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Shabbat (Sabbath) 101 for Messianic Jews/Christians

15/8/2016

 
The Sabbath is not incumbent upon the other nations, nor is it an obligation for the Christian Church (Acts 15:23-29). However, as a principle that teaches the need for humanity to rest in God, it should be applied to the lives of all believers (Mark 2:27). 
The Shabbat:
A sign between God and the people of Israel that teaches a principle of rest for all humanity.


​The instruction for ethnic Israel to keep the Shabbat, or Sabbath, is found in Exodus 31:12-16
  • It is an instruction to the nation of Israel
  • It is a sign between God and the nation of Israel
  • It is a representation of creation’s completion
  • It is a promise of the eternal rest of God
  • It is an example of rest to humanity
  • The Sabbath is not incumbent upon the other nations, nor is it an obligation for the Christian Church (Acts 15:23-29). However, as a principle that teaches the need for humanity to rest in God, it should be applied to the lives of all believers (Mark 2:27). For many Christians, Sunday has become a day of rest and celebration of the resurrection of the Messiah, there is nothing wrong with this practice: all days were created by God and through Messiah and each one is an appropriate day to worship God
  • Messianic Jews continue to keep the Shabbat, just as our Messiah Yeshua [Jesus] did during His earthly ministry (Luke 4:16; Mark 1:21; ), as a representation of our unique identity and the continuing plan of God’s redemption of the nation of Israel
  • The Shabbat begins on Friday evening at sundown and ends on Saturday evening after sundown. This follows the pattern of recording all Jewish days which is taken from the Genesis 1 account of the creation days which are recorded from evening to morning, this signifying the beginning of each of the 12 hour divisions that make up a 24 hour day
 
Traditional Jewish observances begin with the lighting of two candles:
  • Observance [Shamor]
  • Remembrance [Zakhor]
Each Jewish observance caters to every learning style: Kinetic, tactile, visual, olfactory, oral, audible etc. The Shabbat or Sabbath is no exception.
 
A woman (usually the Matriarch of the household or a young woman of bat mitzvah age [12]) lights the candles. This is because it was through a woman that sin [darkness] entered the world and it is through a woman that redemption [light] has entered the world.
  • Eve [Chava-life] (Genesis 3:6)
  • Mary [Miriyam-bitterness/rebellion] (Genesis 3:15; Luke 2:4-7)
 
The light of the candles symbolizes the light of God. For Messianic Jews this light reminds us of the fact that Yeshua [Jesus] is the light of the world (John 8:12). 

The candle lighter draws the light toward herself three times and then covers her eyes. The rabbis of Jewish tradition have many explanations for this. As Messianic Jews we see the unity of God represented in this practice as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We understand that God is one (echad: a complex unity), and that He reveals Himself in many ways. We are inviting the light of Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) and at the same time we cover our eyes to acknowledge the Holiness of God. 

We welcome the Shabbat rest of God with traditional songs and prayers called Kabbalat Shabbat prayers. Kabbalah means to receive, we are receiving the rest of God, His rest is not something we can earn or achieve. In order to receive God’s rest we must acknowledge our inability to rest without Him. One of the most common songs sung is Lecha Dodi, which means, “Come beloved”. As Messianic Jews we see the unity of God’s rest and His Son our Prince of Peace in the invitation offered by the words of Lecha Dodi. Therefore we are inviting the Messiah Yeshua to bring us rest in God. 

Kiddush is the celebration of God’s provision for us. Kiddush means to sanctify, to set apart. Wine is used to represent the sanctifying life of God. Wine represents the life blood, during Passover the wine represents the life blood poured out as a sacrifice but during the Shabbat ceremony the wine represents the life blood as the means of our existence and vitality. Kiddush is lengthened by a recitation of the instruction to keep Shabbat. This reminds us of the Shabbat’s connection to God and His creation and causes us to look forward to the Olam Habah (World to come) and the eternal Shabbat rest of the New Jerusalem. 

Two Challot: The traditional bread used for the Shabbat is called Challah. The two loaves represent the double portion of manna given to Israel on the eve of the Shabbat when we wondered in the desert. For Messianic Jews these loaves also represent the Jew and the Gentile. When the Challah cover is lifted from the bread the light of the candles illuminates both loaves, making them echad (a complex unity). In this we see the light of Messiah’s redemption making the Jew and the Gentile echad (one) in Messiah. 

The Challah does not represent the body of Messiah. This is because the challah has yeast in it. In Biblical Judaism yeast is always seen as a symbol for sin. The body of Messiah is represented in the unleavened bread of the Passover meal which is celebrated once a year at approximately the same time as Easter. 

The Challah, like the Kiddush cup, is blessed and shared among those present. It is dipped in salt to remind us of the tears of Israel and the destruction of the temples. It is a reminder to Messianic Jews that the temple sacrificial system ended when the Romans destroyed the second temple in 70 AD. This seems appropriate to us given that the one sacrifice to cover all sin was made by Yeshua, the Lamb of G-d, once for all (Approx. 30AD). There is therefore no longer a need for the covering sacrifices of the temple sacrificial system. 

​Blessing the Matriarch, the children and the community is an essential part of the Shabbat.
  • The Father of the home blesses his wife, the mother of his children with a blessing called Ayshet Chayil (Proverbs 31:10-31)
  • The Father then blesses the children with a blessing called Bedikat Yeladim. In our congregation we bless the children beneath a Tallit which reminds us that God surrounds Himself with light as with a garment (Psalm 104:2) and that His covering is eternally over us in our Messiah Yeshua.
  • Finally the Father blesses the entire family with the Birkat Kohanim [Priestly Blessing] (Numbers 6:23-27)
Biblical Judaism understands that all blessing comes from God. Therefore the blessings are pronounced as a request before God in trust that He will bless and provide for the Jewish community. As Messianic Jews we understand that God is the redeemer, that through Messiah Yeshua’s sacrificial death of atonement we are redeemed by accepting the free gift of God and not by any merit of our own.
 
© 2016 Yaakov Brown
Philip Wylie link
27/6/2018 19:48:54

I now have come to disagree. The Church and all believers are to observe the 7th day Sabbath rest. Why? Because Isaiah 69 reveals that it is mandated even in the new creation. Plus the documentation here of the Jerusalem Council.org provides emperical documented evidence of its practice.

As the sacrificed pig was named the abomination of desolation desecrating the Temple of the most High God, how is it that if our body which is now the Temple of God in which the Holy Spirit dwells be desecrated by eating pig? Which is not pleasing to Adonai.

How can the Christian church be justified ?

What say you brother?

Yaakov Brown link
27/6/2018 22:48:55

Shalom Phillip,

Respectfully, there is no chapter 69 in Isaiah.

I presume you are referring to Isaiah 66:23, which does refer to the Messianic age and thus to the inception of the eternal Shabbat (The World to come). Note that the nations come to Jerusalem and to the sign of Sabbath that is upon Israel in Jerusalem. The point of Isaiah 66:23 is that the nations have not been keepers of the Shabbat but are (in that future time) seeing the sign of the Sabbath on Israel and are drawing near to the chosen ethnic-religious people of Israel to show their repentance toward God. This has no bearing on Christians keeping the Sabbath prior to that future time. In fact, the Scripture is clear:

“Speak now to Bnei-Yisrael saying, ‘Surely you must keep My Shabbat, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so you may know that I am ADONAI who sanctifies you.” Exodus 31:13

According to the text the Sabbath is a sign between God and the ethnic-religious children of Israel.

Are all Christians ethnic Jews? No! Therefore, is the Sabbath incumbent upon them? No!

The Jerusalem council.org information is not Scripture and is of no consequence in regard to a Biblical discussion on the practice of law (halakhah).

The Jerusalem council that matters is the Biblical one:

“23 and this letter along with them:
“The emissaries and the elders, your brothers,
To the Gentile brothers of Antioch, Syria,
and Cilicia:
Greetings!
24 Since we have heard that some from among us have troubled you with words disturbing to your souls,[a] although we gave them no such authorization, 25 it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. 27 We therefore have sent to you Judah and Silas, who themselves will report to you the same things by word of mouth. 28 It seemed good to the Ruach ha-Kodesh and to us not to place on you any greater burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. By keeping away from these things, you will do well.
Shalom!” -Acts 15:23-29
From this text we see that the Jewish Church Leaders of Jerusalem, including Peter and Yaakov (James), sought the Holy Spirit and concluded that the Gentiles were to be tasked only with what is essentially a condensed form of the Noachide laws of Genesis 9. There is no mention of Sabbath keeping because the Jewish followers of Yeshua knew that this command was a sign between God and His ethnic people Israel (Exodus 31:13). Therefore, they did not instruct the Gentile believers to keep the Sabbath because Gentiles are not ethnically Jewish.
You have misunderstood the Scriptures regarding our bodies being the Temple of God because you have understood them relative to food rather than according to their context, which is in regard to sexual impurity. Once again, the Jewish Church fathers according to the Holy Spirit, saw no need for Gentiles to keep kosher. Kashrut is a mark of distinction upon ethnic Israel, setting us apart from the Gentiles.
You ask “How can a Christian be justified?”

Scripture is clear:

“For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the Torah.” -Romans 3:28

Shalom in our King Messiah Yeshua

“It is for freedom He has set you free, stand firm in that freedom then, and do not return again to bondage!” -Galatians 5:1

Yaakov Ben Yehoshua


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  • Home
  • Yaakov's Commentary
  • Yeshivah Videos
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  • Beth Melekh Auck, NZ
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