Israel and the Sabbath Kathleen A.

Marion To fully understand the purpose and position of the Sabbath in our lives it is important to understand who is Israel (separate paper written in depth on this topic). Lets start with a real basic truth. God/Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Jesus was present at the creation of the earth, thus He is the same as well as God. Neither changes their mind or their ways, midstream or ever. So let's look at who Israel is.... Exodus 12:28 tells us that a mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds; a great deal of livestock. Which means that gentiles came out of Egypt at the same time along with the natural born Hebrews. At the foot of Mt. Sinai this mixed multitude stood and received the covenant, which is called the Torah. The Torah is the first five books of the bible and contains all the covenants that God made with His people. Christianity commonly calls it the Law but their teachings are false regarding its validity. Let's now take a look at why God gave the Torah to the mixed multitude called Israel. Deu 4:6 "Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.' Deu 4:7 "For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the LORD our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? They were to follow the covenant given at Sinai so that the nations would see what a great God Israel had and ENTER into Israel and become part of them. It is important to understand that the covenant was not give as law but as protection out of love for His people who had just been given freedom after 400 years of slavery. (separate paper written on this topic) The Sabbath was a sign of the covenant like an engagement ring for a wedding. (Separate paper written on the Bride of Christs gift to his bride entitled Shabbat) God had already created, set it apart and sanctified it in Genesis. It is the ONLY Day God has sanctified. It was given to both natural born Hebrews and strangers (gentiles) living among them. (Separate paper written on strangers and the covenants) Exo 20:10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. Deu 5:14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. It was given as a perpetual sign which means forever, which means if God sanctioned the changing of the day to Sunday, which He did not, then we have a God who says He never changes, but changes His mind. That's called schizophrenia and my God is in His right mind. We are to, however, put on His mind not the mind of men or the doctrines of men. So again it is to be a perpetual sign, which means there will never be a change. Exo 31:16 'Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. Exo 31:17 'It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.

In Isaiah 66:22-24 we are told that when God makes the new heaven and earth, which we find in Revelations 21:1, all flesh will come to worship Him on the Sabbath and new moons. Those who travel to worship Him will look upon the corpses of those who refused to worship Him. God also tells us that the same law will be for the natural born as for the gentile, (stranger, foreigner, alien) they all mean gentile. Exo 12:49; Num 15:16, Num 15:29. Proper exegesis of scripture demands that we compare the spiritual with the spiritual therefore God was careful to give us several scriptures that agree with each other. We also need to understand that the scriptures were written by Jewish men for the people of Israel. Thus they were men who understood the society, culture and tradition into which God spoke the scriptures. Those scriptures that were written in Greek were written by Jewish men, with Jewish mindsets, and most likely spoke Greek as a second language. Therefore, when reading New Testament scripture one needs to remember that the writer wrote in Greek as he translated in his head from Hebrew, then someone who didnt know Hebrew as their first language translated it to English without the full understanding of the socio, cultural traditions of Judaism. It is very much like the translations from the Strongs Concordance. Strong's does not tell you what the definition of the word is. Strong's only tells you how Christians translated the words in the KJV! That is, it works from Christian assumptions, and then works backwards to make the Hebrew definitions validate those assumptions. Using Strong's to justify Christian interpretation of Hebrew scripture is therefore an exercise in circular logic. It is never good exegesis to justify interpretation or definition from the doctrines of men. There is only one scripture that mentions actually meeting on the first day of the week, Acts 20:7 and the timing of that meeting was actually in the evening after sundown on the Sabbath. Traditionally this is when Jews meet together and bid farewell to the Sabbath for the week. This tradition is called Havdallah. The scripture mentions Paul speaking until midnight and because the Jews use the timing of sundown to sundown as found in Genesis to calculate a day it can only be understood as Saturday night after the Sabbath is over, because if it was anytime during the day on Sunday once the sun went down the day would become the second day of the week, Monday. So it cannot be assumed that Sunday worship was the replacement of the weekly Sabbath, nor was it transferred to Sunday morning. The other scripture often used to justify Sunday worship is found in 1 Corth 16:2 where Paul asks that they lay aside some money for the next time he comes so there will be no collection taken at that time. Again, Jewish culture and traditions are heavily involved in Pauls thinking here. According to Torah there could be no buying or selling on the Sabbath. Therefore, the Pharisees made it an oral law (not written by God) that no money could be handled or carried on the Sabbath. So the setting aside for the day when Paul would come, which would obviously be on the Sabbath, was to comply with this tradition of man. Remember Paul affirmed in scripture that he was a Pharisee of Pharisees. Now Yeshua was sent to do ONLY what the Father told Him to do. At no time did Yeshua (Jesus) change the day of worship to Sunday, or change or start a new religion called Christianity. He went to the synagogue and spoke as was His custom. He kept all the Holy Days of God and taught the proper way to live the Torah apart from the legalism taught by man. He corrected the thinking of the Pharisees in the areas where they were leading the people away from God's ways found in Torah. The provisions of new covenant found in Jer 31:31 is not new in that God tore up the first one and started over, nor did He decided to use the gentiles as His chosen people and chuck out the Jews. The Word states that the New, which the Hebrew word means RENEWED covenant, will be made with Israel and Judah. No gentiles are included in this covenant unless they become part of Israel or Judah. (The following scriptures also speak of the New covenant with Israel: Ezk 11:14-21; 36:23-38) Paul tells us in Eph 2 that the gentiles were far from the covenants and the commonwealth of Israel but because of the blood of Yeshua you are brought near. Near to what? The covenants, which are plural, meaning that, as believers in Yeshua, Christians have not become a separate entity unto themselves or a

replacement of the Jews, but have ENTERED INTO ISRAEL. Paul brings his point home in Vs 19 of Eph 2 when he says you are "No longer Strangers and Foreigners, but members of Israel. (separate paper written on Strangers in Israel) The Greek actually reads sacred holy people, which is Israel. Paul further illustrates this in Romans 11 with his analogy of the Olive Tree. The Olive Tree is Israel. Paul is using the same analogy of the Olive Tree as Jer 11:16 where God calls Israel a green olive tree. The natural branches are the Jews, and the unnatural branches are gentiles. In horticulture a graft is done on a tree that is not bearing fruit. The graft then becomes the jump start to cause the tree to bear more fruit. It does not, however, determine the variety of the fruit, nor change the character of the tree. Paul is careful to point out that this grafting is against nature, meaning that the wild branches, which are bearing no fruit at all, are being grafted into the richness of the cultivated olive tree. It is important to understand the metaphor here. God has cultivated Israel. They have been given Holy Days to keep, along with instructions and statues that define who they are. God grafts the unnatural branches into the places were SOME of the natural branches were broken off, but he goes on to say that the natural branches can be grafted back in. He is giving gentiles who enter into Israel an identity in Him with His chosen people. Thus Christianity is not a separate entity called the church but part of a greater chosen people called Israel. The Sabbath was given as a perpetual sign to Israel which the church is now part of through the blood of Yeshua the Jewish Messiah. In 1 Corinthians 11:2 Paul tells us this: Now I praise you, brethren that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. Many times Christian theologians have assumed that Paul taught them some new traditions, however in light of Acts 24:14 we can see that Paul confesses to continue in his Jewishness and follow after the God of his fathers. In fact he states that The Way which he now follows, is a sect of Judaism. But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets. Paul also tells us in Hebrews that there remains a rest for the people, and reminds us to be diligent in entering that rest. Heb 4:9 There remains therefore a rest (sabbatismos) for the people of God. Heb 4:10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Heb 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. The Greek word for rest in the first Vs there is sabbatismos, which is translated from the Hebrew Shabbat, which is the very same Shabbat (Sabbath) given to Israel, the mixed multitude for all time. It means the keeping of the seventh day Sabbath. Paul reminds us that God rested on the seventh day, not that God needs to rest, but we need to look at this in context. He then tells us to be diligent to enter that rest lest we fall into disobedience. Paul tells us that the Holy Days, including the Sabbath are shadows of things to come. It should be noted here that he does not say Hey we dont do this anymore, but says they are to come. Which means they are coming in the future. Heb 8:4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; Heb 8:5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." This tied in with the Sabbath and all the Holy Days of God found in Lev. 23. So the shadow is a copy of what is going on in heaven.

The changing of the day to Sunday was a decision of man against the obvious express wishes of God who has given the commandment to keep the Sabbath as a perpetual celebration. (Separate paper written on the paganism of Sunday as a day of worship to the sun god.) Many church fathers and theologians have spoken of the change of the day of worship to Sunday: "Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, the Sabbath, but shall work on that day; but the Lord's day (Sunday) they shall honor, and as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out from Christ." - Canon 29, Council of Laodicea, 364 C.E. Not only do they have the audacity to change scripture, which God says NOT to do, but also they are now dictating to God who will be shut out from their own Messiah. "All things whatsoever it was the duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord's day (Sunday)... because it is more honorable than the Jewish Sabbath." - Eusebius of Caesarea, 4th century The "Jewish" Sabbath! Nowhere in the scriptures does it say it is a Jewish day. God calls it His. Lev 23:1. It is God's Sabbath and HE says so! The Hebrew word used in Lev 23:1 for feasts is Moed, which means appointed times. God has made appointments with us! If God says Hes going show up at an appointment, should we not keep them? Lev 23:2 "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts. Lev 23:3 'Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. The following is a compilation of quotes from early church fathers in attempt to justify their changing of rest to Sunday. "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 transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday." - Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine "Every Sabbath on account of the burial (of Yeshua) is to be regarded in execration (denunciation) of the Jews... In fact it is not proper to observe, because of Jewish customs, the consumption of food and the ceremonies of the Jews." - Pope Sylvester 314-335 C.E. Anti-Semitism was proliferating and the maligning of Jewish people was prevailing in the church from the pulpit. However, this comment shows how much these so called "holy fathers" actually read the scriptures! "The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday." - The Catholic Mirror When is the Sabbath? How can we be sure of the day? Just before the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, three million people saw bread from heaven (manna) for six days with a cessation on the Sabbath. This went on for forty years! Nineteen hundred years ago, Yeshua (Jesus) affirmed the Sabbath as it had been observed since that time: Luqas (Luke) 4:16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The changing of the day had to do with the enmity that the gentiles and the Jewish people had between themselves. The hatred that the gentiles had against the Jews for being the chosen people of God caused

them to divorce themselves from the things of God practiced by Judaism. This is the enmity that Messiah put to death on the cross Eph 2:16. Christianity likes to read it as putting the Torah to death, but the enmity has to do with animosity between two people groups and not God's Word (a separate paper has been written on this topic). It's time all peoples defer to the Word of God and not the doctrines of man. We are here to please God, not man. Personal opinion: I believe we serve a bigger God than most religious people think we serve. I believe in His mercy and love we are all being gently wooed to the obedience of keeping His word in every way. It is not a type of legalism but an adherence out of love and devotion in our attempt to please Him. I do not believe there is one person who goes to a church on Sunday who will be sent to hell for worshipping on Sunday. I truly believe that if we are seeking the face of the beloved as our King and Bridegroom, He will align us into the His right ways. Do I walk in all His ways correctly now? Absolutely not! But as I submit myself to His fire of love I find that it is not so important to point out the walk of others. God is working in their lives too. I do know this one thing for sure, not all people who say they believe in Yeshua are part of the bride. The scriptures say that the bride is purified, 1 Peter 1:22 says we are to purify ourselves with the truth of scripture, not all who say they believe actually submit to the cleansing of their hearts and minds. I think that some dont even understand what it means to submit to the fire, to allow God/Yeshua to clean out every place in your life that does not line up with His word. I know I love and serve a jealous God. He is a God who pursues me and woos me into intimate relationship with Him. If I follow all of His ways as found in the scriptures and never look up and see the face of the one who is the lover of my soul who only wants relationship with me I will walk in legalism. Although following His ways helps to cleanse me, it never brings me to the place of His love and romance of my soul.