| The Seal of God is the Sabbath |
Today's Text:
I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God. Ezekiel 20:19, 20
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The Message:
The Sabbath was given to all mankind to commemorate the work of creation. The great Jehovah, when He had laid the foundations of the earth, when He had dressed the whole world in its garb of beauty, and created all the wonders of the land and the sea, instituted the Sabbath day and made it holy. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy, the Sabbath was set apart as God's memorial. God sanctified and blessed the day in which He had rested from all His wondrous work. And this Sabbath, sanctified of God, was to be kept for a perpetual covenant. It was a memorial that was to stand from age to age, till the close of earth's history....
During their stay in Egypt, Israel had so long heard and seen idolatry practiced that to a large degree they had lost their knowledge of God and of His law, and their sense of the importance and sacredness of the Sabbath. The law was given a second time to call these things to their remembrance. In God's statutes was defined practical religion for all mankind. Before Israel was placed the true standard of righteousness.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep." Some, who have been anxious to make of none effect the law of God, have quoted this word "Sabbaths," interpreting it to mean the annual sabbaths of the Jews. But they do not connect this positive requirement with that which follows:
"For it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed."
There are those who hold that the Sabbath was given only for the Jews; but God has never said this. He committed the Sabbath to His people Israel as a sacred trust, but the very fact that the desert of Sinai, and not Palestine, was the place selected by Him in which to proclaim His law reveals that He intended it for all mankind. The law of Ten Commandments is as old as creation. Therefore the Sabbath institution has no special relation to the Jews, any more than to all other created beings. God has made the observance of the Sabbath obligatory upon all people. "The Sabbath," it is plainly stated, "was made for man." Let everyone, therefore, who is in danger of being deceived on this point give heed to the Word of God rather than the assertions of men.
In Eden, God said to Adam concerning the tree of knowledge, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Adam listened to the voice of Satan speaking through his wife; he believed another voice than that which spoke the law in Eden.
Every man has been placed on trial, as were Adam and Eve in Eden. As the tree of knowledge was placed in the midst of the Garden of Eden, so the Sabbath command is placed in the midst of the Decalogue. In regard to the fruit of the tree of knowledge, the restriction was made, Ye shall not eat of it ... lest ye die. Of the Sabbath, God said, Ye shall not defile it, but keep it holy. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." As the tree of knowledge was the test of Adam's obedience, so the fourth command is the test that God has given to prove the loyalty of all His people. The experience of Adam is to be a warning to us so long as time shall last. It warns us not to receive any assurance from the mouths of mortals or of angels that will detract one jot or tittle from the sacred law of Jehovah.-The Review and Herald, August 30, 1898.
*Note: I have added in the parts that were left out by the compilers for what ever reason, that the true sentiment of the author may be seen. These parts are underlined.
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Commentary:
My friend, had Adam trusted in God when he was tested at the tree of knowledge he and the whole human race would have been secure forever. The tree of knowledge was a test for Adam to prove his fidelity to God. That test would have sealed the human race forever. In the same way in the last days the Sabbath will become the great test that will seal God's people during the great time of trouble when probation will close and the ministry of the Son of God in the heavenly sanctuary will end.
And while it is true that the Sabbath is the seal of God in the last days, there are many in the church today that have misunderstood this great truth. They have placed the work of sanctification upon the Sabbath rather than upon the work of the Spirit of God within their hearts. They have reasoned that in keeping the Sabbath holy they will be saved, but they miss a most important point which is that in order to keep the Sabbath holy, they must first be holy. God through the prophet Ezekiel said "Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them." (Ezekiel 20:12).
If we are to receive the seal of God in the last days we must first be sanctified by the LORD and that sanctification comes only by the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ within us. No matter how well or how completely we think we keep the Sabbath, unless we are first sanctified by the Spirit of God, we cannot keep it holy. Thus many in the church today have lost sight of this most vital point and their preparation for the last days is in their ability to keep the Sabbath holy. Without the sanctification of the Spirit of Christ, when the great test is brought before them they will fail, for they will not be sanctified by God.
The main reason why the remnant people are not ready to receive the seal of God is because they are worshiping the wrong god. By their worship of the false god of the trinity, they are receiving a false righteousness, a false sanctification, that in the last days will prepare them to receive the mark of the beast. The mark of the beast is Sunday worship when it is enforced in the last days. The trinity is the god of Babylon and is the foundational teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, from it comes all of her doctrines to include Sunday sacredness. Those who worship God in the form of the trinity will be defiled by its unholy nature and in the end they will receive the mark of the beast just as readily as those who worship on Sunday.
In this time of probation we are to be drawing closer and closer to Christ that we may be sanctified by it. Our sanctification comes only as we look unto the Son of God, for the Son of God prayed to His Father saying "Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:1-3).
My friend, the probation for the world is soon to close, but more importantly for us is that the probation for the church will close first. The message of the Faithful and True Witness of God to His remnant people is to awaken them to their true condition before God. He says "... and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:" (Revelation 3:17). They are in this condition because they have forsaken the One true God for the false god of the trinity. Those that heed the message and follow the counsel of the Lord will be sanctified and prepared to be sealed when the Sabbath test comes to the whole world.
My prayer for all of us today is that we heed the warning and turn away from the false god of the trinity unto the One true God through His Son Jesus Christ today.
God bless,
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Video of the Week
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| The God of Jesus - Nader Mansour |
Does Jesus have a God? How does that impact the Trinity? Is the God of Jesus different to the Trinity? Nader Mansour examines these questions and their practical relevance on our daily walk with Jesus.
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