Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 5/11/2004

Question
I hope you can answere my question. I had saw this question somewhere else on this wed site and it was not answered. Did God change the sabboth day? Is it still the Jewish way friday nite, to sat. morning, or did He change it because of the jewish people not keeping it holy?  Also, if you have the time, what is a Messianic Jew, and can a person of non-jewish nationality become a messianic jew?  thank you deana

Answer
Hi Deana,

You have some great questions.  Let me start by answering the simple ones, then move to the complex ones.  The Jews saw days from sunset to sunset....so the Sabbath was from Sunset Friday evening to sunset Saturday evening.  A Messianic Jew is a Christian, one who believes in Christ, who happens to be born racially a Jew.  Now let me spend most of my time explaining the Sabbath issue.

I spent four years in Walla Walla Washington planting a church. Some parts of that area are 49% Seventh Day Adventists. I have to know this subject very well. Let me summarize some thoughts for you:

Was the Sabbath changed from Saturday to Sunday? NO!!!! The Sabbath was not changed, it was nailed to the cross!

Colossians 2:13-17
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh,hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

We do not keep the Sabbath because the Sabbath was never a moral law, but a ceremonial law that Jesus nailed to the cross.

1. The Sabbath was a ceremonial law because it was given only to the
Nation of Israel as a specific covenant sign between God and them.

Exodus 31:12-17
12 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 13 Speak thou also unto the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and YOU throughout YOUR generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify YOU. 14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto YOU: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Wherefore the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the CHILDREN OF ISRAEL for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

2. The Sabbath was a ceremonial law because it never existed until Mount Sinai. God hallowed the day, but did not command that it be kept until He made the covanant with the people of Israel some 2,000+ years after creation.


Genesis 2:2
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.


Nehemiah 9:13
13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

3. The Sabbath was a ceremonial law because we do not find anyone breaking the Sabbath before Mt. Sinai. Nor do we find anyone keeping it!

4. We do not keep the Sabbath today because Jesus broke the Sabbath and told everyone that He had done so!

Exodus 31:15
15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.


John 5:15-18
15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. 16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. 17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. 18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

JESUS WORKS! He claimed to have broken the Sabbath!!! Look at verse 18. It does not state that the Jews thought that Jesus had broken the Sabbath, it said that He did break the Sabbath!!

Yet we know that Jesus is sinless..... it must be that it is not a sin on this side of calvary! Even Paul says that this is a private matter and not a matter of sin.

Romans 14:5-6
5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

So then some would ask why we "KEEP" Sunday? We don't! We go to church on Sunday...sometimes Wednesday...or other days too. By attending church on the day that Christ came out of the grave, we are simply following New Testament examples.

Acts 20:7
7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

1 Corinthians 16:2
2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

For that matter some New Testament Christians went to church everyday.

Acts 2:46
46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

One other thought.... the Jerusalem counsel met in Acts 15 specifically to consider the question of what Jewish Old Testament laws and ceremonies the gentiles should be required to keep. If ever there were a chance for the Sabbath to be restated in the New Testament, it would be here. Yet the silence on this subject is deafening!

Acts 15:22-29
22 Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: 23 And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: 24 Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: 25 It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; 29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

In conclusion, let me say that one must always beware of those who would bring Christians back under the tyrany of the Old Testament law that served only to point out our need for something else. The law can do nothing to save us...it is only through Jesus' shed blood that we can have eternal life.

Romans 3:19-25
19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

I hope that this is a help to you.

In Christ,
Pastor Don