Why we do What we do 

Often, we are asked why we do what we do, keeping the Feasts and observing the seventh day sabbath.    These are good questions and ones worthy to be addressed.  It is noteworthy upfront that our goal here at Lev Y’shua is to hold to Biblical purity as much as possible in our walk.  If the word says to do something, we try our best to do it.  If it says to not do a certain thing, we refrain from it and if the Bible is silent on a matter, we will proceed or refrain depending on whether that item maintains or cuts against Biblical integrity.  Suffice it to say, we do not believe the Old Testament has been done away with, particularly since the New Testament writers quoted from it so much so that some estimate as much as 70 to 80% of the New Testament comes right out of the Old.

As to observing the Feasts, when we look at Leviticus 23 which gives us the complete road map of the Lord’s Appointed times throughout the year, we are told these are perpetual statutes throughout all our generations, not just until Messiah comes.  And while we recognize that a better sacrifice has been made through Messiah and we no longer need the blood of goats and rams we understand (albeit darkly) that these Feasts are all shadow pictures of good things to come.  They tell the story of our redemption!  Messiah, our Passover Lamb, fulfilled the Spring Feasts at the exact appointed times!  And we see the same prophetic pattern in the Fall Feasts which He will fulfill at His second coming.  This is why we celebrate with such expectancy!

The first of the Feasts that our Loving Creator gave to us is the weekly Shabbat!  Six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation!  The Sabbath was given and sanctified at creation.  Y’shua Himself declared that the Sabbath was made for man…. not just for Hebrews or Jews, but for all mankind.  He upheld the Sabbath Himself as is noted in Luke 4:16; “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day…”  He never spoke negatively about the Sabbath and in Mark (2:27-28) “He said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.” In prophesying about the destruction that was to come upon Jerusalem in 70 AD He said “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day.”  (Mat 24:20)   If the Sabbath was to be nullified after His death, this statement makes no sense.  An emergency flight for God’s people would not be in keeping with His purpose for the day.

After His assent to Heaven, the Beloved Apostle Paul continues to observe the Shabbat.  Acts 17:2  “And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures”, Act 18:4  “And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.” 

We believe it to be a Holy Rhythm to follow the Lord in His set apart days.  We do not see a departure from this in scripture and feel compelled to observe accordingly.

Let us now refer to just a couple of extra Biblical sources that affirm the seventh day as the Sabbath: 

James Cardinal Gibbons, prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Apostolic Vicar of North Carolina from 1868 to 1872, Bishop of Richmond from 1872 to 1877, and as ninth Archbishop of Baltimore from 1877 until his death in 1921¹ stated in his book “The Faith of our Fathers” “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday.  The scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.”    

Peter R. Kraemer, Catholic Church Extension Society (1975), Chicago, Illinois.

"Regarding the change from the observance of the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sunday, I wish to draw your attention to the facts:

1) That Protestants, who accept the Bible as the only rule of faith and religion, should by all means go back to the observance of the Sabbath. The fact that they do not, but on the contrary observe the Sunday, stultifies (humiliates) them in the eyes of every thinking man.

2) We Catholics do not accept the Bible as the only rule of faith. Besides the Bible we have the living Church, the authority of the Church, as a rule to guide us. We say, this Church, instituted by Christ to teach and guide man through life, has the right to change the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament and hence, we accept her change of the Sabbath to Sunday. We frankly say, yes, the Church made this change, made this law, as she made many other laws, for instance, the Friday abstinence, the unmarried priesthood, the laws concerning mixed marriages, the regulation of Catholic marriages and a thousand other laws.

It is always somewhat laughable, to see the Protestant churches, in pulpit and legislation, demand the observance of Sunday, of which there is nothing in their Bible." 

There are other sources to which we can refer, however, in summation, this is why we do what we do.  We love God we are grateful for such a great salvation as He has bestowed upon us.  Thus, out of love for Him we seek to follow His loving instructions for our lives of which the observance of His set apart days is paramount to our understanding. 

¹ Wikipedia

For additional information see: https://www.biblesabbath.org/confessions.html