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Author: Yeremyah

85 Sabbath Questions Answered

I thought I would answer Steve Rudd's 85 questions "Sabbatarians" don't like to be asked posted at http://www.bible.ca/7-sabbath-questions.htm Personally, as a Natzari Jew I liked to be asked questions about my faith, and the sabbath is no exception. Some of the questions are repetitive, some suppose that sabbath observers disagree when quite often we do agree, and some of the questions are very poorly conceived.  

Actually the same word is found in Genesis 2:3 and 2:3 when God was establishing the very first Sabbath upon the seventh day. The scriptures up until this point are silent concerning the issue of man's keeping of the Sabbath, and many other issues. This is not a valid reason to disobey God once He did give the commandment. The same could be said concerning the sanctification of Sunday. Why is the entire bible silent concerning that? The real question is where in the bible was anyone told to stop keeping the Sabbath.

Why would God leave out the all important no homosexuality commandment or the no seance commandment? Because God chooses to reveal what He wants, to whom He wants, when He wants, and He obviously did not reveal everything all at once.

The bible does not say that Adam was given two stone tablets. To answer the second question see my answer above.

Christians like to criticize the lack of a verbatim repetition of every single "Old Testament" commandment in the "New Testament" as evidence that they no longer apply to the followers of the Messiah. This is hypocritical since there is no review of the commandments against homosexuality, seances, and many more commandments that many Christians continue to observe to this day. The real question is, why do Christians pick and choose which commandments want to keep or not. What is the method to their madness?

That is because the Sabbath is a blessing only meant for the Jews/Israel. Christians and other gentiles are subject to man's laws on that day since they have no obligations to the law of Israel.

Because the mind of a Christian is carnally minded and has emnity towards God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:7)

The New Testament does not address Christians. It was written by Jews for Jews and those converting to Judaism. The first Christians came long after it was written with their own beliefs.

Teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath is part of keeping the Sabbath. We know that Paul kept the Sabbath since he was born and at no time in the New Testament does it ever say he stopped keeping it or taught others to stop keeping it. If he did, then he would be violating the Messiah's teaching to not violate or even teach against even the least of the commandments - something which Christians do on a daily basis.

No. Besides, there are no rules to keeping Sunday are there? And if there are, who made them up? I can only imagine that an Adventist would be preaching about keeping the Sabbath on any day of the week. Does the fact that Paul never visited a single church in all his life nor sanctified any Sunday provide any example to you?

Could it be that they simply followed God's example since surely they all knew that He rested on the seventh day? That is of course assuming that they did, and we make no such claim.

We do all of these things except for regular animal sacrifices, since part of keeping the law is also obey the commandment to NOT sacrifice, unless there is a functional temple in Jerusalem. (Deuteronomy 12:13-14)

No. Again, the Sabbath is only for God's people, Israel.

Good point. Many of those Christians who for some reason do keep the Sabbath are not keeping the whole law as they should, which includes judgment of offences. Although stoning is technically within the options of the court, it may choose to exercise more effective alternatives that are no less serious. The ultimate goal is to reform the sinner, but not at the expense of the whole community.

I am not a Seventh-day Adventist and I do not represent their position, so I really should not attempt to answer on their behalf.

Same answer as above.

You are basically right. There never was any change. Christianity was formed out of aversion to anything Jewish including the Sabbath, and so from it's earliest days, in the second century, Sunday became the default sanctified day in order to memorialize the resurrection. Nazarenes and other Jews always continued on observing the Sabbath just as the Messiah and all his disciples did. The rulings of the church councils to enforce Sunday observance were to antagonize Sabbath keeping Nazarenes and other Jews and to prevent Judaizing.

See my answer above.

The real question is why do you want to keep the first/old covenant? Or do you reject all of those 10 commandments?

Again, because Christianity was founded upon anti-Jewish principles. The Sabbath was never originally part of the fundamental beliefs of Christians.

Because they didn't see it as a Jewish custom, although it was instituted by a Rabbi.

Probably because it sounds better than "Sunday" which would infer that they were only carrying on an old tradition of honouring the Sun god.

Because there are no sources that say they did? I am just assuming this is probably true.

There is no such thing as a ceremonial law. But even moreso because not working couldn't really be described as a "ceremony" it is actually a holiday law grouped in with the other holidays.

What if the book of the law is not abolished? We don't believe it is abolished since the Messiah said he did not come to abolish any of it (Matthew 5:17). By believing in his teaching we can avoid foolish questions.

Excellent observation, there is no difference.

See above answer.

See above answer.

We do not claim that any laws were nailed to any cross.

Because Moses was the prophet of God.

Well we don't believe the other feast days changed either. As far as new commandments, it was John who taught that they weren't really new at all, but that they were actually the same old commandments we've had from the beginning. They only seemed new in the way they were being presented. See 1 John 2.

Obviously it becomes dormant just like those commandments that apply only when there is a temple in service. Besides if you think about it, God has often considered his relationship with his people like a marriage, as has the messiah. Thus we speak of the marriage supper of the lamb. If we are married in this sense, surely there is a possibility of adultery in the same sense.

Bingo!

Cha-ching!

You're on a roll!

See my answer to question #2.

Christians are strangers to the covenant, because they have no special covenant with God.

They are all the greater Torah or the Law as you prefer to call it.

Obviously there are more than 10 commandments.

See above answer.

Love one another, that is a old one but a good one.  Again, John explains that these so called new commandments are not really new commandments.

Bravo! 

He quoted from the 10 commandments when asked how to obtain eternal life. It's all one and the same law.

The two most important commandments were given as a summary of all the dozens of commandments given in the law, just as the 10 commandments are also a categorical summary of all the commandments.

All through the Torah Jews are told to love one another by not bearing false witness against another, not murdering, not lying, by remembering the poor, etc. The Messiah's commandment was nothing new. His commandment was a summary of all these old commandments concerning your neighbour.

Nice try, but Saturday is not the Sabbath. Saturday is not even on the Jewish calendar, but rather on the Roman calendar. When you overlay the two the Sabbath partially overlaps two different Roman days, both Friday and Saturday. The Sabbath is completely independent of the Roman Saturday unlike the Christian Sunday which is totally dependent on the Roman calendar. The Church honours Rome and it's institutions and holidays by following its calendar and that is why Christians honour the sun god on Sunday, and Jews do not honour Saturn.

I have never quoted Arthur Weigall. If Christians really wanted to separate themselves from honouring the pagan gods of Rome, they could just stop following the Roman calendar and follow the Jewish calendar and have their special day on the first day of the Jewish week instead of on Sunday. The real question is, why don't they.

For the same reason that all Rabbis say that we can break the Sabbath, in order to prevent suffering. Man was not made to suffer for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath to suffer for man.

The answer is right there in Isaiah 1:15-16. God can not stand a sinful people who attempt to observe His holidays because of their iniquity and hypocrisy. The reason God never grows weary of not committing adultery or murder is because that is exactly what he wants. He never asked us to not observe the Sabbath. But nice try anyhow.

See my answer two above.

There couldn't be.

Because there is no such division of the law into ceremonial and moral.

Same answer as above.

As you said, if there were.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Ditto.

What are the odds that heaven and earth will pass away anytime soon? Until that happens, the law is here to stay.

Is it possible, that that the law of Moses is in fact the law of Christ? John seems to think so. (1 John)

If it were abolished, then this might be a good question. But alas, it was not abolished.

The commandment concerning tithing is dormant just as the priesthood that was entitled to it is dormant. Those commandments that are currently applicable should be observed.

We've already established and agree that there is no ceremonial vs. moral law. Some Christians may be purporting this distinction, however Jews do not.

This sounds like a question for Christians who practice hypocrisy. For Israel, tithing is dormant, pork is prohibited, and the Sabbath is required.

I hope they come to that honest recognition as well.

I can accept that. Excellent evidence that after Messiah these things are practiced by his followers and Paul supported it 100%.

This is really a question for those who rely upon the Greek scriptures to prove their points. Therefore this question does not apply to us.

See answer above.

It doesn't talk about the Sabbath being in heaven, but on earth, and along with the new moon festival it will be observed through sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem. At that time, everyone on earth will convert to Judaism and worship our God. It is your destiny.

Hebrews 4 refers to the seventh day as a model of the greater scheme for a rest at the end of our days.

Yes.

Yes.

The reason the Sabbath will endure forever isn't because God "hallowed" it, but just because He says so. He never said the vessels or the temple would endure forever.

Yes.

Deuteronomy 28:9 "The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways."

Matthew 19:17 "..if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."

Basically yes. However when God causes His temple to be destroyed, and takes it away, we can not just rebuild it until He signals that time having arrived. Unlike the temple and its sacrifices, He did not cancel the Sabbath. In essence, worship is not a physical act, but a spiritual one, and this is why the Messiah said that the time was coming when we would no longer worship through the temple but purely through spirit. The temple was merely a stepping stone from the carnal world into the spiritual. The original temple existed long before Moses, as he only imitated it from heaven.

This question only applies to Seventh-day Adventists.

I can't think of any. As long as a Christian maintains emnity towards God's commandments, they will only adhere to what suits their personal sense of morality and necessity.

The bondage of sin is sin itself. Since Christians are still sinners, they are still in bondage. Therefore there is no new creation, but the old sinner remains, only now he believes there are no consequences for his sins because Jesus took those consequences upon himself. Sunday is just a way of expressing contempt for anything Jewish including God's commandments.

Now I do. Forgive me but this question seems rather irrelevant.

Paul never addressed Christians at any time. A question first has to be based on facts before a proper answer can be formed.

The Greek book of Acts never mentions any "church", this is a concept that was inserted into Christian bibles in later times. There were no churches in the first century. Why would Jews be giving money to churches on the first day of every week anyways? Paul was featured teaching on the Sabbath, a day which upon the use of money is prophibited. Paul never said to collect on "every first day", but his reason for that one time collection was so that he would not have to ask when he got there. Interestingly, Paul says that this collection was to be sent to the apostlic council in Jerusalem. Is that where churches have been sending their collections all this time?? 

I am going be very flexible and go along with the Roman calendar here for your sake. Let's count. Friday day, Friday night, Saturday day, Saturday night, Sunday day, Sunday night. That is three full days in which a man can do his work. Now consider Messiah was buried when the sun set, so you can't count Wednesday day at all. You can count Wednesday night as the first night of three in the grave. Then you have Thursday day, Thursday night, Friday day, Friday night, and Saturday day. That is also three full days. So what's the problem?

Let's say it was Monday at the 9th hour when Peter and Cornelius had their vision in verse 3. That is the starting point. Verse 9 is Tuesday around noon. Verse 23 it is the next day Wednesday. Verse 24 & 30 it is the day after that on Thursday at the ninth hour. While this is 72 hours it is spread over four days. If it is not four days, then why do you have the names of four days? Which one will you eliminate to make it three days?

This is just further proof that the Messiah could not have risen on a Sunday as Christians believe since from Friday at the 12th hour until Sunday at the first hour you can neither fit three days or 72 hours. You must remember that Jewish days always begin at sunset. Sunset Friday until dawn Sunday is only 36 hours. Friday night coincides with the beginning of the Sabbath. Saturday night is the beginning of the next day, the first day of the week. There isn't a single verse that says he was in the grave on the first day of the week, that is merely an assumption. At best 36 hours can only cover two days, and not the three required by the Messiah's own prophecy. Just remember, there is no Friday in the Jewish week, Friday night in fact overlaps the Sabbath and therefore is not a day separate from the Sabbath in these calculations. Christianity therefore portrays Jesus as a false prophet.

You already asked about where Adam's stones are in question #3. You also asked the second question previously. Who knows why Seventh-day Adventists argue what they do. Not all Sabbath keepers are Seventh-day Adventists. It is amazing that they think anything special at all out of all our commandments, since they are not part of Israel. I can only hope they adopt all of our ways, they certainly will not be cursed for doing so. The same goes for you too Steve, since you too have adopted some of our laws. Maybe you have a special edition of 2 Corinthians 3:3 that says the 10 commandments were abolished, but the original doesn't say that at all. Besides, how can something that was never observed by gentiles be taken away from them, or how could they have been schooled in the law until the Messiah came? That is extremely puzzling, unless they never were in the first.

He said it because it is true. We have already established and agree that there is no such division in the law between the ceremonial and moral.