“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”-Exodus 20:8-11
We now come to the controversial 4th Word.
This has got to be the mother of all commandments, standing right smack at the very epicenter of all the infighting and tension that exists between the Messianic world and the Gentile Christian world.
The reason behind all the controversy and arguments can be summed up in one simple question.
Is Sabbath observance for the Gentile church or not?
This question really gets to the heart of the matter.
First, it is no secret that inside practically every Christian church you can find a copy of the “10 Commandments” hanging up somewhere.
This is not an insignificant matter.
I have to take this to mean that Christians view ALL the 10 Words of God to be valid and binding on their lives.
In other words, I don’t think I’ve ever met a Christian who came to the conclusion that we have the right to ignore the 4th Word of God concerning observing the Sabbath.
Otherwise, gentile Christians would have the “Nine Commandments” as their creed as opposed to Ten.
But this is not the case.
Christians do consider all 10 Words or Commandments of God to be valid for their lives and their walk with the Lord.
Yet they do NOT observe the Sabbath.
Why?
One answer that many Christians will give is because the original Sabbath has been transferred to Sunday, the 1st day of the week, to honor the resurrection of Yeshua.
They call this the Lord’s Day.
However, there is a big problem with this.
The 1st day of the week is NOT ordained in the Holy Scriptures as a weekly day of meeting.
Certainly there is nothing wrong with meeting and worshipping on the 1st day of the week, or any other day of the week for that matter.
But let’s get this straight.
The Lord’s Day is simply NOT the Sabbath as defined by God in Holy Scripture.
I’ve just got to say that again.
The Lord’s Day is NOT the Sabbath as defined by God in the Bible.
And you know what, there is NOT one scholar or theologian who would disagree with that statement.
Trust me on this, church doctrine 100% agrees that the Biblical Sabbath, which is the 7th day, is absolutely NOT the Lord’s Day, which is the 1st day of the week.
To see a great example of this, take a look at the “The Baptist Faith and Message” page on the Southern Baptist Convention’s website.
The 8th Doctrine clearly states that “The first day of the week is the Lord’s Day”.
Again, the point I’m trying to make crystal clear here is that The Lord’s Day and the Sabbath are two entirely different observances.
The Lord’s Day is NOT some new or alternative name for the Sabbath.
And only one of them is Scriptural.
There is no where in Scripture where God gives anybody the authority to transfer His Sabbath command to the 1st day of the week.
To conclude, if The Lord’s Day is NOT God’s ordained 7th day Sabbath, then I think it is safe to say that in spite of the Christians claiming they revere ALL of God’s 10 Words (or “commandments” in Christian speak), the simple and sad truth is that they are NOT keeping the 4th Word of God.
They are NOT honoring the Sabbath.
Instead they are following an edict that has Catholic origin.
That’s right.
All of the modern Protestant denominations have been following Catholic edicts all of their church lives but many just aren’t aware of it.
If you are a Christian who has not been honoring God’s Sabbath day as He commands you to, consider the following:
The Sabbath was established at the creation of the universe.
The Lord reminds His people countless times in the Scriptures to keep the Sabbath.
The Sabbath is so important that breaking it warranted the death penalty in ancient Israel.
Only adultery and murder are the other two commandments that warrant the death penalty.
Keeping the Sabbath is one of the 10 Commandments which has been a pillar of the Gentile church since its inception.
and last but not least…
Yeshua and His disciples kept the Shabbat.
This is NOT a trivial issue.
Keep the Sabbath / Saturday HOLY – How the LORD communicated HIS Sabbath command to me:
The LORD my GOD has given me dreams and visions about “The Sabbath”.
First HE told me in 1998 : I bless you IF you keep the Sabbath holy ! I thought I was since I went to Church every Sunday. The Lord impressed on me SABBATH. Finding out, Sabbath actually means Saturday not Sunday.
The LORD took me out of my business as a Jeweler and now I really have to do what HE says, otherwise I won’t be able to feed my kids. I am worshiping the LORD at Speak the Word Church in Mpls and during my favorable part, worshiping and singing praises, the LORD said the following : “Everybody praises ME and nobody does what I say! LEAVE!” That was an order, therefore I turned around and walked out. I grabbed my Kids (Dean 13 and Angelique 8) out of Sunday School. The following week the LORD sent me to Seed of Abraham, a Messianic Congregation. I met a Jewish Woman at the Seed. She did not have a place to live with her 3 children, so I invited her into my house where I had a separate Basement. When she walked on my deck, she exclaimed : “Many Jews are going to be saved on this deck”… I had received that message from the LORD as well and marveled at her words. She told me that she will teach me everything I needed to know about Judaism and keeping the Sabbath HOLY was the key. She made an appointment at Knesset Israel Congregation to get my brand new dishes blessed. Before I entered she said : “Don’t tell them about JESUS and ask them to receive the Mikveh”. I did not know what that was, but she told me : “The Jewish Purification Bath”. I followed her advice and acted like I don’t speak English to avoid any questions. I had my dishes blessed on 6/18/98 and received my first Mikveh at Knesset and celebrated my first Kosher Shabbat, that Friday Night. Saturday the ladies from Seed of Abraham attended and listened to my testimony. They were not in agreement about the Sabbath etc. and the Rabbi said that I was a “spiritual stalker”… So the LORD told me to leave Seed of Abraham and directed my steps to Shalom Scripture Studies. That Congregation of 40 people fell apart over doctrine right before Rosh Hashanah. The dispute? Which is the God given New Year – Passover or Rosh Hashanah.? The Congregation split and I said to the LORD : “YOU got to be bigger than 40 people. They all think they are the only ones going to Heaven.” – HE heard my prayer and the following week HE sent me back to Knesset Israel Congregation, Rabbi Goldberger. I am now again all by myself and had to make sure I was following HIS orders. So I said : “But they don’t LOVE YOU!” To which HE said : “This is MY FATHER’S House, GO HERE!” I really needed HIS blessings since my house by now is in foreclosure and having no income, I had to obey HIS command…. More later if you are interested about my most personal walk with YESHUA…
Thank you for sharing Monique. Please feel free to share more.