The time to meet is difficult to change, if one is changing culture. Much like the resurrection, the Sabbath has been corrupted entirely by some believers. Yeshua did not come to do away with the Sabbath: it's written in stone in the Ten Commandments! And it did not get magically shifted from Saturday to Sunday. "Seven", (sheva) in Hebrew, comes from a related root of "Shabbat", to cease. "Cease from all your labors". The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week: our Saturday. But it starts on Friday night at sundown: "And there was evening, and there was morning, a day". (two twelve hour periods) The Biblical day starts in the evening. Jews today STILL reckon their day to start in the evening: Shabbat begins on Friday night at sundown. It ends on Saturday night at Sundown.

We at Bat-Tzion don't make it a point of contention, nor a burden to anyone. If you don't want to celebrate it, take it up with the LORD! We celebrate the Sabbath for many reasons: G-d the Creator said to; to remember the Creator (see the command), to remember the fact that we (all mankind) were specially created (not accidentally evolved), to remember the Messiah who observed it faithfully, to emulate Him, and to remember that the Messiah is going to come one day and give us rest for 1000 years, a Shabbat Millennium. We will cease from our labor one day soon, in Him.

We also honor the Sabbath because the LORD promised blessings for those who do! (Gal 3, Isaiah 56-58), and we have experienced those blessings! We certainly are not forbidden to celebrate it! What command is that? Join us and see if you don't suddenly have more time, more peace, and more joy!

Our Biblical pattern for worship and assembly is thus: Study Torah during the week, (Monday night for us), welcome the Shabbat and study Torah (Bible) in the home on Friday night . Saturday morning, assemble as a congregation and worship. Saturday night, break bread "from house to house" and pray, and take care of congregational needs. This is the pattern that the apostles established, as recorded in scripture.

Is the observance of Sabbath a righteous requirement? If it is, not observing it would be sin. This is actually one of the more severe sins listed in the scriptures. Christians get all up in arms over many sins that are of lesser import than this one. What do we mean? As a for instance, the mandate to tithe has no listed punishment for breaking that command except the promise that one’s material blessings will diminish. But, if one breaks the Sabbath in a small way, the punishment is DEATH at the hands of fellow congregants! One probably could not count how many times it is heard on Sunday how important the tithe is, and how integral to one’s life as a believer it is, and how much blessing G-d supposedly attaches to that Torah command, and the tithe is a Torah command. But, rarely does one hear anything about the LORD’s Sabbath.

Yes, there are those who point to the fact that Abraham tithed to Melchizedek before the “law” came: To this we reply, but the Sabbath command came in Genesis 2, before any relationship between G-d and man existed! Not to mention, the Torah was with Abraham, including both tithe and Sabbath, since G-d said of Abraham, “Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws”. (Gen 26:5) This is why Abraham knew to tithe to Melchizedek, and to keep Sabbath. The Sabbath PRECEDES EVERY OTHER LAW IN THE SCRIPTURES! And with it came the warning that death would come to the one who did not keep it. Also, the Sabbath was written in stone in the Ten Commandments, the tithe was not!

Messiah is seen keeping the Sabbath over and over, and the Apostles and early Gentile believers were keepers of the Sabbath. (see article on “Gentiles and Torah”). So, if Messiah is the sinless man (and He is), then part of His sinless-ness should demonstrate Sabbath observance. It does. A glance at any one of the gospels shows Him in the Synagogue on every Shabbat.

Today, many believers understand that the Sabbath is Saturday, some understand more fully that it starts on Friday night and ends on Saturday night, but few believers understand how much G-d Himself loves the Sabbath, and that He expects Jew and Gentile to observe it, if they truly want to be called worshippers of G-d.

So, if breaking the Sabbath is sin, then most Christians are living in sin. Can this be true? YES~! And they are relying on G-d’s grace to cover their sin: and it does. But, at the same time they are struggling with other sin issues, divorce is just as rampant in the Christian community in America as it is in the secular community, men do not lead their families in worship, and the Church is virtually powerless in winning souls and keeping new converts committed to faith. One of the signs of being a believer in Messiah Yeshua, the Son of G-d, is keeping the commandments. The Sabbath is probably number three in importance! HEAR, O Israel, Love the LORD your G-d with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength, and love your neighbor as you love yourself”. Part of loving G-d is keeping His commandments. Not keeping them is sin.

Christians are stuck in a conundrum because they try to teach that believers in G-d are “free from the law”, but at the same time demand Sunday worship, the tithe, and at least some form of moral purity. Not having the law leaves that moral purity debatable, which is why there is as much fornication and adultery in the Church as there is among the general population. To teach that the tithe is binding but the Sabbath is not is to be “double minded, unstable in all one's ways”. Either all Torah laws are binding in some fashion, or none of them are. We are bound to all Torah laws when we come to faith in Messiah. The only thing not required of us is animal sacrifice and physical punishment of breakers of Torah, because Messiah fulfilled the priesthood for us, becoming our sacrifice and taking the punishment in His own Body for all sin. Laws applicable to Israel in the Holy Land cannot be observed. But, laws that govern worship and approaching G-d are most definitely applicable, not the least of which is Sabbath observance. Just because millions of men break a command does not negate the command. Breaking any command is still sin. Again, Messiah took our iniquity into His own flesh, but He did so to make “disciples” who would strive no longer to be iniquitous, to prepare a “Spotless Bride”. If the Bride is all of Christendom, she is not without spot as yet. If the Bride is comprised only of those who endeavor to keep the commands (and she is), perhaps she is already without spot, only fewer in number than many suppose. (Eph 5:27) (Titus 2:14) (2 Peter 3:14).

“Everyone who sins breaks the law [torah], sin is ‘lawlessness’ [being outside of Torah!] (I John 3:4).

Keeping the Sabbath is a joy! But, breaking the Sabbath is indeed a sin: all believers confess a trust in the ten commandments, but there is great oversight in observing the fourth commandment. For now, we will just remind ourselves that breaking the law of G-d is the very definition of sin: 1 John 3:4. And, we will remind ourselves that Messiah did not come to abolish the law, Matt 5:17-18. And, we will remind ourselves that willfully disobeying G-d leaves one without salvation, Hebrews 10:26. We are to examine ourselves and “see” if we are ourselves of the faith. John tells us how to examine ourselves: “By this we know that we have known Him – if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I know Him”, and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But, whoever gives heed to His Word, truly the love of G-d is perfected in this one. By this do we KNOW that we are in Him. The one saying he abides in Him ought also to walk as He walked”. 1 John 2:3-6
We must understand that “walking” in a Jewish mind [ and John the apostle is a Jew ] is “how one lives his life according to Torah”. We see the Messiah observing the Sabbath at the very start of His ministry, and throughout. His last effort on earth was to observe the Passover, one of the feasts listed with the Sabbath in Leviticus 23. It is true that the most important thing in obeying G-d is how one treats others, but, let’s take a closer look at one of the verses just mentioned: “Whoever gives heed to His Word, truly the love of G-d is perfected in him”. It sometimes seems that the most difficult thing to achieve in people is causing ourselves to “love one another”; the most difficult command to obey is “love your neighbor as yourself”. Why does that become so difficult? Especially for us who in theory at least have the Spirit of G-d living in us? Because we are neglecting the “Love YHVH your G-d with your whole heart”!! Yeshua the Messiah, the Son of G-d, said Himself, “If you love me, you will KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS” !!

It is so funny to me that Trinitarian doctrine actually elevates Christ to complete and utter deity, yet at the same time diminishes the commandments of G-d, and teaches that the ten commandments are not commands of the Messiah!….what silliness! Either all the commands are His, especially if He is utterly G-d, or none of them are His! Many say the "commands" He's talking about when Yeshua says, "if you love me you will keep my commandments" are only things He said in the gospels, such as "love your enemy". If all the commands of the Word are not His, then He is in no way "god", He is not at one with His Father. And we sometimes do not realize that it is the Torah that teaches love. And it is obvious through the centuries that this supposed “gospel love” has been near absent at times from those who profess Christ, and still remains elusive to even the “best” churches. Why? Because there is no, “Achavta YHVH Eloheycha BCHOL LEVAVCHA” :: “Love the LORD your G-d with ALL YOUR HEART”. When we begin to obey the LORD in His commandments, we begin to love others the way He would have us to, taking His law and nature into our hearts. This love defies the “normal” understanding of love: we love in spite of rejection, we love in spite of sin, we love in spite of differences, we love in spite of persecution…truly, when we obey G-d’s commands He “perfects” HIS love in us. Then we can truly begin to “love one another”, and become “one” with the Father and His Son as the Son prayed for us in the garden.

When we love G-d enough to discipline ourselves in His Word, we will begin to obey the commandments: the fourth one, which all believers theoretically accept, is not the least: it was given to all mankind at creation, not just to the Jews. And the Messiah said of Himself, "The Son of Man is LORD even of the Sabbath!" And He also said, "The Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath", meaning it is for all mankind, always. Not just the Jews, and not just until the Pope or any other man decides otherwise. It is a sign of the creator, and of Messiah (a Sabbath keeper), and of His return. Beginning to observe it is difficult, especially in our culture, but with doing so comes reward in the heavenly realm, in spite of great opposition in the natural realm. It takes a certain amount of courage, and steadfast love for G-d, and trust in His truth in order to stay faithful in it, and overcome the obstacles that will come. But the heavenly reward is far greater than the earthly conflict, and obeying Him more precious than keeping peace with those who yet refuse to obey Him.

This is a war: "And the dragon was wroth with the woman (the Bride), and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of G-d and have the testimony of Yeshua the Messiah." Rev 12:17

Blessings and peace to you all in Messiah Yeshua!