The Sabbath Day

Arrested for breaking the law because you went shopping on Sunday? Or because you had a store & kept it open on Sunday?? It happened in the past! Confused over which day is the Sabbath? Many arguments and church splits happened because of disagreement as to which day is the Sabbath.

It might help to go back to the Hebrew - that IS where it came from. In Israel, when we talk of Sunday, we call it;

  1. Day 1 or the First Day. (Yom Rishon)
  2. Monday is Second Day (Yom Sheni)
  3. Tuesday is Third Day (Yom Shlishi)
  4. Wednesday is Fourth Day (Yom Rivii)
  5. Thursday is Fifth Day (Yom Hamishi)
  6. Friday is Sixth Day (Yom Shishi)
  7. and you guessed it!! Saturday is Shabbat (Sabbath).
By the way, the days begin when the Sun goes down. That's from Genesis 1 "And the evening and the morning were the first day." So the Shabbat actually begins on Friday evening & lasts until sundown on Saturday.

The Hebrew word "Shabbat" comes from the root word "Shevet", which means to sit/dwell/rest. They are actually spelled the same in Hebrew shin, bet, tav.

It means an intermission of time between one unit of time and another. So it is an intermission of time between Day 6 & Day 1.

The first mention of the Sabbath is in Genesis 2:1-3, where the L-rd had finished his work of creation & rested on the seventh day, so he set it apart from the other days & made it holy.

In Exodus 20 the L-rd commands the Israelites to Honor the Sabbath & keep it holy (not to do any heavy work for pay). In Hebrews 3 & 4, it is made clear that the Sabbath represents a spiritual daily rest, which is available to each one of us. The reason G-d rested on the 7th day was NOT because He was tired, but He WAS FINISHED! He had done all that necessary for us. (Y'shua is the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world, etc.) All we have to do is draw on what the L-rd has already accomplished for us. Rest in His finished work.

The more frantic our society gets, the more we need the Sabbath rest of the L-rd. If we truly understood it and made use of it, there would be far fewer nervous breakdowns, much less stress-caused disease, much less divorce as we learn to enjoy the L-rd & one another instead of running around like crazy. The L-rd gave us a gift called the Sabbath (Shabbat, in Hebrew). It's like owning an unlimited bank account & all we have to do is write out the checks. It is the L-rd's GIFT to us; let's take advantage of it! Every day can be a Sabbath rest to us, spiritually, but we need to set aside one day a week to recuperate physically, too. Y'shua said that Shabbat was made for man; man was not made for Shabbat. No where in Scripture did the Sabbath change to Sunday. We speak of Sunday as being the L-rd's Day. That reference is only found in Revelation & there it is used to refer to where the Lord had taken John in the vision: The Day of the L-rd, a future event. Another reason given for the change to Sunday, was the fact that the believers met on the first day of the week. We forget that the first day begins on Saturday evening. It was the custom of the Jewish believers to attend synagogue in the morning, then adjourn to Solomon's Porch complex, which partially surrounded the Temple. Outside Jerusalem, the believers would attend synagogue in the morning then adjourn to someone's house for more teaching on the Messiah. This is one of the reasons that someone fell asleep while Paul was preaching; it was midnight of Motzei Shabbat (Saturday evening). Acts 20:7-12 In ancient times, as well as today, the Jews worked a six-day week. Sunday was a workday. A third reason given is that the L-rd rose on the first day of the week, therefore, we should meet on Sunday. The Bible says that when the women went to the tomb before dawn on Sunday, the Lord had already risen. Again, the first day of the week begins on Saturday evening at Sundown. The point is NOT when the church should or should not meet. I'm sure the L-rd would love it if we met every day. In some parts of the world, the believers do meet everyday. The issue is honoring the Sabbath Day because G-d said to do that. What did happen? Why did the Sabbath become Sunday in the eyes of many Christians?

At first the followers of Messiah Y'shua were all Jews. When the Holy Spirit of God fell upon Cornelius & his household, He made it clear that the Gentiles were included in this blessing, too. He said in the Old Covenant, "My house shall be a house of prayer for ALL People."

But, as time went on and the Word of G-d spread over Asia & around the Mediterranean Basin, the Gentiles began to outnumber the Jews. The Jewish believers were being persecuted by their own national & religious leaders, as well as by the Roman government. More & more were being killed. That left fewer Scripture-trained Jews in leadership. Soon the Gentile bishops were bringing in practices and traditions from their former days of worshipping idols. They wanted to change the Holy Days of G-d to occur on the same days as the pagan festivals so they could all celebrate together. The Jewish leaders were shocked & were very vocal as why this was a blasphemous thing to do.

The Gentile bishops held a council in Nicea (325 A.D.) & decided not to invite any of the Jewish leaders. The first thing they did was change the Days of Passover/Unleavened Bread/Firstfruits to Good Friday & Easter Sunday. They changed the day of worship to Sunday instead of holding to the Sabbath. They deliberately set about to erase any sign of Jewishness from the "Christian Church". What they accomplished was to plunge the world into the Dark Ages where paganism flourished.

This was the beginning of the Catholic Church. (Most denominations today are offshoots from the main Catholic Church.) Messianic Judaism & other true believers were actively sought out and stamped out by the church.

Jewish believers were told they must renounce their Jewish names and all their family. The Inquisition was a result of this mindset. The Crusades were also a result. Horrible atrocities were perpetrated in the name of Christ. It is a dark blot on the history of Christianity. The Gentile Church forgot the great debt it owes the Jewish Nation & instead turned on the people who blessed them with the good news of salvation. How sad.

Did the Sabbath Day change because of the Christian Church? For the most part, yes. However, the L-rd has begun a movement in these days that will not be stopped. Many many believers are discovering the Jewish roots of Christianity and are adjusting their thinking to fit in with the L-rd's Plan. It's up to you? Where do you fit in the scheme of things? The L-rd is returning to His People very soon. Will He find faith on the earth? It is not just a question of which day is the Sabbath. It is a question of attitude toward the L-rd's ancient People, Israel.

Lura Maiman, Congregation Yeruel, Israel