One of the parashahs in Exodus is Mishpatin “Judgements” and one of the things it speaks about is about shabbat and the annual festivals.

The other day a heard someone teaching that shabbat was an old Jewish law and that Yeshua did away with it with his death.

I have heard many people say that shabbat is every day, or that Yeshua is our shabbat, are these things scriptural?  Let’s look at it:

Genesis 2:2-3 “² On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. ³ God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce.” CJB

Exodus 31:113-14, 16 “¹³ “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘You are to observe my Shabbats; for this is a sign between me and you through all your generations; so that you will know that I am Adonai, who sets you apart for me.¹⁴ Therefore you are to keep my Shabbat, because it is set apart for you.

 ¹⁶ The people of Isra’el are to keep the Shabbat, to observe Shabbat through all their generations as a perpetual covenant.” CJB

According to the scriptures, God rested on the seventh day out of all His work.  He did not rest every day, He worked continuously, and on the seventh day He rested and made it holy.  On this account alone we should believe that God established the time of the week and that what God is saying through the scriptures is true:

What does the Webster dictionary say about Saturday?

Definition of Saturday: the seventh day of the week.  

Mark 16:9 “⁹ When Yeshua rose early Sunday, he appeared first to Miryam of Magdala, from whom he had expelled seven demons.” CJB 

This verse confirms that Saturday is shabbat by telling us that Sunday is the first day of the week.

Acts 5:9 says “Believe God not men,” CJB 

Because, 

¹⁹ “God is not a human who lies or a mortal who changes his mind When he says something, he will do it; when he makes a promise, he will fulfill it When he says something, he will do it; when he makes a promise, he will fulfill it.” CJB Numbers 23:19.

However, men like to listen to their own hearts, desires, and own theology:

2 Timothy 4:3-4 “³ For the time is coming when people will not have patience for sound teaching but will cater to their passions and gather around themselves teachers who say whatever their ears itch to hear. ⁴ Yes, they will stop listening to the truth, but will turn aside to follow myths.” CJB

The scriptures show that Yeshua celebrated Shabbat:

Yeshua is our rest but we still have to celebrate Shabbat.

Luke 4:16 “¹⁶ Now when he went to Natzeret, where he had been brought up, on Shabbat he went to the synagogue as usual.” CJB

Luke 6:6 Yeshua healed a man on shabbat from withered hand.

Yeshua even made a prophesy/prayer about shabbat 

Matthew 24:20 “²⁰ Pray that you will not have to escape in winter or on Shabbat.” CJB is this was not to be celebrated then why did he prophesied this?  

He expected for us to keep celebrating shabbat long after his death.  He told us how to keep shabbat, to do good on shabbat.  He predicted this will happen 70 AD.

Other bible verses about shabbat:

Genesis 20:8-11 “⁸ “Remember the day, Shabbat, to set it apart for God. ⁹ You have six days to labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Shabbat for Adonai your God. On it, you are not to do any kind of work — not you, your son or your daughter, not your male or female slave, not your livestock, and not the foreigner staying with you inside the gates to your property. ¹¹ For in six days, Adonai made heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. This is why Adonai blessed the day, Shabbat, and separated it for himself.” CJB

Exodus 23:12 “¹² “For six days, you are to work. But on the seventh day, you are to rest, so that your ox and donkey can rest, and your slave-girl’s son and the foreigner be renewed.” CJB

Exodus 34:21 “²¹ “Six days you will work, but on the seventh day you are to rest — even in plowing time and harvest season you are to rest.” CJB

Exodus 35:2 “² On six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is to be a holy day for you, a Shabbat of complete rest in honor of Adonai. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death. ³ You are not to kindle a fire in any of your homes on Shabbat.” CJB

Leviticus 19:1-3 “Adonai said to Moshe, ² “Speak to the entire community of Isra’el; tell them, ‘You people are to be holy because I, Adonai your God, am holy.³ “‘Every one of you is to revere his father and mother, and you are to keep my Shabbats; I am Adonai your God.” CJB

Exodus 16:4-5 “⁴ Adonai said to Moshe, “Here, I will cause bread to rain down from heaven for you. The people are to go out and gather a day’s ration every day. By this I will test whether they will observe my Torah or not. ⁵ On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have brought in, it will turn out to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” CJB

Exodus 16:25-30 “²⁵ Moshe said, “Today, eat that; because today is a Shabbat for Adonai — today you won’t find it in the field. ²⁶ Gather it six days, but the seventh day is the Shabbat — on that day there won’t be any.” ²⁷ However, on the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather and found none. ²⁸ Adonai said to Moshe, “How long will you refuse to observe my mitzvot and teachings? ²⁹ Look, Adonai has given you the Shabbat. This is why he is providing bread for two days on the sixth day. Each of you, stay where you are; no one is to leave his place on the seventh day.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.” CJB

Shabbat is God’s commandment to:

1: Rest to Honor Him (worship, pray, charity, healing, love your neighbor, setting the captives free)

2: Don’t work

3: A test of obedience and trust

4: A sign

Let’s look at this very interesting fact of provision that God is telling us in Exodus 16:

Verse 29 “This is why he is providing bread for two days on the sixth day.”

Think about work, some people make 7 dollars and hour and another 15 or 20 some 120, 200 dollars etc.  We all have different needs in these areas so watch this bible verses:

Exodus 16:16-18 “¹⁶ Here is what Adonai has ordered: each man is to gather according to his appetite each is to take an ‘omer [two quarts] per person for everyone in his tent.” ¹⁷ The people of Isra’el did this. Some gathered more, some less; ¹⁸ but when they put it in an ‘omer-measure, whoever had gathered much had no excess; and whoever had gathered little had no shortage; nevertheless, each person had gathered according to his appetite.”

Whether you make less or more, God will provide double on the sixth day according to your satisfaction. 

So, it is true what the scripture tells us about sowing: 

Haggai 1:6 “You sow much but bring in little; you eat but aren’t satisfied; you drink but never have enough; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who works for a living earns wages that are put in a bag full of holes.’” CJB

2 Corinthians 9:8 “⁸ Moreover, God has the power to provide you with every gracious gift in abundance, so that always in every way you will have all you need yourselves and be able to provide abundantly for every good cause” CJB

So, let say you make $6.00 an hour; God is telling us that he will increase it to supply our need.  We don’t see it, but He is at work.

Who changed Shabbat to Sunday:

The catholic church in the council of Laodicea (A.D. 364) “the convent’s catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p. 50, 3r edition, 1957.  They took it upon themselves to change the words of God.  God warns us not to change His word; and rightly so.  We don’t have the say or authority to do so because we are mere humans who don’t know all things.

Proverbs 30:6 “Don’t add anything to his words; or he will rebuke you, and you be found a liar.” CJB

Why?

Deuteronomy 4:2 “² In order to obey the mitzvot of Adonai your God which I am giving you, do not add to what I am saying, and do not subtract from it.” CJB

Example of Catholic Doctrine:

Q. Which is the Sabbath day?
A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.

Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea, (AD 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday….

Q. Why did the Catholic Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday, because Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday, and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on a Sunday.

Q. By what authority did the Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her!
—Rev. Peter Geiermann, C.SS.R., (1946), p. 50.

You might be saying:

“I don’t have to keep shabbat because I am a gentile and not Jewish.”

Definition of Gentile versus adoption:

Gentile is a nation that is not following God.  Non-Israelite or without the commandments of God.  When you are a foreigner, you can come to Yeshua as adoption.

John 1:12-13 “¹² But to as many as did receive him, to those who put their trust in his person and power, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ not because of bloodline, physical impulse or human intention, but because of God.” CJB

Yeshua saved us through his mercy and grace 

Ephesians 2:8-10 “⁸ For you have been delivered by grace through trusting, and even this is not your accomplishment but God’s gift. ⁹ You were not delivered by your own actions; therefore no one should boast. ¹⁰ For we are of God’s making, created in union with the Messiah Yeshua for a life of good actions already prepared by God for us to do.” CJB

Even though Yeshua have saved us through his grace and mercy does not negate that He is the Lord of Shabbat (Luke 6:5) and His teachings still remain in tack.  There needs to be some rules and regulations that will let every person know that their behavior can be sinning behaviors.  So, he did not take that away, he came to enforce them even more.  

James 2:10 “¹⁰ For a person who keeps the whole Torah, yet stumbles at one point, has become guilty of breaking them all.” CJB

So, now we try not to break the commandments, but we have salvation through his grace; but we still have to do what he says:

John 14:15 “¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commands;” CJB

Paul tell us in 

Romans 3:31 “³¹ Does it follow that we abolish Torah by this trusting? Heaven forbid! On the contrary, we confirm Torah.” CJB

If you are a gentile united with the Messiah, are you then still a gentile? Or have you become a part of Yeshua and become a branch of the Messiah?

All believers even if you consider yourself a non-Jewish person still must obey all commands, regulations and rulings.

John 15:5-6 “⁵ “I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who stay united with me, and I with them, are the ones who bear much fruit; because apart from me you can’t do a thing.⁶ Unless a person remains united with me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up. Such branches are gathered and thrown into the fire, where they are burned up.” CJB

Romans 10:11-13 “¹¹ For the passage quoted says that everyone who rests his trust on him will not be humiliated. ¹² That means that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — Adonai is the same for everyone, rich toward everyone who calls on him, ¹³ since everyone who calls on the name of Adonai will be delivered.” CJB (from Joel 3:5)

Also, Ephesians 2:11-13,19 “¹¹ Therefore, remember your former state: you Gentiles by birth — called the Uncircumcised by those who, merely because of an operation on their flesh, are called the Circumcised — ¹² at that time had no Messiah. You were estranged from the national life of Isra’el. You were foreigners to the covenants embodying God’s promise. You were in this world without hope and without God. ¹³ But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah’s blood. ¹⁹ So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s family.” CJB

Shabbat is for all believers in Yeshua and overthought, He is our rest, we still have to keep the commandment.  He said:

John 14:21 “²¹ Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me, and the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” CJB

So, now let’s look at this verse:

Matthew 5:17-20 “¹⁷ “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. ¹⁸ Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah — not until everything that must happen has happened. ¹⁹ So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. ²⁰ For I tell you that unless your righteousness is far greater than that of the Torah-teachers and P’rushim, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” CJB

Complete in Hebrew is לְמַלּאת (L’mat) which means to fill, fulfill, bring it to fullness, enforce.

Colossians 3:16-17 “¹⁶ So don’t let anyone pass judgment on you in connection with eating and drinking, or in regard to a Jewish festival or Rosh-Hodesh or Shabbat. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of things that are coming, but the body is of the Messiah.” CJB

Yeshua is talking to the people that are observing these celebrations.  He is saying not to let anyone judge you because you are keeping the commandments.  Furthermore, these commandments will be celebrated in the future in His kingdom.

Isaiah 66:22-23 “²² “For just as the new heavens and the new earth that I am making will continue in my presence,” says Adonai, “so will your descendants and your name continue. ²³ “Every month on Rosh-Hodesh and every week on Shabbat, everyone living will come to worship in my presence,” says Adonai.” CJB

Doing Shabbat is a Blessing

Isaiah 56:6-7 ““And the foreigners who join themselves to Adonai to serve him, to love the name of Adonai, and to be his workers, all who keep Shabbat and do not profane it, and hold fast to my covenant, ⁷ I will bring them to my holy  mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” CJB

What do we need to do?

1: James 1:21-25 “²¹ So rid yourselves of all vulgarity and obvious evil and receive meekly the Word implanted in you that can save your lives. ²² Don’t deceive yourselves by only hearing what the Word says but do it! ²³ For whoever hears the Word but doesn’t do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror, ²⁴ who looks at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But if a person looks closely into the perfect Torah, which gives freedom, and continues, becoming not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work it requires, then he will be blessed in what he does.” CJB

2: 1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, don’t trust every spirit. On the contrary, test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” CJB

3: 2 Corinthians 13:5 “⁵ Examine yourselves to see whether you are living the life of trust. Test yourselves. Don’t you realize that Yeshua the Messiah is in you? — unless you fail to pass the test.” CJB

4: 1 Corinthians 15:33 “³³ Don’t be fooled. “Bad company ruins good character.” ³⁴ Come to your senses! Live righteously and stop sinning! There are some people who lack knowledge of God I say this to your shame.” CJB

5: Matthew 12:12-13 “¹² How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore, what is permitted on Shabbat is to do good.” ¹³ Then to the man he said, “Hold out your hand.” As he held it out, it became restored, as sound as the other one.” CJB

As we can see, shabbat is not an old Jewish law, in matter of fact, Shabbat does not belong to the Jewish people, but it belongs to God.  After all God did say in Leviticus 19:1-3 “…to keep my Shabbats; I am Adonai your God”

God Bless you.