Sabbath Worship:   The Sign of the Everlasting Covenant.   MESSIAH MENTIONED THE SABBATH IN HIS COMMENTS CONCERNING THE END TIMES MT. 24:20.  WE'RE GOING TO LOOK AT THESE TWO WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS.   TEST EVERYTHING YOU HAVE BEEN TAUGHT, INCLUDING THIS ARTICLE, WITH THE WORD OF YHWH  --  HE DOES NOT CHANGE.   "SABBATH" WILL BE UNDERSTOOD HERE AS THE ACTUAL 7TH DAY, NOT THE CATHOLIC SABBATH CALLED "SUN-DAY" (THE CHANGE ENFORCED BY CONSTANTINE, EDICT OF CONSTANTINE, 321 CE).    THE PROTESTANTS INHERITED THE DAY-OF-THE-SUN "SABBATH" FROM THE CATHOLICS.    THOSE WHO BELIEVE SUN-DAY IS THE SABBATH MIGHT NEED TO INVESTIGATE THE USE OF THE WORD "SABBATH" IN THE BOOK OF ACTS, IF THEY'VE BEEN LED TO THINK THE APOSTLES CHANGED THE DAY OF REST.   ACTS WAS WRITTEN BY LUKE ABOUT 31 YEARS AFTER THE RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION.  ALSO, YAHUSHUA (YAHSHUA) MADE THE ESCHATOLOGICAL STATEMENT, "PRAY THAT YOUR FLIGHT WILL NOT BE IN WINTER, OR ON THE SABBATH"  MT. 24:20 --  THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO MENTION IT IF HE INTENDED TO CHANGE WHICH DAY IS THE SHABBAT, SO WE WOULD KNOW ABOUT IT NOW.   TAKE NOTE:   HE MENTIONED THE SABBATH IN THE CONTEXT OF DESCRIBING EVENTS IN THE END TIMES.   ALSO, THE CHURCH OF ROME FREELY ADMITS THERE IS NO SCRIPTURAL BASIS FOR THE CHANGE, BUT IT WAS THE CHURCH ITSELF THAT MADE THE SABBATH CHANGE (CONSTANTINE).  CONSULT DANIEL 7:25 ALSO, BECAUSE IT PREDICTED THIS CHANGE OF LAW.     IS SUNDAY THE SABBATH?   THAT'LL BE EASY TO FIGURE OUT ONCE YOU MAKE A STUDY OF IT ON YOUR OWN.   IF IT TURNS OUT NOT TO BE, CAN THE POPE OF ROME BE TRUSTED?

The languages of Earth affirm the universality of the 7-day week, and 108 of them have based their name for the 7th day on the original Hebrew word:

 Ancient Syriac: shabatho, Babylonian: sabatu, Arabic: assabt, Etheopic: sanbat, Armenian: shapat, Polynesian: hari sabtu, Swahili: assabt, Latin: Sabbatum, Italian: Sabbato, Spanish: Sabado, Russian: Subbota, Polish: Sobota, Assyrian: Sabata, Tigre: Sanbat, Kurdish: Shamba, Georgian: Shabati, Morduin: Subbota, Portuguese: Sabbado, New Slovenian: Sobota, Prussian: Sabatico.

A seminar on DVD which includes information on the Asherah/tree tradition 

and the tribes of Israel among the nations is available now.

The other DVD is a seminar on the Sabbath of Yahuah.  

Click on either photo below to order.

Christian teachers and their flocks have been taught that "Sun-day" is the Sabbath day, knowing that it had not been for over 4000 years previous to Constantine's edict that changed it in 321 CE.  One question that comes to mind immediately is this:

Where were the followers of Yahushua ha'Mashiach of Natsarith found for Shaul (Paul) to arrest them?  In the book of Acts, written about 31 years after Yahushua ascended, we learn that the followers of Yahushua were assembled in SYNAGOGUES, and they were found there on the traditional day of rest called THE SABBATH.  Shaul did not find them in "church" buildings, and in fact Luke (the writer) was still calling the day they were arrested "THE SABBATH".  The change of the Sabbath day of rest came later, and it was done by a Pagan emperor who was a murderer, and unbaptized at the time he made the change.   In this study we will look at what the inspired writings tell us, and how modern behavior is at variance with those writings, and why.

A WORD ABOUT THE TORAH & ISRAEL:

WORSHIP

       Worship,  in the sense understood from the Scriptures (YHWH's Words), has to be defined from the meaning of the word as it is used in the inspired Hebrew.   Translations, and especially human traditions, can lead us into errors in certain cases.  Our "worship" is really obedience, the doing of what YHWH expects of us.   If we neglect doing what He expects of us, but assume our intentions will serve the same results, then we didn't understand the Fall, the golden calf incident, nor why Qayin's (Cain's) offering was not pleasing to YHWH.   "If you do well, shall you not be accepted?" (Gen. 4:7).   Qayin made up his own mind how he was going to worship YHWH, and what would be the offering.   How is Christianity any different?   All the Sun-day assemblies, Christmas trees, and Easter baskets in the world will not be acceptable to YHWH, unless He prescribed them as a form of worshipping Him.   So, our simple task is to find out what YHWH expects, then "do well" so that He will accept our worship of Him.   Then, we can expect to hear the words, "Well done , good and faithful servant!" (Mt. 25:21).   Doing "the Word" is obeying Him, not adding to it, or taking away from it, or adopting the Pagan cultural background as tradition has done.

     There are two Hebrew words from which we derive the meaning of "worship".  One is the Hebrew word SHACHAH (#7812), which literally means to bow down, or prostrate before another who is of higher status.   The other Hebrew word needs to be examined for comparison, so an overview of the concept of worship can be put into proper context and perspective.  The second Hebrew word is ABAD (#5647), and is often transliterated as OBED or OBAD, as we see this root used in the name of the prophet, OBADIAH (Obad Yahu, or Obad Yah).  This prophet's name literally means servant of Yah.   OBAD or ABAD means slave, servant, attendant, performer, observant one, subject (as to a king), server, etc.,.   We get our English words "OBEY" and "OBEDIENT" from this Hebrew source.   Again, we see that being submissive, compliant, or beneath another entity is the general meaning conveyed.  One entity is beneath another in authority.   One serves, and the other is served, or "obeyed".   The English definition of the word "worship" is derived from two words;  WORTH  +  SHIP  (see any good dictionary).  Primarily it pertains to the reverence, love, or allegiance accorded to a deity, idol, or religious object.  The word is used as a noun (thing) primarily, but as a verb (action) it has several synonyms:  idolize, revere, adore, venerate (regard with awe).  One could say it is also similar to the word "respect", used as both a noun or a verb.   If you respect the rules of the highway, you will obey them.   If you "worship" the Creator of Heaven and Earth, you will obey Him.  Why do we "worship" (respect, serve, obey) YHWH?  The ultimate reason should be because we LOVE Him.  In the beginning it may involve FEAR (of YHWH), which is the beginning of wisdom (and wise it truly is to FEAR Him).   As we are perfected, we should grow to love Him, and when our love is perfected, it will displace the fear as a reason to obey Him.   "If you love Me, keep My Commandments." (see also Ex. 20:6, Dt. 5:10, 7:9, Yn./Jn. 14:15, Luke 10:27).   Love is the reason and objective for our "worship", and our obedience is evidence or proof that we love Him, and evidence that we are being saved.  A worshipper of Yah will keep His Commandments, and do so out of love for Him;  and He will write them on their hearts -- that's the "re-newed" Covenant (Jer 31:31-33, Ez. 36:26,27, Heb. 10:16).   If His Commandments ever vanish from before Him, then Yisrael shall also cease from existence (Jer. 31:36).   The "sign" of His eternal Covenant?  The Sabbath!  (Ex 31:13-17, Ez. 20:12-20).   When we receive a love for the Truth (Torah), He has circumcised our hearts so we will love His Torah  -- which is pictured outwardly by our immersion (baptism) in His Name.  If you love Him enough to obey Him, He will write them on your heart (check out Acts 5:32 on this).   You must engraft into Yisrael to partake of the Covenant promises.  Investigate carefully Is. 56 to see if the Sabbath is involved at all in who is to be allowed to come into His presence.  Notice also that the 12 gates into the "New Yerushaliyim" only involve the 12 tribes of Yisrael;  each gate is named for a tribe --  Rev. 21:10-27.   Rev. 22:14 tells us:  "Blessed are those doing His Commands, so that the authority shall be theirs unto the tree of life, and to enter through the gates into the city."   There's no gate for the Dalai Lama, Astrologers, Islam, or even one named for "Christianity".   These who are taught to disobey (all or some of the Commandments) will be outside the gates, and called "dogs", enchanters with pharmakon (drugs), those who whore, murderers, idolators, and all who love and do falsehood.  You know;  those who practice "lawlessness" as opposed to "legalists".  Surely, Noach was called a "legalist", because he was a preacher of righteousness.   The end of the times of the Gentiles will involve fervent heat, and the elements will burn;  the Earth will be consumed in the fire of YHWH's burning anger  --  don't be deceived.   The majority of mankind will be ashes beneath our feet when we are clothed with immortality on the day of our redemption.  An eye filled with "light" is a point of view, and an eye filled with darkness is another point of view.  If your world-view involves seeking to obey Commandments, rather than hunting-down Scriptures to justify disobeying them, then we'll see each other when the smoke clears (a Michael Rood saying).

"He that has My mitzvot, and keeps them, he it is that loves Me: and he who loves Me, shall be loved by My Abba, and I will love him, and will reveal Myself to him," Yochanan 14:21.  (mitzvot:  Commandments)

Romans 6:16-18:  "Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves servants for obedience, you are servants of the one whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?  But thanks to Elohim that you were servants of sin (missing the mark), yet you obeyed from the heart that form of teaching to which you were entrusted.  And having been set free from sin, you became servants of righteousness."  Sin misses the mark, and the teachings of YHWH are that mark.   No one should believe they have been "set free" to disobey Torah, or "free to commit sin".

     We can safely state that obedience is what "worship" is.  True worship would be based on YHWH's Word, His Torah (instructions), and be devoid of any "human traditions" puffing-up or adding to that Word.   False worship would involve some form of "obedience" that was not intended, and so it would be misdirected obedience coming from another entity, intending to trick the performer of the action.    Human traditions tend to be our greatest affliction, making us "obey" the wrong entity  --  thereby becoming "servants" of the human traditions rather than servants of YHWH.    This would be sown by a deceiver, or one masquerading.   As we know, some of these traditions can be designs, patterns, or adaptations from PAGAN worship (which would be prohibited by Deut. 12:28-32).  But, even if we "design" an original, new "method" for how we serve YHWH, this is also outside the Torah.  Thus, we are "serving" the one whom we "obey";  and it may not be YHWH, the Creator of heaven and Earth.   It doesn't occur to most people, but their intentions don't have anything to do with whether or not they are really obeying the True Creator, YHWH.   What matters is what He said, not what they think they ought to be doing.  For this reason we must examine ourselves carefully, whether we are "in the belief" (faith, emunah), practicing and performing that form of teaching which is given us by the indwelling Spirit of Messiah Yahushua  (see 2 Cor. 13:5).   To obey, observe, or guard a specific Torah instruction properly (form of teaching), we have to have Yahushua Messiah in us, otherwise we are not His.  He told us that apart from Him, we could do nothing.   If we obey His Spirit within us, and another judges us for this obedience, the other person is judging another's servant.  We obey the Law-Giver, not each other's whims or ideas about things.  We must not disapprove of one another, but embrace and accept one another in love  --  avoiding the tendency to find differences to debate over.

The Sabbath Day is the eternal sign between YHUH and Israel, the people of YHUH .   

     Since this topic is about Sabbath worship, let's closely examine the 4th Commandment, that "form of teaching to which you were entrusted":

 "Remember the Sabbath Day, to set it apart.  Six days you labor, and shall do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of YHWH your Elohim.   You do not do any work - you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.   For in six days YHWH made the heavens and Earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.  Therefore YHWH blessed the Sabbath Day and set it apart."  Exodus (Shemoth) 20:9-11;  see also Ex 31:13-17, Ex. 35:2, Ezek. 20:12-20, Hebrews 4:9.

     If we read that text a few dozen times very slowly, we get several basic ideas from it.  It contrasts work with rest.  It makes us understand that living things around us are included in this teaching, so going to a restaurant and allowing others to serve us is definitely NOT what is implied for us to do.  If we had to reduce the entire Commandment down to one word, what would it be?   Worship?    No, a better word would be REST.   Obedience to this Commandment identifies us with the Creator and how He rested during the first week from CREATING.  Each Shabbat, or 7th day of the week (week in Hebrew is SHABUA), is a place in time, set aside for rest;  it memorializes the first week, when YHWH made the Heavens and the Earth.  Shabbat is not about a resurrection;  it is a commemoration of CREATION, and by observing it as a day of rest, it connects us to YHWH and identifies Who we serve and obey (worship).  It's the 4th of the Ten Commandments.  Let's now try to learn what the word Sabbath means in Hebrew:

SHABBATH  (#7676):   TO REST, DESIST, CEASE.

       It looks like a stop-sign for working, at the very least.   Can we read any more, or less, into the word?   The text of Ex. 20 provides us with everything we need to know for observing this Commandment.   Ex. 16:28-30 reinforces it even more:

     "And YHWH said to Mosheh, 'How long shall you refuse to guard My Commands and My Torot?   See, because YHWH has given you the Sabbath, therefore He is giving you bread for two days on the sixth day.  Let each one stay in his place, do not let anyone go out of his place on the seventh day.'  So the people rested on the seventh day."  

     WHAT  did the people do on the seventh day?   The text says they RESTED, and obviously each one stayed in his place.   Is there anything we can add or take away from resting?   You betcha, and most have.   If we think we can pick which "7th day" for ourselves, we need to investigate the re-training which the 12 tribes of Israel had to undergo in the wilderness for 40 years  --  YHWH used manna to show them which day was "His Shabbath".  Remember, it's not ours, or Israel's, it's HIS Shabbath He is talking about.  We are simply identified with Him as His servants when we rest as He rested.   We also clearly learn from YHWH WHERE  we are to do all this resting:

     "Six days work is done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a qodesh miqra (translated as "set-apart gathering").  You do no work, it is a Sabbath to YHWH in all your dwellings."  Lev. 23:3.   Where?  ". . . in all your dwellings."   (That would primarily be where you and your family eat and sleep, not where you work).  Now we've solved the "what" and "where":

What:  rest.

Where:  in all your dwellings.  

     It's normally not done at a school, or a public building of any kind, unless you've just experienced a hurricane.   The human understanding of "set-apart gathering" has been emphasized here by translators, and people have come to believe they must "gather" because the Hebrew word "MIQRA" has been understood to mean this.   Translations have produced this "set-apart gathering" idea.   Investigating the root of the word MIQRA, we find it is QARA, which means to proclaim, not "gather".   This is why we have to get at the ROOT of most everything, because we can be tricked otherwise.  The phrase,  "a Sabbath of rest, a qodesh miqra"  seems to strongly emphasize to us what is to be proclaimed, and that would be the resting we'll have to be doing.   To some of us, what is to be proclaimed is a Sabbath of resting  --  rather than a Sabbath of gathering.   Gathering would be a good thing, but it's not a "sin" if we don't gather every week.  We are to "bow down" each Sabbath Day, which means to obey the Law-Giver, YHWH, the One we are identified with by this 4th Command (see Hebrews 4).   The 4th Commandment tells us everything we need to know.   It doesn't say "You are to rest from work in order to be able to assemble for worship services".   That is a conclusion people have been programmed to jump to.  YHWH's Covenant is clearly for any "foreigner" who joins themselves to Israel -- see Isaiah / (Yesha Yahu) 56.   There is no covenant in Scripture with any people but Israel, and Israel is 12 tribes, not only “Jews” (Yahudim).  Israel is YHWH’s wife (or bride).  Those observant of Shabbat / Sabbath will be brought to His set-apart mountain, and be among His people (see Is. 56, and 66).   Actually, the Sabbath is the "test", to see whether, or not, we will obey His Commandments! (see Exodus 16:4).  Reading Acts, you will see “Sabbath” often—and this is not “Sun-day”.   The act of resting on Shabbat is the “sign” of the eternal Covenant, and it commemorates CREATION, and shows YHWH you are His and acknowledge Him as Creator (Sabbath, sign of everlasting Covenant:  Ex. 31:13-17, Ez. 20:12-20).   And oh yes, it's for everyone to acknowledge YHWH as Creator in the same way:

“Blessed is the man who does this, the man who holds it fast; who KEEPS THE SHABBATH without defiling it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.  LET NO FOREIGNER who has bound himself to YHWH say, ‘YHWH will surely exclude me from His people’. And let not any eunuch complain, ‘I am only a dry tree’.  For this is what YHWH says:  “To the eunuchs who keep My Shabbaths, who choose what pleases Me and hold fast to my Covenant ~ to them I will give within My Temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters;  I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.  And FOREIGNERS who bind themselves to YHWH to serve Him, to love the Name of YHWH and to worship Him, ALL WHO KEEP THE SHABBATH without defiling it and who hold fast to My Covenant, these I will bring to My qodesh mountain and give them joy in My house of prayer . . . . For My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.’”   Yesha Yahu 56:2-7.   Compare these words with Ephesians 2:8-13, all of chapter 3, and Acts 15.   Notice there is a SECRET (mystery) of Elohim mentioned at Revelation 10:7. 

   DESERTED ISLAND EXAMPLE

     If you were alone on a deserted island, you could work six days and rest on the seventh day of the week, and have no sin against you.  Over the years, let's say several hundred people had moved there, and most of them had learned about this Commandment, and accepted it.   During the Sabbath Day, let's say a few new-comers came to you to learn more about the Commandments.   You meet with a dozen or so students of Torah for a couple of hours, and everyone is edified.  Not any harm is done by studying and meeting together, and after a few hours everyone goes back to their hammock and continues to rest for the balance of the day.  Now let's say that over the years thousands of people have moved to this island, and by this time a few "leaders" have caused some division among the believers on the "fine points" of how to correctly observe this or some other Commandment.   They teach that EVERYONE must gather as believers in one place to hear their sermon.  Oops, now we're starting to see the source of the problem.   Human understanding and tradition has everything to do with our problem  --  even without the wiles of the devil, we get things twisted and try to control each other (Nicolaitans = lording over/conquering the laity/ the people).   Condemnation (judging) and character assassination begin, a few people get burned at the stake, and then a war breaks out on our peaceful little island.   Proclaiming the seventh day as a day of rest from work is what most of us understand when we read the 4th Commandment.   There's an old Hebrew saying;   if an Israelite were stranded alone on a desert island, he would build two synagogues, so he would always have one that he would not attend.   It goes on to say that if there were 2 Israelites alone on a desert island, they would build three synagogues;  one for each, and a third neither would attend.    

     If anyone wants to gather to learn in an assembly, let it be so.   We must assemble at times, especially the 3 times in a year as commanded at Lev. 23 and Deut. 16.   We are free to assemble everyday if the opportunity presents itself, and where 2 or more are gathered in Yahushua's Name, He is there as well.   We can assemble on a Sabbath Day, or any other day.   But, there is only one day each week selected for resting;  YHWH didn't tell us to pick our own day for resting.   When we assemble, it is to learn (1 Cor. 14:26).    After several months or years of this learning, they should become equipped well enough to teach others, make disciples, and immerse them into the Name above all names, Yahushua ha Mashiach of Natsarith.   On the Sabbath, let's not pass around any buckets to take up a collection, since we ought to avoid carrying money or gemstones around to make transactions with on this day.  Even the poor and beggars need to take this day off.  We can "lay up" beside ourselves a tithe for the poor, fatherless, widow, and needy in our midst on any of the six "work" days;  we need not profane the Sabbath to conduct business, even our "spiritual" business.  (Won't this go over great with the nicolaitans!)   Yahushua ha Mashiach told us He was the Master of the Sabbath.   Constantine cannot change or bend what YHWH has made straight, and established for all eternity  --  His Shabbath.    Can YHWH's laws (Torah) be altered?   Here's one place that tells us:

Jer 31:31-37:    "'The time is coming,' declares YHWH, 'when I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Yahudah.    It will not be like the  Covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Mitsrayim, because they broke my Covenant, though I was a husband to them,' declares YHWH.    'This is the Covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,' declares YHWH.   'I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.   I will be their Elohim, and they will be my people.    No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know YHWH,'  because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares YHWH.   'For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.'
  This is what YHWH says,
He Who appoints the sun to shine by day, Who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar--YHWH Almighty is his name:    'Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,' declares YHWH, 'will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me.' 
   This is what YHWH says:
'Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,'  declares YHWH."

A Diversion tactic:       ACTS 20     "They" want you to notice one thing;  the phrase "first day of the week", then hope you go numb to following the rest of the chapter.   It actually says "the one of the Sabbaths" (Acts 20:7 in the Greek).   Acts 20:7-38 begins by describing a "gathering" of believers (Natsarim) in a home, an upper room, where they listened to Paul (Shaul) until midnight, since Paul was departing the following morning.  This was at Troas, where they had arrived after "the days of unleavened bread" (7 days following Passover).   Notice "there were many lamps in the upper room".  At the start of this gathering in the lamp-filled upper room, Sabbath had just ended, and a few of the Natsarim had come together in this home, and had a bite together (breaking bread).  It was after sunset, the resting was over.  It was officially the "first day of the week" when Sabbath ended at sunset.  There was nothing going on here like a "Mass", or a "communion service".   In fact, no one was "worshipping".   The believers simply wanted to hear Paul (Shaul) before he left town.  Next, they sailed on to Miletos, and called the ELDERS of Ephesos there, to hear an important matter.  This whole section needs to be carefully studied, because WHAT SHAUL TAUGHT them is over-looked because of the distraction to make you think about how it was "the first day of the week", stated earlier in the chapter.  Get past that, study this chapter closely, and READ THE WARNING Shaul gave to the elders he had called for.  It will shake you to your roots, and probably wake-up many of you from a life-long slumber.  You should be able to see the "diversion tactic" that has been used to block many people from seeing what Shaul wanted to warn us of.  Another diversion tactic is used at 2 Pet. 3:14-18.  They try to make you think about Shaul's letters being "Scriptures", to distract you from what is being said --  it's another warning to us.  Our main job is to overcome the errors, so we can be effective in our service and reach the LOST with the Truth, the Word, the Torah of the Maker of Heaven and Earth.  Our message to them is "Repent, for the reign of YHWH draws near."   Repentance means return to the Torah (Ten Words, the Covenant)  --  but it has been turned into a misunderstanding, where "grace" and "being under law" are considered to be in conflict with each other.   To partake of the New Covenant (quoted above, Jer. 31), we must receive a love for the Torah, allowing Yahushua to circumcise our hearts with a love for it.

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