Is the New Moon worship day a sabbath day or just a worship day and is there a difference? By new moon worship day we here mean the new moon worship day mentioned in Isaiah chapter 66 which will be kept for eternity. This is the worship day as it was set up at creation and will be kept by God's people in the new earth according to Isaiah and the book of Revelation [see 22:2]. During the Jewish dispensation it was no doubt kept a little differently.
Firstly what is the difference between a worship day and a sabbath day? And is there a difference? In the Old Testament we find mention of:
Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD.
Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.
Exodus 35:2 NKJV.
and if the peoples of the land bring in merchandise or any grain on the sabbath day to sell, we will not buy it
from them on the sabbath or on a holy day; and we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.
Nehemiah 10:31.
If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a
delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests,
or pursuing your own affairs;
Isaiah 58:13.
Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work:
it is a sabbath to the LORD throughout your settlements.
Leviticus 23:3.
On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations.
Leviticus 23:7.
Speak to the people of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of complete rest,
a holy convocation commemorated with trumpet blasts.
Leviticus 23:24.
Though we are dealing here with days the Jews kept in the Old Testament we can nevertheless
get some important information from these verses. Nehemiah tells us that apart from the seventh-day sabbath there were also holy days. Isaiah
tells us that the sabbath day was also considered a holy day. Leviticus states the sabbath day was also a holy convocation.
A convocation is a meeting or assembly. A holy convocation is a sacred assembly. So in other words, this was when the people would come
together and worship. On the holy convocations the people were also not to work so it would appear that these were also kept like the sabbath day.
Sabbath means rest and we find more information about this from the commandment the Jews were given to keep: