Vince,
We are not asked whether we can or cannot keep Shabbat. We are
commanded to keep it. I did not impose this requirement on them.
Yahweh did. If we read the NT, even Shaul did not waver from
keeping Shabbat and he did not instruct any of the gentiles
differently. The only exceptions then were 1) no immediate need for
circumcision, 2) do not eat food offered to idols and 3) abstain
from sexual imorality. Amongst the believers Shabbat was still kept
in the synagogues on Shabbat. The keeping of Shabbat is not an
imposition or a yoke. It only becomes one when the person or
persons decide not to follow the commandments of Yahweh.
You make the point of worshipping Yahweh with all our hearts, mind
and if I am not wrong scripture also says strength. So by not
keeping Shabbat, are you then worshipping Yahweh with all your
heart, mind and strength? Make not mistake, sunday is not holy
neither are any other days holy the only day which Yahweh has
sanctified and made holy is shabbat, and we are commanded to keep
it.
Exodus 16:23
Then he said to them, This is what the LORD has said: Tomorrow is
a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake
today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all
that remains, to be kept until morning.
Exodus 16:29
See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath;
therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let
every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on
the seventh day.
Exodus 20:8
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exodus 20:10
but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you
shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your
male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your
stranger who is within your gates.
Exodus 20:11
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea,
and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.
Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed
it.
Exodus 31:13
Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: Surely My Sabbaths
you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your
generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies
you.
Exodus 31:16
Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to
observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual
covenant.
Leviticus 19:30
You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I
am the LORD.
Leviticus 23:3
[ The Sabbath ] Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day
is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no
work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your
dwellings.
Penalty for Violating the Sabbath
Numbers 15:32-36
32 Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they
found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. 33 And those who
found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to
all the congregation. 34 They put him under guard, because it had
not been explained what should be done to him.
35 Then the LORD said to Moses, The man must surely be put to
death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the
camp. 36 So, as the LORD commanded Moses, all the congregation
brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he
died.
Deuteronomy 5:12
Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God
commanded you.
Isaiah 58:12-14 (New King James Version)
12 Those from among you
Shall build the old waste places;
You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,
The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
13 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,
14 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.
Ezekiel 20:20
hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and
you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.
Matthew 24:20
And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the
Sabbath.
Mark 6:2
And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue.
And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, Where did this Man
get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him,
that such mighty works are performed by His hands!
Luke 13:10
Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
John 19:31
Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies
should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was
a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken,
and that they might be taken away.
Acts 13:14
But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in
Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat
down.
Acts 13:44
On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to
hear the word of God.
There are many many more verses... but it is clear that Shabbat is
not to be kept at our convenience, there is only ONE day and ONE
day alone. The Yoke of Yahweh is light and not burdensome.
Are we not adopted children of Yahweh, part of the commonwealth of
Israel? Then our duty to Yahweh is clear. Keeping Shabbat
on the seventh day is not an option, it is a
requirement.
Leviticus 19:37
37 Therefore you shall observe all My statutes and all My
judgments, and perform them: I am the LORD.
