10/26/2001 Sabbath Meeting Transcript

In the last several weeks, we have examined the various scriptures on holiness/separateness.

This week we will be examining the importance of keeping Yahweh's Sabbath holy, and the necessity of being careful not to profane it.

As was shared previously, there are certain things that belong to Yahweh and are considered 'holy'. Yahweh is very concerned that we know the difference between the holy/separate and the common.

In the case of the Sabbath, there are certain days that are common or normal days, and there are certain days that Yahweh considers to be holy and set apart to Him.

If we love Yahweh, we would not profane the holy things that He has created.

The Sabbath was set apart at creation:

Genesis 2:2 - And on the seventh day Elohim ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

Genesis 2:3 - And Elohim blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which Elohim created and made.

So the Sabbath is the very first thing that scripture records Yahweh setting apart or making holy.

For those who think that the Sabbath was profaned and ignored every week until Yahweh gave the Ten Commandments, they simply do not understand holiness! Yahweh never approves the profaning of His holy things.

Ezekiel 22:26 - Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

1. They did not distinguish between the holy and unholy

2. They did not make known the difference between the clean and the unclean

3. They hid their eyes from Yahweh's Sabbaths

Since Yahushua came, is it all of a sudden pleasing to Yahweh that those who claim to believe in Him are free to make no difference between the holy and unholy, the clean and unclean, and hide their eyes from His Sabbaths? Surely no.

Notice carefully that the above verse said "Sabbaths" (Plural).

There are other days that Yahweh set apart during the year (the feast days), which are often ignored. Those days are also holy unto Yahweh and we should not profane any day that Yahweh set apart.

In the Torah/Law, the penalty for defiling His holy Sabbath is death:

Exodus 31:14 - Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

Exodus 31:15 - Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to YAHWEH: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

It was among the transgressions that Yahweh laid on Him when He died for us.

Will we now go back and defile His Sabbath again?

Let is not be! We must remember the Sabbath, to keep it set apart/holy. We must never defile the Sabbath again.

It is so important, that Yahweh set this day apart at creation and kept it Himself.

It is important enough to be included in the Ten Commandments.

What greater importance could He have placed on it? Yet, people treat the Sabbath as a common thing. It is not common, it is holy.

Exodus 20:8 - Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

The same word for holy, "Qadash" (Heb. #6942) is used here and in Genesis 2:2 where Yahweh "sanctified" the day.

How do we keep the Sabbath holy/separate?

Let's continue to read:

Exodus 20:8 - Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exodus 20:9 - Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

Exodus 20:10 - But the seventh day is the sabbath of YAHWEH thy Elohim: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

Exodus 20:11 - For in six days YAHWEH made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore YAHWEH blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

This also means we must refrain from going to stores and restaurants on the Sabbath.

For instance, if we go to a restaurant, we are hiring servants to prepare and cook our meals, serve them, and clean our tables when we are done. This is no different than having a maid do work for us on the Sabbath.

Buying and selling on the Sabbath is not pleasing to Yahweh:

Nehemiah 13:15 - In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified gainst them in the day wherein they sold victuals.

Nehemiah 13:16 - There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 13:17 - Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?

When Yahweh brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, he re-instituted the Sabbath day that had been forgotten. No doubt that the Egyptians expected them to work seven days a week.

In the below scripture, Moshe (Moses) is telling the children of Israel what they should do in preparation for the Sabbath:

Exodus 16:23 - And he said unto them, This is that which YAHWEH hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto YAHWEH: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

Yahweh not only wants our bodies to rest on His holy day, we see that He also wants our minds to rest:

Amos 8:4 - Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

Amos 8:5 - Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?

Notice the attitude of those who are keeping the Sabbath. They long for it to end so that they may go out and commit sin again.

We also need to remember that while the Sabbath is to be kept, we don't want to be longing for it to end or proceed to go out into the world and sin again when the Sabbath is over!

Of course, this isn't a problem if our attitude is right toward Yahweh's commandments and our relationship with Yahweh.

In this next verse, we will see what Yahweh desires our attitude to be like toward His holy day:

Isaiah 58:13 - If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of YAHWEH, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

Isaiah 58:14 - Then shalt thou delight thyself in YAHWEH; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of YAHWEH hath spoken it.

1. For us to call the Sabbath a delight.

2. To consider the holy day of Yahweh honorable.

3. For us to honor Him.

We see here the right attitude toward His Sabbath.

Truly His Sabbath is a delight and His holy day is honorable and Yahweh is worthy of honor!

It is a day to honor Yahweh and delight in the Sabbath He set apart for us. Yahweh ALWAYS knows what is best for us. He created our minds and our bodies, surely He is great and wise in His desire for us to rest.

Let's continue the list:

4. To not do our own ways.

5. To not find our own pleasure.

This is not a day to do our own ways or our own pleasure, but to do the ways of Yahweh and choose the things that please Him.

This is a beautiful picture of Yahweh's desire for us. He desires our attention on Him and His matters on this day, let's honor Him and praise Him for His wonderful works on this day!

Continuing the list:

6. To not speak our own words (Heb. Dabar dabar).

I find this an interesting scripture.

The Hebrew here is literally "Dabar dabar". The Hebrew word "Dabar" is most often translated "word".

I can see the wisdom in translating it "our own words". It seems apparent that Yahweh doesn't want us being so quick to speak on His holy day. Consider this scripture:

Ecclesiastes 5:1 - Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of Elohim, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 - Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before Elohim: for Elohim is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

Ecclesiastes 5:3 - For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words.

1Peter 4:11 - If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of YAHWEH. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which YAHWEH supplies, that in all things YAHWEH may be glorified through Yahushua the Messiah, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

Psalms 141:3 - Set a watch, O YAHWEH, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.

Leviticus 23:3 - Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of YAHWEH in all your dwellings.

What does it mean to have a Miqra Kodesh? The answer may surprise you

It literally means to have a "holy reading", which implies gathering together to do so. For instance:

Nehemiah 8:5 - And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:

Nehemiah 8:6 - And Ezra blessed YAHWEH, the great Elohim. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped YAHWEH with their faces to the ground.

Nehemiah 8:7 - Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place.

Nehemiah 8:8 - So they read in the book in the law of Elohim distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

It is true that a convocation seems to be implied. And it is true that scripture says we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together:

Hebrews 10:24 - And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,

Hebrews 10:25 - not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

In fact, the Sabbath is not about what you can't do, but about what you get to do!

Why is it that some people become believers in Messiah for a time but soon fall away back into the same sinful condition they were in before or perhaps even worse?

For many it is because they fail to read Yahweh's word. Absorbing His word into our minds can fulfill us like nothing else. Words are very powerful.

Often our actions and mannerisms are a carbon copy of our current group of friends or those we work with. There is wisdom in the proverb:

Proverbs 12:26 - The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them.

The same holds true for Yahweh's word.

However, when we read Yahweh's word we know we can put down our guard because His word is spirit, truth and life.

John 6:63 - It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

If we have at least one day out of the week that we can withdraw ourselves from the world and its influences and concentrate on keeping the day holy by resting, worshipping, praying and studying Yahweh's word, it truly strengthens our faith and a keeps us growing spiritually.

. Soon, keeping the Sabbath is no longer just a day of rest but rather a way of life!

Often, the keeping of the Sabbath will keep us from falling away. The idea of breaking it becomes unthinkable because it is the just way we live!

! Just as it would be unthinkable to not go to work during the week, it becomes unthinkable that we would not rest on His holy day. Ask anyone who keeps the Sabbath the way Yahweh wants us to and they will testify that it is truly a blessing!

Those who use the Sabbath day as a day for pursuing worldly pleasure, work or profit are missing out on a true spiritual blessing that would otherwise keep their minds and bodies strong.

Let's look again at Isaiah 58:13-14, but this time let's examine the rewards:

Isaiah 58:13 - If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of YAHWEH, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

Isaiah 58:14 - Then shalt thou delight thyself in YAHWEH; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of YAHWEH hath spoken it.

1. Delight ourselves in Yahweh.

2. Ride upon the high places of the earth.

3. Be fed with the heritage of Jacob.

To me, this confirms the idea that keeping the Sabbath keeps us strong in Yahweh.

We see 3 wonderful promises to those who "Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy!"

We can delight ourselves in Yahweh and ride upon the high places of the earth (thus rule the world) and be fed with the heritage of Jacob, which is to enter the Promised Land:

Psalms 105:9 - Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac;

Psalms 105:10 - And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant:

Psalms 105:11 - Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance:

Isaiah 60:21 - Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.

Isaiah 60:22 - A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I YAHWEH will hasten it in his time.

Let us be sure that we enter that rest, and inherit everlasting life!

Let's delight ourselves in Yahweh and keep holy what He created to be holy

Let's remember the sign between Him and His people forever:

Exodus 31:16 - Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

Exodus 31:17 - It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days YAHWEH made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

Let's follow the example of Yahweh in His creation. Let's walk as Yahushua walked and do what Yahushua did when He kept the Sabbaths of Yahweh. For there will be found nothing in the that Great City that defiles His holy things:

Revelation 21:23 - The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of YAHWEH illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.

Revelation 21:24 - And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.

Revelation 21:25 - Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).

Revelation 21:26 - And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.

Revelation 21:27 - But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Hebrews 12:14 - Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see YAHWEH: