Whatever Happened to the Sabbath?

Transcription

1 Message to Beit Adonai Yisroel Emor (say) Torah Portion; Emor Lev 21:1 24:23 Haftarah: Ezek 44:15-31 Suggested Acheron K tuvim: Matt 7:21-23 Whatever Happened to the Sabbath? Central question of this message: What does Sunday have to do with the Sabbath? This week we are in parasha Emor. The title is taken from the command to Moses to speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron. Lev 21:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, What the L-rd said through Moses to the priests and the people, giving them instruction, fills the remainder of this parasha. 1

2 The part of this parasha which seems to generate the most discussions in this day and age with folks in the normative church is the passage beginning in Chapter 23, where G-d sets out the holy festivals. But there are actually four more passages in Torah which also give us information on some, if not all, of the festivals. We find them mentioned with further instructions in Exodus 23:14-17, Exodus 34:18-23, Numbers 28-29, and also Duteronomy 16. But let s look first at the passage in Lev 23 where G-d begins with the most comprehensive listing of His festivals. I call them His festivals, not the Jewish festivals as the church seems to call them today. I do so because G-d called them His festivals. If it has come to be that the only people on the earth who actually honor G-d s festivals, then so be it, but the church shouldn t dismiss them by calling them Jewish, as if that makes them in some fashion, outmoded, or merely traditional. And let s take special note of the first of G-d s holy days that he wishes for us to observe. 2

3 Lev 23: The Lord spoke again to Moses, saying, 2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'The Lord's appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations My appointed times are these: 3 'For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings. The passage goes on to establish in G-d s calendar (not to be confused with the Gregorian calendar that the world uses today) special holy convocations, beginning with Passover and ending with Succot. The word Sabbath appears 34 times in the Torah (if you don t count the time in Genesis 2 where G-d rested on the seventh day), 43 more times in the remainder of Tanach, and another 60 times in the writings now called the New Testament. 3

4 Most members of the normative church will tell you that only the Ten Commandments apply in this age. But let s look at what is in those commandments. Ex 20: Then God spoke all these words, saying, 2 "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 "You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 7 "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. 8 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or 4

5 your sojourner who stays with you. 11 "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. 12 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. 13 "You shall not murder. 14 "You shall not commit adultery. 15 "You shall not steal. I want you to notice how much time is spent by G-d on this one topic. I think in some ways we can measure how important things are to G-d by how much He talks about it. You shall not murder is only four words in English. The commands prohibiting adultery and stealing are only five English words each. I don t know anyone in any church who would condone adultery, stealing, or murder. How many words in English in the New American Standard translation are used to convey the command regarding Sabbath? 95. But it is easy to name entire denominations while strongly condemning certain parts of the Ten Commandments, would still refused to honor the Sabbath. 5

6 The normative church sees itself as the best expression of G-d s plan of salvation and holiness. Ok, having pulled that mantle around their shoulders, I would ask them whatever happened to the Sabbath? Why does the vast majority of the church ignore the Sabbath and worship on Sunday? The disregard of G-d s true Sabbath has become so complete, that I have heard a number of Christian pastors in my hearing refer to Sunday as the Sabbath. We know that Yeshua regularly attended shul on the Sabbath. Luke 4: And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. Paul, even in Corinth a city of pagan influence regularly attended shul on the Sabbath, and used that time there to spread the gospel to not only Jews but non-jews who would come to hear him there. 6

7 Acts 18: After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, 3 and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working; for by trade they were tent-makers. 4 And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. And the writer of the letter to the Hebrews suggests that even in the time of the New Testament, there remains a Sabbath rest for those who are the people of G-d, and it s modeled on the Sabbath rest that G-d took at the dawn of creation. Heb 4: For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. 9 There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that 7

8 rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience. So, how did Saturday worship become Sunday worship? We can get a roadmap of this transformation from some very old church sources, as well as a few more modern ones. These sources contain admissions by the church of what they did, how they did it, and when it was done. In court, we would call these admissions confessions, and they would be admitted as direct evidence of the guilt of the accused. First of all, is there historical evidence that the early followers of Yeshua, who would soon be known as Christians, kept Sabbath? Yes, abundant evidence. We have already discussed that there are a number of verses in what is called the New Testament which cite the Sabbath as a special day of worship and rest, so we won t cover that ground again. But is there proof from the writings of church historians which confirm that this process of keeping the Sabbath continued past the time frame of the scriptures? 8

9 In the late 1800s and early 1900s, archaeologists excavated an ancient trash dump adjacent to the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus, Egypt (now called el-bahnasa). They found there documents from the first through sixth centuries CE. Clearly, an ancient and very extensive library had been assembled there by someone clearly interested in the faith of Israel, and her Messiah. But somehow, and for unknown reasons, that great library was discarded into the trash heap, and buried. What Satan intended for desecration, G-d intended as a preservation of His witness. Among the discarded books are gospels which were not brought into the canon of Scripture. But they uncovered extensive portions of the books of Mark, Luke, John 1, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Hebrews, 1 Peter, Acts, James, 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Jude, and 9

10 Revelation and a number of early Christian hymns, prayers and letters were found. Copies of the Septuagint were found, some bound together with the latter writings of the Christians. Early Christians in Egypt do seem to have held the Sabbath in such high regard, that refusal to properly honor it was considered to be a mortal sin. We find evidence of this among the Greek writings referencing their faith (The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, pt,1, p.3, Logion 2, verso 4-11 [London Offices of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1898]), is recorded this statement: "Except ye make the sabbath a real sabbath (lit. sabbatize the Sabbath," Greek), ye shall not see the Father." Another ancient unknown author [Antiquities of the Christian Church, Vol. II Book XX, chap. 3, sec.1, ,1138] confirms for us that the early church was fully settled in their hearts to be Sabbath-keepers. These churches were in the east, and very possibly were resisting the edicts of the Roman church that they abandon the Sabbath. "The ancient Christians were very careful in the observance of Saturday, or the seventh day...it is plain that all the Oriental 10

11 churches, and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival...athanasius likewise tells us that they held religious assembles on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with Ju-daism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, Epiphanius says the same." More modern authors have researched this very topic, and have written of what they found. Dr. T.H. Morer wrote in his work, Dialogues on the Lord's Day, p [London, 1701], the following, "The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted but they derived this practice from the Apostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to the purpose." An explanation for a shift away from the Sabbath to veneration of a more pagan day of worship is found in the lectures of Father Alessandro Gavazzi ( ), a Catholic priest. His lectures, on many topics of interest to the church in the city of New York in the late 1800s, were preserved, and can be read today. 11

12 In one of the transcripts of his lectures (Gavazzi s Lectures, p. 290), he said, A pagan flood flowing into the church, carried with it its customs, practices and idols. Where did the shift from Sabbath to Sunday really begin to take hold? I believe it was with the decree of the Council of Laodicea. Soon after the conclusion of the war between the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire which was waged by Emperor Julian, the Emperor attempted a revival of paganism and began a fresh persecution of the early Christians. Julian was killed in battle on June 26, 363, and the Christians began to breathe again. The Council of Laodicea, made up of some 30 clerics, was convened during the years 363 and 364 in the town of Laodicea in what is today southwestern Turkey. It was located in the province of Phrygia (see Acts 2:10, and 18:23). 12

13 This Council addressed a number of issues facing the primitive church at that time. They issued 60 rulings, called canons. This Council is best known for establishing what would be and what would not be called scripture to be included in the Bible. What this Council is not well known for, and it appears that Christianity has intentionally forgotten, is a radical departure from G-d s Sabbath, toward worship on Sunday. Canon 29 reads, Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema (be excommunicated, even damned to hell) from Christ. Socrates Scholasticus, a 5th-century church historian, wrote of what he saw in the church during the years CE [Ecclesiastical History, Book 5, chap. 22, p. 289.]. He observed that the decrees of the Laodicean Council were not quickly, or even widely, accepted by believers. "For although almost all churches throughout The World celebrated the sacred mysteries (the Lord's Supper) on the 13

14 Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this." The footnote which accompanies the quotation explains, as follows: "That is, upon the Saturday. It should be observed, that Sunday is never called "the Sabbath by the ancient Fathers and historians." Modern Catholic theologians have made it quite clear that the Scriptures do not anywhere support weekly Sunday worship, but rather the Saturday Sabbath, as G-d ordained from the creation. Possibly the most elegant and persuasive articles on this topic were written by James Cardinal Gibbons, as Archbishop of Baltimore, Maryland. He wrote in The Faith of our Fathers, 88th ed., pp. 89, the following, "But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify." But Cardinal Gibbons best apologetic for Sunday worship is found in the periodical Catholic Mirror, printed in

15 The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday. We say by virtue of her divine mission, because He who called Himself the "Lord of the Sabbath," endowed her with His own power to teach, "he that heareth you, heareth Me;" commanded all who believe in Him to hear her, under penalty of being placed with "heathen and publican;" and promised to be with her to the end of the world. She holds her charter as teacher from Him a charter as infallible as perpetual. The Protestant world at its birth found the Christian Sabbath too strongly entrenched to run counter to its existence; it was therefore placed under the necessity of acquiescing in the arrangement, thus implying the Church's right to change the day, for over three hundred years. The Christian Sabbath is therefore to this day, the acknowledged offspring of the Catholic Church as spouse of the Holy Ghost, without a word of remonstrance from the Protestant world. [emphasis supplied]. 15

16 Cardinal Gibbons suggests strongly in this article that even Luther, the acknowledged father of the Protestant movement, finally acknowledged the authority of the Catholic church in the matter of Sunday (rather than Sabbath), such being a singular departure from the solo scriptore stance by Luther. Luther had many supporters in his position. One of whom was a man known as Melanchthon. Melanchthon urged Luther to take the final step of faith, to turn his back on Sunday worship, and adopt the Sabbath as part of his Bible only theology. Luther is reported to have once said words to the effect of, Should Melanchthon say one more word to me on the subject, I will be compelled to agree. So, Luther was still a Sunday-keeper on the day that the Council of Trent convened to deal with this protestant problem. The records of the Council indicate that early in the proceedings, it appeared that the Catholic church was going to be forced into backing away from its Scripture plus tradition stance regarding how Catholics were to behave. 16

17 But on January 18, 1562, during the 17 th session of the Council of Trent, Gaspar Ricculli de Fosso, the Archbishop of Reggio, seized on an opportunity to discredit Luther, and thus dismiss Luther s entire argument as hypocrisy. The report of the Archbishop s speech provided by J. H. Holtzman, in his work, Canon and Tradition, [published in Ludwigsburg, Germany, in 1859, page 263, and Archbishop of Reggio's address in the 17th session of the Council of Trent, Jan. 18, 1562, in Mansi SC, Vol. 33, cols. 529, 530. Latin.] is this, The Protestants claim to stand upon the written word only. They profess to hold the Scripture alone as the standard of faith. They justify their revolt by the plea that the Church has apostatized from the written word and follows tradition. Now the Protestants claim, that they stand upon the written word only, is not true. Their profession of holding the Scripture alone as the standard of faith, is false. PROOF: The written word explicitly enjoins the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath. They do not observe the seventh day, but reject it. If they do truly hold the scripture alone as their standard, they would be observing the seventh day as is enjoined in the Scripture throughout. Yet they not only reject the observance 17

18 of the Sabbath enjoined in the written word, but they have adopted and do practice the observance of Sunday, for which they have only the tradition of the Church. Consequently, the claim of 'Scripture alone as the standard,' fails; and the doctrine of 'Scripture and tradition' as essential, is fully established, the Protestants themselves being judges. Luther should have listened to Melanchthon. Luther should have embraced the Sabbath of scripture, rather than the Sunday of the Catholic church. The editor s note to this report in Canon and Tradition gives us further indication of why Luther failed to reform the Catholic church. It says in part, This was the inconsistency of the Protestant practice with the Protestant profession that gave to the Catholic Church her long-sought and anxiously desired ground upon which to condemn Protestantism and the whole Reformation movement as only a selfishly ambitious rebellion against the Church authority. And in this vital controversy the key, the chiefest and culminative expression, of the Protestant inconsistency was in the rejection of the Sabbath of the 18

19 Lord, the seventh day, enjoined in the Scriptures, and the adoption and observance of the Sun-day as enjoined by the Catholic Church. More modern historians have also found in their research evidence of the transformation from Sabbath to Sunday in the church. Arthur Weigall, in his work The Paganism in Our Christianity [New York, 1928], at page 145 said, "The Hebrew Sabbath having been abolished by Christians, the Church made a sacred days of Sunday, partly because it was the day of the resurrection, but largely because it was the weekly festival of the sun; for it was definate Christian policy to take over the pagan festivals endeared to the people by tradition, and to give them a Christian significance. But as a solar festival, Sunday was the sacred day of Mithra; and it is interesting to notice that since Mithra was addressed as Dominus, 'Lord,' Sunday must have been 'the Lord's Day' long before Christian times." Have theological giants within the modern church seen as a minimum, the application of all of the Ten Commandments to them, as immutable without change? 19

20 But, the moral law contained in the ten commandments, and enforced by the prophets, he [Christ] did not take away. It was not the design of his coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken... Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind, and in all ages; as not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances li-able to change, but on the nature of God and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other. Who said these words: John Wesley, [The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M., John Emory, ed. (New York: Eaton & Mains), Sermon 25,vol. 1, p. 221]. Does this mean that the Sabbath is the true day of rest and worship? One well-known Christian theologian would seem to agree. Hear his words, The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. This fourth commandment begins with the word 'remember,' showing that the Sabbath already existed when God Wrote the law on the tables of stone at Sinai. How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away with when they will admit that the other nine are still binding? 20

21 These are the words of Dwight L. Moody, [Weighed and Wanting Fleming H. Revell Co.: New York, pp. 47, 48]. I can provide similar quotations from theological giants from Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, and Congregationalist denominations. The church knows the truth. At least the church did know. And I believe she is left without excuse for turning her back on G-d s commands. Those leaders in the church who are leading their flocks away from G-d s commands stand in danger of judgment. Yeshua s words are clear. Matt 7: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. 22 "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.' 21

22 G-d has taken a lot of time from the garden forward to give us knowledge of what is according to His will. Why would anyone who worships Him dismiss even one of His instructions? We Messianics are branded by many in the church as legalists or judaizers simply because we have not joined with the church in its sad apostasy from the Sabbath. My holy brothers, be strong and courageous. You will stand before the great white throne on the right side of this issue. Have confidence, and be ready to make a defense of your faith when they ask. Tolerance of sin does not lead to righteousness. Love them enough to answer them truthfully when they ask. Don t condemn them. The Scriptures do that, already. Love for your brother does not mean following them down the wrong path. What does our love look like? Love means following Yeshua up the right path. 22

23 Verses for Parasha Emor Lev 21:1 Lev 23:1-3 Ex 20:1-15 Luke 4:16-17 Acts 18:1-4 Heb 4:8-12 Matt 7: