Yet how much more could we have if we just surrendered ourselves to Him and followed His ways, which includes the Sabbath.
Ezekiel 20:10-12 So I took them out of the land of Egypt and brought them to the Wilderness. 11 I gave them My decrees and My laws I made known to them, through which, if a man fulfills them, he will live through them. 12 I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, to know that I am the Lord Who sanctifies them.
Ezekiel 44:24 Concerning a disagreement, they shall stand in judgment, and shall adjudicate them according to My laws; they shall safeguard My teachings and My decrees regarding all My appointed times and they shall sanctify My Sabbaths.
We know what happened to the Children of Israel in the Wilderness. Because of their disobedience those who had come out of Egypt 20 years of age and older were to die in the wilderness and would not enter into the Promised Land. Of that generation only Caleb and Joshua would enter into the Promised Land. Not even Moses would enter in.
In Caleb and Joshua we have Judah and Ephraim standing side by side as they leave one home for a promise. They remain faithful to God and His commands and remain faithful to one another. Would it be that in our day Judah and Ephraim would once again stand side by side as equals partaking of the promises and the covenant mediated through Yeshua the Messiah.
The Sabbath is one of the signs of those promises and that covenant that God made between Himself and with Israel. Circumventing the Sabbath and changing it is changing His Word and His covenant. To do this one must be prepared for the consequences that go with adding to or taking away from the word of Yahweh. Are you prepared to walk this path? Do you place your faith in the word of man or in the Word of God? He sets the times and their seasons. He created the physical and spiritual worlds. He is the source of all life.
He gave the Sabbath day as a sign between Him and us. It is the seal of His covenant, a sign of His word. He has not changed so His sign has not changed. Only man changes and therein lies the problem.
ETZ CHAYIM-TREE OF LIFE MESSIANIC CONGREGATIONS
of Las Cruces and Alamogordo
PO Box 467, Organ, NM 88052
575-382-0193 FAX: 866-800-2390
TREE OF LIFE MESSIANIC MINISTRIES