Holy Days

As we continue to address the special days found in Scripture this from Kyle would give us a foundation upon which to build.  Here is the importance of those special days we find in Scripture.

On Sunday, December 29, 2013 10:10 AM, Kyle Humphrey wrote:

Did you know that God has food and we are to give it at His appointed times?  By studying further, could it come down to that WE supply, as well as share His food with others?  This was pretty need ... enjoy!

 

 

 

 

“Command the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be careful to present My offering, My food for My offerings by fire, of a soothing aroma to Me, at their appointed time’”

 

(Numbers 28:2)

 

12 / 28 / 13

(Comments in parentheses and emphasis within Scriptures are mine.)

 

My first thoughts:

 

Did you know that Yeshua (Jesus), Paul and the other writers of the “New Testament” used or quoted the Old Testament for proof of their statements 326 times!!  This proves that one MUST know the “Old” Testament in order to fully know the “New”!  As a matter of fact, Yeshua (Jesus) said many times (as if He didn’t understand why they did not understand what He was talking about), “Haven’t you read in the Scriptures (“Old” Testament) …?”  (Matthew 12:3 and 5 for example)

 

Today’s study comes from today’s Torah (Law) reading about the sacrifices in Numbers 28:1-29:40.  We see at the opening verse that YHVH calls these sacrifices done for His appointments “HIS FOOD”! 

 

Does YHVH have a physical body?  Does He have eyes, nose, or even a mouth?  How about ears to hear?  Arms or feet?  God describes things in a way so that we can understand.  Such as, “My eyes are always turned towards you”.  However, if we say that this means that He has literal eyes then from Revelation 5:6 we would have to say that Yeshua (Jesus) has 7 eyes and even horns (He does not, these are also typologies of the seven Spirits, it continues to say.).

 

So we note that YHVH calls these sacrifices “His food”.

 

Also note that Yeshua (Jesus) used the “Old” Testament to explain the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27 … “Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”).  The Sabbath rest, the Feast days, and even many of the offerings, ALL point to the Messiah’s work on the cross.  God’s food (either FOR Him or for HIM to give away) is the Messiah’s work (His Son).  If we look at the “New” Testament verses in light of the “Old” Testament verses, it is easy to see that Yeshua (Jesus) is that “bread of life” or the “bread of God” just like when He calls the offerings His food.

 

“For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”  (John 6:33)

 

John knew this and spoke of this food of YHVH!  Yeshua (Jesus) is “the bread (or food) of God” which gives life!

 

 

 

“I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”  (John 6:48-51)

 

If we read about the sacrifices in Numbers, we see that as the animal sacrifices were consumed upon the altar, they represented “food” for the infinite holy God.  Yeshua was consumed on the spiritual altar before the same God.  Look at it this way, “It is YHVH’s food and He is sharing His food with those He loves” … His children!  Have you ever had food and noticed someone in need and shared your food with them?  It is the divine “food” that is shared off the table that is before YHVH and it nourishes our souls and sustains our lives. 

 

Last thoughts:

 

We are to imitate our “Big brother”, the One who was Firstborn among the dead!  We are to be continually growing closer to His likeness … so it is written about US:

 

That WE, too, should live sacrificial lives and continue the sacrifice as “food” to the Almighty … “You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ)”  (1 Peter 2:5) and again in Romans 12:1 … “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

 

Philippians 4:18 is an example of this being lived out:  “But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.” 

 

Our Heavenly Father shared His Food (His Son) with us, we are to do the same with others!  Start sharing your Food, for He gives us all plenty to eat and it never runs out!  We will never hunger, no matter how much He gives:

 

“Yeshua (Jesus) said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.’”  (John 6:35)

 

Who Changed the Sabbath?

I would encourage you to study this out further.  If you would like to see a video teaching on the Sabbath including the comments posted here you can find it here, it is 110 min.
http://119ministries.com/the-sabbath-day

Back in 1802, a Father T. Enright from Redemptoral College offered $1000 to any one who could show him specifically from Scripture where Elohim says He changed the Sabbath day to Sunday.

There are many Catholic writings that mention it was for sure the Catholic church which changed the day of the Sabbath to the day of Sunday.  They further say that all who follow a Sunday Sabbath do so at the command of the Catholic church.

St. Catherine Church Sentinal, Algonac, MI 5/21/95

Monsignor Louis Segnur.   Plain talk about the protestanism of today.  P. 213.

Priest Brady.  The News.  Elizabeth, NJ.  3/18/1903

Catholic Press.  Sydney Australia  8/1900

Catholic Virginian  10/3/47.  Article.  "To tell you the truth"

Romes challenge.   www.immaculateheart.com/maryonline   Dec. 2003

Chambers encyclopedia.  Article 'Sunday"

Constantine:
    "Let all the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades rest on the venerable day of the sun;"
   History of the Christian Church. vol. 3.  p. 380.

Council of Laodicea AD 337
    Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday (in the original it is Sabbath).  But shall work on that day;  but the Lord's day they shall especially honor."

Sunday: The Catholic Sabbath

by Avram Yehoshua

(Endnotes in red. Click on number to go to endnote. Click the BACK button on your browser to return to the article)

There is nothing in the New Testament, and certainly nothing in the Old, that supports Sunday as a day that has replaced the 7th day Sabbath of Creation (Gen. 2:1-3), which God gave to His chosen people Israel (Ex. 16:22-26; 20:8-11). There are three New Testament texts which the Church uses to try and support Sunday as the new day for the new faith, but these texts, once examined, do not prove Sunday observance, nor that Sunday has replaced the 7th day Sabbath.¹

There is scant writing about the first day of the week, as all the writers of the New Testament called Sunday. From just the perspective that the 7th day Sabbath had been part of God’s law for Israel for 1,400 years before Yeshua (Jesus) was born in Bethlehem would seem to indicate that if a change had been made, there would have been ample New Testament Scripture to support it. There’s not one word that says that the 7th day Sabbath has given way to Sunday.

Trying to equate the Lord’s Day with Sunday is also a futile task because nowhere in the New Testament is the first day of the week (Sunday) equated with the Lord’s Day.² It is totally unsupported by Scripture. Some try to explain why the Sabbath has given way to Sunday by pointing to the resurrection, but this, too, cannot be substantiated. There’s no Scripture that declares that Yeshua rose on Sunday nor is there any Scripture linked to an alleged Sunday resurrection for a change from Sabbath to Sunday.³ The original theological reasons for why the Roman Catholic Church altered the Sabbath to Sunday can be read in an article called Sabbath Denigration .⁴

The Roman Catholic Church openly declares that there is nothing in the New Testament that supports a change from the 7th day Sabbath to Sunday and mocks the Protestant churches whose motto is Sola Scriptura , which means that only Scripture should determine one’s faith and practice. The Roman Catholic Church says that it has the authority to change the day. The Roman Catholic Church is wrong because nowhere in the Word of God does God delegate that kind of authority to Man (or a church). For instance, if God’s Word had said, ‘If you want to change the Sabbath day to another day, you can’ or something to that effect, then the Roman Catholic Church would have had the authority to do so, but there’s nothing in the Word like that.⁵ Unless it is in God’s Word, Man is breaking God’s Word by changing what God has instituted.

Catholic Words About Sunday

John Stoddard in 1826 points out the fact that the Bible gives no Scripture about Sunday replacing the Sabbath day:

‘A striking instance of this is the following: The first positive command in the Decalogue is to ‘Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy,’ and this precept was enforced by the Jews for thousands of years. But the Sabbath Day, the observance of which God commanded, was our Saturday. Yet who among either Catholics or Protestants, except a sect or two, like the ‘Seventh Day Baptists,’ ever keep that commandment now? None. Why is this? The Bible, which Protestants claim to obey exclusively, gives no authorization for the substitution of the first day of the week for the seventh. On what authority, therefore, have they done so? Plainly on the authority of that very Catholic Church which they abandoned and whose traditions they con­demn.⁶

Statements and confessions by Catholic dignitaries and official Catholic papers, along with Protestant realizations of the unbiblical tenure of Sunday, abound and some will be presented in quote form for all to see what the Catholic Church and a number of Protestants have said.

The distinguished Cardinal Gibbons is quoted as saying,

‘is not every Christian obliged to sanctify Sunday and to abstain on that day from unnecessary servile work? Is not the observance of this law among the most prominent of our sacred duties? But, 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.’⁷

Thomas Aquinas, a revered pillar of the Catholic Church and priest of the Dominican order (1225–1274) wrote,

‘In the New Law the observance of the Lord’s day (Sunday) took the place of the observance of the Sabbath (Saturday), not by virtue of the precept (of God), but by the institution of the Roman Church and the custom (Tradition) of Christian people.’⁸

Gaspar de Fosso, the Archbishop of Reggio remonstrated the Protestants in 1562 saying:

‘The Protestants claim to stand upon the written word only. They profess to hold the Scripture alone as the standard of faith. They justify their revolt by the plea that the Church has apostatized from the written word and follows tradition. Now the Protestants claim, that they stand upon the written word only, is not true. Their profession of holding the Scripture alone as the standard of faith is false. PROOF: The written word explicitly enjoins the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath.’

‘They do not observe the seventh day, but reject it. If they do truly hold the scripture alone as their standard, they would be observing the seventh day as is enjoined in the Scripture throughout. Yet they not only reject the observance of the Sabbath enjoined in the written word, but they have adopted and do practice the observance of Sunday, for which they have only the tradition of the Church. Consequently the claim of ‘Scripture alone as the standard,’ fails, and the doctrine of ‘Scripture and tradition’ as essential, is fully established, the Protestants themselves being judges.’⁹

In the doctrinal catechism by Rev. Stephen Keenan, officially endorsed by the then Archbishop of New York, the question is asked and answered:

‘Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?’

‘Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.’¹⁰

Karl Keating, writing under the Imprimatur of the Catholic Church said,

‘After all, fundamentalists meet for worship on Sunday, yet there is no evidence in the Bible that corporate worship was to be made on Sundays. The Jewish Sabbath, or day of rest, was, of course, Saturday. It was the Catholic Church that decided Sunday should be the day of worship for Christians, in honor of the Resurrection.’¹¹

On 25 August 1900, the Catholic Press wrote:

‘Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claims to observance can be defended only by Catholic principles. From beginning to end of Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week [Saturday] to the first.’¹²

The Catholic Mirror, the official publication of James Cardinal Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893, stated:

‘The Catholic Church…by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.’¹³

Peter Geiermann, C.S.S.R., The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1957), p. 50 wrote:

‘Question: Which is the Sabbath day? Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.’

‘Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Answer. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.’¹⁴

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

‘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, stultifies¹⁵ 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.’¹⁶

T. Enright, C.S.S.R., in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, Feb. 18,1884 said,

‘I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says, ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ The Catholic Church says: ‘No. By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week.’ And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in a reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church.’¹⁷

Protestant Acknowledgments About Sunday

An Anglican Archbishop of Quebec speaks about Sunday:

‘Toronto, Canada, Oct. 27 (BUP).—Rev. Philip Carrington, Anglican Archbishop of Quebec, sent local clergymen into a huddle today by saying outright that there was nothing to support Sunday being kept holy. Carrington defiantly told a church meeting in this city of straight-laced protestantism that tradition, not the Bible, had made Sunday the day of worship. He quoted the biblical commandment which said the seventh day should be one of rest, and then stated: ‘That is Saturday.’ ‘Nowhere in the Bible is it laid down that worship should be done on Sunday,’ the Archbishop told a hushed, still audience. Local parsons read his comments today with set, determined looks. They refused comment.’¹⁸

Anglican–Episcopal

Isaac Williams in Plain Sermons on the Catechism , vol. 1, pp. 334, 336, writes:

‘And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day…The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the church has enjoined it.’¹⁹

Canon Eyton in The Ten Commandments , pp. 52, 63, 65 writes:

‘There is no word, no hint, in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday…into the rest of Sunday no divine law enters…The observance of Ash Wednesday or Lent stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday.’²⁰

Bishop Seymour in Why We Keep Sunday says,

‘We have made the change from the seventh day to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy Catholic Church.’²¹

Baptist

Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, in a paper read before a New York ministers’ conference, Nov. 13, 1893, reported in New York Examiner , Nov.16, 1893, said,

‘There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week…Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament, absolutely not.’

‘To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years’ intercourse with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question… never alluded to any transference of the day ; also, that during forty days of His resurrection life , no such thing was intimated.’

‘Of course, I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history…But what a pity it comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened with the name of the sun god, adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism!’²²

William Owen Carver in The Lord’s Day in Our Day , p. 49, states,

‘There was never any formal or authoritative change from the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath to the Christian first-day observance.’²³

Congregationalist

Dr. R. W. Dale in The Ten Commandments (New York: Eaton &Mains), p. 127-129, wrote,

‘…it is quite clear that however rigidly or devotedly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath…(the) Sabbath was founded on a specific Divine command. We can plead no such command for the obligation to observe Sunday… There is not a single sentence in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday .’

Timothy Dwight in Theology: Explained and Defended (1823), Ser. 107, vol. 3, p. 258, wrote,

‘…the Christian Sabbath [Sunday] is not in the Scriptures, and was not by the primitive Church called the Sabbath .’

Disciples of Christ

Alexander Campbell in The Christian Baptist , Feb. 2, 1824, vol. 1, no. 7, p. 164, wrote,

“‘But,’ say some, ‘it was changed from the seventh to the first day.’ Where? When? And by whom? No man can tell. No; it never was changed, nor could it be, unless creation was to be gone through again: for the reason assigned must be changed before the observance, or respect to the reason, can be changed! It is all old wives’ fables to talk of the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day. If it be changed, it was that august personage changed it who changes times and laws ex officio—I think his name is Doctor Antichrist.’²⁴

In First Day Observance , pp. 17, 19 it states:

‘The first day of the week is commonly called the Sabbath. This is a mistake. The Sabbath of the Bible was the day just preceding the first day of the week. The first day of the week is never called the Sabbath anywhere in the entire Scriptures . It is also an error to talk about the change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. There is not in any place in the Bible any intimation of such a change.²⁵

Lutheran

In the Augsburg Confession of Faith, art. 28, written by Melanchthon and approved by Martin Luther, in 1530, and as published in The Book of Concord of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Henry Jacobs, ed. (1 91 1), p. 63, it states,

‘They (Roman Catholics) refer to the Sabbath Day,’ having changed it ‘into the Lord’s Day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it seems. Neither is there any example whereof they make more than concerning the changing of the Sabbath Day. Great, say they, is the power of the Church, since it has dispensed with one of the Ten Com­mandments!’²⁶

Dr. Augustus Neander, The History of the Christian Religion and Church Henr y (1843), p. 186, wrote,

‘The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a Divine command in this respect, far from them, and from the early apostolic Church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday.’²⁷

In The Sunday Problem , a study book of the United Lutheran Church (1923), p. 36, it states,

‘We have seen how gradually the impression of the Jewish sabbath faded from the mind of the Christian Church, and how completely the newer thought underlying the observance of the first day took possession of the church. We have seen that the Christians of the first three centuries never confused one with the other, but for a time celebrated both.’

John Theodore Mueller in Sabbath or Sunday , pp. 15, 16, writes,

‘But they err in teaching that Sunday has taken the place of the Old Testament Sabbath and therefore must be kept as the seventh day had to be kept by the children of Israel…These churches err in their teaching, for Scripture has in no way ordained the first day of the week in place of the Sabbath. There is simply no law in the New Testament to that effect .’

Methodist

John Wesley in The Works of the Rev. John Wesley , John Emory, ed. (New York: Eaton & Mains), Sermon 25, vol. 1, p. 221, writes,

‘But, the moral law contained in the ten commandments, and enforced by the prophets, he [Christ] did not take away. It was not the design of his coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken…Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind, and in all ages; as not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, but on the nature of God and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other.’²⁸

Harris Franklin Rall in the Christian Advocate , July 2, 1942, p.26, wrote,

‘Take the matter of Sunday. There are indications in the New Testament as to how the church came to keep the first day of the week as its day of worship, but there is no passage telling Christians to keep that day, or to transfer the Jewish Sabbath to that day.’²⁹

Dwight L. Moody

Dwight L. Moody in Weighed and Wanting (Fleming H. Revell Co.: New York), pp. 47, 48, wrote,

‘The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. This fourth commandment begins with the word ‘remember,’ s howing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote the law on the tables of stone at Sinai . How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away with when they will admit that the other nine are still binding?’³⁰

Presbyterian

T. C. Blake, D.D., in Theology Condensed , pp. 474, 475, writes,

‘The Sabbath is a part of the decalogue—the Ten Commandments. This alone forever settles the question as to the perpetuity of the institution…Until, therefore, it can be shown that the whole moral law has been repealed, the Sabbath will stand…The teaching of Christ confirms the perpetuity of the Sabbath.’³¹

Some Points about Sunday

1. There is not one text in the New Testament that states Sunday is the Sabbath or the Lord’s day.

2. There is not one text in the New Testament that states that the 7th day Sabbath has been altered or changed.

3. There is not one text in the New Testament that commands Christians to keep the first day (Sunday) as a day of rest, worship or holiness.

4. There is not one text in the New Testament that states that Jesus ever kept the first day as the Sabbath or spoke of the Sabbath’s alleged nullification.

5. There is not one text in the New Testament that applies to the first day of the week any sacred title (e.g. blessed or holy; Gen. 2:1-3) or pronounces any penalty for its non-observance (as does the Sabbath (Ex. 31:12-17).

6. There is not one text in the New Testament that states that the Sabbath was ever abolished.

Conclusion

From both Catholics and Protestants come confirmations that God has never replaced the 7th day Sabbath with Sunday. This was done by the fiat and audacity of the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church has led literally billions of Christians astray over the last 1,900 years, but God is restoring His holy 7th day Sabbath to those who desire His Truth over Catholic manipulation. Does any man (or church, which is made up of men) have authority from God to change His ways? Not according to God (Dt. 4:2; 12:32; Rev. 22:18).

There isn’t any biblical support for honoring Sunday above other days. The 7th day Sabbath of the Lord God of Israel is still very much in effect. It’s not only a time of assembly and wor­ship, it’s a full 24 hour day of holiness set apart to God that He has given to those who believe in His Son so that they can be refreshed by both not working and by seeking His Presence.

Daniel, 570 years before Christ rose from the dead, wrote about what the Catholic Church would do in altering and destroying God’s holy Sabbath and Law:

‘He (the Pope) shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall wear out the holy ones of the Most High, and shall attempt to change the sacred seasons (the Feasts of Israel) and the Law ; and they (believers in Christ) shall be given into his power for a time, two times, and half a time.’ (Dan 7:25 NRSV)

The ‘time’ is over; the deception is being revealed for what it is: a satanic deception that has blinded the eyes of believers for 1,900 years.³² Jesus is calling all those who believe in Him to lay down their traditional interpretations for why Sunday, Easter and Christmas are kept and to pick up His Word and learn to walk in His Ways.³³

1.   For those three texts (and why the 7th day Sabbath is still valid) see Samuele Bacchiocchi’s, From Sabbath To Sunday (Rome: The Pontifical Gregorian University Press, 1977), pp. 90-131. It’s the definitive work on the issue of Sabbath and Sunday.

2.   Nowhere in Scripture do we find evidence that the ‘Lord’s Day’ is equated with Sunday. The Lord’s Day in the Old Testament was the Sabbath and it would continue to be that in the New.

3.   See Mark 16:9 and the Resurrection is at http://www.seedofabraham.net/mark169Res.html.

4.   Sabbath Denigration can be seen at http://www.seedofabraham.net/sabbdenig.html.

5.   Some might try and point to Jesus giving Peter the keys of the Kingdom (Mt. 16:9), but those keys didn’t authorize Peter nor anyone else from changing God’s Word. Those keys were symbols of authority to properly teach God’s Word, adjudicate between two or more grieved parties, and to legislate or make rules for the believing community, which of course would not mean to change, do away with, or pervert God’s laws (Dt. 4:2; 12:32; Luke 16:17; 2nd Tim. 3:16-17.

6.   John L. Stoddard, Rebuilding a Lost Faith By An American Agnostic (New York: P. J. Kennedy and Sons, 1826), p. 80.

7.   James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore , The Faith of Our Fathers , originally published in 1876, republished and Copyright 1980 by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., pages 72-73.

8.   Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theological SS Q[122] A[4] R.O., paragraph four.

9.   J. H. Holtzman, Canon and Tradition , published in Ludwigsburg, Germany in 1859, p. 263. Archbishop of Reggio’s address in the 17th session of the Council of Trent, Jan. 18, 1562, in Mansi SC, Vol. 33, cols. 529, 530. The Archbishop of Reggio (Gaspar [Ricciulli] de Fosso) made this speech at the last opening session of Trent (17th Session) reconvened under a new pope (Pius IV) on 18 January 1562.

10.   Rev. Stephen Keenan , A Doctrinal Catechism , Imprimatur by John Cardinal McCloskey, Archbishop of New York, Copyright 1876 by T. W. Strong, page 174.

11.   Karl Keating , Catholicism and Fundamentalism , copyright 1988 by Ignatius Press, San Francisco, bearing the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur of the Catholic Church, page 38.

12.   Taken from http://www.nisbett.com/sabbath/sunday_not_lords_day.htm.

13.   Taken from http://www.biblesabbath.org/confessions.html.

14.   Ibid.

15.   Stultify means, ‘to cause someone to appear absurd or foolish’ (from the Latin stultus ‘foolish’).

16.   Taken from http://www.biblesabbath.org/confessions.html.

17.   Ibid.

18.   News Item, Albertan (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), Oct. 28, 1949.

19.   Taken from http://www.biblesabbath.org/confessions.html.

20.   Ibid.

21.   Ibid.

22.   Ibid.

23.   Ibid.

24.   Ibid.

25.   Ibid.

26.   Ibid.

27.   Ibid.

28.   Ibid.

29.   Ibid.

30.   Ibid.

31.   Ibid.

32.   See The Lifting of the Veil: Acts 15:20-21 by Avram Yehoshua. The Lifting of the Veil reveals the New Testament’s position on the Law of Moses. The Church interprets the four rules of James (Acts 15:20) as table fellowship and so completely misses God’s point. Understood from its Hebraic perspective the four rules are the theological pillars that establish the Law for every believer.

33.   See Law 102 at http://www.seedofabraham.net/law102.html for why many church interpretations against the Law of Moses are not biblical. See Christmas at http://www.seedofabraham.net/christmas.html for why Christmas is not Christian. The celebration of Easter is quite pagan and has absolutely nothing to do with the resurrection of Christ. See http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract1.html.  

Abba's Special Days.

It is pretty cool when you get people asking for information about what, how, why and when concerning how you believe.  Actually I am in awe that Abba is willing to use one such as I to be a tool in His hand

So, our family is in the middle of Hanukkah right now.  Now if you go with the traditional Jewish calendar (The calendar as developed after the Babylonian excile) as many have done this year you would have celebrated around the time of Thanksgiving.  However, that being said there are many who are following a calendar that is more consistent with the Scriptural interpretation of following the sun, moon and stars.  Those of us following this calendar added a month to the calendar at springtime.  (that being said the study of the different calendar systems is for another time).

So, Hanukkah, we are now in the third night.  Hanukkah is not one of Yahweh Elohim's appointed feast days listed in the OT.  That being said Yahshua did observe it.  And it is one that fits with who Yahshua is. 

 

HANUKA

From Seedofabraham.net

 Hanuka is like a mini July 4th (Independence Day for the USA). For Elohim's people Israel there is more than one time where He delivered us from slavery and oppression, and Hanuka is one of those times. Purim (the book of Esther) is another time. They both commemorate Elohim's deliverance of His people. The greatest deliverance is Passover, both in Egypt and in Jerusalem: one with Moses and the other with Yeshua our Messiah. 

Hanuka and Purim are holidays, not holy days (or holy times) like Passover. There are no Sabbaths associated with either Hanuka or Purim (except for the weekly 7th Day Sabbath that will fall in any eight day celebration of Hanuka). Neither Hanuka or Purim are found in the Torah, but Purim is found in the Tanach (Old Testament), and Hanuka is mentioned in John 10:22 (it’s usually called the Feast of Dedication as that is what hanuka means, to dedicate).

If you’ve not read the First Book of Maccabees, it’d be good to do so as some of it is truly inspiring. It gives account of the Jews being greatly outnumbered, but the leader would pray to Elohim and He would give them the victory. Some of those prayers are recorded and they’re just beautiful. I center in on just the first book as it’s the historical reality of the battles and conditions of the Jewish people. There are a number of books of Maccabees, but the first is a tale of biblical heroism against all odds, grounded in faith toward Yahweh and is the basis for Hanuka.¹

Hanuka celebrates the mighty deliverance of Elohim through the Maccabees, who fought against an evil Syrian king called Antiochus IV Epiphanes. He wanted all the Jews to walk in Hellenistic culture and to worship the Greek gods and goddesses. He murdered the Jewish people who wouldn’t. Anyone who kept the Sabbath or circumcision or had Scriptures in their possession was sentenced to death.

Outnumbered by trained armies, the priests and people of Judah, under Judah Maccabee, fought and won battle after battle, due to their faith in Elohim. They were able to re-take possession of the Temple and cleanse it from the idol statue of the Syrian king Antiochus IV. He had erected a statue of Zeus with his face in on it and wanted everyone to worship him as Zeus incarnate, hence the title Epiphanes (God appears or manifests). The Jewish people called him Epimanes (the madman), a play on Epiphanes.

DID YESHUA CELEBRATE HANUKA?

It’s very interesting that Yeshua came to Jerusalem in the middle of the winter, no mean task when traveling on foot from the Sea of Galilee area. John notes that it was at the time of Hanuka:

‘At that time, the Festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the Temple, in the portico of Solomon.’ (John 10:22-23)

Yeshua’s main area or territory of ministering was one hundred miles (160 kilometers) north of Jerusalem, around the Sea of Galilee. Why would Yeshua be in Jerusalem for a non-Sabbath holiday. The only times we see Him in Jerusalem are at the Feasts of Israel (Mt. 26:2, 17; Lk. 2:41; 22:15; Jn. 2:23; 6:4; 11:55; 13:1, etc.), where Yahveh commands all Israeli males to appear before Him (Ex. 23:17; 34:23; Dt. 16:16). Why was Yeshua in Jerusalem at Hanuka time? Why would Yeshua leave the relatively warmer climate of the Sea of Galilee area for the mountainous, windy, cold and rainy city of Jerusalem in mid-December?

That Yeshua was there indicates that He expressly came for the Feast of Dedication. Why? Because there’s no reason for Him to be in cold, windy and wet Jerusalem in the winter, other than He went there to celebrate God’s mighty deliverance of the Maccabees, with other Jews. Now I realize that this is not definitive ‘proof’ but it is a strong indication that Hanuka was seen by Him (and all the Apostles) as ‘good.’ He was there to make a point. It’s good to celebrate Hanuka!

(I’m indebted to Margaret of San Antonio, TX, USA for these next two paragraphs. Her email spoke of the blasphemy that began Hanuka, and the blasphemy of Yeshua’s Hanuka.)

When we look at what John writes and what transpired at Yeshua’s Hanuka, we can’t help but see a parallel between it and the reason for Hanuka. The King of Syria, Antiochus IV, who called himself Epiphanes, had control of Judah before the Maccabees rose up. Into the Temple he had placed a statue of himself, to be worshipped as God. On the Altar he had many pigs sacrificed to himself and other gods. The Maccabees put an end to that demonic intrusion, destroying the Altar (because it had become polluted by pigs), and building another (1st Mac. 4:38-47). They took out all the pagan objects of worship. Once cleansed, the Temple was then dedicated for the eight days of Hanuka.

With Yeshua, God the Son, coming into the Temple, we have the Living God manifest , just the opposite of the perversion of the statue of the King of Syria proclaiming himself as God. Unfortunately, there were Jews there that wanted to stone Yeshua because He was telling them that He was one with God (Jn. 10:22-39). These Jews were more like the Jews in the days of the Maccabees that bowed down to the false image and ate pig (as a sign of allegiance and friendship to Antiochus). Yeshua told those Jews that they weren’t His sheep, but later we see other Jews that did believe that Yeshua was the Messiah (Jn. 10:40-42).

Yeshua’s Hanuka is quite significant. The Maccabees fought so they could worship the Living God. With the appearance or manifestation of Yeshua we see the Living God enter His Temple (John 14:1-11), a direct refutation of Antiochus IV Epiphanes and his erecting of himself as Zeus in the Temple.

TRADITIONS

Rabbinic Judaism teaches that when the Temple was re-taken, there was some olive oil found in it for the Menorah (seven branched Lampstand; Ex. 25:31-40), but only a day’s worth. This is purely a rabbinic legend. There’s no reference to the oil either being ‘found’ or that one day's worth lasted for the eight days of Hanuka. It’s the Rabbis trying to understand why Hanuka is an eight day celebration (1 st Mac. 4:59).

Why eight days? Some think it was a substitute for the fact that they hadn’t been able to observe the previous Sukote (Feast of Tabernacles) in October, and so, they were doing it in December. So, in December, when the Maccabees cleansed the Temple of the pagan things and tore down the desecrated Altar, they kept Sukote and its eight days as a way of celebrating their victory in not having been able to celebrate the previous Sukote. Eight days for Hanuka is seen in First Maccabees: 

‘Then Judas (Judah) and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season, the days of dedication of the Altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days , beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev’ (1st Mac. 4:59, NRSV).

There are two problems, though, with aligning Hanuka up with Sukote. One, even the Maccabees didn’t have the authority to change the Lord’s time for keeping Sukote in the 7th month to the 9th month, and two, the edict speaks of keeping the celebration of Hanuka in December (Kislev) annually, which certainly means that it wasn’t Sukote they were keeping during those eight days. Also, the edict plainly states that the celebration was to be kept in memory of ‘the days of dedication of the Altar.’

There is a biblical reason, though, why Hanuka lasts for eight days. When Moses consecrated Aaron and his sons for the priesthood, and the Tabernacle was initially dedicated for service, there’s an eight day period (Lev. 8–9). Seven days were the days of consecration and dedication of the priests and the Tabernacle, and the eighth day was the first day of official service. This was what was on the minds of the Torah observant Maccabees and the reason for the eight days because the word ‘hanuka’ means ‘dedication.’ As such, Hanuka becomes for us an eight day period of re-dedication of ourselves (the temple of God; 1st Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19) to God the Father in the name of His Son, Messiah Yeshua, asking Him to cleanse us of our idols, that we might be fully consecrated and dedicated to Him!

Hanuka is a holiday commemorating a time when Yahveh moved mightily for the salvation of His Jewish people. It’s a real historical event.

Turning to the actual practice of Hanuka, as well as Purim, Ruti and I take it not as holy days, but as a holiday commemorating historical times in Hebrew history that God moved to deliver His Jewish people from certain death. They are mini-deliverance times or mini-Passovers (Passover being the day of deliverance).

What’s the difference between a holy day and a holiday? Holy days and holy times are authorized and commanded by God and have annual Sabbaths within them. These can all be seen in Leviticus 23. Holidays like Hanuka are not holy and fall into the category of something like the Fourth of July or Presidents Day, etc., for America.

Much on Hanuka is culturally Jewish of course, like eating potato latkes in commemoration of the Temple’s pure olive oil for the Menorah (building on the rabbinic legend which has no merit). Some other things can be non-productive though, like the giving of gifts for the eight nights. This is in competition with Christmas and not to be emulated. As nice as gifts are to receive, Hanuka is not about gift giving, but about God’s deliverance of the nation of Judah and the re-dedication of the Temple, which speaks of our re-dedication (the Temple of Lord) to Yeshua.

There are many Jewish traditions that surround both Hanuka and Purim but Ruti and I generally don’t follow them. One we do follow is the lighting of the Hanuka lights. We use either candles or small oil lamps for the eight days. The first night one lamp is lit and the second night two lamps are lit, etc. It’s a visual reminder for each of the eight days about God’s ability to deliver. Then we read a chapter or two from the First Book of Maccabees.

When we had our congregation in Tulsa, OK, USA we’d meet every other night (as every night was very taxing on the people and on us), and everyone would bring food. We’d read some from the First Book of Maccabees, light the lights for the night and bless the Lord. Then we’d sit down to eat and fellowship together. We’d After that we’d watch something like Fiddler on the Roof, or The Chosen, or Exodus with Paul Newman, for their ethical and cultural Jewish content. This year we may watch Jesus of Nazareth which I consider to be the best ‘Jesus’ film, in spite of some flaws (like Joseph wearing payot [long side-curls of the very Orthodox Jews today], and many Jews wearing the yarmulke or kipa, etc.).² We may also see The Rabbi From Tarsus by Phil Goble (again some flaws, like the wearing of the kipa and the fact that Paul was never a rabbi and no one ever spoke of him as such, not even he, but the content is exceptional). In Tulsa we’d have ‘Happy Hanuka’ decorations and balloons, which always gave it a festive atmosphere. It’s also a great time to sing praises to Yeshua.

Make up your own traditions for Hanuka. It’s allowed : ) Remember that the core of the celebration is dedication to Yeshua. You might also want to read a portion of a book every night like, Hind’s Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard, or A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards, or The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson, or Hudson’s Taylor’s Spiritual Secret by Dr. Howard Taylor, etc.

IS HANUKA THE JEWISH ANSWER TO CHRISTMAS?

Hanuka is nothing like Christmas and so it can’t, and shouldn’t, be compared to it. Christmas is very pagan. It celebrates the birth of the pagan Christ or savior from the stump of an evergreen tree, in the dead of winter. This symbolizes the pagan Christ’s victory over the darkness of winter as Dec. 25th is the first day that ancient man could determine when the amount of light in the day increases (having decreased from mid-summer or the summer solstice). The god of Christmas was called ‘the Christ’ (what we would call the false Christ or false Messiah), and was also seen as the son of the sun god. The sun was the greatest object of veneration in ancient times.³

Hanuka is an historical time that remembers that God of Israel delivered the Jewish people from annihilation. The only thing Christmas and Hanuka have in common is that they are both in December.

As for the giving of ‘Hanuka gifts’, I discourage this as it’s only a recent Jewish custom that has bled over into Hanuka because it’s so close to Christmas. The Jewish children would tell their parents of all the toys that the Christian children got for Christmas and so the Jewish parents began to give their children gifts for each night of Hanuka. But it’s not part of Hanuka proper, and we should steer ourselves away from that. It’s not only expensive and unnecessary, it’s pollutes and corrupts a Jewish holiday. If you want to give gifts to your children, you can do it on any day of the year. Please don’t tie it into Hanuka, the Feast of Dedication to Yeshua. It’s a time of giving ourselves to Yeshua, not giving gifts to our children.

CONCLUSION

Hanuka is an historical event that we Jewish people (and all Gentiles who believe in Yeshua because they’ve been grafted into Israel ) can celebrate as another time when God delivered His people. It’s in recognition of this that the celebration takes place. Hanuka means dedication and points to the re-dedicating of the Altar and the Temple after it was taken back from the hands of the wicked Syrian king. It has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas.

The major theme of Hanuka is our re-dedicating ourselves to Yeshua, to His purpose for our lives. In this we see the cleansing of the Temple in the days of the Maccabees as an apt picture for what Yeshua wants to do with us, the temple of the Living God (1st Cor. 3:16). With Yeshua declaring at Hanuka, in the Temple in Jerusalem that day, that He was the visible manifestation of the Living God, Yeshua was authenticating Hanuka for all of us and our children.

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ENDNOTES

 1 Maccabees can be read in the New Revised Standard Version, etc., or download the PDF of it now.

2 Why is the kipa wrong in these films? Because no Jew back then ever heard of a kipa, let alone wore one. The kipa is of relatively modern origin, first appearing around the 16th century. What the Jews wore in the days of Yeshua was a head-covering to protect their hair from the sun and the dirt in the air. Read The Kipa for more understanding.

3 For more on why Christmas is pagan, read the article on Christmas.

Review of Sabbath

Ok, I am going to review several of my posts here all pertaining to the Sabbath and why we should be concerned if we are not keeping the 7th day Sabbath that Yahweh Elohim established.  He desires that we keep His word.  He desires our worship in the ways in which He has prescribed.  If we guard to do/keep His commands then He in return guards/keeps us.
http://myksheartsathome.blogspot.com/2013/07/guardingkeeping.html
Deu 6:2 so that you fear יהוה your Elohim, to guard all His laws and His commands which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days be prolonged. Deu 6:3 "And you shall hear, O Yisra’ĕl, and shall guard to do, that it might be well with you, and that you increase greatly as יהוה Elohim of your fathers has spoken to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
Deu 4:6 "And you shall guard and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding before the eyes of the peoples who hear all these laws, and they shall say, ‘Only a wise and understanding people is this great nation!’

Do we fear Elohim enough to be obedient?  Are we being diligent to keep that which He has told us to do?
Fearing Elohim is the beginning of wisdom.
http://myksheartsathome.blogspot.com/2013/08/is-7th-day-sabbath-important.html

“So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. ¹⁰ For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. ¹¹ Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.”

 

(Hebrews 4:9-11)

Wow … I thought we could disregard God’s Old Testament Laws, now? I thought all we had to do was “love” God and our neighbors however we think that looks. No … Aaron’s two sons THOUGHT they could worship YHVH another way (wrong)! YHVH is not looking for those who come up with new and “better” ways to worship Him. He is not looking for innovative gimmicks that can “add fun” to church and bring in the multitudes … nope … YHVH is coming for those who obey His commands (by practicing them … He is not looking for perfection- that will come in the new Kingdom). He is looking for hearts bent on doing what He says and commands and it is THOSE that He hears (Proverbs 28:9).
http://myksheartsathome.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-do-you-know-you-please-yahweh.html
Paul encourages us to search and see if what he says is true according to the Scriptures.

Act 17:11 Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, who received the word with great eagerness, and searched the Scriptures daily, if these words were so.
It is important to remember the Scriptures being compared to what Paul was saying was the OT http://myksheartsathome.blogspot.com/2013/12/be-berean.html
Our we willing to admit we were wrong enough to begin to see the Sabbath in the same way Elhim does?
The only command we are specifically told to remember is this one.  I wonder why?  This is the one and only command we have forgotten.  We put our own spin on it and call it good.
Isa 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
http://myksheartsathome.blogspot.com/2013/12/i-was-wrong.html

The signet and the shadow.  We are willing to destroy the type that Yahweh established if we choose a different day.  We are willing to put our own seal on our lives rather than His seal.  What does this tell you about our heart condition?  What does this tell you about our fear of Him?
http://myksheartsathome.blogspot.com/2013/12/sabbath-type.html

This day was specifically set apart for a certain period of time.

Exo 31:16 ‘And the children of Yisra’ĕl shall guard the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant.

Exo 31:17 ‘Between Me and the children of Yisra’ĕl it is a sign forever. For in six days יהוה made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ "
http://myksheartsathome.blogspot.com/2013/12/continue-to-consider.html
So, who then is Israel?
http://119ministries.com/the-lost-sheep
http://myksheartsathome.blogspot.com/2013/12/if-all-of-word-of-elohim-is-true-we.html

We will continue from here throughout this week. 

More on the Sabbath

If all of the Word of Elohim is true, we cannot pick and choose what we want to believe or how we want to believe.
   Do you know why all those who came out of Egypt were not allowed to enter into the "rest" of the promised land?  It was because of unbelief and disobedience.  Heb. 3,4:

that being said do you believe Psa 89:34 "I shall not profane My covenant, Neither would I change what has gone out from My lips.  If that is so, then what don't we believe about this?  Exo 31:17 ‘Between Me and the children of Yisra’ĕl it is a sign forever.  Perhaps you put a qualifier on it.  You may say but that was only for the children of Israel.  So, then does Scripture address this question too?  You better believe it does.  Messiah came to seek and to save who?  The lost sheep of Israel.
What does Paul tell us the wild olive branch is grafted into?  Rom. 11

Rom 11:11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Let it not be! But by their fall deliverance has come to the gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.

Rom 11:12 And if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the gentiles, how much more their completeness!

Rom 11:13 For I speak to you, the gentiles, inasmuch as I am an emissary to the gentiles, I esteem my service,

Rom 11:14 if somehow I might provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.

Rom 11:15 For if their casting away is the restoration to favour of the world, what is their acceptance but life from the dead?

Rom 11:16 Now if the first-fruit is set-apart, the lump is also. And if the root is set-apart, so are the branches.

Rom 11:17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, have been grafted in among them, and came to share the root and fatness of the olive tree,

Rom 11:18 do not boast against the branches. And if you boast, remember: you do not bear the root, but the root bears you!

Rom 11:19 You shall say then, "The branches were broken off that I might be grafted in."

Rom 11:20 Good! By unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by belief. Do not be arrogant, but fear.

Rom 11:21 For if Elohim did not spare the natural branches, He might not spare you either.

Ok, try this one.  Who are the children of Abraham? or Israel? 

Joh 8:39 They answered and said to Him, "Aḇraham is our father."¹ יהושע said to them, "If you were Aḇraham’s children, you would do the works of Aḇraham. Footnote: 1See Mt. 3:9, Rom. 9:8.

Joh 8:40 "But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has spoken to you the truth which I heard from Elohim. Aḇraham did not do this.

Joh 8:41 "You do the works of your father." Then they said to Him, "We were not born of whoring, we have one Father: Elohim."

Joh 8:39 They answered and said to Him, "Aḇraham is our father."¹ יהושע said to them, "If you were Aḇraham’s children, you would do the works of Aḇraham. Footnote: 1See Mt. 3:9, Rom. 9:8.

Joh 8:40 "But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has spoken to you the truth which I heard from Elohim. Aḇraham did not do this.

Joh 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
As believer's we are of the seed of Abraham, Israel, not Jews but Israel the set-apart people.

Let us move on.  What did the Bereans do?

They searched the Scriptures daily.  Why?  To make sure what Paul was preaching was accurate and true.  What Scriptures did they search?  The NT had not been written yet.  It had to be the OT, The Tanak and Torah.  Paul was preaching and teaching the OT.  Everything he said and taught had to be in agreement with it.  He did not bring a new gospel of not keeping the laws of Elohim.

They must have been observing the 7th day Sabbath and the rest of the instructions of Elohim found in the Torah.

Act 17:10 And the brothers immediately sent Sha’ul and Sila away by night to Beroia, who, having come, went into the congregation of the Yehuḏim.

Act 17:11 Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonike, who received the word with great eagerness, and searched the Scriptures daily, if these words were so.

Act 17:12 Then many of them truly believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, decent women as well as men.

 

Let's turn to Acts 20.  Many use this as a prooftext for Sunday observance.  But we need to go to the original language to find out what is actually a mistranslation into the English.
 

Act 20:6 And we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas in five days, where we stayed seven days.

Act 20:7 And on the first day of the week, the taught ones having gathered together to break bread, Sha’ul, intending to depart the next day, was reasoning with them and was extending the word till midnight.

 

Act 20:6 And^{G1161 weG2249 sailed awayG1602 fromG575 PhilippiG5375 afterG3326 theG3588 daysG2250 of unleavened bread,G106 andG2532 cameG2064 untoG4314 themG846 toG1519 TroasG5174 inG891 fiveG4002 days;G2250 whereG3757 we abodeG1304 sevenG2033 days.G2250}

Act 20:7 AndG1161 uponG1722 theG3588 firstG3391 day of theG3588 week,G4521 when theG3588 disciplesG3101 came togetherG4863 to breakG2806 bread,G740 PaulG3972 preachedG1256 unto them,G846 readyG3195 to departG1826 on theG3588 morrow;G1887 andG5037 continuedG3905 his speechG3056 untilG3360 midnight.G3317

Look at this word, G4521,  In the original language the word is Sabbath, not week.  Also you can see the word "day" is added to the text.  It was not in the original. 

Act 20:7 εν^{G1722 AND δεG1161 ON τηG3588 THE μιαG3391 FIRST "DAY" τωνG3588 OF THE σαββατωνG4521 WEEK,}

 

G4521
σάββατον
sabbaton

Thayer Definition:
1) the seventh day of each week which was a sacred festival on which the Israelites were required to abstain from all work
1a) the institution of the sabbath, the law for keeping holy every seventh day of the week
1b) a single sabbath, sabbath day2) seven days, a week

Part of Speech: noun neuter

A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: of Hebrew origin H7676


More to come