Brother SabbathBlessings,
Thank you for this thoughtful, Scripture-saturated reply—glad you enjoyed Japan! It’s a unique country and very peaceful; I love the wa (harmony, space for each other) unlike back home where everyone crowds in.
Yes, its beautiful and everyone was so kind and friendly, even a huge city like Tokyo.
The Lord uses even mishaps (deletes) to refine our thoughts and words.
Yes, He does if we allow Him to and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us through the writings of His word and teach us and be open to make changes based on His word, He promises never to go away from Isa8:20
You ask the heart of it: If God claims one day as “My holy day,” dare we shift it? Fair question. Let’s walk gently through the texts—this is a good opportunity for views to be shared.
Wouldn’t God know what is His holy day? He only named one in all of Scripture, He only sanctified one day in all of Scripture, He says He does not change. For me, if we are going to make a change or shift as you say, I would want a thus saith the Lord. Do you have one verse for this shift in God’s own Words. God did say in His own Words- My covenant I will not alter My words Psa89:34, not a jot or tittle, heaven and earth would pass before so and heaven and earth are still here and Jesus has not come in the clouds Mat5:18-19. Jesus said He is Lord of the Sabbath, not Lord of the first day. I think it’s important to allow God to reveal Himself just as He says.
Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man (not against man). The word Jesus used Greek:
anthrōpos, meaning all humanity. Jesus Himself said He is Lord of the Sabbath, not the destroyer of the Sabbath or said Lord of the first day. If there was going to be a shift that makes up the character of God, the Sabbath points to Him as our Creator Exo20:11, our Sanctifier Eze20:12 in the 4th commandment is where He chose to place His seal - which contains His name, territory and title. It was written by the Holy Spirit of Truth, that sits under His mercy seat Exo25:21 in the Most Holy of His Temple and shown in heaven Rev15:5 Rev11:19. If God was going to make a shift or change, He would have told us plainly. He did warn there would be a shift as you call it to His times and laws, but not by Him Dan7:25 and the only law that is a time (every seventh day Exo 20:10) and Law (4th commandment) is the Sabbath. There is a clear history of this change and the government (or beast power) who made this change that they claim if keeping Sunday over God’s Sabbath, you are obeying them over God, said they made this change that the whole world followed, based on their own sense of power over the word of God. I can provide all of the references if you would like. The point is the shift is not a biblical one, God is calling us back to worship the God of Creation Rev14:7 Exo20:11
- The Sabbath is God’s gift—creation sign (Gen 2:3), redemption sign (Deut 5:15), sanctification seal (Ex 31:13). No dispute.
Yes, the Sabbath started at Creation, He made everything according to His perfect plan and the Sabbath was a big part of that. God rested on the seventh day from all His works and blessed and sanctified the seventh day what He calls the Sabbath. God commanded man this same cycle Exo20:8-11 as man was made in the image and likeness of God to do what He does. Both God and Jesus kept the Sabbath- is there a greater example we are to follow in Scripture? Who does Scripture tell us to follow?
- Yet Colossians 2:16–17 calls sabbaths (plural, including the weekly) a shadow whose substance is Christ. Paul isn’t contradicting God; he’s saying the shadow points to the One now present.
Yes it says sabbath(s) plural, that are connected to the sabbath(s) feast days, not the weekly Sabbath God gave to humanity that started at Creation, that is a commandment of God, that came with God’s sanctification and blessing.
Paul came after Christ ratified His covenant at the Cross. It Is Finished. Nothing can be added or changed after His blood. Any changes to God’s covenant requires blood Heb9:15-16. Paul cannot change one thing to God’s covenant, it would require the blood of Jesus all over again and His sacrifice was once and for all Heb10:10. Paul was a servant of Christ and a servant is not greater than their master- we are called to be servants as well Isa56:6. Paul was commissioned to spread the gospel, not change the law of God written by the Holy Spirit. God’s Laws never changed, the words of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments Exo34:28 Deut4:13 written by God, not man, went from tables of stone, to tablets of the heart Heb8:10 2Cor3:3 the law never changed because the law was never the issue, it is perfect sa19:7 holy, just and good Rom7:12 the issue is mans heart.
I will provide you a deeper study of Col 2:14-17 but before I do that can you tell me how the Sabbath ended at the Cross, which is what Col2:14 says, the laws contained in ordinances ended at the cross. So how can the weekly Sabbath end at the Cross, if Jesus in His own Words expected His people to be still keeping it decades later Mat24:20 and eternity Isa66:23. So either we are misunderstanding what Paul is saying like we are warned plainly would happen or Jesus doesn’t know what He is talking about. Both cannot be true. If the weekly Sabbath ended at the Cross, why would His apostles be keeping EVERY Sabbath DECADES after the Cross just as Jesus indicated and predicted His house will be a house of prayer for ALL nations- those who hold fast to His covenant by keeping the Sabbath Isa56:6-7. The shift to God’s Sabbath to Sunday would provide a lot of contradictions to the plain writings of Jesus. Jesus is the way- my faith is in Him.
- The shift isn’t man-made tradition—it’s resurrection reality:
- Christ rose first day (Matt 28:1).
Can you please go back and respond to what I previously addressed on this verse. Where did Jesus say, this made a shift in one of His commandments. Jesus was on this earth 40 days before descending back to heaven where did He once say, we no longer need to keep the Sabbath and now we shift everything to Sunday. Just one verse please.
- Spirit poured out on a first-day feast (Acts 2).
Where does it say the first day, where does it say, this annual feast now removes our moral obligation to keep God’s 4th commandment?
- Church broke bread and collected on the first day (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2). That’s apostolic pattern, not Roman invention.
This was already addressed, if you can please respond to what I addressed previously,
Jesus kept the seventh day perfectly—for us. Now He is our Sabbath rest (Heb 4:9–10). We don’t abandon the convocation; we fulfill it in Him, gathering where His victory is proclaimed.
Jesus kept the Sabbath perfect, He is our example to follow, so now we no longer need to obey or follow what Jesus did. Hebrews 4 does not say Jesus is our Sabbath rest and therefore we can break God’s 4th commandment. I am open to going through this passage with you verse by verse, I have studied it for a long time and what most people don’t look at, it at least references the OT 4 times in this passage, so one would need to understand these OT references to understand this passage. It’s not an easy one to understand because there’s a lot going on in a short amount of verses. I am happy going through it though if you would like, I can promise you though what it’s saying is the exact opposite of what most people use it against. It’s actually warning us about not keeping the Sabbath. Would you like to go through this verse by verse? We can look at the greek words used here which will also help bring in more understanding.
You love the texts—let’s keep digging together. What do you make of the first-day gatherings in Acts and Corinthians? No pressure, just iron sharpening iron.
I am happy to do this and pray we can both be open to what the Scriptures are really saying. In order to progress, we need to respond to things that have been addressed so we can keep proceeding forward. Does that sound fair to you?
Thank you again for your thoughts—it gives me a chance to dig deeper, always good for the mind.
At the end, we should all be seeking for God’s Truth. That’s what sets us free.
Have a great day/night. God bless.
Thank you and God bless!