Does It Matter?

I have come to believe that the Sabbath is a gift of God. Many Christians believe that the day we recognize as the Sabbath or Shabbat doesn't matter. But does it?

Does it really make any difference whether we keep the day God blessed and made holy? Can we substitute another day? Do we have to keep any day at all? Must the Christian respect what God makes holy?

God records a plain but effective explanation in an experience in Moses' life. Moses had been raised from a baby as a prince by Pharaoh's daughter, but he had killed an Egyptian guard who had been beating a Hebrew slave. He was forced to flee for his life to the land of Midian. There, after some time, he had married a daughter of Jethro the priest of Midian.

One day, leading a flock of sheep, Moses came to Mount Sinai, where he saw a large bush burning, yet the flames did not consume it. While pondering this strange sight, the Lord called to Moses out of the burning bush: "Moses, Moses! . . . Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground" (Exodus 3:1-5).

Why did it make any difference whether Moses took off his shoes—or where? Because the ground where he stood at that moment was holy! God required him to treat holy ground with a respect he did not treat other common plots of ground. Why was this ground holy? Because God's presence was in it! God is holy, and His presence in the bush made the ground around it holy.

In the same way, God's presence is in His Sabbath. He rested on the seventh day of Creation to put His presence in that day, making it holy time. Four thousand years later, when this same Being, the Word, lived in human flesh, He was still putting His presence in that same weekly recurring Sabbath: He went into the synagogues "as His custom was . . . on the Sabbath day" (Luke 4:16)!

Jesus Christ is the same today as He was yesterday, and shall be forever (Hebrews 13:8). He has not changed in the least. The Sabbath is Holy whether we recognize it as Holy or not.

God commanded Moses to take his shoes off that holy ground. Likewise, the same God commands mankind to take his foot off from trampling and profaning His holy time. God requires His children to treat that day with a respect not required of other time. Notice Isaiah 58:13-14:

If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.

We honor God by keeping holy those things that He has made holy. We dishonor Him when we speak our own words, saying, "Well, I think the tradition and ways of men must be right. I'd rather do as they do, and have them think well of me."

God commands: "Take your foot off My holy time. Quit trampling all over that which is holy and sacred to Me! Quit profaning My holy things." The sin is in profaning what God made holy. God made this period of time holy, and He commands us to keep it that way!

False Prophets?

A prophet is a spokesperson for God. Prophets are often asked to verify their authenticity with a particular sign or wonder. Deuteronomy 13 warns us that even if the would-be prophet's sign or wonder does succeed and his prediction does come to pass, he might still be a false prophet. Signs and wonders are not the final proof. If the prophet attempts lead you away "from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk," (Duet. 13:5) you are to disregard him as a false prophet. The way in which God commanded us to walk is the Torah and its commandments. Deuteronomy warns us that we must not listen to such a prophet, even if his ministry comes with amazing signs and wonders. Instead, we are to "follow the LORD...keep His commandments, listen to His voice..." (Duet. 13:4)

If the would-be prophet counsels us to break any of the commandments, he must be deemed a false prophet. For example, an alleged prophet who declared that God had sanctioned an adulterous relationship can be immediately identified as a false prophet because He has contradicted Torah. God cannot contradict Himself.

Moses says that a false prophet might be allowed to perform signs and wonders in order to test Israel's fidelity to Torah. Messiah warns us that "false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders." (Matthew 24:24)

Sadly, the traditional understanding and presentation of the Christian Jesus is that he was a prophet (and more than a prophet), attested by signs and wonders, but that he also cancelled the Torah. Such a person fits Deuteronomy 13's description of a false prophet perfectly. According to Deuteronomy, conversion to faith in such a person would be a violation of God's own commandments. What a disservice the modern Christian Church has done in their effort to lead Jews to Messiah. Judaism rightly rejects the Christian Jesus because many have taught that the Christian Jesus abolished the commandments of Torah. Yet the real Messiah of the Gospels did no such thing. He is a prophet (and more than a prophet) attested to by signs and miracles, who also called Israel to submit their lives to the highest standards of Torah.

This explains why His opponents among the Pharisees labored so hard to find some way of demonstrating that He was a breaker of Torah. If they could prove that He was teaching against Torah, they could invalidate His claims. They were unable to do so. Nevertheless, we have consistently presented Him as a prophet teaching against the Torah. We need to rethink this. A Messiah that breaks Torah and teaches others to do so is no Messiah at all.