Part 6 of a New Series: “Principally Regulated by the Scripture”:

“The Weekly & Monthly Sabbath Festival of Holy Convocation and Annual Worship“

This study will be a doctrinal subject study with a focus on understanding the 4th commandment in ordaining the times of Assembly, and what times are uses to appoint the Sabbath for congregational worship (Holy Convocation) in accordance with Hebrew 4:9 and 10:23-25 as well as Galatians 4:10, which are before ordained in Gen 1:14, Gen 2:4, Exo 20:8, Exo 31:13,  Deut 5:12, Ezk 46:1 Num 28&29 Lev 23,  Lk 4:16.

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Compiled by JS LOWTHER
renewedcovenantministry.com
servant@renewedcovenantministry.com

Principally Regulated by the Scripture

Part 5

That Which Remaineth

Is that which was Before Ordained for Worship

(Delivered on 13-22-21 (2020)

2Ti_3:12-17
Our Father we know by thy word :
All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Therefore make us strong.
Let us not be deceived by evil men and seducers

which wax worse and worse, being deceived them selves. 

Continue us in the things which we have learned of and have been assured of by thee:
Though we may have from a child known the holy scriptures,
allow them to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Profit unto us All thy scripture given by thy inspiration:
for our doctrine, for our reproof, for our correction, for our instruction in righteousness:
That we may be the men and women of God perfectly & thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Amen

Gal_4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2  But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7  Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Gal 4:8  Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
Gal 4:9  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

Gal 4:10  Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

Paul’s warning in this text is that of making an idol or vain imagination of worship, and reducing YHWH God’s worship to nothing more than that of other carnal ordinances.

That is in the Lawful observance of “days, and months, and times, and years.”

Which is a generalization of all aspects of timely worship or assembly.

There are 2 principle ways a soul can make worship idolatrous, and that is by:

1. Believing lawful worship (even 100% accurate) on lawful days, months, times and years can save you.
2. Worshiping by non-lawful and thus non-biblical means willfully or ignorantly.

And so the biblical way to worship is to worship the God of creation, the LORD YHWH, the God of salvation and deliverance is through Jesus Christ, and to worship him by his Word, as well to worship by his Word on the times which his word proclaims and in the ways on those days and time, months and years which his word authorized.

So here is true worship:

Joh_4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

And so while we can never worship perfectly, and to believe we can is idolatry,

as well to not attempt to worship God as perfectly as possible, that is in spirit & truth is as well idolatry.

And so in this part of this series we are considering this paramount tenant of true worship for every individual and congregation.

And so while many vain and sometimes wicked imaginations have been invented to cause the Apostle Paul to contradict the rest of holy writ in Galatians 4:10; rather, we affirm to the contrary that God’s word is perfect & God’s Word is consistent.

God need not change for man, but man need change for GOD.

 I do hope that if nothing else these messages will cause you to question your worship and sees it to know if you worship God in Spirit and in Truth in worship.

Spirit speaking to your spirit that hears the Word of God and knows it is the voice of Abba Father

And Truth in that you honestly and truly worship God, knowing He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart truly, and as well, by the truth of the Word of God which is Truth, and that we truly apply our self to it as it has been revealed to you in the Word of Abba Father.

Here is where we cross that bridge of the 3rd commandment, before ever getting to the 4th Commandment on Sabbath worship: Remembering that as One who has called on the name of the LORD to be saved, that you do not take that Almighty and Eternal name vainly in any area of life, and that if we find vanity in our profession that we should repent quickly , swiftly.

And so I had laid a case, which I will briefly run through again, for why we worship as we do in observance of the 4th commandment the Sabbath:

Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

And we also found this encouragement to congregational worship, not lacking a harsh tone of warning by the author, when he said:

Heb_10:23  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

Heb 10:24  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

And this text goes on to speak of those who willfully oppose God’s Law which they know better than to oppose, if you continue reading.

Simply this is what was  remains:

Gen_1:14 God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth… and it was so.

And to this organic aspect of creation YHWH God commands the Sabbath in Genesis 2 first in proclaiming the 7th of the week as holy:

And so it is elaborated specifically in the Decalogue:

Exo_20:8  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exo 20:9  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God…

And it is upon this premise of the sacredness of the number 7 in the heavenly order that we hear the command of the LORD proclaim Sabbaths as the holy convocations and as His Feasts or Season.

So let’s reflect…

We saw that this was the people’s order of worship before the tabernacles revelations, and we see that these laws of God fit hand in hand with the Genesis lights and Sabbath commandment and in fact over lap in the tabernacles worship in Num 28&29 and

 holy convocations

Lev_23:2  …Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.  Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

The first Season of worship or ‘Feast’ is the weekly Sabbath,

and God made the Moon for Seasons or feasts (psa_104:19)

SO what should we should see established is one heavenly system with lapping layers of revelation found in scripture. The ordained Heavenly lights (natural revelation decreed by God’s WORD) over lapping with the Writen WORD of God as it is numerically commanded in the Law of God.

Do we have an expressed scripture to fortify this conclusion? and a way to equal the two systems in scripture?

How about the way the prophet Ezekiel understood when the 6 working days were and what days were not part of the 6 working days?

Eze_46:1  … The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened.

That this is the system the people of God understood by the light of heaven, and there are but very few ways to reconcile and equal all the Scriptural revelation which IS the WORD of GOD in to one Word with the heavens declared voice as stated by Psa_19:1-4.

Notice again, for Ezekiel:

6 working days does not include the Sabbaths or the new moon’s days, this statement of Ezekial iby understanding him as a a sabbath observer, says Exodus 20 and Deut 5, with Exo 31:13, and Lev 23:1-4.

All speak of 1 order and system of worship

Therefore we assert that this is the order and system of assembly and this is the sabbathrest that remaineth for the people of God.

The sabbath which ‘remaineth’ is that which was before ‘ordained’ in the law of God, and before that which was ordained in the lights of heaven since the day the LORD GOD made man upon the earth to worship him, this is the chief end of man, and the lights of heaven made for signs seasons days and years first and primary reason on the earth is to aid man in worshiping God in the beauty of holiness, all other use of the sun moon and stars is dim to that chief end they were commanded and decreed for.

Jesus said:

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath” Remember those word of our LORD, the lord of the sabbath? The Lord of the armies of the heavenly hosts?

If the sabbath was made for man, then their remains from that creations organic order the Sabbath to be observed by man. And Gen 1:14 shows God made the lights for “Signs seasons, days and years”… for who? Man. And he did this before man was created.

This is what I believe was meant by the author of Hebrews when he said that the Sabbath rest of Israel remained for the people of God, and the apostle Paul said that those things which God ordained before time in his law is good for us to walk in and work in as the workmanship of Christ (Eph_2:8-10), and therefore the tabernacle and temples services are the obvious  times of  rest and assembly, the season or festival time of worship, that time which is for holy convocation, which is a time of coming together and worshiping YHWH with our vocabulary, so to speak… with our voice together, but with God’s word in our mouth and on our heart.

These are not hard to see:

And so in accordance with the temples worship as we read from the Law in Numbers 28-20, two weeks ago, lets go to fortify this point:

1Ch 23:31  And to offer all burnt sacrifices unto the LORD in the sabbaths, in the new moons, and on the set feasts , by number, according to the order commanded unto them, continually before the LORD:

Neh 10:33  … the continual burnt offering, of the sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set feasts…

And so very obviously the times of assembly proclaimed by the Tabernacle were the “sabbaths, in the new moons, and on the set feasts”

Now the phrase ‘set feasts’ is the hebrew word Moedim, which is that word last sabbath I said was translated both feasts and seasons, and so we can here see the Sabbath and new Moon working in some order with the ‘set feasts; which happen ‘beside’ the prior.

And so at this point I want to  turn our attention on:

• how the ‘set feasts’ or the annual assemblies of the people of Israel as part of this same system are established by the lights of heaven,
• the moon which appoints seasons or feasts, and work in perfect order with the sabbath as seated upon that lunar appointment,
• and then to see the annual assemblies seated upon the sabbaths, new moons,
• All of which are ordained by the lights of Heaven in consistent systematic order.

Most folks who keep feasts believe in 2 systems  in the text of scripture.

That is every sun or sat (day) is the weekly 7th day or sabbath, but they hold the ‘annual sabbaths’  of another order, a monthly order, some would recognize. But in no way can these 2 systems ever harmonize but on odd occasions through out the years, but never in a consistent way, unlike the lunar based Sabbath we keep which works with the weekly sabbath, the 2 system method must interrupt the 6 working days to create another ‘type of sabbath’ for the 1st month, and 7th month as well as with the count to Pentecost.

And so here is the question for those listening what gives the first sabbath of Unleavened Bread, the last of UB, the first of Tabernacles, the last of Tab., and Trumpets a 7th (day) quality ??? What makes them a sabbath???

We have an answer, a systematic and consistent answer… the 2 system folks do not.

Except for if those days, specifically listed in Lev 23 Numbered from the New moon (as the first day of the month), and keeping that day as a sabbath in some sense, there is no possibility of seeing the annual assemblies answer to the meaning of Sabbath in association with the number 7; But the feasts have a consistent arraignment of Sabbaths on the 15 and 22 of the month regardless of what day of the pagan modern gregorian (sun, mon, tues, wed, thurs, fri, sat ) week those feasts happen.

The 2 system method must abandon a normative observation 6 working days, to make time for the ‘special feast sabbaths’ , which are not “7’s” at all, but nevertheless are held as sabbaths to those who observe in this way.

So Here is our answer to this and the core of our study for today:

Lev_23:2  …Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.  Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

The sabbath after 6 working days is the first feast or season named in this line up

But what says this text of faith?

“the feasts (or seasons) of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.”

1st one

Lev_23:3  Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

first feast or season of YHWH (not of your self) is?

sabbath after 6 days work

first holy convocation to be proclaimed by men as YHWH’s feasts is?

Sabbath after 6 days of work.

and consider this summary of the content of this chapter of God’s Holy Word:

Lev_23:4  These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.

Lev 23:5  In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover.

Lev 23:6  And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

Lev 23:7  In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

Lev 23:8  But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

Now after this point every annual festival of worship, feast of YHWH is spoken of in like manner built upon a reasonable way to align the weekly sabbath with the annual assemblies or feasts.

Both Passover and Tabernacles have their sabbaths on a 15th day which is the sign of the full moon

Both Pentecost and Trumpets have their sabbaths at the sign of the new moon

The feast of weeks happening before the 3rd new moon and the Day of the Memorial of trumpets or Remembrance of the new moon sabbath on the 7th New moon.

The odd one out in all regards is the sabbath of sabbaths the Day of Atonements which does not occur in the weekly cycle nor does it occur with festivity and gladness, but in the midst of the lunar week on the 10th day of the 7th month and it is kept in fasting and soul affliction, it is not a ‘rest’ in the normal sabbatical sense. Nevertheless, Atonements Day is a “sabbath of sabbaths” of a greater cycle, that is in fact it is a ‘week’ of the 10th days of the lunar month, starting with the Passover Lamb’s selection day commanded in Exo_12:3, and this Day of Atonements happening on the 10th of the 7th month, thus it commemorates Christ the Passover lamb, and his selection on the 10th of the 1st month of Abib, therefor we keep the Day of Atonement by Fasting and prayer and Holy convocation.

And with that said notice how every holy convocation has its offering by fire, notice how every day in the middle of the 2 sabbaths of holy convocation has its devoted sacrifices of praise and worship on the altar.

We as Christians keep this no less strictly than our Israelite forbearers, by believing and knowing Christ’s blood is on the heavenly altar for us and by commemorating our atonement in Him by

Rom_12:1  … present(ing) our bodies as living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service.

Rom 12:2  And be(ing) not conformed to this world: but being transformed by the renewing of our mind,

…that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

This is our sacrifice and the calve of our lips, our sacrifice of praise we bring into the house of the LORD YHWH!

Lev_23:9  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Lev 23:10  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

Lev 23:11  And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

…

Lev 23:15  And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:

Lev 23:16  Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

…

Lev 23:21  And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

. …

Lev 23:24  Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

Lev 23:25  Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

…

Lev 23:27  Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Lev 23:28  And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.

…

Lev 23:32  It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

Lev 23:33  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Lev 23:34  Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.

Lev 23:35  On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

Lev 23:36  Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.

So here is where I want to make Gospel application.

Do you remember me saying that the Sabbath is for:

1. (Ex 20 ) that is to commemorate the LORD GOD of creation who made the world and all that therein is in 6 days and then rested from his labor and work,
2. Deut 5 that is to commemorate the God of salvation and deliverance who by his mighty hand and out stretched arm saves his people of covenant by him own promise to do so, with no other god beside him

And that these are the 2 items of focus of every Sabbath day and that which we are to convoc about?

What we have read in Lev 23 is the ordained order of how those days of months and Sabbath and new moons of specified month are to regulate yearly remembrances of these 2 aspects. And those Sabbaths, and new moon and those weakly festivals and festivities to be executed on those times have specific focal points which the Lord has deemed and ordained that we do and remember in worship to him by these laws.