Where I now live the locals call any time after 12:00 noon evening. Could it be that the ancients reckoned time like the locals? All one would need is a straight pole anchored in the ground perpendicular and use the shadow from the sun to find high noon. That would be a much more accurate way than trying to use sundown as the end of the day, especially in hilly terrain.
Brother, according to Jewish religious law, Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The more you show love for God by obeying Him the earlier before sunset you will start your Shabbat to avoid violating God’s law. This obedience is attributed to you as faith, in the judgment, which will decide if you are saved or lost by your demonstration of faith through works of obedience to the word of God. Satan is working hard to deceive so that we do not obey God and show through obedience, faith that in the judgment will save you. The Sabbath is one of those foundational tests of faith in the fourth commandment that Satan has worked hard to eliminate, but Peter has forewarned us to keep alert to this error of the lawless in preparation for the return of Jesus.
Jesus kept the Sabbath of the old covenant in Israel, so if there were any changes due to calendars or moving the starting day of the weekly cycle to a latitude east of New Zealand it would have happened during the new covenant era.
Jesus kept the right Sabbath. Judaism to this day remembers the Sabbath correctly in Israel by direct instruction from God to Israel, it is when they live in other places other than Israel, such as here in the United States, that they do the wrong thing by doing what they do in Israel, when the Bible reveals that they need to do something different on every place around the world. Israel is our example, Israel remembers the Sabbath at a different time than the first Sabbath in Eden, because Eden is far from Israel and the Sabbath is not the seventh local day of the week in Israel as it was in Eden.
Some argue that the Israelites reckoned time using the Lunar cycle, so that the Sabbath was not an every seven-day occurrence.
There are two types of Sabbaths in Israel, monthly lunar Sabbaths and weekly Sabbaths. The difference is that on monthly lunar Sabbaths, the preparation day before Sabbath is not always a Friday. This is important in determining how Jesus fulfilled three days and three nights when He died on a day of preparation that is not a Friday and resurrected before Sunday. Jesus resurrected a Saturday night after remembering the Sabbath of Eden in Israel and before Sunday.
All this is very interesting, but as far trying to establish that our days of the week are the same as when Jesus walked on this Earth is a coin toss. If it really mattered God would give us a sign so that we know for sure we are resting on a certain day.
The International Date Line is the sign that you demand that shows that humans have maintained the weekly cycle from the beginning, the Jews are keeping precisely the Sabbath established on the seventh day of the creation week, as verified in our time by the site of the International Date Line.
The fact is that there is no command in the new covenant about keeping days.
The new covenant fulfills the “shadows” of the old. The promise to Adam and Eve of a descendant who would save humanity, Jesus, who replaced the sacrifices of so many animals with the continued forgiveness of sin in the heavenly temple. The new covenant does not end the ten commandments, which is an error that abuses Paul's harder to understand words, forewarned by Peter as the error of the lawless. The Sabbath was not replaced until the bishops of Rome introduced the Sunday-hour of worship, with the rest of the day, business as usual, as a substitute for the Sabbath. Before that, all Christians kept the Jewish Sabbath. In the time of Jesus and the later Jerusalem church of the disciples, Sunday was never thought of as a replacement for the Sabbath, which was later pushed by the bishops of Rome, who consider themselves above the word of God through the prophets by repeating the sin of rejecting God as our king by wanting a human king instead of God as our king.
The people all said to Samuel, "Pray to the LORD your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king." (1 Samuel 12:19 NIV)
The popes are a repetition of people rejecting God as their king and wanting a human king instead. Have you heard that history repeats itself? The mistake of the past is repeated with the pope.
Paul reiterates over and over that we are not under the ritual laws of the old covenant Gentiles never were under those laws. What is there about becoming Christians that would put them under the old covenant laws. Paul didn't mince words when He wrote to the Galatians, chapter3. He called them foolish for allowing the Jews to persuade them to be old covenant law observers.
Many people abuse Paul’s more difficult to understand words to eliminate the ten commandments, but Peter has forewarned us about the error of the lawless, wanting to eliminate the ten commandments.
But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. (2 Peter 3:13-18 NIV)
We have been forewarned of the error of eliminating the ten commandments. Our Creator, the verb, became flesh to die in our place so that we way live showing faith through obedience to the ten commandments as the minimum requirement. He asks more than that minimum, but the least you must obey are the ten commandments expressed by Jesus in Matthew 19:16-22.
Jesus said He kept those laws and asks us to keep the laws He gave us. Jn15
Jesus is the Creator known to us in the Old Testament as Yahweh, He came to His own and they did not recognize Him by His character. The Creator, the verb, who made all things, including us, became flesh and walked among us, but we did not recognize His character. Confirmation that the ten commandments are His commandments follows.
Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’” “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. (Matthew 19:16-22 NIV)
Jesus confirmed and did not correct his understanding of the ten commandments that all Jews value, but the man was not willing to remain faithful to Jesus by following him as expected in this next passage.
This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. (Revelation 14:12 NIV)
Jesus answered the question of “what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” by saying “if you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” But many abuse Paul’s more difficult to understand words to eliminate the ten commandments even though Peter forewarned us to stay alert to this error of the lawless. United in our hope of the soon return of Jesus, Jorge