432 Elohim's Sabbath Rest | nazareneisrael2house

Elohim’s Sabbath Rest.

In the western world where we live, a new day is started at midnight and lasts for twenty four hours, until midnight when the next day commences. Most people in the western world call themselves Christian and keep ‘their day of rest’ on Sunday, the first day of the week, defined in dictionaries as the Christian Sabbath. There are three Scriptures in the renewed Covenant that lead some to believe that Sunday was the day of rest and worship for the renewed Covenant ecclesia. We will discuss each one of these Scriptures in turn, here below:

Some say that 1 Corinthians 16 verses 1 & 2 refers to taking up a collection during Sunday services. Examining these verses closer, reveals that, it was not what Rav Shaul meant. Although the Scriptures say that the collection took place on the first day of the week, nowhere does it say that a worship service was involved. This was merely a special collection for ‘the saints’, members of the ecclesia in Jerusalem who were in need (see verses 1 and 3). It was part of a wider relief effort involving other members in Galatia and Macedonia as well. The support was prompted by a famine described in Acts 11: 28 – 30. Rav Shaul did not say that this collection was to be taken up at a religious service. In fact he tells the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 16: 2, to ‘let each one of you put aside and save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.’ These contributions were to be put aside and saved, not to be brought to a worship service on Sunday. To say that this is an account of a collection taken up during a Sunday worship service (which was considered to be a normal working day, in those days), is to read into the Scriptures what it does not say.
A Scripture which is commonly cited to justify Sunday worship is Revelation 1: 10. In this portion of The Scriptures, John was saying: ‘I was in the Spirit on (the Lord’s Day) the Day of YHWH; and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet.’ Some say that John was saying that he was at a worship service on Sunday and had a vision. However, no where in the Scriptures is ‘the Lord’s Day’ defined as the first day of the week or Sunday. This is in fact the only place in the entire Scriptures, where this term is used, which would hardly be the case if the ecclesia (or church) had been observing Sunday for many years, as some claim. In fact the context of the vision which John had, was not referring to Sunday at all, but he wrote that the vision took him into the future time, which the Scriptures normally refer to ‘as the day of the lord’; ‘the day of the master Yahshua Messiah’ or ‘day of Messiah’ (see 2 Peter 3: 10; 2 Thessalonians 2: 2; 1 Corinthians 1: 8; Acts 2: 20 and Jeremiah 46: 10). This does not talk about a specific single day, but refer to the end-time events surrounding the return of Messiah Yahshua. This is the time when He will intervene directly in human affairs. This is when mankind’s rule will end and Yahshua will commence ruling us from Jerusalem.
Another Scripture used by some who believe, to show that the renewed Covenant ecclesia, observed Sunday, is found in Acts 20: 7, as follows: ‘And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Rav Shaul began talking to them, intending to depart the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.’ In fact this Scripture is used to say that this group kept the Passover on this particular Sunday. We however know that the Passover is a memorial of Messiah’s death which is kept, like any other memorial, once a year, on the 14th AVIV every year. In this instance ‘breaking of bread’ did not mean the Passover, but the dividing of loaves of bread for a normal meal. This is confirmed in E.W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible, pp.839 & 840. This is also proven in verse 11 of Acts 20, after Rav Shaul finished speaking, they broke the bread and ate. He continued talking until daybreak, when he left. Breaking bread to eat as a meal is also mentioned in Acts 27: 35 and Luke 24: 30. The timing of the events in Acts 20: 7 - 11, helps us understand things better. Several events are described during the same night. We know that in the Scriptures in both the Tanach and the renewed Covenant, days commence when the sun goes down. These events start with a meal on Saturday evening, after the Sabbath. Rav Shaul planned to leave the next day, to go to another town, so he spoke long into the night. One young man, who was sitting in a window sill, became very tired and fell asleep. He was overcome by sleep and fell out of the window from the third floor. We see in verse 10, Rav Shaul healing the young man and returning to the meeting. In the morning, which was Sunday morning, Rav Shaul continued on his journey.

Since most of Churchianity observes Sunday as their day of rest and worship, many people assume that Sunday is the Sabbath. However, the fourth Commandment states clearly: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (or Set-apart). Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of YHWH your Elohim; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore YHWH blessed the Sabbath and made it holy.” YHWH commanded that the seventh day be observed as the Sabbath.

Looking in any dictionary or encyclopedia will reveal that Saturday is the seventh day of the week, while Sunday is the first day of the week. In the book of Genesis we read of Elohim creating the earth, after which He fills it with plants and animals and forming it into a beautiful garden for mankind to dwell in. Elohim, who created the heavenly bodies and set them in motion to mark the passage of time, counts time from evening to evening. We see this indicated in the creation account in Genesis. In Genesis 1: 5, after dividing the day from night, Elohim tells us that the evening and the morning, were the first day. ‘Evening’ is mentioned first followed by ‘morning’. In each of the successive days that Elohim created, He describes each day’s creation in similar terms, as may be seen in Genesis 1 verses 8, 13, 19, 23 and 31.

We also read about the creation of the original Sabbath in Genesis 2: 2 & 3, as follows: ‘And by the seventh day Elohim completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then Elohim blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which Elohim had created and made.’ The Sabbath day was different from all the other days of the creation week. Elohim blessed the Sabbath and sanctified it. The word ‘sanctify’ simply means to set it apart or makes it ‘holy’. In the quoted Scripture above we read three times that Elohim rested from all His work which He had created and made. The Sabbath follows immediately after the sixth day which we have seen in Genesis 1: 31, ends at dusk on the sixth day. This brings us to the very important question: When does the Sabbath of YHWH our Elohim begin? In the Scriptures, evening began when the sun goes down, as we see in Joshua 8: 29 and quoted here in 2 Chronicles 18: 34: ‘And the battle raged that day, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot in front of the Arameans until the evening; and at sunset he died.’

The usual way of calculating the beginning and ending of days are as given in Leviticus 23: 27 & 32, as follows: “On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a Set-apart convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to YHWH. (32) It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your Sabbath.” This is also confirmed about the Sabbath in Nehemiah 13: 19, as follows: ‘And it came about just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and that they should not open them until after the Sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates that no load should enter on the Sabbath day.’

However, some might conclude that the above two quotes come from the ‘Tanach’. So let us look at an example in the ‘Renewed Covenant’. In Mark 1: 21 we see that Yahshua and His newly called disciples attended a synagogue on the Sabbath in Capernaum. In verse 32 of Mark 1, we see the Sabbath coming to an end as the sun went down, as follows: ‘And when evening had come, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed.’ After the sun had set, marking the end of the Sabbath, crowds brought many sick people to Yahshua to be healed, having waited until the end of Sabbath to come to Him. The gospel accounts witness that Joseph of Arimathea buried Yahshua’s body before evening, to keep from working on an approaching annual Sabbath (the First Day of Unleavened Bread). We see this by comparing John 19: 31 ‘The Jews therefore, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.’ with Matthew 27: 57 - 60, as follows: ‘And when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Yahshua. (58) This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Yahshua. Then Pilate ordered it to be given over to him. (59) And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, (60) and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.’ This is in total agreement with Luke 23: 50 – 54: ‘And behold, a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man (51) (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of Elohim; (52) this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Yahshua, (53) And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain. (54) And it was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.’

We are familiar with Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, which tells of a time when Lucifer rebelled against YHWH our Elohim, wanting to take over His throne in the recesses of the north and when he was cast down to the earth (Isaiah14: 12). The war resulted in the earth becoming formless and void. When our Father recreated the earth, after it was destroyed in a war between Satan and his demons and the two thirds of the angels still loyal to YHWH, our Father created mankind from physical matter. This means that we need rest, as opposed to spiritual beings who can continue on and on, without ever getting tired. In fact in Mark 2: 27 we read about Yahshua: ‘And He was saying to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”’ Yahshua clarified the purpose of the Sabbath, which so many have missed throughout the centuries: The Sabbath, far from enforcing a tiresome bondage of forbidden activities, is something which Elohim made for man. Notice again in Genesis 2, it was sanctified when mankind was made, with Elohim creating Adam and Eve on the sixth day of creation, followed by the Sabbath on the following day. Yahshua understood the Sabbath to be positive and beneficial to man and not burdensome as depicted by the religious leaders of His day. In addition some in other religions will often say that the Sabbath was made for Israel only. However, we see that YHWH made it for man – all of humanity, from the very beginning. Yahshua understood the purpose of Elohim’s Torah, including the Sabbath – which Elohim intended it to be for the good of all mankind.

The seventh day according to the Scriptures is – and has always been – the Sabbath day. Even though man has modified calendars through the ages, the seventh day weekly cycle has remained intact throughout history. The days of the week have always remained in the same order, with Sunday as the first day of the week and Saturday as the seventh. The Oracles of Elohim known as the divine instructions were entrusted to the Jewish people, as may be read in Romans 3: 1 & 2, and they have preserved the knowledge of the Sabbath, the Set-apart Days, Torah, which includes the kosher laws, faithfully since well before the time of Messiah to this day.

However, some in the Assemblies/congregation of YHWH as well as some Nazarene Israelites assert that because of the unbelief of some Jews, the Oracles of Elohim, were taken away from them and given to the Assemblies/congregation of YHWH (including Nazarene Israel) by the apostle Peter. They deduce this from the account in Matthew 16: 18, where Yahshua told Peter that he is a small stone (a pebble) and that His (Messiah’s) ecclesia will be built upon Him (Yahshua the Rock of our salvation). Peter understood this and explained in Acts 4: 11 & 12 that Yahshua is the stone which the builders rejected, the cornerstone upon which the ecclesia is built and that there is no other Name under heaven, but Yahshua, by which men must be saved. We also see this confirmed by Peter in 1 Peter 2: 7, as follows: “This precious value, then, is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone.”’

These assemblies did not get the Oracles from YHWH, else Peter would have written about it. In addition we see that Rav. Shaul, another disciple of Yahshua, confirmed after Yahshua’s resurrection and ascension to heaven, that the Jews still have these Oracles in Romans 3: 1 & 2 as well as Romans 9: 4. What have been given to Nazarene Israel (including the Assemblies/congregation of YHWH), is the key or knowledge of the kingdom of YHWH and His plan of salvation for all mankind, provided we keep the correct Feast Days of YHWH. No, brethren these Assemblies/congregations of YHWH and the Nazarene Israelites who say that the Oracles of Elohim, were taken away from the Jews, are liars according to Roman 3: 3 & 4, which says the following: ‘What then? If some (Jews) did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of Elohim, will it? (4) May it never be! Rather, let Elohim be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, “THAT THOU MIGHTEST BE JUSTIFIED IN THY WORDS, AND MIGHTEST PREVAIL WHEN THOU ART JUDGED.”’

We read about the faithfulness of both Messiah and Moses in the first 6 verses of Hebrews 3. From verse 7 of Hebrews 3 we read about the failure of the first generation of Israelites as a lesson to us today. They failed because of unbelief and as a result did not enter the Promised Land. In Hebrews 4 we are admonished to have faith and obey the voice of YHWH, if we want to enter Elohim’s rest – the kingdom of Elohim, which will be ushered in by Yahshua at the commencement of the seventh millennium since the recreation of the earth. We see in Hebrews 4: 4 that Elohim rested on the seventh day of creation. Verse 7 quotes from Psalm 95: 7 where David spoke of a promise of rest long after Joshua led the second generation of Israel to rest in the Promised Land. This shows that the rest fulfilled at Joshua’s time, was only a type of the rest to come. In verse 9 of Hebrews 4, we read the statement: ‘There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of Elohim.’ This means that at the simple level, we the people of Elohim are still required to observe the seventh day Sabbath, but it is also talking about the soon coming millennial rule of Yahshua our Messiah. In fact the weekly Sabbath pictures or is a shadow of the millennial Sabbath to come. The book of Hebrews weaves the three themes of rest together. The rest promised to Israel from their enemies, the weekly Sabbath, and the spiritual rest through Messiah. It concludes that Sabbath keeping is still required for us, the people of Elohim.

YHWH created the Sabbath for man and there will be a time, when all mankind will be keeping it. We read in Isaiah 66, talking about the Millennium rule of Messiah, in verse 23: “And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from Sabbath to Sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says YHWH. The Sabbath identifies us as the people of Elohim, even if we are not sure about our bloodline. We read accordingly in Isaiah 56: 6 and the 1st part of verse 7: “Also the foreigners who join themselves to YHWH, To minister to Him and to love the name of YHWH, To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant; Even those I will bring to My holy mountain (kingdom).”

Finally we read in Jeremiah 33: 20 – 22: “Thus says YHWH, ‘If you can break My covenant for the day, and my covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed time. (21) then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne (obviously talking about Messiah), and with the Levitical priests, My ministers. (22) As the host of heaven cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.’” I believe that this is enough said.