John 5:18 . . . "Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him,
because he not only had broken the sabbath,
but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God."
The Sabbath issue will trouble men so long as other men have different personal opinions, that are not dwarfed; by the MESSIAH HIMSELF. This I believe could be more important than their Sabbath doctrines. Men wish to control the activities of other men. People seem to have a thirst to control and manipulate others. They basically want others to please them in the way they think, instead of allowing each person to follow their own personal conscience in pleasing the Creator of all days. So the RAGE of the Sabbath controversy continues. I believe over what lies in man�s selfish desire to be KING over other people, through their doctrine, instead of allowing THE KING to be MASTER of each believer�s Sabbath observance; which is true REST.
Judgment of others even to the point of death has occurred many times. YaHWeH even has pronounced the death sentence upon persons breaking the Sabbath in the Old Testament and instructed Moses to have the people at large stone the Sabbath Breaker to death. The Roman Catholic Church took the same stand for the first day of the week commanding that people KEEPING Moses� Sabbath be killed for Keeping the 4th Commandment of the Decalogue. The Muslims have done the same thing to people, which did not view the day before Moses� Sabbath, (i.e. Friday) as the Sabbath to Allah their God. So do we need any further proof that men today are no different and desire their friends, their relatives, and society around them to observe their chosen day in their chosen way that according to them is the way God demands it.
High Emotions surround every commandment, Exodus 20. If you cannot understand that, you do not understand the commandments. Second you have never personally been offended by another infringing upon your rights contained in that particular commandment or limiting your fulfilling that commandment according to your personal conscience and understanding of it. Example: do you get upset if someone steals your property? Exodus 20:15 That�s like asking, �if you are reading this are you still breathing?�
But Dale, "aren't you way off the subject.?� Am I? Or is the reason you are reading this is because you have already got into some HIGH EMOTIONAL discussions on the subject of SABBATH KEEPING.? If not just start talking to people outside your church group about it and it won�t be long and you will. In fact, some of us don�t even need to go outside our own personal fellowship to get these emotions running wild. So how on God�s green earth are we going to reconcile all these differences? We aren�t.! It's that simple, we aren't. But what we hope to do is to come to a personal peace about the Sabbath issue so we can walk in harmony with our loved ones and those that differ from us without hating them to death. Or we will find in the New Testament that we are then murderers ourselves and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life.
Now the way some people PUSH the SABBATH DAY issue you would think that this doctrine contains eternal life itself. I say, �where is the authority to that point?� It�s not in the New Testament. Eternal life is only available in MESSIAH. Let�s PUSH MESSIAH as the answer to lost humanity and the only answer to a lost and dying world.
AUTHORITY is also a key to answering this question as with any theological question. The Muslims authority says FRIDAY is the SABBATH. Yet they give a lot of lip service to MOSES and THE LAW, but they reject the Jewish Sabbath given by YaHWeH (the TRUE God and Only Creator) to MOSES and contained in THE LAW.
CHURCH AUTHORITY, rules and regulations are what the Roman Catholic Church is based on. They claim the right of interpretation for the world and it is they which claim credit for changing the SABBATH DAY from the biblical historical Jewish Sabbath day (Sun down Friday to Sun down Saturday) the seventh day of the week, to "the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK" (SUNday).
My hope and prayer is that you will want to know what the New Testament really teaches on this subject instead of going with the tradition of men which has been around for over 1,700 years since the birth of the blood thirsty Roman Catholic Church. Does this mean that I am going to defend the Jewish Sabbath Day? Well, yes and no. Yes, in that the Sabbath day was never changed to a different day. But NO, in that I don�t PUSH the Sabbath day as a doctrine of deliverance, salvation, or test of fellowship all of which becomes a judgment of others as to their standing with God based on how we observe and don�t observe a particular DAY each week.
But if we are going to do this we are going to have to agree first on the ultimate basis for our authority in this discussion. There is a PUSH by some LAW KEEPERS to bend and break anything in the New Testament that does not line up with their understanding of the Old Testament according to the Law of Moses. Well, if we are going to do that and to throw out everything in the New Testament which is not clearly taught in the Old Testament it is clear to the thinking man that all you will end up with is the Old Testament. And if that is all we need, then we never needed a New Testament or the suffering MESSIAH coming as the Lamb of God. This is what some people which KEEP THE SABBATH have done and some have actually forsaken the New Testament (Covenant) and the saving shed BLOOD of the promised MESSIAH which has already come to save sinners around 2,000 years ago.
I base my faith on the New Covenant (New Testament) first using the spoken words of the MESSIAH as absolute (above anything) as the word of God (Matt:4:4) and above any supposed contradiction between HIS words and the Old Testament. Next since my faith is built upon MESSIAH and HIS Apostles and Prophets (i.e. the New Testament) I will take any CLEAR teaching in the New Testament above the Old Testament. Yup, I�m one of them. If that bothers you, I�m sorry, but that is the way I will be happy to live and DIE. My only Hope for salvation is first, primary, and preeminently upon Grace through faith in the shed blood of the RESURRECTED MESSIAH, YaHWeH in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16), Emmanuel.
So I will be basing my doctrine of the SABBATH (for our present day living) upon the New Covenant as the final authority. You might have noticed I said, �for our present day living.� Based upon the entire Bible I do believe the SABBATH is a dispensation-ally controlled doctrine. That is to say that from time to time the requirements of YaHWeH seem to change as pertains to HIS requirements or none requirements for observing certain days as SABBATHS, which includes the weekly SABBATH outlined in the Ten Commandments.
Therefore ones interpretation of the TEN COMMANDMENTS and its applications for TODAY will also have to be taken into account. As well as the question of whether the TEN COMMANDMENTS are dispensational or the embodiment of the Old Testament God. I have heard preached and have seen written that the Ten Commandments are YaHWeH (not just YaHWeH's will or the Law of Moses). This is believed so strongly by some LAW KEEPERS, that a mental line has been crossed to make: YaHWeH = The Ten Commandments. The tables of stone hidden in the ark of the covenant become their mental icon for THE FATHER YaHWeH. This has also been preached and written by some of those that believe one MUST KEEP the TEN COMMANDMENTS to be saved. Personally I believe this extreme is an error of heresy and could even become blasphemy because it makes "THE LAW" a god, instead of simply testifying of God. (John 5:39)
YaHWeH was NOT symbolized by the tables put into the �ark of the covenant�, as some may think. What is your mental picture of �the Father.?� For Philip it became the MESSIAH even before HIS resurrection. "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? HE that hath seen me hath seen the FATHER; and how sayest thou then, Show us the FATHER?" John 14:8&9
But some people believe in an angry O.T. God �YaHWeH� which is separate from their compassionate N.T. Saviour, "YaHshua" whom some make into another god, or just the natural son of Joseph the carpenter. They should have read Isaiah 44:6 to see that YaHWeH of the O.T. is also YaHWeH (MESSIAH) i.e. YaHWe-shua HIS Hebrew Name in the N.T. revelation as the one and same, �son-of-man� and �son-of-God� speaking of that physical manifestation.
When we realize YaHWeH was building and using �THE LAW� as a bridge to humanity for salvation (not because any pure descent of Adam would ever KEEP IT) but because YaHWe-shua MESSIAH (YaHWeH manifested in the flesh) would come AND FULFILL �THE LAW�S� DEMANDS � as �the son of man� (for all of humanity) which will believe upon HIM for their salvation. And then �the eternal one� in human form having WON ETERNAL LIFE legally, would GIVE IT up on the cross, to die the death required of all LAW BREAKERS � (which every one of us are) so that we could GO FREE based upon the righteousness of God in CHRIST (MESSIAH), our O.T. kinsman redeemer. Whereby HE (MESSIAH) is going to do for us which we were unable to do for ourselves. We needed a SAVIOUR, not just repentance and to become a Law Keeper and Sabbath Keeper.
The biggest injustice in the universe performed by LOVE incarnate to save, WHOSOEVER WILL BELIEVE. �Righteousness by belief� my friend is �the faith of Abraham� not KEEPING THE LAW. (Romans 3:21)
Let�s examine some examples
of SABBATH observance. Now are we
going to rewrite the Bible to suit ourselves or just use exactly what it says?
If you want to be a politician and interpret the scripture to contain
what it does not say , then you rewrite the scriptures at least in your
belief, mind and
heart. Is that not a very dangerous
path in influencing others? A path that could wrongly lead you into greater
self-deception? YES to both, very
dangerous.
1) The first reference to the SABBATH DAY. First we must be able to agree that SABBATH means REST. Therefore it means a day of REST. Not a day of worship, not a day of good deeds, not a day of traveling and enjoyment but a day of REST.
2) Please note in the following verses that YaHWeH is the one who RESTED (i.e. finished all HIS work of creation); and that is WHY YaHWeH sanctified (WHICH DAY?) the SEVENTH day.
3) Please note HE did not say, the fourteen day, the twenty first day, the 28th, the 35th, the 42nd, 49, 56, on and on in consecutive sevens. But in the first chapter YaHWeH has just described what a day is (the evening and the morning) where the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, day. Is it going to surprise you that YaHWeH tells you what HE did on day number Seven?
4)
Does the text say that Adam and Eve rested?
NO Does the text say Adam and Eve worshipped YaHWeH on the 7th
day? Does it say Adam and Eve
traveled and investigated Eden and enjoyed themselves on day number Seven?
Did they go out to dinner that day? Well, what did they do on day number Seven?
Since it doesn�t say I really don�t know� BUT if it were imperative
that we KEEP every seventh day it sure seems odd to me that YaHWeH would take so
much time and words to tell us in detail what happened on the first six days and
then ignore Adam and Eve on day seven (if we should follow their good example)
of as some assume KEEPING THE SABBATH. It
is arguing from absence either way, for or against. The fact is WE REALLY JUST DON�T KNOW. Therefore it is fair
and logical to conclude that it really isn�t that important throughout the
entire book of Genesis.
5) Some have suggested that since God rested on the 7th day which they allege was the 1st day for Adam and Eve, they then conclude and invent their own principle of just keeping one day out of every seven as sufficient. Then use this as a justification for keeping the Roman Catholic Sabbath of Sunday, the first day of the week. Actually this logic is best applied to the Muslim idea of Friday Sabbath, since Adam already worked the day he was created (naming all the animals), the 7th day was Adam and Eve's second day of existence (not the first day of the week). Therefore after Adam and Eve had their first six days of existence, they would have rested on Friday as their seventh day of existence.
6) Most everyone accepts Creation as a basis for day keeping, but their wasn't anyone in Genesis to PROVE a consecutive 7's were kept based upon YaHWeH's own REST. So not until the giving of The Law is the actual day of our week PEGGED as being the correct weekly Sabbath. This is the bench mark of Sabbath truth in time and space for modern man and we still have to rely upon the Jewish people for having kept it correctly from then until now.
7) For the more contentious some may try to say Joshua's Long Day added a period of time to the cycle. But God set the boundaries of a day by definition of the first six days of creation. Again some attempt to correct God by stating that the Sun was not created until the 4th day, and force the word, "yown" to only refer to "Day light" hours according to Genesis 1:5. These people forget that God is LIGHT and that assuming the earth was turning and the shining of God's LIGHT was from one side of the earth, the earth would have experienced evening and morning just as God (who was there) tells us it did. This word is used 1,118 times in the O.T. and is the same word defined by God as being, "the evening and the morning" for each of the first six days. The next "evening" begins the next assumed 24 hour day period, (or how many hours it was). Hence the word, "day" has both biblical meanings discerned by the context of the scripture usage just as in our current day usage. When used with night or light of day, the word "day" refers to light time hours of our 24 hour day period. Or the word "day" refers to the 24 hour period of time each day of the week contains. Nights are then assumed and partial day recognizing also constitutes a full day's time without exact language such as, "three days and three nights". I was with my sister for only an hour on the 4th day of the month. Without the phrase "for only an hour", it could be assumed she was with her sister the full 24 hour day. And we still can't be sure that hour was during day light or night time from the statements. Using Roman timing we wouldn't say, one hour of the 4th night of the month. We wouldn't be able to be sure which "night" is being spoken of, nor are we able to discern which night of the 4th day for that matter. But the Hebrews using Jewish day recognizing can tell.
I realize you may be one of those which is dogmatically SURE about this issue at least between your own ears. Do you allow for other men to use their conscience as well as you allow yourself? Or do you go around in your Pharisee Pride judging others for their lack of spirituality (because they don't say they keep the Sabbath)? Or the feast days?
Genesis 2:2-3 "And on the seventh day God ended HIS work which HE had made; and HE RESTED on the seventh day from all HIS work which HE had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it HE had RESTED from all HIS work which God created and made.�
Did HE sanctify and bless the 14th, 21st, 28th, 35th, consecutive sevens thereafter? Does Genesis say so? Or is it really assumption?
Based on this text the SABBATH KEEPERS will argue that the 4th commandment is contained here and that it was being observed from this time right up to the time God wrote the 4th commandment in stone for Moses. Now if this is a fact and as IMPORTANT as they will assure us it is. Then surely the Creator would not leave us to doubt if Adam, Eve, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel), and Joseph and other faithful KEPT THE SABBATH. I mean it would have been EASY for these dudes to KEEP the SABBATH. Don't you think YaHWeH would of at least gave us ONE PROOF, that at least ONE of these people did KEEP at least ONE Sabbath? Adam and Eve might not have qualified to KEEP the Sabbath on day number Seven... They had not WORKED SIX DAYS ! Only YaHWeH had worked six days.
Sabbath Keeping in the Garden of Eden would have been easy, no one to buy from, no one to sell to, no mail delivery and no public utilities.
No worry about flushing a toilet on a public sewer system or any type of buying on SABBATH. There were NO public utilities assumed to be necessities of life. Do you think Adam and Eve didn't have necessities? NO water meters to turn to generate a bill (because of your consumption BUYING on the Sabbath day). NO electric meters to turn to generate a bill for the Air Conditioning in your church building (a required LUXURY) unheard of prior to the 1900�s. What about your home, got electric heat, or an electric powered fan; or Air Conditioning? My, My does that little baby make that meter spin. You will have to go out and watch it some SABBATH day and figure out if it would have cost more to buy enough sticks picked up on that day to provide all your Kingly Luxuries. Just wonder what MOSES would say if he were visiting your house next SABBATH watching that meter turning within your gate, under your direct CONTROL (within your dominion, within your power to STOP it, give it a REST) or when you pay your next electric and water bills - just divide by 7 and see how much you bought on SABBATH????? If you didn't buy anything on the Sabbath, you didn't buy anything all month, just throw the bill away.
Now it is reasoned that you didn�t write "the check" on SABBATH and really no one was working down at the water treatment plant or power plant, where they? Go ahead, lie to yourself. WHO do you think comes to fix the power lines during thunderstorm outages? They only happen on the first six days of the week, right? Did you really do a diligent check of that FICTION? No storms to temporarily put the power off, until the line man on call comes out to fix it, no chemicals to add that day, no pipes ever break on the Sabbath� Well, dear heart, I hate to tell you that some man was "on duty" that day and you are not a hospital if you would like to use that excuse. The fact of the matter is that you bought and paid for services used on the SABBATH day even thought ever so small amount of your payment went for wages to the laborer for services you consumed (used) on the Sabbath day. Let�s face it, you really have a problem with MOSES and HIS 4th commandment but you justify yourself and get all hot with anyone that doesn�t see it your way. If you claim to be a SABBATH KEEPER. What's the difference in that and picking up sticks? (Number 15:32-36) Fringes on garments follow, do you wear them? Are you keeping ALL the LAW and ALL the COMMANDMENTS? That's what those (Tzitzith, tassels, or tallits) i.e. fringes represent. (Number 15:39-40)
God didn�t guarantee you Air Conditioning, public water and sewer just because you live in America and if you happen to be in Northern Alaska when it goes dark for several months --- hope it doesn�t happen on the SABBATH or you are going to have a long vacation. One very LONG REST. Or have to work for ONE BIG Genesis day (several months) until the Sun starts coming up and down again. Now in the summer time the exact opposite takes place and the SUN "never sets" for weeks... HalleluYaH... So do you KEEP the SABBATH based on where you are and the SUN setting or based on when the SUN sets in Jerusalem, Israel?
Perhaps you have never seen a 7th day Adventist's bookmarker, Sunset table for official Sabbath Keeping right down to the second. Printed for your local area of course. I am sincerely curious, can anyone tell me where Northern Alaska's printed copies are tied to? Assuming Sabbath Keepers do live there, then again that might be a good reason not to live there. But people do live there and YaHWeH is the God of that portion of ICE on the earth also.
PASSOVER is properly determined from the land of Israel (when ever there is a temple to wave offer the first fruits in) and by first hand eye witnesses of the heavenly bodies. Because if the barley is not ripe, it can not be waved, for first fruits; Passover will be delayed one month. So what about where you live? Will the barley be ripe in Alaska? Therefore if we observe "the feasts" based on the lunar calendar (or actual eye witness sightings and conditions?), based on what's happening in Israel, shouldn't the Sabbath be strictly observed world wide according to the SUN sets in Jerusalem, Israel also? With a proper understanding of the heavenly bodies (which most of us modern people don't have), a person could determine the calendar by the eye witness of moon sightings. The calendar was in the sky, fixed by YaHWeH, not a piece of paper made by men.
Or do you base KEEPING the SABBATH on the USA weather bureau, or your denomination�s SUN setting chart for your state (or location) and your clock or wrist-watch, or your own eyes on the horizon (when the sun goes down)? WHEN is it down? When you don�t see the giant light ball in the sky anymore? Or at twilight? Or one hour after SUN set? Does the Bible make that clear? I mean I saw one of these charts once in a BIBLE of a friend, it was right down to the SECOND of a minute of the hour. What if his clock was not on the exact same time as the chart? Would he sin if he picked up a library stick with a newspaper in it one second early? Doesn�t this sound like a delight? Or that over worked religious word, �legalistic�?
What if you live just east of a mountain peak (cliff) and the sun goes down by your sight at 3:00 pm but your uncle MOSES lives on top of that same mountain peak and he says the sun don�t go down until about 10:00 pm in the summer time. Hey, this is serious stuff to the genuine Sabbath Keeper. No laughing matter, especially when your uncle MOSES come to visit you in the valley of despair. What are your eyes going to do with that 7 hour difference my friend? The one hour after SUN set people are going to have a problem here also. Am I trying to be funny? NOT really, I�m trying to be realistic if someone �THINKS� and claims to be KEEPING the SABBATH --- I would just like to know EXACTLY HOW IT'S DONE. I mean for me to decide whether or not to do it I need to know HOW it works, don�t I? Or if it is just a matter of what you are thinking in between your own ears? Is the Sabbath really being KEPT, or in word only (out of your mouth)?
It�s amazing no one ever figured out that SABBATH was FOR ISRAEL when "they" were IN THE LAND. Since Israel didn't KEEP Sabbath properly while they were in Israel, do you think "they" were KEEPING Sabbath while they were in Babylon under foreign rule, thinking YaHWeH had forsaken them? I don't doubt the faithful continued or we wouldn't know for sure which day it was today. Will YaHshua give us a NEW DAY to keep during the Millennium Reign (Hebrews 4:8)? That's what it appears to be from this verse. I don't claim to know but YaHshua will tell us I'm sure and the great earthquake will have destroyed all the public utility stick picking up by then???
Israel was carried off into Babylon, "so the land, could have it's Sabbaths." Evidently, Israel had never let THE LAND lay idle for 490 years, (divide by 7 and you get 70) so they had to spend 70 years in Babylon so, "the land" could have it's Sabbaths. Lev.26:34 & 43, 2 Chron.36:21, and Eze.46:3.
As we begin to understand that "Sabbath Keeping" is tied to THE LAND of Israel, we obviously wonder WHY? Consider this is the only piece of real estate that was deeded for ever from heaven by YaHWeH to a people group; the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel). Is it the place of the Garden of Eden? Gen. 28:13, 35:12, & 50:24, Exodus 6:8, 32:13, 33:1, Numbers 32:11, Deut.1:8, 6:10, 9:5, 30:20, 34:4, 2 Chron.20:7, Eze.33:24. Just think, has there ever been in the history of the world a people group which were time and again persecuted "off their land" and taken or driven all over the face of the world, AND BROUGHT BACK AGAIN to the very same piece of real estate THE LAND of Israel OVER 1,800 years later and RE-ESTABLISH AN ENTIRE COUNTRY (NATION) 1948-49 Israel BY THE SAME NAME? Amos 9:15 I don't know about you, but that verse excites me, prophesy coming to pass.
As we begin to see the linkage between YaHWeH's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob AND THE LAND, we begin to understand that YaHWeH gave THE LAND of Israel by covenant. Gen.15:18, Exo.6:4, and Lev. 26:42.
THE LAND is a very important issue to the Hebrews and of up most importance to understanding the Sabbath commandment. In the fifth commandment which indirectly but most powerfully relates to God as our FATHER, we find the issue of THE LAND injected into the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:12 and Deut. 5:16. Israel was tied, to the God of Israel by covenant, to the inheritance of THE LAND. YaHWeH has not forsaken HIS people. Jeremiah 51:5
Can it be that the reason Israel today does not control and occupy THE LAND completely and fully is because they are NOT KEEPING the LAW, nor keeping the SABBATH correctly. Is THE LAND being allowed to REST as commanded? Some thing to think about as we view Israel in our news from day to day. Surely there is precious little REST between the Palestinians and the Jewish people today in Israel.
In the New Testament understanding we are tied to the Father of lights, The God of the Universe, The God of the whole earth, we inhabit (Luke 17:21) a spiritual kingdom (presently within us) in which we are at REST (Sabbath) from our own works as we yield to HIS WILL and do HIS works daily. I believe we are able to prove this from the N.T. just as Ephesians 6:3 changes the focus from "the land (Deut.5:16) of Israel" to "the entire earth." Exo.20:12 & Deut.31:13
Messiah is reigning spiritually, in the hearts of the truly born again, right now and bids us come enter into HIS REST. Hebrews 4:8 and the context is not speaking of a day as some will attempt to ascribe to Sunday, or 4th Commandment Sabbath, but REST in "the person" of MESSIAH. During the Millennial reign when MESSIAH comes back to "this earth" physically to rule it from Jerusalem, Israel; then we shall honor HIM with the day which HE sets forth, as HIS Sabbath Day. The world shall then become SABBATH KEEPERS in that dispensation.
It�s amazing that (Israel's) LAW which was fulfilled by their MESSIAH is the SAVIOUR of the entire world, for all man kind. To whosoever believeth � I have never found to whosoever KEEPETH THE SABBATH shall inherit eternal life. God was playing out HIS universal redemption plan IN ISRAEL, not Greece, not Rome, and not America or Alaska. Through that plan of salvation (the promised Jewish MESSIAH) is valid for Greeks, Latins, Americans, and Eskimos --- and every people group on the face of the world which will accept the promised Jewish Messiah as their SIN substitute, yield to HIM and make HIM Master of their life. Those that will enter into the REST of HIS person and sacrifice.
Before I go on to what is generally accepted today. Lets look at the book of Exodus. We have looked at the Book of Genesis and have shown that God RESTED on creation day number SEVEN. No mention of day number, 14, 21, 28, etc. or that any patriarch ever for sure was KEEPING the SABBATH as recorded first in the Book of Exodus as the 4th Commandment. Exodus 16:30
Moses having met personally with YaHWeH was thereafter divinely directed thereafter. Exodus 5:5 Moses also had revelation that feasts were to be kept in the future (these were directly attached to the Exodus). There were no feasts before Moses time, that we know of. Had Moses been keeping Sabbath prior to his encounter at the burning bush? Not that I can find. Please send it, to me, if you find it in the scriptures. And I will correct this, otherwise until then let's just go by the Scriptures instead of what we want to read into them. But just isn't there.
Can there be exceptions to the TEN COMMANDMENTS? NOT if these TEN COMMANDMENTS are YaHWeH. Because YaHWeH changes NOT. What do you think?
Some people believe photographs are wrong because it is a graven image. Exo.20:4 �Thou shalt NOT make unto thee ANY GRAVEN IMAGE, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:� Yet YaHWeH commanded Moses to make Cherubims and cover them with Gold, what a sight for human eyes to behold�
Exodus 20:13 �Thou shalt not kill.� Next thing we know YaHWeH commands them to �KILL� everyone, even children, in THE LAND that YaHWeH is giving to them as an Inheritance. That kind of kicks against the Noahide Law idea that the Ten Commandments always existed since Genesis doesn't it?
John 1:17 "For THE LAW was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by YaHWeshua Messiah." See Acts 3:22 and Deut.18:15 & 18:18-19 and Acts 7:37. Today we are supposed to have the Holy Spirit guiding us in our daily walk.
YaHWeH�s command whatever it may be, at any moment in time and space, is the LAW. Just as Adam and Eve had only ONE LAW in the Garden of Eden. Don�t eat off "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Does that law exist today? Or does "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" represent THE LAW and "the tree of life" represent CHRIST through grace and faith? Hence TRUTH, LAW, and the SABBATH are dispensational (according to place (space) and time frame on the earth) historically shown.
I know of no one that is interested in this subject, that would question, that the 4th commandment given by YaHWeH, written with HIS finger in stone, delivered to MOSES then given to the children of Israel, i.e. for the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for their habitation IN THE LAND (promised land of Israel) for a period of time at least as long as the writing of God shall last upon the STONE TABLES which were contained in the Ark of the Covenant.
Moses broke the FIRST set of TABLES of STONE made totally by YaHWeH. Why would YaHWeH then required MOSES to make the second set of stone tablets, before YaHWeH wrote on them the second time? (Exodus 34:1-4) Then they were hid afterwards in the ark of the covenant. So was the message changed in their absence? Hence YaHWeH gave The Law for salvation as a bridge to mankind. Moses broke it. The second set of tables of stone were the work of both man (Moses) and YaHWeH. These were not broken but fulfilled by MESSIAH who was YaHWeH coming in the likeness of sinful flesh (human form) as Emmanuel. God with us. WHO was HIMSELF bruised and broken then for our transgressions.
Should that Covenant be removed or the children of Israel be removed out of THE LAND (just as Adam and Eve were removed from "the legal venue" of the Garden of Eden) would the binding Covenant remain? NO It is clear God did remove HIS people from THE LAND because of their sins (just as Adam and Eve were thrust out of the Garden of Eden) to save and extend their mortal lives (THAT DAY). That day turned into about a thousand years for Adam and Eve because of YaHWeH's grace of throwing them out of the Garden of Eden which had THE LAW of DEATH that DAY for eating off the forbidden tree.
Just as in the Laws of Nations on earth today. If you can escape from the country's jurisdiction you can escape the judgment, because they then don't have any power over you.
Many people don�t realize that grace removed Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, Not Judgment. Had Adam or Eve remained in the Garden (that legal venue required DEATH) in the day of disobedience? Hence YaHWeH by HIS grace removed them from the Garden to allow them to continue to live physically approximately 1,000 years. Adam and Eve did DIE a spiritual DEATH, it is assumed, even a spiritual separation from YaHWeH in "the day" they disobeyed YaHWeH�s ONE LAW of the Garden. As it is written, �that one day is with YaHWeH as a 1,000 years.� 2 Peter 3:8
Once the children of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob were in THE LAND (of Israel) with THE LAW in the Ark of the Covenant, none
will dispute that the 7th day cycle of Weekly Sabbath Keeping was in
full force. In fact, once the
commandment was given to Moses it was in immediate full force, on the way to
"the land".
YaHWeH seemed to use this issue of Sabbath Keeping to PROVE the people. They
didn't PASS the test either.
YaHWeH HIMSELF gives them the
cycle to follow and they didn�t have to doubt which day of the week it was.
What the cycle was, or the plan, etc. YaHWeH made this perfectly clear by NOT sending manna on that day.
Yet the people went out to gather as usual.
This is a clear indication that this people were NOT keeping the Sabbath
prior to the giving of THE LAW for THE LAND , which so many like to argue.
Some will condone their meter turning, those men working that day, would still be working even if my meter wasn't turning. Yes, you are right. Just as there are people picking up sticks somewhere on the earth every Sabbath. BUT, if you are supposed to be keeping the Law, picking up sticks in the wrong place at the wrong time might make it your last time.
YaHWeH was very clear on HIS judgment of breaking THE LAW including the Sabbath Day also. No picking up sticks, period. Now if you have ever been in a dessert there aren�t many true sticks to begin with. Besides with six days to pick up all the sticks you wanted, only a compulsive work-a-holic would want to be picking up sticks on the Sabbath Day anyway. Numbers 15:32-36.
YaHWeH�s judgment was clear,
DEATH. Now for all you Sabbath
Keepers, don�t mess this up because it only takes buying something ONCE on the
Sabbath Day to be guilty of the penalty, DEATH.
Let�s keep those meters still and quit enjoying the fruits of other
men�s labors within your gates on SABBATH, (regardless of how little those
labors might be) or the excuse that others are doing it, or they would be
working any way or that you don't write the check or earn the money to pay for
it on the Sabbath. If we really want to be
honest, those are not excuses which will really fly, if we are claiming to KEEP
the SABBATH. If you think
I�m trying to make this hard, you are wrong.
I�m just trying to make it EXACTLY as YaHWeH would judge it according
to THE LAW for the Jews in THE LAND
with the Ark of the Covenant.
Is it not those elements that constitute legal venue? On the other
hand, if we are under a different venue now, what is it?
Now for all of you that want
YaHWeH = THE LAW, emphasizing NO
CHANGES in the Ten Commandments through time, do you realize you have no excuse?
So just keep those meters still.
Don�t go out to eat, don�t speed and get a ticket (making the police
work). And don't tell me, he'd be there anyway... Because he wouldn't have
to write you a ticket if you weren't traveling more than a Sabbath's Day's
journey to begin with. Do you think the man in Numbers 15 thought he had any excuses? If he
was any thing like we are today, he had an excuse.
I don�t use the mailman as an escape goat because technically the US Government owns your mailbox the second you install it. So their mail WOMEN are not bi-sexual nor working for you. They (mail carriers) are on their own not working within your gate, they just might pass through your gate (it�s less than a Sabbath Day�s journey) to their own property --- so long as you don�t mail anything or buy from them (pay a C.O.D.) their boss has already been paid (postage stamp purchases) and you don�t have any control over mail that you sent if they happen to handle or deliver it on the Sabbath Day, besides you didn�t buy the postage on the Sabbath, right? So breath easy on the MALE man.
So relax about the mail WOMEN, just don�t lust after them on any day of the week.
But my experience with supposed SABBATH KEEPERS is that they are Burger King style Sabbath Keepers. That means they have borrowed Burger King�s slogan, �Have it your way.�
I once went over to a man�s home to pickup a Bible I really wanted to get on Saturday. He told me on the phone don't come because it was the Sabbath and he was a Sabbath Keeper so I couldn't pay for it on the Sabbath. Well, I really love new bibles and just couldn't wait and as I drove up to his house there was (Mr. BurgerKing) professed SABBATH KEEPER mowing his grass. Now this didn�t bother me a bit, but he apologized all over himself, since his own mouth made him the hypocrite. I told him it didn�t bother me if he wanted to mow his grass and pickup a few sticks in the way of the mower on Saturday (Day light hours). It didn't bother me a bit, but it did him, but he was still doing it.
See he was a 7th Day Adventist and was going on vacation next week so he was getting an early start by finishing what work needed to be done before he and his family could leave on vacation for a week or two. He wanted his yard to look nice for the neighborhood while he was gone on vacation. I wonder what his neighbors think about his religion? See preaching one thing and doing another doesn't sit well with the heathens. Only us so called bible believers allow for our mistakes, errors, and excuses. If the guy next door did it, surely he would burn in hell.
So called SABBATH KEEPER was doing it on SABBATH. Dear Hypocrite (you only kid yourself). God knows your heart and your mouth and your confession, their are NO secrets to God. It doesn�t bother us which are not in bondage but walk in the spirit, but you condemn yourselves and desire to judge everyone else�s spirituality by what you are not doing, BUT CLAIM TO BE DOING. They will proudly tell you, �I�m a SABBATH KEEPER� --- I just think, �Right Mr. BurgerKing, OK have it your way.� Sometimes I wonder if we think we are fooling God, our neighbors, our church, or just ourselves?
You are not fooling your children and then you wonder why they don�t even go to church after they are grown, leave home, and marry. Children can spot our hypocrisy better than anyone other than YaHWeH. They live with you, that's why they will be your judges, by what they will do after they leave home and how they will raise your grand-children..
And you know what? A SABBATH KEEPER is still more concerned if their children KEEP THE SABBATH than what church they go to. SABBATH KEEPING or at least the pretence of Sabbath Keeping is the most important part of their religion. They rather KEEP the SABBATH than a WIFE. After all MOSES allowed for divorce even if MESSIAH didn�t. Read about Divorce and Remarriage by clicking here. On the other hand ladies I must warn you. Adam was cursed with WORK, you ladies inherited Adam as a boss over you, from which there is NO Sabbath - so long as you are married.
We have probably all heard it said, "a woman's work is never done." Well, in Hebrew that is true; because the word for wife and woman are the same. Therefore the correct version is, "a wife's work is never done, not even on Sabbath." The more I read and study the Bible the more absolutely thrilled I am at the mind of God. This book was not penned by some "wise men" but by the Holy Spirit. We as the Bride of MESSIAH never have rest or Sabbath from HIS control, HIS authority, HIS commands, as HE would instruct us as HIS wife to be, our betrothed. We are HIS WIFE. NO REST from our boss.
The Law and the entire Bible is very exact. Exodus 20 and Deut. 5 both are very exact to the understanding of man's desires please note: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's WIFE, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's." So the word, "wife" was in the 10 Commandments, but WHY was it not given in the Fourth Commandment when every other possible person is listed - even cattle? "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of YaHWeH thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, (PLEASE NOTE thy wife is not listed), nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:" Therefore my friend, "a wife's work is never done." She always has a master to obey; her husband.
What do you ladies hear at home on the Sabbath? Would you please get "that" for me dear? I'm sorry, honey; but it's the Sabbath Day, I can't work for you today honey.
We are the BRIDE (WIFE) of CHRIST (MESSIAH) and HE is our FULL time boss, seven days a week. This is in fact our REST, to cease from our doings to do HIS will for our lives.
So keeping the Law of Moses that includes keeping the Sabbath a long with all the other verses boasting keeping the Sabbath are their primary focus. Fine if you want to do it. I say DO IT� I�m not against you for doing it, but the problem is that you are against me for not doing it. In fact, you are very judgmental of me spiritually and that primarily just because I will not tell you, �I am a SABBATH KEEPER.� And I won�t tell you that because I�m not, though I might DO IT better than some that claim they do, from time to time. Please note "they" claim to KEEP THE SABBATH, just to "please men," and their works prove that statement.
My answer: �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 � is in italics because it�s not in the original language) So we know this is the typical weekly Sabbath being referenced --- feast days would be the holyday. �Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.� Colossians 2:16-17
Now if you are going to pick a day of the week to set apart as a DAY OF REST, Sabbath. And if you were going to claim to be a Sabbath Keeper, then I would agree with the 7th Day Adventists, you might as well have the correct day. Which is the Jewish Sabbath Day, SUNset Friday to SUNset Saturday on our American Roman calendars. Just don't move to Alaska.
Some European countries are still so Roman Catholic that they have calendars printed up with SUNday as the 7th day of the week. It goes to show how far people will go to deceive themselves, their friends and neighbors and whomever else they possibly can. These people use all the same O.T. verses for keeping (SUNday) as the Jewish Sabbath Day Keepers do for keeping the Sabbath. But the SUNday people believe Paul changed the Sabbath to SUNday from Saturday.
The best argument of this is that CHRIST rose on Easter SUNday. The problem is that is just not true. It is totally true that CHRIST is risen, but HE did not rise on SUNday and double not on EASTER SUNday. This is Roman Catholicism�s dogma and they (the Roman Catholic Church) take credit for changing the Sabbath from the Jewish Sabbath day to the Roman Catholic SUN god, SUNday. Which is then pawned off as �the Lord�s day� with the single N.T. verse Rev.1:10.
Excuse my frankness, but you will only trick a Gentile into believing this folks. A Jew not wanting to say God's name, would call that, "the Lord's Day." John the Apostle was a JEW. He knew which day was YaHWeH�s day� A Jew with Jewish culture knows "the Lord's Day" is the Jewish Sabbath or YaHWeH's Day. It had been that way since YaHWeH gave THE LAW and manna didn�t come on that day, but John is letting you know that Revelation Knowledge does come if you are KEEPING the Jewish SABBATH. �I was in the SPIRIT on the Lord�s (YaHWeH's) Day.� i.e. the Jewish Sabbath Day.
By the way, MESSIAH was crucified on Wednesday and was in the heart of the earth, (just as Jonah) was in the whale belly for three days and three nights, and Messiah was resurrected on (Saturday) the Jewish Sabbath, (the Lord�s "Yahweh's" Day); for when they got to the tomb at sun rise Sunday (HE WAS *A*L*R*E*A*D*Y* RISEN). Christendom forgot the ALREADY part (Mat.28:6, Mark 16:6, Luke 24:6). There is no eyewitness of the resurrection HAPPENING on Sunday� Furthermore, if that had been the case it would have ruined the JUBILEE type of counting the next seven weekly Sabbaths (after Passover) with the next day being Pentecost. Which with the Sabbath resurrection makes Pentecost exactly 50 days (after the resurrection) and that makes Pentecost happen on SUNDAY (not Monday). Pentecost is on SUNDAY every year, but it will only be the number 50th day if Christ resurrected on the Jewish Sabbath day and that working backwards means he had to have been crucified on Wednesday.
I can hear the Roman Catholics just roaring� Good Friday and Easter Sunday, well folks it�s time to learn to count to three. You might get three days using �partial reckoning� hence Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. But you are NEVER going to get three HONEST nights between Friday and Sunday. Keep this simple, the Bible doesn�t play all your word games when using exact language like (three days and three nights). A single night is between two days. There are not two nights between two days, or we would always have twice as many nights as we have days. RIGHT? So if you insist on partial reckoning of nights, you must honestly count four nights.
If you speak Russian, you know that RESURRECTION and SUNDAY are the same word. In America Ice Cream with topping is a Sunday as well. That doesn�t prove MESSIAH resurrected on Sunday or that HE is a bowl of Ice Cream with topping� If he did then Pentecost Sunday would have been on day #56, that�s not the Jubilee number, sorry. The Russian N.T. Bible was translated after the German and English reformation revivals. From time it appears the Russian N.T. translation was done from Western sources and therefore is if any thing inferior to the Western works. Just as the Communists attempted to shut God out of their country, so it was with the Jewish Sabbath, being replaced by the Greek Orthodox dogma of the SUN god from pagan Greece and SUNday the holyday of the pagan world was introduced as the NEW SABBATH.. It is not surprising that this would influence the word they would use for SUNday and resurrection� Could this be a clue to how completely pagan Russia was?
Roman Catholics and SUN worship, click here. Having to do with SUN day of course.
Jewish Sabbath Keepers play BurgerKing with KEEPING a day. Good Friday and Easter Sunday resurrection people play hocus-pocus with the three nights in Matthew 12:40 and Jonah 1:17.
Did the Roman Catholics really change the Sabbath Day to Sunday? Click here and read about it.
Then the Roman Catholic SUNday KEEPERS use all the O.T. verses that say SABBATH and apply them to SUNday. That�s like me going to the Chevy dealer to get parts for my Ford. Sorry, they just don�t fit. Yup, they are about keeping a day, but the Roman Catholics are a day late and a dollar short in the offering plate. Besides they play SUNday BurgerKing KEEPER as well, and that not even as good as the SABBATH BurgerKing KEEPERS. Basically a SUNday KEEPER wants to go to church on SUNday and some will try NOT to purchase anything on SUNday. Other than that, live as you please in the 21st Century.
The basis for SUNday KEEPING is a short phrase, �first day of the week� found only 8 times in the N.T.
The word, day, is italicized meaning it's not in the Greek and therefore not thought to be in the original signatures of the N.T. Therefore it really reads, "first --- of the week"..
Christendom in America is told that the early church ALWAYS MET on the first --- of the week, SUNday. But out of those 8 times we only have two verses that directly relate to the church meeting. Acts 20:7 and 1 Cor.16:2
Not only that but the word, DAY, is not there in the original language. Meaning the phrase really just says, first --- of the week. This is very important. But we have another problem as well, because in the original language the word for week is �sabbaton� which was translated SABBATH in 54 verses and WEEK in only 8 verses. I�m beginning to smell a rat, what about you? Is anyone reading this who wants the honest truth? Even if it shows us that we have been lied to, deceived, and following false hood ignorantly? Well, I don�t know about you, but I want to know the TRUTH. And I figure if you do, you will keep reading also.
Doesn�t the book of Acts tell us about the Acts of the Apostles? You know they were the leaders of the early churches and we can learn "which day" they were observing and meeting on regularly. Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles (those who used to worship the SUN god on SUNday).
The word, SABBATH is in nine verses in the book of Acts. OH, and only once does it says, "first --- of the week," in Acts. Or does that really say "first of the Sabbaton," in the original? Meaning, "first of the Sabbath"? YES, it does. We will get to that in a minute with more proof.
But since the Apostle Paul is credited with changing the SABBATH to SUNday based primarily upon 1Cor.16:2 we should expect to find the Apostle leaving the Jewish Sabbath and beginning meetings on SUNday in honor of the Resurrection according to the Roman Catholics, Russians and American Protestant SUNday KEEPERS. That does sound totally correct, doesn't it? But it is what we hear all the time. But is it right? Or are people just influenced by what they hear the most, instead of what the scripture really says?
What they hear the most, unfortunately. Adolf Hitler said, "If you tell a lie long enough, loud enough, and often enough, the people will believe it." He also said "People are more likely to believe a big lie than a small one."
Well, lets see if that is the case here with our tradition or not.
#1
Acts 13:42 �And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.� What does your Bible say? Sabbath or "First day of the week"? From the context is it clear to see that this meeting was in a Jewish synagogue and therefore on the Jewish Sabbath day, "NOT the Roman Catholic Sabbath - SUNday".. Not only did these Gentiles ask Paul to speak these words to them, but it was requested on �the next Sabbaton.� on the next Sabbath... (The Jewish Sabbath)
Please for the man accredited with changing the day of worship to SUNday. The Apostle Paul really messed up here according to the SUNday Keepers, besides it was the Gentiles that wanted to hear this on the next Sabbath anyway. He had just finished the Jewish Sabbath service and the Gentiles wanted to hear. Paul, why didn�t you tell them that Sunday is the REAL Christian Sabbath and that you would be happy to gather with them tomorrow on SUNday the supposed day of resurrection? For a REAL SUNday SABBATH KEEPING service? Sorry, only in your SUNday dreams folks. Read your Bible and try believing it.
#2
Acts 13:44 �And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.� 45 �But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy�� NOTE: the Jews are there again a week later just as it says in verse 42� This was on the Jewish Sabbath Day again, NOT SUNDAY. SUNDAY was skipped as unimportant in comparison to preaching the truth on the Jewish Sabbath. Even to the Gentiles, who were the selected audience of Paul this time.
Maybe it's a misprint? NO But are there other references or is this the only one?
#3
Acts 16:13 is open air preaching by the river side in a pagan land (on the Jewish Sabbath day). For all you city slickers with public water meters and electric hot water. People back in Bible times went to the river to bath, (take a bath), wash their clothes, play, and it was a place society gathered� Pagans would be working on the Jewish Sabbath, but since that is the real resurrection day (Saturday) the Jewish Sabbath, we find Paul down by the river preaching and holding a Sabbath open air meeting. Read the context people, read the context.
So what was Paul�s manner and custom? SUNday or (Jewish) SABBATH? Jewish Sabbath. Paul was a Jew; he knew which day was, �the Lord�s day.� Or better yet which day was, �YaHWeH�s day.� (Clue, figure that out in the O.T.) The O.T. was the only scriptures the Apostle Paul carried. The New Testament and all the Hellenizing of it (making it Greek culture interpretation) hadn't happened yet. Back to Paul and the New Testament record..
#4
Acts 17:2 �And Paul, as his MANNER (or custom) was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures.�
Are you beginning to see the pattern unfolding from Paul the Apostle in the pagan lands he ministered in? Jewish SABBATH meetings folks, NO implementation of SUNday meetings, as the standard practice. Well, may be he�s going to work into it? Let's read on and find out.
#5
Acts 18:4 �And he reasoned in the synagogue EVERY Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.� EVERY Sabbath folks, do you think Paul knew the law said you were supposed to work, six days? So other than possibly a special meeting or special gathering (which could represent work of materials) not everyone just had money then. They brought their goods to church to give as an offering to God. And if these goods needed to be turned into money to give in Jerusalem, that would take time, marketing and work. So of course they would want to do that collection of goods the day after the SABBATH DAY� Not to take up time from ministering the word of God and most definitely not to be selling or trading on the Sabbath day. The Day after the SABBATH day was the first day of the week or SUNday. The first work day of the week, not on a day of REST, but on a day of collections, trading, selling, and turning it into cash to travel with to Jerusalem: Collection of produce, animals, garments, and yes even money which in large quantity would be a heavy burden to carry. Just get about $100.00 worth of pennies and find out how much weight there is to Cold Hard Cash. They didn't have paper scrip or plastic money..
YES, there was a collection on Sunday because the SABBATH preaching meeting was over and it was time to take care of business. This was a lot more work than just dropping a check in the offering plate. And since they didn't have a building separate from the Jews, they had to make their own collection.
Now I�m not going to dispute that Paul had the Corinthians make a collection on either the first --- of the week (Sabbaton) or first of the Sabbath. And I�m not going to dispute that Paul held a meeting on either the first --- of the week (Sabbaton) or first of the Sabbath in Acts 20:7 the day and night before he was going to leave them by ship. Now if your custom was to meet on the Jewish Sabbath and you were leaving the area perhaps never to return. People which want to talk with you further or to hear you preach more are going to instantly request continuing on into the next day. Continuing on into the first day of the week. Hence is it any SHOCK that a single meeting is noted as being held then? NO You sailed when the ship did and if you had friends and brethren and were going away for a long time perhaps never to return, it does seem quite normal to have a meeting the day before you leave. Regardless of the day of the week. As today, many Sunday preachers take Monday (the next day) off from work. Since it was in a pagan place, we would expect the pagans to be following the pagan holyday of SUNday instead of the Jewish Sabbath day anyway. And they would have their temples to meet in on their holyday of SUNday.
So we have seen that the Apostle Paul is KEEPING the Jewish Sabbath regularly instead of SUNday, clearly from KJV Biblical context. Perhaps Paul didn�t change the Sabbath Day as we have been told. Living in the 21st Century its hard for us to tell if the Sabbath Observance was changed by Paul or the Roman Catholic Church one, two or three hundred years later. Its all about the same to us today, which were raised with a Weekend of two days off. We know by our culture that someone has greatly changed our thinking in this area. The question is whether its Bible TRUTH or more Roman Catholic adoption of paganism to gain control and acceptance in this world?
I was challenged by a young Mennonite man, Conrad H, then of Versailles, Missouri on the topic of Sabbath. Our discussion was whether it was really Saturday or Sunday. This was going to bring a revelation to me. Revelation knowledge is based on language and history from which YaHWeH can speak TRUTH to our heart that shows the LIGHT of Revelation Knowledge that is hidden from general humanity. Without this Christianity would be no different than any other dead religion of men, groping in the dark for answers to some men�s riddles, fables and dreams without substance. But we serve the LIVING God.
As I drove down the road pondering on HOW TO PROVE there was a separate word in Greek for �week or weeks� from Sabbaton that clearly stood for �Sabbath or Sabbaths.� If I had an English / Greek lexicon (that�s a two language parallel dictionary) dated in the time of CHRIST I could prove that WEEK and SABBATH were separate Greek words� And therefore the word, WEEK, really shouldn�t even appear in our New Testament. If that could be done people still wouldn�t believe it. And of course, it can�t be done because our English before the days of the reformation was a foreign language to us (being Latin) the language of the ruling power of the world.
So that was a dead end street. Strong�s Concordance and Greek Lexicon is limited to only the words in the (New Testament) Bible so from Strong�s it appears that the English word, WEEK and SABBATH both come from the Greek word, Sabbaton. But is this truly the case? Or was there a separate word in Greek for "Week" during Christ's time or shortly before? A general Greek/English Lexicon would not be proof neither because the date the work would have been completed would be far after our original Biblical texts being dated from English sources available. And languages do change with time. Therefore it's just interpretation and some man's conclusion and belief if not in scripture of the time of CHRIST. I wanted something in the form of PROOF.
So just because there are two different Greek words today. One for WEEK and a different one for SABBATH does not prove it was that way at the time of CHRIST or before the time of CHRIST for that matter. Oh, its REVELATION TIME. There is a book that COULD PROVE that there were two different words, one for WEEK and another for SABBATH. A book in the correct time frame, a Bible, the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint, LXX. But does the words, WEEKS and SABBATHS appear in the same verse? That I didn�t know. Since I don�t read Greek, I would have to take Strong�s Concordance Lexicon and look up Sabbaton in Greek to see what the word looked like in Greek and see if the same word was in the verse twice or whether there were two different words..
Oh, I was excited to see if there was such a verse. I got home and turned on my computer (the best tool for finding verses) and typed in weeks and Sabbaths. YES, one verse in the O.T. 2Chronicles8:13. Next I looked up Sabbaton in Strongs. And 2 Chronicles 8:13 in the LXX, you will see it in just a few more paragraphs.
Some people believe CHRIST used and read from the Greek LXX O.T. Personally I believe like many other scholars that the Jewish MESSIAH used HIS native language Hebrew and used and read the Hebrew text. In Hebrew there are two different words, one for WEEK or WEEKS Strongs #H7620 (in 16 verses) and another for SABBATH or SABBATHS Strongs #H7676 (in 90 verses). But those are Hebrew, that doesn�t prove anything in Greek. But if you have a LXX or a Hexaglot (a six language parallel Bible) in your library this discovery is but turning a few of the right pages. Everyone can turn pages but to get Revelation one needs to turn to the RIGHT page and also have eyes to see.
From Strongs Concordance Greek Lexicon
Note the third and forth letters, double capital BB in the Greek word for Sabbath.
Below is the Greek text of 2 Chronicles 8:13 photocopied from a 1872 Hexaglot
Bible.
Sabbaths is circled in blue, in the plural form, the
singular form above in Strongs. Weeks is
circled in red.
.
From The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible dated 1962 page 827
Note the word, WEEKS, in Greek characters starts
with a backwards 3 then a single capital B, whereas the Greek
word for Sabbath/Sabbaths have the verify distinctive double capital BB. Even
a child that can't read but knows the letter "B" can tell the
different and distinction of the two different words.
The Greek word, for week appears in 3 verses, and for weeks appears in 13 verses in the Old Testament. Likewise the Greek word, Sabbaton for Sabbath or Sabbaths appears 90 times in the Old Testament, both matching there Hebrew counterparts. This is PROOF that the word, WEEK, really does not belong in our New Testament, it should always read Sabbath.
For those of us that have examined several Greek texts, we know that not all Greek texts will spell every word identically. The same is true in English if you have ever seen a Bible actually printed prior to 1700. Just as some of our currently printed KJV Bibles retain spelling for several words different from our current dictionaries. This is the reason it is so important to verify the Greek language did have a different word for Week/WEEKS than for Sabbath/SABBATHS prior to and at the time of CHRIST. The LXX proves the point that the Greek language has a different word for "week" from "Sabbath" being translated just a couple of hundred years prior to CHRIST'S birth and being the current Greek translation of the O.T. at the time of CHRIST and for decades following. To my knowledge there is no other Greek translation of the Old Testament. I would be interested in hearing from any one which can document another O.T. Greek text, if so please contact me, thank you..
From context I will concede that in one or two places it appears to be week, but from the original text it can not be PROVEN. Or we still don't have the correct revelation of the letter sent to us thousands of years ago in this point? But we can no longer believe the English phrase, �first day of the week� in the New Testament can be proved from the Greek Text. Because it can't. So what is the explanation of the phrase, �first day of the week� in the New Testament? It says, "first Sabbath". Remember the italic words are added to the English KJV text, so really our text should read, �first of the week.� And if we really want the pure Greek it just says, �first Sabbaton,� or in English; "first Sabbath".
�First Sabbath� what is that? Good question, glad you asked. Remember after PASSOVER the Jews started counting the Sabbaths to determine the day of Pentecost. The first Sabbath after Passover was called, �the First Sabbath.� Then second Sabbath, third and so on counting up to seven and the day after the seventh Sabbath was Pentecost Sunday. Now tell me do the Roman Catholics that believe the Sabbath was changed to SUNday KEEP Monday as Pentecost? No, they still use SUNday. That shows how big of hypocrites they are KEEPING a 49 day Pentecost instead of a Fifty day Pentecost. When you start playing with God�s spiritual clock you are going to lose time and TRUTH.
The Jewish practice of counting (the weekly) Sabbaths after Passover was picked up and followed by the Roman Catholics as well, whom a man called Martin Luther learned it from. In Sermons of Martin Luther Volume 3 pages 405-407 Dr. Luther even refers to TRINITY SUNDAY, "the Sunday after Pentecost". The Roman Catholic Church was great in making new holidays (Holy Days). They removed the Jewish O.T. Holy Days and replaced them with Pagan holidays. We won�t go into it here but that is another whole subject in itself.
Here�s what Martin had to say
on Trinity Sunday about THE HOLY TRINITY.
Dr. Luther goes on to prove the divinity of Christ as God himself. This author agrees with the divinity of CHRIST according to Deut.6:4, Mark 12:29, Isaiah 44:6, 1 Timothy 3:16. But as for Martin proving 3 persons from quoting scriptures he failed to do that. Though YaHWeH is also called a ROCK, still small voice, a dove, a man, the seven spirits of God, an angel, that holy thing, but NEVER in clear scripture as THREE PERSONS which alleged constitute the Elohim of Israel. YaHWeH must be worshipped as YaHWeH, if we want to clearly read the scriptures as our guide to TRUTH and LIFE. Do I believe that MESSIAH was YaHWeH manifested in the flesh? YES, based on 1 Timothy 3:16 and Isaiah 44:6. Contact me for more information on this subject.
Man continually designs high thoughts that attempt to exalt themselves against Christ. We need to bring every thought into the obedience of CHRIST, the MASTER.
Returning to the Sabbath Day. Isaiah 56:6 refers to every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it,
This begins to make �the
Sabbath� day different and holy compared to other days, which are then called
�ordinary days� by Sabbath Keepers.
Isaiah 58:12 And they that shall be of
thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the
foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the
breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
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 YaHWeH, honourable; and shalt honour HIM, not doing thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in YaHWeH; 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 YaHWeH hath spoken it.
Then goes on a list of sins and evil doings which separate men from the Creator until chapter 59 verse
19 So shall they fear the name of YaHWeH from the west, and HIS glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of YaHWeH shall lift up a standard against him.
20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith YaHWeH.
21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith YaHWeH; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed�s seed, saith YaHWeH, from henceforth and for ever.
60:1 ARISE, SHINE; for thy light is come, and the glory of YaHWeH is risen upon thee.
2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but YaHWeH shall arise upon thee, and HIS glory shall be seen upon thee.
From the Sabbath perspective (verse 21) have your children and your children�s children remained SABBATH KEEPERS? What about the righteousness and holiness described in Isaiah 59:1-18 are all the SABBATH KEEPERS guiltless? And finally doesn�t Isaiah 58:13 describe all SABBATH KEEPERS? Or do they find pleasure on the Sabbath in things, people, activities, games, pictures, talking about the weather, job, work, kids, next weeks plans, visiting, joking, preparing for vacation, teasing, enjoying life? Or has Sabbath delight been boiled down to going to service and taking a relaxing day off from work in which we can go visiting, make friends, and enjoy the good life? What a contrast to, �I was in the SPIRIT on YaHWeH�s day,� Rev.1:10. 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 YaHWeH, honorable; and shalt honor HIM, not doing thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in YaHWeH; 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 YaHWeH hath spoken it.
Does this mean that this will only happen on YaHWeH�s day? Or when the New Testament up-graded the TEN COMMANDMENTS was the Sabbath up-graded as well? Are there six ordinary work days and a special Sabbath day?� Or is the Christian called to Holiness of life seven days a week? Or is the Christian called to be a bond slave to the master seven days a week unto Righteous living? Or is the Christian called upon by the Holy Spirit to speak the words of Christ just one day a week? Besides if we are to honor YaHWeH on HIS day. Can you tell me �which days� YaHWeH has not made? Or are we to walk in newness of life EVERYDAY or just on the SABBATH DAY? Which days are we our own property or have we been redeemed all the days of every week to glorify our soon coming KING?
Have you been bought with a price?
So the New Testament REST (Sabbath) has been improved upon to include our total life seven days a week. Hebrew 4:1-11 �If they shall enter INTO MY REST. For he that is entered INTO HIS REST, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.� First note this refers back to the 7th day of Creation, when God rested. MESSIAH was God in the flesh, Emmanuel and HE continually HEALED on the Jewish Sabbath Day which upset the religious crowd greatly. So ceasing from our own works refers to living to serve YaHWeH according to the first Great Commandment instead of living for SELF.
Even Christ said, "Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?" Matthew 12:5-6 "But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple." The MESSIAH 7 "But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless." 8 "For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath Day." see Mark 2:28 and Luke 6:5 also for a total of three witnesses of this fact...
Israel did not enter into HIS REST Heb.3:11 though they were supposed to be keeping the Sabbath day. It was that they didn�t believe God Heb.3:18. Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. You can not prove that Abraham knew about or kept the Sabbath specifically from scripture. If you can, please send me chapter and verse, I have not found it.
No where in the New Testament does it specifically say that to break the Sabbath Day is to lose Eternal Life or to NOT inherit the kingdom of God. But there are a list of things starting with Adultery in Gal.5:19-21 and 1Cor.6:9-11 that specifically states, "that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Galatians 5:21
Eze. 39:5-16 shows the curse that will come and the judgment to come by the cleansing fire of YaHWeH, to glorify HIS NAME.
Psa. 118:24 �THIS IS THE DAY YaHWeH hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.� Is there any day YaHWeH didn't make?
MESSIAH, is Master of the Sabbath Day. Mat.12:8, Mark 2:28, and Luke 6:5. �the Son of Man is also MASTER of the Sabbath�
In conclusion, there is no problem respecting a day if you desire. I am instructed not to judge any for their respect of days. But to walk in the Spirit by faith and not by sight is the key to Eternal Life. Be assured you will not EARN eternal life by KEEPING THE 7th day SABBATH. So should we live as though we will? Or should we preach and teach Sabbath with such force and judge other believers' spirituality in MESSIAH by their personal Sabbath observance? and/or feast observance?
John 5:18 . . . "Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him,
because he not only had broken the sabbath,
but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God."
But today we just have THOUGHT murder / killing going on by those that desire to force their sabbath conclusions upon everyone else. This seems like the most important commandment to them, that some how didn't get into the New Covenant (Testament), but they think it did. Instead it reads more like:
Romans 14:5 �One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth it unto YaHWeH; and he that regardeth NOT the day, to YaHWeH he doth NOT regard it. He that eateth, eateth to YaHWeH, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth NOT, to YaHWeH he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.�
10 �But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of MESSIAH.�
Gal. 4:9-10 �But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years, have bestowed upon you labour in vain.�
Col. 2:16-17 �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: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of MESSIAH.�
So brethren, it is MY faith that in this present dispensation we are to live every day for MESSIAH as holy in righteousness and not esteem one day greater than another in serving OUR KING. Does this mean I don�t have any preference or choice in days to agree to gather on for worship? NO, I prefer the Jewish Sabbath as the one given to Moses but I believe it has been up-graded to complete REST in MESSIAH for everyday we live. In that way I view every day the same, but we do have some celebrations such as PASSOVER and any other Biblical feasts one might decide to gather for the purpose of worshipping YaHWeH during which every time of worship to YaHWeH is special; regardless of which day it's on � yet some days will bring us to remember HIM in special ways which are always special in their own way and time. Let us not judge each other in these thoughts though, but encourage each other to SEEK HIM more than we KEEP any DAY.
So I leave you with this thought. �Now YaHWeH is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of YaHWeH is, there is LIBERTY.� 2 Corinthians 3:17 and where to put your trust is in Isaiah 26:4 �TRUST ye in YaHWeH for ever; for in YaH YaHWeH is everlasting strength� � to delight in YaHWeH and live for HIM everyday is THE REST to enter into.
Shabbat Shalom. Shall it be a day on the calendar? Or the God we trust in, that creates every day?
Copyright 2002-2004 Dale Sabin 19591
Kelsay Road, Barnett, MO 65011
Phone 573-569-0141 Email dale@basicisp.net
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