Everlasting Good News of Yahweh

If you are among the millions of Christians who have been deceived into believing that the Holy Sabbath of Almighty Yahweh no longer exists, read on. This literature has been written in an attempt to restore the truth unto you as revealed in the Holy Scriptures.

The fourth commandment of the “Ten Commandments” reads as follows;

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of Yahweh thy mighty one: 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: For in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Yahweh blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:8-11).

Yahweh blessed only the seventh day of the week (Saturday). He set it apart from the other six days as a day of rest from labor. The only person that has the authority to change one of the Ten Commandments, written on tables of stone as a sign of their immutability, is the writer himself, Yahweh. No such command from Yahweh, His Son Yeshua, or the Apostles, exists in the Old or New Testament to either change the Sabbath to Sunday (the first day of the week) or to abolish the Sabbath altogether.

Why, then, do the majority of Christians worship on Sunday? Most do so because the Messiah rose from the dead on that day. That, however, is not a valid reason. It is a man-made tradition that causes people to break the commandments of Yahweh and therefore worship Him in vain. “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” “And he said unto them, ‘Full well ye reject the commandment of [Yahweh], that ye may keep your own tradition.'” (Mark 7:7,9).

There are those who believe they have scriptural grounds for no longer keeping the Sabbath. They use three “Proof texts” to support their belief; Galatians 4:10, Colossians 2:14-17, and Ephesians 2:15. Following is a true explanation of the meaning and intent of the Apostle Paul’s writings which, incidentally, the Apostle Peter said are sometimes difficult to be understood. Many people wrestle with them unto their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16).

Galatians 4:10

Paul was writing to the Galatians who had been heathen worshipers of pagan deities before their conversion to Yeshua. He says in verse 8,” . . .when you knew not God [Yahweh], you did service unto them which by nature are no gods.” In other words they were idolaters who neither served Yahweh nor walked in His laws. They knew nothing of His commandments and laws except what they had heard from Israelites living in their city. Verse 9 states that after they were converted they began to be known of Yahweh, which prompted Paul’s question, which I interpret to mean, “Why do you want to return to the way you were before you were converted? Why do you continue to observe days, months, times, and years that were ordained by pagans? Why do you wish to be slaves to the weak and beggarly elements of pagan so-called holy days?

It would be equivalent to a Muslim converting to Christianity and yet, continuing to observe Rammadan or make pilgrimages to Mecca. The holy days that the Galatians were returning to are comparable to the false holy days we have today such as Sunday, Easter, Lent, Christmas, Good Friday, Holy Thursday, Ash Wednesday, all of which were declared holy by the “mother church” in Rome and not by Yahweh. Yahweh declared in Leviticus 23 which days were His holy days.

Think about it; Why would Paul tell us to keep the Feast of Unleavened in I Corinthians 5:7,8 and then tell us not to keep any days in Galatians 4:10? Why did he desire to keep the upcoming feast in Jerusalem in Acts 18:21 (the Aramaic Peshitta has this verse) and then tell the Galatians that they were not permitted to keep any feasts? Why were the disciples gathered together on the day of Pentecost (Feast of Weeks) in Acts 2 if that annual Sabbath had been abolished? Consider also 1 Corinthians 16:8; Acts 20:6,16; and Acts 27:9 (the fast was on the Day of Atonement, an annual Sabbath). Paul’s custom was to obey all of Yahweh’s laws because he knew the law was not made void through faith (Romans 3:31).

Colossians 2:14-23

These verses are used to prove that the weekly Sabbath as well as annual Sabbaths have been nailed to the cross. This view is incorrect and is based on several mistranslations, added words not found in any Greek texts, and poor Bible exegesis.

Let’s first determine the context of chapter two. In verses 4 and 8 Paul warns the Colossians about deceivers. Then again, in verse 18, Paul gives his final warning about these same deceivers. In what way were they trying to deceive the Colossians? Verse 8 tells us that they were trying to exalt the traditions of men over the Messiah (verses 8 & 19).

Notice carefully the context; the traditions of men in verse 8, 18, and 22. The verses that occur between 8 and 22 must be understood based on the context of the traditions of men.

Now we can understand the key word in Colossians 2:14, “ordinances.” The Greek word for ordinances here is a form of the root word “dogma” which means man-made rules, laws, commandments, precepts, etc. Paul is not talking about Yahweh’s ordinances in this verse. He is talking about man’s ordinances or traditions. This same word is used in Colossians 2:20 pertaining to the doctrines and commandments of men; in Luke 2:1 pertaining to a decree from Caesar Augustus; in Acts 17:7 pertaining to a decree from Caesar; and in Ephesians 2:15, which we will look at later. It always pertains to man’s commandments, not Yahweh’s. Compare the word dogma with the Greek word that pertains to Yahweh’s ordinances, “dikaioma.”

This word dikaioma was used in Luke 1:6 pertaining to the ordinances of Yahweh and in Hebrews 9:1,10 pertaining once again to Yahweh’s ordinances. Therefore, Paul is saying in verse 14 that the traditions and commandments of men are the issue, not Yahweh’s laws. But what was nailed to the cross? The Greek construction shows that the “handwriting” was nailed, not the ordinances. The handwriting or, in Greek, the “cheirographon” was a certificate of debt. Whenever a man sins against Yahweh his sin is imputed against him (Romans 4:7,8). When men exalt the traditions of men over the commandments of Yahweh, as the Pharisees did, for example, they sin against Yahweh. The Messiah became sin for us and when He was nailed to the tree so were the sins that were imputed against us. Yahweh’s holy ordinances were not nailed to the tree, the certificate of debt resulting in our death sentence was nailed to the tree. That is why Paul said the Colossians were “dead in your sins” in verse 13. The principalities and powers of verse 15 caused the people to sin by their man-made laws, but Messiah was victorious over them.

This brings us to the crucial verse 16. It was the deceivers of verses 4,8, and 18 that were judging the Colossians regarding the things mentioned in verse 16. They had been imposing their man-made commandments and traditions upon the Colossians. Paul told them not to allow anyone to judge them concerning those matters. An important addition was made in the KJV that does not appear in any Greek manuscript. The word “is ” in verse 17 was added, which changes the meaning of Paul’s statement. That is why it is written in italics. Retaining the word “is” implies the thought of shadow vs. reality. In other words, Messiah fulfilled the shadow of the things mentioned in verse 16. However, if you remove the added word “is”, it implies that we should not let any man outside the body of Messiah judge us in respect to these things. Indeed that is in line with the context of Paul’s previous statements. Notice Colossians 1:18 & 24 and Col.2:19, all of which teach us that the body of Messiah is the church or all true believers.

There are several other points worthy of mention concerning verses 16 & 17. Verse 17 states that these things “are” a shadow of things “to come” not that they “were” a shadow that was now fulfilled. Paul wrote this epistle approximately 30 years after
Messiah’s death and resurrection and yet he still spoke of them as unfulfilled shadows of something in the future.

Ephesians 2:15 

The final “proof text” to be considered is Ephesians 2:15. Again we see the Greek word “dogma” (ordinances) meaning man-made commandments. Having that in mind let’s begin in verses 11-13. Paul explains that before one accepts Messiah as his Savior he is separated from the commonwealth of Israel, he is without Yahweh, and he is uncircumcised. However, once he accepts Messiah he becomes an Israelite, circumcised in the heart, and at one with Yahweh. Notice what is abolished in verse 15. It is the enmity or the hatred between the Israelite and the Gentile that was abolished. This hatred was caused by the commandments and traditions of men. For example, Paul alludes to a “middle wall of partition” between Jew and Gentile. This was a literal wall that Paul uses in a figurative sense to make his point. The Jews decreed,( they made a dogma), which stated that if a Gentile crossed over the wall separating the Court of the Jews from the Court of the Gentiles surrounding the temple, that they would be immediately killed. This was not a commandment of Yahweh. In fact, Yahweh never even commanded such a wall to exist. That dogma created a hatred between the two peoples which Messiah destroyed creating one new man and so, making peace.

I cannot impress upon you enough the importance Yahweh places on the observance of all His Holy days. Each has a very special meaning. For example, not only does the Feast of Unleavened picture the putting away of sin (leaven) from our lives, but it is also a memorial of Yahweh’s great deliverance of Israel from Egypt. Can we, with a clear conscience, say that such a great event no longer needs to be memorialized by observing it in honor of Yahweh’s great mercy? Do we no longer need to memorialize the creation of the heavens and the earth by resting on the seventh day as the Creator gave us example?

The Sabbaths of Yahweh were given as a perpetual covenant and are a sign between Him and His people so that they will know who it is that sanctifies them (Exodus 31:13-17). They will continue to be observed after the new heavens and the new earth are created (Isaiah 66:22,23), so why not begin now?