When asked the question, what is Shabbat, most Christians would say it is the Lords day on Sunday. Some would say it is any other day of the week that they choose to rest on. And then some would say, we are not Shabbatarians like 7th-day Adventist or the Jews.
Have you ever wondered what Yehovah our God says about Shabbat? When everything is said and done, what He says is what should be important to us, not what men say, considering He is God and a human being is just that, a mortal human being.
In Exodus 20:8-11, Yehovah says, “remember the Shabbat day.” It does not say, keep the Shabbat; it says we are to remember. Do you see the difference? If we are called to remember something, then it is speaking about something happening in the past, not something that has just happened or is about to happen. By this, we already know, the Shabbat was given to someone before the law was given in Ex 20. The word used here for remember is a call to action; it calls us to do the Shabbat, not just acknowledge it as a mental fact. To whom was it given to?
If we read on to verse 11, we find why we must remember the Shabbat. In verse 11, the Shabbat day was given to all humanity in creation in Genesis 1. So this tells us the Shabbat is not a “Jewish thing.” It is a human thing, given to all humanity in creation.
If it was given to humanity, why then do we reject it? We reject it because of legalism.
Have you ever noticed how many pastors, on a Sunday, would say something along the lines of “we tithe because tithing was given before the law of Moses.” In a different sermon, we touched upon this and proved why we are not to tithe today. But if their justification for tithing is that “it was given before the law of Moses, because Abraham tithed to Melchizedek,” why then are not the same pastors celebrating Shabbat considering Shabbat was given to humanity in creation many 1000 years before the law was given on Mount Sinai?. Because of legalism, legalism says we are to tithe which we can not and, at the same time, reject the Shabbat.
Most pastors would disagree and argue they celebrate Shabbat by keeping the Lord’s day because now the Shabbat has been changed from Friday to Sunday.
Where is that in the Bible?
A few sermons ago, we learned how Pauls wrote with apostolic authority but not with divine inspiration. Therefore, the New Testament does not hold the same authority as the Old because it is divinely inspired. The New is written with apostolic authority, not divine inspiration except the book of Revelation. When Paul and the Apostles wrote his letters, the new testament did not exist. Their Bible was the Old Testament, and they firmly believed the Old Testament still applied to them after the cross.
This is why, if we want to understand what Paul and the rest of the NT writers said, we have to think as they did. They saw the OT as their Bible; they lived by it, so we have to see the OT as our Bible and live by it to understand their writings.
At no point in the OT do we see a change of Shabbats; Shabbats was always from Friday to Saturday at sundown. This shows us it is a Biblical impossibility for Paul and the Apostles to have moved Shabbat to Sunday.
We also have to keep in mind the NT was not written by white Evangelical American or European Christians living in a culture heavily influenced by Greek philosophy. The NT was written by Hebrew speaking Jews who had grown up in a Hebrew culture with a Hebrew mindset. There are vast differences between the Hebrew mindset and the Greek mindset we are accustomed to. So to properly understand the NT, we have to reset our minds to a Hebraic perspective.
We in the west are accustomed to the idea that there is a separation between secular life and church life. In our day and age and part of the world, the church is on Sundays, and the rest of the week, we do other secular stuff. In the Hebraic world, your faith affects your life every day of the week, every minute of the hour. So synagogue was something you attend every day of the week, not just on Saturday.
As the years went by, Judaism, as a religion, started adding more and more men, made rules and regulations to the Shabbat. In the Bible, on the other hand, there is just 1 rule, do not work for money and do not make others work for money.
So for a Jew who came to faith in Christ, they would have had no problem celebrating Shabbat on Friday-Saturday and then worship on Sunday. This shows us, from the Bible, we can worship on a Sunday and still keep Shabbat on Friday-Sunday. If we worship on Sunday but reject the Shabbat, we are sinning against God. If we worship on any other day, but we reject the Shabbat, we sin against God. If we keep the Shabbat and do not worship on a Sunday, we are not sinning against God. We are free to worship any day we want, but we cannot reject the Shabbat.
Why, then, would most pastors argue they keep Shabbat by celebrating Sunday?
Most of these pastors, who claim they celebrate Shabbat on a Sunday, are in fierce opposition to the Catholic church and Mormonism. Sometimes you hear them, or their denomination, telling their congregations how wrong and sinful the Mormon and Catholic faith is because they add tradition to the word of God.
Why are these pastors who are so against adding tradition to the word of God when that is what they are doing? Their justification for keeping Shabbat on a Sunday is just that, tradition, not the word of God.
In the year 325 AD, at the church council of Nicea, humans decided it was illegal for Christians to rest on the Shabbat. So from that time on, the Christian Catholic church abolished the Shabbat. They did this even though they know the Bible says that Shabbat was given to humanity in Ex 20:8-11, Genesis 1. From that time on, it has been a tradition in the Catholic church to keep Sunday as Shabbat instead of Friday-Saturday.
It is rather strange how so many pastors who are very loud about their resistance to the Catholic church and the pope still obey catholic traditions.
Is it wrong to keep the Shabbat on a Sunday as Catholic tradition demands?
Yes, and the reason for this answer is quite simple.
Yehovah is our God, the pope, and the catholic church are created mortal human beings. A human being has no right to tell their creator He is wrong or change His laws the way the Catholic church has done it to the Shabbat.
A pastor in an evangelical denominational/non-denominational non-catholic congregation has no excuse for celebrating Shabbat on a Sunday. They are just as guilty as the Catholic Church. Every time they reject the Biblical Shabbat, they mock Yehovah, our God, in favor of Catholic tradition. Why? Because everyone with a Bible can know the Biblical Shabbat is Friday-Saturday at sundown. Everyone with access to the internet can see how mortal created human beings changed God’s day from Friday to Sunday in 325 AD.
When you, who call yourself a Christian, reject the Shabbat, you are without excuse. Why? Because if you have access to a Bible and the internet, you know the Biblical Shabbat is Friday, not Sunday.
Therefore no one can claim ignorance; consequently, all who reject the Shabbat are guilty as charged and has to suffer the consequences of breaking God’s law or repent before it is too late.
We should not forget what happened when Lucifer rebelled against Yehovah. Lucifer wanted to become God, so he staged a coup in heaven, trying to take God’s throne. Lucifer, the devil, is a created being, and therefore it was straightforward for Yehovah to cast him out of heaven. But when you see someone acting in rebellion against God’s laws, the way the catholic church does, you are seeing someone worshiping Lucifer. When you rebel against God’s laws, the way most pastors and Christian do when they reject the Shabbat, you are guilty of worshiping Lucifer.
Repent!
No one can claim ignorance.
Then some would argue Shabbat is Saturday to Sunday, and not Friday to Saturday.
As we have previously mentioned, we know the Bible used by Paul and the Apostles was the OT, which is also the Bible used in Judaism. Judaism has always celebrated Shabbat from Friday at sundown to Saturday at sunset. We also have other secular historians, from the time the OT was written and the time of the Apostles, confirming the Jews and the Jews who believed Yeshua is the Messiah celebrated Shabbat from Friday to Saturday at sundown.
We, therefore, can know, for sure, the Biblical Shabbat is Friday-Saturday at sundown. And we can know, for sure, the only Biblical rule for the Shabbat is not to work for money and not make others work for money. This means you are free to worship on Sunday or any other day of the week.
So now you have to choose who you will listen to? The spirit of Lucifer changing Shabbat to Sunday? The Spirit of Yehovah, who says Shabbat is Friday-Saturday? Will you rebel, or will you obey and love Yehovah, your creator?
If you need prayer, prophecy, contact me free of charge on Messenger or e.mail apostleernie@outlook.com
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