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THE SABBATH
The big question today for Christians is why you do not celebrate the Sabbath and also why we do not celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday, which is the seventh day on our calendar. Let's start this session from the beginning. In Genesis 1 verse 5; the evening until the morning was the first day. So, from this we understand that the Hebrew / Jewish calendar day started at 6pm and ended at 6pm the next day. By this we understand that by our calendar today, the sixth day would be 6pm Thursday through 6pm Friday (Genesis 1 verse 31) and the Sabbath would start at 6 pm on Friday and end at 6pm Saturday. The first day of the week would start on Saturday 6pm and end at 6pm Sunday. This would make Jesus' resurrection at 6pm Saturday on our todays calendar. This would make that Saturday a High Sabbath known as Firstfruits.
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Genesis 2 verses 1-2
1 And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 2 And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.
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SABBATH: Cease / Rest = The ceasing of work or activity for the purpose of rest or celebration.
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Now that we know the ancient Hebrew hieroglyphics definition of sabbath means rest. The sabbath rest was incorporated by God in the beginning at the end of creation of the world. God finished all His work of the creation of the world in six days and rested on the seventh day. From this point you do not hear about the sabbath day again until Exodus 16 when God gave the children manna in the wilderness.
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Exodus 16 verses 4-5
4 Then said Jehovah unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not. 5 And it shall come to pass on the sixth day, that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.
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Exodus 16 verses 22-30
22 And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. 24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. 25 And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field. 26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. 27 And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. 28 And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
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When we get to Exodus chapter 20, we see the Sabbath established at Mt Sinai as law with the other commandments. Just for the record there was 613 laws and not just 10 laws of commandments. We will saved that for another lesson.
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Exodus 20 verses 1-11
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1 And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
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​​​​​​​​​​Hallowed: Q-Dsh = special / apart = to set apart from the rest for a special purpose or function. Holy, consecrated, sanctify and purify.
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Now to what many Christians do not understand, the seventh day was not the only sabbath day. God feast days were also know as Sabbaths. They were known as high or special sabbaths.
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When we get to Jesus and the New covenant, We need to examine some profound things. Example: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Penecost, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles. Read Leviticus 23 vs 1 - 8 (Passover & Unleavened Bread); Leviticus 23 vs 15 - 17 (Day of Pentecost & Firstfruits); Leviticus 23 vs 24 - 30 (Feast of Trumpets & Day of Atonements) and Leviticus 23 vs 33 - 37 (Feast of Tabernacles). These days are called Holy Convocations or High Days. This is why many people have been confused on Jesus Death and resurrection about Good Friday (there is no such thing). Read John 19 vs 31; The Jews therefore, because it was the Preparation, that the bodies should not remain on the cross upon the sabbath (for the day of that sabbath was a high day = feast day), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. See more about this on the Easter page.
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Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 12 vs 1 - 8; At that season Jesus went on the sabbath day through the grainfields; and his disciples were hungry and began to pluck ears and to eat. But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which it is not lawful to do upon the sabbath. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was hungry, and they that were with him; how he entered into the house of God, and ate the showbread, which it was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them that were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, that on the sabbath day the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless? But I say unto you, that one greater than the temple is here. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath.
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As you can see by this set of scriptures when you are with Jesus you are not bound by the sabbath because He is the Lord of the sabbath. Now let's look at what Mark says of the same scripture; Mark 2 vs 27 - 28; And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: so that the Son of man is lord even of the sabbath. Jesus then verifies this by what He states in John 7 vs 21 - 24; Jesus answered and said unto them, I did one work, and ye all marvel because thereof. Moses hath given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers); and on the sabbath ye circumcise a man. If a man receiveth circumcision on the sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken; are ye wroth with me, because I made a man every whit whole on the sabbath? Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. As you can see from the scripture above, if you circumcise your child on the sabbath, you break the law of the sabbath and if you don't circumcise the child on the sabbath, you break the law of the circumcision. You can now see the sabbath was made for the man to give him rest from his labors, man was not made for the sabbath to be held in bondage by it.
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Now lets see what the New covenant say about the sabbath, Hebrews 3 vs 5 - 19; And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken; but Christ as a son, over his house; whose house are we, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end. Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith, To-day if ye shall hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, Like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tried me by proving me, And saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was displeased with this generation, And said, They do always err in their heart: But they did not know my ways; As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest (sabbath). Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God: but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called To-day; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin: for we are become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end: while it is said, To-day if ye shall hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For who, when they heard, did provoke? nay, did not all they that came out of Egypt by Moses? And with whom was he displeased forty years? was it not with them that sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that were disobedient? And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.
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Hebrews 4 vs 1 - 11; Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good tidings preached unto us, even as also they: but the word of hearing did not profit them, because it was not united by faith with them that heard. For we who have believed do enter into that rest (sabbath); even as he hath said, As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he hath said somewhere of the seventh day on this wise, And God rested on the seventh day from all his works; and in this place again, They shall not enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some should enter thereinto, and they to whom the good tidings were before preached failed to enter in because of disobedience he again defineth a certain day, To-day, saying in David so long a time afterward (even as hath been said before), To-day if ye shall hear his voice, Harden not your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day. There remaineth therefore a sabbath rest for the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience.
In conclusion the mystery of the church is Christ in you, Colossians 1 vs 27 and Romans 8 vs 9 - 11; But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
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The message is, If Christ is in you and He will never leave you nor forsake you, and He is the Lord of the sabbath. We rest or sabbath in Christ every day. We are not bound by a law to keep the sabbath one day a week (Saturday). Romans 8 vs 2; For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Thank God that we rest (sabbath) in the works of Jesus. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the Law of Moses. (Galatians 5 vs 1). As Jesus Disciples were blameless in breaking the sabbath when walking with Jesus, so are we blameless in not keeping the sabbath because Christ resides inside of us. Praise God we have enter into His rest through our belief in Jesus.