E20-19: Is the Sabbath just for Israel?

Another huge reason the gentile church often brings up to substantiate why they don’t have to keep the sabbath is to claim that “the Sabbath was just for Israel” and NOT gentile believers.

If this is the case, then I’d like to ask why does the gentile church still consider the “10 Commandments” applicable to them?

Because the 10 Words of God were ONLY given to Moses and Israel.

Not only is this being a bit schizophrenic, it doesn’t make any sense.

If you’re going to use the reasoning that the Sabbath doesn’t apply to you because it was only given to Israel, then all of the other commandments don’t apply to you either, because they were ALL given to Israel.

Let’s see what the Apostle Paul had to say on this matter.

 “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his seed.”
-Galatians 3:16

So based on this verse, who were the promises given to?

Only Abraham and his seed.

And who is Abraham’s seed?

Israel, right?

You may be thinking, what does that prove?! 

If the promises were ONLY given to Abraham and his seed Israel, how can I claim that gentile Christians are also obligated to and subject to all the laws and principles of Israel’s covenants?

Well, the answer to that question is in the following verses:

“For in union with the Messiah, you are all children of God through this trusting faithfulness; because as many of you as were immersed into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah, in whom there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor female; for in union with the Messiah Yeshua, you are all one.  Also, if you belong to the Messiah, you are seed of Abraham and heirs according to the promise.“-Galatians 3:26-29

If you belong to the Messiah, you are the seed of Abraham and heirs according to the promise!

Holy smokes!

Could anything be any clearer?!

Gentile believers are made seed of Abraham by being grafted into Israel’s covenants through their faith in Messiah Yeshua.

Check out this other awesome verse.

“Therefore, remember your former state: you Gentiles by birth — called the Uncircumcised by those who, merely because of an operation on their flesh, are called the Circumcised — at that time had no Messiah. You were estranged from the national life of Israel. You were foreigners to the covenants embodying God’s promise. You were in this world without hope and without God.  But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah’s blood.”-Ephesians 2:11-13

The Apostle Paul is making it crystal clear in these verses that a gentile believer is grafted into the national life of Israel!

Read those verses again man!!!

Read ’em!!!

Paul is talking about a full-fledged immigration process into the national life of Israel here via a gentiles’s allegiance to the Messiah of Israel!!!

He’s practically saying that through their faith, they are no longer to consider themselves gentiles.

I have a question for you.

What do you call somebody who immigrates into a country but doesn’t obey its Laws?

Let’s use a Chinese person who has immigrated into the United States for an example.

I’m not talking about an illegal immigrant, but a Chinese person who undergoes all of the proper procedures and is now an American citizen.

Now let me ask you this.

Just because this Chinese person is NOT a native born-and-raised-in-the-USA Bruce Springsteen-style American does that mean he is free from the obligation to obey the laws of our nation?

Of course, the answer is a super NO, right?

Not only is this new American citizen obligated to OBEY the laws of our country, but if he BREAKS the laws, he will also be subject to the corresponding penalties and punishments. 

While some compassion and empathy may be extended for breaking laws out of honest ignorance, for the most part, he will be subject to due process for infractions committed.

While this is admittedly not a perfect analogy, this is why I believe the sabbath applies to gentile believers as well.

It is because they are now part of Israel.

When I say Israel, I don’t necessarily mean the Jewish state as it exists today but the “Spiritual Israel” or the “Israel of God” as the Apostle Paul put it.

As spiritual immigrants who have been grafted into a “spiritual Israel”, gentile believers are subject to and get the benefits of all the principles of the Torah.

However, I would make a distinction between God’s pure Torah and Hebrew-cultural rituals and traditions.

In fact, this was primarily what Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount was about.

He was effectively dividing the traditions of men from the pure truth of God’s Torah.

This was necessary because a proper understanding of God’s Holy Law had been obscured by all of these man-made rules and traditions that had been added in over the years.

However, the Sabbath was NOT a man-made tradition but an eternal spiritual principle woven into the very fabric of the universe.

Although, as Yeshua said, the Sabbath may be for man, it is not of man.

The Sabbath’s terms and conditions are NOT to be tampered with.

It is the 7th day which God sanctified at the creation of the universe and is to be kept holy!