The Shabbat and Its Enduring Covenant

To bring in the Shabbat, we will read from Deuteronomy 6:4-9, a creed recited in every Orthodox and Messianic congregation, both Jewish and Gentile. It states, "O Israel, Yah is our God. Yah is one. You shall love Yah your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your might. These words which I'm commanding you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons, and shall speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as signs between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates."

In Genesis 2:1-3, we read that Elohim completed his work on the seventh day and rested, blessing and sanctifying it. This sets the seventh day, the Shabbat, apart as the only holy day of the week. The other days are common, and we must understand the distinction between the holy and the common. As Exodus 28:11 and 20:8-11 confirm, the Sabbath is a covenant that will not be replaced, and it separates us from the world.

Hebrews 4:1-7 reminds us that there still remains a Sabbath rest for God's people. We must enter into this rest, which is the seventh-day Sabbath, from Friday night to Saturday night. This is not just for the Jewish people, but for all God's people, as it is the fourth commandment in the ten commandments. If we keep the other nine commandments, we must also keep the fourth one.

Paul says in Hebrews 4 that there still remains a Sabbath-keeping for God's people. If Christians are God's people, they need to celebrate the Sabbath. Not keeping the Sabbath, Passover, and other important days of Elohim and his Messiah, Yeshua, is a serious issue. We must understand that the Sabbath is a covenant that will not be replaced, and it is essential to keep it.

Mark 2:27-28 states that the Sabbath was made for all of us, and Yeshua is the Lord of the Sabbath. Isaiah 56 talks about the blessings of keeping the Sabbath, including the foreigners and Gentiles who join themselves to Yah. They will be given a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters, and their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on Yah's altar.