Q&A: Is the Sabbath Still to be Observed?

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="129a11c3.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome to the Heart4God Website!"><U><B><IMG SRC="4b55a500.png" border=0 width="90" height="80" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin"><U><B>Writings by Date</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id212.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Writings of Joseph Herrin Organized "><U><B>Writings by Topic</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.heart4god.ws/Audio/index.htm"><U><B>Audio Files</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id690.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Videos"><U><B>Videos</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id323.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writings of Others"><U><B>Other Authors</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id324.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id339.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Questions and Answers"><U><B>Q&A</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id328.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Heart4God Email List"><U><B>Heart4God E-mail List</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com"><U><B>Parables Blog</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id306.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="File Downloads"><U><B><IMG SRC="2b264140.png" border=0 width="100" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <B>Q&A: Is the Sabbath Still to be Observed?</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="c2827160.png" border=0 width="807" height="22" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Mr. Herrin, I do not want to wear out the subject of the sabbath, but something you wrote reminds me of another question that I had quite a while back and forgot to ask.</div> <bR> <div> You mentioned that Abraham was given the promise which came before the law, that he did not concern himself with the matters of the law (I am paraphrasing). I completely understand this and truly, I do have Sabbath rest in my Savior; I understand that, too. However, the Sabbath came before the law, too; from the very beginning. So, even though we have Sabbath rest in Yahshua, please clarify how we can ingnore a day of rest from our work.</div> <bR> <div> Dear E., </div> <div> I don't mind at all answering your questions on this matter, and it is quite normal for it to take a number of correspondences to really examine it properly. This is a VERY MAJOR issue in this hour, and it is also an area that many have been led astray in causing them to make no further progress in the kingdom. I appreciate your diligence in pursuing this matter until you come to a place of peace in your understanding. </div> <bR> <div> You mentioned that you understand that Abraham did not concern himself with matters of Law since the Law was given 430 years after he died, yet Sabbath predates the Law. This is true. We could equally look at the issue of tithing and we would find that Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedec, the King of Salem, and it is apparent that the matter of tithing was understood well before the Law was given. Certainly Sabbath was understood as well, for it is accepted that the Patriarchs and saints understood that God rested on the seventh day from His work of creation. </div> <bR> <div> Similarly, we can see that matters such as sacrifices were clearly understood from the beginning of man's existence for Adam's sons, Cain and Abel, made sacrifices and brought offerings unto Yahweh. Similarly, we have the record of Noah making an offering unto Yahweh after the ark rested on Mount Ararat, and this greatly predated the giving of the Law with its many specifications regarding sacrifices and offerings. So you are quite right that Sabbath, and many other matters, predated the giving of the Law. </div> <bR> <div> I think it would be helpful to look at the Law of Moses as separate parts. It is quite often described in this way today. We speak about the moral Law, and we speak of the ceremonial and sacrificial Law. The moral Law concerns itself with how we should live our lives before Yahweh and before man. Yahshua said that the Law was fulfilled in the command, "Love Yahweh your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." We can clearly perceive that commands such as "Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not steal", etc., are concerned with the moral Law, that is how we treat our fellow man and how we love God. But there is much in the Law concerning festivals (Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles), sacrifices and offerings (Day of Atonement, sin offerings, guilt offerings, free will offerings, wave offerings, etc..), new moons and sabbaths, etc., that are another matter altogether. These things were given as types and shadows of spiritual truths that had yet to be fulfilled. </div> <bR> <div> For example, we see clearly in the Passover with its sacrifice of a pure and unspotted lamb whose blood was shed and placed on the doorposts and lintel (in the shape of a cross), that this was a foreshadowing of Yahshua, the Lamb of God, who would be slain for the sins of the world. I am certain you would agree that now that the fulness has come, we no longer need to keep the shadow. Now that Yahshua has been slain and His blood has been offered up as an atonement for our sins, we no longer need to kill a lamb year after year and place the blood on the doorposts of our houses. We have had our hearts sprinkled with the blood of Yahshua and this is the fulfillment of Passover. Paul makes it very plain with the following words: </div> <bR> <div> I Corinthians 5:7<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <div> Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. </div> <bR> <div> Christ is our Passover. You may remember that one of the things the Israelites were commanded to do at Passover was to remove all leaven from their houses. This represented Christ taking away our sins, for leaven represents sin. When Paul told the Corinthians to remove the old leaven we understand that he was using a metaphor and that he really meant that they were to separate themselves from sin.</div> <div>  </div> <div> Now, it would seem quite absurd to us today if someone came along and began teaching that we were to still practice the Passover annually as it was practiced under the Old Covenant. We know that Christ is our Passover and He was Yahweh's pure and spotless lamb that was slain for our sins. It would be ridiculous to go back to sacrificing lambs, and it would actually discredit Christ's fulfillment of the types and shadows of Passover. We need not dwell in the shadows now that the fulness of the substance has come. </div> <bR> <div> Now, I have used this example because it is pretty plain to most saints today, and few would argue that we need to be killing lambs on Passover. We can see in this that when the fulness comes that the shadow is replaced and no longer needs to be kept year after year. The same is true of sabbaths. Sabbaths were merely types and shadows of things to come which have been fulfilled in Christ. </div> <bR> <div> Colossians 2:16-17<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <div> 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 -- </div> <div> 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. </div> <bR> <div> The early church was much troubled by those whom we know as Judaisers. These Jewish believers who had converted from Judaism to Christianity were continually disturbing the churches with their false teachings that asserted that Christians had to keep the Law of Moses, including sabbaths, feast days, observance of new moons, and the laws concerning food and drink. These Judaisers were judging Christians and condemning them if they did not adhere to the Law of Moses concerning these matters, but Paul was quite plain in his speech concerning what they were doing. In the very next verse he describes it as defrauding the saints. In the book of Galatians he speaks so strongly as to say that he wishes that those troubling the saints with these teachings would even mutilate themselves. </div> <bR> <div> Galatians 5:12<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <div> I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves. </div> <bR> <div> Sabbaths are included in Paul's list of things that were merely shadows pointing to Christ. We already saw that Passover needs to no longer be observed, and Paul refers to this here when he speaks of festivals. In the same way sabbaths need to no longer be observed according to the Law of Moses. They have been fulfilled in Christ. </div> <bR> <div> Most saints can readily see how Passover pointed to Christ, but many struggle to see how sabbaths pointed to Christ. This is one of the reasons that there is so much misunderstanding surrounding the issue of sabbath keeping. If the saints clearly saw how Christ was the fulfillment of sabbath, even as He was the fulfillment of Passover, then they would not argue so ceaselessly that it needs to be observed to this day. </div> <bR> <div> I wrote an entire book that speaks to this matter of Christ fulfilling Sabbath, and I will include an excerpt here that explains how he was the substance to which the Law pointed. </div> <bR> <div> [begin excerpt] </div> <div> The word <I>Sabbath</I> in both its Hebrew and Greek forms means <I>to repose, to rest, to cease from exertion</I>. It speaks of coming into a state of restfulness where Yahweh’s creation is not striving in any manner, but all is in complete harmony with the Creator.</div> <bR> <div> Today mankind frequently associates the term Sabbath with a day that occurs once a week in which physical work is not performed. This is viewing Sabbath on a purely physical plane, and it leads to many false understandings. When one understands Sabbath aright they will understand that a person can be in a state of complete rest before God while physically they appear to be laboring. The Jews did not understand this so they condemned Yahshua and His disciples as Sabbath breakers. The Jews saw Yahshua’s disciples threshing grain in their hands on the Sabbath day and they condemned them for it (Matthew 12:1-8). Similarly they condemned Yahshua for healing on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:10-14).</div> <bR> <div> The problem for the Jews then is the same problem many have in Christianity today. Men look at things outwardly, on the surface, without discerning what it is that God is intending. Yahweh desires that all men come to a state of rest before Him. He desires that men should cease from their own labors and that they only do the things He leads them to do. Yahweh desires for man to come to an end of personal initiative; for man to set himself to do nothing that arises from his own soul. This is the Sabbath that He desires.</div> <bR> <div> Yahshua proclaimed that He was Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8). His whole life was an example of true rest before the Father. The essence of this rest is found in His following words.</div> <bR> <div> John 5:30</div> <div> "<I>I can do nothing on My own initiative</I>. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because <I>I do not seek My own will</I>, but the will of Him who sent Me."</div> <bR> <div> John 8:28</div> <div> [Yahshua] therefore said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and <I>I do nothing on My own initiative</I>, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me."</div> <bR> <div> John 8:42</div> <div> [Yahshua] said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me; for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for <I>I have not even come on My own initiative</I>, but He sent Me."</div> <bR> <div> John 12:49</div> <div> "For <I>I did not speak on My own initiative</I>, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me commandment, what to say, and what to speak."</div> <bR> <div> John 14:10</div> <div> "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? <I>The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative</I>, but the Father abiding in Me does His works."</div> <bR> <div> In these words, which Yahshua often repeated, we see what it is to truly enter into God’s rest. Entering into His rest is a ceasing from one’s own labors (Hebrews 4:10). Sabbath is not defined by what a man is doing externally, it is defined by being in a state of perfect harmony and agreement with God. When a man no longer seeks his own will; when he no longer goes his own way; when he is no longer guided by his intellect and reason; when he has died to all personal initiative; when he only does the will of the Father - then he has entered into rest.</div> <bR> <div> It is revealed in Yahshua’s words that the rest we are to enter into extends even as far as the words we speak. Yahshua proclaimed that He did not speak a word of His own initiative. He only spoke that which the Father gave Him to speak. This is perfect rest. It is true Sabbath.</div> <bR> <div> It mattered not whether Yahshua and His disciples were doing something physically that looked like work on the Sabbath day. If they were doing the will of the Father then they were at perfect rest, they were fulfilling Sabbath. Sabbath is not determined by external observation, it is an inward state of complete agreement with the Father. Sabbath is perfect obedience. It is doing precisely what the Father wills for man to do, no more and no less.</div> <bR> <div> When Yahshua was condemned by the Jews for healing on the Sabbath, He revealed to them what true Sabbath was, but they did not have ears to hear it.</div> <bR> <div> John 5:16-17</div> <div> 16 And for this reason the Jews were persecuting [Yahshua], because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.</div> <div> 17 But He answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working."</div> <bR> <div> In another place Yahshua said that He was always beholding the Father, and He was doing those things He saw the Father doing. Yahshua healed on the Sabbath day because He saw the Father healing on the Sabbath day. This is what He declared to the Jews that they did not understand. True Sabbath is doing what the Father is doing. True Sabbath is obedience to what He reveals we are to be doing.</div> <bR> <div> If Yahshua had observed the Father healing on the Sabbath day, and He had refused to do so Himself, He would have been a Sabbath breaker. When the Father makes His will known to us in any instance, we are at rest when we obey. We fail to enter into rest when we refuse to obey.</div> <bR> <div> The Jews only saw the external type that was given to represent Sabbath. They saw the Law which said that work was not to be done on the seventh day. Yet they failed to see what the Law was truly typifying. Yahweh was not concerned that man should rest from all physical labor one day a week. However, He was immensely concerned that man should not do anything that originated outside of the will of God. The Laws concerning the Sabbath day were merely types and shadows, but the Jews could not get past the types and shadows to see the true fulfillment.</div> <bR> <div> Yahshua was fulfilling Sabbath completely by never doing anything of His own initiative. Sabbath was not fulfilled by adhering to that which was a shadow of the Sabbath. Yahshua walked in the substance while the rest of the Jews were walking in shadows and figures. The Jews would refrain from physical labor one day a week, but they failed to truly walk in Sabbath. If they had known true Sabbath rest they would not have condemned one who was walking in complete harmony with the will of the Father.</div> <bR> <div> The whole Godhead is in a state of Sabbath rest. There is only one will, the will of the Father. The Son is in complete agreement with the will of the Father as He carries out His will. Likewise the Spirit is in complete agreement with the Son, carrying out His will.</div> <div> [end excerpt]</div> <bR> <div> E., from these words we can see that Yahshua did fulfill Sabbath. He was the first man to choose the will of the Father over the will of His own soul IN EVERY DECISION during His entire lifetime. Even as slaying a lamb once a year was a mere shadow of Yahshua's sacrifice, so observing sabbath days was a mere shadow of Christ's life where He lived out Sabbath every day, always doing the will of the Father. </div> <bR> <div> It should then be understandable when I say that Yahweh no longer is concerned with our observance of sabbath days, but He is very concerned that we walk as Yahshua walked, entering into the sabbath rest that is set before all the saints. We enter into sabbath rest as we do the things previously mentioned: </div> <bR> <div> When a man no longer seeks his own will; when he no longer goes his own way; when he is no longer guided by his intellect and reason; when he has died to all personal initiative; when he only does the will of the Father - then he has entered into rest.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> The Father wants you and I to get to the place where we can say with Yahshua, "I do nothing of my own initiative. I only do the will of the Father." He wants us to enter so completely into this place of rest that we can say, "The words that I speak are not my own words, but the words my Father has given me to speak." This is perfect sabbath rest. </div> <bR> <div> This is what all of the sabbaths of the Old Testament pointed to, both those sabbaths that pre-dated the giving of the Law, and those found in the Law. They were mere shadows of what we are to walk in today. Today we have this command: </div> <bR> <div> Hebrews 4:9-11<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <div> 9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. </div> <div> 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. </div> <div> 11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest...</div> <bR> <div> Entering into the Sabbath rest of God today has nothing to do with resting one day a week. Resting on a day we mark as our Sabbath is not to be equated with fufilling Yahweh's desire for us. Entering the true Sabbath rest is resting, or ceasing, from our own works every day of the week. </div> <bR> <div> I hope this helps you as you search for the truth regarding these matters. It is truly only a small remnant that see these things in this day. The majority of the churches are still walking in the shadows and they have failed to discern the true Sabbath rest of God. This makes it more difficult for those saints who are seeking truth because they have to deal with so much false teaching and misinformation that is being touted today. But I am confident that the Spirit will make all these things plain to you as you seek Him. </div> <bR> <div> May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these days, </div> <bR> <div> Joseph </div> <bR> <div> E-mail: </div> <div> website: <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Georgia" ><A HREF="http://heart4god.ws" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://heart4god.ws"><U><U>http://heart4god.ws</U></U></A></FONT></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>