Recently a question was sent into one of the Christian Channels enquiring if worship on the Seventh Day Sabbath was important. The reply was very evasive. Knowing what is written in Yahweh's Word concerning His Holy Day, it played upon my mind. Later I wrote to the Channel in question. The following is what I wrote:
Shalom! Greetings in the precious Name of Yahushua Ha Mashiach, our loving Saviour and soon coming King.
Today as I was in the kitchen preparing for the Sabbath, I had your Channel on and heard the question that was sent in by a lady enquiring if it was important to observe the Sabbath. The first answer you gave was: “No”. [Further comments were made in a attempt to answer the question which to me were not satisfactory]. . . . I noticed that you made mention of the fact that the question comes back from time to time. Please be aware that the Question is repeated because people genuinely want to know if it is important to observe the Sabbath and if it is required by our Elohim.
My reason for writing is that when it comes to the Word of our Elohim, Yahweh’s
Word is explicit. Many who contact your Channel are seeking for guidelines and are seeking definite answers to their questions. You are the servants of Elohim and they are looking to you to help, teach and guide them in their spiritual walk with their Elohim. For many of them, you are the only ones from whom they seek answers to their questions. You are watchmen for our Elohim and He is depending on you to teach, lead and warn His children (Ezekiel 33). Please understand that if you give evasive answers, He will hold you responsible because you are His “watchmen” to great numbers of people.
…. If you had been asked if it is important NOT to kill, steal or commit adultery; you would have had a ready answer and without any hesitation you would have replied that killing, stealing and committing adultery are wrong and against God’s Law”.
Please remember that the Sabbath is also one of Yahweh's commandments in His Law of Ten Commandments (Exodus 20: 3- 17). His Law of Ten Commandments was the only Law He wrote with His own finger on tablets of stone (Exodus 31: 18) out of the Six Hundred and Thirteen Laws He gave to Moses, His servant. It was not only for the children of Israel but for all His children up to the return of Yahushua. Describing Yahweh's Law, the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 19:7:
“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.”
Please note that the Sabbath was instituted from the very inception of this world, at the end of the Creation Week. Yahweh specifically created it for “REST” and WORSHIP. Concerning this we read in Genesis 2: 1-3:
“1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day [Elohim] 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 [Yahweh] God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which [Elohim] God created and made”.
It is the ONLY DAY which Yahweh “blessed” and “sanctified”. The Sabbath was instituted at the end of the Creation Week, long before there was a Jew in existence.
Three thousand years after Yahweh made the Sabbath Day, He came down to this world upon Mount Sinai. There He spoke aloud the Law of Ten Commandments, including the Fourth Commandment, in the hearing of the children of Israel. He told them that they were to remember to keep His Sabbath holy. He wrote this Law of Ten Commandments with His own finger on tables of stone. The Sabbath Commandment is the only commandment among the Ten in which Yahweh says:
“8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and [Elohim] 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 [Yahweh] the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore [Yahweh] the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it”. Exodus 20: 8-11:
The Sabbath is a constant reminder that Yahweh alone is the CREATOR and SOVEREIGN, with Heaven and Earth as His domain. It is also the ONLY Commandment that has His SIGN and Seal that He is our Elohim (Ezekiel 20:20).
Due to the fact that the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt and were unable to observe the Sabbath, one of the first things Yahweh taught them after their deliverance from slavery, was the importance of observing His holy Sabbath Day. He used the manna He gave them to teach them this important lesson. They were given manna for six days and none on Sabbaths for forty years (Exodus 16). When one man defied Elohim and went to collect wood on the Sabbath, he was stoned to death upon Yahweh's command for desecrating the Sabbath. The drastic sentence was to teach the children of Israel that Yahweh’s holy Sabbath Day was to be kept holy (Numbers 15: 32-36).
During the time of Nehemiah, the children of Israel were desecrating the Sabbath by selling their wares and he spoke to the nobles and leaders about it. He asked them:
“Why are you profaning the Sabbath in this evil way?. . . Now you are bringing even more wrath upon the people of Israel by permitting the Sabbath to be desecrated in this way!” Nehemiah 13:17, 18.
He took action against them and had the gates shut during the Sabbath hours so that they could not trade (Nehemiah 13: 15-22).
We also read that in 2 Chronicles 36: 20, 21, that many of the children of Israel who were not killed went into captivity for seventy years, while the land “enjoyed” her “sabbaths”.
No law or commandment of Elohim Yahweh will save anyone. It is the grace of Yahushua by which we are saved (Ephesians 2:8). Obeying His Word, however, is very important. As His children who are looking and waiting for the return of our loving Saviour, Yahushua Ha Mashiach, we should obey Him out of love for Him because He says in John 14: 15:
“If ye love me, keep my commandments”.
Yahushua, while He was here upon earth set us the example and kept the Sabbath (Luke 4: 16).
At His return for His children at His second coming, upon their return with Him to Heaven; it will be obedience to Yahweh's Commandments which will be their Passport into the Kingdom of Glory. Concerning this we are told in Revelation 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”.
Keeping the “commandments” includes the keeping of the fourth Commandment, the Seventh Day Sabbath. When Yahushua returns to this world a thousand years later and convenes the final judgment (Revelation 20), cleanses the world with fire and creates the new heavens and the new earth (Revelation 21; Isaiah 65: 17-25) for His redeemed children; they will worship Him on His holy Sabbath day, as we read in Isaiah 66: 22,23:
“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith [Adonai] the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.
23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith [Yahweh] the Lord”.
Yahushua’s grace is great and because of His love and grace, countless numbers will be saved who have never kept the Sabbath. However, more and more people are coming to know about it and want to know about its observance. When they enquire about it, we should not be afraid to tell them what Yahweh's Word says on the matter. HIS WORD IS FINAL!! The people will then be able to make an intelligent decision whether or not to obey and worship Him on His Holy Day, as you also do. It will be a matter between them and their Elohim. LET’S NOT RATIONALISE WITH THE WORD OF YAHWEH AS SO MANY DO!! THE ANSWERS ARE IN HIS WORD, THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, so give them a “THUS SAITH ELOHIM”!! ….
NB Scriptures used in this Blogger is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
