In the previous posting we noted that spiritual, God-seeking people need a daily rest from their humanly pursuits–a sabbath time of prayer and Bible study in which to bring their minds/hearts back to their spiritual square one. Now we will see what God has to say about a weekly Sabbath–an entire day which He has commanded His people to set aside each week in which to honor Him by immersing themselves in Him by holding a holy convocation, studying His Word, praying and meditating on Him, His Words and His will. After creating the world in the previous six days (Col. 1:16,17), “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning–the sixth day …. On the seventh day He rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy ….” (Genesis 1:31-2:3).

GOD, Who later came to earth as Jesus of Nazareth (see The God Of The Old Testament) “BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY AND MADE IT HOLY.” Approximately 2000 years later He commanded His people to “remember” that same day each week and to “KEEP IT HOLY.” He then wrote the command in stone with His own finger. He later hid the entire Ten Commandments so that man could not take hammer and chisel in hand to edit them. Not to be deterred, Truth-rejecting men changed parts of it in their religious practices, and the entire world followed suit. See The Mark Of The Beast. In Exodus 20:8-11 we find God speaking to His chosen people, telling them to remember the seventh day, to keep it holy because He had blessed it and made it holy. No work was to be done on that special day. All work was to be done on the previous six days. Implicit in these instructions was that to remember the day was to remember the One Who created the day. By remembering THE day we pay homage to and immerse ourselves in Him who made that particular day for us.

In Luke 4:16 we find that the man Jesus of Nazareth needed to rest on the Sabbath like all other men. If it was good for Him, it is good for us as He is our ultimate example of obedience to God the Father. He needed the Sabbath; are we better than the Son of God? Over two billion church people reply, “Yes, most definitely.” The rationale supplied by Satan is that the observance of God’s commanded rest and reflection day, the day He specifically designated to be remembered and kept holy, is not binding on the more progressive, more enlightened New Covenant Church. The Catholic/Protestant church system has outgrown her Maker. Another rationale for disobeying God’s Sabbath command is as follows. Because God made the Sabbath for man (Mk. 2:27,28), He therefore gave man lordship over it, thereby allowing man to do away with it and replace it with one more to her (Satan’s) liking. This attitude exists because the god of the Institutional Church has blinded her to the second part of the passage which reads: “… therefore, the Son of Man IS (not was) LORD EVEN OF THE SABBATH.” Because a more detailed teaching relative to why God’s people must obey His Sabbath commands is put forth in the series of postings titled The Mark Of The Beast, I will write no more on that subject in these postings.

The question now becomes, what are the benefits of remembering THE Sabbath and keeping IT holy? We find an excellent answer to the question in Isaiah 58:13,14 as God speaks through His prophet: “‘If you (God’s people) refrain from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy (day) of the Lord and honorable, and honor Me by not going your own ways and finding your own pleasures and speaking your own words, then you will delight yourself in the Lord ….'”–you will find your relationship with Him delightful. He goes on to tell us about the personal benefits He has promised the descendants of Jacob who make up the bulk of the New Covenant Church world-wide. See White Fields. Earlier He had said: “Blessed is the man who … keeps the Sabbath from polluting it and keeps his hand from doing any evil ….” (Isa. 56:2). But this isn’t the only era in which the seventh day Sabbath will be honored.

The Lord tells us in Isaiah 66:22,23 that Sabbath observance will continue following the establishment of the new heavens and the new earth which He will accomplish following His millennial reign on earth: “‘As the new heavens and the new earth that I will make will endure before Me … from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before Me,’ says the Lord.” In the final book of the Bible, which depicts events to take place yet in the future, we find the Lord speaking of His creation of all things. In Revelation 14:6,7 we find an angel saying about the teachings of the everlasting gospel, “‘Fear God, and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment has come. Worship Him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters.'” God made the Sabbath as a memorial of His powers of creation. In this passage we find Him calling His people to continue to obey His Law, specifically the Fourth (Sabbath) Commandment. Come, let us reason together. If THE seventh day Sabbath was “good” at its creation, and if it was good at Mt. Sinai 2000 years later, and if it was good over the next 40 years, and if it will still be good in the coming Kingdom of God, and if it will still be good following the institution of the new heavens and new earth, doesn’t stand to reason that it is “good” today? Alas, the Institutional Church says, “No. It is evil, as are those who keep it.” In the next posting(s) we will learn of the wonderful things awaiting God’s faithful saints in the coming Sabbath of which there will be no end. L.J.