What does it mean to "keep the Sabbath"? (Read question's description)

[nobleseed]

the sabbath law was all about honouring God, for a jew this was one day a week but for Christian its everyday by what we do and say, its also about entering into Gods rest  which we enter through Jesus, read hebrews, it talks about the sabbath rest for Gods people, that day being today.

[JustPassingThru]

What I find most amusing is the total lack of understanding and disregard for who the Ten Commands were given to:

...we will do, Exo 19:18, 24:3, 24:7

I guess the defining question is who are "we?"

Obliviously, from reading the above verses it was the Children of Israel.

Let's get a little more specific, ...who did God, Jehovah, Yehweh give the Commandment to keep the Sabbath?

And Jehovah spoke to Moses saying, Speak also to the sons of Israel, saying, Truly you shall keep My sabbaths. For it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, to know that I am Jehovah who sanctifies you.  You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone that defiles it shall surely be put to death. For whoever does any work in it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done, but on the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to Jehovah. Whoever does any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore the sons of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant.  It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever. For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.   Exo 31:12-17

There it is in black and white, ...spelled out by the Holy Spirit for us, ...the sons of Israel, ...who are the sons of Israel, ...his descendants, the Jewish people!

Let's look at another verse spoken by Jesus:

For truly I say to you, Till the heaven and the earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled.  Mat 5:18

We must ask the question, ...has the Law been fulfilled?  Of course it has:

I have glorified You upon the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. John 17:4

Jesus had revealed to man the character of His Father.

He who has seen Me has seen the Father. John 14:9

 And Jesus proclaimed from the Cross the Law had been fulfilled:

It is finished! And He bowed His head and gave up the spirit.  John 19:30

Jesus was sent to Earth by His Father as the Last Adam, the first Adam became a living soul, the last Adam a life-giving Spirit, ...He lived a sinless life, obeying all of the Ten Commandments.

So, if Jesus fulfilled the Law, then it was no longer necessary for the sons of Israel, to whom the Law had been given, to keep the Law after the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, ...how do we know this, ...is God Just, of course He is, ...He arranged for the Roman General Titus to destroy the Jewish Temple in 70 AD, which means, if the sons of Israel were required to keep the law after 70 AD,  God can be declared unjust by them, which opens the door for satan to declare God unjust, which he would then demand to be spared from his destiny, ...the lake of Fire (do we begin to see where and why this heresy originated?), ...because He would be asking them to do something that was physically impossible, the sacrificial system had been abolished, the ultimate Sacrifice had been sacrificed on the Alter in the Temple of God, ...His Son, ...THE Lamb of God!  

I've also read the false hypothesis here that we Gentiles are required to keep the law because we have been "grafted in," however Dendrology, the study of trees, and common sense tells us if we graft another limb to a root stalk of the same species the grafted fruit will be different from the fruit of the parent tree, ...we graft, navel oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit all on a Valencia orange, tree the tree will produce five different fruits, but I doubt anyone will bite into a lemon and mistake it for a succulent, sweet naval orange, ...then what is Paul telling us, just like he said, ...we Gentiles are wild olives grafted into the True Olive Tree planted by God.

That is, ...Abraham, Issac, Jacob and His twelve sons were wanderers, ...it wasn't until Joshua entered Canaan, then God gave them a land of their own, the Olive Tree was planted and grew, ...the Olive Tree represents the national identity of the Jewish people, yes God was angry with them and removed them from their Land, first by Nebuchadnezzar and then by the Diaspora, but they NEVER lost their national identity, they we Jews, the People of the True and Living God, hated and despised all over the world, ...that means, that tells us what Paul was talking about, we produce fruit from the same tree, ...olives, ...we too are the People of the True and Living God, we too are hated and despised all over this world, ...but, we have the same national identity as the Sons of Israel, our Father is a JEW, sitting at the Right Hand of His Father in Heaven, ...we are citizens of Heaven, citizens of the Kingdom of God, we are subjects of the Jewish King of the Universe who will come back to set up His Kingdom on Earth and we will reign with Him!

I write this for any that have questions about the Sabbath, as has been already excellently explained, keeping the Saturday Sabbath was a type, an illustration, a shadow of things to come, just like all of the furniture, tools, sacrifices in the Temple pointed to, were a type of, an illustration of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word plainly states that Jesus is our Sabbath rest, ...not for just one day of the week but for 24/7 from now until the end of Eternity!

Every Gospel writer warns us about false teaching, and in these last hours of planet earth as we have known it, there are many false religious systems presented to us, they entice those with itching ears by the enemy of our souls, how do we know them, a born again child of God has the Holy Spirit living inside them and He will teach us all things and He doesn't lie,  most important He doesn't misinterpret Scripture, ...so be a Berean, test all things with the Word of God, hold on to what is correct and taught to you by the Holy Spirit.

  

Lord bless

 

[simplejeff]

"Folks will do as they do and believe as they will. But on the day of judgment many will surely wish that had just learned Christ and the pattern and words of also the apostles "

 

(quoted "frienduff thaylorde replied"

from next post (different thread, but seems appropriate) posted in previews above last post on this thread.)

Edited March 3, 2019 by simplejeff

[WilliamL]

On 1/12/2018 at 4:57 AM, listener24 said:

My question is: what does it mean to "keep the Sabbath"?

 

Genesis 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

 

God blessed and sanctified the seventh day -- had nothing to do with Moses or the Law. If you want to partake of that never-anulled blessing and sanctification, set aside the Sabbath as a special day to you.

 

If you don't want that special blessing contained in the seventh day, your choice. That is not a mortal sin, just a losing out.

[Kristin]

Keeping the Sabbath is for Israel only. The Body of Christ is free from all Jewish law or obligation. We are the Body of of Christ who already kept it for us, His bride ❤️ Now belief is our job. 

[Blood Bought 1953]

4 hours ago, Kristin said:

Keeping the Sabbath is for Israel only. The Body of Christ is free from all Jewish law or obligation. We are the Body of of Christ who already kept it for us, His bride ❤️ Now belief is our job. 

 

One could also say, as Members of the Body of Christ in this present Age of Grace, we are to sabbath EVERY day......true Sabbathing means resting in the finished work of the Cross for our Salvation....NOTHING else....Therein lies the joy of Christianity.

Some say there is a lot more at stake than just peace and joy.If you are TRYING ( working) to gain or keep your Salvation, as opposed to TRUSTING ( resting in the finished work) you could be in real trouble.Watchman Née  said,you can trust or try  and the difference is heaven and hell.

[JohnD]

FYI there are some who interpret "keeping the Sabbath" as believing in the LORD of the Sabbath (Jesus)

and thus eternally entering into his rest.

[choir loft]

On 1/12/2018 at 6:57 AM, listener24 said:

Since I'm on this forum I'm reading countless threads about "keeping the Sabbath" (that's quite surprising cause I've never heard about these discussions elsewhere before, didn't know it was such an "hot topic" or relevant one in Christianity).

My question is: what does it mean to "keep the Sabbath"?

What a believer should practically do on Saturday to "keep the Sabbath"?

I've no idea about it because I usually read the Gospel and I don't find any indication on how a believer should concretely "keep the Sabbath", in other words I don't find any description on what's so special that a believer should do on Saturday, and not on Monday or Wednesday, in Jesus' words (let alone Thursday).

Nor I find anything special that Jesus was doing on Saturday, except doing the exact same things He was doing on other days, like Friday, and this way making some Pharisees angry because they didn't want Him to perform the same things He was doing on other days. (Mark 3:2, John 5:16-17, Matthew 12:10, and so on, like: "So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.")

So I sincerely don't know what someone should do to "keep the Sabbath", after reading every single Jesus' word in the Gospel, I don't find even a clue in His words.

READ THE BIBLE.

Beginning with Genesis.  

You'll learn much that you do not now know.   You'll learn a lot that Protestant Christians generally are ignorant of or who reject anything smelling of Jew.  Believe me when I say the Bible, any Bible, is Jewish from beginning to end.   You cannot begin to get a clue as to what its saying implying or guaranteeing unless you understand where the Jew is coming from.....

Only 2 books in the Bible weren't written by a Jew; gospel of Luke and the book of Acts (also written by Luke).  

ALL THE REST of the Bible was written by Jews about Jews and for Jews (especially a certain Jew named Jesus).  

Believe it or not Jesus (Yeshuah is His true Hebrew name) was and continues to be a Jew.   His full name can be presented as Yeshuah ha-mashiach (Jesus Messiah/Christ).  Unless you try to understand Jewish thinking you absolutely can NOT understand God's Word.   The unique position of the Jew is as the oracle of God.   Jews have been chosen to reveal God's will and nature and Son to the whole world.   Gentiles try it and get it messed up.  Why?  Because they aren't Jewish and because they reject Jewish culture.  Trying to understand the Jew is like trying to grasp the wind in your hand or trying to understand a woman.   It is difficult, but one must try if one is to live with God (a Jew).

In Hebrew parlance the collection, the entire Old Covenant, is called the Tanakh.   The books are arranged in a slightly different order, but they're all there.   The Tanakh is unofficially grouped into three categories; the Law the Prophets and the Writings.  

The Law is the first five books of the Bible - anybody's Bible; Jewish, Catholic or Protestant.  The Law is generally known as Torah among Jews.  Its also called the Pentateuch in Christendom.

The Prophets group consists of both major and minor prophets - everything from Daniel and Ezekiel to the single chapter book of Obadiah.

The Writings groups consists of historic information poetry and pithy one liners such as 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, etc.

In the gospels Jesus frequently referred to the Law and the Prophets.  If you don't know those books and haven't read them you absolutely can NOT understand what Jesus is talking about.  You can guess, but its a good chance you'll guess wrong.  

Christians pompously state they have all the answers - unfortunately they don't have a clue about what the question might be.  

Attention must be paid to the Tanakh and its organization....

SHABBAT

Let's return to your question about the sabbath or shabbat as it is called in Hebrew.   There are very specific reasons for its definition in terms of days and hours of observation.  Shabbat begins at sundown on Friday and extends to sundown on Saturday.  It DOES matter when shabbat is observed.  The primary reason is because God said so in the Law.  Do you respect God?  Do you try to do what He says?  If so then you need to know the Law and respect it because the Law is of God.

Gentiles, who don't respect the Law anyway, arrogantly state that observation of shabbat can be any day.  It cannot be any day!  It certainly cannot be equated to Christian observation of one hour only on Sunday morning (perhaps another hour Sunday evening).  Shabbat is a full day from Friday night to Saturday night.  

How many Christians do you know that observe an entire day from sundown to sundown for rest and prayer?   Or do they go to church on Sunday (with the ever dwindling crowd) and then head to the beach or the mall or the sports stadium or the TV sports coverage that afternoon?  Such activities do NOT respect either Law or sabbath.  Gentiles always play fast and loose with God's Law and always excuse their ignorance with self-will and denial of what is required of them.  

Finally it should be observed that in America at least the NFL, not God, owns Sunday.   

Back to the Bible, the prophets based many of their predictions on timing.  The timing of their predictions is usually connected to shabbat.  If a pompous gentile assumes shabbat can be any other day or any other hour, then all attempts at interpreting prophetic utterances fall apart.   Timing is everything from stand up comedy to poetry to interpretation of Biblical principles.  God is all about timing.  If you don't attempt to read the Bible - all of it - you will absolutely have no idea what's going on - or when.

PENTACOST

For instance, gentiles make a big deal about Pentacost.  Acts 10:44 describes the time when the Holy Spirit fell upon a group of new believers.  It happened during Pentacost.  An entire Protestant movement has been based upon spiritual blessings of the sort described in the book of Acts.   They base everything they know, which is precious little, on a spiritual experience.  All the while they have NO IDEA where Pentacost came from or what it's about in the first place.  Gentile believers across the land reject the Old Covenant - reject the Law.  They falsely claim that the Law has been destroyed or deleted or somehow abolished by Jesus' death on the cross.  It has not.

"I did not come to abolish the Law.  I came to fulfill it." - Jesus as quoted by Matthew 5:17

No one can be saved without the Law.  If you do not know the Law or its purpose you cannot understand what happened on Pentacost in Acts 10.  If the Law has been abolished, then Pentacost is a lie - because Pentacost is based on the Law.

What is Pentacost?  Does the reader know?  Pentacost is the gentile name for an ancient Jewish holiday called Shavuot.  What is shavuot?   Shavuot is the Jewish festival that observes the time when God gave the Law to Moses upon Mt. Sinai.   Get it?  Shavuot recognizes giving the Law, while Pentacost recognizes giving the Holy Spirit WHICH ENABLES ONE TO LIVE BY THE LAW.   Its not about a spiritual high.  Its about living a life pleasing to God and man at the same time.   Its about enabling Jew and gentile to live by faith - in hope and enduring confidence.  IT'S ABOUT TIMING.

READ THE BIBLE.

Read all of it from beginning to end.  You'll learn a lot about human nature as well as the revealed will of God when you do.  Make no mistake about God's Word - read it. 

that's me, hollering from the choir loft...

 

 

Edited March 8, 2019 by choir loft

[Walter and Deborah]

We have come this for to examine ourselves as far as the scriptures concerning What does it mean to "keep the Sabbath"? as follow: within the weekly cycle 1-7 days, of not doing things on the Sabbath days/Friday Sunset until Saturday Sunset, that you would do 1-6 days. Simple instructions: To remember The Seventh Day Sabbath to keep it Holy.

Edited March 8, 2019 by Walter and Deborah
More info.

[simplejeff]

1 hour ago, Walter and Deborah said:

We have come this for to examine ourselves as far as the scriptures concerning What does it mean to "keep the Sabbath"? as follow: within the weekly cycle 1-7 days, of not doing things on the Sabbath days/Friday Sunset until Saturday Sunset, that you would do 1-6 days. Simple instructions: To remember The Seventh Day Sabbath to keep it Holy.

AMEN ! Wonderful !   Hey!?

That is what Yahweh did First, and that also Jesus always does !  And His messengers.   Honors His Father, His Word,  His Plan and His Purpose.

Who <tried> to change it for everyone ? 

Jesus' enemy, of course,  AS WRITTEN.