My Journey to Becoming a Sabbath Keeper

By Brian Sargent

Some people are blessed to be raised knowing about the Sabbath and what is special about it.  Me?  Well, I was raised in a good Christian home. I understood the Sabbath to be a Jewish custom that was not for Christians anymore.  It was never really an outwardly spoken lesson that I remember learning, but rather an unspoken lesson that you pick up over years of going to church on Sundays and reading in the Bible.  To me, the Sabbath day was just something that Israel was instructed to keep, not me.

The question that must be addressed is: “Who is Israel?”  God told His people that the Sabbath is a sign between them and God (Exodus 20:8-11, 31:12-17).  Are the Jews the only ones that can claim to be “His people”?  Are Christians not a part of “His people”?  It is the “His people” part that throws everyone off.  Ask anyone in most churches who “His people” are and they will tell you that it is “the Jews”.  If you conduct a short investigation into the matter, you will find that the Jews are just a small subsection of Israel.  The word “Jew” can actually be traced to the word “Judah”.  To oversimplify things, the “Jews” are really only a small part of the whole…one-twelfth to be exact!

Paul tells us in Romans 11 that through belief in Jesus the Messiah, we non-Jews are grafted into Israel.  This, in a nutshell, is the process that I went through close to 4 years ago now.  I had to find out who God was actually giving these instructions to.   I realized that they were given to all of Israel, both natural born and the ones who have come into the faith.  For us, it all started when my wife felt as if we should research the roots of Christmas.  From there, we started watching videos from ministries like Passion for Truth and 119 Ministries who teach that the whole Word of God is applicable today if you believe in Messiah – specifically this part called the Torah.

I didn’t buy any of it to begin with.  I knew better than to believe all that I was hearing.  I had taken some Bible classes online and I knew my stuff.  I knew every bit of this was wrong.  The only problem was that the more I studied, the more I realized that I could not prove any of it wrong.  God began to chip away at the false doctrines that had been laid as the foundations in my walk with God.  According to Paul, I am part of Israel because of my faith in Messiah.  I was no longer able to say that God’s instructions, Torah, or Law was for the Jews only.  They were for me as well.  It is no longer a question of whether I have to keep His Sabbath or not.  Instead, I get to keep His Sabbath because I love Him and want to obey Him.  He called His people to be set apart or holy.  What better way to be set apart from the world by keeping His Sabbath, His feasts, and His commands?  It has been a tremendous blessing to my family as we walk in this new light and learn as He continues to open our eyes.  What a coincidence!  It says exactly that in Deuteronomy 28!

Brian Sargent is co-founder of Thirsty for Truth Ministry, which seeks to bring about a restoration of God’s truth. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. www.tftministries.wordpress.com