This page is going to address three main issues that deal with Sabbath keeping:
1. Should believers keep the Sabbath?
2. Why did Sabbath keeping get changed to going to church on Sunday instead?
3. When is the true Sabbath?
Should believers keep the Sabbath?
Firstly should believers keep the Sabbath? I'm going to keep this short and simple. Yes. Why do I believe that? Because our Messiah, Yahshua, kept it and He told us to keep it. It is one of the Ten Commandments and none of that has been done away with.
Matthew 5:17 - 19 is clear. In His own words He says, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to complete. 18 For truly, I say to you, till the heaven and the earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Torah till all be done.
Yahshua stated this in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount so all of the people and His disciples that were there. He clearly said that not one thing from the scriptures (as most know it the Old Testament) is going to change. He lived a perfect life. That perfect life was based on keeping Torah. That is the yardstick that Yahweh uses to judge whether anyone is worthy or not. So Messiah kept the Sabbath and He taught that until He returned and this world was no more that we should all be keeping it as well.
Why did Sabbath keeping get changed to going to church on Sunday instead?
As you research how paganism has crept into the lives of believers you begin to realize that the 4th century AD when Constantine was in power in Rome was a huge turning point. I believe that the scriptures in Daniel tell of this time.
Dan 7:25 "and it speaks words against the Most High, and it wears out the set-apart ones of the Most High, and it intends to change appointed times and law, and they are given into its hand for a time and times and half a time."
Times and Law. Times are Sabbaths and Festivals and Yahweh's set apart Feast days and times as stated in scripture. The Law is the Torah.
During the time of Constantine (337-362) there was upheaval in the Roman nation. There were so many different pagan gods and of course the new religion of Messiah followers was growing very quickly. Constantine knew that if he didn't quickly get things under control, his reign as Caesar would be over. He brought together a group of men who combined all of the current pagan festivals and rituals with those of Messiah believers. They made up some new names and changed the names of others.
They needed to extinguish all signs of true followers of Messiah from everything because they, at that time, were still keeping the correct Sabbath and feast days and until they stopped this new state religion that was named Christianity would not be able to go forward. So the true Believers, who were all keeping the Sabbath and the Feast times as directed by the scriptures and Messiah came under severe persecution. Everyone was prohibited from keeping the Sabbath or any set apart Feast day. They were under severe persecution often ending in death.
They were made to keep the same calendar that Rome used called the Julian/Gregorian calendar. Prior to this all record keeping was made according to the new moon. The year originally began with the new life in the spring at the time of the barley harvest. A new month began with each new moon. The Julian/Gregorian (Roman) calendars, being solar (sun) calendars, honor the sun god as they begin the year just after the rebirth of their sun god at the winter solstice. The Julian/Gregorian calendar have a continuous weekly cycle. The original calendar established at creation does not. The weekly cycle of 7 days restarts with each new moon.
So during the time of Constantine they wore out the set apart ones and changed the appointed times and law. Believers were no longer allowed to keep the Sabbath, the Feast days or the Torah Laws. Believers were made to worship on Sunday which is the pagan day to worship the sun god, Tammuz. Again going to back to Babylon and the mystery religion.
When is the true Sabbath?
Most people today believe the Jewish Sabbath to be Saturday and that is true. However Jews are not the chosen ones of Yahweh and they can keep whatever day they wish to their god.
For the believer who is doing their best to keep the true Sabbath it's a little more difficult because the days and weeks and months are supposed to be based on the Lunar (moon) calendar.
Our daily lives are run by the Julian/Gregorian/Roman calendar with a regular continual week instead of the lunar calendar based on the new moon. The true Sabbath is the 7th day of each new lunar month. The true Sabbath is going to change from month to month depending on what day the new moon falls on. We are used to Monday through Sunday. YHWH's calendar does not name the days of the week, except for the 7th day called the Sabbath. They are day one, day two, etc.
Although we live in this world we are not to be a part of this world. As Messiah stated in Matthew if we are followers of YHWH we should keep His commands and one of those is to keep the Sabbath. His set apart Sabbath which is the 7th day on a lunar calendar, not Saturday of man's calendar.
What are we to do today?
It is no different today than at any time in history. We are to keep YHWH's laws, times and feasts. No one said it would be easy. Easy is following the crowd and doing what the crowd is doing. Yahshua warned us that it would be hard to follow Him.
Mat 7:13 “Enter in through the narrow gate! Because the gate is wide – and the way is broad – that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter in through it.
Mat 7:14 “Because the gate is narrow and the way is hard pressed which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
The narrow way is hard and you will be persecuted for following it. People want you to be on the broad road with them because if everyone they know is on the same road it makes them more comfortable.
Today there are more people on the broad path than ever before. Our churches have turned into big businesses just wanting and needing people in the seats paying tithes to keep the business going strong. People going up for alter calls and saying a simple sinners prayer thinking they are now saved by grace but continuing to live the same lives as before. Churches and pastors leading worship on a day set apart to worship the pagan god that begat all other pagan gods, in reality s.a.tan, the enemy of the true Creator, Yahweh.
Evil is called good and good called evil. It is up to you to choose how you will live.