The Torah and the Prophets define righteousness and godly love, which are both eternal attributes of YAH.
Matthew 22:36-40 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Torah?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend all the Torah and the Prophets.”
The Ten Commandments are part of the Mt. Sinai Covenant, which included the death penalty for breaking them. This way of YAH dealing with sin was establish and enacted, 430 years after He promised to bless Abraham, and was only to last until Messiah came.
Galatians 3:16-17 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.
The Mt. Sinai Covenant was the law that was defined as the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
In other words, you sin, you are put to death, for example, the Sabbath. The fourth commandment said, you shall not do any work on the Sabbath. If you violate the fourth commandment, you shall surely be put to death.
Exodus 31:15 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
This was not so prior to Mt. Sinai. The law of sin and death started 430 years after YAH promised to bless Abraham.
Romans 5:12-14 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come.
The law of sin and death started at Mt. Sinai, and was enacted to condemn and punish sin, but this way of YAH dealing with sin was only to last until the promised Seed came, which is Messiah.
Galatians 3:19 Then why do we have the Law? It was given because of sin. It was to be used until Christ came. The promise had been made looking toward Christ. The Law was given by angels through Moses who stood between God and man.
Once the promised Seed arrived, we are no longer under the law of sin and death.
Galatians 3:24-25 Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.
Just because we are no longer under the law of sin and death, does not mean the Sabbath is no longer YAH’s holy and blessed day, because the seventh day was declared holy and blessed long before Mt. Sinai. Mt. Sinai only protected the Sabbath with the fear of being put to death. This is what was to last until Messiah came. Today, because of Messiah, we are under grace.
Romans 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
Grace is the absence of punishment; it’s not the absence of obedience. Just because we’re under grace, it does not mean the Sabbath is no longer YAH’s holy and blessed day, it does mean there is no more stoning to death for doing work on the Sabbath. Today, we are governed by the Spirit, and our love for YAH and His ways, we are no longer governed by the fear of being put to death. The greatest act of love, and true worship, a human being can express, is when they obey YAH, when they don’t have to.
1 John 4:17-19 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.
Today, we are motivated to obey YAH, including honoring the seventh day Sabbath, because we are saved, not as a means to get saved. Obeying YAH is the fruit of salvation, it’s not viewed as merit that earns salvation.
If someone is watching what you do on the Sabbath, in order to accuse, and condemn you of breaking the Sabbath, they are still living under the law, because it was the fourth commandment that said do not to work on the Sabbath.
The people of YAH today still view the Sabbath as a blessed and holy day, the day to be used to gather for worship, as an act of worship, so use your freedom to take the day off from work to gather, and enjoy the Sabbath.
Leviticus 23:3 You have six days in which to do your work, but remember that the seventh day is a day of rest. On that day do not work, but gather for worship. The Sabbath belongs to the Lord, no matter where you live.
Mark 2:23-28 One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grain fields, his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat. But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?” Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest) and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions.” Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. Therefore, the son of man is lord, even over the Sabbath!”
We are the son of man…