7th day oath, 8th day Man
or why...
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Seven is the sign of the old covenant while Eight is the sign of the new covenant
In many cultures, the basis for elevating the number seven came from observing the wandering stars i.e. planets as they're now recognized. Seven figures prominently in many rituals and government divisions. Examples: seven satraps (Persia), seven provinces (China), seven steps to the temple (India), seven cities of gold, seven altars, seven gates (Mithra), seven phases of a soul’s progressive journey (Egypt), seven & fourteen steps in Masonic temples, with more references mentioning the number seven found throughout Freemasonry. Even Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. is named for one of Rome’s seven hills and freemasons point out that D.C. is located on the 77th meridian (so is my hometown, big deal!). Superstitions are still found in phrases such as “seven years of bad luck” and the belief that special attributes were given to “the seventh son of a seventh son.” The list is impressive. The Babylonians observed a seventh day, but for them it was unlucky and they continued to labor on it. These polytheistic believers also observed the nineteenth day and called the fifteenth day a sabbath. Their day seven rarely fell on Hebrew Sabbaths and feast days. The number seven is set apart from all others in the Hebrew scriptures as well. That most cultures recognized the number seven as special is undeniable but among the Hebrews, the number itself held no magical powers; rather, it served as a reminder of the covenant and to Whom they were beholden. So here the similarities end between YHVH's people and those of pagan belief.
In scripture, the sacredness of the number seven is derived from the Hebrew word sheba and its root word shaba, meaning to take an oath by repeating oneself seven times. The earliest example of this is found in Gen 21:27-34, where Abraham made a covenant with a neighbor named Abimelech over the rights of Beersheba, aka, well of the oath. For this, Abraham set aside seven female lambs for Abimelech as a witness to this oath:
Gen 21:29-31 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs, which you have set by themselves? (v.30) And he (Abraham) said, For these seven ewe lambs shall you take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have dug this well. (v.31) Wherefore he called that place Beersheba, because there they swore (an oath) both of them.
Sabbath and the number seven
The seventh day was first mentioned in Gen 2:2-3 where the Lord sanctified it as a day of rest. Along this same line, Exodus 16:13 is the first recorded passage where the seventh day and Sabbath are connected both as a day of rest for man and beast and as a day sanctified by the Lord for worship. Exo 20:8 codified it into Law, connecting it directly to the covenant Exo 31:16, which is everlasting. The Lord reminded us however as noted in - Mark 2:27: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
Unfortunately, the Pharisees and Sanhedrin had long gone astray in their abuse of this special day - wielding it as a weapon of cruelty and unmercifulness toward the congregation. Once the New Covenant was born, the concept of what should be observed changed as understood by Apostles and the early Church. Yet after just three centuries, the seventh day would be deliberately misconstrued by those in high places, leading many Christians to find themselves once again - under the very law they had been freed of.
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Brief intro of the Lord's Day and what became of the seventh day Sabbath
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#1: Many people are unaware that the first day of the week served as a meeting day for the apostles soon after the Lord's resurrection and from that point on in the churches. This 8th day (beginning of the new week) became known as “the Lord’s day.” The number eight in both old/new testaments has always represented new beginnings or resurrection as will be documented in the coming sections. The Lord was resurrected on “the first day of the week” John 20:1, which would be the eighth day since it followed the Sabbath. He met with His disciples on that same day (John 20:19) and saw them again eight days later John 20:26. Paul mentioned in Acts 20:7 that he and the apostles met on the first day of the week to break bread. 1 Cor 16:2 indicates that almost immediately after the Lord's resurrection, the first day of the week (the Lord's day) was chosen to take communion and to meet up for fellowship and teaching. Three annual feasts were kept for seven days followed by a special assembly and service, i.e. marking a total of eight days. The Wave offering of the first sheaf, (Lev 23:11) Pentecost, i.e. the Feast of Weeks (Lev 23:16-17) and the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev 23:36). Letters from the early church fathers (long before the roman catholic church existed) indicated that the seventh day was no longer the day Christians gathered.
#2: Then came tradition. Since satanic forces couldn't stop people from becoming Christians, they did the next best thing by infiltrating those churches and poisoning them just as the pharisees and children of the devil had in the synagogues (John 8:44). The apostles wrote of these infiltrations and their spiritual battles to counter them. The 8th day observance was eventually corrupted by legalizing it. Sunday service became mandatory stomping on both the Sabbath and on the 8th day meetings. Civil law, not God’s, forced the wrong idea that the Sabbath must be on Sunday. This act took place well after the churches were in existence. In fact, nowhere in all the epistles and even in the Council of Jerusalem before the fourth century a.d. is it suggested that the Lord’s day was ever to substitute for or itself become a Sabbath. During the Roman Emperor Constantine’s reign, in which he claimed a conversion to Christianity, he enacted a civil law making Sunday the Sabbath, thereby effectively abolishing the seventh-day Sabbath. His unholy effort less honored Christ, and more honored the pagan sun god. The Roman churches saw a great opportunity here to further their authority, so they adopted this edict, hence offering direct evidence that enforcement of Sunday-Sabbath was clearly a sign of a merger between church and state.
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When the old covenant ushered in a new covenant, the law that controlled temporal elements took a back seat:
The Contract of Time runs out - the Covenant of Eternity is born
What you already know: Divine law isn’t about diet, rituals or circumcision. Most of what’s written in scripture refers to ordinances and statutes, during a time when the Hebrews came under a Levitical priesthood and what Paul stoically described as “the schoolmaster” (Gal 3:24-25). Those laws once served a specific purpose foreshadowing greater spiritual truths, and keeping many is still a good idea for preservation of health and family. But the Law, covenant law of which our Creator spoke specifically is the topic here. Ask what the Covenant is now and the response might be met with silence or simply someone describing salvation. Though more than salvation, it’s no more complicated. It begins and continues with the law given at Mt. Sinai. The ten commandments were the hallmark of the Old Covenant.
Christ Jesus even summed up Old Covenant law on quoting Deut 6:4-5, “Love the Lord with all your heart, soul and might”, followed by the second greatest…”Love your neighbor as yourself.” In plain English, love your Creator, love yourself, love others, as “I, (God) have loved you” (John 13:34). The Lord continued, "...On these two commandments hang all the law and prophets” (Matt 22:40). This old covenant was transformed into a brand new one, retaining all ten commandments where, "There is neither jew nor greek, neither is there bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ," (Gal 3:28). There is no "grace by race." All in Christ are of the House of Israel. Christ said that He didn’t come to destroy the law; rather to fulfill it, (Matt 5:17-18). He fulfilled the Law's requirement by becoming the sin offering once and for all time - but the Jews rejected that as does much of the world - so they remain "under the law"; therefore allowing themselves to be condemned by it.
There was one change and it is crucial:
A transformation from old to new came about when the sign and seal changed. In the old covenant, keeping the Sabbath on the seventh day was the sign of the Covenant (Exo 31:16-17). As mentioned previously, the number seven (sheba) in Hebrew means oath. Oaths and covenants are sealed in flesh, hence the Hebrew word beriyth for covenant, meaning to cut ; therefore, circumcision on the eighth day of life acted to seal the covenant. After Christ Jesus was sacrificed, He became both sign and seal. On taking communion then, believers renew an apostolic oath. In short, God made a covenant with Himself, and because He’s related to us by blood, we’re automatically “in.” A good thing too, since it's between “Him” and “Him" so no matter what, that promise can’t be broken. It's no wonder Paul strongly advised that one shouldn't partake of communion unless they understand the gravity of what it is they are do as oaths are not to be taken lightly (1 Cor 11:27-30).
Jesus of Nazareth then assumed the Sabbath’s function, He being Lord of the Sabbath (Matt 12:8, Mark 2:27, Luke 6:5). His sacrifice radically differed from animal sacrifices, circumcised flesh, and all those rituals and sabbaths that begin and end as dictated by time and are time-dependent. Christ’s sacrifice with his immortal resurrection allowed Him to smash the spiritual “clock.” All things time-dependent in this covenant have been obliterated. Spiritual death, once a given, is now something we needn't face and at the covenant’s height, all physical death will cease once YHVH's foes are destroyed (Rev 20:14, 21:4). After all, death is a function of time, since nothing dies unless the clock is ticking. An eternal covenant has no reason to keep schedules. This means that the Sabbath is not a day rather, it became “days without end.”
The apostle Paul demonstrated his understanding of Christ’s covenant very well, when he advised:
“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of holiday, (holy day) or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days” (Col 2:16). Paul knew Covenant Law had been freed of time and of all its elements. More than this, Christ became the covenant - not just a seal of it or its proxy because Elohim YHVH is timeless and death, a function of time has no hold on Him.
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