The Jewish people worship their G-d on (seventh-day) Sabbath Day. Judaism clearly describes the time of the Sabbath Day as beginning on Friday when sunset comes and ending on Saturday evening, barely 30 minutes after sunset. When three stars can be seen clearly at the sky after sunset has arrive the Sabbath ends officially after the recital of Havdala.  

The Gentile people who keep shabat (Sabbath) simply mark the Sabbath Day starting at Friday sunset and ending on Saturday sunset. The Holy Bible through the writings of the Sabbath-keeping Christian Churches of God can easily help us understand the separation of the Sabbath Day as a Holy Day from the rest of the other days of the week.

But Rav Yeshua is describing here how the believers in Yeshua should keep the Sabbath Day in accordance to the scriptural teachings of the Lord—Word of God.

The keeping of the Sabbath Day is part of the mitzvot of God in the Torah of Moses. The Jewish rabbis are presently occupying the seat of Moses. The Lord that the Gentile believers know as Jesus Christ told us in the gospel books how we should approach the keeping of Shabat and other things that we would like to know in His faith (emuna).

“Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do”” (Matthew 23:1-3, NKJV).

The scribes and the Pharisees of old have continued to exist today through the offices of the Jewish rabbis affiliated in the Orthodox Jewish movement of Judaism. The rest of the other Jewish rabbis belonging to the movements of Reform, Conservative, Karaite and others are not exactly seating upon Moses’ seat. You can also learn from the Jewish rabbis of Chabad (Ultra-Orthodox) community but do not practice what they are saying when it comes to the identity of the Messiah of Israel.

Now simply follow what Jesus had said in Mathew 23:1-3 and consider as well what are written on the verses following. You are being commanded to observe and do what the Jewish rabbis that keep and teach the Torah are teaching, at least when it comes to the art of Sabbath-keeping.

In Judaism we believe the Sabbath Day is one of the Feasts of the Lord. Many Sabbath-keepers today who are following the commandments of God the best they can turn the Sabbath Day into a weekly Feast. They make the Sabbath Day as a very special Day of the Week wherein they can eat on that day the most delicious food of the week. The Jewish people even perform the rite of Kiddush on Friday night and on Saturday morning in celebration of the holiness of the Sabbath.

“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.'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”” (Leviticus 23:1-3, NKJV).

If you want to get closer to God and Jesus Christ, keep the Sabbath Day holy and pure.

By the way, for your information, God through Jesus has made the faithful believers of the Lord into His priests and Kings (Jews are the Kings of the World). Only those that believe and observe all of the commandments of God in the Torah can serve as the priests of God on earth under Jesus the Lord. If you have no understanding about the Torah of Moses you are not a priest of God at all.

Not all of the Jewish people on earth can serve as the priests of God even if we have this maxim in Judaism—what is good for the priests is also good for all the Jewish people. This saying simply means the laws applicable to the priests are also applicable for the common people of Israel. This maxim is not really for the Gentile people at all.

But there are two verses in the book of Revelation that are saying those people that are faithful to Jesus have already been turned into priests.

“John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:4-6, NKJV).

You can only be a king (Jew) and a priest of the God of Israel if you are a Jew, physically and spiritually. Physically you can become a Jew when you convert to the religion of Judaism. Spiritually you are a Jew when you follow and keep the Torah of Moses. There are many natural-born Jews on earth that are not Jewish spiritually. Most of the Zionist leaders of the little nation of Israel are not Jewish spiritually. Wearing a kippa in your head does not make you a Jew; remember what Paul had written in Romans 2:28-29.

Paul is not speaking of the Gentile people who are saying they are Jewish. But Paul is referring to the natural-born Jews that appear Jewish externally but internally they are not keeping the Torah of Moses at all.

“For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God” (Romans 2:28-29, NKJV).

Paul is implicitly saying that a Jew should believe in Jesus the Promised Messiah of God. Besides that Paul is telling us that you must be both Jewish inwardly and outwardly. Otherwise you are not really Jewish at all for we can easily judge by our own eyes when we see you are not wearing a kippa (head covering) and not keeping the Sabbath at all.

It is not easy to understand the things written in the Bible when you are a Christian. The Christian people can never be considered a Jew since we know that Sabbath-keeping Christians are not really keeping the Sabbath Day righteously. For instance, many members of the Seventh Day Church of God (Sardis) are keeping the Sabbath Day only during the daylight portion of Saturday.

They are not really keeping the Sabbath Day at all.

The members of the remnant of the Church in Sardis have been written off as dead in the eyes of Jesus Christ.

In the Torah, a Jew can work on Sabbath Day only when he is a priest (Kohen) or a Levite. The priests can work on Sabbath Day when his work is part of serving and glorifying God. We can slaughter an animal sacrifice on Sabbath Day. Saving lives permit a Jew to break the Sabbath Day but the Gentile idea of work is not consider as a matter of life and death situation.

The priests of the Lord work in the Temple of God on Sabbath Day for that is part of their service before God.

In a very different way, a Jewish rabbi work on Sabbath Day in the synagogue for that is part of their job. A cantor work on Sabbath Day in the synagogue for that is their work. Both of them are being paid by the members of the synagogue to perform their work before the congregation on Sabbath Day.

The keeping of the Sabbath Day comes with a blessing on it. 

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