Which Day is the Sabbath?

[James Trimm]

Most Christians today profess that Sunday is the Sabbath. Others will say that the Sabbath has been done away with and replaced by Sunday “the Lord’s Day” as the day of worship for the “Church”.

The Sabbath was Created

In speaking of the Sabbath Yeshua said:

And he said to them, The Sabbath was created

for a son of man, and not a son of man for the Sabbath.

Thus also, the Son of Man is the Adonai of the Sabbath.

(Mark 2:27-28)

Now there is a lot of information packed into this saying of Yeshua. First of all Yeshua tells us that the Sabbath was “created”. When Elohim created the universe, he did not just create space, but time as well. The Sabbath was actually “created”. Now if we turn to Colossians 1:16 we read:

And by him (Messiah) was created everything that

is in heaven and on earth, and all that is seen, and

all that is not seen…

(Col. 1:16)

Therefore the Sabbath was created by Messiah. Yeshua is Adonai of the Sabbath because he created the Sabbath.

When did Messiah create the Sabbath? The answer is found in the Torah:

And on the sixth day Elohim finished His work which

He made; and he rested on the seventh day from all His

work which he had made.

And Elohim blessed the seventh day, and set it apart;

because that in it He rested from His work which Elohim

in creating had made.

(Gen. 2:2-3)

Elohim finished his work on the sixth day, but he finished His creation on the seventh day. Elohim created the Sabbath not by working, but by resting. Notice that he blessed the seventh day and set it apart. Not just that seventh day, but every seventh day throughout time.

Don’t Tread on Me

The Seventh day was set apart from the time of creation. It was set apart because it’s Creator was Adonai of the Sabbath and was empowered as the Creator to make it set apart. What does it mean for

something to be “set apart” (often translated “holy” or “sacred”)? Well when YHWH addressed Moshe from the burning bush He told Moshe “put off your shoes from off your feet, where the place you

stand is set apart ground.” (Ex. 3:5). This ground was set apart, it belonged to YHWH not to man, it was to be treated with respect, it was not to be trampled on. In the same way the Sabbath is set apart. It belongs to YHWH not to man, it is to be treated with respect and is not to be trampled on. As we read in Isaiah 58:13-14:

If you turn away your foot because of the Sabbath,

from pursuing your business on My set apart day;

and call the Sabbath a delight,

and the set apart of YHWH honorable;

and shall honor it, not doing your wonted ways,

nor pursuing your business, nor speaking thereof;

Then shall you delight yourself in YHWH,

and I will make you to ride upon the high places of the earth,

and I will feed you with the heritage of Ya’akov your father;

for the mouth of YHWH has spoken it.

(Is. 58:13-14)

The Sabbath is set apart because it is His set apart day. It is not our day to do with as we please. We must not trample on the Sabbath and treat it as our own, it belongs to YHWH.

Who was Sabbath Made for?

Another important question is “who was the Sabbath made for?”. Some have taught that the Sabbath was first given as part of the Mosaic Covenant on Mount Sinai and is for the Jews only.

But what does Messiah say? Who was the Sabbath made for? Why did YHWH rest on the Sabbath… was He tired? Clearly He was not tired as we read that He “faints not, neither is weary” (Is. 40:28). So

although he rested on the Shabbat from his work, this was to set the example for us, he did not need to rest so he did not create the Sabbath for himself. Messiah said:

…The Sabbath was created

for a son of man, and not a son of man for the Sabbath.

Thus also, the Son of Man is the Adonai of the Sabbath.

(Mark 2:27-28)

The one who created the Sabbath tells us who he created the Sabbath for. He did not create the Sabbath for the Jews only but he created the Sabbath for “a son of man” (all men). When the commandment to keep the Sabbath was given at Sinai (Ex. 20:8) YHWH said “Remember the Sabbath…” How could YHWH ask them to remember something they had never heard of before? In fact the children of Israel were already observing the Sabbath in Exodus 16 before the ten commandments were given in Exodus 20. The Sabbath transcends the Mosaic Covenant.

However even if the Sabbath had been part of the Mosaic Covenant, it would not have meant that the Sabbath was only for Jews. The Torah says that “One Torah shall be to him that is home born, and unto the stranger that sojourns among you.” (Ex. 12:49). Yeshua sent his Jewish talmidim (disciples) out to “teach all the goyim (gentiles)… and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Mt. 28:19-20).

The Sabbath was not created simply for “the Jews” but for all mankind. Thus when there was a debate over whether gentiles needed to be circumcised to be saved, the Jerusalem assembly commented:

For Moshe, from the first generations, had proclaimers

in every city in the synagogues, who read him on every

Sabbath.

(Acts 15:21)

They assumed that gentile believers would be going to synagogue and hearing “Moses” (the Torah; the Five Books of Moses) read every Sabbath.

The Sabbath was created and set apart for all mankind at the time of creation. It was therefore kept by such as Adam, Enoch, Noah and Avraham.

Who Done It?

So if the Sabbath was created and set apart by Messiah at the time of creation, who changed the day of worship to Sunday?

Many people have been misled into believing that Constantine was responsible for the corruption and Gentilization of Christianity and

moving the day of worship to Sunday.

On 7 March 321, Constantine I did in fact decree that Sunday was to be observed as the Roman day of rest saying:

On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people

residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the

country however persons engaged in agriculture may freely and

lawfully continue their pursuits because it often happens that

another day is not suitable for grain-sowing or vine planting;

lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the

bounty of heaven should be lost.

While Constantine certainly added to the apostasy of early

Christianity, he was not the first. It was in fact Ignatius of

Antioch who rebelled against the Jerusalem Council, usurped their

authority, seceded from Judaism, declared the Torah to have been

abolished, replaced the Seventh Day Sabbath with Sunday worship and

founded a new, non-Jewish religion which he named "Christianity".

Paul said to the Ephesians on his last visit to them:

Watch, therefore, over your nefeshot

and over the flock which the Ruach HaKodesh

has appointed you overseers [bishops]

that you feed the assembly of Messiah,

which he purchased by his blood.

I know that after I am gone

fierce wolves will enter in among you

without mercy upon the flock.

And also from among you there will rise up men speaking

perverse things, so that they might turn away the talmidim

to follow after them.

(Acts 20:28-30)

Paul seems to indicate that after his death leaders would begin to rise up from the overseers [bishops] in his stead that would draw people to follow themselves and draw them away from Torah. In fact

Paul died in 66 C.E. and the first overseer (Bishop) of Antioch to take office after his death was Ignatius in 98 C.E.. Ignatius fulfilled Paul's words precisely. After taking the office of Bishop

over Antioch Ignatius sent out a series of epistles to otherassem blies. His letters to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallianns, Romans, Philadelphians and Smyrnaeans as well as a personal letter

to Polycarp overseer of Smyrnaea have survived to us.

The Ancient Nazarene Historian and commentator Hegesippus (c. 180 CE) writes of the time immediately following the death of Shim'on, who succeeded Ya'akov HaTzadik as Nasi of the Nazarene Sanhedrin

and who died in 98 CE:

Up to that period (98 CE) the Assembly had remained like a

virgin pure and uncorrupted: for, if there were any persons who

were disposed to tamper with the wholesome rule of the

proclaiming of salvation, they still lurked in some dark place of

concealment or other. But, when the sacred band of Emissaries

had in various ways closed their lives, and that generation of

men to whom it had been vouchsafed to listen to the inspired

Wisdom with their own ears had passed away, then did the

confederacy of godless error take its rise through the treachery

of false teachers, who, seeing that none of the emissaries any

longer survived, at length attempted with bare and uplifted

head to oppose the proclaiming of the truth by proclaiming

"knowledge falsely so called."

(Hegesippus the Nazarene; c. 185 CE; quoted by Eusebius in

Eccl. Hist. 3:32)

Hegisippus indicates the apostasy began the very same year that Ignatious became bishop of Antioch!

Up until the time of Ignatius, matters of dispute that arose at Antioch were ultimately referred to the Jerusalem Council (as in Acts 14:26-15:2). Ignatius usurped the authority of the Jerusalem

council, declaring himself as the local bishop as the ultimate authority over the assembly of which he was bishop, and likewise declaring the same as true of all other bishops and their local

assemblies. Ignatius writes:

…being subject to your bishop…

…run together according to the will of God.

Jesus… is sent by the will of the Father;

As the bishops… are by the will of Jesus Christ.

(Eph. 1:9, 11)

…your bishop…I think you happy who are so joined to him,

as the church is to Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is to the

Father… Let us take heed therefore, that we not set ourselves

against the bishop, that we may be subject to God….

We ought to look upon the bishop, even as we would

upon the Lord himself.

(Eph. 2:1-4)

…obey your bishop…

(Mag. 1:7)

Your bishop presiding in the place of God…

…be you united to your bishop…

(Mag. 2:5, 7)

…he… that does anything without the bishop…

is not pure in his conscience…

(Tral. 2:5)

…Do nothing without the bishop.

(Phil. 2:14)

See that you all follow your bishop,

As Jesus Christ, the Father…

(Smy. 3:1)

By exalting the power of the office of bishop (overseer) and demanding the absolute authority of the bishop over the assembly, Ignatius was actually making a power grab by thus taking absolute

authority over the assembly at Antioch and encouraging other Gentile overseers to follow suite.

Moreover Ignatius drew men away from Torah and declared the Torah to have been abolished, not only at Antioch but at other Gentile assemblies to which he wrote:

Be not deceived with strange doctrines;

nor with old fables which are unprofitable.

For if we still continue to live according to the Jewish Law,

we do confess ourselves not to have received grace…

(Mag. 3:1)

But if any one shall preach the Jewish law unto you,

hearken not unto him…

(Phil. 2:6)

It is also Ignatius who first replaces the Seventh Day Sabbath with Sunday worship, writing:

...no longer observing sabbaths, but keeping the Lord's day

in which also our life is sprung up by him, and through

his death...

(Magnesians 3:3)

Having seceded from the authority of Jerusalem, declared the Torah abolished and replacing the Sabbath with Sunday, Ignatius had created a new religion. Ignatius coins a new term, never before used, for this new religion which he calls "Christianity" and which he makes clear is new and distinct religion from Judaism. He writes:

let us learn to live according to the rules of Christianity,

for whosoever is called by any other name

besides this, he is not of God….

It is absurd to name Jesus Christ, and to Judaize.

For the Christian religion did not embrace the Jewish.

But the Jewish the Christian…

(Mag. 3:8, 11)

By the end of the first century Ignatius of Antioch had fulfilled Paul's warning. He seceded from Judaism and founded a new religion which he called "Christianity". A religion which rejected the

Torah, and replaced the Seventh Day Sabbath with Sunday Worship.

Wasn’t Yeshua Raised on Sunday?

The reason most Christians give for observing Sunday as the day of worship is that Sunday is the day that Messiah was raised from the Dead. The well known Dispensationalist Theologian F.F. Bruce in

answering the question “Why do Christians observe Sunday… instead of Saturday?” writes:

… we need not look for a reason for that when we

consider that our Lord’s resurrection took place

on that day.

(Answers to Questions; F. F. Bruce; p. 242)

Now some Sabbatarians have argued that the resurrection was not on Sunday but on Saturday, but that is not really the point. Sabbath keepers are guilty of having allowed Sunday keepers to change the

subject. The question is not “which day was Messiah resurrected?” because there is not one word in the Scriptures about observing that day as the day of worship in place of the Sabbath. The only question before us is “which day is the Sabbath?” and does man have authority to make another day set apart and transplant the day of worship to that other day?

What Would Yeshua Do?

A common T-shirt in Christian circles today says WWJD “What Would Jesus Do?” The implication is that we should act as Yeshua acted. As the Scripture says:

He who says, I am in him, ought to conduct himself

according to his conduct.

(1Jn. 2:6)

So how did Yeshua conduct himself regarding the day of worship? The Scriptures tell us:

And he entered the Synagogue, on the day of

the Sabbath, as he was accustomed.

(Luke 4:16)

Paul himself followed this adage himself saying “Be you followers of me, even as I also am of Messiah” (1Cor. 11:1) thus we also read of Paul that he was also accustomed to going to Synagogue on the

Sabbath (Acts 17:1-2).

[Gen-2]

My Great uncle is Jewish. He lives in Adare, Ireland, but the closest synagogue is in Cork, after that, Dublin. He refuses to wear his kippah in public, and claims that going to synagogue would be "work", and that breaking God's rules to obey other rules of God, is senseless. There is no synagogue in Limerick, although there used to be. And a little anti-Semitism goes a long way. The riots in Limerick over a century ago are still remembered. There aren't a lot of Jews in Ireland, and My Great Uncle thinks that all this talk of any Messiah having already come, is foolishness. 'If the "messiah" had come, he would have fixed things!'

Irish Jews, from what I've seen growing up, probably do more drinking than other Jews around the world do (at least, on a regular basis), and they know when the Sabbath is. It's Tam's day off and a few cold ones to relax. Last year a couple of Hasitic Jewish Rabbis visited him. He said they started telling him stuff to do. He invited them to buy a house, stick around for a while, and he'd consider their 'wisdom'. As Tam tells it, they declined and left the country the following day, that following day being Sunday. Funny that.

[Abigail]

My Great uncle is Jewish. He lives in Adare, Ireland, but the closest synagogue is in Cork, after that, Dublin. He refuses to wear his kippah in public, and claims that going to synagogue would be "work", and that breaking God's rules to obey other rules of God, is senseless. There is no synagogue in Limerick, although there used to be. And a little anti-Semitism goes a long way. The riots in Limerick over a century ago are still remembered. There aren't a lot of Jews in Ireland, and My Great Uncle thinks that all this talk of any Messiah having already come, is foolishness. 'If the "messiah" had come, he would have fixed things!'

Irish Jews, from what I've seen growing up, probably do more drinking than other Jews around the world do (at least, on a regular basis), and they know when the Sabbath is. It's Tam's day off and a few cold ones to relax. Last year a couple of Hasitic Jewish Rabbis visited him. He said they started telling him stuff to do. He invited them to buy a house, stick around for a while, and he'd consider their 'wisdom'. As Tam tells it, they declined and left the country the following day, that following day being Sunday. Funny that.

Gen, your uncle is right. If he is stricly observant and if going to synagogue would require him to drive a car, then he would be "working" and thus breaking one of God's rules. There is nothing in the Torah that requires one to go to the Synagogue on Sabbath. That is tradition, and it is a good tradition if one can keep it, but it is not law. And yes, the Sabbath is to be a day off. A day of rest. In fact, on the Sabbath the Chabad women have special clothing they wear which is designed to be particularly comfortable for just that reason.

You cannot equate going to synagogue with going to church. Judaism is centered around the home and one's community. Remember, in Torah there was only one temple and most people could not travel from their far away lands every week to go to temple. Rather, they only went for specific high holidays, and even then not all could make the trip. Synagogues were designed after the temple was destroyed. They allow the Jewish people to have a community with each other i and to worship with each other in a more modern civilization.

[Composer]

Story book NT believers obviously still quibble amongst themselves about a Sabbath Day, but the story book Paul says it doesn't matter what Day or if any day at all -

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath [ days ] (Col. 2:16) KJV story book

[waysider]

Story book NT believers obviously still quibble amongst themselves about a Sabbath Day, but the story book Paul says it doesn't matter what Day or if any day at all -

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath [ days ] (Col. 2:16) KJV story book

But if you don't believe in the "storybook, why should you care what Paul said?

[bulwinkl]

I sure am glad that the post that modbaker had a couple of days ago about length of posts didn't apply to James Trimm. He must be speeshul or something. Just a petpeeve of mine I guess. Sort of like watching someone tie up traffic at a light turning left when there is a no left turn at that time.

[WordWolf]

I sure am glad that the post that modbaker had a couple of days ago about length of posts didn't apply to James Trimm.

(snip)

Check the date and time the poster posted.

Check the date and time the moderator posted.

If you find a long post like that which was posted AFTER the moderator's message,

then by all means report it. I haven't seen one (yet).

[bulwinkl]

my bad, and my apologies for not checking that. I justs didn't see this topic before this morning that I remember, but at my age there is a lot I don't remember.