Which Sabbath Should Believers Keep?

This article is a about a question that was asked about keeping the Sabbath on my Telegram chat room. The question was “who determines which day is the seventh day, when God rested? Doesn’t that rely on which day is the first day? God began His work on the first day but I don’t remember anywhere where it says the first day was Monday….or Sunday….or Wednesday. Wasn’t it just “….the first day….”? Is there scripture that backs up the specific day?”

One answer was that the Roman church had made that change. The history of the change can be found just by looking it up online. This is a correct answer but there is more to it. There are scriptures that tell us when the 7^th day is, the day on which our God says we are to worship Him.

The scriptures are clear about which day is the 7th but let’s start with whether we really need to keep the Sabbath?

Someone sent me this in an email several years ago. I am deliberately leaving in the typos and spelling mistakes.

“Yeah Did you really read the new testament?

We don\’t need to be jewish with that whole sabbath thing anymore.Your phony articles and statements served Satan well.”

I replied to the email but it bounced back to me. Uh huh! The coward!  

Here is my answer to that person’s belligerence about the Sabbath which I posted on my website.  It says:  

“People better hope that YHVH our God did not change His mind about “that whole Sabbath thing”. Because if He did, then our eternal salvation is in doubt, too. He might just change His mind about that. Or perhaps He already has but hasn’t told anyone yet. That would be in line with your interpretation of the New Testament since there are no scriptures that tell us to stop doing the Law. Maybe He is hiding those scriptures from us! Maybe the LORD is just keeping it a big giant secret until the end when He laughs uproariously at us for believing He is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow!”

Before I go further to show you the scriptures that name the 7th day as YHVH’s day of rest, I will expound on His Law a bit. We must understand with certainty that YHVH’s Law is NOT Jewish law. The Jews created their own customs and traditions, “law”, over a period of time that pertains only to them. YHVH’s Law was given to His people, Israel, at Mount Sinai because He was creating a nation, and every nation has laws. Especially, Yeshua’s Kingdom has laws!

Abraham kept the same laws given to Israel 430 years later. We know this because it is what YHVH told Isaac.

Gen 26:4  I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and will give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring will all the nations of the earth be blessed, 
Gen 26:5  because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” 

Israel failed to keep the Laws of YHVH’s nation. Israel’s failure destroyed His Law, which He said is our righteousness in Deuteronomy:

Deuteronomy 6:24  Yahweh commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are today. 
Deuteronomy 6:25  It shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.” 

Here is what Yeshua said about His Law when He came (yes, it was Him giving the Law at Mount Sinai). He said He did not come to destroy the Law, but to uphold it!

Matthew 5:17 “Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.
Matthew 5:18 For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.
Matthew 5:19 Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Matthew 5:20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Yeshua said He did not come to make ANY changes. Most believers do not realize that the One who hung on the cross is the same One who gave the Law to Israel at Mount Sinai. I suppose He could change His mind about anything, but if He does, all of our salvation is in question.

Yeshua came to restore Israel to her Mount Sinai pristine state before the sinning started. Paul and all of the apostles warned people that if they sin, they won’t enter into Yeshua’s Kingdom. If the Law of YHVH as given at Mount Sinai was done away with, then why does the entire New Testament, starting with Yeshua Himself, warn us against sinning? Sin is defined in YHVH’s Law which He gave at Mount Sinai and it is made clear that if one sin is committed the whole Law is broken.

James 2:10  For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 

Thus, all who claim the Sabbath is any other day than the 7th day is sinning and the weight of the entire Law of YHVH, also known as the Law of Moses, is breached and that person is guilty for breaking ALL the Law!

And another question: Why does the Church want people to keep certain commandments and not others? Why does the church want us to obey 9 of the 10 commandments but has discarded the 4th one, the Sabbath?

I will tell you why. The Church worships the sun deity. Sun worship was the primary form of worship in Rome. The church had been doing the same thing that was done in Jerusalem. Read Ezekiel 8 and 9. YHVH killed everyone in Jerusalem who was worshiping the sun god.  

Ezekiel 8:16 He brought me into the inner court of Yahweh’s house; and I saw at the door of Yahweh’s temple, between the porch and the altar, there were about twenty-five men, with their backs toward Yahweh’s temple, and their faces toward the east. They were worshiping the sun toward the east.
Ezekiel 8:17  Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger. Behold, they put the branch to their nose.
Ezekiel 8:18  Therefore I will also deal in wrath. My eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity. Though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them.”

Yep. Sun worship right there on Temple Mount in Jerusalem in the days of Ezekiel being done by the Jews! This had been going on from the time of Solomon! How do we know it was going on from the time of Solomon? The record is clear that Solomon created high places and temples to all kinds of gods for is many wives and many of them were sun worshipers.

Idolaters Killed

Most people do not connect worshiping on the sun god’s day as being idolatry, but it is, according to YHVH, and He killed people for doing it.

Ezekiel 9:1  Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “Cause those who are in charge of the city to draw near, each man with his destroying weapon in his hand.”
Ezekiel 9:2  Behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand. One man in the middle of them was clothed in linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side. They went in, and stood beside the bronze altar.
Ezekiel 9:3  The glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house; and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn by his side.
Ezk 9:4  Yahweh said to him, “Go through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”
Ezk 9:5  To the others he said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him, and strike. Don’t let your eye spare, neither have pity.
Ezk 9:6  Kill utterly the old man, the young man, the virgin, little children and women; but don’t come near any man on whom is the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” Then they began at the old men who were before the house.
Ezk 9:7  He said to them, “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” They went out, and struck in the city.
Ezk 9:8  While they were killing, and I was left, I fell on my face, and cried, and said, “Ah Lord Yahweh! Will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your wrath on Jerusalem?”   

YHVH killed them, and He is getting ready to kill the sun worshipers again! When? During the coming Tribulation.

Who are the sun worshipers today? Christians! They have been worshiping the Roman sun god, Sol, for 1700 years! Which day of the week is the sun god’s day? Sunday! The first day! Sunday. Get it? SUN-day, folks! Get away from that day. Remove yourself from the day of worship to the sun god!

There is no god other than YHVH that created any of the days yet people worship their gods on the day that their god claims as his own! Why would you want to worship a liar? YHVH is not a liar! He is TRUTH! He embodies TRUTH. TRUTH cannot be separated from YHVH and YHVH cannot be separated from TRUTH. So why worship a liar, again I ask!?

Do you think things have changed since YHVH killed the sun worshipers? Has YHVH changed His mind about His definition of idolatry for which death is an automatic death penalty? No. Yet Christian doctrine teaches this! Christian doctrine teaches that YHVH changed in the New Testament what He said in the Old Testament!

Isaiah said we honor God with our lips but our hearts are far from Him. That has been the case from 3500 years ago with the golden calf incident right up until today. In between then and now, sun worship has been part and parcel of Jewish and Christian theology from ancient times, from the time in the Old Testament. Yeshua gave His life’s blood in a nasty and painful death because His people did this in the Old Testament. His resurrection brought a new start but not a new start with different rules! Same rules, folks! Get it right or the next time He comes, His people will die again. He is not coming to forgive us. He is coming to judge and destroy us and the entire world which rejects Him!

Furthermore, the Jews not only worshiped the sun in ancient times, they also worshiped the Queen of Heaven, the Egyptian goddess. Read about this in Jeremiah 7 and 44. They have dropped the sun worship since the Roman church established that with the Sabbath change from the 7^th day to the 1^st day, the “sun” day, of the week. Now, they simply continue worshiping the Queen of Heaven through their occult practices of the Zohar and Kabbalah.

Yes, YHVH is coming to kill all who call themselves by His name, then profane His name by their idolatry!  

REGARDING the entire Torah, of which the Sabbath is a part:

Deuteronomy 4:8 What great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you today?  

Deuteronomy 6:25 It shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.”  

Yeshua said when we are doing His righteousness, i.e. we are obeying the Laws of His Kingdom, we will be persecuted.  

Matthew 5:10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.  

This is why Sabbath keepers are persecuted for obeying it. Better to be persecuted by man than destroyed by God.

The Law given at Mount Sinai is the same Law YHVH put in His Tabernacle and Temple and it is the same Law that will govern in His Kingdom during His eternal reign. Ask your friends why in the world would Yeshua want them in His Kingdom to come if they reject His Law now, during their lifetimes, and YHVH’s record is that He kills Law breakers?

TO NUMBER OR NAME THE DAYS?

Now let’s look at how we know which day is the 7th day. It is on the 7th day that we must worship YHVH. We are to worship Him every day, of course, but the 7th day is a special day on which nothing else exists but Him and His Kingdom and we rest from everything that happened in the past on the previous 6 days or that is expected to happen in the next 6 days. He is our only focus on the 7th day, but how do we know which day is the 7th?

First, let me explain that it is an apostasy against YHVH that His days are named instead of being numbered. People have done this. It started in Babylon when the Jews were there. They brought back the practice of naming the days instead of numbering them. Naming days is what man does. God numbers them.

The word “Sabbath” in English is “Shabbat” in Hebrew. Its root word is “seven”. I have told people for many years that all YHVH wants us to do is count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Just like all the rest of His Law (the Torah, His instructions on how to be righteous before Him), this is easy. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Man may have named the days, but there is no historical record of man changing the numbering of YHVH’s days. To this day, we know which day is the 7th. Count them: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Here are scriptures that tell us the Sabbath is on the seventh day, numbered the way God did the numbering starting in Genesis with days numbered, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 :

Genesis 2:2  On the seventh day God finished his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.
Genesis 2:3  God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work of creation which he had done.

The 7th day is the most important day of the week. It is the day that tells the world who its Creator is. The reason we know YHVH is our Creator is because He specially created the 7^th day and rested on it Himself to show man what to do on the 7th day. The 7th day is a gift, a day for mankind to rest for all humans. The 7^th day is a gift to all humankind that YHVH gave to Israel at Mount Sinai to protect it and to spread it through all the earth. By the way, the 7th day Sabbath is special for another reason which I will show you in a minute.

No other species of God’s creation gets this special day of rest. Throughout all the world, every living thing struggles to survive on the 7th day just as they do on the 1st through the 6th days. Man gets to learn God’s provision and through this is elevated above all the animals. The only animals which get to rest on the 7th day are those that belong to people who observe the 7th. As members of Israelites’ households (we believers are Israelites), even our animals get to rest on this day but no other animals get that privilege.

Israel’s Mount Sinai mandate was to be YHVH’s nation of priests serving the nations and bringing them to Him. His plan would take another 1,500 years to be implemented when Yeshua gave the disciples the Great Commission because Israel continued in their rebellion and are still rebelling today. Why? Yeshua kept the Sabbath. Why don’t we? It is not a Jewish thing to do so. It is an “Israelite thing” to do so. Being an Israelite is different than being a Jew. Biblical Israel is God’s nation. The Jewish nation named Israel is not Biblical Israel.

Yeshua gave the same mandate to His disciples that He gave to Israel on Mount Sinai 1,500 years earlier.

Mat 28:16  But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them. 
Mat 28:17  When they saw him, they bowed down to him, but some doubted. 
Mat 28:18  Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 
Mat 28:19  Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 
Mat 28:20  teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. 

With these words, 11 disciples would begin to do what Israel was designed to do starting with Mount Sinai, and would teach others the same.

What were the things Yeshua commanded? Since He is the One who gave the Law at Mount Sinai, His commandments go all the way back to that mountain. And yes, keeping the Sabbath is all through the Gospels and the New Testament.

It has been said that Yeshua did not mention the Sabbath commandment during His time on earth, so that means it is optional for His people to keep it or not. Here is a scripture for those folks to think about:

Romans 8:29  For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 

How can we conform to His image if we do not do what He did?

Here is the commandment for the Sabbath that Yeshua kept every 7^th day of His earthly life.

Exodus 20:8  “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 
Exodus 20:9  You shall labor six days, and do all your work, 
Exodus 20:10  but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; 
Exodus 20:11  for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy. 

This commandment was given before Mount Sinai. It is a universal commandment that all people should observe even when they are not in covenant with Him.

This one regards preparing for the Sabbath on the 6^th day.

Exodus 16:26  Six days you shall gather it [the manna], but on the seventh day is the Sabbath. In it there shall be none.”

The Sabbath is such a special day that we are to prepare for it on the 6th day.

Exodus 16:23  He said to them, “This is that which Yahweh has spoken, ‘Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to Yahweh. Bake that which you want to bake, and boil that which you want to boil; and all that remains over lay up for yourselves to be kept until the morning.’” 

Preparing on the 6th day is a picture of Yeshua’s Bride preparing for her new life with Him as her husband. And yes, the 7th Sabbath will be kept in His coming Kingdom. 

Exodus 16:29  Behold, because Yahweh has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Everyone stay in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”
Exodus 16:30  So the people rested on the seventh day.

If we reject the 7th day Sabbath now, what will be the evidence to Him that we are willing to do what He says in His Kingdom? Will He be willing to have us in His Kingdom if we rebel against Him and His Kingdom now?

The Sabbath is so special to Israel that YHVH said it is our sign to whom we belong.

Exodus 31:13  “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Most certainly you shall keep my Sabbaths: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that you may know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies you. 
Exodus 31:14  You shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 
Exodus 31:15  Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to Yahweh. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. 

THAT is a particularly interesting commandment. It turns out that keeping the Sabbath is how YHVH marks us as His people. Conversely, that means those who do not keep the Sabbath will not be marked by YHVH. I tell you that you want to be marked by YHVH! And in the coming years, a time is coming in which every person alive on earth will be marked by either YHVH or the beast. People who are not keeping the Sabbath have a higher percentage chance of accepting the mark of the beast.

Furthermore, not only does Israel benefit from being marked by YHVH in the 7th day, ALL mankind who keeps the Sabbath as a day of rest and worship of YHVH are marked as His, too! Being marked by YHVH should be coveted by everyone on earth as a way to keep from being marked by the beast!

Keeping the Sabbath, says YHVH, is OUR sign, whoever we are, that we belong to Him. Those who do not keep the Sabbath have no sign that they belong to Him. How will He know them if they are now marked by Him?

Here are some other scriptures about the Sabbath.

Leviticus 23:3  “‘Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no kind of work. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings.

Deuteronomy 5:13  You shall labor six days, and do all your work;
Deuteronomy 5:14  but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God, in which you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 

Hebrews 4:4  For he has said this somewhere about the seventh day, “God rested on the seventh day from all his works;”

Again, aren’t we supposed to be in the image of our God, Yeshua?

Those who say the old covenant is now “done away” should reconsider that thought. If one word from the Old Testament has disappeared, so might our salvation! Yeshua came to fulfill the Law, to do everything in it (especially to fill the sacrifices full of meaning with His own blood), not destroy it. If these go away, so does His sacrifice which is foreshadowed in those sacrifices.

Furthermore, without the words of God’s promises, we could end up without His Promised Son who was prophesied to save mankind from the beginning. Then where would we be?