Before we answer that question, we should answer two other questions: 1) What is a Shabbat service? and 2) Who is this service for? The word “shabbat” is the Hebrew word for our English word “Sabbath.” The word Sabbath means, “to end, to rest.” We read in Genesis 2:2-3, And on the SEVENTH DAY, God ENDED His work that He had done and He RESTED on the SEVENTH DAY from all His work which He had done.” Later, when God chose the nation of Israel to serve Him and to testify of Him before the Gentile nations, He commanded Israel to “keep the Sabbath” as a day where they too would “REST from their labors” and devote the day to worshipping Him. When God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses and the nation of Israel, He said, “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but on THE SEVENTH DAY IS THE SABBATH of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and RESTED THE SEVENTH DAY. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20: 8-11). After Israel received this commandment, they began to “keep the Sabbath day” and to this very day the Jewish people still observe this day. It begins at sunset on Friday and ends on sunset on Saturday. They do no work during that time; they have a private observance in their homes by lighting candles and reciting a blessing. And in the evening, they attend a public service and then return home to continue to celebrate it with a dinner and the reciting of a prayer before and after the meal. So, we see that the Sabbath is a day where Jewish people cease from their labors and devote the day to God who created the universe and then rested from His work on the Seventh Day. Their devotion to Him includes private and public services with the reciting of certain prayers.

Now let’s answer your question. Perhaps we should ask, “SHOULD a Christian attend a Jewish Sabbath service?” We just saw that the commandment to “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy” was given to the nation of Israel. In the New Testament we learn that the Christian is not under the Law of Moses so the commandment to “keep the Sabbath” does not apply to the Christian. The Christian is one who has “believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of their soul” (see Acts 16:31). The Christian has been “saved by grace through faith” (Ephesians 2:8) and is “not under law, but under grace” (Romans 6:13). We read in Romans 3:19-20, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says TO THOSE WHO ARE UNDER THE LAW, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” The law was given to Israel to REVEAL TO THEM (and the world) that all men are sinners and cannot become righteous before God by keeping the Ten Commandments (or by good works of any kind…Ephesians 2:8-9 and Titus 3:5). The sinner must accept the righteousness that God has provided through His Son who took man’s place on the cross to pay for their sins. We read of this righteousness in Romans 3:22, “Even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.” After one puts their faith in Jesus Christ, they are “under grace” and their focus is on Jesus Christ, not the Ten Commandments.

Some have taught that that the Christian should still “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy” and some will even judge the Christian if they don’t. The Apostle Paul addresses this in Colossians 2:16-7, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or SABBATHS, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” The law served its purpose in revealing that we are sinners and in its sacrificial system it foreshadowed the coming of Christ who would make the supreme sacrifice on the cross to put away man’s sin. The Christian’s sole focus now is the Savior, the one who “loved us and gave Himself for us” (Ephesians 5:25). Christ, not the Law, is our Object!

In closing, there is a DAY which the Christian should observe. We read in Matthew 28:1, 5-6, “Now after the Sabbath, as THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK began to dawn…the angel answered and said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for HE IS RISEN.” On that “first day of the week” the Lord rose from dead having conquered sin, death, and the grave. Later that day He met with believers to show them He had risen (Luke 24:13-49; John 20:19). The Lord Jesus had instituted the “Lord’s Supper” (Luke 22:14-19) to celebrate the victory He would win through His death and resurrection and on the “first day of the week” His disciples met together to respond to His request, “This, do, in remembrance of Me (Acts 20:7). This, dear fellow-believer, is still the DAY we can honor our blessed Lord and Savior by partaking of “His Supper” (1 Corinthians 11:20-26) on “His Day” (Revelation 1:10).  (DO)  (621.5)