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PT. 2 How Do We Keep the Sabbath?

IF we have sown unto you spiritual things,
Is it a great thing if we shall reap from you carnal things? 1Corinthians 9:11

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SABBATH BIBLE STUDY

12-15

(2019)

ReNEWed COVENANT Ministry

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

In connection to the series that I had offered “why do we keep the feasts?”, this next series is offered, to help further support and encourage the Israel of God in her return to YHWH’s ordained worship according to the Scriptures.
I’d like to add that last year around this time I had offered as series on

THE LORD’S SUPPER
Christian Pascha
Sacrament of the Faith of Jesus Christ

As well as, just a few months back, I had more so established a systematic reason for keeping the feast as Christians under the New Covenant in the series:

“Why Do we Keep the Feasts?”.

 How Do We Keep the Feasts?
Part. 2

How Do We Keep the Sabbath?

2Pe 1:2-8 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, for they make neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the template we will be following for this series, we will again read from Lev 23:1-4 from the YLT
Lev 23:1 And Jhvh speaketh unto Moses, saying,
Lev 23:2 ‘Speak unto the sons of Israel, and thou hast said unto them, Appointed seasons of Jhvh, which ye proclaim, holy convocations, are these: they are My appointed seasons:
Lev 23:3 six days is work done, and in the seventh day is a sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; ye do no work; it is a sabbath to Jhvh in all your dwellings.
Lev 23:4 ‘These are appointed seasons of Jhvh, holy convocations, which ye proclaim in their appointed seasons:

In the prior message the foundations of the festival system in the Law of God, today we are going to fortify that position and ask the question How do we keep the Sabbath? as the text which we just read clearly tells us that the sabbath is the first course of Calendar law, recognizing the Sabbath as a season or among the MUODIM and thus appointed by the lights of heaven, by the moon in particularly.
Consider these points regarding the sabbath for clarification, that the sabbath is:
I. A Season and thus defined by the lights of heaven and in a way designated by them.
II. A holy or set apart convocation to be remembered after the numeric delineation of 6 working days followed by a 7th day sabbath or Rest.
Thus, in combination or over-laying of these two primitive points, the lunar system as appointed by YHWH as stated in Psa_104:19 arises as the only viable option to fulfill scriptures citations in a holistic way. And this section of Seasonary Law or festival law fits exactly with this viability.
The Sabbath as specified has certain aspects that make it Holy, sanctified or set apart in a specified way, namely that all calendar law is seated in the sovereign of GOD who created it and commanded how to use it by HIS WILL, as this testimony of these points demonstrate:

1. by YHWH’s Authority
That is the authoritive sovereign of YHWH as GOD to do His will,
2. by the Lights of Heaven which nature witnesses and Gen_1:14 tells of its purpose:
…to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for (Appointed) seasons, and for days, and years…
An organic witness in creation Appointed to do His will,

3. by the setting apart of the 7th day for Rest after 6 days of work, give us a Sabbath by example (Gen_2:1-3),
this is YHWH GOD submitting himself to his own will for an example.

In the continuance of this revelation, YHWH has chosen to further give further instruction to apply these principles by the Lights, particularly the moon, as the established faithful witness for Seasons and Feasts, which measurement of time is through all the earth, and words to the end of the world, yet it is Israel as a Kingdom of Priests and Holy Nation (Exo_19:5-7), with a Government system by the Elders (Exo_19:7, Num_11:16) as the Remember-ers of the congregation, Ecclesia’s command which goes out in the 4th commandment in :
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: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates…

The New Moon and the 7th day of weekly Sabbath here have their memorial nature in conjunction, by the command of ‘Remember” the Sabbah day to keep it ‘Set apart /Holy’ and …in the days of your gladness, and in your feasts or holidays, and in your new moons, ye shall trump with the trumpets at the whole-burnt-offerings, and at the sacrifices of your peace-offerings; and there shall be a rememberance for you before your God: I am the Lord your God. (Num 10:10- LXX)

Thus, this remembrance by the trump-et, in some capacity is committed to the males (ZiKuR-Remember-ers), the sons of Israel, the elders of that Holy Nation; this is in no way a licentious proclamation for an Elders derived, or Church derived, or Nation derived, or Government derived- 7th day or festival calendar of worship, but rather the call to be the memorial piece of the congregations of their children, constrained by the Will of God as he has revealed by his creative authority, through his Witness in the Lights of Heaven and by His example.
Thus, the Sabbath which the feasts will be laid atop of, as we discuss them, furthers these points in the observation of YHWH’s order, as the focal piece of the calendar of the Kingdom, these conclusive points are not additional to the original creation sabbath, but are constative to its perfection, which are:
1. Deu_5:12-15 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. -this remembrance keep’s YHWH as GOD of all of your Time, and that it is by his will whither you spend your time as a servant or under the mighty hand and out stretched arm of YHWH.
2. Exo_31:17 …for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. – this shows the primitive nature of Rest after 6 working days.
3. Lev 19:2-4 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy. Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God. – This offers in one sentiment the Holy Convocation specificly of the family, as it advances the family in worship towards YHWH as GOD and represses family idolatry as worship made by ones self.
4. Exo_31:16-17 …the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever…
-Knowing that the Sabbath is to Israel from YHWH a covenant and witness is a remembrance for all generations that YHWH Keeps covenant perpetually to all generations, there fore we keep the Sabbath by his dictates and the Sign of the Sabbath is that witness to us.

Here are some constant points which the word of YHWH gives for the Sabbath: In a word, they keep the families of Israel focusing upon YHWH and His Word as the covenant keeping GOD who made Heaven and Earth and who wields the power of deliverance or bondage.

Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
In the literal Hebrew reading the Commandment reads
Remember that day(s): The Sabbath for holy it is – זכור את־יום השׁבת לקדשׁו׃
As the primary aspect of the commandment, the rememberance of the sabbath as the 7th day is primary, that is it is to be above all else:
1. to be Remembered or memorialized
2. to be a rest as sabbath has the meaning of
3. to be of days- יום according to the lights

Furthermore, these prohibitions are implied by the constance of the 4th commandment, and seen throughout the text in various ways, all prohibitions must entirely fit into a violation of the primitive command:
Exo_20:9 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work…
1. Six days shalt thou labor
2. ALL of thy work is to be completed by the end of the six days for labor.

And these reinforcing constative points are next made:
Exo_20:10 But the seventh day the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor any of thine…
1. the Seventh day is equivalent to the Sabbath or Rest of YHWH thy GOD & thus the Sabbath of YHWH thy GOD is equivalent to the seventh day without exception
2. in these days you shall not do any work nor any who pertain to you or that are in your gates

Thus the holiness specifically being called out of this command is that of the refrain of work on the days of sabbath which are the sevenths of the week, as the seventh day in the scripture the Season of Sabbath worship, on the weekly and monthly regularity, that is the sabbath and the new moon and those terms interchangeably, is that of:
No slacked labor on the 6 working days as to spill over into the Sabbath day(s), this is particularly seen and called a
violation in scripture:
1. in Exo_16:23-29 …To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning… and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days…
In this first example we read of those who did not labor and do ALL of their work on the 6 days before the 7th day sabbath. This particular example is particular to the manna, as the manna would corrupt in the harvested state it was gathered in, thus special care was made know to the people that they had need of a day of preparation. And so we may see how when we have need of special preparation for our celibration of the sabbath day, that the mindful and remembering people of God will ‘Labor and do ALL thy work…” as to maintain the holiness of the day.
2. Num_15:32- 36 And while… Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.
This is yet another example of one who had not done his due diligence available to him on the 6 working days which are not holy or set aside for YHWH’s holy Rest.
We can suppose rightly that this man did presumptuously, that is in accordance with all applicable biblical law just prior specified for this man to rightly know and to of had close to his heart at the time of his presumptuous or high handed act as in the same chapter:
Num_15:29-31 says: Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them. But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him.
As it was then declared plainly in this instance, and known by the congregation who was together in a governmental capacity, and it was plainly declared by YHWH to Moses that this was indeed a presumptuous offence, it is clearly known to us that this man knew:
• it was the sabbath day,
• he knew he was sinning by the LORD’s and the congregation of Israel’s Law,
• he did not care that witnesses might witness to this violation.

It further evident that this man’s time was not governed by YHWH through the focal point of sabbatic worship, insomuch as ALL of the stick gather-ers work was not done upon the 6 days upon which he should have labored and did All of his work he was condemned by multiple facts within his own life able to be witnessed to by true witnesses of the congregation or Church.

3. An example from the holy men of old, who like our ancestors had recently left bondage for sin both of sabbath violation and other, Nehemia shows us of the trouble of the mind of bondage a people face as they disconnect from the Heathen-nation they live amidst who have no knowledge of the Holiness of YHWH, let alone the setting aside of the 7th day sabbath by YHWH’s directive commands.
Neh_13:15- In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals.
Neh 13:16 There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.
Neh 13:17 Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?
Neh 13:18 Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath.
Neh 13:19 And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.
Neh 13:20 So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice.
Neh 13:21 Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath.
Neh 13:22 And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.

From this text that we see Nehemiah as:
• first forbidding laborious work in verse 15,
• then dealing with the proclivities of the people to buy upon the sabbath day from a non-Judean people the men of Tyre who sold on the sabbath days. Notice that Nehemiah did not contend with the common people as he did concerning the laborious work which the common folk were engaged in but concerning the buying and selling he contended with the nobles in v. 17.
o This is because an understanding of Law must be attained on these matters from the words of scripture
‘6 days shalt thou labor and do ALL of thy work, On the seventh day, Sabbath of YHWH… thou shalt not do any work, thou nor any of thine with in thy gates.
• The first thing we see is a governmental enactment of closing the gates in v. 19: before the sabbath and not to be opened until after the sabbath
• In v. 20 we are told of the merchants lodging without this very gate to sell to Judah, and so the intent was obvious that it was to make a sale upon the holy day
• In v.22 the Levites we recommended as the ministers of the peoples good welfare to act as guards on this occasion ‘keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day”.

Lets consider the case of buying and selling, commerce, we have no specific enactment in the law with speaks of it by name, “thou shalt not buy or sell”.
And it is for this reason that Nehemiah contended with the Nobles, this is because this understanding of the Law needed to be enforced by the congregation in a governmental capacity definitionally. This prior was not needed to be explained to Judah and Israel, it was generally known that commerce was forbidden on the Sabbath (constative), but in this case it is not known clearly, yet for us we now know by Nehemiah’s inspiration and testimony that buying and selling, even with the non-covenanted people of the Heathen is forbidden upon the sabbath day as a violation of the holiness of the sabbath and a violation of the command to ‘do ALL of thy work upon the 6 days which are not holy’.

4. A non-violation

Often times this is called a violation of Christ, who is in fact Lord of the Sabbath Mat_12:1-8, Mar_2:23 & Luk_6:1
Often times for those with a poor unholy mindset, that is they have an inclination or desire in their fleshly mind to carnalize the son of GOD who was justified in the spirit in fact, and to make him the scapegoat for their sin to continue, rather than in all ways remembering that Christ is the perfect (just) one, even the Lord of the Sabbath.
In both of these verse often given to nullify the Sabbath through Christ, are synoptic and of the same incident, and the anomaly of Luk_6:1 which says… it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first… is able to easily be answered by the feature of the New Moon which always has more than one Sabbath in the whole of the monthly 7th day at the end of every month, thus at the time of the new moon there is a “second sabbath after the first” regularly.

And so, Luk_6:1 continues to say,
…that he (Christ) went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands.
Now I want to first make mention, that often times those who say ‘here is where Christ did that which was unlawful on the Sabbath’, those who hold such opinions often do not realize that they have sided with the enemies of Christ ,the Pharisees; but is it that Christ our Lord in his plucking grains and rubbing the husk off in his hand as he walked doing an unlawful thing?
Did he not violate the 4th commandment to: ‘Do all his work’ upon the 6 working days?
The fact is that the argumentation which many use comes mostly from an ignorant and unrealistic envisionment of how Christ is plucking or pulling off  grain from the grain plant / stalk and rubbing them.
Consider, This is the equivalent of:
• going to the chocolate jar, with little bite sized chocolates in it
• taking the lid off
• and unpeeling the wrapper
• and eating them…and if the chocolate was small- doing that a bunch of times!

With grain, specifically wheat, you can:
• take and pick the dried wheat
• ‘rub’ it between your hands and the chaff or husk will disconnect from the grain
• Then you can blow on it to cause the paper thin chaff to fly away
• and then you can eat it!
What Christ is doing here is the ancient, pre-prepackaged food equivalent of going to the cabinet or refrigerator and getting a wrapped item and unwrapping it to eat!
He is not even processing his grain into bread, but he’s eating it raw!

While, perhaps, the Pharisees where more strict even on the new moon than was biblical, as this second Sabbath after the first would have been ( the New Moon sabbatic time has biblical example of non-priestly preparation happening for meals beyond what would be done on a regular weekly Sabbath because it is a festival time of monthly worship, such as seen in 1Sa_20:1-42 as the new moon custom was at the time of David) it is obvious that the Pharisees are, as usual, holding a standard beyond the Law, and in this case against Christ.

Consider how in just the surrounding verses these same people accuse our Christ of working on the Sabbath by healing a cripple or the blind, an obvious act which was only accomplished:
• by walking to them / by them walking to him
• touching and/or speaking to them
• and so healing them, could any of this be of man’s work in any capacity?
Sounds more like the Pharisees are doing what the Pharisees always do, Condemning and accusing the righteous!
Final thoughts
Further evidence for the lunar based Sabbath in scripture from Exo_16:1-36:
The first point which we will further fortify in the messages to come is that here before the giving of the 10 commandments the Sabbath is expected to be known as Law and to not be refused. Furthermore from Ex 16, we are shown a further fortification of the lunar-monthly based sabbath (as specifically laid out last week), when in the 2nd month the people assembled before Moses in a petition for bread, the Lord answers the people with the manna, and for six mornings after the 15th day, manna appears upon the ground to be gathered for 5 days normally and on the sixth day the day before the sabbath a double portion is offered to the people to prepare for the 7th day sabbath on the 22nd day, though it is not named the numbering must be implied, the sabbath occurs and no manna is found because it is the sabbath. This numbering can only occure in the 1st month in alignment with the first day of the feast of unleavened bread as a sabbath on the 15th day of the first month and on the 15th of the 2nd month if the New Moon is part of the Sabbath days. Just an Extra!)
When the Sabbath as connected to the moon makes full impact as one reads through scripture, it is realized that this is the reason why YHWH links his covenants to the ‘ordinances of heaven’, because the lights which show those ordinances before ordained since creation are faithful witnesses renewing afresh time and again, and leaving YHWH’s people with the idea that though we are foolish and we change like the moon, YHWH is in control of it’s renewal, and so every time we look at the sun arising and setting and the moon changing and the stars revolving:
And it is no doubt that this logic is the very reason what the cHoDeSh BeRiTh, the reNewed Covenant is connected to the heavens in Jer_31:31-36, where YHWH says Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: …I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Jer 31:35 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:
Jer 31:36 If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
Notice how the same Hebrew word for new moon or month cHoDeSh is the word ascribed to the Covenant made in the blood of Christ. it gives the idea of a New Moon, the moon is the same moon which has always been, but a new period has begun as the moon advances through the year. The hope of the Church, the ecclesia, the called of Christ which God had forknew which he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Rom_8:29
This is the whole focus of YHWH’s calendar system, to keep YHWH’s covenant people looking to him as the only GOD of their families, repressing idolatry and vain worship by the sheer observance of this creation order as YHWH’s willed worship.

So the purpose of this study is to do 3 things, to:
1. Establish the sabbath which is dictated after the regular intervals of 6 working days as per Lev_23:1-3, which is the foundation of the Festival system by the Lights of Heaven Particularly of the Moon Psa_104:19.
2. Lay the ground work for understanding the Feasts of cHaG ‘s according to this evident system, that the time of worship, such as the feast of unleavened bread and the feast of Tabernacles as weeklong festivals correspond to the established order or the sabbath before and after 6 days work , thereby keeping the Sabbath declared by the lights as the Appointed-Seasons and high days of worship starting and ending the weekly festival of worship, with the same intervals of 6 working days as per Lev_23:3.
3. and Nullify any other system, which has anachronistically imbued itself with in the heavenly cycle which disrupts the simplicity of the sabbath established by YHWH’s heavenly light based order which he appointed by the moon’s seasons, rather than working with it as the text plainly specifies.

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About JS Lowther

Foremost I know that I am a chief sinner saved by Grace. I am a servant of YHWH Almighty the one true God Who is Father, Son and Spirit. I believe in God's only begotten and perfect Son Jesu(s) Christ whose redemption power of my soul I have Faith in and testify of. Having been redeemed by the blood of Christ, I wish to no longer spend my time in the lusts of the flesh and of this world, but to promote the Gospel of the Kingdom by means of the knowledge of the New Covenant, a reNewal of the Covenant God made with his people Israel in the blood of Christ (Jer 31:31 and Heb 8:8) whereby He writes His Law upon the Heart and Mind beside the forgiveness of sin and transgressions. I believe Christ Jesus is the incarnate Son of God as the WORD made flesh, and the son of man born of the virgin Mary conceived of the Holy Spirit: I believe Christ Jesus Lived a perfect life for us as a living sacrifice as well as a pattern of the Sanctified newness of life a believer has in Him, I believe Christ Jesus died a cursed death on the Cross for His people of Covenant who are sinners, and I believe in Christ Jesus who Resurrected with power from Death from the grave to Justify the offenders. This is the same Jesus who is indeed the Son of David and king of Israel, who is both LORD and Christ over all the kings and dominions of the earth! In the fullness of time YHWH will regather his people under the Head of the Church, Jesu(s) Christ to affect his will according to the Lord's prayer, Psalm 2, 8 and 110 as well as Genesis 1:26. The focus of my administration of the Gospel is like unto my Lord's who said "I have come not but for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.."(Mathew 15:24), and so I have come to my European kinsman according to the flesh. It is my mission to show the Israel of God the Salvation which is taught by Scripture Alone and offered in all ages by Grace Alone through Faith Alone in the work of Christ Alone to the Glory of GOD Alone. As a modern day Puritan separatist it is my goal to purify the church of Christ with Faith heretofore stated. I am studying to show my self approved, if you have any questions just ask!

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