Sabbath
The Prophetic Significance of the Shabbat = Hebrew for Sabbath
By Jan White - Olive Tree Congregation South Australia. 1-7-2017
Seek the Truth with all your heart.
INTRODUCTION
"Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day Elohim completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then Elohim blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which Elohim had created and made.[Genesis 2:1-3].
The crowing day of creation came on the 7th day because all the work of Elohim from the previous 6 days would now come into fruition. In English you don't see the word Shabbat in the Genesis verse but it's seen in the Hebrew root word for 'He rested' which is the verbal root, Shevat meaning to cease, desist or to rest.
At the end of the 6th day Elohim created man in His image and it says He saw all that He made, and behold it was very good. So the first thing man does, is to share in God's rest. Everything is complete and man simply enjoys Elohim and His completed work. This is the first Shabbat where man is invited to share in God's completed work.
Then Genesis 2:3 tells us that Elohim did two things concerning this day.
First He blessed the 7th day. The 6 days you and I work have a purpose, but for them to truly bear fruit those 6 days have to stop and give way to a greater purpose, and that is Shabbat. As we honour Shabbat and trust in YHVH, He will bless all our previous activity and this will be a testimony that YHVH is our provider. Shabbat we're told was made for man...[Mark 2:27]
Secondly He sanctifed it, which means it was set apart from the other 6. How was it set apart? It was set apart because in it He rested from ALL His work which He'd created and made. It's interesting to note that the ancient Greeks had no day of rest, it was all work! And so we see that before Adam & Eve ever sinned YHVH reveals His intent & desire that this blessed, set apart day, would be incorporated into man's life. He gave it as a blessing and gift to man.
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WHAT DOES THE WORD OF GOD TEACH US ABOUT SHABBAT?
1. The Word Shabbat is first seen in the supply of Manna in Exodus 16.
This is a picture of Messiah the Word become flesh who came from heaven and dwelt among us. So this takes us back to the fact that Shabbat is the crowning moment of creation because it's about Messiah.
The people here are grumbling against Moses and Aaron saying, "It would have been better to die in Egypt than die in the wilderness of hunger." But God uses this situation to teach His people how to be blessed. God says to Moses that He's going to rain bread down from heaven and that the people were to go out each day and gather a day's portion but, if kept for the next day the bread would turn foul and breed worms. All this was that He might test them to see if they would obey His instructions.
On the 6th day they gathered twice as much bread and were told that the 7th day would be a holy Sabbath to YHVH. ... bake what you will and all that is left over put aside until morning … and it did not become foul. Moses said, "eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to YHVH; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you will gather it, but on the 7th day Sabbath there'll be none....See YHVH has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for 2 days on the 6th day... so the people rested on the 7th day. [Exodus 16:22-23, 25-26, 29-30 ].
In Egypt under Pharaoh they worked every day, now under YHVH's authority they get to have a day of rest because the 7th day's provision had already been taken care of. Here YHVH is teaching His children to trust Him and His instructions and they'll be blessed. You don't have to work 7 days a week to get by, or to make ends meet or be in control, you can rest on the 7th day , come under YHVH's authority and trust Him for your provision.
2. Shabbat is a weekly appointment with YHVH
God got His people into a weekly routine cycle of work 6 days rest on the 7th.
3. The Shabbat is the 4th of the 10 Commandments, the covenant God made at Mt Sinai
with His people [Ex 20:8-11] This was spoken by YHVH & later written on stone by His finger
”Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."
When God remembered Noah He acted on His behalf. Remember is a verb of action. So when we remember the Sabbath we're doing something we're setting it apart from the other days. This means we're testifying to the gift God has given us, and as we're being blessed, that will testify to the significance of Shabbat in our lives as God intended it to be. The truth is that When you keep Shabbat you WILL stand out!
4. Shabbat is also related to YHVH's special Appointments - His Feasts.
There are 7 appointments or Feasts of YHVH in Leviticus 23 which speak of the entire work of redemption which Yeshua must fulfill. Shabbat opens 5 of these and closes 2. There are 7 altogether which are called High Shabbats. In John 19:31 we read of one of them.
Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation , so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath [for that Sabbath was a high day], asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. [The high Sabbath here was the beginning of the feast of Unleavened Bread].
5. Shabbat is a Sign between God and His People
After receiving the plans for the tabernacle Moses is told to speak to the Children of Israel saying in Exodus 31:13:-
"You shall surely observe My Sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am YHVH who sanctifies you.
So as Israel sanctified [set apart] the Sabbath for YHVH He in turn would sanctify, set apart, Israel. They were to be a holy set apart nation; His special treasure a kingdom of priests among all the peoples. [19:5-6]. The Shabbat would be a sign of the relationship between God and His people.
6. Shabbat was for anyone who would join themselves to YHVH
Also the foreigners who join themselves to YHVH to minister to Him, and to love the name of YHVH to be His servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast My covenant; even those I will bring to my holy mountain... for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the peoples" [Isaiah 56:6]
It was and is God's desire for all nations to come and keep His Shabbat, to keep His covenant and to be as Paul says grafted into the Olive Tree. [Romans 11:17].
What Olive tree is Paul talking about? The one mentioned in Jeremiah 11:16.
YHVH called your name a green olive tree beautiful in fruit and form...
YHVH calls His bride, His people, an olive tree. It's His desire for all to come out of the peoples of the world and become part of His people and we do that through Messiah.
Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh...were at that time separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Messiah Yeshua, you who formerly were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Messiah. [Eph. 2:11-13].
Jeremiah 31:31-33 is a prophecy through Jeremiah that God was going to make a Renewed Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah and place all that became known as the Law of Moses inside of us writing it on our hearts. Because we've been grafted in we are Israel, and so everything that applied to God's people Israel, applies to us.
7. Yeshua never rescinded the Sabbath.
He said, "If you love me you'll keep my commandments".
Which commandments? If Yeshua is the word then He wrote all of it. He's the Torah made flesh. John 1:1,14. Sin is the breaking of God's commandments. 1 John 3:4 ..sin is lawlessness.. Therefore If Yeshua hadn't kept His own commandments He would not have been able to die for our sin. Yeshua tells His disciples in Matt 24:15&20 in regard to the end days
"When you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place....pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath." Obviously the Sabbath will be relevant to the end.
8. The Apostles honoured the Sabbath after His resurrection their entire lives.
Acts 13:14 Paul's first missionary journey. ...they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.
Acts 13:26 -27 Brethren, sons of Abraham's family and those among you who fear God, to us
the message of this salvation has been sent. For those who live in Jerusalem, & their rulers,
recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath,
fulfilled these by condemning Him.
Acts 15:21 For Moses from ancient generation has in every city those who preach him since
he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.
Acts 17:2 And according to Paul's custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures.
Acts 18:4 And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.
WHY THEN IS IT THAT MOST CHRISTIANS BELIEVE THAT SUNDAY IS THE NEW SABBATH?
There are only two verses that appear to have believers meeting on the first day of the week which is used as a reason that the Sabbath is now on Sunday!
Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:2. Both of these are written by the Apostle Paul yet we've just read how he kept the Shabbat holy. First of all we want to look at another scripture.
Acts 17:10-11 says, The Brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
The Bereans tested everything. They examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. what He said had to line up with the scriptures. We have to ask what scriptures seeing there was no New Testament until the 4th century? The Scriptures that Paul and everyone else used in His day was the Tanakh or OT. This is what we must do also.
1. It's always important to read scripture in context not just one verse. ACTS 20:6-7 We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened bread, and came to them at Troas within five days; and there we stayed seven days. V7 On the first day of the week when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight....he talked with them a long while until daybreak.
V7 States in English that the believers met on the first day of the week thus implying that the Sabbath is now on the first day of the week. First of all the word 'DAY' doesn't exist in the Greek.
Let us look at the Greek of the words the First -- of the week. They are:- MIA TON SABBATON
The Greek work MIA means ONE and sometimes can be translated as FIRST. The word week which is singular is also not in the Greek. So it actually should be translated as ONE OR FIRST OF THE SABBATHS - Plural. But what does one or first of the Sabbaths mean? This is why the context of the previous verse is crucial because it mentions that they set sail just after the end of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. One or first of the Sabbaths refers to the counting of the 7 Sabbaths from the feast of Unleavened Bread up to the feast of Shavuot or Pentecost which occurs the day after the 7th Sabbath.
In Michael Roods Chronological Gospels he points out that Paul is speaking on Motzei Shabbat which is the 3rd meal of Shabbat after the sun has set beginning the first day of the week. So they met on the Sabbath and continued on into the first day of the week at sunset and he speaks until the break of day Sunday morning and then leaves on his journey. His message is a continuation of the Sabbath day.
2. 1 CORINTHIANS 16:2-3,8 says, On the first day of every week each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then when I arrive I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem...V8 But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost.
Once again the word DAY doesn't exist and the Greek is MIAN SABBATOU. This is singular so should be translated as ON ONE SABBATH. These verses in 1 Corinthians parallels the taking of an offering up to Jerusalem for Shavuot/ Pentecost in obedience to Deuteronomy 16:16.
Three times in a year all your males shall appear before YHVH your God in the place which He chooses, at the feast of Unleavened Bread, & at the Feast of Weeks [Shavuot] and at the Feast of Booths [Tabernacles] & they shall not appear before YHVH empty handed.
Both these sets of verses in Acts and Corinthians refer to the Sabbaths between the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Shavuot/Pentecost and have nothing to do with meeting on the first day of the week. This is a huge translation error which has been openly accepted as truth.
CATHOLICS ADMIT CHANGING THE SABBATH TO SUNDAY
On March 7th 321CE The Roman Emperor Constantine passed his famous national Sunday law.
"Let all the judges and townspeople and occupation of all trades rest on the venerable day of the sun. [Sunday]. If anyone was caught resting on what he called the Jewish Sabbath they would be excommunicated from the church and in some cases lose their life.
"Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the Church ever did, happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. 'The Day of the Lord was chosen, not from any direction noted in the scriptures, but from the Catholic Church's sense of its own power...[St Catherine church sentinel Algonac, Michigan, May 21st 1995.]
"It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists and all other Christians, that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church." [Priest Bradly, in an address reported in the News, New Jersey, March 18th 1903.]
SOME VERSES PEOPLE USE TO SUPPORT THAT THE SABBATH ISN'T NECESSARY
GALATIANS 4:10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. This is brought up to imply that observing Saturday is religious and not necessary. But this does not represent the Sabbath or the feasts of God. When you read V8&9 2 verse before V10 you get a completely different picture.
V8 says, However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. V9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? V10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. [pagan practices] [things Wiccans do today]
They basically obeyed the law as a checklist but once they'd done their duty to God they began to observe their pagan celebrations again which they did before they knew God.
ROMANS 14:5 One person regards one day more sacred than another; another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in their own mind.
Earlier in Romans 3:31 Paul had said, Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish [or uphold] the Law.
He would not be saying he's going to uphold the Law and then say the Sabbath doesn't matter you can choose any day you want. NO! There is another meaning here found in the next verse:-
Romans 14:6 He who regards one day special does so to the Lord. He who eats meat eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God, and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
The one who considers a day special is fasting from food. In the first century there was a big debate about which day to fast on. So in the same context of talking about food he addresses fasting.
COLOSSIANS 2:16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.
Paul had said in 2:8 see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men...rather than according to Messiah.
He's encouraging the believers in Colossae to not let people judge them because THEY ARE observing the instructions of YHVH.
2:17 things which are a shadow of what is to come; [let no one judge you], but rather the body of Messiah. It doesn't say in V16 that festivals, new moons and Sabbaths have been done away with in Messiah but that they are a foreshadow of things to come. If anyone was to judge them it should be the body of Messiah not people who are following the traditions of men or who are under Replacement theology.
THE PROPHETIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SHABBAT
In the garden of Eden, heaven and earth were one, filled with His glory. There was an open heaven in the garden, where Elohim, creator of the universe walked and talked freely with Adam and Eve. But then the sin of man separated heaven and earth, man from God and from each other. God's purpose has always been to bring back the full restoration of the Garden of Eden when Yeshua will join heavenly Zion and earthly Zion into one, when He takes up His throne. Paul talks about this when he says, "..to usher in the fullness of times and to bring together in the Messiah all things in heaven and on earth. [Ephesians 1:10].
We know that Yeshua took upon flesh and Peter says in 1:24 that He bore our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sin & live to righteousness; by His wounds we were healed.
Looking at the life of Yeshua everything He did, spoke about the GREAT SHABBAT to come. His death, burial and resurrection prepared the way for the final Shabbat Rest. Note the place that the Shabbat took in the life and ministry of Yeshua.
Gabriel came to Miriam on SHABBAT on the last day of Hanukkah to tell her she would conceive a son whom she was to call Yeshua. [Lk. 1:26-33]
Yeshua was born on the HIGH SHABBAT of Sukkot [Tabernacles] [Lk. 2:7-20; John 1:14]
He was circumcised on the HIGH SHABBAT of the 8th last great day of Sukkot. [Matt 1:25b]
He was mikved in the Jordan by John on a SHABBAT. [Matt 3:13-17].
Also on this Shabbat a voice from heaven endorsed the beginning of His 70 week ministry.
On a SHABBAT John saw Yeshua return from the wilderness following 40 days of fasting and proclaims Him as the lamb of YHVH who takes away the sin of the world. [John 1:29].
Yeshua proclaims the acceptable year of YHVH on the SHABBAT after Shavuot accurately proclaiming that the final one year countdown of the spring feasts of YHVH would be fulfilled. [Luke 4:16-30]. This was a prophetic statement that the Passover lamb would be a one year old male [Exodus 12:5].
Yeshua is ordained by Elijah and Moses as the Kohen Gadol [High Priest] after the order of Melchizedek on the HIGH SHABBAT of the Feast of Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement]. For a 2nd time a voice from heaven is heard. Father declares that "this is my beloved Son, hear and obey Him." [Matt. 17:1-8]. The voice authenticates Him as the prophet we must hear and obey. [Duet 13:15-19]. The people didn't realize the prophet would also be the Messiah
Yeshua prophetically proclaims the future reality of the latter rain or double portion outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the HIGH SHABBAT of the 8th last great day of Sukkot [Tabernacles]. Shavuot would be the early rain. [John 7:37-43].
Also on this HIGH SHABBAT Yeshua commissions 70 disciples to prepare the way for Him by going into every city ahead of him. [Luke 10:1-16].
On SHABBAT during Hanukkah - the feast of lights Yeshua the 'Light of the World' heals a man born blind. [John 9:1-41].
Miriam anoints Yeshua's head and feet in Bethany on Friday evening of SHABBAT.
Yeshua says that she had done this in preparation for His burial. It's the 10th of Aviv.
The next day - still SHABBAT He makes His triumphal entry into Jerusalem as YHVH's selected Passover Lamb on the day the lamb for the nation is selected.
On this day He prophesies to the gentiles of His death, burial and Resurrection then asks the Father to glorify His name. Immediately for the 3rd time, the Father's voice is heard from heaven saying, I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again."
Yeshua dies on Wednesday 3pm, is buried before sunset [He's in the grave Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights = 3 nights and Thursday, Friday and Saturday = 3 days, and is resurrected on Saturday, the weekly SHABBAT on the 3rd day just before sunset.
He sends the gift of the Holy Spirit on the HIGH SHABBAT of Shavuot concluding His 70 week ministry.
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NB Israel became a nation on the HIGH SHABBAT of Shavuot/Pentecost May 14th 1948
IN CONCLUSION
Hebrews 4:9-10 says, So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered into His rest has himself also rested from His works as God did from His.
There's another day we look forward to, the day of rest. It's not until we enter the Sabbath rest of the last 1,000 years of the Lord that we finally cease from our work. Most of us are still working, still sharing the Word of God. The rest still remains.
It should be noted that in Genesis 2:3 there is NO evening and morning declared at the end of the 7th day because it is not complete. The 7th day is a picture of the 7,000th year reign of Yeshua on earth. It's another way of saying the 7th day
2 Peter 3:8 says, But do not let this one fact escape you notice, beloved, that with YHVH one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
The thousand year reign of Yeshua is our Sabbath rest . It's the rest we enter into after judgement. The weekly Sabbath is a prophetic foreshadowing of the last 1,000 years also called the day of the Lord, the day He comes to reign on earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Reigning as Lord of the Sabbath. Every time we keep Shabbat our lives foreshadow the great Shabbat and prophetically testify to the Sabbath rest to come where we'll finally cease from all our works.
The Feast of Trumpets is a commemoration of the time that God came down from heaven in all of his power and glory and gathered together His people at Mt Sinai to give them the everlasting covenant. Exodus 19:10-20:17; Lev. 23:23-25. The fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets is when the Messiah comes down from heaven in all of His power and glory and sends forth the angels to gather together His people in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. Matthew 24:30-31 & Mark 13:26&27.
A day is coming at the sighting of the new moon of the 7th month of Tishri; the beginning of the Feast of Trumpets; the feast on which Messiah will return, that the 7th trumpet will sound, it will be the last trumpet and there will be loud voices in heaven saying:-
The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of the Almighty, and of His Messiah; and He shall reign forever and ever. [Revelation 11:15].
The Spring feast of Passover, Unleavened Bread and First Fruits with Pentecost are holy days that represent the past, the reality of which was actually found in Messiah, thus meaning that those holy days were prophetically pointing to Messiah all along and now they point back to Him as a memorial to Him.
Now Paul here in Colossians points to the festivals, new moons and Sabbaths as being of Prophetic significance for the future which will be through the fall feasts of the Day of Trumpets, The Day of Atonement, & the Feast of Sukkot [Tabernacles].
The new moon celebration of the 7th month is the Day of Trumpets, the only feast day given to us that falls on a new moon and the feast on which the Messiah will return.
He mentions Sabbaths. The 7th day weekly Shabbat is a prophetic picture of the future representing the 1,000 years of rest in the 7th millennium under the rule and reign of Yeshua.
2 Peter 3:8 says, But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with YHVH one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
We know that God created everything in 6 days and then ceased from that work on the 7th and we can see that same plan worked out through the ages.. The 7th day is a picture of what it's going to be like under Yeshua's reign beginning in the 7,000th millennium. The Sabbath and fall feasts [holy days] will have a literal fulfillment in Messiah's second coming like the spring feasts had in His first coming.
Sin interrupted God and man being together forever. There will be a day when God will walk among His people again. We know that God as Jesus (Yeshua) took upon flesh for a short time & walked with man to be a picture of a bridegroom coming to take His bride with Him so they can walk together in the Shabbat or the day of the Lord in a time to come.