The 7 Myths Of Forgiveness

1. Forgiveness Does Not Mean Restored Trust 

When we forgive we get changed, not the person who did us wrong. The person's character who did you wrong is still the same. It's damaged and needs to be transformed and healed by Christ before you can develop trust with that person again. Remember actions speak louder then words, look for the change in actions to see if there character truly has changed. If not then it's like putting your hand back into the pocket with the snake, your going to get bit and/or burned again by that person.


2. Forgiveness Does Not Come After The Offender Says There Sorry 

We need to forgive them in our own hearts to free us from the damage it can do in our own lives if we hold onto it. Then if the offender also says sorry, well that's great too and you want that as well. but saying sorry and having true repentance for the sickness in your heart that lead you to make/do the bad choice/sin is totally different. Most people who say they are sorry really do mean it when they say, but they are also thinking about ways to do it again and not get caught next time. True repentance that leads to true reconciliation is when your are sorry for the sick heart and mind that lead you to do the bad deed.


3. Forgiveness Does Not Equal Salvation 

We need a “Remedy” (God dieing on the cross for our sins) and “Trust” in the one who provided the remedy so we will follow God. Jesus's death on the cross wasn't enough, it was just the "Remedy". We then also need "Trust" in God so we will follow God and take the remedy he provided on the cross.


4. Forgiveness Does Not Mean What They Did Was Ok 

No that person who did you wrong is still wrong and should know that for themselves, and you should let them know this fact in a kind loving way.


5. Forgiveness Does Not Lead To Greater Vulnerability 

When you get burned you lose the ability to tell the difference between touches of play, touches of aggression, and touches of love….everything hurts. We must heal the wounds. So don't hold onto hate or anger thinking that it makes you strong and/or will make you a weak person if you extend forgiveness to someone. Holding onto it only eats you alive and causes stress.....stress you will carry around forever if you don't deal with it with Christ! 


6. Forgiveness Does Not Mean We Have To Forget 

Jesus forgives our sins, but that doesn't mean they are erased from the record books in heaven. At the final judgment God knows all of our past sins and bad things we have done. They are apart of our history and will never go away......but here is the beautiful part. Jesus died for our sins and loves us so much that when he judges us he judges us with our new transformed heart and characters that we received when we gave our life to Christ when we accepted him, understood him, believed in him, trusted in him with faith, and love Him as our Father in heaven. If you do that Christ judges us based on our new characters....so our sins that are in our past don't apply as far as our salvation is concerned. That doesn't give us a licence to sin, but a choice to remember the past, but don't forget so we don't repeat it again. That's why actions speak louder then words.....look for them so you can ask yourself......has that person real changed? How are they different? Is it safe to start to rebuild a relationship with that person? There character will give you all the evidence you need.


7. Forgiveness Does Not Mean The Offender Gets Away With It 

Jesus knows everything and nobody can get away with it in His eye. Jesus will judge all fairly in the end, and justice will be served. Remember the soul and character gets damaged in the person who did us wrong, so they are paying the price already here on earth as they live. Imagine you are raped as a little kid by your uncle. Would you want to live your life recovering from the damage or live as your uncle going around raping kids all the time. I mean would you want to live that other life? No way!! Imagine living your uncle's life and you go around raping kids day after day after day. Of course you would pick your own life....and why would you? Because something much deeper gets damaged in the person who does us wrong. Imagine how damaged that uncles character must be to rap kids everyday and rest easy at night. There character might be beyond repair, might be eternally lost.

Is The Bible Accurate?

1.     How do we know the Bible is accurate and true?

There are three manuscripts from which all Bibles in all languages are translated. The Bible was written in Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic.  You’ve got the “Textus Receptus”, which means “Received Text” in Latin. 

The word “Holy Bible” or “Santa Biblia” means “Holy Book” – the word “Bible” means “Book”. Martin Luther felt that it was the most dependable text, and the King James Version and the New King James Version in English are translated from the Textus Receptus.

There are two other manuscripts that have been questioned by many. That’s the Vaticanus, which was found in the Vatican library.  It’s an old manuscript which have some inconsistencies with the Vaticanus manuscript.  Martin Luther said in his words it’s ‘a bastardized version.

The other was one called the Sinaiticus.  The Sinaiticus was found on St. Catherine’s monastery. They found it in a dump which would make it suspicious! So the Sinaiticus had some of the same inconsistencies as the Vaticanus manuscript. They did use all of those manuscripts in creating the New International Version (NIV) Bible.  For instance in the NIV Bible, the story where the woman is caught in the act of adultery in the book of John, That story wasn’t in the Vaticanus version, and so there are some very beautiful stories that just are missing from these other manuscripts. When we talk about the manuscripts this only applies to the New Testament, because the Old Testament is much more dependable.  The Jews have kept it very secure and up-to-date, and there are very few inconsistencies, which are also proven by the Dead Sea Scrolls.  The questionable manuscripts are the ones that pertain to the New Testament.

Some Deleted Verses in the New Testament that are not found in the NIV Bible

Matthew 17:21

Mark 7:16, 9:44, 9:46, 11:26, 15:28, 16:9-20

Luke 17:36, 23:17

John 5:4

Acts 8:37, 15:34, 24:7, 28:29

Justification

Ok I think we should go over justification to start 
things off. To justify means “to demonstrate or to prove to be just, right or valid. To declare free of blame and free of the guilt and penalty attached to grievous sin. Therefore justification is a legal declaration of innocence. If you’re justified you’re declared just. According to the Bible every human (except Jesus) who has ever lived has sinned and is guilty for crimes punishable by death. To be justified by Christ means that the Lord declares you to be forgiven untainted by the crimes you have committed against Him. Yet who has the right to be declared justified without the grace of God, especially when even just one sin disqualifies a person from eternal life? Christ’s character stands in place of your character, (and my character) and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned. Justification means God looks upon you “like just-as-if-ication”. He looks upon you ”just as if” you had never sinned. Instead of seeing your filthy rags (even though you sinned and those facts did happen in history as part of your life), God sees the righteousness of His Son in your place, and you are accounted righteousness. I mean how cool is that right?

But sadly most people continue to live in open rebellion against God. So how do we obtain that justification? Most people in church or even outside of church will give you different answers…..from faith to works. Well it’s irrelevant because all that matters is what the Bible has to say about it.

 “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15). According to this verse, salvation is a gift. 

Romans 6:23 highlights this idea when it says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Justification is apparently not something for which we work. Well salvation is a gift, and thus by definition you cannot earn it. Have you ever received a gift that you earned? If so, it wasn’t a gift, because anything ceases to be a gift if you’ve done something to earn it. If you can only take possession of something with a payment, whether it’s money, a trade, or service….even after the fact, well then it’s not really a gift. 

Romans 5:17,18 says, “For if by one man’s [Adam] offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.
Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [Jesus] the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life”. 

This free gift results in justification. According to the Bible, are we justified by works or by a gift that comes in response to faith? The Bible is clear on this but lets dive deeper.Luke was a gentile who really understood the teachings of Jesus, especially when it concerned justification through faith as a gift. Here is what it says in Luke chapter 18.

“And he spoke this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 18:9–14). 

As you know one of the problems in the time of Christ was that many of the religious leaders believed they were made righteous by their good deeds. They trusted in their own righteousness while they looked down on others as worthless sinners. The Pharisee was a part of a sect of Judaism known for its rigid stance of obeying the law, while tax collectors (publicans) were associated with a very loose and scandalous lifestyle. Pharisees might have been considered the obvious choice for eternal life by most people of Jesus day, but Jesus had different ideas. Notice that the Pharisee is said to pray “thus with himself.” In other words, he’s praying to himself and not so much to God. He goes on to thank God that he’s not like the worst sinners of the world, and more than that, he reminds God that he tithes and fasts regularly. It’s probably an honest resume, and technically it’s a good one. “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the … Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). 

But instead of thanking God for His goodness in humility, he’s thanking God for his resume as a point of pride. The tax collector however doesn’t even feel worthy to approach the front of the temple….instead, he stands back and cowers before the altar. His feelings of guilt and shame cause him to bow his head and beat on his breast, a sign of repentance….a genuine display of his sorrow for sin. He pleads to God to be merciful on him, a lowly sinner. Where the Pharisee has so much to offer God, the publican has nothing good to offer. Also unlike the Pharisee, he’s appealing solely to God’s mercy. My point is that according to Christ, the one who went home justified that day was the reviled tax collector, which means the respected Pharisee did not, even though he was paying his tithe, fasting twice a week, and most likely living an exemplary religious life of obedience. But where do works play into all of this….aren’t works connected with justification? 

Of course they are, but the operative word is “connected.” Justification does not depend on works. This is very very important to understand, so I want to give you this example. “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?” (James 2:21). But wait and here is a point of confusion….doesn’t James contradict Paul’s message in Romans 3:26: “To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” 

Is the Bible contradicting itself? Ok the Bible clearly says we’re saved by grace through faith. How then can we deal with James? If you’re confused right now on this point that’s okay because I was too when I first dove into this topic trust me. Plus the apostles and early church leaders were also confused. But we have a clear answer from the Bible. We know that the Holy Spirit inspired both writers, and that both of these passages are Holy Scripture. Is the Bible still trustworthy? Yes!! Without any question. Here is another verse in James to understand this perplexing verse: “Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?”. Faith, then, works together with works. How? 

When we read the word “perfect” in this sentence, it means complete. When used in the sentence, it means Abraham’s works by faith were made manifest that is….they gave evidence to his faith. Meaning….his works proved he was justified! The problem stems from the fact that Paul and James are talking to two different groups of believers. Paul was dealing with Jewish believers who were trying to force gentile converts to keep all of the law of Moses in order to be justified. Paul responded to this by saying that people can’t earn salvation, but rather it comes as a free gift of God. However in James, James is dealing with new converts who have come into the church believing that since they’re justified by faith obedience doesn’t really matter. 

Let’s go back to the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector again because I like it haha….no mainly because I think it’s a good illustration to use from the Bible. When the tax collector repented and asked God for mercy, Jesus said he went home justified. Here are some good questions to ask….Did the publican know he was justified when he went home? Likewise should a person know when they’re justified? To answer these questions I want to ask you another set of questions…..If we’re saved by faith, should we know it? Should the publican have asked for mercy not expecting to receive it? We should readily acknowledge that the Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts to give us the peace that God has heard our prayers. I have prayed about certain problems that come up sometimes in life….but then later feel a sudden peace overflood my soul. It’s that feeling that your prayer got through to God and it’s all in His very capable hands. All Christians should be experiencing this. So, I believe the tax collector went home knowing he was justified in the eyes of His God.

God says, “You’re forgiven” to the tax collector. Is he therefore a different man? In one way, he certainly is. He came as a sinner to stand humbly before God, and now he goes home covered with Christ’s righteousness. But the bigger question is will he behave differently now that he knows he’s been justified?.....this is key. I strongly believe that if you’re truly saved you will show a definite change in behavior. The fruit of the Spirit will be made manifested in you. The things of this world will grow strangely dim. Again by their fruits you will know them.

Ok another thought….Imagine that for whatever reason, Pilate told his soldiers, “I want to let one of those thieves hanging with Jesus go.” So his soldiers choose the one who Christ guaranteed access to heaven on resurrection day, and they remove the nails and bind his hands and feet so that he will heal. He’s scarred for life of course, but he lives. Do you think he would have been different? Would he have returned to the sins that put him in bondage before the moment Christ freely gave him forgiveness? If he did willingly return to the sins of his past do you think he was a true believer on the cross? I’m asking this because to me real justification can be witnessed by the attitude and behavior of the one who has been saved. Don’t ever ever fall for the lie that Christians are never to talk about good works because that makes them legalists. That is total crap!! The Bible is filled with apostles and prophets talking about how important good works are in this world. It’s not a sin to do good and it’s not wrong to stop sinning. “also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid” (1 Timothy 5:25). This passage shows us that the works of the saved are evident because they are good.

You’ll know a saved person by their fruit! (1 Timothy 6:18)  reiterates, “That they do good, that they be rich in good works.”When you’re saved in Christ, a new power is given you to live a new life. This is what James is talking about when he says, “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God” (James 2:23). 

That’s how a man is justified by works: Abraham believed…that was his “works.” He believed enough to offer up his own son. Jesus supports this interpretation of course in the new testament. John 6:28, 29 is an extremely important passage about works and faith. “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” Are we saved by works? Yes! What are those works? “This is the work … that ye believe.” Does it take effort to believe? Yes it does!! Sometimes you don’t feel like believing and you need to pray that God will give you the courage and strength to believe in His Word. 

There is an effort involved in trusting God because our whole nature has been driven to believe in the lies of the devil. He makes us doubt by twisting the evidence, and we doubt those things we cannot see. So God knows it takes effort to believe that we must choose it. But if you pray, He will gladly help you believe.

What Is The Sabbath / Does It Matter? - Part 12

Part 12 – The Sabbath Forever?

The beautiful thing is at the end of time God’s people will not only be alive during the great work of creation, they will get to see if for themselves. Can you even imagine what that’s going to be like?? To see God remake the earth again and to watch as He organizes it like He did in the beginning, puts it in order and fills it with His glory? On the First day God will say, “Let there be light”, and light will appear. On the Second day God will say, “Let there be the firmamanet”, and so it will be. On the Third day God will say, “Let there be productive land, trees, plants, flowers”. On the Fourth day God will say, “Let the sun, moon, and stars occupy their places again.” God will set the heavens in order and organize the cosmos, and place the sun, the moon, and the starts where they were before they were thrown out of their orbits during the second coming of Jesus. On the Fifth day God will say, “Let the sky be filled with birds and the waters with fish.” All of these creatures will have died because of the plagues, but God will repopulate the earth with them once more. Then on the Sixth day God will say, “Let the earth produce living creatures”. God is going to create all the millions of wonderful animals that we have come to know and love as well as animals we never seen before I’m sure. The world is going to be one gigantic zoo and everything will be perfect…..man I can’t wait for this day!! Then Jesus is going to say something like this…..”I have made this whole world in six days, now come I am going to give you the scenic tour”. Then He will show us everything He has made when He suspended His rest and started working again. Just as He did after the first creation, at the beginning of this world, God will step back. He will take a deep breath and rest. And God will enjoy the experience of rest and joy and gladness. The whole heaven and earth will be filled with singing as He enjoys the work of His hands. Then at the end of the first Sabbath day after the creation of the new world, God will say to His people, “Now this day is holy. I rested on it. Therefore, from now on, you will come into my presence from Sabbath to Sabbath to commemorate the glorious work of re-creation.” Meaning that the Sabbath has a prophetic dimension, a future dimension. It points forward to the time when God will create a new heaven and a new earth, and His people will be eyewitnesses to that. Once again He will establish the Sabbath after creation, as a sign that He’s the wonderful, generous and loving Creator. Some people think that there will not be monthly or weekly cycles of worship in the new earth. People bring up Revelation 21:23. Well in this verse God is telling us that the city had no need of a sun or the moon to shine on them, for the glory of God illuminates them, and the Lamb is the light. Notice that it says “the city”. Also notice that it doesn’t say that the sun or the moon will be taken away. Think about when you shine a flashlight on the ground outside on a bright sunny day. The flashlight is still shining, but the sun is so bright and so brilliant, that it’s like you don’t even have a flashlight. This is what is going to happen in heaven. There will still be a sun and a moon, but God’s glory is so bright that the sun and moon will have to step aside and allow God to shine in the Holy City. Isaiah 24:23 tells us more about this. This verse tells us that the moon and sun will be disgraced and ashamed. It doesn’t say they will disappear, just that they will be disgraced and ashamed. Key to notice here.

So here is a question…..Do you think the devil loves the Sabbath? No, the devil hates the Sabbath. In fact it is the devil that has led many many Christians to hate the Sabbath and call it a Jewish institution or a yoke of bondage. The fact that we can clearly see from this Sabbath study is that it’s not a yoke of bondage, and it is not a Jewish institution. Jesus did not create the world for the Jews only, He created it for the whole human race. He did not come to redeem the Jews only, He came to redeem the whole human race, and the new heavens and earth which He will create, which will soon be commemorated by the Sabbath, will be for the saved regardless of country or culture.

The devil hates the Sabbath because the Sabbath exalts Jesus as Creator and Redeemer of this world. He also hates the Sabbath because it points forward to the new earth, where we will go to worship Jesus from one Sabbath to the next, and from one new moon to another. It should be no surprise that the devil hates the Sabbath that points forward to Jesus, because the devil hates Jesus.

To me if you want to know how much the devil hates the Sabbath, all you have to do is look at the history of the Sabbath. From the moment God gave the Sabbath in the fourth commandment, the devil tempted Israel to trample on that Sabbath. They worshiped the sun, they worshiped other Gods, and in the words of the Bible, “did their own pleasure” on God’s holy day. So God sent them into Babylonian captivity because they trampled the Sabbath, desecrated and disobeyed it. The devil is very sly, however, and managed to use even this to his advantage. The devil said, “So God wants them to learn to keep the Sabbath, I’m going to tell them that they need to establish a whole bunch of laws that will make it virtually impossible to break the Sabbath”. So the Jews enacted a long list of burdensome laws, supposedly to protect the Sabbath from being desecrated, and also so they would not be taken captive again.

One of these laws said that if you had false teeth, you had to take them out of your mouth on the Sabbath because carrying them would be a burden. If you had a prosthetic leg, you had to take that off, because it was a burden on Sabbath. You couldn't look in a mirror and pull out a hair on Sabbath, because that, too, would be committing a sin. You couldn't jump over a river because you might fall in and get wet. Getting wet in and of itself would not be breaking the Sabbath, but wringing out your robe or garment would be. It’s crazy all the rules they made up. Nowhere in the Bible do you find these rules and regulations. In other words, the devil led Israel from trampling on the Sabbath to idolizing the Sabbath and making the Sabbath a means of salvation. The devil was also busily preparing a way for Christians of the early church to look at the seventh day and say, “That Sabbath…it’s a yoke of bondage, a burdensome bunch of Jewish rules and regulations. Let’s not keep the Sabbath because of that. Lets keep Sunday because it’s a happy day, a day that honors the resurrection of Jesus, instead of that old Sabbath yoke of rules and regulations. They were only seeing the Sabbath through the eyes of the religious leaders of the time of Christ.

Do you understand what the devil has done and is still doing today? He wanted Israel to establish a whole bunch of laws under the guise of wanting to protect the Sabbath….laws that would actually turn it into a yoke of bondage. The devil wants to lead Christians to reject the Sabbath, to think that the Sabbath of the Pharisees is the same as the Sabbath of the Lord. It is up to us to see that that the Sabbath of the Pharisees during the days of Christ is not really the Sabbath, but a distortion of the Sabbath. Jesus didn't come to break the Sabbath, He came to deliver the Sabbath from the truckload of rules that made it a yoke of bondage.

Jesus would never have given this rule-ridden Sabbath as a blessing!! He would not have made a day holy, and blessed it, that was virtually impossible to keep. The fact is Jesus came to delivery the Sabbath from the bondage that had been created by the devil.

I have a separate study series that I made and also posted up on my blog here dealing with the end times and Bible prophecy.  I encourage you check it out, but this Bible prophecy tells us that there was a “little horn” in the period of the Middle Ages that actually thought it could change God’s law. Today there is a church in the world that says, “We are the ones who changed the day of worship from Sabbath to Sunday.” Let me ask you…..who do you think would like to see a change of Sabbath from the seventh day to Sunday? Do you think God would want such a change? The answer to that question is no!! Satan is the one who would want such a change, because the original Sabbath pointed to the God who established it, but the change in the Sabbath points to the person who changed it.

The final question becomes, then, whose authority are you going to accept? Will you accept the authority of God, who established the seventh day as the Sabbath, or will you accept the authority of the power (Man/Satan) that established Sunday as the day of rest? The issue is not one day versus another; the issue is, whose authority do you accept……God’s authority or Man’s/Satan’s?

I can say from my heart that the Sabbath has been a great blessing to me personally. It’s relaxing, refreshing, and certainly isn’t a burden to me whatsoever. It reminds me of all of Creation, it reminds me of my great Creator, it reminds me of my Redeemer, and it reminds me that soon we will be in the kingdom, the new heaven and the new earth, where we will live forever in peace and glory worshiping God from Sabbath to Sabbath. So how is the Sabbath with you? What does the Sabbath mean to you? 

What Is The Sabbath / Does It Matter? - Part 11

Why Monthly and Weekly Worship?

So of course Part 10 leads into Part 11 of my Sabbath study…..why will we all go to worship the Lord from “month to month” and from Sabbath to Sabbath? We know we will be worshipping before His throne, because that is where people go t bow before God on the “see of glass” before his throne as Revelation tells us. But why would we still go every month once we get to heaven? Well the Bible gives us the answer of course in Revelation 22:1-2. Revelation is really helpful in explaining the Old Testament. You can’t understand the book of Revelation fully without going back to the Old Testament, and you can’t really understand the Old Testament without studying Revelation. So it works both ways, which is why people who say they are just “New Testament Christians” or just “Old Testament Christians” are studying with one hand tied behind there back so to speak. So anyway back to Revelation 22:1-2. As it states in Revelation 22, we will go to eat fruit from the tree of life. Did you know that even in the kingdom of heaven, our immortality will be “conditional”? Meaning that we will continue to live in heaven because we will still be eating from God’s tree of life. We will not be “inherently” immortal. Our immortality will be derived from God’s tree, and we will have to go every month to eat from that tree if we want to live forever and ever.

Ok so then why weekly worship…or from “Sabbath to Sabbath”? The answer to this is found in Isaiah 66 where we are told that God is going to make “a new heaven and a new earth”. A re-creation, or creation of a new heaven and a new earth, will be necessary because the earth will be physically decimated at that time of the second coming of Jesus Christ. It will return to the condition it was at the very beginning of its history, before creation. In Genesis 1:2 we read that “the earth was without form and void and the planet was in darkness.”  Jeremiah 4:23 gives us more information about the condition of the earth when Jesus comes at His second coming. Now if this planet returns to the chaotic condition that existed before creation, God will have to make a new heaven and a new earth if they are ever going to exist. He will have to make them just as He did at the beginning, and in order to do this Jesus is going to suspend the rest that He entered into after He first created this world way back during the first creation week. The evening and the morning of the seventh day at the beginning of time never came for God, because after the seventh day He created no more with regard to this earth. But when the earth returns to the condition it was in before creation, God is going to break His rest and start creating again. Now if it took God six days to create this world the first time around, how many days do you think He will take the second time? It’s something to think about isn’t it? I used to think that when God creates the new heavens and the new earth He would just somehow/someway just say “Let there be a new heavens and a new earth”, and everything would be done…..but in doing this Sabbath study I am totally wrong with that idea haha. Isaiah 66 tells us differently. In Isaiah 66:20 and onward we learn that from week to week, or Sabbath to Sabbath, we will worship before the Lord as a commemoration of the creation of the new heaven and the new earth. Now of course you can’t keep the seventh day unless you have the first six. If there weren’t six days before the seventh day, it wouldn’t be the seventh! So if we are going to go from Sabbath to Sabbath to worship before the Lord, it must mean that there are six days before the Sabbath. Meaning God must create the new heavens and new earth just like He did during the first Creation…..in six days and then resting on the seventh. 

What Is The Sabbath / Does It Matter? - Part 10

Third and Final Meaning of the Sabbath?

This third and final meaning of the Sabbath has a future significance, a significance that, like the second one related to redemption, would never have come about if man hadn’t sinned. Before sin, the purpose of the Sabbath was to commemorate creation. After sin, the Sabbath still commemorated creation, but it also took a new and very important role of pointing forward to redemption. The beautiful third dimension of the Sabbath is that it points forward to the end of time when God will create a new heavens and a new earth….which is another task that became necessary through the entrance of sin into the world. You can read about this in Isaiah 66:22-23. Without a doubt these verses are talking about the new heaven and the new earth. The new moon in this verse marks the beginning of each new month for the Hebrews. The months are lunar months, so the months are reckoned by the moon just as the days are reckoned by the sun. Notice how this verse doesn’t say “from one Sunday to another”. Also missing is any statement about “all Jews coming to worship before me”. The Bible is very clear from one Sabbath to another, and one month to another, all flesh (that means every living person) will come and worship before Him. So the Sabbath, which is not for just the Jews alone, will be celebrated every week in the new earth.

What Is The Sabbath / Does It Matter? - Part 9

The Sabbath Takes on a New Second Meaning of Redemption?

So as we have seen so far in Exodus 20:8-11 the Sabbath was a reminder or commemoration of God’s work of creation. God is saying that we should work six days and rest on the seventh. The reason is that He created the world in six days and rested the seventh. God set an example for us right from the start, an example He wants us to follow. The Sabbath is really an ordinance of Creation. It came into existence before sin and it was instituted before the cross of Christ was needed. So the original intention or meaning of the Sabbath has to do with the fact that it was a sign of creation.

However everything changed when sin came into the world. The Sabbath had a second additional function. The Sabbath took on new meaning when sin entered the world. We can read about this in Deuteronomy 5:12-15. These verses are just a repetition of the 4^th commandment found in Exodus 20, but with an added new motivation clause, or reason for keeping the Sabbath. This is the second or post-fall reason for keeping the Sabbath. In this verse notice the motivation clause: “And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”

As you can now see by reading Deuteronomy 5:12-15 the reason for keeping the Sabbath in this passage is not creation. It is redemption. The sign of redemption from bondage was an annual feast instituted by God and celebrated by the Jews, known as the Passover. This sacred ceremony pointed forward to the liberation that would come through Jesus Christ. Because the God who created is also the God who redeems, the fall of man brought about this second or post-fall reason for keeping the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a sign of both Creation and redemption…..a sign not only of the Creator God, but of the Redeemer God as well.

So to see this new sign/meaning of the Sabbath as redemption lets look at John 5:45-46. In this passage Jesus is speaking to the Jews of His day, saying, “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you….Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.” Jesus was saying to God’s people of that day that, “If you believe Moses and the writings of Moses in the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) you would believe in me, for Moses wrote all about me.” In other words, “I am the central meaning and content of all the writings of Moses. Moses was the writer, but I was the author.” The fact that Moses was really writing about Jesus puts on a whole new light on Deuteronomy 8:3. Moses tells us that the reason God gave Israel manna wasn’t just to provide them with physical food. God’s primary intention was much deeper than that. There was spiritual meaning in the manna, which pointed forward to Jesus Christ, a meaning that Moses recognized when he wrote: “God gave the manna so you would know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” God gave Israel manna then to teach them that man does not live by physical bread alone, but instead man should live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The manna really represented the word of God, and God gave Israel the manna to teach them that if they were to survive, they were to live by the word of God just as surely as they depended on the manna provided by God in the wilderness. This is powerful and such an example of the many redemption examples from the Bible that the Sabbath takes on.

If you read Exodus 16 you will see that the bread did not breed worms or stink on the Sabbath. This is also a redemption example and you will see the connection with how it connects to Jesus’s death in just a bit. In the week that Jesus died on the cross the Bible calls Friday the preparation day. It was late on Friday and Jesus was hanging on the cross of Calvary, was about to finish His work of redemption. He was about to finish providing the means by which men and women could be delivered from slavery to sin, just as Israel had been delivered from literal slavery to the Egyptians. What happened in the Old Testament was literal, but when the fulfillment took place in the New Testament it was spiritual. This is important to see and understand. In the Old Testament we have the literal manna, literal rock, literal water, literal taskmasters, literal passing through the Red Sea, and also the literal deliverance. Each of these things pointed forward to what would be spiritual realities in the future. Isn’t it beautiful how God paints the complete picture!!

When God was done creating the world, the Bible tells us that He “finished His works which He had created and made.” Similarly, when Jesus died on the cross He said the words, “it is finished.” In the first case the work of creation was complete. In the second case, it was the work of redemption. So as Jesus was dieing on the cross it was late on the sixth day of the week. Jesus finished His work of redemption late on the sixth day of the week. The sun was about to set and you can read about that in John 19:30. After being offered some sour wine, Jesus cried, “it is finished!” Then, bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. So notice the order of days involved in this series of events. It will help you understand why Sunday can’t be the seventh day, it’s impossible for that to be the case. So many people are confused with this. Sunday was the first day of the week, the day Jesus was resurrected on, according to the creation by God, the Jewish calendar of today, as well as the lunar calendar of today. Many people in Europe are confused more then others because there calendars in many countries in Europe actually start on Monday. If those calendars were correct, Sunday would be the seventh day, but that doesn’t agree with the Holy Scripture of the Bible. In Luke 23:54-56 you can read that Joseph of Arimethea went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. He took the body of Jesus down from the cross, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb from rock, where no one had ever lain. Before the end of the day Jesus said, “it is finished”. It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. They the women who was helping returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. The Bible says they rested on Sabbath according to the commandment. After Jesus died late on Friday, and placed into the tomb Jesus was now resting on the Sabbath, which is the seventh day of the week. Even in death Jesus rested on the Sabbath and kept the commandment holy. Amazing!! We know this because in Luke 24:1 we are told that Jesus was resurrected very early on the first day of the week. On the seventh day, however He was resting in the grave. Jesus spoke about His sacrifice in John 6:51, where Jesus said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world”. I have already mentioned that the manna which was picked up on Friday in Exodus did not breed worms or stink on the Sabbath. When Jesus rested in the tomb on the Sabbath day His flesh did not begin the process of decomposing. His body was as fresh on the Sabbath as it had been on Friday when He died. See the connection between the manna in Exodus and Jesus during his death? Beautiful isn’t it!! Jesus was the living manna and living hope of the world. Read Psalm 16:8-10 to see this. The Messiah would rest in the grave with hope, and His body was not going to see decay or corruption. Both the manna in Exodus and Jesus’s body represented the same thing in both the Old and New Testaments and did the same thing. They were both fresh on the Sabbath.

Please remember that these facts don’t mean that when the Israelites ate manna, or when we eat communion bread today that it is the physical flesh of Jesus. No that’s wrong and not supported in the Bible. We need to understand that Jesus’s flesh was simulated through these ceremonies. We are not eating physical flesh, but rather consuming His living word. Remember Jesus had to answer these questions himself while on earth.  Read John 6:63. The people were basically saying, “Oh He is trying to make us cannibals. We don’t want to eat His flesh. That’s not only gross, but forbidden in the law of Moses”. But Jesus wasn't saying to eat His physical flesh. He was saying that we could, and should assimilate His flesh spiritually by studying the Word of God.

So from all of these examples we can understand the second redemption meaning of the Sabbath. The Sabbath points not only backwards to creation, but forward to redemption, or what Jesus was going to do when He died on the cross. Towards the end of the sixth day in both cases Jesus said, “ it is finished”. God rested on the seventh day after creation and also rested on the seventh day after the great act of redemption was complete, the body of Jesus rested, but not without hope in the tomb. When we compare Exodus 16 with John 6, we see that there was a beautiful messianic prophecy wrapped up in the manna, or bread of life!!

What Is The Sabbath / Does It Matter? - Part 8

Part of God’s Overall Plan?

As we just finished looking at the Sabbath of creation we now can see that it’s part of God’s original plan for the human race. It’s not something God gave as an afterthought to the Jews in the wilderness. It was part of God’s original plan, before sin. He gave the week and the Sabbath to Adam and Eve before sin. But some people will say this…..”but the Sabbath really pointed to redemption, it was all about redemption, about Jesus dying on the cross.” The fact is however that celebration of the plan of redemption is a secondary meaning of the Sabbath. It is a very important meaning as I will dive into later during this Sabbath series, but the primary, pre-fall of mankind meaning of the Sabbath is that God gave it as a memorial, a day of rest to look backward…..not forward.

The original purpose of the Sabbath was to look back at the magnificent Creator and the work He had done. God wanted us to remember and consider His generosity and goodness in giving Adam, Eve, and all of their descendents the beautiful gift of life, together with a truly incredible world to live in. So clearly the Sabbath was part of God’s original plan for the human race. It was not an afterthought. The Sabbath points us backward, and also points us forward, to when God is going to break His rest. Once again He is going to create a new heaven and a new earth as the Bible clearly says He will. God is going to create it in six days again and He is going to rest on the seventh day, giving us an example, and then He is going to say, “ Now you work six days and rest on the seventh day, and you come and worship before me, all flesh come worship before me, on the seventh day, in commemoration of the new creation.” How awesome is that going to be!!! The gift of the Sabbath that God has given is truly amazing!!

What Is The Sabbath / Does It Matter? - Part 7

Sabbath of the Jews??

Tons of Christians today say that the Sabbath was made for the Jews. Calling it the “Sabbath of the Jews”. But come on does the Bible say that….no it doesn’t. Scripture does not support this at all. When the Sabbath appears in Scripture it is called “the Sabbath of the Lord your God”. In Isaiah 58 God even calls the Sabbath “my holy day”. In that same passage He also admonishes us to take our feet away “from stepping on my holy day.” How dare someone say that the Sabbath was for the Jews! If the Sabbath really belonged to the Jews, if it was really “their Sabbath”, they should have been the ones to rest on it first. But they didn’t rest on it first. God did!! Then right behind God resting on the seventh day were Adam and Eve, the parents of not only the Jews, but of all mankind. God calls the seventh day “The Sabbath of the Lord your God” because He rested on that day, and that day belongs to Him. God says, “Now I want you to respect my holy day”. “I want you to respect my Sabbath, because I rested every single minute of it. I made it holy. It’s my day, and if you want to enter my rest, you have to enter my rest on my holy day.”

Again so many people that call themselves Christians say, religious groups like the Jews, Seventh Day Adventists, and Seventh Day Baptists, to name a few “keep the seventh day as your Sabbath. I keep the first day, Sunday, as the Sabbath.” But did you know it’s absolutely impossible to keep Sunday as the Sabbath? The reason why is found in Genesis. You can’t keep Sunday as the Sabbath, because Sunday is no the day God rested on. So it’s that simple. If you’re going to enter God’s rest, you have to enter His rest on the day in which He rested on. He never rested on Sunday, therefore, you can’t enter His rest on Sunday. God did not rest on Sunday. He rested the seventh day, and if we want to enter His rest, we have to enter His rest on the day that God rested.

So to sum up these first 7 parts so far in our Sabbath study, now do you understand why God didn’t command Adam and Eve to keep that first Sabbath in the Garden of Eden, and why Genesis doesn’t record as “evening and a morning” on the seventh day. That the first week was God’s week, and that God worked six days and rested on the seventh. That because of that, the seventh day is God’s holy day. It belongs to God. That there also wasn’t any evening and morning on the seventh day because after finishing His work on the sixth day and resting on the seventh, God continued His rest from that time until now. For us humans living on Earth there has been an evening and morning, but not for God, because God is still resting from His work of creation. He has created no more with regard to this world. That God did not command Adam and Eve to keep the Sabbath in the Garden of Eden holy before God made it holy. God had to set that first example, then say to Adam and Eve to do what your father does. The commandment of the Sabbath not only requires resting on the seventh day, but it requires us to work six days first, and at the time of the first Sabbath Adam and Eve had not worked six days yet because they were not created until day six of creation. 

What Is The Sabbath / Does It Matter? - Part 6

When did God give the day of Rest to Adam and Eve?

God gave the 7^th day Sabbath rest to Adam AFTER the day ended…..which means that God did not give Adam the Sabbath when the seventh day began. God didn’t command Adam or Eve to keep that first Sabbath. In order to keep the Sabbath in harmony with the 4^th commandment, Adam and Eve needed to work six days first because the commandment says, “Six days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.” How could they have rested that first Sabbath and kept the commandment, if they had not previously worked six days? This is why Adam and Eve were commanded by God to keep the second rather than the first Sabbath of human history.

Also how could Adam and Eve have been commanded by God to keep the Sabbath holy, if the Sabbath wasn’t holy until it ended? It’s because the first Sabbath wasn’t made holy until the end of the day. God couldn’t have told Adam and Eve to “keep the Sabbath holy” because it wasn’t yet holy. It was the presence of God in that day which made it holy. Furthermore, God gave Adam and Eve an example of Sabbath observance, but He couldn’t have asked them to follow His example until after He had first given that example.  Now we know why God didn’t command Adam and Eve to keep that first Sabbath, but since they couldn’t keep that first Sabbath….what did Adam and Eve do on that first Sabbath?

To answer that question we need to read Genesis 1:26-31. This passage tells us that Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day of creation. This means that they were both present when God rested on the seventh day. They didn’t see God create anything at all, but they were able to observe God’s rest. They also certainly did see how God rested on that day. This is very clear when you read Exodus 20:8-10, which tells us what Adam and Eve did on the Sabbath, the very first Sabbath. Exodus 20:8-10 says the following:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.”

In the verse God was telling the children of Israel about the Sabbath. The fact that the law was given directly to the children of Israel, however, doesn’t mean it was only for them. Many Christians would agree that the Ten Commandments apply to all people….except for the fourth commandment. Now that doesn’t make much sense now does it? Because the Bible tells us that if you break one of God’s ten commandment’s you are guilty of breaking them all!! They either stand together or fall together. As the passage in Exodus 20:8-10 that we just read goes on, God tells us why He wants us to work six days and rest the seventh:

“For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it’.

God is asking us all to follow His example. He worked six days and rested one. Now He wants us to do that too…..because of His example. I mean don’t you agree that what parents exemplify is much more powerful then what they command? This is the foundational reasoning for keeping the seventh day holy as given to us by God.  See what God is saying here? God is saying, “you work six, and you newack (or experience rest) on the seventh.”  He even tells us the reason behind the injunction: “Because at the very beginning of the world, I worked six days and rested on the seventh, and I want you to follow my example.” It’s kind of like a father showing his son how to play with lego’s. The father will sit his son down with him and build/create something out of the lego blocks as the son is watching. Then the father will take it all apart and say to the son…..ok son, “now you do it.” That’s exactly what we have at creation. God observed the Sabbath, and then said to Adam and Eve, “Did you see how I did that? Now you do the same. Keep the Sabbath as you saw me keep it.” God rested on the Sabbath day in gladness. It was a day of joy and resting, a day of contemplation of God’s magnificent work, His masterpiece. God, together with the heavenly host, totally enjoyed what He had made. So does the Sabbath sound evil, a bad thing, or a curse? The way many/most Christians today talk, you would certainly think that it was.

Remember the Sabbath was essential for man, or God wouldn’t have created it. God saw that a Sabbath was essential for man even in paradise. So if the Sabbath was needed by man in paradise, would it not be much more necessary for us today in this world full of sin? Of course the answer is yes on that one!! Man needed to lay aside his own interests and pursuits for one day of the seven that he might more fully contemplate the works of God and meditate upon His power and goodness. Man needed a Sabbath to remind him more vividly of God and awaken gratitude because all that he enjoyed and possessed came from the beneficent hand of the Creator. I mean isn’t it true? So do you see why God created the Sabbath? What the purpose of the Sabbath is? Why God established the Sabbath right at the very beginning? It was so man would remember Him. That’s why the fourth commandment beings “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy”. This is why at the end of the commandment, it’s as if God says, “The reason why I want you to remember the Sabbath day is because it reminds you of the great Creator of the heavens and the earth, His awesome greatness, His power, and His love towards you, in giving you everything without even asking for it.”

What Is The Sabbath / Does It Matter? - Part 5

When Will God “Break” His Rest / The First Week?

This is another question that I struggled with for awhile. God will break His rest when He once again creates the world in six days and rests the seventh day. Don’t misunderstand…..we know that for man, the Sabbath has an evening and a morning, a beginning and an end. But this first week was God’s week. It was God’s experience and creation. He worked six days and rested the seventh, and He is still resting because He has created no more. And when He finally breaks that rest to create this world again, He will work six days and rest on the seventh, just as He did at the very beginning. I can’t wait for that day!! However there is a key Bible text that we need to clear up that is found in John 5:17-18. Jesus Himself said in these verses that His Father had been working until now, and that He was working. Well the answer is that Jesus is not talking about the works of creation in that verse. The work being spoken of in that passage is the work of sustaining and upholding the universe, and the work of redemption. Just before making this statement, Jesus had restored the legs of a man who was paralyzed….to what they should have been in the beginning. But when Jesus restored that man’s ability to walk, He wasn’t doing the work of a new creation. He was upholding and restoring that which was already created. And the work that He spoke of just after this miracle was not a new work of creation, for that had been finished from the foundation of the world. It was the work of redemption.

But while for God there was no evening and morning to the seventh day, because God is still resting from His work, there was and is an evening and a morning for us humans. We know this because God told us to work six days and rest the seventh on a weekly cycle basis, and on the seventh day, the sun still rises and sets. We also know that God told us to keep the Sabbath “from evening to evening” according to Leviticus 23:32. Once God gave the week to man, then the seventh day had and evening and a morning.  God doesn’t need a week so as I have already mentioned God made it molded it to give to man. This explains the reason why Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” – Mark 2:27. Like the Sabbath, the week originated at creation, and it has been preserved, and brought down to us through Bible history. God himself measured off the first week. So what did God do that first week? He measured it off as a sample for successive weeks to the close of time. Like every other week, the first week consisted of seven literal days. Six days were employed in the work of creation and when coming to the seventh God rested and then he blessed this day and set it apart as a day of rest for man. God is saying that our rest will not be continual or without interruption, but after we rest on the seventh we will work six again, and then rest on the seventh again, in a continuous weekly cycle. 

What Is The Sabbath / Does It Matter? - Part 4

Why God Waited to Bless the Sabbath?

This question is the next natural question to come into to your mind, at least it did in my mind when I studied this. Why would God wait to bless and sanctify the Sabbath until it was finished? The answer is because it is the presence of God that makes something holy. Each minute of the Sabbath that passed, God was making that minute holy. Each second, minute, and hour that passed, God was making holy by His very presence. And it wasn’t until the last second, the last minute, and the last hour had passed that they were actually holy. Because it was the presence of God in those minutes and seconds and hours holy….and it could only happen after God had been present during those time periods, at the end of the Sabbath. Again Genesis 2:3 is so clear with this. Genesis 2:3 says, “ Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made”. Notice the word because. It says that God blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it because in it He rested from all His work. 

Also notice in Exodus 20:11, which is the last verse of the 4^th commandment of God’s holy law. It says, “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore (that is, because He rested on the seventh day) the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” So is it a biblical teaching then, that God rested on the seventh day and then He made it holy? Yes it is very biblical from the verses we just read. It should also be clear that the very first week was God’s week, since it was God who worked six days and God who rested on the seventh day. Would you not say it was God’s week? The week was not man’s at all, at least not at this point, and not this first week that God made during Creation. God did give the week to man, but this first week belonged to God. And He worked six, then rested on the seventh day as Sabbath. So now we know the reason why the seventh day had no evening and morning. God has been resting from His work of creation since creation week. Remember what Paul said, “And yet His work has been finished since the creation of the world” – Hebrews 4:3. Paul wrote this more then four thousand years after creation. So what was Paul saying here? Since creation week, what has God been doing with regard to this world? He has been resting from His works of creation of course, has He not? Although God ceased creating after creation week, He still upholds and sustains that which He created during creation week. So God is still resting from His work of creation in this world, because God has created no more. For God, so to speak, the seventh day did not come to an end, because He is still resting from His work of creation. Understand what the Bible is saying here? It’s awesome!!

What Is The Sabbath / Does It Matter? - Part 3

So when was the Sabbath Blessed?

So this next question is another important one. Exactly when was the Sabbath sanctified and blessed? I used to think that God blessed and sanctified the Sabbath day as the seventh day was beginning. In other words, the Sabbath was about to start, and God made some sort of announcement that He would be sanctifying and blessing the day that was just beginning. But as I studied God did not bless and sanctify the seventh day until the seventh day was ended. This is HUGE to understand and discover from the Bible. It also explains why God didn’t command Adam and Eve to keep the first Sabbath. The Bible records that God Himself kept the Sabbath, and the heavenly beings kept the Sabbath rejoicing with feasting and gladness, they took a deep breath and enjoyed what God had made. But on that first Sabbath, this was the experience of God and the experience of the heavenly host. 

When it comes to man, Genesis doesn’t tell us that Adam and Eve were resting.  The reason for this and also the reason why God didn’t tell Adam and Eve to rest has to do with the fact that God didn’t bless or make the Sabbath holy until it ended. He didn’t bless that day until it came to and end. God set it apart as a day of rest for man. The sanctification of the Sabbath happened after God rested on that day as the Bible points out. God gave it to Adam as a day of rest, set it aside for holy use. Gave it to Adam as a day of rest as a memorial of the work of creation and also as a sign of God’s great power and love. So why did God bless and sanctify the seventh day as the Sabbath? Because He had rested on that day, in other words God rests the whole day, and then God blesses and sanctifies the Sabbath. 

What Is The Sabbath / Does It Matter? - Part 2

What does it means to enjoy the Experience of Rest?

So this question leads into what we just learned. What does the bible mean when it says that God enjoyed the experience of rest? The word “newach” is used many many times in the Old Testament. One of those verses is found in 1 Chronicles 22:9, where we are told that God promised David a son. The word “newach” here is linked with the idea of peace, tranquility, and stillness after all the enemies of Israel have been defeated. Another one is found in Proverbs 29:17, “Correct your son, and he will give you rest (Newach); Yes, he will give you delight to your soul”.  In this verse the idea of rest is linked with delight. In Zephaniah 3:17 we are told how God will delight in His people when they dwell safely in their land. “The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save, He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you (newach; give you rest) with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing”. Once again “newach” is connected with rejoicing, gladness, and singing. The last example I will share is found in Esther 9:17-18. This passage describes a time when God’s people had been delivered from their enemies. Haman had wanted to destroy all the Jews, but Esther had interceded, and God’s people were delivered. And it says in that verse that God’s people had rest, or “newach”. It is using the same word as was used in Exodus 20:11. The book of Esther tells us that, on this occasion, not only did God’s people have rest, but they also celebrated that day with feasting and gladness.

So in other words, “newach” was an experience of feasting and gladness. They were resting from the destruction their enemies intended to execute on them. So the word “nephash” means that God took a deep breath after creation in the contemplation of His work, and the word “newach” means that He experienced rest, tranquility, joy, and gladness. As Job 38:7 says that all of heaven rejoiced when God created this planet Earth. That the stars of heaven and the sons of God rejoiced in the work that God created. Meaning that it was a joyous rest in meditation and contemplation of the great work that God had done. And God took the seventh day simply to step back and look at the work that He had done, to meditate on it, and to enjoy it with gladness and feasting. 

What Is The Sabbath / Does It Matter? - Part 1

Ok so I hear people say, well I worship God 7 days a week so it doesn’t matter what day I actually go to Church on, or if I go to Church at all. So the Sabbath doesn’t matter. First off Jesus says that we need to be involved with the body of Christ. Christ says that the Church and his people of fellow believers are the body of Christ, so church according to Jesus is very important….so go to church!!

Next question about going to church and/or worshiping God or any day….it’s true that we should be praying, studying the Bible, and growing and expanding our relationship with Jesus everyday, every night, alone in our bedrooms, in our cars, at Bible study with other people, ect ect. Take your pick, it doesn't matter. But when it comes to being apart of the body of Christ and worshiping at a house of worship you can only get God’s holy special blessing of the Sabbath on the 7^th Day Sabbath. Not on Sunday, not on Monday, not on Tuesday, not on Wednesday, not on Thursday, and not on Friday. That’s not my words, but the Bibles. The day we go to church and worship Jesus on His Holy day does matter. Let me show you why the Sabbath matters, what it’s all about. If you can understand the meaning of it and how/why Jesus created it for us, then you would understand how beautiful it is and view it as something special, not a burden, not a task, not work, not something that is going to mess up your good times on Saturday’s. You would actually start looking forward to the Sabbath hours as I do.

How God Rested on the Sabbath?

It’s a good question to ask I think. Obviously it was a day of rest. Genesis 2:2-3 uses the Hebrew word “Shabath” (Hebrew word for Sabbath)  twice. The word “Shabath” means to cease or stop. In other words , Shabath doesn’t refer to how God rested on the seventh day. The focus is on the fact that He stopped, or ceased from His labors. An example of this would be in a court of law. When the prosecution “rests it’s case”, that means they are finished presenting their arguments. It is not talking about the quality of the rest. It simply says they have stopped, or ceased to present the case. So the word Shabath in Genesis 2:2-3 means that God ceased, He stopped creating on the sixth day. And the emphasis is on the fact that He did cease, rather than on His manner or mode of resting.

So again how did God rest on the Sabbath? It would be important and interesting to understand more fully how God rested on the Sabbath before the weekly cycle began again. Well we know God didn’t rest because He was physically tired from creation. God doesn’t get tired and He doesn’t need physical rest according to the Bible in Isaiah 40:28. The first Sabbath was a day of contemplation not only for God but also for the entire heavenly host. We can read this in Job 38:4-7 which says:

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined it’s measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid it’s cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

So in other words, the entire heavenly host also celebrated the work of creation on the seventh day. Together with God, they contemplated and meditated upon the magnificent work that God had done.

So since God doesn’t get tired it must have been some other kind of rest, a rest when God could contemplate and meditate on the masterpiece of a world that had just come forth from His hands. In Exodus 31:17, God said, “that the Sabbath is a sign between Him and the children of Israel forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed”. (By the way, that word for rested is the word Shabath, the same word that was used twice in Genesis 2:2-3).

However at the end of this verse the Bible uses another Hebrew word, “Naphash”, to tell us that God was refreshed on the Sabbath day. The word “Naphash” also means to take a breath. Like and artist who is very pleased after completing a work of art, God ceased from His work of creation which God was very pleased and took a deep breath. He let out a satisfied sigh because everything He had made was absolutely gorgeous and beautiful. And the Bible says He was refreshed.

If you go to Exodus 20:11, the last portion of the 4^th commandment of God’s holy law, the word “rested” as it is used here is a different word from the “shabath”, or word for rested, used in Genesis 2:2-3 that we read earlier. It’s not the same word. It’s the Hebrew word “newach”, which basically means “the experience of rest” after work. Now, Moses wrote both Genesis and Exodus. In both accounts he says that God did three things with the Sabbath…which are:  

1. He rested on it
2. Blessed it
3. Sanctified it

So why does Moses use  “shabath” in Genesis 2:2-3 and “newach” in Exodus 20:11? It is because Moses wanted to underline in Genesis that God ceased while in Exodus he wanted to describe the quality of God’s rest. You, see the word “newach” is referring to what happens while God “shabath”, or ceased.

Why Not Follow The Whole Bible?

I don’t understand why people don't go all out for Jesus? Why do people choose not to see the truth when they know better? Assuming they know better of course. Everybody is different. But I'm talking about mainly the people who have Bible’s and study all the time (or so they say they do). Why don’t they give him everything? They want to have one foot in the world and one foot in the church. They want to do the least they can do and still be saved. They just want to know what is needed for salvation, nothing else, and nothing more. Just give me a list of everything the Bible says and Jesus commands us to do, so I can then not listen to it and go against that, because all that matters is that I have Grace and am saved. Just that little statement matters HUGE because God's Grace is all you need to be Saved....don't misunderstand....but the rest of the thousands of pages in the Bible don’t matter and don’t apply?? People say I just don’t need it? Really?? So do you really have a relationship with Jesus? Do you really understand who He is??....hmmmm?? I question. I just don’t understand why people have this thinking when it comes to having a relationship with your ONE TRUE FATHER!!!

Having a relationship with Jesus and understanding our masters business, and having His Grace is important, it’s number one like I already stated above. Being saved is God’s gift to us, But there is so much more. What does it mean to follow Jesus?  Your life and actions should reflect that, which means obeying and following all of the Bible and what it says. Don’t be a wishy washy/fake type of Christian. Remember Jesus knows your heart and how much of the Bible you really do know, how much you really don’t know, how much you really understand, and how much you really don’t understand. I would say that you really don’t know Jesus at all if you think that nothing in the Bible matters, and you don’t apply it in your life. People say let me know everything that doesn’t count towards being saved or having to do with having eternal salvation…....so then I can NOT do them or bother with those things. What kind of thinking is that? Are they really seeking out Jesus and a deep love relationship with Him?? People want to just focus on what they need to keep or practice just so they can be saved that way. But guess what we can’t do anything to be saved…..We are saved by God’s Grace alone!! You can’t be saved by just keeping the Sabbath or by doing works and being nice to people, or donating money to charities. We are indeed judged by works as the Bible states, but only saved by Grace alone as the Bible also states. You also can’t be saved by keeping any of the 10 commandments, or eating healthy (like Vegetarian/Vegan like I do), or making a ton of money, or being nice to people, having a big house, doing good things, taking vacations, ect ect....whatever this world offers.  Jesus wants us to obey him because we love him, which means keeping all of his 10 commandments, giving tithe, helping people….which are all works. These good works that we do…well we do them because we love God and it reflects Jesus living inside us and it says that we follow Jesus. Our lives should always reflect what we believe. Remember people are always watching us, even when we don’t realize it. We have to sometimes be patience with people as everybody has different experiences with God, different things happen, life experiences are different, and views of God are different. So everybody isn’t going to be where you are in your walk all the time because we all have problems we have to deal with and overcome with God's help in this life. That's what Sin did to this world. We all start off damaged. So this means that one person might not see all the Bible truth you see yet, and that may be hard or frustrating to watch, but it’s ok. Just keep standing up for the truth and have patience with them. Continue to study with them, continue to love and accept them, and continue to pray. Jesus will open there hearts at some point to see the truth of what the Bible actually says. But the worst thing you can do is to bash them and tell them that they don’t love Jesus, and shut them out of your life just because they don’t see what you see in the Bible. Please don't misunderstand me....It doesn’t make that person right, but they just don’t see it yet. That’s ok. It's God's job to change minds and hearts, not humans. You see this is a HUGE lie/trick of Satan and his angels. He will put things into our heads to make us think if they aren't on our level then we are to reject them. Don’t listen to that crap!! There are going to be people who come to church who are addicted to sex, to bad movies, to money, smoking, who do drugs, who have drinking problems, don’t believe in any of God’s 10 commandments, reject the health message, who practice homosexuality, who steal, who beat there wives, who rape women, ect ect. All of these things are sins. We all sin in this life, it just looks different on all of us. Remember sin is sin and being wrong is being wrong if it doesn’t match up to the Bible and what it actually says. But still love people for where they are at and the sins they are battling…..remember you are battling sins yourself and what if people didn’t accept you? How would that make you feel? Accept people always in love, but at the same time call out something if it’s truly wrong. Do it in a loving way as Jesus did. They after that just pray for them. God will work in that person's heart to change there characters.

Common Attacks Against The Sabbath

Colossians 2:14-23 – People try to say these verses say that Jesus nailed the 10 Commandments to the Cross or in verse 16 that the Sabbath was done away with just because the word Sabbath appears in that verse. People are not understanding the context of this whole chapter. Verse 16 is talking about not judging people where they are at in there walk with Jesus. To not judge people based on what they do on the Sabbath, what they eat, or drink. Even if those people are 100% wrong and/or not following what the Bible and Jesus clearly teach, do not call out there sin and bash them over the head with it. None of us are perfect and we all have issues that we have to work through here on this earth. That is only between that person and God. 

But it doesn’t mean that it’s ok to break God’s 7^th day Sabbath or to break any of his other commandments. We are not supposed to judge others because everybody is in different walks with Jesus and grow at different times, some faster and others slower. It just all depends on the person. Colossians Chapter 2 is also talking about how we can receive of heaven’s light only as we are willing to be emptied of self. We can’t discern the character of God, or accept Christ by faith, unless we consent to the bringing into captivity of every thought to the obedience of Christ. That the people of God must always have faith in Christ as well as go through the physical act of circumcision. Faith in Christ symbolizes the relationship in the heart and circumcision is that external outside symbol that shows people that they are the people of God. Internal and External experiences are both needed in Jesus’s eyes to be called His true people. Also, remember you can’t break any of the 10 Commandments apart from each other. Either they all stay or they all go. These verses however are not talking about the Law of God. They are talking about the Law of Moses, which is the ceremonial Laws, which were done away with on the cross when Jesus died. That’s when the veil was split in two right after Jesus died because at that point it was finished. Jesus was the physical LAMB needed to pay the price for sin. That’s why the ceremonial laws of Moses were finished and/or not needed any more. So thank Jesus for that one. However so many people try to blend these two systems using the texts that speak of the ceremonial law to prove that the moral law has also been abolished, but this is a HUGE perversion of the Scriptures. The distinction between the two systems is broad and clearly spelled out in the Bible. The ceremonial system was made up of symbols pointing to Christ, to His sacrifice and His priesthood. This ritual law, with its sacrifices and ordinances was to be preformed by the Hebrews until type met anti-type in the death of Christ on the cross…..meaning the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Then all the sacrificial offerings were to cease.

But remember Ephesians 2:15 – “Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace”. (Meaning that once again the law of Moses was destroyed at the cross, not the 10 commandments).

Also remember 1 Peter 1:17 says – Judged according to each one’s works. Also that Deuteronomy 31: 26 says – Take this Book of the Law (The 5 Books of Moses) and put it Beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against you. The 10 Commandments were in the ark and the 5 books of Moses were just beside it.

Quick side note on the Law:

Why is the law important?

Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death

1 John 3:4 - Sin is the transgression of the law

Romans  3:23 - For all have sinned.

How do I escape the death penalty imposed by the law?

John 3:16 - God died for our sins and whosoever believes in him will have everlasting life.

John 3:7 - Must be born again

What part does the law play in our salvation?

Romans 3:20 - For by the law is the knowledge of sin

Psalms 19:7 - The law of God is perfect, converting the soul

Note: As a mirror reveals the dirt on someone’s face, but can't remove it, so the law of God reveals sin, but can't rid us of it. The law shows the problem and sends us to Christ for cleansing.

Can the Law save us?

Ephesians 2:8-9 - for by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. If is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Note: Paul teaches us in the New Testament that the law is good for showing us our sin and our need for Christ, but alone it can't save us. We need the grace of Jesus. Those who have received forgiveness and pardon for their sins are under grace, and no longer under the death penalty that the law demanded.

What enables a person to keep the commandments?

1 Corinthians 3:16 - Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth within you?

John 14:15 - If you love me, keep my commandments.

Note:  We don't keep the law to be saved, we keep it because we are saved!

Are the Ten Commandments binding for New Testament Christians?

Oh yes they are!! Look at the verses below.

Matthew 5:17-18 - Think not that I have come to destroy the law, but I have come to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Matthew 19:17 - If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

John 14:15 - If you love me, keep my commandments.

Note: the principles embodied in the 10 comandments are a part of God's character of love. These laws show us how to come into harmony with God's nature. When they are presented the rebellious heart says " How can I get out of keeping the 10 commandments"? The heart that loves God wants to keep them and come into unity and harmony with God.

The Two Laws in the Bible

God gave us two sets of laws at Mt. Sinai. The Law of Moses and the Moral Law. The Bible supports both, but clearly shows that only God's Law is still valid and Moses's Law is not anymore since it was done away with. Take a look at the evidence I listed below comparing God’s Law and Moses’s Law. Notice how I draw from both the old and new testaments to support this.

God's Law

Isaiah 5:24 - Called The Law of the Lord

James 2:8 - Called the Royal Law

Exodus 31: 18, 32:16 - Written by God on stone

Exodus 40:20 - Placed inside the ark

Luke 16:17 - Will stand forever

Romans 7:7, 3:20 - Points out sin

1 John 5:3 - Not Grievous

James 2:10-12 - Judges all men

Romans 7:14 - Spiritual

Psalm 19: 7 – Perfect

Moses Law

Luke 2:22 - Called the law of Moses

Ephesians 2:15 - Called the law contained in ordinances

2 Chronicles 35:12 - Written by Moses in a book

Deuteronomy 31:26 - Placed in the side of the ark

Ephesians 2:15 - Moses law ended at the cross

Galatians 3:19 - Added because of sin

Colossians 2:14-16 - Contrary to us and judges no man

Hebrews 7:16 - It's Carnal

Hebrews 7:19 - Made nothing perfect

Malachi 2:3 – Book written against us

If that wasn't evidence enough for the 10 Commandments still being valid here are the 10 Commandments listed from both the Old and New Testaments found in the Bible. It's pretty cool because most people only know of the 10 Commandments in Exodus in the Old Testament. But most people miss that the same 10 Commandments are clearly stated by Jesus in the New Testament.

Old Testament - 10 Commandments found in Exodus Chapter 20

First Table of the Law (How we should be towards God)

1. Thou shalt not have no other gods before me

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image/ idols

3. Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, nor they son, nor they daughter, nor thy manservant, or they maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor they stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Second Table of the Law (How we should be towards Man)

5. Honor thy father and mother

6. Thou shalt not kill

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery

8. Thou shalt not steal

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor

10. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's house, nor wife, nor his manservant, or maidenservant, his ox, nor anything that is thy neighbor.

New Testament - Same 10 Commandments found in the New Testament

First Table of the Law (How we should be towards God)

1.       Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve - Matthew 4:10

2.       Little children, keep yourselves from idols. For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device - 1 John 5:21, Acts 17:29.

3.       That the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed - 1 Timothy 6:1

4.       Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his work. There remaineth therefore a keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His. For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth - Matthew 24:20, Mark 2:27, 28, Hebrews 4:4,9,10, and Colossians 1:16.

Second Table of the Law (How we should be towards God)

 5. Honor thy father and they mother - Matthew 19:19

6.  Thou shalt not kill - Romans 13:9

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery - Matthew 19:18

8. Thou shalt not steal - Romans 13:9

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness - Romans 13:9

10. Thou shalt not covet - Romans 7:7

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid, yea we establish the law. Wherefore the law is body, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. For by the law is the knowledge of sin - Romans 3:31, 7:12, and 3:20.

So as you can see if you follow the whole Bible you should be following the 10 commandments of the Bible as Jesus states we should be following, which are still valid, from both the Old and New Testaments. They are the same 10 commandments in the Old and the New. Jesus never got rid of them or changed any of them. So as Christians we should all be following the 10 commandments out of love for God. The reason people don't is because they are still fighting within themselves in trying to get around them in some way or another....mainly because it messes up there lives or there worldly schedules. Everybody is at different places in there walk with Jesus so this will take more or less time to understand and accept depending on the person.

Another huge piece of evidence in the Bible is found in Jeremiah 31:31-40. This chapter/section is talking about a new covenant in the Old Testament days of the Bible. In verse 31 Jesus says “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah”. Verse 32 continues with  “not according to the covenant that I have made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord”. Verse 33 says, “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people”.  The rest of the section if you read it talks about this new covenant that Jesus is going to set up in the future, unlike the laws of Moses as Jesus states in verse 32. These 3 verses I have shared and the rest of this whole section in Jeremiah shows that Jesus is going to do away with the laws of Moses (also known as the ceremonial laws) and establish his 10 commandments in the hearts of man or Israel as God’s people are known in the Bible. He never says that he is going to change the 10 commandments or do away with any of them. Jesus here is talking about the physical 10 commandments vs the physical laws of Moses (ceremonial law). Jesus said the need of the ceremonial laws which include animal sacrifices will be put to an end at some point. So since Jesus say this in the Old Testament in the book of Jeremiah the question is……did Jesus deliver on his word. Yes he did.

Go now to Hebrews  8:7-13 which talks about establishing  “A New Covenant” again. But this time it’s in a book in the New Testament proving that Jesus delivered on his promise. When Jesus died on the cross he established his new covenant. Meaning that once Jesus died on the cross the veil was ripped in two, and the laws of Moses were fulfilled and no longer required. No more killing animals for sacrificing for sins. All of that was gone since Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice for the WHOLE WORLD!! Notice that when you read Hebrews 8: 7-13 you will find that it’s just about identical to Jeremiah that we just read a moment ago. Verses 7, 8, 9, and 10 are straight out of Jeremiah. So I think this is pretty important to see and understand since Jesus copied what was in Jeremiah to also be found in Hebrews , then it has to be important. I think Jesus wanted us to get this point as it comes up in multiple places. These old and new Testament books both show that Jesus was on time, kept his promises, and never changed any of his 10 commandments. He got rid of the laws of Moses when he died on the cross and once that happened he wrote His law, which are the 10 commandments into our minds and into our hearts forever. This is proof straight from the Bible that the 10 commandments have always been the same throughout the Bible from beginning to end, and are still valid today. Jesus didn’t change the 4th Sabbath commandment to Sunday or any of the other commandments, just like he promised he wouldn’t do. Jesus never changed the law, but died on the cross to fulfill it, which of course he did.

Another attack on the Sabbath is that people will say, well Jesus rose from the grave on the 3^rd day, which is true He did. But was that Jesus changing the Sabbath day to Sunday at that moment in time? No of course it wasn’t. There is no evidence in the Bible to state that it was changed. You can try to look for a verse, but you will not find one.  If you go in the Bible you will find the words “The Sabbath” and “The Seventh Day” all over the place in both the old and new testaments. Remember in Luke 23:53-56 and Luke 24:1.

Luke 23:53-56, Luke 24:1 – Preparation Day = Friday (6^th Day), Sabbath Day = Saturday (7^th Day), Resurrection Day = Sunday (1^st Day of the Week).

If you check all Jewish calendars it points to Saturday as the 7^th day of the week. Go Google it or buy one to understand the history of how the year, month, and week were created, which of course they were created by God who gave us the understanding of time from the beginning. We use star time to measure time since the beginning of the universe. That’s how the government gets our official time. Well then who made the stars, sun, moon, planets…..Jesus did!! You can’t trace the creation of the day or first week with anything except from Jesus. Go study it for yourself. It’s amazing!! That’s how you know the creation of time and the Sabbath point back to Jesus. Even 90% of United Statues calendars you buy (I have one right now) list the days of the week as followed:  Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday (Sabbath). Saturday being the 7^th day.  The history of the names of each day come from pagan Gods, Babylonian astrologers, and of course the Romans with there planet Gods. The Latin languages derived the names of the seven days of the week with the seven planets. The Sun for Sunday, The Moon for Monday, Mercury for Tuesday, Venus for Wednesday, Mars for Thursday, Jupiter for Friday, and Saturn for Saturday.

Even Webster’s dictionary states that Saturday is the 7^th day of the week. See link below:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/saturday

Another way to look at it is this…..Even in death Jesus kept the Sabbath Holy. Remember He was sinless and he never broke the law or anything. He was perfect in every way, even in death. He died on Friday the preparation Day, then rest in the Tomb on the Sabbath Day…also keeping the Sabbath Day holy even in death. Then he was resurrected on Sunday the 1^st day of the week, but that doesn’t mean Jesus changed the Sabbath Day to Sunday just because he rose from the dead on Sunday. Again there is not one verse you can find in the Bible that supports that. If so Jesus would have made sure that was clear in His Holy Bible, but it’s not.

Ok if Sunday was the Sabbath day it would change the whole view of what Luke 23:53-56 and Luke 24:1 is saying. Not to mention it would make Jesus and His book the Bible lieing….which we know isn’t true at all. So Lets go with it and see what happens. Ok so if Sunday was the Sabbath day that would mean that Saturday was the preparation day when Jesus died and His body was wrapped up, then Jesus would have rested on the Sabbath day which is Sunday in this example, then Jesus would have resurrected on Monday. Now does that make sense? No it totally goes against what the Bible teaches. You don’t hear people walking around saying Happy Easter Monday or happy Resurrection Monday do you? No of course you don’t. You hear Happy Easter Sunday to celebrate Jesus being resurrected, which is a great thing and we should celebrate it because Jesus saved us by dying on the cross and is alive and well and someday He is coming back to take His people to Heaven. Butut that doesn’t make Sunday the Holy Sabbath Day of worship that Jesus set up from the beginning of time. Besides another point is that why didn’t the Papal system change the Sabbath from Sunday to Monday the first day of the week if Sunday was the true Sabbath? 

See it doesn’t make sense. The truth is that the 7^th day is Saturday the Sabbath, the papal system lead by Satan changed the Holy day from Saturday to Sunday for the whole world to follow and forget Jesus’s Holy Sabbath and what Jesus said to remember in the 10 commandments. The focus of worship and the Holy blessing goes to Satan on Sunday’s since that’s the day He has set up throughout human history and has gotten just about the whole world to believe it without examining the evidence. That’s why people need to study the Bible for themselves and ask questions…if not Satan will deceive you. Remember Satan wants to be like God and wants worship, always has since the fight up in heaven in the beginning with sin coming onto the scene. Satan has always had a beef with Jesus the Son. Satan says, well if Jesus gets worship and Man a blessing on the Sabbath Day, Jesus’ special day created for Man….well Satan wanted to corrupt that day. Put the focus on himself so people worship Him.  

So Satan came up with Sunday as his counterfeit day of worship throughout human history. That’s why in the Bible you read all those stories of tribes and people going astry and worshiping idols, other God’s, ect ect. It comes from Satan and changing the Sabbath and focus of worship off of God and off of Jesus’s holy 7^th Day Sabbath day. When people worship on Sunday’s the blessing and what the Sabbath means goes to Satan because it isn’t the True Sabbath and day of rest. The sad thing is that most people don’t realize this and go to church worshiping on Sunday blindly thinking that they are getting a special blessing from God when really they are playing right into Satan’s hands. Satan is a master deceiver and we have to fight back with God as our ally because without God we will lose the eternal war. We can’t do it alone. We need Jesus!!