The Validity Of The Sabbath

When the Protestant Reformation went on, it was interesting that supposedly with the Reformers, and of course Martin Luther is the one that people connect most with the Reformation. Of course, it's been said of Martin Luther that he protested, but he didn't protest far enough. But the Protestant Reformation basically accomplished or took the approach of replacing the Pope with the Bible. And the Protestant mantra was the Bible and nothing but the Bible. That's what they propounded. And what grew out of that, even to this day, with the Protestant churches is the Bible and nothing but the Bible. That's our authority.

Listening to ABC to the video, it was expressed numerous times the emphasis of the Bible on the Bible on what's really there. And it's ironic that the Protestant Reformation, where they came to the mantra or the motto of the Bible and nothing but the Bible, that even Martin Luther himself, if he didn't like a certain truth in the Bible, that when he would write out a script or translation, he would add his own word or change that particular word. Because there was one or two words that presented a truth that didn't fit his theology. So it's interesting, emphasis on the Bible and on what's really there. And you know, you and I are people of God who do truly say the Bible and nothing but the Bible as far as authority. And if we can't base it on the Bible, then it's relegated to just human personal opinion. But if it's truly based on Scripture and on the Bible, then it's a sure rock and a sure foundation. And that is our approach. So we're going to deal with a subject today that is not just fundamental, but it's why I'm here and why you're here. So let's start in Genesis 2, verses 2 and 3. I've already rung your bell, haven't I? Everybody, don't we? Know what's in Genesis 2, verses 2 and 3.

Genesis 2, verse 2, And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made, verse 3, and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. Because that ended, he had rested from all his work which God created and made. So we find on the seventh day, and we find God blessed that day, and you don't find him putting that special blessing on any other day, and he sanctified it, or that is, he set it apart. He set it apart for holy use. So when we read these two verses, we find two very important points. Number one, we find the creation of the Sabbath. This is when the Sabbath was created. The time delineation of a 24-hour period that happens to be the seventh day of the week from sunset to sunset, this is the creation of the Sabbath. And number two, we find who first kept it. God. That's what makes it holy, is God kept it and set it apart. And again, both of these facts are crucial to the importance and validity of the Sabbath. Interesting point. Why don't we have a six-day week? One simple reason. Because God created another day and made it the Sabbath. The very fact that we have a seven-day week is proof of the Sabbath. Maybe you haven't thought of it that way. But if we didn't have a Sabbath, the weeks would be six days long. God did the recreating all in six days. And then the way he created the seventh was by resting on it. Not that he has to rest, but resting on it and therefore establishing it. So that's the only reason that we have a seven-day week. And the whole world functions by a seven-day week. And we recognize that there's a seven-day week versus a six-day. In fact, in Spanish, the word for the seventh day of the week is sabado. Sabado means Sabbath. It's just interesting. Their language itself denotes the seventh day as the Sabbath. Although in the Hispanic world, most of them that are religious keep the first day of the week. And again, a seven-day week only because there's a Sabbath, like the famous televangelist who died not too long ago, who was 99 years old, directly said, I know, I'm quoting him, I know Saturday is the Sabbath, but I can't teach it. The people aren't ready for it. Of course, the people in this age are never going to be ready for it. So what I want to speak on is the validity of the Sabbath, the validity of it. It's interesting. Here's the creation of the Sabbath in Genesis 2. Here's the first one who kept it. Here, the Sabbath is brought into the picture before any laws or covenants have been officially given or made with man.

Think about that for a moment. We're not saying there's no such thing as law. We're not saying there's no such thing as right or wrong or any of that. But before any covenants or any laws have been codified officially, here is the Sabbath existing. See, at this point in time, Genesis 2, at this point in time, there are no covenants existing with man in any form, yet here is the existence of the Sabbath. That knocks on the head. See, with some sermons, you're dealing with fundamentals, but you're also dealing with apologetics in the sense that you are giving the ammunition for refuting these false claims against the Sabbath. You're giving ammunition to fire back and stop the mouths of gains. There's art to express why you do what you do. Here's the existence of the Sabbath. Long before Sinai, it was incorporated into the Old Covenant, but it pre-existed the Old Covenant just the same as the commandments pre-existed the Old Covenant, and they were simply incorporated in the Old Covenant. And when Christ died and the Old Covenant was finished, it didn't finish the Ten Commandments which pre-existed the Old Covenant. So, in other words, what does that tell us? The validity of the Sabbath is not based upon a covenant. That's not what gives it validity. It can be incorporated into a covenant, but the validity of the Sabbath is not based upon a covenant. It does not require a covenant to bring the Sabbath into existence. It was simply existing before any covenants with man. It was existing and established before God made any covenant with any human being, and it was not dependent upon man or what man might do.

Here's another interesting thing about it. The existence of a Jew. There are no Jews around. Or of Israel. There are no Israelites around. And for that matter, there are no Gentiles around.

If you understand what I'm saying, now I'll come back to that in a little bit. But the existence of a Jew, Jews, Israelites, whatever, has nothing to do with whether the Sabbath exists or not. Oh, where are you going? You're all dressed up. Where are you going? Well, I'm going to church. Well, it's Saturday. Why are you doing that? Are you Jewish? That's the first thing people think. You're Jewish. You're Jewish. That's why you're going on Saturday. Are you Orthodox? Are you ultra-Orthodox? Are you in the ditched Jew or what? That's how people connect. And yet, at the same time, the existence of a Jew, Jews, Israel has nothing to do with whether the Sabbath exists or not. God was the first being to keep it. He established it long before a Jew had ever been heard of. So, the validity of the Sabbath is not based upon the Jews or any other humans. But the Sabbath does have something to do with something very special and important to God with mankind and for mankind. Do the chronology. Day one, day two, day three, recreation week, day four, day five, day six. On day six, God creates Adam and Eve. And so, God has already planned and purposed what he's going to do. So, on day six, when he makes Adam and Eve, he knows he's not through with the week. He's through with the creation per se, certainly the physical creation, yes. But there's going to be connected with the physical creation, a spiritual creation. And he knows what he's going to call it and all of that. He's going to tack on one more day, making the week seven days long instead of six. He's going to make it a Sabbath. So, Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day. God, the very next day, creates the seventh day, creates the Sabbath.

So, on the day that God created the Sabbath, Adam and Eve are existing. And who are they with? And who's with them? God.

Adam and Eve were, were they Jews? Of course not. Were they Israelites? Of course not. Israel didn't exist at this point. Judah didn't exist at this point. Well, were they Gentiles? Well, not necessarily because the word Gentile had no meaning until there was the term Israel. Because basically the Gentiles were simply those who were not Israelites. Once Israel came into being, God brought Israel into being, then those who were not Israelites were Gentiles. It was a way of differentiating. But Adam and Eve, they were neither Jew nor Gentile. And when the Sabbath was created, they were in the garden. They weren't cut off from God. Genesis 3 hadn't happened at that point. They hadn't sinned. They hadn't forfeited the garden. They hadn't been driven out. I mean, they could look over at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which they had not taken off. They could look over there, beside it at the tree of life. There was no flaming sword around the tree of life. They didn't see a caribbean with a flaming sword turning every which way to keep them from getting to the tree of life. That hadn't happened yet. It wasn't there. No flaming sword. They weren't hiding in the bushes. God was with them on the Sabbath, teaching, instructing, and setting an example. And bear in mind that the one who was doing that with them, who had knelt in the dust, sculpted Adam, breathed life into him, stood him on his feet, put him in the garden, put him to sleep, took a rib, created Eve, that the one who did that was the very one who would come thousands of years later as Jesus Christ. He was the logos, the word, the spokesman. It was right there with them. And he was sharing with them in a very special way. God was having a special fellowship with them. They were having what we can call a Sabbath relationship with their Creator. Do I relate with God on Sunday? Yes. On Monday? Yes. Tuesday? Yes. Do I pray? Do I study? Do I meditate? Do I relate with him? Absolutely. Do I have a relationship with him? Right. But on the Sabbath, there is a special Sabbath relationship with my Creator. We're having, you're having, we're having a special Sabbath relationship with our Creator. And so, right off the bat, the Sabbath was put to the right purpose in their lives, a special relationship with God. And as we know, we have it right there in Scripture, all that changed shortly. Didn't last. They became cut off. And that special relationship was gone, and mankind did not maintain the Sabbath. Even though, like I said, in the Spanish language, the seventh day is called the Sabbath. Sabado. But mankind did not maintain, and they don't keep it though, mankind did not maintain the Sabbath. Adam and Eve were special to God. They were His, and they were forebears of all to come. We, we joke and talk about if we do a genealogical search and go all the way back, that we'll eventually get back to our first forefather, Adam, which we would, and our first foremother, Eve, which we would. And we're very familiar with Acts 17, 26, and I'll just read it.

Acts 17, in verse 26, and has made, when Paul is speaking to the philosophers at Mars Hill, and has made of one blood, one blood, all nations of men. Now, Adam had Eve as a rib taken from him. She was scumted. Boy, God can get a lot out of a rib. And she would have been a beauty. That was one blood.

One blood can only refer to Adam and Eve. So it always, it goes all the way back to that. I remember, many, many years ago now, in Memphis, Tennessee, there was a Jones family. Now, on my mother's side, she was Montgomery, but on her side, there were some Joneses. And there was this family of Jones in Memphis. And my brothers began to compare some notes with them, and they began to check back in the genealogies and found out that we came together way back there with a great, great, great grandpa Jones. We actually connected back there. And of course, you know, it's interesting. We say small world, but we all go back to the original forebears, and we know it. So here God was. He involved them, the first ones of the human race. He involved them and his Sabbath to begin with. And again, that didn't last long, but he's showing design and he's showing pattern. So he involved them in his Sabbath to begin with, because that is central to a special relationship with him.

If I give up the Sabbath, I can claim all I want to. Well, I still have God. I still have a relationship with God. Jesus and I know each other, but I put myself in the position where Christ says, I'm outside the door, Revelation 3, I'm outside the door, knocking, knocking to come in, but you'd have me closed out. No, it's central to a special relationship with him. And that's what he illustrated right at the very beginning, because that's what he does desire with each and every one of us, a special relationship with him. So let's process this out. When God calls someone into a special relationship with him, He gives them knowledge. You know, we talk about God turns the lights on, and God continually brightens those lights. He lets the spiritual light in of his spirit. He opens our minds to see and understand. Think about it. When he calls somebody into a special relationship with him, he gives that person knowledge of those things that count with him, that are precious to him. He begins to involve them in what he is involved in. He begins to reveal himself and what counts with him and what he stands for. He begins to reveal and make known to those he's calling his special treasures. Along that line, Nehemiah 9.14 is interesting in the way that it expresses the Sabbath. Nehemiah chapter 9, verse 14.

Nehemiah and praying here, notice, makes this statement during the prayer. Nehemiah 9.14, and made known unto them, your holy Sabbath.

Remember, Mr. Armstrong used an example many years ago that this lady said, Mr. Armstrong, I understand that you keep Saturday for your Sabbath, that that's your day. Oh, no, ma'am, you heard wrong. That's not my day. Oh, I'm so good and glad to hear that. No, that's God's day. Sunday is mine. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I'm given six days to do what is legal, moral, and okay to do. But no, that's God's day. Her face fell, made known unto them, your holy Sabbath. It's not mine, it's God's, but God says, I want to share this with you, and I want you to feel about it the way I feel about it. Genesis 12, and verse 1.

Genesis 12.

And you know that if I'm going to this part of Genesis, the likelihood is it's about Abraham, because it's in the vicinity. You know, Abraham's right there in that area somewhere.

Okay, Abraham, whose name was Abram or Abram at this point in time, had not been changed to Abraham. But in Genesis 12 and verse 1, it says, Now the Lord had said to Abram, or Abram, Get you out of your country from your kindred, from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. God calls Abraham. And what does God do when He calls somebody and opens their mind? He begins to share with them the things that matter, the things that count, that are precious and important to God. So here, Abram, as we know him as Abraham now, because his name was changed, he's called, he's put into a special relationship with God, his Creator. And time goes along with him learning and growing and understanding and obeying his God. And so you come to chapter 26, chapter 26, and you read of results. You read of fruits.

You read of effects. It says this of him in Genesis 26 and verse 5, Because that Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

He kept God's charges. He kept God's commandments. He kept his statutes. He kept his laws. He obeyed his voice. That included the Sabbath. And, of course, Abraham, Father of the Faithful, was the beginning of a very specific plan and purpose in regards to a line of individuals and a nation to come in certain workings, in certain lessons set and all of that. We know, you know, they're came Isaac and Jacob and his 12 signs, Israel. So with the multiplication that went on, there came a time after so long a time that God chose an entire nation. He actually raised up that nation, but he chose a whole nation to be his and to reveal himself to. It started with Abraham. Not that Abraham was the first one. You know, Abel obviously had a relationship with God and is probably, from what we can gather from Scripture, probably the very first fruit. But God calls Abraham and from him, through him and from him, raises up the nation to be his and to reveal himself to. So in Deuteronomy 14 and verse 2, and while you're turning there, Deuteronomy 14 and verse 2, in the final year or so of my time in worldwide, we were having a YOU, our youth program, regional weekend involving the Sabbath, Friday night, and not Friday night, Saturday night, Friday night, Bible study, but Saturday night sports after sunset and Sunday sports. And the minister who was a pastor and who had a lot of responsibility in the church was giving the sermon.

He made a statement in the sermon, and of course the sermon was supposedly designed to be supportive of the law of God, but it actually was purposely designed to try to undermine some of it, including the Sabbath. But he made this statement during the sermon. He said, God never called ancient Israel his holy people. This is one of the places I turned to, and I nudged Angela and had her look over and read it. God never referred to his people to Israel in the Old Testament as a holy nation, a holy people. And I whispered to her, I said, he is either ignorant of Scripture, which at his high-level position, I do not believe he's ignorant of Scripture, or he's just plain lying. And frankly, he was just plain lying. Read it for yourself. For you are a holy people unto the Lord your God. And the Lord has chosen you to be a peculiar or special or purchased people unto himself above all the nations that are upon the earth. For you are a holy people unto the Lord your God.

God chose Israel to be a peculiar or special or purchased people unto himself and to enjoy a special relationship or fellowship. Notice Deuteronomy 26 verses 18 and 19. Deuteronomy That same individual, one of the members told me about how in a message, in times that followed that, in the pulpit one day held the Bible up in one hand, and a book up in the other one, and the book was Sabbath, or the Sabbath in Christ. And he told the brethren he was speaking to, he held the Bible and says, you don't need to read this book, you need to read this other book. It's amazing how such basic fundamental truths that are so scripturally sound have people can get into such self-deception that they can kid themselves into believing such heresy.

Sad. Tragic. And usually when they get positioned like that, you can't budge them. Something's been lost that either was never there, or certainly never should have been lost. Deuteronomy 26 verses 18 and 19. And the Lord has avouched this day, I'm sorry, the Lord has avouched you this day to be, you know, it's repeated, His peculiar people, special, purchased, as He has been. And that you should keep all His commandments, and to make you high above all nations, which He has made in praise and in name and in honor, and that you may be a holy people unto the Lord your God as He has spoken. Psalm 135 verse 4. Psalm 135 and verse 4.

David wrote for the Lord, Psalm 135 verse 4, for the Lord has chosen Jacob to Himself. There's a scripture that says, Jacob, Israel, of all nations, you only have I known. God has only carried a relationship with one nation so far, the nation of Israel.

For the Lord has chosen Jacob to Himself and Israel for His peculiar or special or purchased people. And again, and one final one along this line, I'll go back to Exodus. I'll go to Exodus 5, Exodus 19, Exodus 19 verses 5 and 6.

Exodus 19 verses 5 and 6. Now therefore, and those phrases of holy people, of peculiar people, you know, special people, lock those phrases in your mind for a moment and hold on to them. Now therefore, Exodus 19, 5 and 6. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel, a peculiar treasure, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. Now, the Sabbath was brought into the picture, incorporated into the picture, pre-existing from Genesis 2 on from Adam and Eve on pre-existing. You know, up to that time, it was created. It pre-existed the covenants, sabbatical covenants, old covenant, any covenants, it pre-existed it, but it was incorporated into the picture as a covenant and a sign. If you go to Exodus 31, verse 12, Exodus 31, and verse 12, and we'll begin reading there. And the Lord spoken to Moses, saying, Exodus 31, verse 12, the Lord spoken to Moses, saying, you speak also to the children of Israel, saying, truly my Sabbath, you shall keep. And of course, there's more than just the weekly Sabbath, obviously. There are the annual Sabbath. Leviticus 23 lays all that out. You shall keep. For it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord that does sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for or because it is holy unto you. You're to keep it holy. Everyone that defiles it shall surely be put to death. And of course, under the old covenant, they did have the administration of death, and people could be executed for breaking the Sabbath, which obviously we're very glad for the mercy matter now that we're not under the administration of death, and the church has no responsibility to try to put anybody to death for breaking the Sabbath.

But when the Sabbath is being broken, it is still being broken, and it's still a sin. For whosoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among its people. It's still a sin. Well, my boss says they've got to work one Sabbath a month. So I'll work one Sabbath a month and be a church three Sabbath. Well, you're breaking the Sabbath. Sorry, it's a sin. Well, I only have to work on the Sabbath twice a year. It's still a sin, still breaking the Sabbath. Well, I only work every other week on the Sabbath, it's still breaking the Sabbath. Six days may work be done, but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest holy to the Lord, because of Genesis 2, 2, and 3. Holy to the Lord, whosoever does any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Now again, we're not under the administration of death, but in the final analysis, the administration of death of hellfire, if that is not repented of, because it is a deal breaker. Anyway, Ezekiel 20, 20. Ezekiel 20, and verse 20.

Ezekiel 20, and verse 20, and, "...hallow, or that is, keep holy my Sabbath, and they shall be a sign between me and you that you may know that I am the Lord your God. Hallo my Sabbath, keep them holy, and they shall be a sign between me and you that you may know that I am the Lord your God, a sign between God and his people." You know, it's interesting.

The Jews, the Orthodox Jews, keep the Sabbath. Now, obviously, the Orthodox Jews, and especially the ultra-Orthodox Jews, go in the ditch with it. We understand that. I mean, just so far fetched and out of whack. But they know when the Sabbath is, and even though they are misled in their thinking in what they can or can't do on it, I won't get off into that, they still know when the Sabbath is and recognize it. And at least the Orthodox Jews do, even if it's not balanced, practice, quote, keeping the Sabbath. And you know what? The Jews know who they are. Every Jew in the world basically knows he or she is a Jew. Guess what? The ten lost tribes don't keep the Sabbath. The ten lost tribes, many of them don't even recognize the Sabbath. They certainly don't practice it. And guess what? The ten lost tribes don't even know who they are. People today, we're in the kind of times in America that you almost cannot tell who we are without being accused of being racist or whatever bad term they want to put on it. Yet the heart and core of this nation is from one of the sons of Joseph.

We don't know who we are as a people. We don't know we're Manasseh.

We shall, before everything totally collapses, we're going to know, and we're going to know why, that what's coming is coming. But we've lost, you know, we've lost our identity. We were, quote, lost the Sabbath, the sign, and we've lost our identity. And it does have a connection. But like Adam and Eve, Israel failed to be faithful to God. And again, they eventually lost their identity as to who they are. They obviously ceased to function in a special relationship with God. That's obvious. But here's the thing about it. Failing to function in a special relationship with God, or failing to keep what one or people are supposed to, does not destroy the things of God. It does not destroy the things of God. It's just like Israel not living up to the Old Covenant. It didn't destroy the things of God. The things of God are still there. It doesn't change his standards. What a fickle God would have if God says, well, they won't obey me on that. So, oh, well, I'll just change my standards, and I'll make it easier for them, or whatever. It doesn't work like that. It just means that they negate those things in their lives, but human neglect and avoidance doesn't destroy those things of God. Again, a major point brought out through these examples is the simple fact that any time God chooses to bring a person into relationship with him, he begins to reveal to that person what is important and valid. And that special relationship of God engendered with Warren is based upon the special things of God, of which the Sabbath is very central and a special part. Simply said, God's people are given God's things. It's just that simple. God's people are given God's things. The things of God and God's people must go hand in hand, and in that, God doesn't change. So, June 22nd, 2019. What about today? I ask you to get a lot of certain phrases in your mind. Just hold them there. Does God have a people today that he's brought into a special relationship with him? Notice Titus 2.14. Do you think that Paul knew the Old Testament? I now speak foolishly. Obviously, Paul knew it. And James and John, Peter and all of them. Titus 2.14. You reckon that they purposely, and especially under inspiration of God, chose terminology that would be like ringing a bell? Sure, they did. Titus 2.14. Speaking of Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself, what? In the King James, it says, a peculiar people, a special or purchased people, a peculiar people, special, purchased, zealous of good works. Okay, Paul's writing that. Look at what Peter writes. Again, off of the knowledge and understanding that God had given him, off of God's revealing to Peter and inspiring Peter, 1 Peter 2.9, 1 Peter 2.9. Can you read this that Peter says and not think about those verses that we read in the Old Testament regarding ancient Israel? When Peter says, beginning in verse 9, 1 Peter 2.9, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.

Royal priesthood, holy nation, a peculiar or purchased people, that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Notice what it goes on to say, verse 10, which in time past were not a people. Peter is saying, as he writes to them, as I address you, as I look at you, as I know you, and as I travel, you're not a people that were chosen strictly according to a national common boundary.

You've come from all over, one from that nation, two from that nation, one across that line, three across that line, which in time past were not a people, not enclosed by a certain specific common national boundary, but are now what? What have you been made? The people of God. Not pulled from just one nation or country, not drawn from within a certain set of national boundaries, but you're now the people of God. It is interesting, if you go to Galatians 3, 27, Galatians 3, and verse 27 and 28, and we can make it 29 also, for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither abundant or free, there's neither male nor female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. Now obviously, there are those who are native Jews and native Gentiles, and obviously when it comes to marriage, it better be male than female. We understand all that, but what he is saying, you know, as far as being a part of the holy nation of God and your spiritual worth and value, I don't look and make a differentiation between a converted Jew and a converted Gentile, or a converted male or a converted female. If you're in Christ, you put on Christ, and if you be Christ, verse 29, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise? And so, if you look at chapter 6, in verse 16, Galatians 6, and verse 16, remember what Peter had said? You're now the people of God, and it says in Galatians 16, and as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy and upon, notice the term, the Israel of God. He looks at the first fruits of the church as the spiritual Israel of God. We don't believe in replacement theology. Physical Israel is still there. Physical Israel still exists. Physical Israel prophecies pertain to her and will be carried out, and her being carried out. But God refers to the church, to the spiritual people of God, as the Israel of God. So, it's interesting. God's spiritual people today, again, are not based on physical boundaries or bloodlines, but on a spiritual relationship with God, a real fellowship with Him. And if I go to 1 John 1, 1 John 1, and verse 3, the last man standing, the last apostle standing, that is, the last apostle of the original apostles standing, John. He's lived long enough to see all the others be martyred. He's 90-something years old, writing in the 90s A.D., and he's recalling them after 60-something years in the church. He's also putting certain things back in mind and re-emphasizing. And he says in 1 John 1, 3, that which we have seen, didn't hear about it, we saw it, and heard. We declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And once again, the Sabbath is brought into the picture because it is so central to the things of God. And the deeper the relationship with God goes, the deeper the things of God go in us. Hebrews 4.

In Hebrews 4, it is interesting in verse 4 that the statement is made in Hebrews 4 and verse 4. It says, For he spoke in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh day from all this works. So the seventh day is mentioned. And it becomes even more interesting when you come to verse 9, where it simply says, There remains therefore a rest to the people of God. And the word rest there is sabbathismos. It's a derivative of sabbathos, or the Sabbath. And what it means when you put it all together, there remains therefore, and in my Bible, I have a margin, and they put in the margin what it means. So if I read it according to what they said it means with what they put in the margin, it reads, There remains therefore a keeping of a Sabbath.

And a Sabbath has to be made by God. A human can't make a Sabbath, only God. And he did in Genesis 2, as well as the annual ones, too. But it's interesting, there remains therefore a keeping of a Sabbath to who? The people of God, the Israel of God. One cannot delve into the things of God without the Sabbath being eventually brought into the picture. Cannot be. One cannot and will not, God cannot and will not begin to reveal himself and his values to a person or a people without eventually bringing them to the Sabbath. He may not start there. But he cannot and he will not introduce, build, and maintain a relationship with a person without the Sabbath eventually being a very viable and central part of it because it has such a central focus and role in our special relationship with God. And from the beginning, it was meant to be this way to serve this purpose. A basic fact is revealed in Mark 2, verses 27 and 28. Mark 2, verses 27 and 28.

Verse 27, And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man. It's interesting, on the sixth day, he made Adam and Eve. And then the very next day, starting at sunset, the day he made Adam and Eve, on the sixth, the sixth concluded at sunset, which also initiated the beginning of another day, if God was going to create another day, which he was, created the Sabbath. He makes man, then he makes the Sabbath, and he has special Sabbath fellowship with the two human beings, with the initial forebears of all mankind. And he says the Sabbath was made for man, made for his good, made for his benefit. Because when you carry a relationship with God, and the benefit that comes from that, and the benefits that deepen and grow as the years go by, it gets better and better.

And not man for the Sabbath. There was a purpose in it. And then he goes on to say, verse 28, therefore the Son of Man, who was the Logos, who was the Word, who was the spokesman, who was the one with his hands scumpted Adam, with his mouth breathed breath to life into Adam, stood him on his feet, put Adam to sleep, took a rib, made Eve, and woke Adam up. Therefore the Son of Man, who also did that and who created the next day by creating the Sabbath, is Lord, or master, also of the Sabbath. Made for man.

His benefit is good, not just for the Jew. Say, there's nothing Jewish about the Sabbath. And what's interesting is, the Jews reject the one who created it. They'll kill you over the Sabbath, practically, but they rejected the one who actually created it. Jesus Christ, on behalf of the Father. No, it's not Jewish. It's just as mannish, if you know what I mean, because again, it was made for man, not for the Jew exclusively. Most importantly, it's godly. It points to and recognizes God, it acknowledges him, and it marks and identifies a special relationship with him. A couple more scriptures or so. First, in Zechariah 14, 9, Zechariah 14, 9, speaking of the glorious time we're looking forward to, Zechariah 14, 9, when the Lord and the Lord shall be king over all the earth.

We're looking forward to that, a time when the land will be filled with safety and peace and prosperity and happiness and joy. When you go to bed without anxiety and worry, when you'll sleep, sweet sleep, and you'll awake, refreshed, and recharged, a brilliant blue skies and sunshine, wonderful time to be alive, all the peace, the productivity, the happiness. No more wars, diseases, and all of that. And at the core of all of it, a deep, deep relationship with God the Father, who will still be in heaven, not here at that point yet.

He's got Christ here. The Lord shall be king over all the earth, in that day shall there be one Lord, in his name one. When the entire world is brought under Christ, someday, and into a special relationship with him, the Sabbath will be a major basis of that relationship.

It is going to serve its proper role worldwide in the way that it was meant to be from the beginning and started off by giving it to Adam and Eve, creating it for man, God's holy Sabbath, for the very first four of theirs, it's going to be used to fulfill purposes of God in due time. So we have Isaiah 66 in verse 23. Isaiah 66 in verse 23. And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, because that's the lunar month, and God counts the year, and we'll go back, you know, during that time to a lunar calendar.

And it should come to pass that from one new moon to another, from month to month, and notice from one Sabbath, do you think Isaiah didn't get it right, or he misunderstood what God meant? And what do you think the word Sabbath meant to Isaiah? You know what it meant, I do too. And from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh, that incorporates the Jew, the Israelite, the Gentile, all flesh, all humanity will come to worship before me, says the Lord. From Sabbath to Sabbath, there will be assemblies in appointed places around the globe. And yeah, Mr. Graham might have said, and there was no might about it, he did say it, I know Saturday's the Sabbath, but I can't teach it, that people aren't ready for it.

Well, it won't matter if they're ready for it or not, they're going to keep it. They're going to be forced to try it, and they're going to like it, and it's going to be a beautiful world under God's rulership. But again, here's the point to keep in mind, because at that time, the world, humanity will become God's people. The people of God in any age are led by God's Spirit. That's what Romans 8.14 says, they're led by God's Spirit. And God's Spirit only leads into the things of God, not away from them. That's John 16.13, never leads away from the things of God.

If you're being led away from the things of God, there might be Spirit involved, but it's not Holy Spirit, it's unholy Spirit. The Sabbath honors God. It points to God, and it has to do with a special relationship with God, a special fellowship with Him. That's why it has such a validity, and always will be.

And that's why there will always remain the keeping of the Sabbath to the people of God, because the people of God will always carry and have a special relationship with their Creator.