We have already discussed the deception of those who claim the Sabbath or a day is from morning to morning! Scripture reveals to us that the Sabbath and a day is from evening to evening! The other deception that is circulating is the Lunar Sabbath that claims the Sabbath is not on a consecutive 7 day cycle of six days of work and rest on the 7th Day.
What is the Lunar Sabbath?
This is when observers will not honor the weekly 7th Day Sabbath, but will use the MOON to determine when a new week begins and ends. They believe that the Sabbath falls on certain days each month (8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th etc), instead of sticking with an uninterrupted 7 day cycle. Therefore, by using the moon the Sabbath can fall in ANY DAY of the week instead of the 7th Day Sabbath.
Other say they believe in the Lunar Sabbath because Saturday is from Babylon; therefore there is no way that Saturday can be correct. Well, we have to remember that all the pagans did was change the name of the week from Sabbath to Saturday, the only thing that changes is the name NOT the 7th Day that it falls on! Furthermore, all the names of the days of the week and the months are names of Roman pagan deities on the current Gregorian calendar that the world follows today. Just because they change the name doesn’t neglect where the day falls.
I want everyone to keep in mind about using the phases of the moon as the guide because Jubilees says:
Jubilees 6:33-37
“But if they neglect and do not observe them according to His Command, then they shall disturb all their seasons, and the years shall be dislodged from this order, and they shall NEGLECT THEIR LAWS. And all the children of Yisra’el shall forget, and shall not find the path of the years, and shall forget the new moons, and seasons, and SABBATHS, and they shall go astray as to all the order of the years. For I know, and from this time on I shall declare it to you, and it is not of my own devising; for the Book is written before me. And on the tablets of the heavens the division of days is ORDAINED, lest they forget the Festivals of the Covenant and walk according to the festivals of the gentiles after their straying and after their ignorance. For there shall be THOSE WHO SHALL ASSUREDLY MAKE OBSERVATIONS OF THE MOON-NOW IT DISTURBS THE SEASONS and comes in from year to year TEN DAYS TOO SOON. For this reason the years shall come upon them when they shall DISTURB THE ORDER, and make an abominable day the day of witness, and an unclean day a feast day, and they confuse ALL THE DAYS, the holy, the holy with the unclean, and the unclean day with the holy; for they shall go astray as to the months AND SABBATHS AND Festivals and Jubilees.”
The messenger (angel) of the presence that YHWH told to instruct Moses tells him that there will be people who observe the moon which disturbs the seasons and go astray to SABBATHS, Festivals, and Jubilees and that they would confuse all the days! That is exactly what is going on with this current deception and this is further evidence that there is no Lunar Sabbath. The moon is a signal for Appointed Times and shows the completion of a month:
Enoch 78:14
“On the side where the light of the moon comes forth, there again she diminishes till all the light vanishes and ALL THE DAYS OF THE MONTH ARE AT AN END, and her circumference is EMPTY, void of light.”
So when you see the half moon and the full moon it is not by accident, but by the design our ELOHIM to know when a month ends and begins.
Sirach 43:6-7
“He made the moon also to serve in its season for Appointed Times, and a sign for the world. From the moon is the sign of FEASTS, a light that decreases in its completion.”
And we see in Leviticus 23 that The Sabbath Day is mentioned with all the other Appointed times and YHWH tells us exactly when to observe them. Notice the instructions for the Sabbath are spelled out by YHWH saying that you work six days and rest on the 7th Day consistently and is not based on the moon. The Sabbath occurs every week whereas the other Appointed Times occur once a year at their Appointed Times. The other Appointed Times He instructs us Passover 14th Day of 1st month, Feast of Unleavened Bread 15th Day of 1st month etc.
How are you calculating Shavuot (Pentecost) with Lunar Sabbath?
Leviticus 23:15-16
“And from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you shall count for yourselves: SEVEN COMPLETED SABBATHS. Until the morrow after the SEVENTH SABBATH you county FIFTY DAYS, then you shall bring a new grain offering to YHWH.”
So we see that YHWH says to calculate Shavuot (Pentecost) by counting seven completed Sabbaths in other words 50 consecutive days to get to Shavuot, which is an indicator the Sabbath Day is on a 7 Day weekly cycle. Those observing the Lunar Sabbath would have to wait for the phase of the moon causing them to miss the consecutive 50 day count. Or they would be counting more than 50 days being that their Sabbath could fall on the 8th day or any day during the week etc.
The cycle for 7 day pattern established
Genesis 2: 2-3
“And on the seventh day ELOHIM completed His work which He had done and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He made. And ELOHIM blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all His work which ELOHIM in creating had made.”
And our Creator gave us the pattern, for us follow the same example just as He did by commanding us to work 6 days and rest on the 7th day:
Exodus 20:8-11
“Remember the Sabbath day, to sanctify it. Six days you labor, and shall do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of YHWH your ELOHIM. And you do not do any work- you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor you female servant, not your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore YHWH blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.”
Exodus 31:15
“Six days work is done, and on the SEVENTH is a Sabbath of rest, holy to YHWH. Everyone doing work on the Sabbath day shall certainly be put to death.”
Exodus 34:21
“Six days you work, but on the SEVENTH day you rest-in ploughing time and in harvest time”
Deuteronomy 5:13-14
“Six days you labor, and shall do all your work, but the SEVENTH day is a Sabbath to YHWH your ELOHIM. You do not do any work…”
As we see the seventh day Sabbath is ONE day out of the week that YHWH blessed and sanctified; therefore, this blessing does not apply to any day anyone feels the Sabbath lands on based on observance of the moon. Notice YHWH doesn’t say six days work is done but the Sabbath look for the New Moon to determine if it’s the seventh day for the Sabbath. Our Father is not the author of confusion. YHWH even drives this point home with the same cycle for the Sabbath rest for the land:
Leviticus 25:1-6
“And YHWH spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the children of Yisra’el, and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the LAND shall observe a Sabbath to YHWH. Six years you sow your field, and six years you prune your vineyard, and gather in its fruit, but in the seventh year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath to YHWH. Do not sow your field and do not prune your vineyard. Do not reap what grows of its own of your harvest, and do not gather the grapes of your unpruned vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. And the SABBATH of the land shall be to you for food, for you and your servant, and your female servant and your hired servant, and for the stranger who sojourns with you, and for the livestock and the beasts that are in your land. All its crops are for food.”’
Are you noticing the pattern that our Father YHWH sets? He created all things in SIX days and rested on the SEVENTH day, He told us to do work for SIX days and rest on the SEVENTH day just as He did, and then He told the children of Yisra’el to sow, reap, and gather from the land for SIX years, but let the land rest in the SEVENTH year! YHWH doesn’t make the counting confusing, it’s pretty straightforward what He expects us to do through His instructions. There is no Lunar Sabbath calculation for the Sabbath rest for the land because we know that is a command to be taken literally, just as the weekly 7th Day Sabbath is to be taken literally.
6th day parallel with 6th year!
Exodus 16:25-29
“And Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to YHWH, today you do not find it in the field. GATHER IT SIX DAYS, but on the SEVENTH DAY, which is the Sabbath, there is none.” And it came to be that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And YHWH said to Moses, “How long shall you refuse to guard My Commands and My Torot (Plural form of Torah)? “See, because YHWH has given you the Sabbath, therefore He is giving you bread for TWO DAYS ON THE SIXTH DAY…”
Leviticus 25:20-21
“And since you might say, “What do we eat in the SEVENTH YEAR, since we do not sow nor gather in our crops? Therefore I have commanded My blessing on you in the SIXTH YEAR, and it shall bring forth the crop for three years.”
YHWH gave TWICE as much manna on the SIXTH day, so they could rest on the Sabbath the seventh day, the same way He gave THREE years of crop blessings in the SIXTH YEAR, so the land could observe its Sabbath in the seventh year. YHWH does not do anything just to be doing it, He wants his people to establish a pattern and was teaching them the continuous, uninterrupted 7 day cycle; and to trust in His provisions that He will provide and not break His weekly 7th Day Sabbath or 7th year land of rest.
New Moons are separate from Sabbath
Isaiah 66:23
“And it shall be that from New moon to New Moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,” declares YHWH.”
Ezekiel 46:1
“Thus said the Adon (Master) YHWH, “The gate of the inner courtyard facing east is shut the six days of work, but on the Sabbath it is opened, AND on the day of the New Moon it is opened.”
Notice how YHWH separates the two and doesn’t say on the Lunar Sabbath all flesh shall worship me? He says Sabbath to Sabbath and New moon to new moon; therefore, completely distinguishing between the two. And the scripture from Ezekiel clears it up even further as we see YHWH says the gate is opened on the Sabbath AND on the day of the New Moon, so there is no mixing the two at all.
As always I pray this helps and that no one is deceived by the Lunar Sabbath. May YHWH bless you all in YESHUA’s Name.