Thursday, February 2, 2012

Did Jesus Keep a Sunday Sabbath? YES!


DID JESUS KEEP A SUNDAY SABBATH?

Yes, He did and we can prove it Biblically, with a little help from our Jewish friends.

This is a bit technical so I am going to try and write this as clearly and simply as possible.
The Hebrews were given fixed Sabbath holy days--weekly, monthly and yearly. These were not suggested but commanded by God.

A Weekly Sabbath

Weekly Sabbaths are not our focus. Controversies surround whether early Israel kept a lunar/solar calendar of time rather than the Roman cycle of weeks independent of heavenly rhythms and I don’t want to argue which one is important for Christians in this discussion.

Just keep in mind that weekly Sabbaths were for Israel to rest. There are debates about Lev. 23's call for a sacred assembly on the weekly Sabbath, as being strictly for the wilderness period-- that once Israel occupied its tribal territories that a weekly holy assembly was no longer required by God for all Israel. (For the logistics of travel.) The tradition of meeting on Sabbath in local synagogues came much later and without a direct written command in scripture. The weekly Sabbath was for rest, not church services.

Monthly Sabbaths (New Moons)

Sound the ram's horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our Feast. Ps.81:3

While Israel was in the desert, God appointed many different feasts, all which bore a holy significance.They were sabbaths in that Israel was not supposed to work, but these monthly and annual sabbath days were different in that they were commanded to hold sacred assemblies of worship. The New Moon festivals were not called Sabbaths, but were closely associated with them and were regulated in the same way as weekly and annual Sabbaths.

Also at your times of rejoicing--your appointed feasts and New Moon festivals--you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God." Numbers 10:10

Please note how the New Moon feasts were also a memorial to Israel just as the 7th-day weekly sabbaths were. Adventists need to note that all Sabbaths--weekly, monthly and yearly sabbaths included were memorials to creation.
They were not to buy or sell on the New Moons: 

"When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?" Amos 8:5

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: The gate of the inner court facing east is to be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon it is to be opened. Eze. 46:1

This was a time of appointed corporate worship with prescribed festival offerings: 

With each bull there is to be a drink offering of half a hin of wine; with the ram, a third of a hin; and with each lamb, a quarter of a hin. This is the monthly burnt offering to be made at each new moon during the year. Num. 28: 14

See also I Chr. 23: 31; 2 Chr. 8:12; Ezra 3:5; Neh. 10:33; Ezek. 45:16; 46:6
God became weary of these assemblies when Israel was idolatrous: 
Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies - I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. Isa. 1: 13, 14
Even in its negative sense we can see that the New Moon assemblies were holy assemblies that had been commanded by God.

From Judaism 101, we read:

"The day after the moon appeared was a festival, announced with the sounding of the shofar, commemorated with solemn convocations, family festivities and special sacrifices.
The importance of this holiday in ancient times should not be underestimated. The entire calendar was dependent upon these declarations; without the declarations, there would be no way of knowing when holidays were supposed to occur. In later days, however, the calendar was fixed by mathematical calculations. After he destruction of the Temple, sacrifices were no longer available." 

The Hebrew calendar has an annual average of 2. 6 New Moon festivals (Rosh Chodesh) that occur on Sunday. If we assume the Jewish calendar has remained fixed, (as Adventists claim--we are not claiming that, however) we can take that calendar back and find that during the life of Jesus there were 87 Rosh Chodesh/New Moon Holy days that occurred on Sunday.

If Jewish boys, age twelve and older, were required to keep the New Moon festivals, then Jesus would have gone to these mandatory corporate holy assemblies 53 times in his life--on SUNDAY.

For those interested this is a breakdown of the estimates, assuming Christ was born in AD 3. 
Sunday Rosh Chodesh Months
AD 3: Sivan, Cheshvan, 
AD 4: Adar, Tammuz, Kislev 
AD 5: Adar, Tammuz, Kislev
AD 6: Iyyar, Elul 
AD 7: Adar, Tammuz, Kislev
AD 8: Adar, Tammuz, Kislev
AD 9: Iyyar, Elul, 
AD 10: None
AD 11: Adar, Tammuz, Kislev
AD 12: Iyyar, Tevet, Elul
AD 13: Iyyar
AD 14: Adar, Tammuz, Kislev 
AD 15: Iyyar, Elul
Jesus turns 12 approx. this year
AD 16: Iyyar, Elul
AD 17: Sivan, Chehhvan
AD 18: Nisan, Tevet 
AD 19: Iyyar, Elul
AD 20: Cheshvan, 
AD 21: Adar, Tammuz, Kislev
AD 22: Nisan, Elul, Tevet 
AD 23: Sivan, Cheshvan
AD 24: Adar, Sivan, Chestvan
AD 25: Nisan, Elul, Tevet, 
AD 26: Iyyar, Elul
AD 27: Adar, Sivan, Cheshvan
AD 28: Adar, Tammuz, Kislev 
AD 29: Nisan, Elul, Tevet
AD 30: Sivan, Cheshvan
AD 31: Adar, Tammuz, Kislev 
AD 32: Adar, Tammuz, Kislev
AD 33: Iyyar, Elul
AD 34: Adar, Tammuz, Kislev
AD 35: Adar, Kislev 
AD 36: Iyyar, Tevet, Elul
As you can see, even if the dates shift a few years, this same 2.6 Sunday New Moons will remain. These are the months that Jesus would have celebrated a holy day on Sunday.

Annual Sabbaths
The men of Israel were commanded to assemble at Jerusalem’s Temple three times a year for sacrifices.

These mandatory holy convocations followed a seasonal timeframe. The first appointed feasts coincide with the spring harvests and the second with the late harvests. This is significant because this cycle will parallel the giving of the Old and New Covenant. That will be explained more fully later. 
The annual Sabbaths are even more telling, because these were called “sabbaths” directly by God.

Spring Sabbaths
Passover/Pesach (Ex. 12: 14-20, Num. 28: 16-25, Dt. 16: 1-8)
These are the LORD's appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: The LORD's Passover begins at twilight...On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. For seven days present an offering made to the LORD by fire. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Lev. 23: 4-8

Watch how the holy convocations (some translate it sacred assemblies) are on the first and seventh day of the holy week cycle. This is going to be extremely important. This early cycle of holy days are a week long and begin and end with a holy convocation--a mandatory sacred Sabbath assembly of worshipping God. The first and seventh day are holy. Note that the Passover Sabbath holy convocations can occur on two successive Sundays. Again, the days were to be kept holy and rest, although they were commanded to have a holy convocation--public and communal devotions. Something not commanded of the weekly sabbath.
During Christ’s lifetime approx. AD 3 to 36 there were 18 Passovers that were on SUNDAY! Thirteen of them occurred after he was twelve. So we know that on thirteen different Sundays, Jesus was resting AND worshipping corporately on Sunday. This Sunday Sabbath was mandatory. 
Pentecost/Shavu’ot (Feast of Weeks)
From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD...On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. Lev. 23: 15-21
Certain Jews and Christians today use a calendar system that fixes Pentecost fifty days after the weekly Sabbath which would make it a perpetual Sunday Sabbath. And we can say with confidence that Jesus attended at least twenty of them during His adulthood. But for the Jews who use the fifty days from the Passover annual Sabbath (not fixed to a day of the week) we offer the following:  
Pentecost/ Shavu’ot occurred on a Sunday nine times and four after Jesus turned twelve. Pentecost occurred on Sunday in the year 6, 9, 12, 13, 16, 19, 26, 33, 36.

Autumn Sabbaths
Feast of Trumpets/ Rosh Hashanah
On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire. Lev. 23: 23-25
There were seven Sundays that required a sabbath rest and a sacred assembly during Christ’s life, five after he turned twelve. The years a Sunday Sabbath occurred was in AD: 3, 10, 20, 23, 24, 27, 30.
Day of Atonement /Yom Kipper

According  to current Jewish calendar systems the Day of Atonement cannot occur on a Sunday. If Israel followed a lunar calendar, it also could never occur on the first day of the week--as it is on a fixed tenth day of the month. 
Feast of Tabernacles/ Sukkot
On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD's Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. For seven days present offerings made to the LORD by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work. These are the LORD's appointed feasts, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for bringing offerings made to the LORD ....This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come Lev. 23: 34-41
During Christ’s life this sacred assembly, listed by God as an official “Sabbath” occurred on Sunday in the years AD: 3, 10, 23, 27, 30 and Christ would have attended the last three of these.

At the very least Christ would have attended 25 Sunday Sabbaths in his lifetime and 53 Holy Day (New Moon) assemblies on Sunday.

So what is the big deal? Why do all this research for something so inconsequential? Because the Seventh-day Adventist Church has always taught that those who attend church on Sunday in the last days will receive the Mark of the Beast. They call Sunday the “false sabbath” and claim there is no precedent in scripture to make Sunday a holy day.

Here it is.... Jesus attended corporate worship--SUNDAY Sabbaths many times in His life. So to my former SDA friends out there who occasionally still wake up in the night with cold panics and have nightmares of fear, be at peace!

Jesus kept Sunday Sabbaths and it is surely never going to be against His will to do so. Jesus is our Sabbath today and everyday. With joy attend Sunday services in honor of His resurrection knowing with confidence that Jesus also kept Sunday Sabbath. 

Now here is the best part of the whole thing.
Remember the Spring cycle of Sabbaths (Passover) had a week cycle with the mandatory high sabbaths occurring on the first and the seventh day. This is really significant, because of its symbolism of the Old Covenant.

The Old Covenant was on a cycle of seven with the idea of “seven” being completion.


As Christ became our Passover-- the Autumn cycle of Sabbaths set in motion the New Covenant. This is not my opinion but Jewish scholars who believe Jesus was the Messiah point this out.

The Feast of the Tabernacles, according to Judaism 101 is known as the Season of Rejoicing! Note from scripture:
The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. For seven days present offerings made to the LORD by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work.
In this post-Cross season, the first and eighth day are Sabbaths with a sacred assembly.  It’s ending Sabbath is the day AFTER the Sabbath of the earlier Spring cycle. 
Spring cycle: 1st sabbath day--5 days of festivities--7th-day closing sabbath.

Autumn cycle: 1st sabbath day--6 days of festivities--8th-day closing sabbath.

The Spring cycle is a perfect seven day week--one complete and perfect cycle. For all Israel, using today's week, that would put both sabbaths on a Saturday. 
The Autumn cycle is a perfect seven day week--one complete and perfect cycle but a new day is added to it! The beginning of a new week. That would make the second, the eighth day Sabbath on a Sunday!
DAY ONE of the next week is the new Sabbath. 
Sets of sevens were used through out the old testament as a time of cleansing, growth, and of a perfect completion. Then the next day, the first day after the fulfilling of the seven day cycle is called the eighth day in scripture. The cycle of cleansing and growth is complete and this eighth day then shows the new life, the pure and mature life is beginning. Even thought the 1st day and the 8th day are the same day of the week, the eighth day symbolism is rich with New Covenant and Messianic symbols. 
Hebrew baby boys were circumcised on the eighth day, the cycle of seven was completed and the covenant was initiated the first day of the next cycle. (Lev. 12:3; Phil. 3:5) Many ritualistic cleansing of leprosy and menstrual flows are cycles of seven days, then on the eighth day, you are discharged from your cleansing cycle to start anew. 
The eighth day is the day of a new creation as it is the fulfillment of the old cycle, a day you are set at liberty. Other eighth day references that support this are: Ex. 22:30; Lev. 9:1/14: 10, 23/ 15: 14, 29 / 22:27; Num. 6:10.
Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant cycle and He initiated the first/eighth day for the New Covenant.  It is the symbol that harkens back to creation and the first day pronouncement of “let there be light.” It is in our current calendar week, Sunday! The eighth day of a new covenant and a new creation is Sunday. The entire Spring and Summer holy festival seasons are set up to show that the seventh day would later become the eighth day Sabbath. 

So we can be especially confident when we worship on Sunday. Not only did Jesus keep Sunday as a Sabbath many times in His life, but the entire annual cycle of festivals  ended in a eighth day (not seventh day) Sabbath. That wasn’t accidental.

While our Seventh-day Adventists friends will never accept this and will devalue the argument, I didn’t write this for them. It is for those who have left Adventism and still fear that going to church on Sunday may be wrong and that someday you will receive the mark of the beast if you celebrate the Lord’s resurrection day.

Have courage and fear not. Jesus kept Sundays as Sabbaths and in obedience to His Father’s command attended corporate worship services on that day. When we are in Christ, when we are His children, then any day of the week is a great day to corporately worship.

In the end, all Sabbaths, on Saturdays or Sundays, all pointed to the ONE in whom we have rest. Behold! The Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world. He is now our Sabbath rest. (And that means Sunday too! Wink!)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, Tesa you are getting there. The Feast Days were High Sabbaths (Holy Convocations to the Lord). Those Sabbaths also meant the people of Yahweh were to rest. Just as the Sabbath, seventh day, is set aside (made Holy) so we can rest each week and commune with Him. Aknowledging God in our mind does not allow for us to simply agree with the Sabbaths, but rather to observe them as the Almighty commands. The punishment for disobedience was to be cut off from His people. No rain will fall on those who disobey His commandments. So, it is quite easy to understand that Yeshua would NEVER have broken any of the commandments of His Father. If He would have been disobedient to any part of the commandments of Yahweh, He simply would have been unacceptable as the Living Word made manifest. Did He obey the Law? The astounding answer is YES! Are we to be like Him? And, the astounding answer is YES!

Teresa Beem said...

Anon,

I understand your position and after the constant arguments in the early church, the Apostles came down on the side of personal choice. We can keep days or not keep days in the New Covenant. Local bishops made that call for early Christianity.

If you choose to keep all the Old Covenant Sabbaths (both Saturday, Sunday and all the rest), I honor you in that choice.

But I am part of a church that choose not to keep sabbaths. Instead they observe the New Covenant holy first day/eighth day celebration of the Lord's Resurrection.

God bless you!

Arik said...

You are part of a church thats does indeed keep sabbaths. What is interesting to me is how you try to use the bible to support your doctrine, and yet there are indeed high ups in your'e church who have admitted that Sunday sabbath is the church's creation, and if we were to use the Bible as our authority the Seventh Day Sabbath would have to be kept. The true Sabbath is indeed biblical, thats why in your church's writings it has to emphasize sunday keeping by tradition.

If you read your'e own Catechism together with Dies Domini, Sunday has all the elements of the Seventh Day Sabbath. Its called a day of rest (sabbath), you are told to not work, told to remember it, and its written in as a law.

So not only do you not know the Adventist position of the Sabbath, that it is much more than merely a day of not working, or a day to go to church (I think this is what Sabbath keeping was to you while you were Adventist) You also do not even know your'e own church's position. Sunday is your'e sabbath day, you can not deny this and the sooner you admit this and stop lying to the public that "your church chooses not to keep sabbath" the better and more truthful your blog can be. Right now you misrepresent all the parties involved.

Not only am I convinced you really were not an Adventist (maybe on the books only) but now I wonder if you are really Catholic. Any debate you have about the Sabbath should be framed in this way:

Does the "church" have the authority to change God's holy law by creating another Sabbath day (Sunday).

Teresa Beem said...

My answer would be Biblical--Yes. Indeed yes. "On this rock I will build my kingdom, and the gates of hell will not stand against it. WHATSOEVER you bind will be bound in heaven, WHATSOEVER you loose will be loosed in heaven." So the Lord promised Peter.

And there is precedence. By his authority Moses granted to the Hebrews the ability to divorce. And Jesus said it was NOT so with God's law. But God loosed that for the sake of His servant Moses who He placed in charge.

Now hold on because you are going to freak out at this one. But as I have studied over the last decade plus, I have found NO evidence that God changed times and laws.... MAN did that.

From all the Jewish Rabbinical and historical sources I can find NOWHERE that God changed the lunar calendar to a fixed weekly cycle independent of the sun and moon which Genesis specifically states are for times and festivals.

God put the heavens as our calendar. So, how in the world could we have gone from a lunar calendar to a fixed one. All I can come up with is that somewhere from 200 pre Christ to 200 after Christ, the Jewish people stopped going by the ancient lunar calendar to the pagan Roman one.

If this is true, then the Jewish rabbis unilaterally, by their own authority based in the idea of the seat of Moses changed the Sabbath.

Jesus didn't utter a peep against it. Jesus, as it is recorded in scripture, went to the synagogue on Sabbath as was HIS CUSTOM! (Notice, like so much of the New Testament, it is not recorded as being obedient to God's word or fulfilling the law.) He acquiesced to the Jewish custom of the day. Yikes...

I am not saying that this is exactly what happened, I am just saying the evidence is piling up and I can't find ANY historical or biblical support of a independent weekly cycle before the Babylonian Captivity. IF true, that would make the weekly cycle very, very pagan. And Jesus just went along with it.

So perhaps, God has always had a church that was able to bind and loose laws--at least to a certain degree, because a day of rest (sabbath) wasn't lost, but just modified.

So, perhaps God's ordained authorities could do the same today? Sounds as if Jesus gave them that authority.

For just a moment let's continue that premise as if it is correct (and I am not saying it is... just that it is something I am pondering....)

What if the God-ordained church really could bind and loose? Humm.... that would give them a tremendous, unbelievable amount of power.

Jesus said--if you see someone doing something wrong, go to them personally and tell them. If they don't listen, get two witnesses and return. If the person still doesn't listen... TAKE THEM TO THE CHURCH.

It doesn't say, go to the Bible as the final authority. It gives the CHURCH the final authority. And whatever the church rules, the person MUST submit to or they should be treated as publicans and sinners....

That is a huge power blank check for the church.

Jesus also said to this disciples--you must obey the leaders who sit in the seat of Moses, just don't behave like them.

EVEN CORRUPT leaders must be obeyed because of the position they hold in the church.

Yiksie.

So, yeah, I think the Bible is saying that if the church wanted to it COULD change the Sabbath to sunday.

But in reality, they didn't. Perhaps the Jews did when they accepted the Roman weekly cycle. But the Catholics still see the weekly Sabbath as Saturday. The Holy day of Resurrection is celebrated on Sunday. It may have been given holiness by the Apostles, but it has never been a direct 7th day Sabbath to the Catholics. It is a first/eighth day holiness.

Arik said...

My answer would be Biblical--Yes. Indeed yes. "On this rock I will build my kingdom, and the gates of hell will not stand against it. WHATSOEVER you bind will be bound in heaven, WHATSOEVER you loose will be loosed in heaven." So the Lord promised Peter. -Teresa

The Apostles had no authority to do anything contrary to the will of God. Such arrogance is contrary to the Spirit of humility. Heaven does not conform to man, it is the other way around, or at least it should be. The church can not change God's law, for at least one reason, the new covenant was sealed by Christ's blood. Once Christ died the covenant stands forever. It is legal fiction to change the terms of the covenant after Christ's death. And He did not incorporate a new (Sunday) Sabbath into the New Covenant.

And there is precedence. By his authority Moses granted to the Hebrews the ability to divorce. And Jesus said it was NOT so with God's law. But God loosed that for the sake of His servant Moses who He placed in charge. --Teresa

It was not by Moses' own authority, God through Moses permitted divorce (which became corrupt) because of the hardness of their hearts. God winked at their ignorance, but today He calls for us to repent and worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

From all the Jewish Rabbinical and historical sources I can find NOWHERE that God changed the lunar calendar to a fixed weekly cycle independent of the sun and moon which Genesis specifically states are for times and festivals. -Teresa

You do not even make any sense here. The weekly cycle is not based on lunar events. It is based on the creation week that God Himself created.

It doesn't say, go to the Bible as the final authority. It gives the CHURCH the final authority. And whatever the church rules, the person MUST submit to or they should be treated as publicans and sinners.... Teresa

The Church is suppose to be the body of Christ, with Christ as the head. You are so proud and arrogant you think the church is the head. The church has no authority in and of itself. Its must follow Christ, and when it deviates from the divine plan (as revealed by Scripture), Christ is no longer the head. And without the head the body is dead.


That is a huge power blank check for the church. -Teresa

This is the spirit of antichrist and the spirit behind persecution. The bishop of Rome very early on went on a power trip, exalting himself above all the other bishops. I see that nothing has changed, and this spirit still lives on. You compare (wrongly) yourselves to Moses, yet Moses was the most meek man on earth. Nowhere do we see him speaking with such arrogance.

So, yeah, I think the Bible is saying that if the church wanted to it COULD change the Sabbath to sunday.-Teresa

And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. Dan 7:25

Teresa Beem said...

Arik
Your assumption is that Christ wouldn't protect His church.

When a soldier leaves his children to go to war, he gives the authority to his wife, "kids, obey your mother." That is the LAW!!

Christ trusts His Bride. Your premise is that God's Bride would be corrupted by this type of power and that the Bride would start usurping all of what Dad has said.

Nonsense. Yes, at times the Bride gets it wrong, but she does so of ignorance (usually, there are times the church leadership is corrupted, but God usually takes care of that pretty quickly with a great reform or punishment--look at scripture.)

Jesus promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against the church and that He would be with His church until the end of time.

What you are saying is actually a non-workable system. Christ is the head of the church--of COURSE but He always uses a leader--Moses, Samuel, Peter--someone is always the head of His church on earth.

Either it is one, or it is each man for himself making each individual a mini-pope making moral pronouncements for himself. That is anarchy. God's system is not anarchy.

Jesus clearly chose Peter as head and the Apostles as bishops and head of the church. They were and are God appointed.

You said it was "God through Moses" who allowed divorces. Quite right. God through the church allows many things.

God's Bride is not cut off from God, but they work in unison with each other.

You think God's church would arbitrarily do something without His Will being involved. No. Never.

Mistakes in day to day human judgement can and are made, but never morals. So if the Apostles taught that we are to observe Christ's resurrection on the first day of the week, then we know for certain it IS God's will.