The RETURN
Movement International
--Sharing our Lord
and Saviour Yahushua, Yeshua the Messiah to the
World!--
- YHVH,
which is pronounced as YaHVaH or YaHWaH, also we will use our
Heavenly Father’s title, which is “Elohim” rather than
“God.” We need to remember that “Elohim” (God) is NOT a
name but an attribute, a title! In addition we also love to use the actual/real
Name of our beloved “Messiah” in Greek written as
“Christos”, but His loving Name is 
- “Yahushua”
or “Yeshua” in short, for this is our Saviours original
Hebrew Name as given to Him in Lukas - Luke 1:31. This was the only Name ever
used when He was on the earth by His family, disciples and His followers for
hundreds of years thereafter. However, it was changed to a foreign name by that
new Church, that later became known as “the greater
When we read and study the blessed Scriptures, the Word of YHVH Elohim as a Messianic believer in Messiah, we should keep following three steps in mind for they can a valuable guide to us and it will illuminate the beauty and the fullness of YHVH’s blessed Word.
1. Who was YHVH
Elohim, blessed be His Holy Name speaking to?
3. How was His Word understood at the time it was spoken/given?
I do believe that these three points are most relevant to our understanding of 1. What the Almighty is saying at the time – 2. As well as what it means to us today - and 3. Especially to you and me right now!
Shalom - Peace be with you, in Yahushua THE Messiah!
Elder & Teacher; Reuben ben
Gershom-Goossens.
“Scriptural Truths” & “Ha Davar Word Studies”
Which Day Is Our Blessed Sabbath?
The best way to
answer this is let the Word of YaHVaH Elohim, and the Words
of our beloved
Messiah and His faithful apostles clearly show us in this study!
“For
whoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet STUMBLE IN ONE POINT, HE IS GUILTY
OF ALL. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said,
‘Do not murder’.
Now
if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a
transgressor of the Law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the
Law of liberty.”
Beloved, you will not that is a rather long
study with some 19 headings, and currently it is not even completed for there
is more to be added at a later date! But as I believe that this is a most
important subject for everyone and that it should be read by as many as possible,
I have decided to place it online at this stage.
I do wish to ensure all readers that we are not related in any shape or form to any particular well known christian church organisation, such as the Seventh Day Adventist’s etc, or any other church body, for we are part of the original apostolic Ekklesia and its teachings, or the Messianic fellowship that is not related to any of the Jewish ones, that takes much of its teachings from man made traditions, etc, which Shaul – Paul fought against, as we do, thus we remain totally Scripturally based!
Friends, really knowing Him will directly
affect you inheriting an everlasting life in His soon-coming Kingdom. Remember
what our blessed Lord and Redeemer warned us about;
“If those days had not been cut short,
no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect (the faithful) those days
will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the
As we have seen prophecy fulfilled in these
days and since World War I and II we know that we are very much heading
towards, or even are in the beginnings of “The Latter Days.” This
present age of man’s rule is under the influence of Ha Satan the
adversary. It is vitally important that must consider whether if we are really
obeying YaHVaH our blessed Elohim who has given us life and breath. For those
who have accepted Messiah Yahushua as taught in the Brit Chadashah (The New
Covenant) will know that an “empty faith” is just NOT enough!
In Yahushua’s concluding remarks during
His message on the Mount, He stated;
“Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord,
Lord,' will enter the
Remember in the Word when He asked, “But
why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I
say?” (
“He replied, ‘Isaiah was right
when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: ‘These people
honour Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me
in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’” Markus
- Mark 7:6-7. NIV.
Think about that!
Yahushua clearly stated that it is possible to worship Elohim, yet worship Him IN VAIN by following the teachings of men!
Then Yahushua replied to these hypocrites;
“You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of Elohim in order to
observe your own traditions!”
Markus - Mark 7:9. NIV.
Beloved, the biggest problem of those who are
part of the greater church, and I mean generally most churches, be they
protestant, or roman catholic, being those that worship on “the day of
the venerable SUN” stand condemned by the Almighty, and sadly you are not
even aware of this. The truth is that your willingness to keep holy the true Sabbath day that Scripturally commences
on the Friday night and goes through all day Saturday, being the Seventh day,
until around 6PM, is the Sabbath that Elohim made holy! And by keeping it, or
not will directly affect
whether or not you will be granted eternal life in the
2…
Question - Which Day Is the Scriptural Sabbath?
Yahushua our beloved Messiah taught us the
following;
“Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word of Elohim.”
Yahushua also made it clear that the Word of
Elohim does NOT contradict itself and please remember at that time there was NO
New Testament, only the Tenach (Old Testament). He showed that the teaching of
Scripture is consistent. For Yahushua said, "the Scripture
CANNOT be broken" (Yochannan -
Shaul (
"ALL Scripture is given by inspiration of
Elohim, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of
Elohim may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timotheos
- 2
If you are willing to BELIEVE these inspired
statements, then you will have no problem
understanding this vital subject. For the Scriptures teaches us about
Elohim’s true and only Sabbath day from Genesis to Revelation. In fact,
it is one of the clearest and most easily understood subjects in the entire
Bible. IF you prayerfully and honestly look at the facts and are not fearful
about “what other people think.” Remember that in Yahushua’s
day many of the religious leaders knew that He was the Messiah, but would not
confess Him for this very reason: “For they loved the praise of men more than the
praise of Elohim” (Yochannan -
Thus what we have really learned above is
this; It is vital to place ALL OUR FAITH IN THE WORD OF THE ALMIGHTY, and NOT
in the words and the traditions of men!
Do you have the faith and courage to do what
OK -
Let’s have some Proof about the Seventh Day Sabbath:
NOW, let's get down to some very clear and
absolute PROOF regarding the true Sabbath of our beloved Elohim.
For a start, let us assume that you were
beginning your search for the true Sabbath stranded on a desert island and that
the only written material that you managed to save from a shipwreck was a copy
of the Scriptures, as well as a calendar, which was handy, for you could keep
count of the days you were there!
As you were reading the Word, one day you came
across the subject of the Sabbath being on the Seventh Day, and you thought,
well let’s look into this, and you began your search with a completely
open and an objective mind. As you commenced reading the Word you would have
read the word Sabbath over and over again, first in Genesis chapter 2, however,
you may have read it there, it did not use the word Sabbath but rather the
words “rest” or “rested.” I will cover this word a
little later, not just at this moment!
“And on the Seventh Day Elohim ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the Seventh Day from all His work which He had made. And Elohim blessed the Seventh Day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which Elohim created and made.” Bereshis – Genesis 2:2-3. (MV – Messianic Version).
YHVH said to Moshe, ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are My appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of YHVH, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. There are six days when you may work, but the Seventh Day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to YHVH.” Vayikra – Leviticus 23:1-3. (NIV).
Having read these verses and there are many to
confirm these in the New Testament, we should ask - which day do we HAVE to keep after such an objective study?
Sunday? … Certainly NOT!
If we carefully read the blessed Word of our
Heavenly Father we will discover that it never commands anyone to observe Sunday as a weekly day of
worship or as a Sabbath, a day of rest as many christian denominations do!
Believe it or not we are actually instructed to work
on what is now called by a pagan name “SUNday day. We need to understand
that it was the
Here are the details confirming this!
When Emperor
Constantine I, a pagan sun-worshipper came to power in 313 A.D., he formally
legalized a new sect of “christianity,” which was a mix of
paganism, that combined images and statues together with the worship of Iesous,
and not the Messiah of the Word whose Name is Yahushua, which all the faithful
up to then where worshipping!
“On the
venerable Day of the SUN let the magistrates and people residing in cities
rest, and let all workshops be closed.” (Codex Justinianus 3.12.3).
The
“Christians
shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall
work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honour, and as
being Christians, shall do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing (meaning to keeping the Sabbath as many true
believe still continued to do), they shall be shut out (put to death) from
Christ.” (Strand, op. cit., citing Charles J. Hefele, A History of the Councils of the Church, 2
(Edinburgh, 1876) 316).
As has already been indicated the Sabbath,
as do the “Feasts of YHVH” Leviticus chapter 23, commence
on a Friday at *sunset to Saturday sunset, and this was observed by all of
Elohim's and Messiah’s faithful servants in both Old and New Testament
times. And this same seventh-day Sabbath will continue to be observed by the faithful in Messiah Yahushua on this earth after
His second coming and during the Millennium reign of Messiah! See
the Scripture from Revelations below!
*A Note: “Sunset to Sunset” is
based on the Scriptural calendar day. For Elohim said: “And there was
evening, and there was morning, the first day.” Bereshis - Genesis
1:5.
“I saw thrones on which were seated
those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who
had been beheaded because of their testimony for Yahushua and because of the
word of Elohim. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not
received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and
reigned with Messiah a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to
life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second
death has no power over them, but they will be priests of Elohim and of Messiah
and will reign with Him for a thousand years.” Revelations 20:4-6. NIV.
“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Markus - Mark 2:27-28.
Our blessed Messiah did not say that the Sabbath was made just for the people of
Yahushua did not give the slightest hint about doing away with the Sabbath commandment. Rather, He clearly
showed both here and in the verses that follow, how to continue and keep the Sabbath in a more meaningful way. Again, Yahushua said that the
Sabbath was “made for man” and we now know that it was
kept LONG BEFORE
Many
say, “But this law was given at
“*All moving thing
that lives shall be food (meat) for you. I have
given you all things, even as the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with
its lifeblood (meaning - still alive).” Bereshis - Genesis 9:3-4. NKJV.
Thus,
after the flood we have learned that man could now eat meat, and although it
may say that they already knew what was clean and unclean, for YHVH had already
taught man long before the time of Noach for he would have learned this as it
had been handed down!
Therefore
we might say; well all that is only for the Israelites, for it commenced at
Sinai! But, what if this was something that was well known long before Avraham,
Yitzchak and
“You
shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female;
two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female … So Noach,
with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because
of the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of
birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, two by two they went into
the ark to Noach, male and female, as Elohim had commanded Noach.” NKJV.
The question is simply this, how did Noach
know about the clean and unclean animals, unless the Almighty had not already
told men about these things earlier and prepared them before they even
commenced the eating of meat! It was the same with the Sabbath, for back in
Noach’s day and long before, right back to the days of
At this point, let us look at the inspired
account of when Elohim made mankind and subsequently gave man the Sabbath. In
Bereshis - Genesis 1:1 we read, “In the beginning Elohim created the
heavens and the earth.” This original commencement of the creation may
have been billions of years ago. The next verse shows that the earth came to a
state of chaos and waste. And the succeeding verses describe how Elohim
reformed our planet about 6,000 years ago and created the origins of the plant
and animal life forms that presently inhabit it. Now notice that verse 26
states:
“Then Elohim said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’” Bereshis – Genesis 1:26.
Thus as we have read mankind was created in
Elohim’s “image,” meaning that we were given
“DOMINION” or RULE over all the rest of His creation. But the
question arises, how was man to keep in
contact with his Creator?
Bereshis - Genesis chapter 2 provides us with
the answer;
“And on the Seventh Day Elohim ended His work which He had made; and He rested (Hebrew = Shabbat) on the Seventh Day from all His work which He had made. And Elohim blessed the Seventh Day, and sanctified it: because in it He had rested (Shabbat) from all His work which Elohim created and made.” Bereshis – Genesis 2:2-3. (MV).
Did you notice that the Word said;“Elohim ended (or completed) His work,” having created the heavens and the earth and all
that is therein, “and He rested
on the Seventh Day.” The word "Sabbath" is derived from
the Hebrew word Shabbat, which
literally means “rest” or “cessation.” Blessed be
By blessing and sanctifying the Seventh Day
Sabbath, Elohim showed that His presence is IN this day in a very special
way. For out of all the days of the week, this one the only day that points to
Him in a unique way as being the One and true Elohim, the One who created and
now Governs the entire universe!
3…
Is Sunday not in the New Testament?
The truth is beloved, that the word "Sunday"
does not even appear in any of the literal Bible translations. We do find the phrase "first day of the week" in the New
Testament, but this occurs just eight times. Five of those references
(Mattityahu- Matthew 28:1; Markus - Mark 16:1-2; Markus - Mark 16:9; Lukas -
Luke 24:1; Yochannan - John 20:1) and they describe Mary Magdalene and others
coming to the tomb well AFTER our blessed Messiah's resurrection.
As we prove in another study, Yahushua was not resurrected on a Sunday morning
(see the link at the bottom of the page). Therefore, those five references in
regard to the first day have absolutely nothing to do with observing the Sabbath, or
the day of Yahushua’s resurrection!
Let us turn to Yochannan -
“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Judeans, Yahushua came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’”
We need to understand that this was not a
worship meeting celebrating the resurrection; for the Scriptures clearly tells
us that until they saw Him, they did NOT believe that Messiah had risen!
(Markus - Mark 16:14;
The book of Acts recounts the development of
doctrine and practice in the early faithful, which was called in the Greek
“Ekklesia.” Yet the first day of the week is mentioned only once,
in Acts 20:7-12.
“Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Shaul - Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.” Verse 7.
Obviously Shaul -
Now, when we understand that they were living
in Scriptural days, and that days started and finished at sunset to sunset, we
can see that the from 6PM to what we call midnight is portion of “the
first day” or what we call “Saturday” a day that is named
after the god of “Saturn.” This “first day” gathering
was thus a Saturday evening event! And then at sunrise on SUNday morning, Shaul
-
In 1 Corinthians 16:2, the
4…
OK, But what about the “Lord’s Day” then?
“On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.” Revelation 1:10.
However, it in no way states that he was
observing the Sabbath, and it does not in any way refer to worshiping on the
first day of the week, or on any day of the week for that matter. Revelation is a
“prophecy” (1:3) regarding end-time events. Clearly, then, the
“Lord's Day” may also be synonymous with the “Day of the
Lord” in a future time, mentioned more than 30 times in prophecy, when
Elohim will supernaturally intervene in human affairs, executing punishment on
all the nations and finally Yahushua our blessed Messiah will return to this
earth to bring world peace at last. Yochannan -
But even if Yochannan -
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to YHVH your Elohim. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days YHVH made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore YHVH blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Shemos - Exodus 20: 8-11.
Obviously, the seventh-day Sabbath is not our day. For without question IT IS
YaHVaH’s holy DAY! Weekly pagan SUNday observance, therefore, has absolutely
no Scriptural foundation.
5…
What about the six other days?
I believe that the Seventh Day Sabbath is of
great importance to the continual peaceful existence of all man and the entire
created universe. Yet, many people and the churches simply cannot see the great
importance and benefit of the weekly Seventh Day Sabbath to the peaceful
existence and stability of Man and the whole Universe. They insist their
man-made reasoning’s to argue that the Sabbath is already “done
away,” or that the Sabbath can be observed on any day of the week.
However
“On the Seventh Day Elohim ended his
work which he had made; and he rested on the SEVENTH DAY from all his work
which he had made.” Bereshis - Genesis 2:2. KJV.
If the faithful following the above Scriptures
will always keep the Sabbath holy and that cannot be done on any other day than
on the Seventh Day as given to man by the Almighty and we need to remember that
this was confirmed by our Redeemer Yahushua, who very clearly said,
“… the Sabbath was made for Man.” (Markus – Mark
2:27). You will note that He did NOT say, “The Sabbath was made for the
Judeans (Jews)” or “for
I am sure, having read the Word that you will
have noticed that
Having made holy only the Seventh Day Sabbath,
and not the other 6 days, means that if you observe the Sabbath on any of the
other 6 days, you will miss out on the rich blessings, but more so on
Elohim’s and Yahushua’s holiness and presence on the Sabbath Day,
and that will be to your own disadvantage, as well as being an act of sheer
disobedience!
6…
The Test Commandment:
Most students of the Scriptures should know
that the patriarch Avraham was the great-grandfather of Judah, out of which the
christian church originally penned the term “the Jews” in
the Greek translation of the Gospels, although the original Gospel’s were
written first in Hebrew and there is now absolute proof that this is the case!
Later the name “Jews” and Judaism
was generally adopted by the Hebrews, being both the Judeans and Israelites
(read my study Who is
“I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Avraham your father. And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Avraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” Bereshis - Genesis 26:3-5. NKJV.
1 – We have read that Noach already knew about the clean and
unclean animals, even before the flood commenced, thus there must have been
many laws already given! 2 - Having
read these two verses it must have become quite obvious that Avraham was a
faithful servant and he kept YaHVaH’s Commandments, statues and His laws!
3 - Thus beloved, indeed the Sabbath
was being kept, long before
Knowing that both Noach and Avraham upheld the
Sabbath, succeeding generations of Hebrews clearly understood from these verses
that Avraham kept the Seventh Day Sabbath that Elohim had “sanctified” at the conclusion of the creation. And in the Brit Chadasha (New Testament), the apostle Shaul -
Amazingly there are many theologians that
continue to teach … that … “The fourth commandment about
keeping the Sabbath holy was just part of that “Old Covenant,” that
God made with the Jews at
Thus as we know from the Word at the beginning of human
history that Elohim commanded to keep the Seventh
Day Sabbath a “holy time.” And some 2,000 years later, Avraham, who
is stylised as the father of the faithful, set for us an EXAMPLE of
faithfulness by keeping Elohim's “commandments and statutes” that
obviously included the observance of the Sabbath day. And I wish to restate
this once again; this was still LONG BEFORE there was an Old Covenant made
with the Children of
We are now going to examine an account found
in Shemos - Exodus 16:1-30:
With Israel having seen YaHVaH Elohim’s
great power and might, the Ten Plagues, their miraculous escape from Egypt, the
next miracle at the Red Sea as the waters parted, yet here they were on the
other side of the Red Sea having sung their words of praise, full of joy and
before you knew it the Israelites “grumbled” against Moshe
and Aaron due to the lack of tasty and spicy food;
“… on the
fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of
Elohim having heard this - said, “I will ... TEST them, whether they will walk in My LAW or not”
(verse 4). Now this verse is much more than interesting, because it provides
more proof that His law was definitely and already in effect even BEFORE the giving of the Old Covenant Law at
In His everlasting love, Elohim explained that
He would perform the following miracle, and that on
every day of the week, except on the Seventh Day - Yes friends on the Sabbath. He
would provide special food from heaven called “manna (or better
translated - ‘what is it’) and it would fall to the ground in the
morning like dew. The people were to gather it up each morning and they were to
eat it on that very same day. They
were clearly told not to keep any of it overnight, because it would breed worms
and stink.
Now remember that by providing the food which
was a blessing, it also came as a test for Israel and that was a “TEST”
to see whether they would follow YaHVaH Elohim’s law or not. So what did the people
do? Let’s go back to the Scriptures;
“Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much two omers for each person and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moshe. He said to them, ‘This is what YHVH commanded (past tense): ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to YHVH. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’” Verses 21-23 NIV.
Sadly as human beings often do, they just did
not take the Almighty seriously and they went out on the Sabbath and tried to
find manna.
“And YHVH said to Moshe, ‘How
long do you (people) refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? See! For
YHVH has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day
bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his
place on the Seventh Day.' So the people rested on the Seventh Day.”
Verses 28-30.
7…
Who Gave the Ten Commandments?
The Ten Commandments, including the law
regarding the holy Sabbath day has been in existence from the very beginning
of time. Therefore Elohim was simply reminding His people of
But now we come to
“In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. He was with Elohim in the
beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that
has been made.” Yochannan -
Now, we also need to remember that Yahushua
Himself told the Hebrews the following very clearly; “You have never
heard His (YHVH’s) voice nor seen His form.” Yochannan -
Thus the question we could ask, just who was it Moshe
was speaking with, or hearing at Sinai and in the wilderness? We also know that He was often called the “Rock” of
In the Brit Chadasha (New Testament), the
apostle Shaul -
“They all (
The Word makes it abundantly clear that the
Elohim who spoke to ancient
During His human lifetime, Yahushua told the
arguing Pharisees, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before
Regarding this phrase, “I AM,”
the “Expositor’s Bible Commentary” states:
“I AM” implies continuous
existence, including existence when
Yes, Yahushua THE Messiah was certainly the
Elohim of the Tenach - Old Testament, who was “the Word,” who spoke
on His Father’s behalf. Thus, this means that He who became the man - Yahushua our beloved
Messiah is the One who originally created the Sabbath by resting on the Seventh Day! No wonder He “is Lord” of that day, as we have seen
from (Markus -
8… A
Sign between Elohim and His People:
Later, Elohim again made a special covenant
with
“Speak also to the
children of
The emphasis here is that we “know”
the true Elohim who sets us apart if we keep the “sign” of His Sabbath, which
points to Him as the CREATOR.
He Who was the Word from the beginning,
continued;
“The Israelites are
to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a perpetual
covenant. It will be a sign between Me and the
Israelites forever, for in six days YHVH made the heavens
and the earth, and on the seventh day He abstained from work and rested.”
Shemos - Exodus 31:16-17.
YaHVaH Elohim, or we may well say He who is
The Word, who in the flesh, we know as Yahushua THE Messiah and our Redeemed,
said that this would be a “perpetual covenant” and again stated
that it would be a “sign” between Him and His people
“forever.” The point is beloved that the two words used in Hebrew
are identical, thus “perpetual” and “forever” in Hebrew
are “Olam,” which means not just “forever,” but
“eternity,” the “universe” a “time without
end.” Thus it is quite clear that the Sabbath was NEVER going to be done
away with by HE Who gave us the Sabbath to keep from the conclusion of the
creation on the very first Seventh Day, when Elohim “rested.” OR is
the christian going to debate the fact that Yahushua, Yeshua (or
Notice especially that the Sabbath was to be
kept by the Israelites as a “perpetual (eternal) covenant” between
them and Elohim “forever”! Do we find ANY evidence whatever that
the Israelites who became believers in Messiah Yahushua were to forsake that sacred covenant and start keeping
some other day of the week? Is it at all possible that Elohim could have a
double standard when it comes to which day to keep as the Sabbath?
NEVER! For according to
Shaul –
“If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root … After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!” Romans 11:17 & 24. NIV.
“There is neither Judean nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Messiah Yahushua. If you belong to Messiah, then you are Avraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:28-29. NIV.
Please Note:
“Avraham’s seed” in reality means that those of the Gentiles who
have come into the faith of the One true YaHVaH Elohim and Messiah Yahushua who
came in the flesh, being the Elohim in the flesh, etc, are part of the seeds
sown by the faithful and thus are the harvest in Messiah and ONE in the Body!
In Yeshayahu - Isaiah 56, we find a remarkable
prophecy set right in the midst of END-TIME prophecies and many of which refer
to the years that are just ahead of us. In
this setting,
“Maintain justice and do what is right, for My salvation is close at hand and My righteousness will soon be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, the man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.” Yeshayahu - Isaiah 56:1-2.
It is also very important to note that just a
few verses later that Elohim instructs the Gentiles or foreigners to keep His Sabbath and describes the BLESSINGS that would come from doing so:
“And foreigners who bind themselves to YHVH to serve Him, to love the Name of YHVH, and to worship Him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to My covenant these I will bring to My holy mountain and give them joy in My House of Prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My House will be called a House of Prayer for all nations.” Yeshayahu - Isaiah 56:6-7. NIV.
As Yahushua said, the Sabbath was made for
"man" and having read the above, we now know this obviously means
for ALL mankind, especially the faithful in Messiah Yahushua! We need to
remember that our beloved Yahushua and all the apostles continually faithfully
upheld the Seventh Day Sabbath on the same day that all the Hebrews (Jews) around them were keeping, for
let’s face it ALL of them were Jews!
9…
The “Example” of Yahushua Messiah:
Elohim tells us time and again that Messiah
was the “LIGHT” and an “EXAMPLE” of how we ought to
live. It is amazing how many professing christian ministers will give lip
service to this statement, yet "reason" and argue and ARGUE against
following Messiah’s perfect example in relation to keeping the blessed
Sabbath and other acts of obedience to Elohim’s law, such as the Ten Commandments
as well as YHVH’s seven Feasts as found in Vayikra – Leviticus 23.
All these feasts are directly related to our blessed Messiah, but they are
ignored and two pagan feasts are celebrated instead, which are to do directly
with pagan god’s and have their origins over a thousand years before our
Saviour came to earth!
Speaking of Yahushua, the Gospel of Yochannan
-
Later, Messiah said, “I am the light of
the world. He who follows Me shall not
walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (Yochannan -
“For to this you were called, because
Messiah also suffered for us, leaving us an EXAMPLE, that you should follow His
steps: who committed no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth.” 1 Kepha
– 1
Yes, in all things Messiah set us an example!
Shaul -
The apostle Yochannan -
We may ask, “How did Yahushua our
Messiah live”? The Sermon on the Mount is usually regarded as the very
ESSENCE of His teachings. It was there where Yahushua said;
“Do not think that I have come to
abolish the Law (Torah) or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to
fulfil them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not
the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen will by any means disappear
from the Law until everything is accomplished (The arrival of the
“New Heaven and Earth”). Anyone who breaks one of the least of
these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in
the Kingdom of *Heaven (*residence of Elohim), but whoever practices and
teaches these commands will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Mattityahu -
He Who IS THE Word certainly did not come to
do away with the Ten Commandments that He had previously delivered from the
Father in the Tenach - Old Testament. Rather, He came to give full expression to them and to show their real spiritual intent. In fact, Yahushua
made them even more binding. For
example, Yahushua explained that the seventh commandment against adultery and
you will note that He prohibited even more than just having sexual relations
with someone other than your spouse. He even forbade lusting after others in
your mind (Mattityahu -
I do get very tired of that old argument that
so many pastors, priests and so-called, all who are in reality are rather
uneducated Scriptural scholars, for all they know is what their
denomination’s feed them, and they just spew out their doctrines, which
has so many holes in it that often becomes much of a joke. But, it is really
rather tragic! They continue to say that the Messiah Himself broke the Sabbath and beloved, that is blasphemy! Why is that so? How can He who gave the Law as an eternal Law, break it?
Thus what your ministers have been saying
for so long is completely false! The Word says that
He was “without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). And “sin IS the
transgression of the “Law” (1 Yochannan – 1
“I have KEPT My Father’s
commandments” (Yochannan -
Furthermore, at the very beginning of
Yahushua’s ministry, He set the standard for what would be His lifelong
example;
“He went to
“Now He (Yahushua) was teaching in one
of the synagogues on the Sabbath."
Thus we have very clearly read that our
Saviour went “to the synagogue as was His custom” all of His
life and He was circumcised, and he had His Bar Mitzvah (became a Man at the
age of thirteen, etc, thus all the Laws had been kept by His family as He had
done all of His life! Then, who is the church to say, no the Sabbath and the Ten
Commandments have been done away with, “once saved, always
saved, etc, what utter rubbish! That is NOT what the blessed Word states!
Beloved, we should follow Messiah's example in keeping the same Sabbath day that
He kept! And which day was this Sabbath? Why, the
very same day that the Israelites, the Jews around Him were keeping and that of
course is from twilight Friday to twilight Saturday. “It was evening and
it was morning day One.” That is the calendar that
Now does that make it OK? NO IT IS NOT! For salvation is
YOUR responsibility and not your leaders. IF you have the Scriptures it is
your responsibility to check the Word, and if what they say is not right, then
oppose it. But, the problem is, most people just fall in line and it is OK and
we will be sheep. I am sorry, sheep can be led anywhere, and you could be led
on a big ship to a Muslim land and into the slaughter house. OK, that is an
analogy, but, if you are following error, then you are still responsible for
the sin, and the wages of sin is death!
10…
Were Messiah and Disciples Sabbath-Breakers?
We have seen above that Messiah Yahushua
obviously upheld Elohim’s holy Sabbath day. The Pharisees did accuse Him
of breaking it, as we can see in Markus - Mark 2 where Yahushua’s
disciples picked heads of grain to eat when they were hungry on the Sabbath.
Most Jewish folk today, and myself included prior to my coming to Yahushua
would have said that He indeed breaking the Sabbath Law! However, now I know very
much better for they were NOT transgressing a single Sabbath Law! The only
violation was the man-made laws added by the scribes and Pharisees to the
original three, yes I mean it, there are ONLY THREE SABBATH LAWS! But,
these typical men full of the self and traditions had other ideas to place a
yoke and a burden on the people of
Of course, it was the responsibility of each
individual to make sure that he wasn't overexerting himself on the Sabbath to
the point that his actions would have qualified as work. If Yahushua had not
been present with His disciples, it would simply have been a personal judgment
call for them. But Messiah was there as a perfect Judge and Lord of the Sabbath. And He
made it very clear that the scribes and Pharisees were wrong! Picking a few
heads of grain and eating them simply does not violate the Sabbath
command, for it was NOT – “servile work.” On the other hand,
if the disciples had been harvesting
to take a load home that would have been a very
different matter for that would have been “servile work”! But, of
course, they were not. They were just taking the odd head here and there for a
bite to eat!
However, some will persist that surely the
Sabbath was done away when Yahushua died. But was it and why did His disciples
think so? Notice that after His burial, His most dedicated followers decided
they would better prepare His body when the Sabbath was over so it wouldn't
decay so quickly in the grave. Of course this was a High Sabbath being the Day
of Passover/Unleavened Bread!
“Then they returned (home) and prepared
spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the
commandment.”
Thus there are no signs whatsoever that the
disciples were substituting the Sabbath and now worshipping on a Sunday. We
have just read that they refrained from doing work on the Sabbath. But notice the very next verses;
“Now on the first day of the week,
very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the
tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone
rolled away from the tomb.”
Here we see that on the “first day of
the week,” remember that the pagan “Sunday” did not exist
until the fourth century; they had come to do work. Obviously,
the Sabbath they had kept holy and that was the previous
– the Seventh Day – (now known as the pagan Saturday. After the god of Saturn).
After His resurrection, did Yahushua in some
way indicate that His former teaching on the Sabbath as being
“Olam” - “Eternal” – “forever” had
suddenly been “done away” or “nailed to the stake/tree”?
Instead, our beloved Redeemer had instructed
His disciples to go out over the whole earth and teach these same things, even to the END of this age.
“All authority has been given to Me in
heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe ALL THINGS that I have commanded you; and lo, I
am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Mattityahu -
11…
Was Yahushua Resurrected on Sunday?
If you visit a mainstream Christian church and
ask members why the day on which they and other people attend worship services
is Sunday, a typical response would usually be, “Because the Bible tells
us that our Lord was resurrected on a Sunday morning.” But how well does
this really bear up under close scrutiny with the Word?
Although I have a complete study on this very
subject, I will provide the basis of it below. See the links at the bottom of
the page.
Notice what Messiah told the Pharisees, who
were looking for a sign about the Messiah:
“An evil and adulterous generation seeks
after a sign, and NO SIGN will be given to it EXCEPT the sign of the prophet
Jonah. For as Jonah was THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS in the belly of the great
fish, so will the Son of Man will be THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS in the heart
of the earth.” Mattityahu -
Thus the only sign Yahushua gave to prove that He was
indeed the Messiah was that the grave would only hold Him for a set amount of
time, that would be precisely “three days and three nights,”
or to be even more accurate - 72 hours. Of course we know that the
churches celebrate “Good Friday” and maintain that our Saviour died
on that day and rose again on the (pagan) “Easter Sunday.” On this
basis, if Messiah was buried just before sunset on the so-called “Good
Friday” and was resurrected early Sunday morning that would have been
just two nights
and one day, or
around 36 hours, give or take!
Some will argue the definition of
“day,” and Messiah clearly speaking about the 12 hours of daylight
that is available. (Yochannan -
Because the churches no longer celebrate the
anointed Seven Feasts of YHVH as given in Vayikra – Leviticus 23,
especially “Passover/Unleavened Bread”, which was fulfilled by
Yahushua “the Passover sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7), they
have lost the detail and wonderful understanding of what really happened at the
time of our Saviour! We know for a fact that Yahushua entered
He remained in
?On this night Yahushua and His apostles partook of the pre-Passover
meal, which is incorrectly called “the Lord’s Supper.” Sadly
this was done by
²On the next day, Wednesday Yahushua stood
before Pontius Pilate and was in due course heading up to Golgotha to be nailed
to the stake/tree, and he was placed in the tomb on this the forth day.
Yahushua died at the very same (fourth day) time the Passover lambs were slain,
and he was placed in the tomb just before the HIGH Sabbath of the FEAST of
Passover/Unleavened Bread and NOT the Seventh Day Sabbath!
For a detailed study read – “When was Messiah Resurrected?” See link at bottom of page!
The point is beloved, if you make a very
simple calculation from the time our beloved Redeemer’s body was placed
in the tomb, just before the High Sabbath would have commenced, let’s say
5PM and add 72 hours, you can work out when He would have been raised by the
Father, for the Word only tells us that when it was not yet light they came and
He had risen, thus nothing is actually said about the time of the resurrection
time, except what Yahushua Himself told us so very clearly and that it would
prove Him being the Messiah! Therefore a pagan “first day” morning
resurrection could not be the reason for changing the weekly day of worship
from The YaHVaH’s Seventh Day (Saturday) to a pagan SUNday. But even had
the Messiah been resurrected on
the “first day”, why would His disciples who had kept the Seventh
Day Sabbath with Him-have abandoned His example of keeping the Ten Commandments and
switched to “first day” keeping? And why would they have picked the
“first day,” being a day long associated with pagan sun worship? Thus beloved, this was a
pitiful and a Satanic attempt to CHANGE Elohim’s
Law, and it just does not hold water!
12…
Practice of the Original Apostles:
Throughout the book of Acts, we find that the
apostles continued to observe the Sabbath regularly. They did this with Hebrews
as
well as with Gentiles, and-guided by the Ruach HaKodesh – the Holy Spirit, the entire
early New Testament Ekklesia continued to meet on the Seventh Day Sabbath for
well over hundred’s of years after Yahushua' death. Even mainline
Protestant historians acknowledge this fact. In his book, “The Story of the
“As long as the church was mainly Jewish, the Hebrew Sabbath was kept; but as it became increasingly Gentile the first day gradually took the place of the Seventh Day” (1970, p. 36).
Notice that Hurlbut
says the first day “gradually” replaced the Seventh Day Sabbath. Did
Elohim gradually do away with His law? Ridiculous! As we shall see later deviously and “gradually” DECEIVING millions of professing
christians into doing away with not only the Sabbath, but the entire concept of
obedience to Elohim’s law!
Obviously, there was never any change during the lifetimes of our Messiah’s original apostles. Even
Shaul -
“But when they departed from Perga, they came to
However, there are always those who will put
up an ongoing argument, regardless of the faithful Word of the Almighty, and no
matter what Yahushua, and the apostles said and did, for some have argued,
“But Paul was just meeting with those Jews on Saturday since that was their Sabbath!” First thing that I noted was the word used,
“those Jews: and “their Sabbath,” sadly in the eyes of Elohim
(God) they condemn themselves, for words say a great deal about their thinking
and stand, for those words clearly showed an anti-Semitic stance, which by the
way was later proved by the individual!! The book of Acts clearly tells us that
“when the Judeans went out of the Synagogue, the Gentiles (who were now
in faith) begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.” (Acts 13:42). Thus in the
Synagogue Shaul would go to worship, and it would also be a grand opportunity
to share the Word with both the Hebrews and the Gentiles. Now do you think he
may have said, “Well friends, we have a meeting on every first day”
of the week, join us.” Well, but did he? On the contrary, the Word very
clearly states that on …
“The next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of Elohim” Acts 13:44.
The truth of the matter is that neither Shaul
nor ANY of the apostles uttered one single word about
changing Elohim’s holy Sabbath or any part of the Ten Commandments.
Rather, as they had been taught by Messiah Himself, they kept, and always
assembled and worshipped on, the Seventh Day!
What about when
“Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Synagogue. Then Shaul, as his CUSTOM was, went into them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures.” Acts 17:1-2.
It was clearly Shaul’s
"custom" to meet on the Sabbath. Acts 18:4 tells us that “he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both
Judeans and Greeks.” In example
after example in the book of Acts, when Shaul or the other apostles met to
worship, there is not a single, solitary hint
that they ever regularly met on any other day of the week to worship except Saturday, being the Seventh Day Sabbath that they had always observed and that the
entire Hebraic community, be they Messianic believers, Gentile believers, or
Hebrews were still observing!
In fact, if any of the Messianic or those from
the Gentile believers had started teaching on any other weekly day of worship,
it would have caused a literal RIOT among all the faithful in Messiah Yahushua!
The only major ministerial conference mentioned in the Brit Chadashah –
the New Testament is described in Acts 15, for there was a controversy
regarding whether or not those who were Gentiles and now believers in Messiah
and grafted into the
However having covered the only New Testament
controversy we know for a fact that neither our loving
Saviour Yahushua or the apostolic Fellowship EVER attempted to change
the Sabbath. Nor did they never attempted to
do away with obedience in love to ANY of the Ten Commandments!
13…
Now we come to the question of “Later Apostolic Teaching”:
There is a world of theologians Protestant and
others that have been schooled in the theory of “progressive
revelation,” or as I call it
“The ancient prophets were simply Jewish
philosophers trying to devise their own concept of a divine being. Then along
comes
The trouble with the above theory is that it
is GROSSLY INACCURATE! For it attempts to completely negate Yahushua’s
own command, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but
by EVERY WORD of Elohim” (
And what the "progressive
revelation" teachers also cannot explain is that the original apostolic
writings very directly and very powerfully uphold the concept of obeying the
Ten Commandments as the Christian way of life-once
again, including keeping Elohim’s Sabbath.
“For whoever shall keep the whole Law,
and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said,
‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder’ (Quoting
the Ten Commandments). Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do
murder, you have become a transgressor of the Law. So speak and so do as those
who will be judged by the Law of liberty.”
Thus true believer are
to keep the “whole Law.” It is a Law with “points”
including the commands against murder and adultery. Clearly, this Law is
obviously the Ten Commandments. And
Yochannan -
“Now by this we know that we know Him,
if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does
not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” 1
Yochannan – 1
A person may know about Elohim by coming to understand only
part of the Truth. But to genuinely and personally “know” Him,
Yochannan -
What about Shaul? Did he dismiss any of these Laws? By no means!
In Romans 2:13, he wrote, “For not the hearers of the Law are just in
the sight of Elohim, but the DOERS of the law will be justified.” And in
1 Corinthians 7:19, he stated, “Circumcision is nothing and
uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of Elohim is what matters.” Again,
this certainly includes the fourth commandment concerning the Seventh Day Sabbath!
Furthermore, Shaul is traditionally understood
to have written the book of Hebrews-and there is strong evidence to support
that tradition. Because of his pharisaic priestly training in the technical
intricacies of the Mosaic Law, he was undoubtedly the most qualified of all the
apostles to thoroughly explain the Brit Chadashah – the New Covenant that
Elohim was making with all of humanity, the very theme of the book of Hebrews.
This book describes how Elohim spoke of the “Seventh Day” as the
day of rest (Hebrews 4:4), it goes on to state”
“There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of Elohim.” Hebrews 4:9. NASB.
This is a very interesting passage. Chapters 3
and 4 of Hebrews talk about Elohim’s people, the faithful, entering into
“rest.” The Israelites in the wilderness wanted to enter
Elohim’s “rest” meaning to finally cease from wandering and
settle in the Promised Land. And that did happen in the days of Moshe’s
successor, Yahushua -
It is in this context that the book of Hebrews
talks about a Sabbath rest remaining for Elohim's people. In almost every case
in chapters 3 and 4, the Greek word for physical “rest” -
“katapausin” is used for Elohim’s rest. But in Hebrews 4:9, Elohim
inspired a different word to be used “sabbatismos.” Many translations render it simply as
“rest,” just like they do “katapausin.” But this is very confusing, since it is a totally different word.
The New American Standard Bible, quoted above,
uses the words “Sabbath rest.” But does this mean literal,
weekly Sabbath keeping? The Anchor Bible Dictionary says yes, assuring us that “sabbatismos” refers to “Seventh Day Sabbath. celebration.” Thus, the New Testament states very clearly that Seventh Say
Sabbath is to continue for true believers in Messiah!
A Special Note:
Here are the details from 1 … The “Thayers
Greek Lexicon”: It is also worthwhile for those that have it to read
the Frieberg
Greek Lexicon.
Please Note that the Greek & Hebrew fonts has been transliterated, as majority of readers will not have the Bwgrkl font. Although two images of the main words are shown below.
--------------------------------------
Left:
the Greek “Sabbatismos” – Right: Hebrew “Shabbat”
1 … 4684 Sabbatismos: to, (Hebrew Shabbat), found in the N.T. only in the historical
books except twice in
Thayers Greek
Lexicon clearly states that the seventh
day of each week, which was an appointed feast a day on
which all the Israelites were required to abstain from all work (Exo. 20:10; 31:13f; Lev 23:3; Deut. 5:14); the word used is
a singular Sabbatismon: There are countless Scriptural quotations, but it is best that you look
these up for yourself!
“YHVH said to Moshe, ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them’ - ‘These are My appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of YHVH, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to YHVH. These are YHVH’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times.
YHVH’s Passover (the day of slaying of the lamb) begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month YHVH’s FEAST of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.’” Vayikra -Leviticus 23:1-7. NIV.
Note: The
Sabbath is the first of the festivals mentioned in Vayikra -Leviticus 23:1-7,
but it is the only feast that is a weekly event, thus it is considered as THE
MOST important of all the feasts, for the next feasts, although prophetic and
to be fulfilled at that time, the Sabbath was holy from the beginning, and it
represented the completion and the arrival of the new heaven and Earth, with
the New Jerusalem! Thus it is a representation of the eternal Sabbath we will
enjoy when we will live with The Father and the Son! That is why the Sabbath is
so very vital to all; believers! Listed thereafter are the Feasts of YHVH to be
upheld at their Scriptural “Appointed Times.” Vayikra - Leviticus
23.
As I already indicated, we need to remember
that each feast is a prophetic picture of our beloved Redeemer Yahushua, from
the Lamb without spot and blemish, without sin, His dearth and resurrection,
His ascension, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and all these prophetic
events have been fulfilled! However, there are still four more feasts, such as
Trumpets, The Day of Atonement, Tabernacles, and the eighth Day after the seven
days of Tabernacles, which is one of the most vital prophetic of days yet to
came, yet there are almost no one in the world who understand much about this
most blessed of days, because the church has lost the beauty and the prophetic
meaning of the feasts and how our blessed Saviour is so deeply involved with
them ALL! That is a tragic loss, but again part of
Sadly, some will argue that all this about the
Sabbath just means we should simply rest from our sinful works in our new life
in Yahushua. But notice what is said in the following verse;
“For he who has entered His “rest” has Himself also ceased from his works as Elohim did from His.” Hebrews 4:8.
Did
Elohim "rest" from His work of SIN? No of course not. He rested from
CREATING His work as the Creator of the heavens and the Earth and all that it
contains. And on what day did
However beloved it is interesting to note
that, the context of these verses does show that the Sabbath is far more than
just a “memorial of the creation.” For it is a TYPE, a PICTURE of
something else-and we should observe it as such. But it is looking not into
what will happen during our current life, but when Yahushua our beloved Messiah
sets up the “
Notice what the Commentary on the Whole Bible
by Jamieson, Fausset & Brown has to say about
Hebrews 4:9, he states:
“This verse indirectly establishes the obligation of the Sabbath still; for the type continues until the antitype supersedes it.”
As for the coming millennial Sabbath it
“will not be until Messiah … comes … the typical earthly
Sabbath must continue until then.” Yet, as we will later see, even in
the “Kingdom” human beings will continue to keep Elohim's weekly
Sabbath holy!
It is all so very clear for here in the book
of Hebrews we find a direct New Testament command for all the faithful in
Messiah to “rest” “sabbatismos” on the Seventh Day Sabbath! It was probably given through the
apostle to the Gentiles, and that may well have been the very apostle who so
many catholic and protestant theologians insist “did away” with
Elohim’s Law!
This section found in Hebrews 4 concludes like
this;
“Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience” Hebrews 4:11.
The phrase, “the same example of disobedience,”
should resonate deeply with students of the Word. For, just as Sabbath breaking
and idolatry was a major factor as well as idolatry in the captivity of
The question is … Ask your self –
1. Are you keeping Elohim’s Fourth Commandment, the Seventh Day Sabbath?
2. Who is you Saviour, Yahushua THE Messiah, or the
one who has totally foreign name that “
Even Strongs will tell you that both
NT:2424: Iesous (ee-ay-sooce'); of Hebrew origin [OT:3091];
Although the verse looked up was for
14…
What is the rule of faith regarding the faithful and the Sabbath?
A rule of faith, as a believer, or a competent
leader in Yahushua the Messiah, you must be able to instruct in the Scriptural
truths that is necessary for salvation. It is good to teach for all the faith
full to read the whole of the Word from Bereshis – Genesis to Revelation
in a single year, and we have a easy to follow chart
available online! But you may read all the Scriptures yet no one will ever find
a single line authorizing the sanctification of a sabbath
worship day on the pagan Sunday. The blessed Scriptures enforce the observance
of Scriptural, fourth commandment Sabbath that commences PM Friday and
concludes PM Saturday, which is a day that the church at large simply refuses
to sanctify. Sadly there will be consequences because of thei
ongoing disobedience!
You should read Elohim’s indictment
given to
“Also I gave them My Sabbaths as a
sign between us, so they would know that I YHVH made them holy. Yet the
people of
Therefore, repeating the inspired instruction
from the New Testament and what is written in the book of Hebrews 10:25, let ALL true believers be careful to NOT follow that
“same example of disobedience” by failing to keep holy the only day
of the week Elohim made holy-the seventh-day Sabbath!
“… and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works; not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the day (millennial Sabbath) approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries. A man that hath set at nought Moshe’s Law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.” Hebrews 10:24-28.
We must “not forsake assembling” on
the day that He Who IS THE Word - Elohim has appointed for all man in the
beginning, and confirmed at Sinai and again throughout the Brit Chadasha
– the New Covenant! We see in Hebrews, that forsaking the Sabbath comes
with huge consequences, for it is a “sin” not upholding the Seventh
Day Sabbath and that there will be a “judgement” that will
“devour the adversaries!”
15…
Evil influences come on the scene:
The Brit Chadashah – the New Testament
very clearly states that Elohim’s true Ekklesia would never be large and
that it would be persecuted. Yahushua instructed His disciples as follows;
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is
the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who
go in by it.” Mattityahu -
It is also worth reading
“Strive to enter through the narrow
gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When
once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to
stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for
us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where
you are from?’”
But here is the Promise!
“Do not fear, little flock, for
it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.”
Our beloved Redeemer, Yahushua THE Messiah, as
we have seen above, called His faithful the “little flock”.
And in His Olivet Prophecy, He warned;
“Then they will deliver you up to
tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My
Name’s sake.” (Mattityahu -
Sadly dear readers, I have to be very honest
here, for those who are in the “mainstream” church will NOT be the
ones who are going to be “hated by all nations." Why? Because
they fit into the world pretty well, going along with its customs and
traditions and so sadly have followed the ways of religious men, who have led
them all astray, for even these men were deceived by Satan from the very
beginning, yet, the Truth was staring them in the face, but, like I was before
1977, I was blind, but my eyes were opened through a miracle, and ultra
orthodox Jew, who hated all believers in Messiah, whose people had suffered in
the Holocaust, having come from Europe. Yet, without any ministry from
believers,
But back to our study!
Thankfully there was there a faithful and an
obedient fellowship of believers such as Yahushua described still in existence
long after the apostolic times who faithfully upheld Elohim’s one and
only Sabbath day? The truth is that virtually all church historians acknowledge
that countless thousands of early believers continued to observe the
seventh-day Sabbath for many generations! , and I must point out that they were
never “Christians,” for they were the followers of the new
religions of
This was
The Head of Elohim’s true fellowship is
Yahushua THE Messiah Himself!
And He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” Colossians 1:18; also see; Ephesians 1:22.
The book of Hebrews tells us;
"Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of Elohim to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. Yahushua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today and forever.” Hebrews 13:7-8.
There is no doubt whatsoever that throughout
the entire Word of YaHVaH Elohim, be it in the Old or the New Covenant, there
is only one day that is set apart as the Sabbath, and that is the one on
the Seventh
Day, the day we now call Saturday!
Below is a quote from Cardinal Gibbons,
who was the Archbishop of Baltimore and one of the best known American Catholic
leaders in his time. I want you to take careful note what one of the very
highest-ranking Catholic leaders of
“You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.” (“The Faith of Our Fathers” - 1876).
And notice this statement from The Catholic Mirror,
which is the official newspaper of Gibbons’ archdiocese that was under
his direction:
“In the Old Testament, reference is made one hundred and twenty-six times to the Sabbath, and all these texts conspire harmoniously in voicing the will of God, commanding the Seventh Day to be kept” It then states, “Nor can we imagine anyone foolhardy enough to question the identity of Saturday with the Sabbath or Seventh Day, seeing that the people of Israel have been keeping the Saturday from the giving of the Law.” (Sept. 9, 1893).
And look at this from a later article under
“God’s written word enjoins His worship to be observed on Saturday, absolutely, repeatedly, and most emphatically, with a most positive threat of death to him who disobeys.” (Sept. 23, 1893).
Now beloved readers, all I can say is this, if
a Roman Catholic Cardinal can come to the truth and so clearly declare that;
the true fellowship of Elohim would have persisted in keeping His Seventh
Say Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset!
George Park Fisher, who during his life was a respected professor of ecclesiastical
history at
“The Jewish Christians at first frequented the Synagogues. They continued to observe the festivals appointed in the Law, and only by degrees connected with them Christian ideas and facts. They kept the Sabbath on Saturday, according to the Mosaic commandment.” (History of the Christian Church, 1887, p. 40).
So if the holy Sabbath is so clearly
established in His Word and as we can see above that it was certainly kept by
Elohim’s true and faithful believers, then where did Sunday come from?
Renowned modern historian
“The serious temper of the Jewish Sabbath was transferred to the Christian Sunday that replaced it in the second century.” (The Story of Civilization, vol. 3, 1972, p. 599).
But how did this happen? A Roman Catholic
study course tells us that “the
(Catholic) Church transferred the obligation from Saturday to Sunday.” (
The
Catholic Mirror agrees: “The Catholic Church … by virtue of her Divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to
Sunday" (Sept. 23, 1893). In fact, the
Catholic Church’s
“We (the Roman Catholic Church) GLADLY
MENTION the thesis that Bacchiocchi defends regarding
the birth-place of Sunday worship: for him this arose most probably not in the primitive
16…
Is One Day Better than Another?
There are those who will quote Romans 14:5-6
as proof that it does not really matter on which day we keep as the Sabbath,
even if we keep any day at all. But if you read the passage more carefully you
will note that the apostle Shaul -
"One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to YHVH; and he who does not observe the day, to YHVH he does not observe it.”
I can hear it already, but is this really
talking about keeping the Seventh Day Sabbath? It is time we notice the
rest of verse 6, for most christians are so good at reading the bit they find
suitable for their needs, and leave out the rest!
“He who EATS, eats to YHVH, for he gives Elohim thanks; and he who DOES NOT EAT, to YHVH he does not eat and gives Elohim thanks.” Verse 6.
The question is, “Well, what is this
about?” Romans chapter 14 begins with Shaul teaching the faithful in
In another of Shaul's letters, he explains one
particular reason that a number of the believers had become vegetarians because
most of the available meat in the marketplace had been offered to idols. Of this
Shaul says, “Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols,
we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other Elohim
but one … However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some,
with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol;
and their conscience, being weak, is defiled” (1 Corinthians 8:4, 7).
Some new converts thought that eating such
meat could mean that you were guilty of participating in idol worship, but they
soon understood that most meats were clean and not always offered to idols, for
kosher meat was still available in some places, as well as butchers who were
just tradesmen, thus they went along with other faithful and ate the meat
anyway. But in a way that is the worst thing they could have done. For Shaul -
Paul also states in Romans 14 that “he who doubts is condemned if he
eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is
sin” (Romans 14:23). Whether something is inherently wrong or not, if you
think it might be and do it
anyway, you are sinning!
So to those who thought it was all right to
eat meat, Shaul said, “Let not him who eats despise
him who does not eat” (Verse 3). But continuing in the same verse, he
said, “And let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for Elohim
has received him.” Yet Shaul told those who thought it was okay not to
flaunt that in front of those who did not (Verses 15-22).
So why did
Messiah said that when we fast, it should be
to
The only way the Sabbath could have been a
factor here is if some thought it could be used as a fast day and others did
not. However, that is not stated, and if
No, whether or not to keep the days that
ELOHIM made holy was not even at issue. This was all about “manmade
traditions,” some of which were okay to follow but not okay to impose on others. In
Elohim’s eyes, it doesn't matter when we fast (except for “Yom
Kippur,” the “Day of Atonement,” on which Elohim commands us to fast). What matters to Him is
that we do it with a right attitude, and that we do not judge each other
according to our personal ideas.
17… Did the
christian church have the right to change the day?
But what was this “Christianity” all about for there was very little
about the true Messiah, except for one with a new name, suddenly there where
statues erected of this messiah and his mother, who was claimed to be the
mother of the very god, thus, were they saying she came before the One and Only
Creator of Heaven and Earth YHVH Elohim, and He Who Is THE Word, who was in the
very beginning? I doubt that! This new religious denomination together with the
Eastern churches did away with Elohim’s Ten Commandments and then go on
to water down the entire way of life as
taught by our blessed Messiah and the original apostolic fellowship. This new
church was a pagan offshoot and a totally corrupt one led by Satan and sadly,
it is this church that has gained worldwide strength, for it has had many
children, known in the Word as her “harlot daughters,” which are
all the churches that have given up the true faith of the Almighty, and
rejected the teachings of our beloved Messiah, His apostles, and done away with
the Sabbath and upholding the Seven Feasts of YHVH Elohim as found in Leviticus
chapter 23!
Beloved, PLEASE I beg you - listen to Yahushua' own words: “Not everyone who says
to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the “Kingdom of heaven, but
he who does the will of My Father in
heaven.” Mattityahu -
As I have already clearly indicated, under
The catholic church will “gladly
mention” that it changed the day! For it shows that the protestants are certainly not relying on the Word of Elohim
as their rule of faith, as they always seem to claim, but are instead
acknowledging the “absolute authority" of the
“The Protestant world at its birth found
the Christian Sabbath (Sunday) too strongly entrenched to run counter to its existence;
it was therefore placed under the necessity of acquiescing in the arrangement, thus implying the Church’s right to change
the day, for over 300 years. The
To say the least, that is just unbelievable,
and I am sure you would agree, and certainly quite a lot of cheek to boot! The
Catholics had no “right” of course to change the day. Nevertheless,
that is just what they did. And that weak lot, the Protestant churches, have
flowed like sheep. Meanwhile, the true faithful followers in Messiah Yahushua continue to keep the Sabbath
just as it was in the apostolic times. Before concluding this section let me
take one more look at that period. The respected scholar
“Everywhere, especially in the East of
the
Thus if the Sabbath keepers were the
“dominant element” of believers for some 40 years after the resurrection of Messiah and the coming of the Holy
Spirit, should that not tell us something? Is it not it obvious that, if Yahushua Himself, Kepha -Peter,
Ya’akov - James, Shaul - Paul and MOST of the faithful Ekklesia of that
time observed the Seventh Day Sabbath, then THAT is the day we ALL should to be
keeping TODAY? That is the day the original Apostles of Yahushua Messiah kept until they died. How DARE these later theologians of the
Dark Ages place the Name of our most beloved Messiah on a day He never kept, and was NEVER sanctified! How
DARE they replace Elohim's holy Sabbath with the pagan “day of the Sun
SUN-day! How DARE they pervert the very
“sign” that identifies our CREATOR and those who worship Him!
18…
Statements from Other churches:
Yahushua Messiah said of the Pharisees;
“In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of Elohim, you hold the tradition of men … All too well you reject the commandment of Elohim, that you may keep your tradition.” Markus - Mark 7:7-9.
But beloved, please notice below what so many
other churches actually admit regarding their observance of Sunday instead of
Saturday.
Question:
“Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute
festivals of precept?”
Answer:
“Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern
religionists agree with her, she could not have substituted the observance of
Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the Seventh
Day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.”
Question:
“When Protestants do profane work upon
Saturday ... do they follow the Scripture as their only rule of faith?
Answer:
“On the contrary, they have only the authority of tradition for this
practice. In profaning Saturday, they violate one of
Elohim's commandments, which He has never clearly abrogated, ‘Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath.’”
The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, 3rd ed.,
p. 50:
Question:
“Which is the Sabbath day?”
Answer:
“Saturday is the Sabbath day.”
Question:
“Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?”
Answer:
“We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in
the Council of Laodicea [c. 363] transferred the solemnity from Saturday to
Sunday.”
Catholic Press, Aug. 25,
1900
“Sunday is a Catholic institution, and
… can be defended only on Catholic principles … From beginning to
end of Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of
weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first.”
METHODIST
“Sabbath in the Hebrew language
signifies “rest,” and is the Seventh Day of the week ... and it
must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the
first day.”
“The reason we observe the first day
instead of the seventh is based on no positive command. One will search the
Scriptures in vain for authority for changing from the Seventh Day to the
first.”
PRESBYTERIAN
“The Christian at Work,” April 19, 1883, and January,
1884:
“Some have tried to build the observance
of Sunday upon Apostolic command, whereas the Apostles gave no command on the
matter at all ... The truth is, so soon as we appeal to the litera scripta (literal writing) of the Bible, the Sabbatarians have the best of the argument.”
ANGLICAN
“Where are we told in Scripture that we
are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we
are nowhere commanded to keep the first day … The reason why we keep the
first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that
we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the
Church, has enjoined it.”
EPISCOPAL
“The Bible commandment says on the
Seventh Day thou shalt rest. That is Saturday.
Nowhere in the Bible is it laid down that worship should be done on Sunday.”
BAPTIST
“There is nothing in Scripture that requires us to keep Sunday rather than Saturday as a holy day.”
Beloved, they all know the TRUTH as you have clearly seen, but, under the powerful influence of Satan the Devil, he “who deceives the whole world” (Revelation 12:9), they have continue to uphold the day of the SUN god, and refuse to return to the Commandment as etched in stone, a commandments that was given for all eternity, the fourth commandments, “You shall keep the Sabbath holy unto YHVH.”
Obviously, then, to really follow what the
Scripture teaches, you MUST observe the Sabbath-from Friday sunset to Saturday
sunset. But if you are willing to COMPROMISE on the very commandment that
points out the true YaHVaH Elohim and He who is the Word who was in the
Beginning, who was Elohim, then you might very well end up observing the
“day of the Sun” right along with the vaunted majority-the
countless millions that prophecy shows will soon be subjected to the greatest
TRIBULATION in human history because of their rebellion against the true Elohim! Mattityahu -
19…
In Conclusion:
Remember what we read earlier, if we break one
point of the Decalogue,
Some, however, insist that the Fourth
Commandment is the one commandment of the Decalogue that has been abolished.
But notice that the Sabbath is called a “perpetual covenant,”
meaning a continuing and everlasting without end covenant between Elohim and
His people, and that is you and me! Not one Word in the entire Scriptures even
remotely suggests that the perpetual Sabbath covenant was to come to an end
with the advent of christianity.
In fact, the prophet Yeshayahu - Isaiah gives us good reason to believe that the Sabbath covenant will continue into the Millennium. Speaking of that period, he writes,
“‘And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me,’ says YHVH.” Yeshayahu - Isaiah 66:23.
The phrase “all flesh”
indicates that Yisroel as well as the Gentile nations will be keeping the
Sabbath. This concurs with Zecharyah –
With two
prophecies of inspired Scripture positively confirming the fact that all
nations will observe Elohim’s weekly and annual Sabbaths during the
Millennium, how can anyone claim that these observances are not for the
faithful in Him today?
1. The Sabbath was made at Creation; it was made for man.
2. The continuing cycle of Sabbaths, occurring every seventh day, was never lost. It was carefully preserved by both Hebrews and the faithful in Messiah Yahushua.
3. The Sabbath was to be a sign between Elohim and His true people. That is the faithful today!
4. The Sabbath was to be a perpetual covenant.
5. The command to keep holy the seventh day is found in the Decalogue, alongside commandments against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, adultery, and so on.
6. The importance of keeping the Sabbath (from Elohim’s perspective) is seen in the punishment Sabbath-breaking brought upon Yisroel.
7. The prophets tell us that both Israelites and Gentiles will
keep Elohim’s weekly and annual Sabbaths during the Millennium.
When we add to the above the fact that
Yahushua the Messiah kept the Sabbath, the fact that all the apostles and the
early believers upheld the Sabbath and all of the Feasts of YHVH (Vayikra -
Leviticus 23), and the fact that both Messiah and the apostles upheld the
Tenach (Old Testament, because there was no other Scriptures at that time.
Thus, the only conclusion we can come to is that we should all be keeping the
Sabbath for as we have clearly learned in this study the Brit Chadashah, the
New Covenant has also taught it!!
But right now, it awaits you, and I know that you will be richly blessed!
20…
How to KEEP the Sabbath:
If you are interested on how to keep
Elohim’s Seventh Day Sabbath, you are welcome to write me for a short
article, that I can send by email, or via a link
online if you so wish. This will provide everything you will need. Please note,
should you email us, we never retain names or addresses, do follow up’s,
or send news, or what we call those hideous Beg-letters, that so many so-called
ministries tend to send out! Thus, we only write/email back to those who
request a reply!
“Come out of her, My people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.”
Shalom in Messiah - Yahushua.
May YHVH Elohim bless and keep you in the palm of His
hand always, in Messiah Yahushua’s loving Name!
Ministry Elder/teacher:
“Scriptural
Truths” & “Ha Davar Word Studies”
“Teach me Your way, O YHVH. I will
walk in Your truth.
Unite my heart to fear Your Name!”
There are a
number of studies referred to in this study, and these are …
1 - Aramaic
or Hebrew? / 2 - YHVH
– the Divine Name in the Gospels / 3 - Yahushua
or Jesus
4 - Who is
Israel? / 5 When
was Messiah Resurrected? / 6 Yahushua
or Jesus
1
- Were the Gospels written in Greek/Aramaic or in Hebrew? / 2 –
Proof that YHVH’s Name was written in the Gospels!
3
– Regarding our Messiah’s real Name / 4 – All 12
Tribes of Israel survive today – proof from the Old & New Testament!
5
– Scriptural proof regarding
the actual time of Yahushua’s resurrection! / 6 – What is
the real Name of our Saviour?
, and His attribute/title is written as Elohim (God). Whilst
the Name Yahushua, our beloved Messiah and Redeemer is also written in a Hebrew
font, - as it is let’s face it a true Hebrew
name! “the Scriptures” is available in two ways. 1. A hard copy be it in a value soft cover, or a hard cover (my favourite)
with large print being available. Also leather bound versions being available
for that something special! Individual costs are a little higher, but start at
US$21.30 each for a soft cover edition, a hard cover (bonded leather) is $28.40
each. If you buy 10 or more it is obviously much cheaper! 2. There is a free
download available, which you will find on their front page. To visit the
“Institute for Scripture Research” to obtain a copy of “the
Scriptures” just click on the image above!
Please Note: I have placed this notice online without the Institute’s knowledge and only because I believe this edition of the Word is the very best available! Thus, this ministry does NOT profit in any way, as we are a 100% non profitable ministry and we do not sell or market anything, nor do we EVER request any donations!
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