Now I hear this phrase tossed around all the time. I hear it in those that claim to be MESSIANIC, and those that claim to be Christian. But what does it mean to keep his Sabbath holy. I know most messianics think that they have this figured out. Likewise most Christians do as well. Let’s explore this topic together this Shabbat and see if we do have it figured out and if we are truly keeping his Sabbath HOLY.

 

First of all lets explore the importance of the Sabbath and see why it is so imperative that we keep it Holy. Now most of us realize that Ha’Satan (the Devil, Lucifer) has a Mark (Sign) that his people will be known by. We almost flippantly call it the mark of the beast. What we Should know is the his sign is nothing more then a counterfeit of the Sign (mark) that the father has placed on his people. Remember that we are instructed in the Torah to confirm everything in the mouth of two or three witnesses. So as I share this short teaching with you. When I come to the things that maybe every one has not been made aware of, I will support it with not only with one scripture as a witness, but I will show a second and sometimes even a third witness depending on the emphasis I want to convey.

 

As previously stated the Father has a mark as well that he has placed upon his people. Most do not really understand how significant this Mark is, so lets take a look at the witnesses in scripture first that confirm this to be a fact. Exo_31:13  Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.Eze_20:12  Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them. Eze_20:20  And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.

 

Clearly the father has established his Sign between himself and his set apart people as his Sabbath. But lets take a step back and look at the sign HaSatan has or will seal his people with. Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: the second witness for that is in the very next chapter. Rev 14:9-10  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

 

So clearly we see now that Ha’Satan has a mark (sign) that his people will be sealed with. And it is very clear that they will be sealed with it in their foreheads or in their hands. Now many think that this is going to be a literal mark and they very well may be right at least for the physical application of it. The physical implementation would make it impossible for those that refuse to worship the image of the beast, to buy, or sale. But there is a spiritual application to this as well that most never explore while discussing this topic.

 

See the father talks about the foreheads of his set apart people as well and lets take a look at that before we get into what it truly means to keep the Sabbath Holy. Rev_7:3  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. Rev_9:4  And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

 

Ok now there are many other scriptures where the father talks about sealing his set apart people with his name as well. The root of this though is his Sabbath. It is the sign by which we are known as his people. It is the way that we are identified with his name. I do not believe that he is literally going to come and tattoo his name on our foreheads. This is nothing more then symbolic that he alone is at the forefront of our minds hearts and spirits and I can prove that with scripture but that is another teaching within its self. The point is that his Sabbath is His sign between himself and his people and that if they are sealed by his name then the physical representation of being sealed by his name is that they will be keeping his Sabbath holy.

 

So how does one truly keep his Sabbath Holy? There are many thought process on this but we can not rely on what a man has interpreted the scriptures to say we must allow scripture to interpret itself finding the first and second witness to every thought process that may be derived from a concept or doctrine rather. Let’s begin to do that and see if we can allow the scripture alone to define what it means to truly keep His Sabbath Holy.

 

Let’s start trying to do that by going back to the very first time that we see the Sabbath mentioned. In doing so I think we will not only reveal the way to keep the Sabbath holy but we will also see the spiritual application of the enemy’s mark as well.

 

The first time we see the Sabbath confirmed is by the father himself in the book of Genesis.Gen_2:2-3  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. 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.

 

Now lets make a list of the things the Father did on the seventh day which made it holy. The first thing he did was end his work. Then he rested. The third thing he did was to bless the seventh day. The fourth thing he did was that he sanctified it. So there are four elements that the father used to set the Sabbath apart from all other days so lets make a list and then start to explore what it was that he actually did to make this Day Holy above all others.

 

• He stoped work

• He rested

• He blessed the day

• He sanctified it.

 

Lets start with number one he stopped his work. This is only one of the elements to keeping the Sabbath Holy but let’s look at how important he makes this element. Exo 20:8-11  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: 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: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

 

Now if one is looking at this scripture alone they will think that all they have to do to keep the Sabbath holy is not to work on it. But there where four elements that the father showed us at creation in how to keep the Sabbath Holy work was just one of them. But lets make another list here concerning item one on the fathers list of keeping the Sabbath holy. 1. He stopped his work.

 

• Six days we shall labor and do all our work just as he did.

• The Sabbath does not belong to us it belongs to YHVH

• We are forbidden to do ANY work

• We first of all can’t do any work

• Our Son’s can’t do any work

• Our daughters can’t do any work

• Our man servants can’t do any work

• Our women servants can’t do any work

• Our cattle can’t do any work

•  Any stranger that is only our land can’t do any work.

 

If we have insured that we ourselves, and every one, and every thing, that has been committed to our charge will not do any work, then and only then have we fulfilled the first element of keeping the Sabbath Holy. Have we completely fulfilled the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy though by insuring that no labor is done by anything or anyone that is in our charge? No there are three more elements to keeping the Sabbath holy so lets explore the second one.

 

The second element to keeping the Sabbath holy is that we rest. Now this seems pretty self explanatory but is it really. If your mind is filled with the things that you did not get done the six days prior are you truly resting? If you are planning what you have to get done when the Sabbath has ended are you truly resting? If you are worried about events that occurred before the Sabbath or might occur after the Sabbath are you truly resting.

 

The point of truly resting is realizing that you are not in control of anything. The father is truly the only one that is in control and all of those things are under his charge. If you have done all that you can do to finish your work week then he will insure that it will keep until you can return to it after the Sabbath. If you have done all that you can do to resolve any conflicts before the Sabbath then he will give you favor when you address them after the Sabbath or show you your wrong doing so you can make it right. We have to release our minds of the cares of the week totally to him and focus on him alone this is truly resting in him. It is the only way to truly find rest and fulfill the second portion of keeping the Sabbath holy.

 

The third element of keeping the Sabbath holy is to bless the Sabbath. Now what does it truly mean to bless something? Most do not really even understand what it means to bless something. So I will give you some definition to the word bless. 1. To pronounce a wish of happiness to one; to express a wish or desire of happiness. 2. To make happy; to make successful; to prosper in temporal concerns; as, we are blest with peace and plenty. 3. To make happy in a future life. 4. To set apart or consecrate to holy purposes; to make and pronounce holy 5. To consecrate by prayer; to invoke a blessing upon. 6. To praise; to glorify, for benefits received.

 

The Hebrew word for bless is  בּרךor Barak in its English transliteration. Pronounced Baw-rak’ and literally means to kneel as in an act of adoration. So with the definitions and the actual word itself one is left to believe to truly bless something they would have to make a declaration that they are under the authority of the father and that they have set this day aside to walk in obedience to him, because it is only through him that our blessing flow. But even when we have done all three of these elements we have still now fulfilled the commandment to keep it holy. There is yet one more element that must be fulfilled to truly keep the Sabbath Holy.

 

The fourth element that the father did to Hallow the Sabbath day was that he sanctified it. Hear again we must explore the word sanctify as it is not a word that is common to us today, at least in its correct interpretation. Again I will give some definitions of the word and then give its Hebrew and literal meaning. 1. In a general sense, to cleanse, purify or make holy. 2. To separate, set apart or appoint to a holy, sacred or religious use. 3. To purify; to prepare for divine service, and for partaking of holy things. 4. To separate, ordain and appoint to the work of redemption and the government of the church. 5. To cleanse from corruption; to purify from sin; to make holy be detaching the affections from the world and its defilements, and exalting them to a supreme love to God.

 

The Hebrew of the word sanctified is קדשׁ with its English transliteration being qadash, pronounced kaw-dash. Now this word closely resembles the word holy in Hebrew which is pronounced kaw-doshe’. Now while these words are very similar they are not the same and do not have the exact same inference when spoken. Qadash is the word used in exodus when we are told to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. It literally should have been translated to remember the Sabbath and keep it sanctified. as when we think of the word Holy in English our definition goes more along the lines of the Hebrew word Qadosh. The meaning of that word is the is a sanctified person such as YHVH, Yeshua, or a messenger sent by them. It can also be used when speaking about a place such as the temple.

 

The word sanctified though literally means to pronounce something clean, to consecrate or dedicate it to the father. And this is what the father did when he sanctified the Sabbath he took it unto himself to be his position for ever. When we sanctify it we are really sanctifying ourselves unto him to be his position through his Sabbath. We are dedicating ourselves as clean and set apart to his name.

 

Ok now that I have shown the four elements that it takes to truly keep the Sabbath Holy before the father there is one element that I did not mention and that is the day it’s self. The father said that it was the seventh day. Not the last day of the week or the first day of the week. Those of you who are learned concerning history know that a week was not always seven days. A week at one point was changed to eight days and at another point it was changed to consist of ten days. This is why the father made it very specific that it was the seventh day that he hallowed.

 

Now some people will use this fact to say well we can celebrate the Sabbath on any day we choose as long as every seven days we observe that it is a set apart day. This is simply humanism seeping into our worship of the father and is lawlessness to do so. The father established the seventh day and hollowed it unto himself. It is not mans possession to do as he will with. He has not changed or become confused about what day it was that he separated out unto himself to be holy, and the sign that would be between himself and his people.

 

For the sake of not having to rewrite an article that I wrote some time back I am just going to past it here. And although it is not written on the same format trying to prove how to keep the Sabbath holy it does define without a shadow of doubt what day we should be celebrating as the Sabbath. And at the end of that article I will make my closing thoughts on the topic of keeping the Sabbath holy. I know this is a bit longer then the normal articles that I write but this really is as short as I can make it and keep the elements that show how important the Sabbath is to the father and if we want to be called by his name what we have to do to receive his mark, and be sealed by his name.  so here is the previous article that proves both the sighted new moon and that the day we call Saturday is the Biblically correct days we should observe if we truly want to keep the Sabbath Holy.

 

“””””””” Ok Recently I have been having people come and try to correct me for Sighting the first sliver of the new moon as the beginning of the biblical month and the establishing factor that marks the feast days. So after some of my typical SLIDE moves trying to avoid a debate with people that already had their minds made up to what it was that they believed, I finally broke down and let them have it. Then I got to thinking that people may need this information that are struggling to answer these questions concerning just when does a biblical month begin. So here you go I will try to provide you all the information you should need to stop the debate and maybe even teach someone some scripture at the same time.

 

The debate is this. Does the new moon begin at the conjunction, the full moon, or the first sliver? The fact is that if a person does not know the history of sighting then new moon it can be a daunting task going through the scripture to figure out which one it is. Honestly I could set here and make a convincing argument for any one of the three beliefs using scripture. The reason I say that is that I want you to realize that to someone that has not spent countless hours on this topic it can be quite confusing and with a intelligent dialogue they could be convinced of any one of them.

 

So I will do something that I almost never do and that is use other sources then scripture to make my argument. I could do it  using scripture alone, but that would only lead them to post scriptures that they believe to be contradictory and we would just fall in to the Hebrew whipping game and no one befits from that. I will support my claim by using the Talmud, the Encyclopedia Judaica, and several other encyclopedias and language concordances, along with some historical references.  I know this is not what you typically expect from one of my articles but please bare with me, as I believe it necessary in this case.   

 

Historically, the Sanhedrin would send several  new moon spotters out on the hills of  Israel to watch for the thin crescent so they could establish the beginning of each month. Once these new moon spotters had seen the new moon they would then report their sighting to the Sanhedrin. “Originally, the New Moon was not fixed by astronomical calculation, but was solemnly proclaimed after witnesses had testified to the reappearance of the crescent of the moon,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 12, p. 1039.   

 

The changing from watching for the first visible crescent to calculating conjunctions to determine the month’s beginning came with Hillel II’s calendar revisions in the 4th century C.E. “By the middle of the fourth century, the sages had established a permanent calendar and the public proclamation of the New Moon was discontinued”  (ABID) . It was not until the fourth century that anyone relied on a conjunction moon sighting. Well at least among those that claimed to be fallowing YHVH. If we go back to nimrod and the historical evidence there oh we will see so much more and maybe I will do that in this article but for now Just know Yeshua was on a seven day Sabbath cycle, and a sighted crescent new moon observance and he never rebuked anyone for doing it this way.   

 

Those that would have you believe that the conjunction is the proper new moon observance will give you arguments from scripture to make their case but I have never seen one try to make the argument without sighting Jonathan and David’s conversation concerning David not going to diner until after the new moon. There is an easy answer to this and it is as valid as their argument. The answer is that David knew the new moon was going to be tomorrow because he had already been through two days of no moon. Now scripture does not say that but neither does it say that it was the conjunction on the next day.  

 

Most of them will make grand gestures and say things like if you can show me even one scripture that says we must sight the new moon they will repent and return to watching for the crescent moon. Well I am about to give you that scripture and it is beyond contestation. It proves without a shadow of a doubt that we are commanded to sight at least the first new moon of the year even though I think it implies that we should physically sight everyone of them.

 

Those that would go by the calculated lunar conjunction contradict the command in Deuteronomy 16:1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Now you should know that both the word for moon and month are the Hebrew word chodesh [new moon/month]. You should also know that the word for observe is the Hebrew word Shamar in the Hebrew, Shamar means “look narrowly for, search” (No. 8104 in Strong’s). The Holladay Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon defines it as watching in the sense of looking. Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words includes the definitions “mark, watchman, wait, watch, look narrowly.” The command is to look for, wait for, watch and mark the new moon.

 

So with that information lets correctly insert those two truth into that verse and see what it says. Deuteronomy 16:1 Look for the moon of Abib, and keep the Passover unto YHVH your Eloheem. Because it was at the month of Abib that YVHV brought you forth out of the land of Mitzriem at night. Now you may say why did I change one to moon and leave the other as month. Those that understand Hebrew will get this right away it is called a Hebrew word pun or Hebraism. This is where the same word is used to describe two different things. This is also done at times by using two different Hebrew words to describe the same thing; this however was not the case here because of the syntax of the language being used.    

 

The big problem with the conjunction folks is that you cannot see a moon that is completely black or dark, as it is during a conjunction. It would be lunacy (pun intended) to send out new moon watchers on the night of a conjunction to look for a moon they cannot see. As I will clearly show was what was being done when Yeshua was here. To visually confirm the new moon there must be something to identify. Obviously, the invisible conjunction is not that something.

 

Now the conjunction people will play upon our hubris and say the Jews where not ignorant people they knew how to calculate the conjunction. And our pride wants to agree and say yeah that’s right we are smart people. The Fact is the father made his calendar so simple that even a little child could look at the sky and tell you when the new moon was. Remember every thing that is very important to YVHV for us to observe he has made so simple that we will have no excuse. He gave us ten fingers and ten toes so that if a catastrophe happened and we lost 13 of them we could still count to seven and know when his Sabbath was. And he gave us this big ole moon in the sky that when we saw the first sliver we would know that a new moon had occurred and we needed to celebrate and sound the Shofars.  

 

Another predicament is created by the use of the conjunction because during the period surrounding the conjunction there are as many as two or even three nights when no moon is visible. This leads us to wonder which three invisible moons are we commanded to “look narrowly for”? On which of three invisible starting points does the month begin? Yahweh’s calendar is based on observation. Man’s calendars are based on calculation.

 

There was no U.S. Naval Observatory existing in the time of the prophets or Apostles. The ancients had to have something tangible to go by that was visible on only one day each month. They needed to see the first thin crescent of a moon as it began its building or waxing phase. It was on this first glimpse of the moon they would declare throughout the land of Israel that a new moon had been sighted and that a new month had began.

 

Lets go back to the point that Yeshua was observing the first sliver as well, and never rebuked anyone for doing it wrong. Philo was a prominent Jewish leader who lived in Alexandria from about 20 B.C.E. to about 50 C.E. and was a contemporary of both Yahshua the Messiah and Paul. He was aware of what the Savior and His followers, considered was the new moon. In his Treatise on the Special Laws, Book II, XI (41), Philo discusses the Biblical observances. Note below how he describes the new moon. But lets make this clear someone that was the contemporary of Yeshua living at the same time, and was aware of how the messiah and his followers observed the new moon made the claims that fallow. This is a first hand account but they would have us to believe a rabbi in the fourth century who was afraid of loosing the biblical calendar altogether because of their disobedience to YVHV should be trusted more then this first hand account.  

 

“[It] is that which comes after the conjunction, which… [is] the day of the new moon in each month.” In his detailed discussion of the new moon, Philo describes what constitutes a new moon: “…at the time of the new moon, the sun begins to illuminate the moon with a light which is visible to the outward senses, and then she displays her own beauty to the beholders.” 

 

As Philo noted, the new moon follows the conjunction but it is not the conjunction itself. His observation reveals to us what was considered the new moon in Yeshua’s day and what the Savior Himself also observed as the new moon. That is all we need to know to realize what still constitutes the Biblical new moon today. Now I can go on and on ripping this garbage to pieces but I have wasted enough time on it, and if this will not convince them of the truth I doubt me writing ten more pages of historical references and word studies would do it ether. But if you really want to drive the point home about the conjunction being false you should really look into the pagan origins of it.

 

This puts me in mind of two people in history the first being Constantine and the second being Marten Luther. Both of which said they would not be made to worship like a damnable Jew and that the Jews where a parasite that should be whipped off the face of the earth. These people that buy into this normally have such hatred in their heart for the Karaite’s and Muslims that they would rather celebrate the new moon on a false day then to observe it on the same day as they do. 90% of the time this is what I boils down to the other 10% is just miss teaching.  “””””

 

Ok so now that we know when exactly the correct day is and how  to truly keep it holy and set apart. Isn’t it only right that if we are his people and we want to be called by his name that we should do all that is within our power to keep his set apart day just as he told us to. I know we can get into the whole Ox in a ditch scenario but that’s not the point I’m making here. This is to show clearly how important is Sabbath is and how we his set apart people should be keeping it.

 

Living in these last days we will have a sign (mark) on our foreheads and it will ether be the name of our Eloheem whether that be the enemy’s name or the name of the creator of heaven and earth. Ether we will discard his Sabbath and walk after the lust of our flesh or we will cling to his Sabbath showing his sign in our lives. Just as Ha’Satan has a physical mark so does YHVH and that mark is his Sabbath wear it proudly in righteousness and live for him all the days of your life.

 

Shalom