I spent the last couple of days wondering what the Lord would have me teach next. Moments ago He spoke to me very clearly, telling me that I was to (AGAIN) write about the importance of His Holy weekly Sabbath and His commands relative to WHY it is to be observed, WHEN it is to be observed and HOW it is to be observed by those who profess to be His people. A short summary is this: THOSE WHO DO NOT OBSERVE HIS SABBATH WHEN AND HOW HE COMMANDS THAT HOLY DAY TO BE OBSERVED ARE NOT HIS CHILDREN; THEY ARE NOT MEMBERS OF HIS SPIRITUAL FAMILY AND ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE HIS PROMISED BLESSINGS, INCLUDING SALVATION.

As I prove in the series titled Who and Where is Israel Today? key word–Today, the true Church of God (not the denomination) is in fact SPIRITUAL ISRAEL. If you have not read that series, please do so soon in order to better understand portions of this series which will involve several postings because the Lord has instructed me to go into more detail than I did in the previous Sabbath series. I will explain why.

When I wrote the Sabbath series several years ago I did not know about the coming civil war. In the previous civil war series I explained that such a war would soon erupt around the world and would be carried out by a union of millions of religious zealots of all kinds and numerous international governments with the reigning Catholic Pope at that time leading the charge and directing the effort. I believe that Pope Leo XIV will be the leader of the push for a global Sunday Sabbath Day that will tie Sunday Sabbath observance to the global warming movement. The Lord’s purpose for this series is to once again, and with as much force as the written word can produce, alert readers of this website as to what is coming so that they will not be seduced into following the lead of the Catholic/Protestant Religious System (the church) in her apostasy (falling away from God) which is now in full flight mode. The day is coming, and soon, when each one of us will be forced to make a hard decision. Will we stand for God in the face of world-wide condemnation? Or will we do what church people have already done–will we follow the leading of Satan’s false prophets, and in so doing, do what Jesus refused to do–bow down and worship him (Mat. 4:8-10). Warning: the Institutional Church will join the masses to persecute you if you choose to obey God. As it is written: “All who will live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” Jesus said that if we follow Him, “… the world will hate you as it hates Me.” That world includes the worldly churches who will join with other religions and climatites to persecute anyone who does not go along with them. God’s “little flock” will be very small; I liken them to a modern-day Gideon’s 300.

I asked that you read my series relative to who and where Israel is today to inform or remind you that anciently, Israelites were scattered throughout the world where their descendants remain today and have to number in the hundreds of thousands. Their ancient ancestors having assimilated into the Gentile cultures in which they settled, modern Israelites do not know that they are Israelites and believe themselves to be Gentiles. They have lost their heritage, their language and their religion. Therefore, some of you might be genetic Israelites. I did some research on my family tree and learned that I have some Israelite blood in my family tree. I also learned that my name–Jaques–in Hebrew is JACOB, whose name the Lord changed to ISRAEL, from whom came the 12 tribes of Israel. Who knows, you might be biologically related to Abraham, the grandfather of Jacob/Israel and the great grandfather of the twelve tribes of Israel. I will begin this teaching by quoting a passage out of the Old Testament. Understand that what is said will apply to true Christians today, for the true Church of God is, in God’s eyes, SPIRITUAL ISRAEL–“THE ISRAEL OF GOD” (GAL. 6:16). God’s people are the spiritual descendants of Abraham, the spiritual father of all true saints whether Israelite or Gentile.

“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Verily (truly), My Sabbaths you will keep …'” (Exo. 31:12,13). Notice that this is a special, separate covenant that the Lord made with Israel concerning His weekly Holy Day. Notice which day of the week God says is HIS SABBATH—HIS HOLY DAY in Isaiah 58:13: “The Sabbath is My Holy Day, the Holy of the Lord.” He was referring to THE SEVENTH DAY OF THE WEEK ONLY. No other day of the week is mentioned as a possible alternative day of rest. In the Ten Commandments He instructs us to KEEP His Sabbath day holy exactly as He created it (Exo. 20:8). The word “keep” in the Hebrew language is a military term which means to surround so as to protect. He created the seventh day Holy and commands us to keep it holy–to not allow any change in it.. Obviously, this means that we cannot eliminate that day as His Sabbath and replace it with another day of the week, and most certainly not the first day of the week, which is the day sun worshipers honored their god–the sun–on his day–SUNDAY which they called “the venerable (holy) day of the sun.”

Though God created the seventh day as His Holy Day of rest, He created it for man for him (man) to follow His (God’s) example of resting on that specific day. God calls the seventh day of the week “MY Sabbath.” That day is not man’s day, not Israel’s day, but HIS special day which He commands man to honor. If I buy my child a car to drive, he/she drives it, but I own it. I make the rules relative to how he/she uses it. This is God’s attitude toward His Sabbaths. The Sabbath is a quantity of time which belongs to God, not man. We must realize that, if we do what we want to do on God’s Holy Day, we have spiritually and physically stolen that day from Him.

Now notice that the special Sabbath Covenant God is making with Israel involves more than giving them a day of rest, “… for it (God’s Sabbath) is a SIGN BETWEEN ME AND YOU THROUGHOUT YOUR GENERATIONS THAT YOU MAY KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD WHO SANCTIFIES YOU” (EXO. 31:13). Remember, “you” means those in His true church today which is “the Israel of God” whose obedient parishioners are spiritual Israelites. Note it: God’s Sabbath is a SIGN. What does a sign do?

A sign tells us what and/or who, or both. A sign on a store tells us what is sold in that store. Some signs also proclaim who owns the store. A flag tells us what we need to know about the owner of the flag. The American flag announces who controls the land it is on. A white flag is the international sign of surrender.

Another aspect of the Sabbath sign is that it proclaims that the one “wearing” the sign (obeying God) has been SANCTIFIED BY GOD. To be sanctified by God means that one has been “set aside” by Him for holy use. True Sabbath observance tells all who know or know about the sanctified person that he/she belongs to God and has been designated by Him to walk in holiness and righteousness, the end result of which is SALVATION (Rom. 5:21; 6:22). Those who have been sanctified by God sanctify (set aside) HIS Holy Day by obeying His commands relative to that day. Those who do not do so are not His true saints and are not eligible to receive the blessings He promised to those who do, including salvation. As Jesus said in Matthew 7:13,14 and 22:14, these are the many who, though in the church, are not God’s Very Elect saints. These people are counterfeit Cristians who failed to answer His call (command) for obedience to Him. These are C.I.N.Os–Christians In Name Only. These (the vast majority) are church members whom Jesus was addressing in Matthew 7:21-23;15:7-9 and Luke 6:46. These are the foolish virgins of Matthew 25:1-12. L.J.