WHEN DID PEOPLE START KEEPING THE SABBATH?

Largely Transcript of Video by Chaazawan

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As Israelites and all who have identified spiritually with the God of Israel, we are required to keep the Sabbath day. However, some people teach that we no longer have to keep it because the Sabbath day wasn’t established until Moses gave the law. Then they say that since the law is done away with, we don’t have to keep the Sabbath anymore.

First of all, that’s completely wrong; the law is not done away with, and secondly, the Sabbath day was established before Moses was even born. Before Moses ever received any commandment, the seventh day was already in place; it was kept from the very first day that it was created. Let’s prove it: GENESIS 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

So, the Most High God through Jesus made mankind—male and female.

Let’s go down to verse 31:

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

So, we see that man was created on day six—that is the point that I want from the above verse; the man was created on day six, keep that in mind. Now let’s go to GENESIS 2:1-3:

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.”

So here we see that the Most High blessed the seventh day, and he sanctified it. The word sanctified in this verse is the Hebrew word qadash—and it means to make holy or set apart as Holy. Now, does it make any logical sense that the Most High would set apart the seventh day as a holy day and not tell Adam about it? Who else was going to keep it holy? We know through the Scriptures that the Most High communicated with Adam so, it would be illogical to think that the Most High failed to tell Adam that he set the seventh day apart as a holy day.

See, at that time, the man Adam was the representation of the Most High on earth; how could he be that representation if he didn’t follow the Most High’s example of resting on the seventh day? So, Adam was made on day six, and when day seven came, the Most High would have automatically told him this day is set apart as a holy day. Now, let’s further prove it: here’s a question, why was the Sabbath day even made? let’s go to Mark 2:27

In this passage, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees:

27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

Now, notice what it says; it says the Sabbath was made for man; in other words, the Sabbath day was made to give the man a day of rest from all his labours. So, why would the Most High create a day for a man to rest on but not tell Adam about it? That makes no sense! Now let’s look at this verse and agree because the Greek text makes it very clear:

 MARK 2:27: “Kai elegen autois To sabaton dia ton anthropon egeneto kai ouch ho Anthropos dia to sabaton.”

Now, when we translate that into English, he said unto them the Sabbath was made for the man and not man for the Sabbath. See, the Greek doesn’t just say the Sabbath was made for man; the Greek text says the Sabbath was made for the man. So, who is the man that the Sabbath was made for? He’s talking about the man Adam; the Sabbath was made for the man Adam to have a day of rest.

Again, why would the Most High make the Sabbath day for Adam and not tell him about it? Obviously, he did tell him about it, and therefore we know that Adam and Eve kept the Sabbath day; we know that they didn’t break it because the Bible doesn’t record them doing anything wrong until the serpent came and beguiled Eve. Now, if Adam and Eve kept the Sabbath day, we know that they taught their children to keep it as well.

How do we know that they taught their children? Let us see:

MATTHEW 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

Abel did what was righteous before God, including keeping the Sabbath.

Let’s jump ahead a little to the time of Enoch, who was the seventh descendant of Adam. GENESIS 5:24 “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”

Now, what does it mean Enoch walked with the Most High? It means that he was a prophet; he knew about the Most High and his will through his forefather Adam. We know that Enoch had a relationship with the Most High; therefore, Enoch would have known about the purpose of the Sabbath day. Now, not only did he know about the Sabbath day, he kept the Sabbath day. Look at this in Hebrews 11:5:

“By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”

Now, the only way that Enoch could have pleased the Most High was if he followed the Most High’s example. If Enoch wasn’t keeping the Sabbath day, he would have opposed the Most High’s law; however, the book of Hebrews says that he pleased the Most High, so we know that he kept the Sabbath day.

Now let’s jump ahead to the time of Noah before the flood came.

GENESIS 6:7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

So, the Most High was going to destroy mankind because of all the wickedness that they were doing on earth, but watch verse 8:

but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now, out of everybody on earth, why did Noah find grace with the Most High? verse 9:

“These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.”

Again, just like Enoch, Noah walked with the Most High. Noah was a prophet also; notice it says that he was a just man and perfect in his generation. Now, what makes Noah just and perfect? Noah was called perfect because he was not rebellious towards the Most High like everybody else at that time; he kept the laws and followed the ways of the Most High. Part of following the ways of the Most High was the keeping of the Sabbath day. Adam kept it, and Noah was of the same family line, and he kept it too. Not only did Noah keep it, but he also taught it as well; look at this:

2 PETER 2:5 “And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;”

So, here it says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness, which means that he was teaching people to follow the instructions of the Most High. We know that the Most High created the Sabbath day for the man to rest on; therefore, Noah would have been teaching people to rest on the day that the Most High set apart as Holy.

Now, Noah was keeping the Sabbath, and we know that he taught his children to keep it as well; let’s go back to Genesis 6:10:

And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

We know that Ham and Japheth didn’t follow the ways on the Most High, but Shem, the chosen child, did follow the Most High. Shem is the forefather of Abraham; the Bible tells us explicitly that Abraham kept the laws, statutes and commandments; look at GENESIS 26:5:

“Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

And for this, the Most High says: “And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

Now, a lot of people don’t like to use this verse as proof of Abraham keeping the Sabbath day, but this verse emphatically proves that Abraham did keep the Sabbath. Let’s read verse 5 again and look at the way it’s worded; it says: because that Abraham obeyed my voice, in other words, Abraham listened to any general instructions that the Most High gave them; further, it says: and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws. Notice that God made a difference between obeying his voice and following his laws, statutes and commandments.

You see, following his voice means Abraham did whatever the Most High told him to do! But what was the laws, statutes and commandments that Abraham kept? That’s talking about the same laws, statutes and commandments that we are commanded to keep today; let’s prove it:

GENESIS 18:17-19 “And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; 18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”

Now, God said that he knew that Abraham would teach his children to keep the ways of the LORD; so, whatever the way of the LORD is, we know that Abraham’s children kept it.

JUDGES 2:20:

“And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice;”

Now, what is the covenant that Israel transgressed? It was the laws, the statutes and commandments; part of the laws, statutes, and commandments is to keep the Sabbath day—one of the main laws that Israel was breaking.

You see, Israel didn’t walk in the ways of the LORD; they broke the laws:

verses 21-22 I “also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: 22 That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.”

Again, what is the way of the Lord that he wanted them to walk in? It’s the law, statutes and commandments. Now, let’s go back to Genesis 18:19, this is the Most High talking, and it says:

“For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”

So, the Most High said that he knew that Abraham would teach his children to keep the laws, statutes and commandments. Why? Because Abraham himself kept them, including the Sabbath instruction. It says: to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. Let’s look at Genesis 26:5 again, it says:

“Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

So, now we understand that this verse proves that Abraham was keeping the Sabbath day; we also read that Abraham taught his children to keep the laws. We talked about everybody, starting from Adam down to Abraham and his children—all kept the Sabbath day before Moses ever gave the Commandments on Mount Sinai.

Let’s go to Exodus 16:25; this is still before Moses gave the Ten Commandments, it says:

25 And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the Lord: to day ye shall not find it in the field. 26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.

So, we see that Moses gave them instructions about the Sabbath day; verses 27-28:

And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. 28 And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?

If this was the first time Israel ever heard about the Sabbath day, why would the Most High say how long refuse you to keep my commandments and my laws? He said that because their forefathers were keeping it at a point, but over time, they started to break it, and that’s why God said, how long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws.

See, the Most High couldn’t say that if there wasn’t a time when Israelites were keeping the Sabbath; they were already aware of it but weren’t keeping it anymore as a nation.

verses 29-30 “See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.”

The above passage shows us that before Moses gave the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, Israel was already keeping the Sabbath day. Now let’s go to when the commandments were actually given to Israel in written form; this is Exodus 20:8-9:

8 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:”

Now again, many people think this is the first time that Israel is hearing the Sabbath day law. But this is the Most High re-establishing the Sabbath day among the children of Israel; at one time, they were keeping it, but they started to ignore it over time, and that’s why the Most High said “remember” the Sabbath day to keep it holy. He’s telling them not to ignore the day but to remember to keep it as their forefathers did before the Egyptian captivity. How can they remember if it was not already in place? How can they remember if they were not aware of it before that time?

Verse 10:

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

Again, the Most High is re-establishing the proper way to keep the Sabbath day. Now let’s go to Deuteronomy chapter 5 because there’s a very important point in that chapter; Deuteronomy 5:12:

This is Moses telling the story again about how God gave Israel the commandments from Mount Sinai, it says:

Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.

Again, the word “sanctify” in this verse is the Hebrew word qadash—which means to set apart as holy. Now, when did the Most High make the seventh day holy? He did it back during the time of creation, not during the time of Moses. So, think about it, the Most High had a holy day for thousands of years, but he never told anybody about it? Was it only until when Moses came on the scene? That’s ridiculous, and that makes no sense!

Verse 13:

13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: 14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

Why is the Most High going over this with them? Because the children of Israel were forced as slaves in Egypt to work continually. They were not allowed to keep the Sabbath, so it became normal for them to work every day, and that’s why the Most High said this in verse 15.  

15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.

So, God gave Israel rest from their labour; now, they had no reason that they couldn’t keep the Sabbath day. Again, this proves that they knew about the Sabbath day while they were in Egypt, but due to their circumstances, were not able to keep it; they were slaves at the mercy of Pharaoh, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Most High ordained the Sabbath day to be kept.

So again, the Sabbath day wasn’t something new that Moses introduced; Moses was sent by the Most High to re-establish what our forefathers were doing from the beginning of time. So, when did people start keeping the Sabbath day? Ever since the Most High sanctified it and gave it to Adam.

In summary, it would be a deception of highest order teaching people that the Sabbath was instituted for the children of Israel to celebrate their exit from Egypt and a day for a holy convocation. Teaching such would be teaching false doctrine; teaching that God gave Sunday (the supposed day of Jesus’ resurrection) as a day for Christians to celebrate their redemption and a holy convocation—this idea is false and a deception. The Bible doesn’t mention this—nowhere is this stated—it is man-made.

God never stopped reminding his children to remember his laws: How? Let’s see:

Malachi 4:4 “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.”

The tithe verse that people so passionately obey because it brings money to the church and nourishes the overseers’ pockets is from the laws that God commanded Moses to write. Will you only remember Malachi 3:8-10 and not remember Malachi 4:4? Is God only telling you to remember the tithing law? They were to remember all the commandments and not just the tithing law. Don’t be deceived! Be wise!