Sabbath

[john832]

The Bible is quite specific about who the Sabbath is for...


Nehemiah 9:13-14


13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:


14 And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:




According to Nehemiah, God made the Sabbath known to Moses, so apparently before that, no one kept the Sabbath, God revealed it to Moses.




Exodus 31:12-13


12 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,


13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.


Exodus 31:16-17


16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.


17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.


It's pretty clear, the Sabbath was specifically for the "children of Israel".


Ezekiel 20:3,12,20


3 Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel,


12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.


20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.


I don't know how much clearer the Bible can be on this topic. I'd be interested to hear how anyone can look at these scriptures and still say we're all meant to keep the Sabbath.

Isa 56:1 Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.

Please notice the timeframe and subject here.

Isa 56:2 Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

Doesn't say Israelite, just says man.

Isa 56:3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.

Do you know what a stranger is?

H5236

נֵכָר
nêkâr
nay-kawr'
From H5234; foreign, or (concretely) a foreigner, or (abstractly) heathendom: - alien, strange (+ -er).
Total KJV occurrences: 36

Isa 56:3 Do not let the son of the foreigner Who has joined himself to the LORD Speak, saying, "The LORD has utterly separated me from His people"; Nor let the eunuch say, "Here I am, a dry tree." - NKJV

Isa 56:4 For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
Isa 56:5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
Isa 56:6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;

Again, same word and it means Gentile.

Isa 56:7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.

What will happen in the Millennium?

Isa 66:23 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 the LORD.

All flesh, not just Jewish flesh, but ALL flesh will keep the Sabbath.

Gen 26:5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."

You do understand that Abraham was not a Jew don't you?

Mat 19:17 So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."

"Keep the Commandments" includes the fourth one.

Rev 22:14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.

And this occurs after the Millennium, GWTJ and the New Heavens and New Earth.

Let's look at one more point...

Exo 31:13 "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.

Who is the Israel of God today?

Gal 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
Gal 6:16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
Gal 6:17 From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
Gal 6:18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

Who is Paul writing to here?

Gal 1:2 and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia:

 

[john832]

Back your words up from Scripture. Show me where Jesus and Paul and Peter and John said that we must observe the Sabbath. Paul made clear that we must not be judged for not observing new moons and sabbaths, nor in respect of an observance of a particular day. I realise that you try to avoid these Scriptures by avoiding taking them for what they mean. But none of your arguments are convincing as I have shown you.

It really is quite simple. If observance of the Sabbath is so important why does the New Testament breathe no word of it.? Answer. Because it is not so important.

Not a word in the New Testament? If it was important it is inconceivable. The shadow had passed because the reality had come.

Actually the Holy Spirit is not the same Jesus Who died for our sins. That is modalism. He is the same GOD as Jesus Who died for our sins.

I can put my money where my mouth is...

Heb 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

And the KJ translators used the word 'rest' as the translation of Sabbatismos. The Diaglott has this...

Heb 4:9 Therefore remains a keeping of a sabbath for the people of the God.

Funny, no one ever reads verse 4 & 5 together...

Heb 4:4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
Heb 4:5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.

What rest? Verse 4 makes it pretty plain, the seventh day.

The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon:

1) a keeping sabbath

Strong's Concordance

sabbatismos: a sabbath rest
Original Word: σαββατισμός, οῦ, ὁ
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: sabbatismos
Phonetic Spelling: (sab-bat-is-mos')
Short Definition: a Sabbath rest
Definition: a keeping of the Sabbath, a Sabbath rest.

Englishman's Concordance
Strong's Greek 4520
1 Occurrence

σαββατισμὸς — 1 Occ.

Hebrews 4:9 N-NMS
GRK: ἄρα ἀπολείπεται σαββατισμὸς τῷ λαῷ
NAS: there remains a Sabbath rest for the people
KJV: therefore a rest to the people
INT: Then remains a sabbath rest to the people

OK, I put my money where my mouth is, how about anteing up?

 

[KohenMatt]

Why? who could keep it? You? The Torah is all about Christ

No no one could keep the Law perfectly, but that was never the purpose of it it. It was to teach people who to live on the presence of a holy God and to be separate from the world. When you did fail, there was mercy and atonement.

Just like today.

 

[KohenMatt]

Keeping Sabbath is what you do and boast in it. The cross will not let you boast.

Who is boasting, and in what post are they boasting in?

 

[eternally-gratefull]

No no one could keep the Law perfectly, but that was never the purpose of it it. It was to teach people who to live on the presence of a holy God and to be separate from the world. When you did fail, there was mercy and atonement.

Just like today.

actually thats wrong.

it was to teach people that according to Gods standard, no one can live up and we are are guilty when we come to a perfect righteous God.

It was to teach people that God had to save them, because they needed saved, and could not save themselves.

It was to teach us we need to look in love, Not in law. because the law could not make us righteous people. just prove to us how unrighteous we are. so every mans mouth may be shut (of boasting) because no one can live u to the standard.

 

[KohenMatt]

Michael, I will repeat myself until one day it will hopefully make sense to you. The law was NEVER a tool for salvation.

God place relationship with Him higher than anything but if we love Him we will follow His commandments (Yeshua's words not mine).

Hos 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Heb 13:9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

Sometimes I feel like I need to put statements like this at the beginning of every one of my posts to clarify that salvation is not the issue. It never fails that the anti-Law folks always bring it back to "The can't make you perfect before God!" argument.

You're right. The Law never was, and never is intended to be about salvation, but about a response to the salvation mercifully and graciously given to us.

 

[john832]

It really is quite simple. If observance of the Sabbath is so important why does the New Testament breathe no word of it.? Answer. Because it is not so important.

Not a word in the New Testament? If it was important it is inconceivable. The shadow had passed because the reality had come.

Not a word in the New Testament about this either...

Lev 18:23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.

So therefore, OK to practice this?

 

[KohenMatt]

No no one could keep the Law perfectly, but that was never the purpose of it it. It was to teach people who to live on the presence of a holy God and to be separate from the world. When you did fail, there was mercy and atonement.

Just like today.

actually thats wrong.

it was to teach people that according to Gods standard, no one can live up and we are are guilty when we come to a perfect righteous God.

It was to teach people that God had to save them, because they needed saved, and could not save themselves.

It was to teach us we need to look in love, Not in law. because the law could not make us righteous people. just prove to us how unrighteous we are. so every mans mouth may be shut (of boasting) because no one can live u to the standard.

Actually it's both of those. These 2 explanations fit well with each other.

Which then leads to my motivation in keeping the Law.

 

[john832]

Not a word in the New Testament about this either...

Lev 18:23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.

So therefore, OK to practice this?

A continuation of the thought...

Have you ever heard this?

"How many times do you have to be told to..."

Ask yourself that? Does God have to keep repeating Himself? He does explain how the applications of His Laws have changed in the New Covenant, when there is a change in application. A good example is circumcision. Paul shows that circumcision is now of the heart and not the foreskin, but even this is not really a change...

Deu 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

It has always been.

So ask yourself, "How many times does God have to tell you something?" Is once not enough?

 

[john832]

Sigh, I will say this again: God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. You are arguing in the flesh that is why it is not making sense...

He even says this twice...

Mal 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

 

[john832]

Jesus is the Sabbath, there is no rest without the work of the cross. Period.

Please show me a scripture that says Jesus is the Sabbath. That makes as much sense as saying Jesus is thou shalt not commit adultery. None.

 

[KohenMatt]

A continuation of the thought...

Have you ever heard this?

"How many times do you have to be told to..."

Ask yourself that? Does God have to keep repeating Himself? He does explain how the applications of His Laws have changed in the New Covenant, when there is a change in application. A good example is circumcision. Paul shows that circumcision is now of the heart and not the foreskin, but even this is not really a change...

Deu 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

It has always been.

So ask yourself, "How many times does God have to tell you something?" Is once not enough?

How many times do we need to be told to wipe our behinds when we go to the bathroom? Just because no one tells us that now doesn't mean we should stop.

 

[valiant]

Not a word in the New Testament about this either...

Lev 18:23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.

So therefore, OK to practice this?

Now you are being foolish. The New Testament constantly condemns uncleanness and sexual misbehavior. A recognisedly obscene form of it was clearly condemned.

Are you really comparing Sabbath-keeping with bestiality? Enough said.

 

[GandalfTheWhite]

Now you are being foolish. The New Testament constantly condemns uncleanness and sexual misbehavior. A recognisedly obscene form of it was clearly condemned.

Are you really comparing Sabbath-keeping with bestiality? Enough said.

No, he is actually questioning how we as mere mortals can try to place higher/lower value on one commandment from the others.

 

[john832]

Okay so where do you sacrifice your Lamb?

You don't get it do you?

1Co 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

The book of Hebrews is a very powerful book, too bad it doesn't get read much...

Heb 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
Heb 10:2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
Heb 10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

The lambs that were sacrificed could NOT pay for sin, they were the schoolmaster...

Gal 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

Most of the time when Gal 3 is referenced, only verse 25 is emphasized and that is misapplied. The schoolmaster here has to do with all being concluded under sin. Faith in Christ frees us from sin and the penalty of it...

Rom 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Rom 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

Back to Hebrews 10...

Heb 10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

The Law of sacrifices was the shadow (everybody seems to love that word but very few seem to know how it really applies) of the perfect sacrifice Jesus Christ made for our sins.

Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Gal 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

So, where do I sacrifice my lamb? The question itself reveals a lock of understanding. Under the Old Covenant, not just anyone could sacrifice a lamb, only the Priest could perform the sacrifice. So where is the Lamb sacrificed today?

1Co 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

And Who sacrificed it?

Heb 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

So, let me ask you a question? Do you offer sacrifices? If so, who does that for you? Or have you never thought about it?

 

[john832]

Name one biblical character that kept the law other than Jesus?

OK, no problem...

Gen 26:5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

 

[john832]

Why? who could keep it? You? The Torah is all about Christ

Hmmm...

Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Why so much emphasis on what you can't do?

Everybody loves to (mis)quote Paul, but rarely do they quote this...

1Co 7:19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

1Jn 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
1Jn 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

1Jn 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

1Jn 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
1Jn 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

2Jn 1:6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

 

[john832]

Now you are being foolish. The New Testament constantly condemns uncleanness and sexual misbehavior. A recognisedly obscene form of it was clearly condemned.

Are you really comparing Sabbath-keeping with bestiality? Enough said.

No, you are using a little misdirection here. Your premise was that if something is not repeated in the New Testament, it is no longer binding. The prohibition against bestiality is not repeated in the New Testament, so by YOUR premise, it is no longer wrong.

The principle YOU stated was that if it is not repeated in the New Testament...

 

[john832]

It angers people when they realize there is nothing they can do and must rely on the work of the cross. All I can do is place my faith in the cross. That is my only hope.

What really seems to anger people is that Jesus Christ expects them to actually OBEY Him...

Mat 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

 

[john832]

Keeping Sabbath is what you do and boast in it. The cross will not let you boast.

Uh, please show me ONE post where I have ever boasted in the Sabbath. Why is doing what Christ says to do boasting?

Luk 17:10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

Now what did He say?

Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Mat 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

Why is doing what Christ said to do boasting in the Sabbath? You have a problem with obedience?