Yahveh - Excerpts from Holy to Yahveh

For those who seek all His righteous decrees, it might well be noted that the divine fourth commandment,

was never meant to be tampered with by man. Many throughout history have tried to abolish the Sabbath, or at best, superimpose it with another day.

The Jews suffered great judgments from the hand of YAHveh for desecrating or neglecting the Holy Sabbath. The Old Covenant is filled with the accounts of these awesome judgments.

¨ YAHveh and His Jewish people will never recognize any other Sabbath than the one sovereignly ordained from Mount Sinai.

When Moses received the Law on Mount Sinai, YAHveh did not introduce the Sabbath as a new institution, but reminded them of a previously ordained command founded at creation. (Gen 2:2,3) Like YAHveh’s Holy Name, the Sabbath was to be remembered and observed as a memorial of the Creator’s work and rest. It is the only day of the week that was given a name – Sabbath. It is the day by which all other days of the week are measured, such as one day before Sabbath, three days after etc. No other day of the week can ever be the Sabbath. It is called

According to the Almighty's timepiece, the days of the week begin at sundown and end at sundown the next day. (Gen 1:5) Therefore, the Biblical Sabbath (the seventh day), begins at sundown on Friday and ends at sundown on Saturday.

Concerning the appointed day of worship, we are exhorted by Apostle Paul to assemble together and worship Him

Seven days a week, should be filled with the praises of His people. This, however, does not nullify YAHveh's fourth commandment.

YAHveh was very explicit about wholehearted obedience to His ten commandments. He said,

“You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of YAHveh your God which I command you.”

“. . . ‘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 YAHveh who sanctifies you. ‘Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. . . as a perpetual covenant.’

The early believers in obedience to the scripture, kept the seventh day, the Sabbath, as holy to YAHveh.

“. . . since the resurrection of their Lord was the most blessed day in their lives, they began very early also to meet for worship on the first day of the week (Acts 2:1), and designated it as the Lord’s day.”[1]

¨ ANTI-JUDAISM BEGAN TO PERMEATE THE CHURCH. THIS CAUSED A GROWING REPUGNANCE TO THE BIBLICAL SABBATH.

“The Romans misrepresented the Sabbath and the Sabbath year as caused by laziness.”¹

“In 321 Constantine made Sunday a public holiday and put into effect what might be called the world’s first “blue laws.” The edict proclaimed, “All judges, city people, and craftsmen shall rest on the venerable day of the Sun. Despite the edict, many Christians continued the long-standing practice of observing the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) as well, until the mid-360’s when the church forbade it.”[2]

It was not until 789, in the days of Charlemagne, that the Christian Sunday actually took over the characteristics of the Jewish Sabbath completely and became not merely a day of worship but also a day of rest.[3]

The Emperor Constantine had been an avid Sun-worshiper before he made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. In his half-hearted attitude towards the Holy Scriptures he fused parts of the true Messianic worship with parts of the popular pagan worship.

¨ The edicts from this council forbade Christians to observe the biblical Sabbath, labeling it as “Judaizing” and totally unacceptable to the Christian religion. Christians were required to work on that day to prove their irreverence of YAHveh's ordained Sabbath.

During the time of the Council of Laodicea, the seventh day of the week, the true SABBATH lost its biblical name. This holy day was now being called by its former pagan name "SATUR-DAY". The state religion of Rome transferred the Biblical rest day from the seventh-day Sabbath to SUN-day. Instead of the seventh-day being dedicated to YAHveh by honoring it as His sovereign day of rest, the name of it was replaced with "SATUR-day", a day HONORING THE PAGAN DEITY SATURN. Thus,

¨ YAHVEH'S SABBATH, WAS NULLIFIED AND REPLACED THROUGH A PAGAN ROOTED WORSHIP SYSTEM.

The Ancient Serpent had once again cunningly hidden the holy Hebrew root under that which is rooted in profane paganism.

During the centuries of the dark Middle Ages, ordinary people had no access to the Scriptures. When the Bible became available through the Reformation and the printing press, the infallible authority of the Holy Word was contested by the religious system of Christendom. The leaders had blatantly declared that Tradition stood above Scripture and insisted:

¨ the authority of the Church was not bound to the authority of the Scriptures.

The issue of the Sabbath being changed to Sunday was openly stated to be by the church’s own authority and not by the command of Messiah.

The voice of YAHveh Almighty had sovereignly warned His people through the prophet Ezekiel,

“Her priests (religious leaders) have done violence to My law and have PROFANED MY HOLY THINGS; they HAVE MADE NO DISTINCTION between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and THEY HIDE THEIR EYES FROM MY SABBATHS. . . ”

For such transgressions of YAHveh's commandments, Israel was mightily judged. Nehemiah rebuked with these words,

“. . . “What is this evil thing you are doing, by profaning the sabbath day? Did not your fathers do the same so that our God brought on us, and on this city, all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the sabbath.”

YAHshua the Messiah had vehemently spoken to the hypocritically religious about their manmade traditions.

“. . . YOU INVALIDATED THE WORD OF YAHVEH FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR TRADITION. “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS THEIR DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’ ”

¨ According to YAHveh's fourth commandment we are to "remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy".

It is blessed in the Creator's sight and carries a special blessing for all who reverence it as "Holy to YAHveh." Those who seek more of His glorious presence will truly find Him to be the "Lord (the master) of the Sabbath".

“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law. . . “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

“. . . THE SABBATH WAS MADE FOR MAN, not man for the Sabbath. “Consequently, the Son of Man is Lord (master) even of the Sabbath.”

¨ the day which YAHveh calls holy must not be tainted through man’s irreverent distortions and mis-interpretations.

The Sabbath is the crowning day of the week. It serves as a vivid illustration of the coming Messianic kingdom, the hope of the redeemed righteous remnant. According to YAHveh’s time table, “one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day” (2Pe 3:8). After six thousand years of Biblical history we are approaching the seventh day which will be a thousand year rest. This culmination of the ages will be the ultimate Shabbat Shalom, the long awaited Sabbath peace, of YAHveh’s Messianic Kingdom often referred to as the Millennium.

“For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me,” declares YAHveh, “So will your offspring and your name (Israel) will endure. “And it shall be from new moon to new moon and from SABBATH TO SABBATH, all mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says YAHveh.”

Long ago, through the prophet Isaiah, YAHveh spoke His unchanging words. They are a promise of great hope and joy to redeemed Jews and Gentiles joined with them through the blood of YAHshua.

“Thus says YAHveh. . . DO RIGHTEOUSNESS, FOR MY SALVATION IS ABOUT TO COME and my righteousness to be revealed. “HOW BLESSED IS THE MAN who does this, and the son of man who takes hold of it; WHO KEEPS FROM PROFANING THE SABBATH. . . “Also the foreigners (Gentiles) who join themselves to YAHveh, to minister to Him, and to LOVE THE NAME OF YAHVEH, 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, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. . .”

“If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the SABBATH A DELIGHT, THE HOLY DAY OF YAHVEH HONORABLE. . . I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of YAHveh has spoken.”

The highly volatile issue of the Sabbath was ignited by the doctrines of men beginning with Constantine’s institution of Sunday rather than the Sabbath as a day of rest. This is the one commandment that gives the outward sign, that as children of the Mighty One, we have become separate from the world system. It is the visible sign that we have chosen to obey YAHveh rather than man. As priests having no inheritance in the land (the world), YAHveh alone is our exceedingly great reward.

To those who wholeheartedly desire to understand and obey YAHveh’s commandments, let us seek Him with all our hearts, soul, and strength while He may be found. Let us pray,

Dear Heavenly Father, we ask you to lead us on the path of righteousness for Your name’s sake. We beseech you to have mercy on us for we have walked in the dim light of the only truth available. Forgive us for our transgressions and teach us to walk in all Your ways. Your word says, “this is the love of YAHveh, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome”. Please give us wisdom and clarity regarding all that You require in obedience to Your commandments. Especially the commandment, “Thou shall keep the Sabbath holy”. Thank you that you are the rewarder of those who diligently seek You. Your perfect will is the desire of our hearts. May we be righteous instruments through which your will is done on earth as it is in heaven. In the name of YAHveh the Father, YAHshua the Son, and the Spirit of Truth, Amen.