Shabbat

 

As I watched, the TV Preacher told the congregation that the Sabbath is part of the Law. And, that is true to a limited extent. It is the fourth Commandment.

 

However, Shabbat, the Sabbath is also the last thing Christ Jesus Created during the 7 days of Creation! Sabbat was the only part of creation that was sanctified!

 

Gen 2:1-3
1
 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

God the Father, through Christ Jesus the Son, created the days as well as the sun, moon, plants, animals and man during that week of creation.

Creation superseded the giving of the Law and thus, while being included within the Law it is not bound by the Law.

 

Giraffes are also part of Creation but if you believe in Giraffes you are not “under the Law.” Believing in Shabbat does not make anyone a legalist.

 

Many reject the Sabbath and yet cling to the tithe! The Sabbath pre-dates the tithe!

 

God created Shabbat as His day of rest. That is one point that most overlook. God the Son created the actual days. The difference between the six days and the Shabbat is that God blessed Shabbat, but not the other days! Shabbat is the only day that actually has a name. It was named by God Himself.

 

Shabbat was not created as a day of worship, although the Ten appoints it as such. Shabbat was created as a day of rest.

 

Sunday is not the Lord’s Day, nor is it the Sabbath!  Those are facts!

 

The Sabbath was created!  It was not appointed as an afterthought!

 

When I first wrote this article it caused a bit of a stir, so let’s go to plan “B” for blessed (Heb bārak-‏בָּרַךְ‎). When God created the Sabbath He blessed it (Genesis 2:3). God never “un-blessed” Shabbat!

 

Observing the Sabbath is thought of as being legalistic, but is it? If you do not murder, steal, lie, or commit adultery, that will bring you in line with the ten Commandments, by not doing those things are you being legalistic?

 

Of course not! 

 

Legalism is following some rule or regulation that you assume will save you, but salvation is strictly by grace through faith plus nothing!

 

To many, legalism is worshipping on the Sabbath. But, what does the New Testament say?

 

Col 2:16-17
16
 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:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

 

No matter which day on which you worship it is a shadow of the great Shabbat to come! Worshipping on the current Sabbath, or Sunday, or Thursday afternoon is a just a shadow!

 

We are neither saved nor lost due to a certain day of the week!

 

None of us is saved because we do something to deserve it!

 

Now, back to our Sabbath study!

 

Matt 28:1 In the end of “the Sabbath” (Gr. Sabbatoon-Sabbatwn), as it began to dawn toward “the first day of the week” (Gr. Sabbatoon-Sabbatwn), came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. (KJV)

 

As you notice, I added quotation marks and the exact Greek word translated in the quotation marks.  You will also notice that in both cases, the Greek word in exactly the same while the English translation differs.

 

Why did the translators use differing translations for the same Greek word in the same sentence?

 

I don’t know.

 

In translating the Greek New Testament into English, the translators used a false translation when translating “the first day of the week.” In each and every occurrence of that phrase in the Greek New Testament we see that it is based on a mistranslation of the Greek word sabbatoon-sabbatwn (Englishman’s Lexicon spelling). They may have been told that Sabbatoon means a week or one of the seven. That is false! Seven/seventh in Greek is hepta. In Greek, εβδομάδα-hebdomada is the word for week!

 

Where did that false translation come from?

 

I don’t have the slightest idea!

 

I assume it was due to anti-Semitic prejudice, and political motives.  But, that is a guess.  Perhaps the translators were just too stupid to know what they were doing.

 

Many Christians hold the KJV translators in high esteem.  I am one of them!

 

Most Christians worship/attend Church on the “Christian Sabbath.”  That Sabbath is neither found nor hinted at in the Bible.  

 

Instead of Sunday (the first day of the week), Matthew 28:1 speaks of the first Sabbath leading to Pentecost, and the birth of the Church.  If early Christians were not so anti-Semitic the history of the Church would have been much different.

 

Each and every time the English New Testament speaks of the first day of the week, the Greek text speaks of a Sabbath.  There are no exceptions!

 

Many try to say that the Sabbath is invalid due to grace.  Do you feel that it is valid to commit murder because of grace?  How about stealing is that commandment invalid due to grace? 

 

Is having other Gods now valid because of grace?  Of course not!  According to the majority, only the forth commandment is not invalid due to grace.

 

And in the midst of teaching grace, Paul said, “the commandment holy and just and good” (Rom 7:12/NKJV).

 

He also said, “the law is spiritual” (Rom 7:14/NKJV).  Christ Jesus said, “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matt 5:18/NKJV).  Has heaven and earth passed away?  Has all been fulfilled?  No!

 

Now, what is the Sabbath?  Is it a day of rest or a day of worship? 

 

Exod 20:8-11

8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

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.

11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

(NKJV)

 

Mark 2:27 And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. (NKJV)

 

We are to worship God in all that we do.  And, we are to rest on the Sabbath. 

 

Matt 12:5 “Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?” (NKJV)

 

If we are to honor God on the Sabbath, we will do what He said to do on the Sabbath. 

 

How did we end up have Church meetings on Sunday?

 

Emperor Constantine order it under penalty of death, and so the vast majority of Churches did as he ordered.

 

You may worship Christ on Thursday afternoon at 2:44 PM!  Worship is worship!

 

However, the Sabbath is special!

 

But some say, haven’t we lost track of the days of the week sometime ago in history?

 

Do you think that Christ Jesus, the agent of creation did not know which day was His last day of creation?

 

Shabbat is Shabbat!

 

Have a blessed Sabbath!

 

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