Go to: Part One: How the Sabbath Day was Given
Go to: Part Two: The Sabbath Day in the Gospels
Go to: Part Three: How the Sabbath Day was Stolen
In my study The Fourth Commandment: Honoring the Day of HaShem I offer a very brief overview of the origins of the Sabbath and its continuation under Master Y'shua (Jesus). In part three I discuss how Shabbat was stolen from the Believers. Brevity is often good but it sometimes takes space to discuss a topic properly. While these studies are fairly short considering the scope of the topic (MUCH more remains to be shared), this overview will be shorter yet:
Topic of part one: Short Answer: How the Sabbath Day was Given:
GOD declared the Sabbath Day Holy well before the Fall, before Noah, Abraham or Moses: It existed well before the giving of the Law and hence was not "fulfilled" by the New Covenant of Master Y'shua
Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
"Sanctified:" Qadash (kaw-dash'): to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate from all others.
GOD reiterated the importance and holiness of Shabbat by declaring its observance the Fourth of the Ten Commandments and repeated its sanctification numerous times both in the Hebrew Tanack ("Old Testament") and the New Testament.
Topic of part two: Short Answer: Master Y'shua Observed and Continued Sabbath Observance:
Master Y'shua clarified the proper method and purpose of Sabbath observance. He did not repeal it:
Mark 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath
Master Y'shua and his disciples continued to observe the Sabbath and AFTER his resurrection the Master instructed:
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Nowhere does the New Testament cancel the Sabbath nor replace it with Sunday worship.
Topic of part three: Short Answer: How the Sabbath Day was Stolen:
1. Following the sacking of Jerusalem the Jews fled for their lives from the Romans. This includes the Jewish followers of Master Y'shua.
2. From very early on some of the Followers of the Way began merging with the Pagans of the Diaspora through intermarriage and doctrinal compromise:
Galatians 2:11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I [Paul] withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
3. Other Way Followers abandoned or distorted the Way through Gnosticism, the Mystery cults and other non-Way belief systems:
I Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
4. To escape the harsh Roman persecutions many Way Followers separated themselves from the Jewish foundations of the Way Movement. They claimed to be Jews, followers of HaShem, but many no longer were!:
Revelation 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
This betrayal of the religion of Master Y'shua and his disciples was described by Prophet John as the the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes:
Revelation 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.
5. Influential Way heretics (mainly Pagan converts) sought to appease Rome by merging the Way with Roman Paganism and rejecting Judaism. Once the New Religion came to power as the official religion of Rome it outlawed "judaizing" or holding to the Jewish foundation established by Master Y'shua:
For instance concerning Sabbath observance Tertullian (200 AD) wrote:"We solemnize the day after Saturday in contradistinction to those who call this day their Sabbath.
6. In 312 CE Constantine feigned a vision of Y'shua as a war lord and declared the formal creation of a new Universal Roman Religion (Roman Catholicism -- "Roman Universalism"). Soon all other forms of the Way declared heretical and the Church of Rome murdered untold millions of devout people.
7. Shabbat observance was officially declared a heresy in 364 CE. As the Catechism of Catholic Doctrine says on page 50 (3rd edition):
Question: Which is the Sabbath day?
Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodecea (A.D. 364), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.
For more detail read the complete study:
Go to: Part One: How the Sabbath Day was Given
Go to: Part Two: The Sabbath Day in the Gospels
Go to: Part Three: How the Sabbath Day was Stolen
Also see my The Rise of the Universal Church
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