Lunar Sabbath Rebuttal 5
Ezekiel 45:17 (NKJV) “Then it shall be the prince’s part to give burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the New Moons, the Sabbaths, and at all the appointed seasons of the house of Israel. He shall prepare the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.” Leviticus 23 teaches us that the Sabbath is one of Yahweh’s appointed feasts, so why break it out in this list of feasts? New Moons ARE NOT in the Leviticus 23 teaching of appointed feasts, so that would explain why Yahweh would break it out in this list of feasts. I believe the Sabbath is broken out in this list because IT IS AN APPOINTED FEAST, BUT IT IS NOT GOVERNED BY THE MOON, like the rest of the appointed feasts in Leviticus 23 are. The Sabbath is governed by the Creation Week, period. There would be NO reason for breaking out the Sabbaths in this list, if they were observed by the lunar month, like all the other appointed feasts alluded to in this list are. We know there are many Scriptures that show Sabbaths and New Moons in the same sentence, and I believe that is so because New Moons ARE NOT an appointed feast day, therefore they must be listed separately, and Sabbaths ARE an appointed feast day, BUT OBSERVED ON A WEEKLY BASIS, A SEVEN DAY WEEK BY WEEK CALENDAR, NOT ON A LUNAR CALENDAR, therefore Sabbaths also must be listed separately. Yahweh is way too economical and efficient with His words to waste time with redundant speech. There is always a reason why Yahweh would list New Moons and Sabbaths separate from all other appointed feasts. Now we know why.
Ezekiel 46:1-8, 12 (NKJV) “’Thus says Sovereign Yahweh: “The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened. 2The prince shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway from the outside, and stand by the gatepost. The priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings. He shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening. 3Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the entrance to this gateway before Yahweh on the Sabbaths and the New Moons. 4The burnt offering that the prince offers to Yahweh on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish; 5and the grain offering shall be one ephah for a ram, and the grain offering for the lambs, as much as he wants to give, as well as a hin of oil with every ephah. 6On the day of the New Moon it shall be a young bull without blemish, six lambs, and a ram; they shall be without blemish. 7He shall prepare a grain offering of an ephah for a bull, an ephah for a ram, as much as he wants to give for the lambs, and a hin of oil with every ephah. 8When the prince enters, he shall go in by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way.” . . 12“Now when the prince makes a voluntary burnt offering or voluntary peace offering to Yahweh, the gate that faces toward the east shall then be opened for him; and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he did on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he goes out the gate shall be shut.”
In Ezekiel chapters 40-48, Ezekiel is describing the dimensions of the Temple to be constructed for the Millennial reign of Yahshua on earth and the order of worship in that future Temple. Lunar Sabbatarians would have you believe that the above passages teach a lunar Sabbath. Well, of course, I beg to differ. By definition of a lunar Sabbath, not only are the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th days of the lunar month a Sabbath, but so is the 1st day of the lunar month. You could call it a New Moon Sabbath. But I ask you, dear reader, if the New Moon Sabbath is the same as the weekly Sabbath, why are the offerings different for each of these Sabbaths? Just because it’s a New Moon? Possibly. New Moon festival offerings? Probably. But if they are both Sabbaths, which THEY MUST BE BY THE DEFINITION OF A LUNAR SABBATH, why even mention the New Moon, in addition to mentioning the Sabbath days? Why not just say on the Sabbath days? That goes for Isaiah 66 and Colossians 2 also. The New Moon day, day 1 of the lunar month, is not necessarily a Sabbath day, as we learned from Exodus 40 and the wilderness Tabernacle. It’s precisely because the New Moons and the seventh day Sabbath days are different, and NOT TIED TOGETHER, even by definition, that Yahweh mentions them both in these sentences.
Ezekiel 46 is NOT teaching a doctrine of a lunar Sabbath, it is showing when the gateway door to the inner court of the future Millennial Temple is to be open or shut. It is not a dogmatic doctrinal issue. How do we know? Look at 46:12, the last verse referenced above. The gate can be opened ANY DAY OF THE WEEK, if the prince of Israel wants to make a voluntary offering to Yahweh!
Now here is the ultimate lunar Sabbath conundrum. Since you have to call the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th of each month a Sabbath, by definition of the Sabbath Law of work six days and rest the seventh day, what do you do with the 29th, 30th, and 1st days of the lunar month all being THE SAME SABBATH DAY? The 30th cannot be a one day work week, for that would break the command of Yahweh, so you have to include it in the Sabbath observance of the 29th of the lunar month, which then ties it to the Sabbath of the 1st day of the lunar month. So where in heaven, earth, or under the earth is the Scriptural FOUNDATION for a 2 to 3 day Sabbath? Just two or three Scripture references would be adequate to substantiate such a doctrinal belief. I have been studying the Scriptures for about 40 years now as an adult and have yet to find one Scripture reference that supports a 2 to 3 day Sabbath. Talk about a jumbled mess of a calendar and a foolish goof ball belief. Truly the lunar Sabbath doctrine is a heretical belief.
His grace be upon you all,
Gene Benjamin II
March 10, 2013 CE (Common Error, not Era)
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