Day of Rest

   Before their was the nation of Israel, even before the first sin entered the world, God Almighty, Jehovah, applied the finishing touch to His creation, by sanctifying the seventh day as the day of rest, "And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because He rested from all His work on it, which God had created to make." (Genesis 2:3) After six evening and six mornings of creating the earth and the heavens, He rested, establishing a seven-day weekly cycle by ending a time of work with a time of rest. This seven-day week remains unchanged today and so does His day of rest, the Sabbath, unchanged after six thousand years. It remains unchangeable because we need a day of rest from our weekly work, and He cemented this at Mount Sinai when He wrote it on stone, "And when He finished speaking with him on mount Sinai, He gave to Moses the two tablets of testimony, tablet of stone, written by the finger of God." (Exodus 31:18). He designed this seven-day cycle within us, a needed day of rest for our good health and well-being, a day we can focus on our God and honor Him as our Creator. God also designed a seven-year cycle for the fields with the seventh to rejuvenate itself, (Leviticus 25:2-6) and a 1000-year rest for the entire earth, in the very near future, when Satan will be bound with no one to temp (Rev. 20:2,5,7). The day of rest can only be on the seventh day and not the first, because that is when rest is beneficial, after work has been performed.

   After sin entered the earth and after the Israelites were freed from Egypt, the Ten Commandments were given by God’s voice, "And God spoke all these words, saying:" (Exodus 20:1), and then in writing by the finger of Jehovah on two tablets of stone (Exodus 31:18). The fourth of the Ten Commandments declares not only that the seventh day should be for rest from our works, but it also presents within that fourth command who establishes this command: God Jehovah by His sovereign authority: the Creator and His domain: all creation, "For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all which is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; on account of this Jehovah blessed the sabbath day and sanctified it." (Exodus 20:11). This single day after creation puts the other six days into a package, establishing a continuation and a repetition of order, as the entire universe was set by His order.

    Are we called to worship God on that seventh day? The forth command doesn’t mention anything about worship, but throughout the Bible it is stated that we are to fear, seek and worship God Jehovah, this directs us to learning about Him and understanding the depths of His love. We are called to love God with all our heart and all our soul, "and you shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." (Deut 6:5), and (Mat 22:37, Mark 12:30 & Luke 10:27), words from Jesus, the Son of God, just as He loves His God and Father, Jehovah, we are to do the same. This chosen day of rest from our works is a rest from earthly chores, stresses and other worldly activities, but it also gives us a needed time to search and study God's word, which Christ gave to us by inspiration in the form of a book, the Bible. The seventh day Sabbath is a Biblical fact, established at creation (Genesis 2:2,3), confirmed by God in His instructions concerning the manna that was given to the Israelites in the desert (Exodus 16:15-30), and then all ten were made as commands, onto stone (Exodus 20:8-11), and now these Ten Commandments, tablets, rest in the Heavenly sanctuary where man has no access to change or destroy. Yet, most of the Christian world attends church on the first day of the week. Why are they contrary to what the Bible clearly and directly commands us? The day of worship was changed back during the fourth Century, to the first day of the week by man, not God. There are several reason for this change, but none are Biblical, all were inspired by men who assumed authority from themselves. The Christians of that day could only look to these respected men for leadership, but the leaders in the fourth century misdirected their congregations and this has continued for centuries and remains in place today, and is foolishly considered to be a Biblical tradition by most Christian churches, sighting that they worship the first day because that was when Christ rose from the dead and salvation was established.

   Simply put, it is up to each one of us, to choose which authority to obey, God or man, the Bible or the imagination of men. Can one be faithful to God and still choose man’s change of Jehovah's holy sanctified day? Is it worth taking the chance, the consequences can be extremely severe, can one willingly transgress a Commandment of God and be righteous? Grace is given to those for their repentance of their sins. All of Jehovah's Ten Commandments were written onto stone, to represent a permanent, unchangeable intention of His instructions, "For whoever shall keep all the law, but stumbles in one, he has become guilty of all." (James 2:10).

   God also stated that the Sabbath was a sign between Him and His people "I also gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them..." (Ezekiel 20:12). Many will argue against these various points, but the seventh day is clearly the Biblical Sabbath, as it is stated throughout God's Book. Christ’s grace does not cover a continued sin, for He calls us to repentance, "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent! For the kingdom of Heaven has drawn near." (Matthew 4:17). The Ten Commandments are forever a listing of righteousness and a transgression of this list is a sin against God, that is why He, Jehovah wrote the Ten Commandments with His own finger, because they are not to be changed or ignored, notice the first word of the forth Commandment, “Remember”. He wrote the words Himself to avoid human error, but as you can see, doubt and error are present and flourishes throughout the Christian community.

   God doesn’t change, and the Commandments haven’t changed, "But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away then one tittle of the law to fail." (Luke 16:17), only man has changed. But having been given the ability to reason and the responsibility to choose, we have the opportunity and duty to repent and seek righteousness by the helping power of Christ, the Son of God. When you pick up your Bible and research this topic, I’m sure you will receive witness of this consistent, dependable truth.

    How is it possible that so many are in error? All were wrong before the “Flood”, God sparing only eight humans after two thousand years of populating the earth; only Noah and his family chose to listen to God. Could history be repeating itself? That is actually a Biblical promise by the word of Jesus, “But as the days of Noah, so also will be the coming of the Son of man.” (Matthew 24:37). The Sabbath will also be a part of God's new earth, "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make stand before Me, states Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name stand. And it will be from new moon to its new moon, and from sabbath to its sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says Jehovah," (Isaiah 66:22,23). Who are the saints that will enter the kingdom of God? "Here is the patience of the saints; here are the ones keeping the commands of God and the faith of Jesus." (Revelation 14:12).

Below is a list of verses on the Sabbath in the New Testament:

Matthew  12:8 "For the son of man is also Lord of the sabbath."

Mark 2:28 "So then the Son of man is Lord of the sabbath also."

    (also Luke 6:5)

Luke 23:56 "And returning they prepared spices and ointment.

    And they remained quiet on the sabbath, according to the

   commandment."

Acts 13:14 "...and going into the synagogue on the day of the

    sabbath, they sat down."

Acts 16:13 "And on the day of the sabbaths, we went outside

    the city beside the river..."

Acts 17:2 "And according to Paul's custom, he went into them

    and reasoned with them from the scriptures on three

    sabbaths,"

Acts 18:4 "And he reasoned in the synagogue on every sabbath,

    persuading both Jew and Greeks."

Acts 20:7 "And on the first of the sabbaths, the disciples

    assembled to break bread..."

(JP Green Interlinear Bible). the KJV of Acts 20:7 reads, "And upon the first day of  the week..." "first" is Strong's #3391 mia, irreg. fem. of 1520; one or first: - a (certain), + agree, first, on, x other. and "sabbath or week" is Strong's #4521 sabbaton, of Heb.. or. {7676}; the sabbath (i.e. shabbath) or day of weekly repose from secular avocations (also the observance or institution itself); by extens. a se'nnight, i.e. the interval be-tween  two Sabbaths; likewise the plural in all the above applications: - sabbath (day), week. it could also read "one sabbath" or "one of the sabbaths" and this would be more consistent with the rest of God's

word.

Colossians 2:16,17 "Then do not let anyone judge you in eating

   and in drinking, or in  respect of a feast, or a new moon, or

    of sabbaths, which are a shadow of  coming things; but the

    body is of Christ."

Hebrews 4:9,10 "So there remains a rest to the people of God.

    For he entered into His rest, He Himself also rested from His

   works, as God had done from His own."

   Throughout the Old Testament, the Israelites continually transgressed the Sabbath day and the temple of Jehovah, "But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes, and they despised My judgments; which if a man does them he will even live by them. And they greatly profaned My sabbaths. Then I said, I will pour out My fury on them in the wilderness to consume them." (Ezekiel 20:13). When they reached the promise land and Solomon built the Temple of God, they abandoned it for worshiping idols of the other nations. Reading Kings and Chronicles bears witness to this and Jehovah allow them to be captured, and nations ruled over them until the Israelites humbled themselves before their Creator. In God's endless mercy, every time He would send to them a deliverer, Sampson was one and so was Gideon. The Old Testament is filled with examples for our education and our benefit; it is also filled with Sabbath conformations. Read all of God's word for yourself to know how important He considers the Sabbath day, and there is certainly much more that can benefit you in a multitude of way, the blessings are endless.