The Seventh Day is a SIGN
between God and His people!
The Seventh Day is a SIGN
between God and His people!
Bottom line up front: Unless you're observing the Seventh Day, whom are you worshiping?
YAHWEH our Elohim - THE creator of the universe and everything and every one in it - established the Seventh Day as a Day of Rest for all. It is a day to cease working and just relax, refresh and enjoy life, and to remember and glorify Him. This was NOT an option! We can see the Sabbath throughout the entire Torah and beyond. Take a look:
Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, along with everything in them. 2 On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce.
Exodus 31:16 The people of Isra'el are to keep the Shabbat, to observe Shabbat through all their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the people of Isra'el forever; for in six days ADONAI made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and rested.'"
Ezekiel 20:11 I gave them my laws and showed them my rulings; if a person obeys them, he will have life through them. 12 I gave them my shabbats as a sign between me and them, so that they would know that I, ADONAI, am the one who makes them holy.
Exodus 20:8 "Remember the day, Shabbat, to set it apart for God. 9 You have six days to labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Shabbat for ADONAI your God. On it, you are not to do any kind of work -not you, your son or your daughter, not your male or female slave, not your livestock, and not the foreigner staying with you inside the gates to your property. 11 For in six days, ADONAI made heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. This is why ADONAI blessed the day, Shabbat, and separated it for himself.
Isaiah 56: 2 Happy is the person who does this, anyone who grasps it firmly, who keeps Shabbat and does not profane it, and keeps himself from doing any evil. 3 A foreigner joining ADONAI should not say, "ADONAI will separate me from his people"; likewise the eunuch should not say, "I am only a dried-up tree." 4 For here is what ADONAI says: "As for the eunuchs who keep my Shabbats, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant: 5 in my house, within my walls, I will give them power and a name greater than sons and daughters; I will give him an everlasting name that will not be cut off.
6 "And the foreigners who join themselves to ADONAI to serve him, to love the name of ADONAI, and to be his workers, all who keep Shabbat and do not profane it, and hold fast to my covenant, 7 I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them joyful 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 peoples."
Isaiah 58: 13 If you hold back your foot on Shabbat from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call Shabbat a delight, ADONAI'S holy day, worth honoring; then honor it by not doing your usual things or pursuing your interests or speaking about them. 14 If you do, you will find delight in ADONAI - I will make you ride on the heights of the land and feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Ya'akov, for the mouth of ADONAI has spoken."
Isaiah 66: 23 And it shall be that from one New Moon to another New Moon and from one Sabbath to another Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the Lord.
Jeremiah 17: 21 Here is what ADONAI says: "If you value your lives, don't carry anything on Shabbat or bring it in through the gates of Yerushalayim; 22 don't carry anything out of your houses on Shabbat; and don't do any work. Instead, make Shabbat a holy day. I ordered your ancestors to do this, 23 but they neither listened nor paid attention; rather, they stiffened their necks, so that they wouldn't have to hear or receive instruction. 24 However, if you will pay careful heed to me," says ADONAI "and carry nothing through the gates of this city on Shabbat, but instead make Shabbat a day which is holy and not for doing work;
Quick question:
Where in Scripture does Yahweh tell us to ignore the original, seventh day Sabbath - the day He Himself blessed and made holy (Gen 2:1-2)?
Answer: You won't find anything in the Scriptures that references the changing of the Sabbath to Sunday. Some argue that it's because "Jesus rose on a Sunday" - but you need to ask yourself: Why would that, in itself, change the seventh-day Sabbath that God ordained "in the beginning"? (First of all, please see our article which proves that Jesus did NOT rise on a Sunday!) Some argue that Constantine was responsible for changing the Sabbath because he hated the Jews.
No matter who instituted Sunday worship, in Yeshua's time, both Jews and Gentiles alike, regularly attended the synagogue for worship on the seventh day - which, on our Gregorian calendars falls on Saturday), and the fact that interested Gentiles in Antioch requested further instruction of Paul "on the next Sabbath" is irrefutable evidence that no separate Sunday (1st day) meetings were being held there by those early Christians: The Gentiles were willing to wait an entire week, till the next Saturday, for a meeting because they knew that Paul and his companions did not normally meet for worship on a Sunday. Acts 13:42-44 tells us that, on the next Sabbath (Saturday) almost the whole city arrived for the meeting.
Some insist that Acts 20:7 reveals Sunday worship, but this is not true. Fact is, Jewish believers in Yeshua continued meeting at synagogue (or the Temple) for Sabbath. Common practice would be havdallah - meeting in homes after sundown on Saturday to continue discussions and praise from the Sabbath, which explains Paul "preaching until midnight" in Acts 20:7. The first day of the week for Jews (like Paul) began at sundown at the end of the Sabbath - Saturday evening - not "Sunday."
Furthermore, the fact is, neither the Father nor the Son has ever claimed the first day as His own in any higher sense than He has each or any of the other laboring days. Neither of them has ever placed any blessing upon it, or attached any sanctity to it. The Bible tells us God expressly reserved the seventh day to Himself, placing His blessing upon it, and claimed it as His holy day. (Genesis 2:1-3.) Moses told Israel in the wilderness of Sin of the sixth day of the week, "Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord." Exodus 16:23.
BOTTOM LINE: You can worship any day you want; but YHWH's Sabbath - His commanded day of rest - always was and will continue to be the Seventh Day! That is, after all, what sets us apart from the rest of the world! No "religion" including Christianity, can claim they have the right to change YHWH's Sabbaths/Feasts - His Appointed Times. After all, it's the "anti-christ" who does these things:
Daniel 7: 25 He will speak words against the Most High and try to exhaust the holy ones of the Most High. (The "holy ones" are those who obey His Torah!) He will attempt to alter the seasons and the law; and [the holy ones] will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.
Please think very hard about that, and then continue reading the rest of this article....
The seventh day of the week, the day known as Saturday on our Gregorian calendars, is the Sabbath day of YAHWEH the Almighty God of Israel. It was ordained of God as a day of physical rest for all mankind, and the obligation to observe it arises from:
The word Sabbath implies rest, peace, tranquillity and refreshment. And who will doubt but that in this turbulent and confused world every soul on Earth is in need of spiritual rest and refreshment. Consequently, those who faithfully remember the Sabbath of the Most High and draw apart from the world each weekend to worship Him on His holy day, will receive the spiritual blessings promised in His Holy Word; blessings that will find full scope in the ages to come.
Still confused about whether or not to keep the Seventh Day Sabbath?
While you will not find anything in Torah that specifically addresses "buying or selling" on the Sabbath, it was clearly understood by Israel as being taboo. Let's check Nehemiah 10 where we see the people of Israel swearing an oath that included NO COMMERCE on Shabbat:
Nehemiah 10: 28 The rest of the people, the cohanim, the L'vi'im, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants and all who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Torah of God, along with their wives, sons and daughters, everyone capable of knowing and understanding, 29 joined their kinsmen and their leaders in swearing an oath, accompanied by a curse [in case of noncompliance], as follows: "We will live by God's Torah, given by Moshe the servant of God, and will perform and obey all the mitzvot, rulings and laws of ADONAI our Lord. 30 "We will not give our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land or take their daughters as wives for our sons.
31 "If the peoples of the lands bring merchandise or food to sell on Shabbat, we will not buy from them on Shabbat or on a holy day. "We will forego [planting and harvesting our fields] during the seventh year and collecting debts then. 32 "We will impose on ourselves a yearly tax of one-third of a shekel [one-seventh of an ounce of silver] for the service of the house of our 33 for the showbread, for the regular grain offering, for the regular burnt offering, for [the offerings] on Shabbat, on Rosh-Hodesh, at the designated times and at other holy times, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Isra'el, and for all the work connected with the house of our God.
34 "We, the cohanim, the L'vi'im and the people, will cast lots in connection with the wood offering, so that it will be brought to the house of our God according to our fathers' clans, at specified times, year by year, and then be burned on the altar of ADONAI our God, as prescribed in the Torah. 35 "Every year we will bring the firstfruits of our land and the firstfruits of all fruit from every kind of tree to the house of ADONAI. 36 "We will also bring the firstborn of our sons and of our livestock, as prescribed in the Torah, and the firstborn of our herds and flocks, to the house of our God, to the cohanim ministering in the house of our God.
37 "We will bring the first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every kind of tree, wine and olive oil to the cohanim in the storerooms of the house of our God, along with the tenths from our land for the L'vi'im; since they, the L'vi'im, take the tenths in all the cities where we farm. 38 The cohen the descendant of Aharon is to be with the L'vi'im when the L'vi'im take tenths. The L'vi'im will bring the tenth of the tenth to the house of our God, to the storerooms for supplies. 39 For the people of Isra'el and the descendants of Levi are to bring the contribution of grain, wine and olive oil to the rooms where the equipment for the sanctuary, the ministering cohanim, the gatekeepers and the singers are. We will not abandon the house of our God." (CJB)
Pay special attention to verse 29, where we see that the people are talking about entering into an oath/vow, to walk in Torah. The things listed that they were vowing to change included the fact that they would no longer buy nor sell anything on the Sabbath!
The above passage (along with Nehemiah 13:15-21, below,) are very clear indiators revealing that Israel KNEW that buying and selling on the Sabbath were breaking ADONAI's divine rules.
So, let's take a look at the following passage, which also discusses the prohibition against commerce on Shabbat:
Nehemiah 13:15 During this time I saw in Y'hudah some people who were treading winepresses on Shabbat, also bringing in heaps of grain and loading donkeys with it, likewise wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads; and they were bringing them into Yerushalayim on the day of Shabbat. On the day when they were planning to sell the food, I warned them not to.
16 There were also living there people from Tzor who brought in fish and all kinds of goods, and sold them on Shabbat to the people in Y'hudah and even in Yerushalayim.
17 I disputed with the nobles of Y'hudah, demanding of them, "What is this terrible thing you are doing, profaning the day of Shabbat? 18 Didn't your ancestors do this, and didn't our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you are bringing still more fury against Isra'el by profaning Shabbat!"
19 So when the gates of Yerushalayim began to grow dark before Shabbat, I ordered that the doors be shut; and I ordered that they not be reopened until after Shabbat. I put some of my servants in charge of the gates, to see to it that no loads be brought in on Shabbat.
20 The merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Yerushalayim once or twice, 21 until I warned them, "Why are you spending the night by the wall? Do it again, and I'll use force against you!" From then on they stopped coming on Shabbat. (CJB)