Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover: As Yet

Is Saturday The Sabbath - Part 1

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Old Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2025-10-26

Synopsis: John Weaver examines whether Saturday is the biblical Sabbath, arguing that the weekly Sabbath was not fixed to a specific day of the week but was determined by the Hebrew calendar, with fixed dates like Abib 15 always being a Sabbath. He distinguishes between the Creation Sabbath, Hebrew Sabbath, Canaan Sabbath, and Christian Sabbath, and emphasizes that all Sabbaths—weekly, monthly, annual, sabbatical year, and Jubilee—must be kept consistently. The lecture sets up a three-part series, promising to address the Christian Sabbath and New Testament fulfillment in later messages.

[John Weaver] All right, let's begin today by reading Deuteronomy chapter 16, verses 1 through 9. God says, Observe the month Abib, and keep the Passover unto the Lord thy God. For in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord thy God of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Lord shall choose the place's name there. Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it, seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction. For thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste, that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest out of the land of Egypt, all the days of thy life. And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee on all thy coasts seven days, neither shall there anything of the flesh which thou sacrificest the first day that even remain all night until the morning. Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, but at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in.

[John Weaver] There thou shalt sacrifice the Passover even at the going down of the sun at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. And thou shalt turn it in the morning and go into thy tents. Six days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God. Thou shalt do no work therein. Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee. Begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. So let me give you the title of this message, and it's going to be in three parts. So the questions I hope that are unanswered today, will begin to be answered next Lord's Day and then the following Lord's Day as well. So the title of the message is this. Is Saturday the Sabbath?

[John Weaver] If so, why do we worship on Sunday? Is Saturday the Sabbath? If so, why do we worship on Sunday? So years ago, I preached a message which I titled The Principle of Rest. in which I actually dealt with the Sabbath issue. However, it seems today there's still a lot of confusion, there's still a lot of questions over the Sabbath, and so I just simply want to try to share what the Bible really says and show you the difficulty that many people are facing. And usually when you talk about the Sabbath, most everybody is talking about what is known as the weekly Sabbath.

[John Weaver] But at the same time, they neglect all the other Sabbaths. And many think that Saturday is the Sabbath, and thus they turned around and worshipped in on Saturday. So here's the principle. If one Sabbath is kept in order to be consistent, all the other Sabbaths must be kept as well. So I want you to remember there are weekly Sabbaths. there are new moon sabbaths, the seven annual feasts were sabbaths, there was a sabbatical year, and there was also the year of jubilee. All of these were considered as sabbaths. I do not know any sabbatarian that keeps the sabbath the way it is outlined in the Bible. Neither do I know any sabbatarian that keeps all of the Sabbaths that are mentioned in the Bible. So, we're going to be talking about keeping a Sabbath. Here's a question that I'm going to ask you. Are you interested in keeping the Creation Sabbath, the Hebrew Sabbath, the Canaan Sabbath, or the Christian Sabbath? Because all four of them are mentioned in the Bible. Now, the reason I titled on my previous message, The Principle of Rest, is simply because of the word Sabbath.

[John Weaver] The word Sabbath actually means rest. So rest then was mandated not only in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament as well. Now, interestingly, there's nothing in the Bible that determines the length of a Sabbath. A Sabbath may be the length of one day, Exodus chapter 20, verses 8 through 11, and Deuteronomy chapter 5 verses 12 through 15. It could also be a rest of two days, Leviticus 23 verses 15 through 21. It could also be a rest of one year long, Leviticus 25 verses 4 and 8. And it could also be a rest of two years long. And it could also be a rest of 70 years long.

[John Weaver] according to 2 Chronicles 36 and verse 21. So let me show you, first of all, at least the first three rests. So if you'll look in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 20, Exodus chapter 20, and let's begin reading there with verse 8, Exodus 20 and verse 8, and here we're going to be reading about the creation rest. So Exodus chapter 20, begin reading there in verse 8, God says this, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, and note if you would, it says remember. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, 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 in thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day. Wherefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

[John Weaver] So here's a good question. What day of creation was the Sabbath? Now, when I ask that question, I know you're going to say, well, it was the seventh day. I understand that. But what day did God begin creating? Does anybody know? And the answer is absolutely no. So we have no idea basically what the creation Sabbath was except it was the seventh day God had completed all of his works in six days and the seventh day he finished it. Now this is the creation Sabbath. Now if you look in Exodus chapter 31 you're going to see the Hebrew Sabbath. This is where God delivered the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. In Exodus chapter 31, look if you would at verse 13. In fact, we'll read verse 12. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily 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 that doth sanctify you.

[John Weaver] Now, I want to call your attention to what is said in verse 13. Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths, plural, you shall keep. Not just a weekly sabbath, all of the sabbaths you shall keep.

[John Weaver] Now, if you would turn over in your Bibles to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 20, and notice verses 11 through 16. Ezekiel chapter 20, beginning there with verse 11. Again, God is talking about these Sabbaths. So Ezekiel 20, look, if you would please, and verse 11. In fact, we will read verse 10. Look at it. Wherefore, I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. So we're talking about the Hebrew Sabbaths delivered from Egypt.

[John Weaver] And I gave them my statutes and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, notice it is plural, to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that does sanctify them. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness, they walked not in my statutes, they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them, and my sabbaths, plural, they greatly polluted. Then I said I will pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness to consume them. But I wrought for my namesake that it should not be polluted among the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, and polluted my sabbaths, plural, for

[John Weaver] their heart went after idols." So now we're talking about the Hebrew Sabbath. I want you to go back in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 31 because I want you to note that according to the Word of God absolutely no work could be done on these Sabbaths or in these Sabbaths. So notice we would in Exodus chapter 31 look if you would beginning there with verse 15 look what he says Exodus chapter 31 and verse 15 six days may work be done but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest holy to the Lord now look at this whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day he shall surely be put to death Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbaths throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant. Now it says no work is to be done. If you would turn over to Exodus chapter 35 and look again at verses 2 and 3.

[John Weaver] Again, it's stated very plainly. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you in holy day a Sabbath of rest to the Lord, Whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. Now look at this. You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day. In other words, everything was nailed down. No work to be done. You could not even kindle a fire. In fact, in the book of Numbers, if you will turn to Numbers chapter 15, there was a man who was found picking up sticks on the Sabbath day and of course God then determined that he was to be put to death because he was gathering sticks on the Sabbath day so look if you would to the book of Numbers chapter 15 beginning there with verse 32 the Bible says, and while the children of Israel were in the wilderness they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day And they that found him gathering stakes brought him unto Moses, and to Aaron, and to all

[John Weaver] the congregation. And they put him in a ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died as the Lord commanded Moses." Now, you're going to ask, Why in the world was this man put to death just simply because he gathered sticks on the Sabbath day?

[John Weaver] Well, there's an answer for that, and you will probably get it at least by the third message. But it's important that you note that it was rest that God absolutely demanded.

[John Weaver] Now, no work could be done on the New Moon Sabbaths. Now, what was the New Moon Sabbath? It was a monthly Sabbath. So every month had a new moon. And so you not only had weekly Sabbaths, but you also had monthly Sabbaths.

[John Weaver] Now, if you look at Numbers chapter 28 and verse 11. Numbers 28. Look at this. And verse 11. Note what the word of God says. And in the beginning of your months, this is the new moon. In the beginning of your months you shall offer a burnt offering unto the Lord, two young bullocks and one ram, seven lambs of the first year without spot, and three-tenth deals of flour for a meal offering, mingled with oil for one bullock and two-tenth deals of flour for a meal offering, mingled with oil for a ram. And he goes on. But note, if you would, this is in the beginning of your months. Now, if you would turn right over to First Chronicles, Chapter 23. So it's 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles. Look in 1st Chronicles chapter 23 and verse 31. 1st Chronicles chapter 23 verse 31. Look what the Bible says. And to offer all burnt sacrifices unto the Lord in the sabbaths, that's plural, in the new moons, that's plural, And on set feasts, that's plural, by number, according to the order commanded in them, continually before the Lord.

[John Weaver] Now God then had ordained all of these Sabbaths, and each one of them had certain ordinances, statutes, that had to be followed to the end to agree. Now, the problem was, The people of Israel did not want to rest. They wanted to do whatever they wanted to do. They wanted to rebel against God. There's a reason why the word Sabbath means rest, which I will explain that by the time we get to the third message. But in the book of Amos, chapter 8 and verse 5, if you want to turn there, fine.

[John Weaver] If not, I will quote it. I will read it. But this shows you the contempt that the Israelites had, not only for their weekly sabbaths, but also for their new moon sabbaths as well. And here's what the scripture says, saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn, and the sabbath that we may set forth wheat, making the ephos small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit. So they said we just want to get the Sabbath out of the way. We want to get the new moon out of the way. What we want to do is go back to our business. We want to make money and we're going to defraud. We're going to make the ethos small. We're going to make everything else work out for our benefit. So they're despising the Sabbath is what it amounts to.

[John Weaver] Now in the Old Testament The Sabbath was not primarily a day of worship. It was primarily a day of rest. Worship in the Old Testament was family-centered and it revolved around everyday life. The central demand of the Sabbath was rest. Weekly worship did not really begin until the intertestamental period. That is, the period between the Old Testament and the New Testament, which happened to be about 400 years. And then, of course, it continued in the New Testament, and especially in relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. So, we've looked at the Creation Sabbath. We've looked at the Hebrew Sabbath.

[John Weaver] Now, if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 4, I will show you the Canaan Sabbath. Hebrews chapter 4 and let's begin reading there with verse 4. Hebrews 4 and verse 4. Now the creation Sabbath celebrated creation. The Hebrew Sabbath celebrated deliverance from Israel from Egypt. And now we have the Canaan Sabbath which celebrates the conquest of St. Canaan land. not only entrance into it but the conquest so look in verse 4 the Bible says for he spake that is for God spake in a certain place on the seventh day on this wise and God did rest in the seventh day from his works that's a reference to the creation rest and in this place again if they shall enter into my rest now we're talking about the Canaan rest seeing therefore it remains that some must enter therein And they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief.

[John Weaver] You know, they fell in the wilderness, all but Caleb and Joshua. Seeing, therefore, it remained that some must enter therein. And they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief. Again, he limited a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time, as it is said, Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

[John Weaver] Now look at verse 8. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day? Now the word Jesus is the word Joshua. For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day? Now the word Jesus in the Greek is the word Jesus and it literally means Jehovah saves or Jehovah is salvation. Joshua in the Hebrew is Yahashua, and it simply means Jehovah is salvation. So far I've showed you the Creation Sabbath, the Hebrew Sabbath, and now the Canaan Sabbath.

[John Weaver] But I'm going to hold off on the Christian Sabbath, and you're going to see this very plainly, especially when we get to the third message. So, the Hebrew Sabbath always began in the evening, and it continued until the next evening. Okay? Our days begin in the morning, but not according to the Hebrews. The Israelites, their day began in the evening. So, what day was the Sabbath on?

[John Weaver] Before I answer that question, Do you realize that there could be numerous Sabbaths in a week? You had your weekly Sabbath, but you also had a new moon Sabbath. That means the weekly Sabbath and the new moon Sabbath might fall in one week. What about the feast days? Of course, God mentioned those as being Sabbaths as well. So it's possible did at least have a minimum of one each week, but you could possibly have two, and if it fell just right, you might have as many as three in one particular week. So, the sabbatical year, which was once every seven years, did not cause the weekly Sabbaths to cease. Neither did it cause the New Moon Sabbaths to cease. Neither did it cause that seven annual feasts to cease, which were considered Sabbaths as well. So every seventh year was a sabbatical year in the Hebrew. Now, if one is going to keep a weekly Sabbath, why does he not keep all of the other Sabbaths? Why is emphasis placed upon a weekly Sabbath and all the others are absolutely totally ignored?

[John Weaver] So, I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Leviticus, chapter 26. Now, I want you to understand that the sabbatical year had certain things that had to be done. One of those things that had to be done was the land had to rest. In other words, nothing to be planted during the sabbatical year. There were other things. debts had to be forgiven, but I want to call your attention to Leviticus chapter 26, and let's begin reading there verse 35. In fact, let's go back to verse 34. God says, Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lie desolate, and you be in your enemy's land, even then shall the land rest and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lie desolate, it shall rest. because it did not rest in your Sabbaths when you dwelt upon it.

[John Weaver] So then he says in verse 36, And upon them that are left alive of you, I will send the faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them, and they shall flee as fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when none pursue it. So God says, look, if you do not observe my Sabbaths, especially this sabbatical year, if you do not fulfill this, you're going into captivity, and while you're in captivity, your land is going to rest.

[John Weaver] Now, if you would turn over your Bibles to 2 Chronicles, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles chapter 36, I want to point out the fact that this is one reason that the children of Israel went into captivity, because they neglected the sabbatical year. they refused to allow the land to rest. So in 2 Chronicles chapter 36, note if you would, beginning there with verse 20, the Bible says, And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon, where they were servants to him and to his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia. Now watch this. To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths For as long as she lay desolate, she kept Sabbath to fulfill three score and ten years, seventy years. So while the children of Judah and Jerusalem were in captivity in Babylon, seventy years, the land was enjoying her Sabbaths. Now, here's the question. Was the weekly Sabbath on Saturday?

[John Weaver] I want you to understand that the word Saturday was not even in existence when the Sabbaths began. Okay? In fact, we get our weekdays and even months basically from the Roman calendar. In 321 AD, Constantine Emperor Constantine had been converted to Christianity and of course he then designated Sunday as the first day of our week. Our weekdays are named after planets and everything else like Saturday was actually Saturn's day, Monday was moon day, that's how they're named. So this is why I'm saying, back when the Sabbaths began, there were no Saturdays or Sundays or anything like that. And so, when you stop and think about this, the Hebrews usually named the days of the week like this, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, and Sabbath, or Sabbath. So there were no weekday, so when someone comes along and says, well, Saturday is the Sabbath, well, when does Saturday even become the Sabbath? So, I want to show you this. I want you to follow me now because this is going to take you through a lot of scriptures.

[John Weaver] I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Exodus, chapter 12. So, you have to understand when the Hebrew calendar began what its first month was, what its first day was, and why. Now, we know that the first month in the Hebrew calendar was the month Aviv. How do we know that? Because it's stated over and over in the Bible. So look, if you would, Exodus chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Now, we're going to have to find out what month that was. So whatever month this is, it's going to be equal to our January. January is the first month of our year. So God says this month is going to be the first month for you. So if you look in Exodus chapter 13, verse four, you're going to see this. I'm going to show it to you several times.

[John Weaver] Exodus chapter 13, verse 4. God says this day came you out in the month Abib. Wow, there it is spelled out, Abib. That was the month that the children of Israel were delivered out of the land of Egypt. Now look in Exodus chapter 23, if you would, and verse 15. Exodus 23, verse 15. God says, Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread. Thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed of the month Abib. For in it thou camest forth from Egypt, and none shall appear before me empty." So again God has said it is the month Abib. Now if you look in Exodus chapter 34 and verse 18. Exodus 34 verse 18. Watch this. Look what God says. The Feast of Unleavened Bread shalt thou keep. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee in the time of the month Abib. For in the month Abib camest thou from Egypt. One last one. Look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy 16, which we read at the beginning of this message.

[John Weaver] Deuteronomy 16, verse one. God said, Observe the month Abib. and keep the Passover to the Lord thy God, for in the month of Abib, the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night." So now we know the first month of the Hebrew calendar was Abib. It was equal to our January, okay? Now, how did their month begin? We know it would have to be Abib 1, but what determined how that month began? It was the date that God set.

[John Weaver] So I want you to see this. I want you to look in your Bibles, because if there is a first month, there must be a first day of the month. I want you to look in Exodus chapter 12 again, and verse 6. Look what God says. Exodus chapter 12, and note if you would, verse 5, so you can see the context. This is the Passover lamb. He says, Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month.

[John Weaver] And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall killeth in the evening. Okay? So the Passover was Abib 14. Okay?

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus chapter 23 and verse 5. Leviticus 23 verse 5. Hang on. The Bible says, in the 14th day of the first month, that would be Aviv, at even is the Lord's Passover. Look at verse 6, and on the 15th day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.

[John Weaver] Now wait a minute, 14 and 15 are very important, okay? Look, if you would, in the book of Numbers, Numbers chapter 9, and verse 3. You're going to have to see this. Numbers 9, look if you would please at verse 3. Look what the Bible says. Numbers 9, verse 3. In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, you shall keep it in its appointed season, according to all the rites of it, according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall you keep it. One more, in the book of Numbers chapter 28, look in verse 16. We're going to work this out, but look at Numbers chapter 28 and verse 16. Here's what the Bible says. Numbers 28 verse 16. And in the 14th day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord. And in the 15th day of this month is the feast.

[John Weaver] Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. Now, Abeb 14 was the Passover. Remember, if you would, the Hebrew days began in the evening. So, the evening of Abib 14 began Abib 15. I just read to you where he said Abib 15 was the celebration of Unleavened Bread. Wow! So, that means this. Abib 15 had to be a Sabbath every year. Because the Passover is on the 14th, the 15th had to be, it had to be a Sabbath. So that meant Abib 1, Abib 8, and Abib 15 were always Sabbath days. always now hang on with me uh abeb 14 was not a passover i mean but not was not a sabbath it was the passover but not the sabbath why because you had to do work on the on the passover you you had to uh get the animal up you had to kill the animal you had to clean the animal you had to cook the animal And in the original Passover of Egypt, you had to pack up everything and God said you had to eat it with your loins girded and with your shoes on your feet.

[John Weaver] I mean, it was it was done in haste. So since the Passover was work, it was not a Sabbath day because God says no work is to be done on Sabbath day.

[John Weaver] Now, I'm going to give you a quote and I want you to listen carefully. If you can find this book, please get it for me. It's a little booklet. I don't care if it's 15 bucks or 20 bucks, I would pay it. But I don't have the book, but I do have several quotes from the book. The book was written by Curtis Clare Ewing, and it's on Israel's calendar.

[John Weaver] And it deals with the Sabbath days as well. So here's what Curtis Clare Ewing wrote in his study on the Hebrew calendar. He said this, The Hebrews retained an Egyptian calendar of 12 months of 30 days. But instead of adding 5 supplemental days at the end of the year, they added 3 at the end of the 6th month and 2 at the end of the 12th month. Now listen, the 15th day of Abib, the first month, had to be a Sabbath every year, which meant that the 1st and 8th of Abib were fixed Sabbaths, as were the 7 Sabbaths following Abib 15.

[John Weaver] I want to show you this in the Bible. I want you to think about this. Abib 15, the date is set. It has to be a Sabbath. So that means the first and the eighth had to be a Sabbath. And there were seven more Sabbaths following Abib 15. So if you'll look in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus, the book of Leviticus chapter 23. And let's begin reading there with verse one. you will see the following Sabbaths and how everything swung from Abib 15. Watch this, Leviticus chapter 23 beginning with verse 1 and we'll read through verse 16. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts, Six days shall work be done, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work therein. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. Now look, these are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their seasons.

[John Weaver] In the fourteenth day of the first month of Eve is the Lord's Passover. That's not a Sabbath because you had to work there. And on the fifteenth day, there it is, On the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. So your 15th had to be a Sabbath. Now watch. In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein. It's a Sabbath. Okay, verse 8. But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord seven days. In the seventh day is a holy convocation. Ah, that's another seventh day. you shall do no survival work therein." So it goes from Sabbath to Sabbath. Now watch this.

[John Weaver] And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Will you be come into the land which I give you, and shall reap the harvest thereof? Then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvests unto the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you on the morrow. After the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And you shall offer that day, when you waive the sheaf of he-lamb without blemish, of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord. And the meal offering thereof shall be two-tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, and an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour.

[John Weaver] And the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hen, And he shall eat it, and you shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the seventh same day that you have brought an offering unto your God. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. And you shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from that day that you brought the sheep of the way of offering, seven sabbaths shall be complete. Okay? Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall you number fifty days, and you shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord." So here, all these seven Sabbaths worked off of a Bibb 15. What is seven times seven? 49. What was the fiftieth day? Pentecost. You can find that in Acts chapter 2, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, because all of these were based upon Sabbath days.

[John Weaver] Now, I want to go back and finish quoting what Ewing said. It's just a short little bit. Listen carefully. He said, but this is not all, when he's talking about everything swung from the 15th, but this is not all. According to Exodus 12, 3, 5, 6, and 24, and Leviticus 23, 15, the 10th the 14th and the 16th of Ab, could never be Sabbaths because they were work days of specific commands, real work, like cleaning house, butchering cattle, and reaping females. So while you had certain days that were set to be Sabbath days, there were certain days that could never be a Sabbath day because work was commanded.

[John Weaver] You see, God is not the author of confusion. You'll find that in 1 Corinthians chapter 14. God is not going to command that you not do any work one day and then turn around and command that you do work that day. God is not the author of confusion. So everything is set.

[John Weaver] Now, you remember the seven annual feasts were Sabbaths as well. There were spring feasts and there were also fall feasts. So here we go, here are the seven annual feasts. These were considered Sabbaths, Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Pentecost. These were spring feasts. There were three fall feasts, and that was Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles. All of these fell on specific times of the year, and each time they fell, it was a Sabbath.

[John Weaver] Now, if you'll go back to the book of Exodus, chapter 34, I want you to note that all the males in Israel had to attend these feasts and they could not appear before the Lord empty. Women were not necessarily required to attend all of them. Children are not necessarily required to attend all of them. Most of the time they did. But all the males were required to attend. So if you look in Exodus chapter 34, beginning there with verse 18.

[John Weaver] The feast of unleavened bread thou shalt keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread as I commanded thee in the time of the month Abib. For the month Abib camest thou out of Egypt. All that openeth the matrix is mine. And every firstling among thy cattle, whether of ox or sheep, that is male, But the first thing of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb, and if thou redeem it not thou shalt break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem, and none shall appear before me empty. Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest. In earring time and in harvest thou shalt rest, and thou shalt observe the Feast of Weeks of the first fruits of wheat harvest and the feast of ingathering in the years in." Now, God said three times that these feasts were to be held and of course none of those males were to appear before him empty.

[John Weaver] Now, I've just put together a bunch of scriptures for you. So I'm going to ask you some questions. I want you to think about this. Was Saturday the Sabbath? And you understand the word Saturday did not exist back then. But in our understanding, with our comprehension of time, was Saturday a Sabbath? Well, you had seven days in a week. So let me put it to you like this. Yes, and no is the answer no saturday was not the weekly sabbath and yes saturday was a weekly sabbath once every seven years you say how in the world can that possibly be may i remind you the children of israel went through the Passover on Abib 14. Abib 15 was a Sabbath.

[John Weaver] It was the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Everything swung from that date. So that meant Abib 1, Abib 8 happened to be Sabbaths. So, I want you to think about it like this. Since the date was fixed, the day changed. So, if Abib 15 had to be a Sabbath, it had to be, because they had to number seven Sabbaths after that. That meant Abib 1 and Abib 8 would be Sabbaths.

[John Weaver] So, let me tell you this. If the date is set, the day changes. So it's just like my birthday. My birthday is September the 3rd. This past year it was on Wednesday. Next year it'll be on Thursday. The year after that it'll be on Friday. The year after that it'll be on Saturday. The year after that on Sunday. It'll keep going around until it comes back on Wednesday again. So whatever day ABIP 15 was on, it had to be a Sabbath. And that meant then every day of the week, whatever those days were called back then, had to be a Sabbath at one time or the other. So the date was set and the day changed every seven years.

[John Weaver] Now, if you will look in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus chapter 23, and look if you would please at verse 24, Leviticus chapter 23, and verse 24. This is another incident. This is why it has to be said. Look what God says in Leviticus 23 and verse 23. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall you have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing trumpets, unholy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein, but you shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord." Now notice here what he said, speaking to the children of Israel, saying in the seventh month, in the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath. So the very first day of the seventh month had to be a Sabbath as well, because it was trumpets. So once again, since the date is set, the day would change. So, when somebody comes along and tells you, well, Saturday's the Sabbath.

[John Weaver] No, no, Saturday's not the Sabbath. Saturday would have been a Sabbath if that had been the name of the seventh day many, many years back. It would have been a Sabbath once every seven years, but so would every other day during the week. Okay?

[John Weaver] Now, Let me make some applications. I want to tie this together for you and I hope stir your appetite up for next week and the week following. But I want you to think about this. God ordained the Sabbaths for a reason and he emphasized rest for a reason which we will get into that. OK. If you observe the Sabbaths the way God commanded you to in the Old Testament, It meant then that you were in submission to him, that you recognized his sovereign authority and power, and you were obedient. If you did not keep the Sabbaths the way God ordained, it means you were in rebellion against him and sinful against him. And of course, this is why he judged Israel over and over because they violated his Sabbaths over and over.

[John Weaver] And he said, You know, it was a sign between me and you. I brought you out of the land of Egypt. You were supposed to obey me. I'm your sovereign. I'm your God. I'm your judge. You were supposed to obey me. You didn't. Therefore, I'm going to judge you. So if you were in submission, you obeyed. If you were in rebellion, you disobeyed. And here's the interesting thing. I don't know if you picked up on it.

[John Weaver] Those who did not keep God's habits always fell into idolatry. Wow. So once again you have to understand in the Old Testament they had to be in submission and if they were not in submission they were in rebellion. It's that simple.

[John Weaver] Now here's the next thing and I'm going to be developing this even some next week. The Sabbaths in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament actually taught rest, redemption, and freedom under God. In other words, we find our rest in Him, we find our redemption in Him, we find our freedom in Him. So while the Sabbaths did indeed teach rest, redemption and freedom in God, they also taught at the same time rest and redemption and freedom from the tyranny of man and man's usurped authority. Here's the third thing. Anyone who makes Saturday a perpetual Sabbath is being inconsistent with the Word of God because Saturday was not a Sabbath. Now, if you're going to claim Saturday as being a Sabbath, And you're going to observe it as they observed it in the Bible.

[John Weaver] You've got a long stretch ahead of you because you can't kindle the fire. You can't do anything except just simply rest. That was it. That was it. And you remember there was a good illustration of this when God let the children of Israel through the wilderness. What did he do? He lit them with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. And what does the Bible say? When the cloud stayed, they stayed. When the cloud moved, they moved.

[John Weaver] In other words, that's what the Sabbath was all about. In other words, it was saying we're in submission to God's sovereign authority and God's sovereign power. We move at his command. We rest at his command. We're resting in him. But the children of Israel, of course, rebelled against God and God judged them. So here's the thing that you need to understand today. And we're going to look more in the New Testament next week. And I'm going to show you how the Pharisees and the scribes perverted even the teaching of the Sabbath, the principle of the Sabbath. They perverted it.

[John Weaver] Instead of it being a blessing, they made it a burden. And instead of it being freedom, they made it slavery. And then I'm going to show you thirdly, Lord willing, on the third message, the Christian Sabbath, how the Christian Sabbath fulfills everything in the Old Testament. Because Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of everything. All right, let's have prayer then. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we thank you for your glory and your grace and your mercy. We thank you, Lord, for all of your multitudinous blessings to us for life and health, sleep and rest. Lord, we're thankful for Joshua and Felicia and their new baby, and Lord, the whole family, and ask your continued hand of blessing to be upon them. And we ask, Father, that you would give us grace that we may serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

Is Saturday The Sabbath - Part 1

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	1028252324215407
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover: As Yet
Genre	Sermon
Date	2025-10-26
Dictation Name
Book	Book 182: Is Saturday The Sabbath? — Chapter 1
Source Timed Segments	60

Formatted Transcript

Introduction and Reading of Deuteronomy 16:1-9

Weaver opens with a reading of Deuteronomy 16:1-9, which commands the observance of the month Abib and the Passover, setting the stage for a discussion on the Sabbath.

All right, let's begin today by reading Deuteronomy chapter 16, verses 1 through 9. God says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 16:1-9

"Observe the month Abib, and keep the Passover unto the Lord thy God. For in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord thy God of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there. Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction. For thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste, that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest out of the land of Egypt, all the days of thy life. And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee on all thy coasts seven days, neither shall there anything of the flesh which thou sacrificest the first day at even remain all night until the morning. Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, but at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in. There thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. And thou shalt turn in the morning and go into thy tents. Six days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God. Thou shalt do no work therein. Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee. Begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn."

So let me give you the title of this message, and it's going to be in three parts. So the questions I hope that are unanswered today will begin to be answered next Lord's Day and then the following Lord's Day as well. So the title of the message is this: "Is Saturday the Sabbath?"

The Question: Is Saturday the Sabbath?

Weaver poses the central question of the series: Is Saturday the Sabbath, and if so, why do Christians worship on Sunday? He notes ongoing confusion and promises a three-part answer.

If so, why do we worship on Sunday? Is Saturday the Sabbath? If so, why do we worship on Sunday? So years ago, I preached a message which I titled "The Principle of Rest," in which I actually dealt with the Sabbath issue. However, it seems today there's still a lot of confusion, there's still a lot of questions over the Sabbath, and so I just simply want to try to share what the Bible really says and show you the difficulty that many people are facing. And usually when you talk about the Sabbath, most everybody is talking about what is known as the weekly Sabbath.

The Principle of Rest and Multiple Sabbaths

Weaver explains that the word 'Sabbath' means rest and that the Bible mentions various Sabbaths: weekly, new moon, annual feasts, sabbatical year, and Jubilee. He argues that keeping one requires keeping all.

But at the same time, they neglect all the other Sabbaths. And many think that Saturday is the Sabbath, and thus they turned around and worship on Saturday. So here's the principle: If one Sabbath is kept, in order to be consistent, all the other Sabbaths must be kept as well. So I want you to remember there are weekly Sabbaths, there are new moon Sabbaths, the seven annual feasts were Sabbaths, there was a sabbatical year, and there was also the year of jubilee. All of these were considered as Sabbaths. I do not know any Sabbatarian that keeps the Sabbath the way it is outlined in the Bible. Neither do I know any Sabbatarian that keeps all of the Sabbaths that are mentioned in the Bible. So, we're going to be talking about keeping a Sabbath. Here's a question that I'm going to ask you: Are you interested in keeping the Creation Sabbath, the Hebrew Sabbath, the Canaan Sabbath, or the Christian Sabbath? Because all four of them are mentioned in the Bible. Now, the reason I titled my previous message "The Principle of Rest" is simply because of the word Sabbath.

The word Sabbath actually means rest. So rest then was mandated not only in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament as well. Now, interestingly, there's nothing in the Bible that determines the length of a Sabbath. A Sabbath may be the length of one day, Exodus chapter 20, verses 8 through 11, and Deuteronomy chapter 5 verses 12 through 15. It could also be a rest of two days, Leviticus 23 verses 15 through 21. It could also be a rest of one year long, Leviticus 25 verses 4 and 8. And it could also be a rest of two years long. And it could also be a rest of 70 years long.

The Creation Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11)

Weaver examines the Creation Sabbath, noting that it commemorates God's rest after creation, but the exact day of creation's start is unknown, so the specific day of the week is not fixed.

according to 2 Chronicles 36 and verse 21. So let me show you, first of all, at least the first three rests. So if you'll look in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 20, Exodus chapter 20, and let's begin reading there with verse 8. Exodus 20 and verse 8, and here we're going to be reading about the creation rest. So Exodus chapter 20, begin reading there in verse 8, God says this,

Scripture Reading — Exodus 20:8-11

"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,"

and note if you would, it says "remember."

Scripture Reading — Exodus 20:8-11

"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, 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 in thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

So here's a good question: What day of creation was the Sabbath? Now, when I ask that question, I know you're going to say, "Well, it was the seventh day." I understand that. But what day did God begin creating? Does anybody know? And the answer is absolutely no. So we have no idea basically what the creation Sabbath was except it was the seventh day God had completed all of his works in six days and the seventh day he finished it. Now this is the creation Sabbath. Now if you look in Exodus chapter 31 you're going to see the Hebrew Sabbath. This is where God delivered the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. In Exodus chapter 31, look if you would at verse 13. In fact, we'll read verse 12. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily 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 that doth sanctify you."

The Hebrew Sabbath (Exodus 31, Ezekiel 20)

Weaver discusses the Hebrew Sabbath as a sign between God and Israel, emphasizing that all Sabbaths (plural) were to be kept, and that no work was allowed, with death as the penalty for violation.

Now, I want to call your attention to what is said in verse 13. "Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths," plural, "you shall keep." Not just a weekly sabbath, all of the sabbaths you shall keep. Now, if you would turn over in your Bibles to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 20, and notice verses 11 through 16. Ezekiel chapter 20, beginning there with verse 11. Again, God is talking about these Sabbaths. So Ezekiel 20, look, if you would please, and verse 11. In fact, we will read verse 10. Look at it. "Wherefore, I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness." So we're talking about the Hebrew Sabbaths delivered from Egypt.

"And I gave them my statutes and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths," notice it is plural, "to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that does sanctify them. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness, they walked not in my statutes, they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them, and my sabbaths," plural, "they greatly polluted. Then I said I will pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness to consume them. But I wrought for my namesake that it should not be polluted among the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, and polluted my sabbaths," plural, "for

their heart went after idols." So now we're talking about the Hebrew Sabbath. I want you to go back in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 31 because I want you to note that according to the Word of God absolutely no work could be done on these Sabbaths or in these Sabbaths. So notice we would in Exodus chapter 31 look if you would beginning there with verse 15. Look what he says, Exodus chapter 31 and verse 15, "Six days may work be done, but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord." Now look at this,

Scripture Reading — Exodus 31:12-17

"Whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbaths throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant."

Now it says no work is to be done. If you would turn over to Exodus chapter 35 and look again at verses 2 and 3.

Again, it's stated very plainly. "Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death." Now look at this. "You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day." In other words, everything was nailed down. No work to be done. You could not even kindle a fire. In fact, in the book of Numbers, if you will turn to Numbers chapter 15, there was a man who was found picking up sticks on the Sabbath day and of course God then determined that he was to be put to death because he was gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. So look if you would to the book of Numbers chapter 15 beginning there with verse 32. The Bible says, "And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses, and to Aaron, and to all

the congregation. And they put him in a ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died as the Lord commanded Moses." Now, you're going to ask, "Why in the world was this man put to death just simply because he gathered sticks on the Sabbath day?" Well, there's an answer for that, and you will probably get it at least by the third message. But it's important that you note that it was rest that God absolutely demanded.

Now, no work could be done on the New Moon Sabbaths. Now, what was the New Moon Sabbath? It was a monthly Sabbath. So every month had a new moon. And so you not only had weekly Sabbaths, but you also had monthly Sabbaths.

New Moon Sabbaths and Israel's Contempt

Weaver introduces the monthly new moon Sabbaths and cites Amos 8:5 to show Israel's contempt for both weekly and monthly Sabbaths, as they prioritized commerce over rest.

Now, if you look at Numbers chapter 28 and verse 11. Numbers 28. Look at this. And verse 11. Note what the word of God says. "And in the beginning of your months," this is the new moon,

Scripture Reading — Numbers 28:11

"in the beginning of your months you shall offer a burnt offering unto the Lord, two young bullocks and one ram, seven lambs of the first year without spot, and three-tenth deals of flour for a meal offering, mingled with oil for one bullock and two-tenth deals of flour for a meal offering, mingled with oil for a ram."

And he goes on. But note, if you would, this is in the beginning of your months. Now, if you would turn right over to First Chronicles, Chapter 23. So it's 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles. Look in 1st Chronicles chapter 23 and verse 31. 1st Chronicles chapter 23 verse 31. Look what the Bible says. "And to offer all burnt sacrifices unto the Lord in the sabbaths," that's plural, "in the new moons," that's plural, "and on set feasts," that's plural, "by number, according to the order commanded in them, continually before the Lord."

Now God then had ordained all of these Sabbaths, and each one of them had certain ordinances, statutes, that had to be followed to the end to agree. Now, the problem was, the people of Israel did not want to rest. They wanted to do whatever they wanted to do. They wanted to rebel against God. There's a reason why the word Sabbath means rest, which I will explain that by the time we get to the third message. But in the book of Amos, chapter 8 and verse 5, if you want to turn there, fine. If not, I will quote it. I will read it. But this shows you the contempt that the Israelites had, not only for their weekly sabbaths, but also for their new moon sabbaths as well. And here's what the scripture says, saying,

Scripture Reading — Amos 8:5

"When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn, and the sabbath that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit."

So they said we just want to get the Sabbath out of the way. We want to get the new moon out of the way. What we want to do is go back to our business. We want to make money and we're going to defraud. We're going to make the ephah small. We're going to make everything else work out for our benefit. So they're despising the Sabbath is what it amounts to.

The Canaan Sabbath (Hebrews 4)

Weaver explains the Canaan Sabbath as the rest of entering and conquering the Promised Land, which was not achieved by the generation that left Egypt due to unbelief, pointing to a future rest.

Now, if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 4, I will show you the Canaan Sabbath. Hebrews chapter 4 and let's begin reading there with verse 4. Hebrews 4 and verse 4. Now the creation Sabbath celebrated creation. The Hebrew Sabbath celebrated deliverance from Israel from Egypt. And now we have the Canaan Sabbath which celebrates the conquest of Canaan land, not only entrance into it but the conquest. So look in verse 4. The Bible says, "For he spake," that is, for God

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 4:4-8

spake, "in a certain place on the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest in the seventh day from his works." That's a reference to the creation rest. "And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest." Now we're talking about the Canaan rest. "Seeing therefore it remains that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief."

You know, they fell in the wilderness, all but Caleb and Joshua. "Seeing, therefore, it remained that some must enter therein. And they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief. Again, he limited a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time, as it is said, Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts."

Now look at verse 8. "For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day?" Now the word Jesus is the word Joshua. "For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day?" Now the word Jesus in the Greek is the word Iēsous and it literally means "Jehovah saves" or "Jehovah is salvation." Joshua in the Hebrew is Yehoshua, and it simply means "Jehovah is salvation." So far I've showed you the Creation Sabbath, the Hebrew Sabbath, and now the Canaan Sabbath.

The Hebrew Calendar and Fixed Sabbaths

Weaver argues that the Hebrew calendar had fixed Sabbaths on Abib 1, 8, and 15, with the 15th always being a Sabbath because it followed the Passover. He explains that the date was fixed, so the day of the week changed annually.

I want you to understand that the word Saturday was not even in existence when the Sabbaths began. Okay? In fact, we get our weekdays and even months basically from the Roman calendar. In 321 AD, Constantine, Emperor Constantine, had been converted to Christianity and of course he then designated Sunday as the first day of our week. Our weekdays are named after planets and everything else like Saturday was actually Saturn's day, Monday was moon day, that's how they're named. So this is why I'm saying, back when the Sabbaths began, there were no Saturdays or Sundays or anything like that. And so, when you stop and think about this, the Hebrews usually named the days of the week like this: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, and Sabbath, or Sabbath. So there were no weekdays, so when someone comes along and says, "Well, Saturday is the Sabbath," well, when does Saturday even become the Sabbath? So, I want to show you this. I want you to follow me now because this is going to take you through a lot of scriptures.

I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Exodus, chapter 12. So, you have to understand when the Hebrew calendar began, what its first month was, what its first day was, and why. Now, we know that the first month in the Hebrew calendar was the month Abib. How do we know that? Because it's stated over and over in the Bible. So look, if you would, Exodus chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.

Scripture Reading — Exodus 12:1-2

"And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you."

Now, we're going to have to find out what month that was. So whatever month this is, it's going to be equal to our January. January is the first month of our year. So God says this month is going to be the first month for you. So if you look in Exodus chapter 13, verse four, you're going to see this. I'm going to show it to you several times.

Exodus chapter 13, verse 4. God says,

Scripture Reading — Exodus 13:4

"This day came you out in the month Abib."

Wow, there it is spelled out, Abib. That was the month that the children of Israel were delivered out of the land of Egypt. Now look in Exodus chapter 23, if you would, and verse 15. Exodus 23, verse 15. God says, "Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread. Thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed of the month Abib. For in it thou camest forth from Egypt, and none shall appear before me empty." So again God has said it is the month Abib. Now if you look in Exodus chapter 34 and verse 18. Exodus 34 verse 18. Watch this. Look what God says.

Scripture Reading — Exodus 13:4

"The Feast of Unleavened Bread shalt thou keep. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee in the time of the month Abib. For in the month Abib camest thou from Egypt."

One last one. Look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy 16, which we read at the beginning of this message.

Deuteronomy 16, verse one. God said, "Observe the month Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord thy God, for in the month of Abib, the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night." So now we know the first month of the Hebrew calendar was Abib. It was equal to our January, okay? Now, how did their month begin? We know it would have to be Abib 1, but what determined how that month began? It was the date that God set.

So I want you to see this. I want you to look in your Bibles, because if there is a first month, there must be a first day of the month. I want you to look in Exodus chapter 12 again, and verse 6. Look what God says. Exodus chapter 12, and note if you would, verse 5, so you can see the context. This is the Passover lamb. He says, "Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month."

"And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening." Okay? So the Passover was Abib 14. Okay? Now, I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus chapter 23 and verse 5. Leviticus 23 verse 5. Hang on. The Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 23:5-8

"In the fourteenth day of the first month,"

that would be Abib,

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 23:5-8

"at even is the Lord's Passover."

Look at verse 6,

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 23:5-8

"And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread."

Now wait a minute, 14 and 15 are very important, okay? Look, if you would, in the book of Numbers, Numbers chapter 9, and verse 3. You're going to have to see this. Numbers 9, look if you would please at verse 3. Look what the Bible says. Numbers 9, verse 3. "In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, you shall keep it in its appointed season, according to all the rites of it, according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall you keep it." One more, in the book of Numbers chapter 28, look in verse 16. We're going to work this out, but look at Numbers chapter 28 and verse 16. Here's what the Bible says. Numbers 28 verse 16. "And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord. And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast."

"Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten." Now, Abib 14 was the Passover. Remember, if you would, the Hebrew days began in the evening. So, the evening of Abib 14 began Abib 15. I just read to you where he said Abib 15 was the celebration of Unleavened Bread. Wow! So, that means this: Abib 15 had to be a Sabbath every year. Because the Passover is on the 14th, the 15th had to be, it had to be a Sabbath. So that meant Abib 1, Abib 8, and Abib 15 were always Sabbath days. Always. Now hang on with me. Abib 14 was not a Passover—I mean, but it was not a Sabbath. It was the Passover but not the Sabbath. Why? Because you had to do work on the Passover. You had to get the animal up, you had to kill the animal, you had to clean the animal, you had to cook the animal. And in the original Passover of Egypt, you had to pack up everything and God said you had to eat it with your loins girded and with your shoes on your feet.

I mean, it was done in haste. So since the Passover was work, it was not a Sabbath day because God says no work is to be done on Sabbath day. Now, I'm going to give you a quote and I want you to listen carefully. If you can find this book, please get it for me. It's a little booklet. I don't care if it's 15 bucks or 20 bucks, I would pay it. But I don't have the book, but I do have several quotes from the book. The book was written by Curtis Clare Ewing, and it's on Israel's calendar.

And it deals with the Sabbath days as well. So here's what Curtis Clare Ewing wrote in his study on the Hebrew calendar. He said this: "The Hebrews retained an Egyptian calendar of 12 months of 30 days. But instead of adding 5 supplemental days at the end of the year, they added 3 at the end of the 6th month and 2 at the end of the 12th month." Now listen, "The 15th day of Abib, the first month, had to be a Sabbath every year, which meant that the 1st and 8th of Abib were fixed Sabbaths, as were the 7 Sabbaths following Abib 15." I want to show you this in the Bible. I want you to think about this. Abib 15, the date is set. It has to be a Sabbath. So that means the first and the eighth had to be a Sabbath. And there were seven more Sabbaths following Abib 15. So if you'll look in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus, the book of Leviticus chapter 23. And let's begin reading there with verse one. You will see the following Sabbaths and how everything swung from Abib 15. Watch this, Leviticus chapter 23 beginning with verse 1 and we'll read through verse 16. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work therein. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. Now look, these are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their seasons."

Counting Sabbaths to Pentecost (Leviticus 23)

Weaver shows from Leviticus 23 that seven Sabbaths were counted from the wave sheaf offering after Abib 15, leading to Pentecost, demonstrating that Sabbaths were tied to fixed dates, not a perpetual Saturday.

"In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's Passover." That's not a Sabbath because you had to work there. "And on the fifteenth day," there it is, "of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread." So your 15th had to be a Sabbath. Now watch. "In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein." It's a Sabbath. Okay, verse 8. "But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord seven days. In the seventh day is a holy convocation." Ah, that's another seventh day. "You shall do no servile work therein." So it goes from Sabbath to Sabbath. Now watch this.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When you be come into the land which I give you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And you shall offer that day, when you wave the sheaf, an he-lamb without blemish, of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord. And the meal offering thereof shall be two-tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, and an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour." "And the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin. And you shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that you have brought an offering unto your God. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. And you shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from that day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven sabbaths shall be complete. Okay? Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall you number fifty days, and you shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord." So here, all these seven Sabbaths worked off of Abib 15. What is seven times seven? 49. What was the fiftieth day? Pentecost. You can find that in Acts chapter 2, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, because all of these were based upon Sabbath days.

Now, I want to go back and finish quoting what Ewing said. It's just a short little bit. Listen carefully. He said, "But this is not all," when he's talking about everything swung from the 15th, "but this is not all. According to Exodus 12:3, 5, 6, and 24, and Leviticus 23:15, the 10th, the 14th, and the 16th of Abib could never be Sabbaths because they were work days of specific commands, real work, like cleaning house, butchering cattle, and reaping firstfruits." So while you had certain days that were set to be Sabbath days, there were certain days that could never be a Sabbath day because work was commanded.

Annual Feasts as Sabbaths and Male Attendance

Weaver lists the seven annual feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles) as Sabbaths and notes that all Israelite males were required to attend, appearing before God with offerings.

Now, you remember the seven annual feasts were Sabbaths as well. There were spring feasts and there were also fall feasts. So here we go, here are the seven annual feasts. These were considered Sabbaths: Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Pentecost. These were spring feasts. There were three fall feasts, and that was Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles. All of these fell on specific times of the year, and each time they fell, it was a Sabbath.

Now, if you'll go back to the book of Exodus, chapter 34, I want you to note that all the males in Israel had to attend these feasts and they could not appear before the Lord empty. Women were not necessarily required to attend all of them. Children are not necessarily required to attend all of them. Most of the time they did. But all the males were required to attend. So if you look in Exodus chapter 34, beginning there with verse 18. "The feast of unleavened bread thou shalt keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread as I commanded thee in the time of the month Abib. For the month Abib camest thou out of Egypt. All that openeth the matrix is mine. And every firstling among thy cattle, whether of ox or sheep, that is male. But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb, and if thou redeem it not thou shalt break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem, and none shall appear before me empty. Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest. In earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest, and thou shalt observe the Feast of Weeks of the first fruits of wheat harvest and the feast of ingathering in the year's end." Now, God said three times that these feasts were to be held and of course none of those males were to appear before him empty.

Conclusion: Saturday Was Not a Perpetual Sabbath

Weaver concludes that Saturday was not the weekly Sabbath; rather, every day of the week became a Sabbath at some point due to the fixed dates. He previews future messages on the Pharisees' perversion and the Christian Sabbath.

Now, I've just put together a bunch of scriptures for you. So I'm going to ask you some questions. I want you to think about this. Was Saturday the Sabbath? And you understand the word Saturday did not exist back then. But in our understanding, with our comprehension of time, was Saturday a Sabbath? Well, you had seven days in a week. So let me put it to you like this: Yes, and no is the answer. No, Saturday was not the weekly Sabbath. And yes, Saturday was a weekly Sabbath once every seven years. You say, "How in the world can that possibly be?" May I remind you the children of Israel went through the Passover on Abib 14. Abib 15 was a Sabbath.

It was the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Everything swung from that date. So that meant Abib 1, Abib 8 happened to be Sabbaths. So, I want you to think about it like this: Since the date was fixed, the day changed. So, if Abib 15 had to be a Sabbath, it had to be, because they had to number seven Sabbaths after that. That meant Abib 1 and Abib 8 would be Sabbaths.

So, let me tell you this: If the date is set, the day changes. So it's just like my birthday. My birthday is September the 3rd. This past year it was on Wednesday. Next year it'll be on Thursday. The year after that it'll be on Friday. The year after that it'll be on Saturday. The year after that on Sunday. It'll keep going around until it comes back on Wednesday again. So whatever day Abib 15 was on, it had to be a Sabbath. And that meant then every day of the week, whatever those days were called back then, had to be a Sabbath at one time or the other. So the date was set and the day changed every seven years.

Now, if you will look in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus chapter 23, and look if you would please at verse 24, Leviticus chapter 23, and verse 24. This is another incident. This is why it has to be said. Look what God says in Leviticus 23 and verse 23. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall you have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing trumpets, an holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein, but you shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord." Now notice here what he said, speaking to the children of Israel, saying in the seventh month, in the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath. So the very first day of the seventh month had to be a Sabbath as well, because it was trumpets. So once again, since the date is set, the day would change. So, when somebody comes along and tells you, "Well, Saturday's the Sabbath."

No, no, Saturday's not the Sabbath. Saturday would have been a Sabbath if that had been the name of the seventh day many, many years back. It would have been a Sabbath once every seven years, but so would every other day during the week. Okay?

Now, let me make some applications. I want to tie this together for you and I hope stir your appetite up for next week and the week following. But I want you to think about this. God ordained the Sabbaths for a reason and he emphasized rest for a reason which we will get into that. OK. If you observe the Sabbaths the way God commanded you to in the Old Testament, it meant then that you were in submission to him, that you recognized his sovereign authority and power, and you were obedient. If you did not keep the Sabbaths the way God ordained, it means you were in rebellion against him and sinful against him. And of course, this is why he judged Israel over and over because they violated his Sabbaths over and over.

And he said, "You know, it was a sign between me and you. I brought you out of the land of Egypt. You were supposed to obey me. I'm your sovereign. I'm your God. I'm your judge. You were supposed to obey me. You didn't. Therefore, I'm going to judge you." So if you were in submission, you obeyed. If you were in rebellion, you disobeyed. And here's the interesting thing. I don't know if you picked up on it.

Those who did not keep God's Sabbaths always fell into idolatry. Wow. So once again you have to understand in the Old Testament they had to be in submission and if they were not in submission they were in rebellion. It's that simple.

Now here's the next thing and I'm going to be developing this even some next week. The Sabbaths in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament actually taught rest, redemption, and freedom under God. In other words, we find our rest in Him, we find our redemption in Him, we find our freedom in Him. So while the Sabbaths did indeed teach rest, redemption and freedom in God, they also taught at the same time rest and redemption and freedom from the tyranny of man and man's usurped authority. Here's the third thing. Anyone who makes Saturday a perpetual Sabbath is being inconsistent with the Word of God because Saturday was not a Sabbath. Now, if you're going to claim Saturday as being a Sabbath, and you're going to observe it as they observed it in the Bible.

You've got a long stretch ahead of you because you can't kindle the fire. You can't do anything except just simply rest. That was it. That was it. And you remember there was a good illustration of this when God led the children of Israel through the wilderness. What did he do? He lit them with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. And what does the Bible say? When the cloud stayed, they stayed. When the cloud moved, they moved.

In other words, that's what the Sabbath was all about. In other words, it was saying we're in submission to God's sovereign authority and God's sovereign power. We move at his command. We rest at his command. We're resting in him. But the children of Israel, of course, rebelled against God and God judged them. So here's the thing that you need to understand today. And we're going to look more in the New Testament next week. And I'm going to show you how the Pharisees and the scribes perverted even the teaching of the Sabbath, the principle of the Sabbath. They perverted it.

Instead of it being a blessing, they made it a burden. And instead of it being freedom, they made it slavery. And then I'm going to show you thirdly, Lord willing, on the third message, the Christian Sabbath, how the Christian Sabbath fulfills everything in the Old Testament. Because Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of everything. All right, let's have prayer then. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we thank you for your glory and your grace and your mercy. We thank you, Lord, for all of your multitudinous blessings to us for life and health, sleep and rest. Lord, we're thankful for Joshua and Felicia and their new baby, and Lord, the whole family, and ask your continued hand of blessing to be upon them. And we ask, Father, that you would give us grace that we may serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

The Meaning of Sabbath as Rest

Summary: The word 'Sabbath' means rest, and God mandated rest in both Old and New Testaments, with varying lengths (one day, two days, one year, two years, seventy years).

Evidence: Weaver states: 'The word Sabbath actually means rest. So rest then was mandated not only in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament as well.' He cites Exodus 20, Leviticus 23, Leviticus 25, and 2 Chronicles 36.

Plurality of Sabbaths

Summary: The Bible speaks of Sabbaths in the plural, including weekly, new moon, annual feasts, sabbatical year, and Jubilee; consistency demands keeping all if one is kept.

Evidence: Weaver says: 'If one Sabbath is kept, in order to be consistent, all the other Sabbaths must be kept as well.' He references Exodus 31:13 and Ezekiel 20:12-13 where 'sabbaths' is plural.

Sabbath as a Sign of Submission to God

Summary: Keeping the Sabbaths was a sign between God and Israel, indicating submission to His sovereign authority; failure to keep them was rebellion and led to idolatry and judgment.

Evidence: Weaver explains: 'If you observe the Sabbaths the way God commanded you to in the Old Testament, it meant then that you were in submission to him... If you did not keep the Sabbaths... it means you were in rebellion against him.' He cites Ezekiel 20:12-13.

Fixed Dates, Not Fixed Days

Summary: The Hebrew calendar had fixed dates for Sabbaths (e.g., Abib 15), so the day of the week changed annually; Saturday was not a perpetual Sabbath.

Evidence: Weaver argues: 'If the date is set, the day changes... So whatever day Abib 15 was on, it had to be a Sabbath. And that meant then every day of the week... had to be a Sabbath at one time or the other.'

Sabbath Teaches Rest, Redemption, and Freedom in God

Summary: The Sabbaths pointed to rest, redemption, and freedom found in God, and also freedom from the tyranny of man's usurped authority.

Evidence: Weaver states: 'The Sabbaths in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament actually taught rest, redemption, and freedom under God... they also taught at the same time rest and redemption and freedom from the tyranny of man and man's usurped authority.'

Inconsistency of Modern Sabbath-Keeping

Summary: Those who claim Saturday is the Sabbath are inconsistent because they do not keep all the other Sabbaths or observe the strict rest requirements (e.g., no kindling fire).

Evidence: Weaver says: 'Anyone who makes Saturday a perpetual Sabbath is being inconsistent with the Word of God because Saturday was not a Sabbath... you can't kindle the fire. You can't do anything except just simply rest.'

Key Arguments

The Bible mentions multiple Sabbaths, not just a weekly one.

Summary: Weaver argues that the Old Testament refers to Sabbaths in the plural, including new moons, feasts, sabbatical years, and Jubilee, so focusing only on a weekly Sabbath is selective.

Evidence: He cites Exodus 31:13 ('Verily my sabbaths you shall keep') and Ezekiel 20:12-13, and lists the various types of Sabbaths.

The weekly Sabbath was not fixed to Saturday because the Hebrew calendar was based on fixed dates.

Summary: Weaver demonstrates that Abib 15 was always a Sabbath, and since the date was fixed, the day of the week rotated annually, meaning every day became a Sabbath over time.

Evidence: He explains: 'Abib 15 had to be a Sabbath every year. So that meant Abib 1, Abib 8, and Abib 15 were always Sabbath days.' He uses the birthday analogy to illustrate the shifting day.

The Passover (Abib 14) was a work day, not a Sabbath, proving that not all holy days were rest days.

Summary: Weaver points out that the Passover required work (slaughtering, cooking, packing), so it could not be a Sabbath, which required absolute rest.

Evidence: He says: 'Abib 14 was not a Passover—I mean, but it was not a Sabbath. It was the Passover but not the Sabbath. Why? Because you had to do work on the Passover.'

The Sabbath was primarily a day of rest, not worship, in the Old Testament.

Summary: Weaver argues that worship was family-centered and daily; the central demand of the Sabbath was cessation from work, with weekly worship emerging later.

Evidence: He states: 'In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was not primarily a day of worship. It was primarily a day of rest.'

The word 'Saturday' did not exist in biblical times; days were numbered, not named after planets.

Summary: Weaver notes that the Roman calendar introduced planetary day names later, so equating the seventh day with Saturday is anachronistic.

Evidence: He says: 'The word Saturday was not even in existence when the Sabbaths began... we get our weekdays and even months basically from the Roman calendar.'

The Canaan Sabbath in Hebrews 4 points to a rest beyond Joshua, fulfilled in Christ.

Summary: Weaver interprets Hebrews 4:8 to mean that Joshua did not give the ultimate rest, implying a future Christian Sabbath.

Evidence: He reads: 'For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day?' and notes the name Jesus/Joshua means 'Jehovah is salvation.'

Scripture References

Deuteronomy 16:1-9

Context: Read at the opening to establish the command to observe the month Abib and the Passover, setting the stage for the discussion on fixed dates and Sabbaths.

Exodus 20:8-11

Context: Cited as the Creation Sabbath command, emphasizing rest on the seventh day because God rested after creation.

Exodus 31:12-17

Context: Used to show the Hebrew Sabbath as a sign between God and Israel, with the death penalty for working on the Sabbath.

Ezekiel 20:10-16

Context: Cited to demonstrate that God gave Israel His Sabbaths (plural) as a sign, and they polluted them, leading to judgment.

Exodus 35:2-3

Context: Reinforces the prohibition of work on the Sabbath, including kindling a fire.

Numbers 15:32-36

Context: The account of a man stoned for gathering sticks on the Sabbath, illustrating the strictness of the rest command.

Numbers 28:11

Context: Introduced to show the new moon offerings, indicating monthly Sabbaths.

1 Chronicles 23:31

Context: Mentions offerings on Sabbaths, new moons, and set feasts, confirming the plurality of Sabbaths.

Amos 8:5

Context: Quoted to show Israel's contempt for the new moon and Sabbath, as they wanted to resume commerce and defraud.

Hebrews 4:4-8

Context: Discusses the Canaan rest, noting that Joshua did not give the ultimate rest, pointing to another day.

Leviticus 26:34-35

Context: Warns that the land will enjoy its Sabbaths while Israel is in captivity because they did not observe the sabbatical years.

2 Chronicles 36:20-21

Context: Explains the 70-year captivity as fulfilling the land's missed Sabbaths.

Exodus 12:1-2

Context: Establishes the month of Abib as the first month of the Hebrew year.

Exodus 13:4

Context: Identifies the month of the Exodus as Abib.

Exodus 23:15

Context: Commands the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the month Abib.

Exodus 34:18

Context: Repeats the command for Unleavened Bread in Abib.

Leviticus 23:5-8

Context: Specifies the Passover on Abib 14 and the Feast of Unleavened Bread starting on Abib 15, a Sabbath.

Numbers 9:3

Context: Commands keeping the Passover on the 14th day at even.

Numbers 28:16-17

Context: Confirms the Passover on the 14th and the feast on the 15th.

Leviticus 23:9-16

Context: Details the wave sheaf offering and the counting of seven Sabbaths to Pentecost, all based on the Sabbath after Abib 15.

Historical References

Constantine's designation of Sunday in 321 AD

Context: Weaver mentions that Emperor Constantine designated Sunday as the first day of the week, and that Roman planetary names for days (like Saturn's day for Saturday) were adopted later.

Intertestamental period (400 years)

Context: Weaver notes that weekly worship did not begin until the intertestamental period between the Old and New Testaments.

Curtis Clare Ewing's study on Israel's calendar

Context: Weaver quotes Ewing's work on the Hebrew calendar, which argues that Abib 1, 8, and 15 were fixed Sabbaths, and that certain days could never be Sabbaths due to commanded work.

Important Quotes

If one Sabbath is kept, in order to be consistent, all the other Sabbaths must be kept as well.

Significance: This quote encapsulates Weaver's argument that selective Sabbath-keeping is inconsistent with the biblical witness to multiple Sabbaths.

The word Sabbath actually means rest.

Significance: Foundational definition that shapes the entire discussion, emphasizing the primary purpose of the Sabbath as cessation from labor.

In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was not primarily a day of worship. It was primarily a day of rest.

Significance: Challenges the common assumption that the Sabbath was mainly about corporate worship, refocusing on the rest principle.

The word Saturday was not even in existence when the Sabbaths began.

Significance: Undermines the claim that Saturday is inherently the Sabbath by noting the anachronism of the day name.

If the date is set, the day changes.

Significance: Key logical point explaining why the weekly Sabbath could not be fixed to a particular day of the week in the Hebrew calendar.

Anyone who makes Saturday a perpetual Sabbath is being inconsistent with the Word of God because Saturday was not a Sabbath.

Significance: Direct conclusion of the lecture, asserting that Saturday Sabbath-keeping is biblically unfounded.

The Sabbaths in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament actually taught rest, redemption, and freedom under God.

Significance: Summarizes the theological purpose of the Sabbaths, pointing to their fulfillment in Christ.

Discussion Questions

How does understanding the plurality of Sabbaths (weekly, monthly, annual, sabbatical year, Jubilee) change your view of Old Testament Sabbath-keeping?

Context: Weaver emphasizes that the Bible speaks of 'Sabbaths' in the plural and that consistency would require keeping all of them.

Why is it significant that the Passover (Abib 14) was a work day and not a Sabbath, even though it was a holy convocation?

Context: Weaver argues that the Passover required work, so it could not be a Sabbath, showing that not all holy days were rest days.

What are the implications of the Hebrew calendar having fixed dates for Sabbaths (like Abib 15) rather than fixed days of the week?

Context: Weaver explains that the date was set, so the day changed annually, meaning every day of the week became a Sabbath over time.

How does the concept of Sabbath as primarily a day of rest, not worship, affect our understanding of the fourth commandment?

Context: Weaver states that worship was family-centered and daily in the Old Testament, with the Sabbath focused on cessation from work.

In what ways did the Pharisees later pervert the Sabbath principle, and how does that relate to modern Sabbath-keeping debates?

Context: Weaver previews that the Pharisees made the Sabbath a burden and slavery instead of a blessing and freedom, to be discussed in the next message.

What does it mean that the Sabbaths were a 'sign' between God and Israel, and how does that sign function in the New Covenant?

Context: Weaver highlights that the Sabbaths signified submission to God's authority and that violation led to idolatry and judgment.

Applications

Consistency in Biblical Obedience

Summary: If one claims to keep the Sabbath, they must keep all biblical Sabbaths and their strict requirements, not selectively choose a weekly day.

Evidence: Weaver states: 'If one Sabbath is kept, in order to be consistent, all the other Sabbaths must be kept as well.'

Submission to God's Authority

Summary: Observing God's commands regarding rest demonstrates submission to His sovereign authority; rebellion against them leads to idolatry and judgment.

Evidence: Weaver says: 'If you observe the Sabbaths the way God commanded you to... it meant then that you were in submission to him... If you did not keep the Sabbaths... it means you were in rebellion against him.'

Rest as a Theological Principle

Summary: The Sabbath principle teaches believers to find their ultimate rest, redemption, and freedom in God, not in human efforts or authorities.

Evidence: Weaver explains: 'The Sabbaths in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament actually taught rest, redemption, and freedom under God.'

Avoiding Anachronistic Interpretations

Summary: Recognize that modern day names and calendars were not used in biblical times, so equating 'Saturday' with the Sabbath is historically inaccurate.

Evidence: Weaver notes: 'The word Saturday was not even in existence when the Sabbaths began.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T13:29:26Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T00:36:38Z

Clean Transcript

Is Saturday The Sabbath - Part 1

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

All right, let's begin today by reading Deuteronomy chapter 16, verses 1 through 9. God says, "Observe the month Abib, and keep the Passover unto the Lord thy God. For in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord thy God of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there. Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction. For thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste, that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest out of the land of Egypt, all the days of thy life. And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee on all thy coasts seven days, neither shall there anything of the flesh which thou sacrificest the first day at even remain all night until the morning. Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, but at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in.
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There thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. And thou shalt turn in the morning and go into thy tents. Six days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God. Thou shalt do no work therein. Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee. Begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn." So let me give you the title of this message, and it's going to be in three parts. So the questions I hope that are unanswered today will begin to be answered next Lord's Day and then the following Lord's Day as well. So the title of the message is this: "Is Saturday the Sabbath?"
#2 | 1:09 to 2:08 | cleaned
If so, why do we worship on Sunday? Is Saturday the Sabbath? If so, why do we worship on Sunday? So years ago, I preached a message which I titled "The Principle of Rest," in which I actually dealt with the Sabbath issue. However, it seems today there's still a lot of confusion, there's still a lot of questions over the Sabbath, and so I just simply want to try to share what the Bible really says and show you the difficulty that many people are facing. And usually when you talk about the Sabbath, most everybody is talking about what is known as the weekly Sabbath.
#3 | 2:09 to 2:54 | cleaned
But at the same time, they neglect all the other Sabbaths. And many think that Saturday is the Sabbath, and thus they turned around and worship on Saturday. So here's the principle: If one Sabbath is kept, in order to be consistent, all the other Sabbaths must be kept as well. So I want you to remember there are weekly Sabbaths, there are new moon Sabbaths, the seven annual feasts were Sabbaths, there was a sabbatical year, and there was also the year of jubilee. All of these were considered as Sabbaths. I do not know any Sabbatarian that keeps the Sabbath the way it is outlined in the Bible. Neither do I know any Sabbatarian that keeps all of the Sabbaths that are mentioned in the Bible. So, we're going to be talking about keeping a Sabbath. Here's a question that I'm going to ask you: Are you interested in keeping the Creation Sabbath, the Hebrew Sabbath, the Canaan Sabbath, or the Christian Sabbath? Because all four of them are mentioned in the Bible. Now, the reason I titled my previous message "The Principle of Rest" is simply because of the word Sabbath.
#4 | 2:55 to 4:23 | cleaned
The word Sabbath actually means rest. So rest then was mandated not only in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament as well. Now, interestingly, there's nothing in the Bible that determines the length of a Sabbath. A Sabbath may be the length of one day, Exodus chapter 20, verses 8 through 11, and Deuteronomy chapter 5 verses 12 through 15. It could also be a rest of two days, Leviticus 23 verses 15 through 21. It could also be a rest of one year long, Leviticus 25 verses 4 and 8. And it could also be a rest of two years long. And it could also be a rest of 70 years long.
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according to 2 Chronicles 36 and verse 21. So let me show you, first of all, at least the first three rests. So if you'll look in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 20, Exodus chapter 20, and let's begin reading there with verse 8. Exodus 20 and verse 8, and here we're going to be reading about the creation rest. So Exodus chapter 20, begin reading there in verse 8, God says this, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," and note if you would, it says "remember." "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, 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 in thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."
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So here's a good question: What day of creation was the Sabbath? Now, when I ask that question, I know you're going to say, "Well, it was the seventh day." I understand that. But what day did God begin creating? Does anybody know? And the answer is absolutely no. So we have no idea basically what the creation Sabbath was except it was the seventh day God had completed all of his works in six days and the seventh day he finished it. Now this is the creation Sabbath. Now if you look in Exodus chapter 31 you're going to see the Hebrew Sabbath. This is where God delivered the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. In Exodus chapter 31, look if you would at verse 13. In fact, we'll read verse 12. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily 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 that doth sanctify you."
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Now, I want to call your attention to what is said in verse 13. "Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths," plural, "you shall keep." Not just a weekly sabbath, all of the sabbaths you shall keep.
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Now, if you would turn over in your Bibles to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 20, and notice verses 11 through 16. Ezekiel chapter 20, beginning there with verse 11. Again, God is talking about these Sabbaths. So Ezekiel 20, look, if you would please, and verse 11. In fact, we will read verse 10. Look at it. "Wherefore, I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness." So we're talking about the Hebrew Sabbaths delivered from Egypt.
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"And I gave them my statutes and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths," notice it is plural, "to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that does sanctify them. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness, they walked not in my statutes, they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them, and my sabbaths," plural, "they greatly polluted. Then I said I will pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness to consume them. But I wrought for my namesake that it should not be polluted among the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, and polluted my sabbaths," plural, "for
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their heart went after idols." So now we're talking about the Hebrew Sabbath. I want you to go back in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 31 because I want you to note that according to the Word of God absolutely no work could be done on these Sabbaths or in these Sabbaths. So notice we would in Exodus chapter 31 look if you would beginning there with verse 15. Look what he says, Exodus chapter 31 and verse 15, "Six days may work be done, but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord." Now look at this, "Whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbaths throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant." Now it says no work is to be done. If you would turn over to Exodus chapter 35 and look again at verses 2 and 3.
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Again, it's stated very plainly. "Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death." Now look at this. "You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day." In other words, everything was nailed down. No work to be done. You could not even kindle a fire. In fact, in the book of Numbers, if you will turn to Numbers chapter 15, there was a man who was found picking up sticks on the Sabbath day and of course God then determined that he was to be put to death because he was gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. So look if you would to the book of Numbers chapter 15 beginning there with verse 32. The Bible says, "And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses, and to Aaron, and to all
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the congregation. And they put him in a ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died as the Lord commanded Moses." Now, you're going to ask, "Why in the world was this man put to death just simply because he gathered sticks on the Sabbath day?"
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Well, there's an answer for that, and you will probably get it at least by the third message. But it's important that you note that it was rest that God absolutely demanded.
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Now, no work could be done on the New Moon Sabbaths. Now, what was the New Moon Sabbath? It was a monthly Sabbath. So every month had a new moon. And so you not only had weekly Sabbaths, but you also had monthly Sabbaths.
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Now, if you look at Numbers chapter 28 and verse 11. Numbers 28. Look at this. And verse 11. Note what the word of God says. "And in the beginning of your months," this is the new moon, "in the beginning of your months you shall offer a burnt offering unto the Lord, two young bullocks and one ram, seven lambs of the first year without spot, and three-tenth deals of flour for a meal offering, mingled with oil for one bullock and two-tenth deals of flour for a meal offering, mingled with oil for a ram." And he goes on. But note, if you would, this is in the beginning of your months. Now, if you would turn right over to First Chronicles, Chapter 23. So it's 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles. Look in 1st Chronicles chapter 23 and verse 31. 1st Chronicles chapter 23 verse 31. Look what the Bible says. "And to offer all burnt sacrifices unto the Lord in the sabbaths," that's plural, "in the new moons," that's plural, "and on set feasts," that's plural, "by number, according to the order commanded in them, continually before the Lord."
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Now God then had ordained all of these Sabbaths, and each one of them had certain ordinances, statutes, that had to be followed to the end to agree. Now, the problem was, the people of Israel did not want to rest. They wanted to do whatever they wanted to do. They wanted to rebel against God. There's a reason why the word Sabbath means rest, which I will explain that by the time we get to the third message. But in the book of Amos, chapter 8 and verse 5, if you want to turn there, fine.
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If not, I will quote it. I will read it. But this shows you the contempt that the Israelites had, not only for their weekly sabbaths, but also for their new moon sabbaths as well. And here's what the scripture says, saying, "When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn, and the sabbath that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit." So they said we just want to get the Sabbath out of the way. We want to get the new moon out of the way. What we want to do is go back to our business. We want to make money and we're going to defraud. We're going to make the ephah small. We're going to make everything else work out for our benefit. So they're despising the Sabbath is what it amounts to.
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Now in the Old Testament, the Sabbath was not primarily a day of worship. It was primarily a day of rest. Worship in the Old Testament was family-centered and it revolved around everyday life. The central demand of the Sabbath was rest. Weekly worship did not really begin until the intertestamental period. That is, the period between the Old Testament and the New Testament, which happened to be about 400 years. And then, of course, it continued in the New Testament, and especially in relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. So, we've looked at the Creation Sabbath. We've looked at the Hebrew Sabbath.
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Now, if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 4, I will show you the Canaan Sabbath. Hebrews chapter 4 and let's begin reading there with verse 4. Hebrews 4 and verse 4. Now the creation Sabbath celebrated creation. The Hebrew Sabbath celebrated deliverance from Israel from Egypt. And now we have the Canaan Sabbath which celebrates the conquest of Canaan land, not only entrance into it but the conquest. So look in verse 4. The Bible says, "For he spake," that is, for God spake, "in a certain place on the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest in the seventh day from his works." That's a reference to the creation rest. "And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest." Now we're talking about the Canaan rest. "Seeing therefore it remains that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief."
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You know, they fell in the wilderness, all but Caleb and Joshua. "Seeing, therefore, it remained that some must enter therein. And they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief. Again, he limited a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time, as it is said, Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts."
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Now look at verse 8. "For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day?" Now the word Jesus is the word Joshua. "For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day?" Now the word Jesus in the Greek is the word Iēsous and it literally means "Jehovah saves" or "Jehovah is salvation." Joshua in the Hebrew is Yehoshua, and it simply means "Jehovah is salvation." So far I've showed you the Creation Sabbath, the Hebrew Sabbath, and now the Canaan Sabbath.
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But I'm going to hold off on the Christian Sabbath, and you're going to see this very plainly, especially when we get to the third message. So, the Hebrew Sabbath always began in the evening, and it continued until the next evening. Okay? Our days begin in the morning, but not according to the Hebrews. The Israelites, their day began in the evening. So, what day was the Sabbath on?
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Before I answer that question, do you realize that there could be numerous Sabbaths in a week? You had your weekly Sabbath, but you also had a new moon Sabbath. That means the weekly Sabbath and the new moon Sabbath might fall in one week. What about the feast days? Of course, God mentioned those as being Sabbaths as well. So it's possible to at least have a minimum of one each week, but you could possibly have two, and if it fell just right, you might have as many as three in one particular week. So, the sabbatical year, which was once every seven years, did not cause the weekly Sabbaths to cease. Neither did it cause the New Moon Sabbaths to cease. Neither did it cause those seven annual feasts to cease, which were considered Sabbaths as well. So every seventh year was a sabbatical year in the Hebrew. Now, if one is going to keep a weekly Sabbath, why does he not keep all of the other Sabbaths? Why is emphasis placed upon a weekly Sabbath and all the others are absolutely totally ignored?
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So, I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Leviticus, chapter 26. Now, I want you to understand that the sabbatical year had certain things that had to be done. One of those things that had to be done was the land had to rest. In other words, nothing to be planted during the sabbatical year. There were other things, debts had to be forgiven, but I want to call your attention to Leviticus chapter 26, and let's begin reading there verse 35. In fact, let's go back to verse 34. God says, "Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lie desolate, and you be in your enemy's land, even then shall the land rest and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lie desolate, it shall rest, because it did not rest in your Sabbaths when you dwelt upon it."
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So then he says in verse 36, "And upon them that are left alive of you, I will send the faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them, and they shall flee as fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when none pursue it." So God says, look, if you do not observe my Sabbaths, especially this sabbatical year, if you do not fulfill this, you're going into captivity, and while you're in captivity, your land is going to rest.
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Now, if you would turn over your Bibles to 2 Chronicles, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles chapter 36, I want to point out the fact that this is one reason that the children of Israel went into captivity, because they neglected the sabbatical year. They refused to allow the land to rest. So in 2 Chronicles chapter 36, note if you would, beginning there with verse 20, the Bible says, "And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon, where they were servants to him and to his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia." Now watch this. "To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths. For as long as she lay desolate, she kept Sabbath to fulfill threescore and ten years," seventy years. So while the children of Judah and Jerusalem were in captivity in Babylon, seventy years, the land was enjoying her Sabbaths. Now, here's the question: Was the weekly Sabbath on Saturday?
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I want you to understand that the word Saturday was not even in existence when the Sabbaths began. Okay? In fact, we get our weekdays and even months basically from the Roman calendar. In 321 AD, Constantine, Emperor Constantine, had been converted to Christianity and of course he then designated Sunday as the first day of our week. Our weekdays are named after planets and everything else like Saturday was actually Saturn's day, Monday was moon day, that's how they're named. So this is why I'm saying, back when the Sabbaths began, there were no Saturdays or Sundays or anything like that. And so, when you stop and think about this, the Hebrews usually named the days of the week like this: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, and Sabbath, or Sabbath. So there were no weekdays, so when someone comes along and says, "Well, Saturday is the Sabbath," well, when does Saturday even become the Sabbath? So, I want to show you this. I want you to follow me now because this is going to take you through a lot of scriptures.
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I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Exodus, chapter 12. So, you have to understand when the Hebrew calendar began, what its first month was, what its first day was, and why. Now, we know that the first month in the Hebrew calendar was the month Abib. How do we know that? Because it's stated over and over in the Bible. So look, if you would, Exodus chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. "And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you." Now, we're going to have to find out what month that was. So whatever month this is, it's going to be equal to our January. January is the first month of our year. So God says this month is going to be the first month for you. So if you look in Exodus chapter 13, verse four, you're going to see this. I'm going to show it to you several times.
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Exodus chapter 13, verse 4. God says, "This day came you out in the month Abib." Wow, there it is spelled out, Abib. That was the month that the children of Israel were delivered out of the land of Egypt. Now look in Exodus chapter 23, if you would, and verse 15. Exodus 23, verse 15. God says, "Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread. Thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed of the month Abib. For in it thou camest forth from Egypt, and none shall appear before me empty." So again God has said it is the month Abib. Now if you look in Exodus chapter 34 and verse 18. Exodus 34 verse 18. Watch this. Look what God says. "The Feast of Unleavened Bread shalt thou keep. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee in the time of the month Abib. For in the month Abib camest thou from Egypt." One last one. Look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy 16, which we read at the beginning of this message.
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Deuteronomy 16, verse one. God said, "Observe the month Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord thy God, for in the month of Abib, the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night." So now we know the first month of the Hebrew calendar was Abib. It was equal to our January, okay? Now, how did their month begin? We know it would have to be Abib 1, but what determined how that month began? It was the date that God set.
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So I want you to see this. I want you to look in your Bibles, because if there is a first month, there must be a first day of the month. I want you to look in Exodus chapter 12 again, and verse 6. Look what God says. Exodus chapter 12, and note if you would, verse 5, so you can see the context. This is the Passover lamb. He says, "Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month."
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"And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening." Okay? So the Passover was Abib 14. Okay?
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Now, I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus chapter 23 and verse 5. Leviticus 23 verse 5. Hang on. The Bible says, "In the fourteenth day of the first month," that would be Abib, "at even is the Lord's Passover." Look at verse 6, "And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread."
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Now wait a minute, 14 and 15 are very important, okay? Look, if you would, in the book of Numbers, Numbers chapter 9, and verse 3. You're going to have to see this. Numbers 9, look if you would please at verse 3. Look what the Bible says. Numbers 9, verse 3. "In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, you shall keep it in its appointed season, according to all the rites of it, according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall you keep it." One more, in the book of Numbers chapter 28, look in verse 16. We're going to work this out, but look at Numbers chapter 28 and verse 16. Here's what the Bible says. Numbers 28 verse 16. "And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord. And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast."
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"Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten." Now, Abib 14 was the Passover. Remember, if you would, the Hebrew days began in the evening. So, the evening of Abib 14 began Abib 15. I just read to you where he said Abib 15 was the celebration of Unleavened Bread. Wow! So, that means this: Abib 15 had to be a Sabbath every year. Because the Passover is on the 14th, the 15th had to be, it had to be a Sabbath. So that meant Abib 1, Abib 8, and Abib 15 were always Sabbath days. Always. Now hang on with me. Abib 14 was not a Passover—I mean, but it was not a Sabbath. It was the Passover but not the Sabbath. Why? Because you had to do work on the Passover. You had to get the animal up, you had to kill the animal, you had to clean the animal, you had to cook the animal. And in the original Passover of Egypt, you had to pack up everything and God said you had to eat it with your loins girded and with your shoes on your feet.
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I mean, it was done in haste. So since the Passover was work, it was not a Sabbath day because God says no work is to be done on Sabbath day.
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Now, I'm going to give you a quote and I want you to listen carefully. If you can find this book, please get it for me. It's a little booklet. I don't care if it's 15 bucks or 20 bucks, I would pay it. But I don't have the book, but I do have several quotes from the book. The book was written by Curtis Clare Ewing, and it's on Israel's calendar.
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And it deals with the Sabbath days as well. So here's what Curtis Clare Ewing wrote in his study on the Hebrew calendar. He said this: "The Hebrews retained an Egyptian calendar of 12 months of 30 days. But instead of adding 5 supplemental days at the end of the year, they added 3 at the end of the 6th month and 2 at the end of the 12th month." Now listen, "The 15th day of Abib, the first month, had to be a Sabbath every year, which meant that the 1st and 8th of Abib were fixed Sabbaths, as were the 7 Sabbaths following Abib 15."
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I want to show you this in the Bible. I want you to think about this. Abib 15, the date is set. It has to be a Sabbath. So that means the first and the eighth had to be a Sabbath. And there were seven more Sabbaths following Abib 15. So if you'll look in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus, the book of Leviticus chapter 23. And let's begin reading there with verse one. You will see the following Sabbaths and how everything swung from Abib 15. Watch this, Leviticus chapter 23 beginning with verse 1 and we'll read through verse 16. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work therein. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. Now look, these are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their seasons."
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"In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's Passover." That's not a Sabbath because you had to work there. "And on the fifteenth day," there it is, "of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread." So your 15th had to be a Sabbath. Now watch. "In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein." It's a Sabbath. Okay, verse 8. "But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord seven days. In the seventh day is a holy convocation." Ah, that's another seventh day. "You shall do no servile work therein." So it goes from Sabbath to Sabbath. Now watch this.
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"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When you be come into the land which I give you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And you shall offer that day, when you wave the sheaf, an he-lamb without blemish, of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord. And the meal offering thereof shall be two-tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, and an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savour."
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"And the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin. And you shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that you have brought an offering unto your God. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. And you shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from that day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven sabbaths shall be complete. Okay? Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall you number fifty days, and you shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord." So here, all these seven Sabbaths worked off of Abib 15. What is seven times seven? 49. What was the fiftieth day? Pentecost. You can find that in Acts chapter 2, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, because all of these were based upon Sabbath days.
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Now, I want to go back and finish quoting what Ewing said. It's just a short little bit. Listen carefully. He said, "But this is not all," when he's talking about everything swung from the 15th, "but this is not all. According to Exodus 12:3, 5, 6, and 24, and Leviticus 23:15, the 10th, the 14th, and the 16th of Abib could never be Sabbaths because they were work days of specific commands, real work, like cleaning house, butchering cattle, and reaping firstfruits." So while you had certain days that were set to be Sabbath days, there were certain days that could never be a Sabbath day because work was commanded.
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You see, God is not the author of confusion. You'll find that in 1 Corinthians chapter 14. God is not going to command that you not do any work one day and then turn around and command that you do work that day. God is not the author of confusion. So everything is set.
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Now, you remember the seven annual feasts were Sabbaths as well. There were spring feasts and there were also fall feasts. So here we go, here are the seven annual feasts. These were considered Sabbaths: Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Pentecost. These were spring feasts. There were three fall feasts, and that was Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles. All of these fell on specific times of the year, and each time they fell, it was a Sabbath.
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Now, if you'll go back to the book of Exodus, chapter 34, I want you to note that all the males in Israel had to attend these feasts and they could not appear before the Lord empty. Women were not necessarily required to attend all of them. Children are not necessarily required to attend all of them. Most of the time they did. But all the males were required to attend. So if you look in Exodus chapter 34, beginning there with verse 18.
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"The feast of unleavened bread thou shalt keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread as I commanded thee in the time of the month Abib. For the month Abib camest thou out of Egypt. All that openeth the matrix is mine. And every firstling among thy cattle, whether of ox or sheep, that is male. But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb, and if thou redeem it not thou shalt break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem, and none shall appear before me empty. Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest. In earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest, and thou shalt observe the Feast of Weeks of the first fruits of wheat harvest and the feast of ingathering in the year's end." Now, God said three times that these feasts were to be held and of course none of those males were to appear before him empty.
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Now, I've just put together a bunch of scriptures for you. So I'm going to ask you some questions. I want you to think about this. Was Saturday the Sabbath? And you understand the word Saturday did not exist back then. But in our understanding, with our comprehension of time, was Saturday a Sabbath? Well, you had seven days in a week. So let me put it to you like this: Yes, and no is the answer. No, Saturday was not the weekly Sabbath. And yes, Saturday was a weekly Sabbath once every seven years. You say, "How in the world can that possibly be?" May I remind you the children of Israel went through the Passover on Abib 14. Abib 15 was a Sabbath.
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It was the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Everything swung from that date. So that meant Abib 1, Abib 8 happened to be Sabbaths. So, I want you to think about it like this: Since the date was fixed, the day changed. So, if Abib 15 had to be a Sabbath, it had to be, because they had to number seven Sabbaths after that. That meant Abib 1 and Abib 8 would be Sabbaths.
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So, let me tell you this: If the date is set, the day changes. So it's just like my birthday. My birthday is September the 3rd. This past year it was on Wednesday. Next year it'll be on Thursday. The year after that it'll be on Friday. The year after that it'll be on Saturday. The year after that on Sunday. It'll keep going around until it comes back on Wednesday again. So whatever day Abib 15 was on, it had to be a Sabbath. And that meant then every day of the week, whatever those days were called back then, had to be a Sabbath at one time or the other. So the date was set and the day changed every seven years.
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Now, if you will look in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus chapter 23, and look if you would please at verse 24, Leviticus chapter 23, and verse 24. This is another incident. This is why it has to be said. Look what God says in Leviticus 23 and verse 23. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall you have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing trumpets, an holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein, but you shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord." Now notice here what he said, speaking to the children of Israel, saying in the seventh month, in the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath. So the very first day of the seventh month had to be a Sabbath as well, because it was trumpets. So once again, since the date is set, the day would change. So, when somebody comes along and tells you, "Well, Saturday's the Sabbath."
#52 | 45:10 to 46:30 | cleaned
No, no, Saturday's not the Sabbath. Saturday would have been a Sabbath if that had been the name of the seventh day many, many years back. It would have been a Sabbath once every seven years, but so would every other day during the week. Okay?
#53 | 46:31 to 46:48 | cleaned
Now, let me make some applications. I want to tie this together for you and I hope stir your appetite up for next week and the week following. But I want you to think about this. God ordained the Sabbaths for a reason and he emphasized rest for a reason which we will get into that. OK. If you observe the Sabbaths the way God commanded you to in the Old Testament, it meant then that you were in submission to him, that you recognized his sovereign authority and power, and you were obedient. If you did not keep the Sabbaths the way God ordained, it means you were in rebellion against him and sinful against him. And of course, this is why he judged Israel over and over because they violated his Sabbaths over and over.
#54 | 46:49 to 47:44 | cleaned
And he said, "You know, it was a sign between me and you. I brought you out of the land of Egypt. You were supposed to obey me. I'm your sovereign. I'm your God. I'm your judge. You were supposed to obey me. You didn't. Therefore, I'm going to judge you." So if you were in submission, you obeyed. If you were in rebellion, you disobeyed. And here's the interesting thing. I don't know if you picked up on it.
#55 | 47:45 to 48:08 | cleaned
Those who did not keep God's Sabbaths always fell into idolatry. Wow. So once again you have to understand in the Old Testament they had to be in submission and if they were not in submission they were in rebellion. It's that simple.
#56 | 48:09 to 48:30 | cleaned
Now here's the next thing and I'm going to be developing this even some next week. The Sabbaths in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament actually taught rest, redemption, and freedom under God. In other words, we find our rest in Him, we find our redemption in Him, we find our freedom in Him. So while the Sabbaths did indeed teach rest, redemption and freedom in God, they also taught at the same time rest and redemption and freedom from the tyranny of man and man's usurped authority. Here's the third thing. Anyone who makes Saturday a perpetual Sabbath is being inconsistent with the Word of God because Saturday was not a Sabbath. Now, if you're going to claim Saturday as being a Sabbath, and you're going to observe it as they observed it in the Bible.
#57 | 48:30 to 49:50 | cleaned
You've got a long stretch ahead of you because you can't kindle the fire. You can't do anything except just simply rest. That was it. That was it. And you remember there was a good illustration of this when God led the children of Israel through the wilderness. What did he do? He lit them with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. And what does the Bible say? When the cloud stayed, they stayed. When the cloud moved, they moved.
#58 | 49:54 to 50:24 | cleaned
In other words, that's what the Sabbath was all about. In other words, it was saying we're in submission to God's sovereign authority and God's sovereign power. We move at his command. We rest at his command. We're resting in him. But the children of Israel, of course, rebelled against God and God judged them. So here's the thing that you need to understand today. And we're going to look more in the New Testament next week. And I'm going to show you how the Pharisees and the scribes perverted even the teaching of the Sabbath, the principle of the Sabbath. They perverted it.
#59 | 50:24 to 51:03 | cleaned
Instead of it being a blessing, they made it a burden. And instead of it being freedom, they made it slavery. And then I'm going to show you thirdly, Lord willing, on the third message, the Christian Sabbath, how the Christian Sabbath fulfills everything in the Old Testament. Because Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of everything. All right, let's have prayer then. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we thank you for your glory and your grace and your mercy. We thank you, Lord, for all of your multitudinous blessings to us for life and health, sleep and rest. Lord, we're thankful for Joshua and Felicia and their new baby, and Lord, the whole family, and ask your continued hand of blessing to be upon them. And we ask, Father, that you would give us grace that we may serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T13:29:26Z

Is Saturday The Sabbath - Part 1

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver examines whether Saturday is the biblical Sabbath, arguing that the weekly Sabbath was not fixed to a specific day of the week but was determined by the Hebrew calendar, with fixed dates like Abib 15 always being a Sabbath. He distinguishes between the Creation Sabbath, Hebrew Sabbath, Canaan Sabbath, and Christian Sabbath, and emphasizes that all Sabbaths—weekly, monthly, annual, sabbatical year, and Jubilee—must be kept consistently. The lecture sets up a three-part series, promising to address the Christian Sabbath and New Testament fulfillment in later messages.

Introduction and Reading of Deuteronomy 16:1-9

Weaver opens with a reading of Deuteronomy 16:1-9, which commands the observance of the month Abib and the Passover, setting the stage for a discussion on the Sabbath.

All right, let's begin today by reading Deuteronomy chapter 16, verses 1 through 9. God says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 16:1-9

"Observe the month Abib, and keep the Passover unto the Lord thy God. For in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord thy God of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there. Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction. For thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste, that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest out of the land of Egypt, all the days of thy life. And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee on all thy coasts seven days, neither shall there anything of the flesh which thou sacrificest the first day at even remain all night until the morning. Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, but at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in. There thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. And thou shalt turn in the morning and go into thy tents. Six days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God. Thou shalt do no work therein. Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee. Begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn."

The Question: Is Saturday the Sabbath?

Weaver poses the central question of the series: Is Saturday the Sabbath, and if so, why do Christians worship on Sunday? He notes ongoing confusion and promises a three-part answer.

The Principle of Rest and Multiple Sabbaths

The Creation Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11)

Weaver examines the Creation Sabbath, noting that it commemorates God's rest after creation, but the exact day of creation's start is unknown, so the specific day of the week is not fixed.

Scripture Reading — Exodus 20:8-11

"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,"

and note if you would, it says "remember."

Scripture Reading — Exodus 20:8-11

"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, 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 in thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

The Hebrew Sabbath (Exodus 31, Ezekiel 20)

Weaver discusses the Hebrew Sabbath as a sign between God and Israel, emphasizing that all Sabbaths (plural) were to be kept, and that no work was allowed, with death as the penalty for violation.

Scripture Reading — Exodus 31:12-17

"Whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbaths throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant."

Now it says no work is to be done. If you would turn over to Exodus chapter 35 and look again at verses 2 and 3.

New Moon Sabbaths and Israel's Contempt

Weaver introduces the monthly new moon Sabbaths and cites Amos 8:5 to show Israel's contempt for both weekly and monthly Sabbaths, as they prioritized commerce over rest.

Now, if you look at Numbers chapter 28 and verse 11. Numbers 28. Look at this. And verse 11. Note what the word of God says. "And in the beginning of your months," this is the new moon,

Scripture Reading — Numbers 28:11

"in the beginning of your months you shall offer a burnt offering unto the Lord, two young bullocks and one ram, seven lambs of the first year without spot, and three-tenth deals of flour for a meal offering, mingled with oil for one bullock and two-tenth deals of flour for a meal offering, mingled with oil for a ram."

Scripture Reading — Amos 8:5

"When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn, and the sabbath that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit."

The Canaan Sabbath (Hebrews 4)

Weaver explains the Canaan Sabbath as the rest of entering and conquering the Promised Land, which was not achieved by the generation that left Egypt due to unbelief, pointing to a future rest.

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 4:4-8

spake, "in a certain place on the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest in the seventh day from his works." That's a reference to the creation rest. "And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest." Now we're talking about the Canaan rest. "Seeing therefore it remains that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief."

The Hebrew Calendar and Fixed Sabbaths

Scripture Reading — Exodus 12:1-2

"And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you."

Exodus chapter 13, verse 4. God says,

Scripture Reading — Exodus 13:4

"This day came you out in the month Abib."

Scripture Reading — Exodus 13:4

"The Feast of Unleavened Bread shalt thou keep. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee in the time of the month Abib. For in the month Abib camest thou from Egypt."

One last one. Look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy 16, which we read at the beginning of this message.

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 23:5-8

"In the fourteenth day of the first month,"

that would be Abib,

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 23:5-8

"at even is the Lord's Passover."

Look at verse 6,

Scripture Reading — Leviticus 23:5-8

"And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread."

Counting Sabbaths to Pentecost (Leviticus 23)

Annual Feasts as Sabbaths and Male Attendance

Conclusion: Saturday Was Not a Perpetual Sabbath

Is Saturday The Sabbath - Part 1

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	1028252324215407
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover: As Yet
Genre	Sermon
Date	2025-10-26
Dictation Name
Book	Book 182: Is Saturday The Sabbath? — Chapter 1
Source Timed Segments	60

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction and Reading of Deuteronomy 16:1-9: Weaver opens with a reading of Deuteronomy 16:1-9, which commands the observance of the month Abib and the Passover, setting the stage for a discussion on the Sabbath.
The Question: Is Saturday the Sabbath?: Weaver poses the central question of the series: Is Saturday the Sabbath, and if so, why do Christians worship on Sunday? He notes ongoing confusion and promises a three-part answer.
The Principle of Rest and Multiple Sabbaths: Weaver explains that the word 'Sabbath' means rest and that the Bible mentions various Sabbaths: weekly, new moon, annual feasts, sabbatical year, and Jubilee. He argues that keeping one requires keeping all.
The Creation Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11): Weaver examines the Creation Sabbath, noting that it commemorates God's rest after creation, but the exact day of creation's start is unknown, so the specific day of the week is not fixed.
The Hebrew Sabbath (Exodus 31, Ezekiel 20): Weaver discusses the Hebrew Sabbath as a sign between God and Israel, emphasizing that all Sabbaths (plural) were to be kept, and that no work was allowed, with death as the penalty for violation.
New Moon Sabbaths and Israel's Contempt: Weaver introduces the monthly new moon Sabbaths and cites Amos 8:5 to show Israel's contempt for both weekly and monthly Sabbaths, as they prioritized commerce over rest.
The Canaan Sabbath (Hebrews 4): Weaver explains the Canaan Sabbath as the rest of entering and conquering the Promised Land, which was not achieved by the generation that left Egypt due to unbelief, pointing to a future rest.
The Hebrew Calendar and Fixed Sabbaths: Weaver argues that the Hebrew calendar had fixed Sabbaths on Abib 1, 8, and 15, with the 15th always being a Sabbath because it followed the Passover. He explains that the date was fixed, so the day of the week changed annually.
Counting Sabbaths to Pentecost (Leviticus 23): Weaver shows from Leviticus 23 that seven Sabbaths were counted from the wave sheaf offering after Abib 15, leading to Pentecost, demonstrating that Sabbaths were tied to fixed dates, not a perpetual Saturday.
Annual Feasts as Sabbaths and Male Attendance: Weaver lists the seven annual feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles) as Sabbaths and notes that all Israelite males were required to attend, appearing before God with offerings.
Conclusion: Saturday Was Not a Perpetual Sabbath: Weaver concludes that Saturday was not the weekly Sabbath; rather, every day of the week became a Sabbath at some point due to the fixed dates. He previews future messages on the Pharisees' perversion and the Christian Sabbath.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

The Bible mentions multiple Sabbaths, not just a weekly one.

Weaver argues that the Old Testament refers to Sabbaths in the plural, including new moons, feasts, sabbatical years, and Jubilee, so focusing only on a weekly Sabbath is selective.

He cites Exodus 31:13 ('Verily my sabbaths you shall keep') and Ezekiel 20:12-13, and lists the various types of Sabbaths.

The weekly Sabbath was not fixed to Saturday because the Hebrew calendar was based on fixed dates.

Weaver demonstrates that Abib 15 was always a Sabbath, and since the date was fixed, the day of the week rotated annually, meaning every day became a Sabbath over time.

He explains: 'Abib 15 had to be a Sabbath every year. So that meant Abib 1, Abib 8, and Abib 15 were always Sabbath days.' He uses the birthday analogy to illustrate the shifting day.

The Passover (Abib 14) was a work day, not a Sabbath, proving that not all holy days were rest days.

Weaver points out that the Passover required work (slaughtering, cooking, packing), so it could not be a Sabbath, which required absolute rest.

He says: 'Abib 14 was not a Passover—I mean, but it was not a Sabbath. It was the Passover but not the Sabbath. Why? Because you had to do work on the Passover.'

The Sabbath was primarily a day of rest, not worship, in the Old Testament.

Weaver argues that worship was family-centered and daily; the central demand of the Sabbath was cessation from work, with weekly worship emerging later.

He states: 'In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was not primarily a day of worship. It was primarily a day of rest.'

The word 'Saturday' did not exist in biblical times; days were numbered, not named after planets.

Weaver notes that the Roman calendar introduced planetary day names later, so equating the seventh day with Saturday is anachronistic.

He says: 'The word Saturday was not even in existence when the Sabbaths began... we get our weekdays and even months basically from the Roman calendar.'

The Canaan Sabbath in Hebrews 4 points to a rest beyond Joshua, fulfilled in Christ.

Weaver interprets Hebrews 4:8 to mean that Joshua did not give the ultimate rest, implying a future Christian Sabbath.

He reads: 'For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day?' and notes the name Jesus/Joshua means 'Jehovah is salvation.'

Scripture References

Deuteronomy 16:1-9: Read at the opening to establish the command to observe the month Abib and the Passover, setting the stage for the discussion on fixed dates and Sabbaths.
Exodus 20:8-11: Cited as the Creation Sabbath command, emphasizing rest on the seventh day because God rested after creation.
Exodus 31:12-17: Used to show the Hebrew Sabbath as a sign between God and Israel, with the death penalty for working on the Sabbath.
Ezekiel 20:10-16: Cited to demonstrate that God gave Israel His Sabbaths (plural) as a sign, and they polluted them, leading to judgment.
Exodus 35:2-3: Reinforces the prohibition of work on the Sabbath, including kindling a fire.
Numbers 15:32-36: The account of a man stoned for gathering sticks on the Sabbath, illustrating the strictness of the rest command.
Numbers 28:11: Introduced to show the new moon offerings, indicating monthly Sabbaths.
1 Chronicles 23:31: Mentions offerings on Sabbaths, new moons, and set feasts, confirming the plurality of Sabbaths.
Amos 8:5: Quoted to show Israel's contempt for the new moon and Sabbath, as they wanted to resume commerce and defraud.
Hebrews 4:4-8: Discusses the Canaan rest, noting that Joshua did not give the ultimate rest, pointing to another day.
Leviticus 26:34-35: Warns that the land will enjoy its Sabbaths while Israel is in captivity because they did not observe the sabbatical years.
2 Chronicles 36:20-21: Explains the 70-year captivity as fulfilling the land's missed Sabbaths.
Exodus 12:1-2: Establishes the month of Abib as the first month of the Hebrew year.
Exodus 13:4: Identifies the month of the Exodus as Abib.
Exodus 23:15: Commands the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the month Abib.
Exodus 34:18: Repeats the command for Unleavened Bread in Abib.
Leviticus 23:5-8: Specifies the Passover on Abib 14 and the Feast of Unleavened Bread starting on Abib 15, a Sabbath.
Numbers 9:3: Commands keeping the Passover on the 14th day at even.
Numbers 28:16-17: Confirms the Passover on the 14th and the feast on the 15th.
Leviticus 23:9-16: Details the wave sheaf offering and the counting of seven Sabbaths to Pentecost, all based on the Sabbath after Abib 15.

Historical References

Constantine's designation of Sunday in 321 AD: Weaver mentions that Emperor Constantine designated Sunday as the first day of the week, and that Roman planetary names for days (like Saturn's day for Saturday) were adopted later.
Intertestamental period (400 years): Weaver notes that weekly worship did not begin until the intertestamental period between the Old and New Testaments.
Curtis Clare Ewing's study on Israel's calendar: Weaver quotes Ewing's work on the Hebrew calendar, which argues that Abib 1, 8, and 15 were fixed Sabbaths, and that certain days could never be Sabbaths due to commanded work.

Important Quotes

If one Sabbath is kept, in order to be consistent, all the other Sabbaths must be kept as well.

This quote encapsulates Weaver's argument that selective Sabbath-keeping is inconsistent with the biblical witness to multiple Sabbaths.

The word Sabbath actually means rest.

Foundational definition that shapes the entire discussion, emphasizing the primary purpose of the Sabbath as cessation from labor.

In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was not primarily a day of worship. It was primarily a day of rest.

Challenges the common assumption that the Sabbath was mainly about corporate worship, refocusing on the rest principle.

The word Saturday was not even in existence when the Sabbaths began.

Undermines the claim that Saturday is inherently the Sabbath by noting the anachronism of the day name.

If the date is set, the day changes.

Key logical point explaining why the weekly Sabbath could not be fixed to a particular day of the week in the Hebrew calendar.

Anyone who makes Saturday a perpetual Sabbath is being inconsistent with the Word of God because Saturday was not a Sabbath.

Direct conclusion of the lecture, asserting that Saturday Sabbath-keeping is biblically unfounded.

The Sabbaths in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament actually taught rest, redemption, and freedom under God.

Summarizes the theological purpose of the Sabbaths, pointing to their fulfillment in Christ.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does understanding the plurality of Sabbaths (weekly, monthly, annual, sabbatical year, Jubilee) change your view of Old Testament Sabbath-keeping?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes that the Bible speaks of 'Sabbaths' in the plural and that consistency would require keeping all of them.

[Question]

Why is it significant that the Passover (Abib 14) was a work day and not a Sabbath, even though it was a holy convocation?

[Context]

Weaver argues that the Passover required work, so it could not be a Sabbath, showing that not all holy days were rest days.

[Question]

What are the implications of the Hebrew calendar having fixed dates for Sabbaths (like Abib 15) rather than fixed days of the week?

[Context]

Weaver explains that the date was set, so the day changed annually, meaning every day of the week became a Sabbath over time.

[Question]

How does the concept of Sabbath as primarily a day of rest, not worship, affect our understanding of the fourth commandment?

[Context]

Weaver states that worship was family-centered and daily in the Old Testament, with the Sabbath focused on cessation from work.

[Question]

In what ways did the Pharisees later pervert the Sabbath principle, and how does that relate to modern Sabbath-keeping debates?

[Context]

Weaver previews that the Pharisees made the Sabbath a burden and slavery instead of a blessing and freedom, to be discussed in the next message.

[Question]

What does it mean that the Sabbaths were a 'sign' between God and Israel, and how does that sign function in the New Covenant?

[Context]

Weaver highlights that the Sabbaths signified submission to God's authority and that violation led to idolatry and judgment.

Applications

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