I hope that the below scriptures given in this study helps you in being fully convinced in your own mind to obey the command of YHVH’S holy Sabbath.
*All scripture given in the Old and New Covenant is from the New King James Version unless noted at the end of the passage.
In The Tanak – Old Covenant
Let’s go to the beginning of the Word of God to find out about this Holy commandment.
Sabbath means: to cease, rest. The seventh day.
In the beginning of creation YHVH gave the instructions of the seventh day. It was on the seventh day, He rested from His creating, and He Blessed and sanctified it. If Abba had changed this day, He would have had to make creation all over again.
Genesis 2:2-3
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. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
We see in the passage below that the Sabbath was being commanded to the children of Israel to obey even before they were given the 10 commandments at Mt Sinai.
Exodus 16:22-30
And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD has said: “Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning. “‘So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.” Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore, He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. “So, the people rested on the seventh day.
The 10 commandments were given at Sinai in Exodus 20. In the Hebrew the word commandments are mitzvahs meaning good deeds, or sayings. They are sayings for us to live by. Basic instructions for righteous living.
We are told to remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Exodus 20:8-11
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no 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 the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
YHVH told Moses that the Sabbath was a sign between Him and the children of Israel throughout their generations. We see here that YHVH repeated what He had said about the seventh day was a day of complete rest. And it was a perpetual covenant, meaning everlasting. That would mean that it wouldn’t end or change.
Exodus 31:14-18
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 on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.” And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
YHVH was expressing to the Children of Israel the importance of rest and to not even kindle a fire on that day. Not to work.
Exodus 35:1-3
Then Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said to them, “These are the words which the LORD has commanded you to do: Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”
The Sabbath is one of YHVH’S appointed feast or holy convocations. A convocation is a calling together, meeting, assembly.
Leviticus 23:1-3
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts. “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
In the Hebrew the word convocation is miqra meaning a rehearsal, assembly. So, we are rehearsing for what is to come and that is the return of the Messiah!
Colossians 2:16-17
So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
Again, we see where YHVH repeated what He had commanded about the Sabbath to the children of Israel to obey it at their entry to Canaan.
Deuteronomy 5:12
Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you.
Foreigners and eunuch are to obey the Sabbath. The Sabbath is for all who names the Name of YHVH or YESHUA.
Isaiah 56:1-8
Thus says the LORD: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it, Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And keeps his hand from doing any evil.” Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD Speak, saying, “The LORD has utterly separated me from His people”; nor let the eunuch say, “Here I am, a dry tree.” For thus says the LORD: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant, even to them I will give in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. “Also, the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, And to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants– Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant—even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “Yet I will gather to him others besides those who are gathered to him.”
The proper observance of the Sabbath is given in this scripture.
Isaiah 58:13-14
“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
The Postexilic (those Jews who were exiled and returned) were encouraged to keep the Sabbath upon their return.
Nehemiah 10:29-31
These joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes: We would not give our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons; if the peoples of the land brought wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and we would forego the seventh year’s produce and the exacting of every debt.
YHVH was to be worshiped on the Sabbath day.
Ezekiel 46:1-3
“Thus says the Lord GOD: “The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened. The prince shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway from the outside and stand by the gatepost. The priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings. He shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening. Likewise, the people of the land shall worship at the entrance to this gateway before the LORD on the Sabbaths and the New Moons.
The children of Israel were commanded not to carry a load into the city of Jerusalem on the Sabbath. In other words, they were not to be distracted and working.
Jeremiah 17:21-27
Thus says the LORD: “Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. But they did not obey nor incline their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction. “And it shall be, if you heed Me carefully,” says the LORD, “to bring no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work in it, then shall enter the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, accompanied by the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever. And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the lowland, from the mountains and from the South, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of the LORD. “But if you will not heed Me to hallow the Sabbath day, such as not carrying a burden when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.”’
Isaiah 66:22-23
“For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the LORD, “So shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the LORD.
Lamentations 1:7
Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hands of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her Sabbaths. (KJV)
Lamentations 2:6
He has done violence to His tabernacle, as if it were a garden; He has destroyed His place of assembly; The LORD has caused the appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion. In His burning indignation He has spurned the king and the priest.
Israel rebelled against YHVH’S commands to obey His Sabbaths, so He brought punishment down upon them.
Ezekiel 20:12-13
Moreover, I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them. Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they despised My judgments, “which, if a man does, he shall live by them’; and they greatly defiled My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
Israel’s priest turned away from obeying the Sabbaths.
Ezekiel 22:26
Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
YHVH was so tired of Israel profaning His Name that he took the Sabbaths away from her.
Hosea 2:11
I will also cause all her mirth (celebrations) to cease, her feast days, her New Moons, her Sabbaths–all her appointed feasts.
But in his loving kindness He promised to restore His Appointed Feast and sanctify His Sabbaths. It is part of the restoration of all things.
Ezekiel 44:24
In controversy they shall stand as judges and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths.
As we have covered a lot of scripture. Not one was given to change the Sabbath day. The Tanakh (old covenant) is the foundation of the Word of the Lord. We need to let scripture interpret scripture. Not man interprets scripture. Let everything be established by 2 or 3 witnesses. The disciples quoted out of the Tanakh because that was all they had of the Holy Scriptures. Until the New covenant was written even Timothy was reminded of the importance of the Holy Scripture’s that was taught to him at a very young age.
2 Timothy 3:14-17
But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The Sabbath
In the Brit Hadasah-New Covenant
Below you will find scriptures pertaining to the Sabbath in the New Covenant. Yeshua was always interpreting what was lawful to do on the Sabbath. Remember the Jews had added over 1000 commands to the Sabbath and was making it a burden instead of it being a blessing like told in Isaiah 58.
Yeshua came to properly interpret the law, Torah (God’s teaching and instructions). It’s very plain in this scripture that the Torah was not done away with or abolished.
Matthew 5:17-20
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 12:1-8
At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Yeshua healing and picked food to eat on the Sabbath. It was something that sustained life.
Mark 3:2
So, they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.
Yeshua prayed on the Sabbath.
Acts 16:13
And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.
Yeshua said it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath.
Mark 3:4
Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent.
Yeshua taught in the synagogues on the Sabbath.
Mark 6:2
And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, “Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands!
Mark 2:23-28
Now it happened that He went through the grain fields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?” And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”
Acts 13:27
For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him.
Acts 15:21
For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”
Acts 13:42 & 44
So, when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.
On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. Its a time to be taught the Word of God.
Acts 18:4
And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.
Matthew 24:20
And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.
The New Covenant believers were obedient to the observance of the Sabbath.
Luke 23:54-56
That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near. And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.
Matthew 28:1
Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.
This was a High Holy Day it was Passover and Yeshua could not remain on the cross on the Sabbath.
John 19:31
Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
Believers in Yeshua should obey the commands of Yahveh. It is stated this is how we love God and that the commands are not a burden.
1 John 5:1-3 Obedience by Faith
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
Yeshua told the disciples that the teachers of the law sit in Moses’ seat. So, you must obey them and do everything they tell you. Remember Moses’ did not give us the Torah (law). The Torah was given to us by G-d to Moses.
Matthew 23:1-3 Jesus Rebukes the Scribes and Pharisees
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.
Matthew 23:23
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
Matthew 15:3
He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?
Matthew 15:8-9
“These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”‘
John 5:45-47
Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you–Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
The Commands of God were still upheld in the New Covenant.
Revelation 14:11-12
“Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”‘ “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”
Revelation 12:17
And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Jesus death on the cross never changed the Sabbath day. God never changes. He’s still the same!
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
THE LORDS DAY, SUNDAY?
The first day of the week, Sunday, how could this now be the Sabbath Day?
The scripture is clear that the early church met daily at the temple courts, breaking bread and fellowshipping together. This did not change the Sabbath day.
Acts 2:46-47
So, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
The passage below tells us about Yeshua’s resurrection at the close of the Sabbath. He would not of resurrected on the Sabbath. Also, that is why Mary, and the others were coming to anoint the body after the Sabbath was over. They were being obedient to the commands of the God.
Luke 23:54-56
That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near. And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.
You must understand what a day in according to scripture. It is at the close of the day in the evening as stated at the beginning of creation and ends the next day in the evening. From sunset to sunset.
Genesis 1:5
God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
Matt 28:1
Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.
Mark 16:9
Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.
In the passage below the disciples were not having a Sunday church service they were hiding out in fear for their lives. This did not change the Sabbath day commanded by YHVH from the beginning of creation. The below scripture is repeated in Matthew 28:1 and Luke 24:1.
John 20:19
Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
There are only two other scriptures that mention the first day of the week on different occasions, other then the time of Yeshua’s resurrection and it is pertaining to the closing of the Sabbath.
There was a custom among the Jews that was practice call Havdalah. That is when they would gather to break bread and it would take place at the close of the Sabbath after sundown. This is the commentary from the (Power New Testament).
The Havdalah service makes the transition from the Holy Sabbath to the secular work–a-day world. It starts two hours after sundown on Saturday evening.
Acts 20:7
Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.
The next scripture they were taking up a collection during their Havdalah gathering (the closing of the Sabbath).
1 Corinthians 16:1-2
Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.
Now we come to one other stronghold called the “Lord’s Day.” As mentioned in Revelations 1:10 some have said this to be the new Sabbath day. Me must interpret the scripture in the context in which it is given and in this particular scripture. It is talking about the day of the Lord’s return. It is the same as the Day of the Lord, which is the ultimate Day of Judgment! It has nothing to do with the first day of the week or being a new day to worship God.
Revelation 1:9-11
Vision of the Son of Man
I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
Personally, these scriptures does not give us enough evidence that YHVH changed His Sabbath day. Remember He blessed the seventh day and made it Holy, Genesis 2:2. Why would He command us to remember? I guess He knew that one day we would forget it. YHVH would never have given us a command and then changed it without telling us!
Romans 14:5-6
One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.
Hopefully this study has help you in determining the truth about the Sabbath Day and that it is still relevant for today!
