There are many confusions of mind that must be overcome to truly have the Sabbath rest and peace. Firstly, is the confusion of the day of the Sabbath. Which day is the Sabbath? That is big question is most certainly a bone of contention amongst the religious sects.

The Muslims keep the Sabbath on Fridays. Go to Jerusalem, and you will find that the Sabbath for the Jews begins on Friday and last until Saturday sundown. The 7th Day Adventist also keeps Saturday as their Sabbath. The traditional day of the Sabbath in the United States is Sunday, because like most of Protestant nations of Europe there was a change from Saturday to Sunday Sabbath, because Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday. The Ten Commandments ( the 4th ) requires the Sabbath day kept holy.

But the “spiritual reality” of the Sabbath day is not that which the religions of the world require, nor understand. The religions of the world require a day; a specific day. What does it mean then to keep the Sabbath day holy, and if we do not go to the mosque, Synagogue or Church on the proscribed Sabbath day. Have we committed a sin by breaking one of the Ten Commandments? The good news is that we have not committed a sin by not going to the place of worship on the day determined by those religions.

The idea of the Sabbath was that God (Elohim) who “spirited” creation during six days (or Yom’s) of creation rested on the 7th day. However, Yom’s according to the Hebrew language was not rendered, as the literalist hold to, which is a seven twenty-four hour day period. Yom’s (days) is a generic word that includes the concept of “age”. For example “the morning and the evening were the first Yom or “age.” Actually the words “morning” and “evening” in all modern translations are more properly rendered in the Hebrew as the “dawning” and the “setting” rather than “morning” and “evenings.” Hence the first day (“Yom”) was “the first age.” So God, the (Elohim) rested on the 7th Yom/ age. Morning and evening was an unfortunate translation that suggests a 24 hour day period. This is a small translational change, but it has very serious consequences in that it creates enormous religious confusion.

This error, now the common interpretation, focuses on a literal seven twenty-four hour days of creation rather than Yom’s which are ages. Consequently, the logical miscalculation that the Sabbath should be kept as a literal twenty –four 24 hour day is applied vis-à-vis to a literal 24 hour day Sabbath (mistakenly assuming God rested in such a 24 hour day) The religions of the world seek to honor and obey the 4th commandment keeping the 7th Sabbath day in memory of that supposed literal day in which they mistakenly assume God rested, hence the debate ensues and erupts over error. But the 7th day /Yom was an age where God rested; not a twenty four hour day. To be continued……..