From Sunday to Saturday and then to the Lunar Sabbath

Why I Keep the Sabbath

Before I get to why I keep the Sabbath by the moon, you may be wondering how I came to the conclusion that I needed to keep the Seventh Day Sabbath commanded in the 10 commandments in the first place. I was called in 2008 to be a student of YHUH’s Torah. My husband and children and I were attending a Pentecostal church in Virginia, where we were stationed in the Air Force, for no other reason than that seemed to be a stepping stone YHUH had placed in our journey that would lead out of Babylon (Revelation 18:4). It was there that I was asked to lead a womens’ bible study. I was shocked, I had only been attending church on a regular basis for a few years, and I was being asked to lead my older, more mature, more well versed peers in a study. While doing this study, the women in the study, including myself, were directed to choose five areas of ministry and bring them before the Father in Heaven to see which area of ministry He would choose for us to focus our studies on, resulting in us being experts in that area of ministry, and able to pour into others what we would learn. When I brought my 5 I had chosen before YHUH, He replied, “No. T-O-R-A-H. I want you to become a student of my word.”

I had been wondering for years how I could serve YaHUaH. I wondered if He wanted me to feed the hungry in Africa, teach women how to love their husbands, or lead a women’s prayer group in my neighborhood or congregation. I was so relieved to find that all YHUH was requiring of me was to study His word. So, that’s what I did.

It didn’t take long for my husband and I to become convicted to start keeping the Sabbath. We had been studying Paul’s writings, as well as Yahusha’s words, and we were starting to see that their teachings supported keeping the law of Moses, rather than doing away with the law, as the church was teaching. We felt convicted about keeping all of the 10 commandments, and we noticed we were not keeping the fourth commandment, the commandment to keep the Sabbath day.

We learned in Paul’s writings, particularly in Romans 11, that the gentiles were being offered the opportunity to be grafted into the olive tree (Israel), if they would believe in Yahusha (the Messiah of Israel) and keep YHUH’s commandments, much like the mixed multitude were also invited into receiving the promises of the covenant at Mt. Sinai, those who came out of Egypt with Israel and were charged to keep the same laws as Israel (Exodus 12:49, Numbers 15:16, Numbers 15:29, and Leviticus 24:22.)

Why I Keep the Seventh Day Sabbath by the Moon

(Rather than on a Day in the Gregorian Week)

So we became students of His Torah, and we walked in the understanding we were given, a little here, a little there, one line at a time, knowing that if we were obedient with the little He was giving us, more understanding would come. We switched from meeting on Sunday to gathering on Saturday. We did that for about 5 years at our local Hebraic Roots congregation, until, once again, I heard that small, still voice rebuking me for worrying about my husband who was working on Saturdays (what we thought was the Sabbath at the time) as a firefighter/paramedic, when he was scheduled to do so, when I, myself was not keeping HIS Sabbath. At first I wondered how I could not be keeping His Sabbath, because I didn’t work, I stayed home and homeschooled my children. I always rested on Saturday, so how could I not be keeping HIS Sabbath? YHUH immediately brought to my remembrance someone mentioning people who keep Sabbath by the moon. I had dismissed it rather quickly when I had first heard of it, because I did not understand at the time that New Moons were not days of the week. Once YHUH rebuked me about the Sabbath, I knew immediately that I needed to hear out the testimony of such people who keep a lunar Sabbath and see if they had scriptural witnesses for doing so. I found out that they had many scriptural witnesses for a lunar Sabbath, starting with Gen 1:14, Psalm 104:19, Lev 23, Ezekiel 46:1, etc…

And Aluhym said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, appointed times, and for days, and years. Genesis 1:14

He made the moon for appointed times, the sun knows his going down. Psalm 104:19

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say to them, concerning the appointed times of YHUH, which you shall proclaim to be sanctified convocations, even these are my appointed times. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a sanctified convocation; you shall do no work therein; it is the Sabbath of YHUH in all your dwellings. Leviticus 23:2-3

Thus says YHUH Aluhym; The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the New Moon days it shall be opened. Ezekiel 46:1

It didn’t take long to convince me. I humbled myself and knew His word was true, and man was wrong, the moon was for appointed times, as these verses teach, and the Sabbath was clearly an appointed time, according to Leviticus 23:2-3. I got in step with His word and started marching to YHUH’s drum. My children began to march to it too, and within a few months my husband was, as well. We were leaving Babylon/Egypt all over again, following the cloud to the next destination. We got off on some rabbi trails along the way, but YHUH is faithful, and He quickly got us back on the right path, the one He put us on when we first came to the lunar Sabbath, using the dark, concealed moon, as the New Moon, beginning the month the morning after conjunction. For an explanation about how we came to using the dark moon as the New Moon, rather than the First Visible Crescent (FVC), or the Jewish Hillel II calendar, or using the Full Moon, please refer to my article at this link:

https://pentecostcountdown.com/dark-new-moon-days-and-paths-of-light/

Scriptural Witnesses Establishing the Sabbath Day for Believers

Allow me to share some verses with you from both the Old and New Testaments, from the words and actions of people like Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Paul, and Yahusha Messiah, that led to my conviction to keep the Sabbath day; This is not a complete list, but a few:

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exodus 20:8

But the seventh day is the sabbath of YHUH thy Aluhym: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days YHUH made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore YHUH blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exodus 20:10-11

Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to YHUH: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Exodus 31:14-15

Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. Exodus 31:16

But the seventh day is the sabbath of YHUH thy Aluhym: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that YHUH thy Aluhym brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore YHUH they Aluhym commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. Deuteronomy 5:14-15

[[A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day.]] It is a good thing to give thanks unto YHUH, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High…Psalm 92:1

Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. Isaiah 56:2

Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to YHUH, to serve him, and to love the name of YHUH, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant…Isaiah 56:6

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of YHUH, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words…Isaiah 58:13

And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith YHUH. Isaiah 66:23

Thus saith YHUH Aluhym; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened. Ezekiel 46:1

For the Son of man is Master even of the sabbath day. Matthew 12:28

But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day…Matthew 24:20

And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath…Mark 2:27

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, and stood up for to read. Luke 4:16

And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. Luke 4:31

And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? Luke 13:16

And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. Luke 23:56

And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Acts 13:42

And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of Aluhym. Acts 13:44

For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day. Acts 15:21

And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures…Acts 17:2

And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. Acts 18:4

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days…Colossians 2:16

Yahusha Messiah and the disciples urged us to walk as the disciples and Yahusha walked. They were to be our example. The disciples walked the same walk Messiah walked. How did they walk? We read from many of the verses above that they kept the Sabbath and honored it. They gathered on that day to hear the Word and worship the Father.

Yahusha said His words were the Father’s words, and the Father said to keep the Sabbath as an eternal covenant. The Chosen Son who inherits the Kingdom does not disobey the rules of the Father, and He does not teach the other children to disobey the Father, nor does He have authority to change the Father’s rules of the Father’s house. Jeremiah 31:33 and Hebrews 8:10 that the purpose of the new covenant (New Testament) that Yahusha’s death, burial, and resurrection, brought us into, was having the law put on our hearts so that we would keep it.

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith YHUH, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their Aluhym, and they shall be my people. Jeremiah 31:33

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith YHUH; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them Aluhym, and they shall be to me a people. Hebrew 8:10

The Father intended from the very beginning to do away with our stony hearts that broke the commandments in the wilderness, resulting in broken tablets of stone. He wanted to take our stony hearts and put in us hearts of flesh that would love His commandments and hide them in our hearts as cherished treasures.

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Psalm 119:11

The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. Psalm 119:72

Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. Psalm 119:127

He wanted us to see them as a light for our paths, not burdens.

NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:105

He wanted us to see them as good rules of a loving Father that wants to protect them.

Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. Psalm 119:67

I know, O YHUH, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Psalm 119:75

That’s what sending His Son was about – to bring us back into right relationship with Him, by bringing us back to the Father through faith in Yahusha, which leads to repentance of sins (turning away from sin) – sins that include not honoring His Sabbaths.

Counting to the Seventh Day Lunar Sabbath

The morning after conjunction of the sun and moon, begins the 1st day of the month, Rosh Chodesh, the head of the month. Then count seven days; your first Sabbath will be the 8th, then the 15th, 22nd, and 29th. Conjunction will always occur either on the 29th or 30th of the month, depending on whether there are 29 or 30 days in that month. The 30th day of the month, like the 1st of the month, is a New Moon day, but it is not Rosh Chodesh, it is the tail of the previous month, not the head of the new month. The 30th day of the month is ALWAYS a New Moon day, because when it occurs, it is the day that conjunction (the renewed moon) occurs. Conjunction can sometimes occur on the Sabbath on the 29th, if there is only one New Moon day. The 1st of the month is ALWAYS a New Moon day, but conjunction NEVER occurs that day. The first day of the month is Rosh Chodesh, which means head, renewal. Rosh Chodesh is the time before the count to the Sabbaths begins.

See Genesis 1, how in the beginning, there was darkness, this was Rosh Chodesh, the first day of the month, and then on the first day of the work week, YHUH created the light. That is when visible light appears on the moon signaling that it is time to go back to work. The First Visible Crescent, FVC, is not the sign for the New Moon, it is the sign for the first day of the week. Just as night is a time of darkness between days, and a divider between the end of one day and the beginning of the next, so also the dark moon days are a period of darkness on the moon, dividing the end of one month from the beginning of the next. It was also at this time Genesis 1 says YHUH divided the light from darkness. This is when there is visible separation of the sun and moon after conjunction, the first visible crescent at the end of the first day of the week.

Each month has 4 weeks, or sets of 7, and each moon lunation has 4 quarters. The first Sabbath, on the 8th, is the waxing first quarter moon. The second Sabbath, on the 15th, is the full moon. The third Sabbath is the 22nd of the month, on the waning last quarter, and the final Sabbath, is on the 29th, the Last Visible Crescent, or LVC, leading into the dark moon again. The 1-2 days that have no visible light on the moon are New Moon days, and the 28 days that have visible light are the 4 sets of 7 days, the path of light. Six days you shall work, the seventh day you shall rest.

What About the “Extra” New Moon Days?

The New Moon days are set-apart days for worshipping YHUH. They are similiar to a Sabbath, as they are not REGULAR work days, but they are NEVER called a Sabbath. There is one exception, and that is Yom T’ruah, or the Day of Blowing/Day of Trumpets, the 1st day of the 7th month. No other New Moon day is ever a Sabbath, even though they aren’t regular work days, either. They are worship days, a time to consult YHUH and the prophets. The Israelites built the tabernacle on the first day of the month, so work can be done and burdens can be carried, and we are not prohibited from cooking or travelling long distances as on a Sabbath day.

The sounding of the 2 silver trumpets on Rosh Chodesh is also the signal to start over your count of 7 days to the Sabbaths, much like the sounding of the shofar on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), announcing the year of Jubilee, is also the signal to start over your count of 7-year land Sabbaths to the next Jubilee year. This is a PATTERN established in scripture. Some claim that the count of 7 days is uninterrupted from creation, but scripture does not establish a pattern of counting continual counts of 7 without interruption. This is the PATTERN of counting to 7 WITH interruption every 50th year, a pattern taught by YHUH in scripture, how to count to 50 in sevens (sound like the count to Pentecost?), and then start over. The land Sabbath count of 7 WEEKS of years (49 years) is interrupted with the 50th year that lands outside of those weeks of years, and starts over after 50 years with the Jubilee year and the blowing of the shofar, and the Sabbath day count is interrupted and started over on the New Moon with the sounding of the 2 silver trumpets. YHUH teaches us with PATTERNS in His word.

There is no scripture or pattern established requiring the count of 7 days to be uninterrupted from creation. However, there are some very strong scriptural witnesses that do require the six working days and the Sabbaths to be based on the lights in the heavens, including the moon:

And Aluhym said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, appointed times, and for days, and years. Genesis 1:14

Some would argue that this is saying that the moon is for the month, but the sun is for the days of the week. That is not what Gen 1:14 said, but let’s see if there is another scriptural witness that can bring more light to Gen 1:14. Let’s see if the next verse brings more clarity to Genesis 1:14:

He made the moon for appointed times, the sun knows his going down. Psalm 104:19

Some would argue that this is not speaking of the Sabbath, that the Sabbath is an exception to the rule given in the above verse, but there is not one verse that can be found that says that the Sabbath is an exception to the rule. People add to/and take away from scripture when they make such a claim. So, Psalm 104 states the moon is for appointed times, and Leviticus 23 states that the Sabbath is an appointed time. Therefore, the moon is for the Sabbath. In fact, even the 6 working days are listed in Leviticus 23 as appointed times:

You see, Lev 23 says that the six working days are appointed times to work; there is a time to work, and a time to rest. Genesis 1:14 says that the lights in the heavens are for DAYS AND APPOINTED TIMES, and you can tell which day of the month or week it is by what phase the moon is in, how much light is on the moon, and what time of day or night the moon is rising and setting.

Some, like I once did, might argue that at the end of the month, if you kept the 29th as the Sabbath every month, and didn’t keep the next Sabbath until the 8th of the next month, then you would be working 8-9 days instead of 6 days before the next seventh day Sabbath. I now understand that this is not so, because the 30th and 1st days of the month are not working days, they are New Moon days, which are not Sabbaths either.

I recently had a Saturday keeping individual question whether a common person would be required to worship before YHUH on the New Moon days, instead of doing their regular work. According to these following verses, the people of the land, not just the Priests, should be free to worship before YHUH on the New Moon days, in fact, it is a command:

Likewise, the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before YHUH in the Sabbaths and in the New Moons. Ezekiel 46:3

She called her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of Aluhym quickly and return.” “Why go to him today?” he asked. “It’s not the New Moon or the Sabbath.”“That’s all right,” she said. 2 Kings 4:22-23

She and her husband understood for some reason, that the normal time to go to the prophet was the New Moon or the Sabbath, not on a regular work day.

And it shall come to pass, that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith YHUH. Isaiah 66:23

Notice it says ALL flesh, NOT JUST PRIESTS, but COMMON people, too, shall go to worship YHUH on the New Moons. Saturdayers often quote this verse to Sundayers to point out to the Sunday folk that they will go and keep the Sabbath before YHUH in the future, but then ignore the fact that the same verse also says they will go and worship before Him on the New Moon, too.

Ezekiel 46:1 helped me to understand that there are 3 types of days in any given month:

So, in the lunar month, you have New Moon days when the gate is open as commanded in Ezekiel 46:1, and these days are neither the seventh day Sabbath nor the 6 working days.

You have the seventh day Sabbath, when the gate is open as commanded in Ezekiel 46:1, and this day is neither the New Moon day nor one of the 6 working days.

You have the 6 working days, when the gate is closed, as commanded in Ezekiel 46:1, and these days are neither New Moon days nor Sabbath days.

Let’s try that test out with Ezekiel 46:1 and the Gregorian week. Let’s say the first day of the month lands on a Thursday. It is New Moon day, but it is also one of the 6 working days, so should the gate be open or closed? If you say it should be open because it is a New Moon day, then you have a problem because you can’t be at the Temple worshipping YHUH like Isaiah 66:23 requires, because you are supposed to be at work on Thursday, because Thursday is a working day, and not a Sabbath. Six days you shall work, and on Thursday, according to the Gregorians, you should be working, and the gate should be closed. If you say that Thursday is a working day, and the gate should be shut, then you are still in violation of Ezekiel 46:1 which requires the gate to be open for worship on the New Moon day. So the problem is that the Gregorian week itself is in violation with Ezekiel 46:1, because it does not distinguish the New Moon days from the Sabbath day or the 6 working days. The Gregorian week does not set aside time for New Moon day worship of YHUH as spoken of in Ezekiel 46 and Isaiah 66:23. The lunar Sabbath month and week is the only solution to the man-made problem that the Gregorian week causes. It is the only way you can reconcile all the scriptures to be in agreement.

Many Gregorian Saturday keepers use Isaiah 66:23 to point out to the Gregorian Sunday keepers that everyone will be worshipping YHUH on the Sabbath in the future, according to the prophet Isaiah. However, Sunday keepers should point out the hypocrisy of the Saturday keepers, because the Saturday keepers work and do not gather together on the New Moon. Isaiah states that they will go and worship YHUH on the Sabbaths AND New Moon days, but Saturday keepers conveniently forget that part of the verse they use against the Sunday crowd. The New Moon often passes by without most of the Saturday congregation noticing, because there is no natural rhythm in their weeks for the New Moon days that allow them to look up, stop buying, selling, and trading, gather together, and acknowledge New Moon days.

So why don’t we buy, sell, or trade on the New Moon? If we did, wouldn’t people be tempted to buy, sell, and trade all day, in order to make more money? Wouldn’t they be distracted from acknowledging the New Moon and worshipping YHUH? Of course they would. Consider this verse:

When will the New Moon be gone, that we may sell grain? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? Amos 8:5

While the ephah is used to measure commercially, the ephah is also used in measuring out the sacrifices to YHUH, so I see a double meaning here. When people ignore YHUH’s New Moons and Sabbaths, they make the shekel (money) greater, or more important than YHUH and His appointed times, and the sacrifices offered on those days. They make money an idol. You can’t serve two masters, you’ll hate one and love the other.

YHUH wants us to keep the 7th day Sabbath to stop and acknowledge Him and the fact that He is the One who created us, who created the heavens and the earth, who created time, who created days, weeks, months, and years. He wants us to stop and acknowledge that He established the laws concerning what a day is, what a week is, what a month is, and what a year is. He wants us to acknowledge that He, Himself, rested on the Sabbath day, as did His Son, and that we should do likewise, because He said so. He wants us to remember that He delivered us from Egypt, from bondage, from slavery, from our enemies, on the 15th of the 1st month, on the weekly Sabbath, on the first day of Unleavened Bread. He wants us to remember that Yahusha’s death, burial (He rested in the grave on the Sabbath), and resurrection set us free from sin, and 1 John 3:4 defines sin as transgression of the law.

Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 1 John 3:4