Is it still in force? ============================= What is the Sabbath and how important is it? Is Saturday the Sabbath of God?

Is the Sabbath Jewish? Have we entered into His Sabbath rest? Is the Sabbath done away with? Why is there so much controversy about the Sabbath, why do so many people believe it is done away with? Where is it possible to find the answers to all of those questions? There is only one place, THE BIBLE, the KJV. These are the words that God wrote with His finger regarding the Sabbath. Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed

it. KJV

Notice, because the Sabbath was already in existence, God said, "Remember the sabbath day. " And notice, He said, "to keep it holy.". Man can't make anything holy, only God can do that, but once made holy man can keep it holy, God says so. Almighty God wrote those words with His own finger. If they were that important don't you think, if we profess to worship Him that is, we should obey His commandment? At the very least shouldn't we take the time to find the truth? First of all I believe we should find out what the Sabbath is and how important it is in our lives. Why did God include the Sabbath in the commandments? It's not the same as, "Thou shalt not steal.", or "Thou shalt not kill.", is it? It's commanding us to rest on a particular day, why? Why is the seventh day so important, why that day over and above all other days? In order to find out we can only be guided by God and by what He has given us in His Bible. In Genesis 2:2 we learn that God first created the Sabbath when He had finished His CREATION. The Sabbath day was created by God, it's a special day and time. Gen 2:2 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. Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. KJV You notice that God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. To sanctify is to make holy, and only God can bless and make anything holy. ALMIGHTY GOD did not bless the first day HE BLESSED THE

SEVENTH DAY AND MADE IT HOLY. What might not be obvious to most people is that when God CREATED EVERYTHING He created light and darkness which determined the length of a day and the length of night, before He created the sun and the moon. It wasn't until day four that God created the sun, moon, and stars and they were to rule over the day and night, and seasons. Obviously God didn't need to create the sun or moon in order to have night and day, the fact that He did was, like everything else, for our benefit and as a result we have days, months, and years, heat, thermals, a number of weather effects, twilight, tides, and a whole host of things of which I am sure you are all aware. So why have I written about the sun and moon etc? Well, just as there was light and dark before God added the sun and moon, after they were added there were numerous benefits and spin-offs for us. So it is with the days of the week. They were obviously created as days of the week but when God added the special conditions to the seventh day, the blessing and sanctification, there were numerous benefits and spin-offs for us. There is a condition. One has to enter into the Sabbath rest every Friday at sunset until Saturday at sunset in order to experience the rewards and reap the benefits. One has to observe God's Sabbath as commanded. Something I must mention at this point. There are many hundreds of thousands of people who are evolutionists who don't believe that everything was created By Almighty God. They believe that everything is here as a result of chance happenings over millions of years. They don't believe in God, but what they don't realize is they live as a result of, and according to, God's laws and commands. They live according to God's created days, light, dark, heat, cold, seasons etc. Laws can't simply evolve, -like everything else they had to be created. It's just that evolutionists don't have the intelligence to realize it, and I include theistic evolutionists as so many foolish and hypocritical members of the clergy now are. In relation to Sunday, can we say that man has sanctified the so-called Sunday Sabbath? Can man really bless or sanctify anything? And what gave man the right to change God's word? The answers of course are, man has not done that with the socalled Sunday Sabbath, he can not sanctify anything, and he had no right to change God's word. Many many times man has changed God's word to suit his own purposes, mainly for corrupt and deviant reasons but also from an abysmal ignorance of the Bible on the part of so-called ministers throughout history, and of course we can never rule out Satan. The following is the meaning of the word "sanctified" as used in Genesis 2:3, from Strong's Concordance, KJV version. 6942. qadash, kaw-dash'; a prim. root; to be (causat. make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally):-appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, defile, hallow, (be, keep) holy (-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify (-ied one, self), X wholly. This is the meaning of the word "Sabbath" from Strong's Concordance, KJV version. 4521. sabbaton, sab'-bat-on; of Heb. or [H7676]; the Sabbath (i.e. Shabbath), or day of weekly repose from secular avocations (also the observance or institution itself); by

extens. a se'nnight, i.e. the interval between two Sabbaths; likewise the plur. in all the above applications:--sabbath (day), week. Why is the Sabbath so important in our lives, why did God create this special day, this special and holy time? He created it for us. If we obey this commandment and keep the Sabbath we will be the better for it personally, and if as a nation we obey the Sabbath that nation will flourish. If we turn away from keeping God's seventh day Sabbath we will personally lose by it, and as a nation will sooner or later, fail. Ezek 20:11 And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Ezek 20:12 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. Ezek 20:19 I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; Ezek 20:20 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. KJV

You notice, the Sabbath is a two way thing, it is a sign between Sabbath keepers and God. It shows that we, Sabbath keepers, worship the God of Creation, and only Him, and it shows God, we Sabbath keepers are His people, spiritual Israelites. Because the nation of Israel had been in captivity for 430 years and had been used as slaves by the Egyptians, working non stop, EXO 5, they had forgotten which day was the Sabbath. So when Moses brought them out of Egypt God taught them which day was the true Sabbath by giving them bread (manna) which could be gathered each day, sufficient for their needs, any left over would breed worms and stink. On the Friday however they could gather twice as much and what was left over would not breed worms and stink, and they could eat the remainder the following day on the Sabbath which meant they could rest and observe the Sabbath as commanded by God. Read Exo 16:11-30. If you follow God's laws, and if you observe and keep God's Sabbath which starts at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday, you come to realize that you enter into a special period of time, a time and space which God has made holy. There's more to it than that though, when you observe God's Sabbath, you will come to know Almighty God, and will grow in spiritual understanding and wisdom. How wonderful is that? And if you are asking why sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday, that's how God first created time, Gen chapter 1, and that also is still in force. In fact the only way one can really understand the Bible is by applying time and days as God created them. Only by applying God's time is it possible to understand the Crucifixion for example and know that Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday and resurrected exactly three days and three nights later on the Sabbath. At the end of each week you know you are entering into a time of rest and communication with God. That does not mean you ignore God during the week, but the Sabbath is special time. It is a time when the cares and worries, of the week come to an end, when you stop working physically and and mentally and one's mind dwells on God, and with God, the Bible, and all things spiritual, you rest with God.

When I first read that Saturday was God's Sabbath I didn't believe it, mainly because I had been brought up to believe that Sunday was the Lord's Day. That is the greatest problem and stumblingblock to acceptance of, belief in, and observance of, the Saturday Sabbath. The fact that we have been taught, and brainwashed by ministers who told us lies, to believe that Sunday was the day of rest, and it's not and never has been. Anyway, I thought, what; no do-it-yourself, a favourite pastime of mine, no sport, none of the usual pleasures or hobbies etc., (which contradict God's commandment), that can't be right. But within three weeks of Bible study I knew it was God's truth. That was almost nineteen years ago. Since then I have observed, and enjoyed God's Sabbath, and reaped the benefits. For those people who have problems with the difference in the wording, regarding the Sabbath as written in Exodus and that in Deuteronomy, one should know that in Deuteronomy Moses is in effect giving a generalized account of all of the previous events of the exodus. As such he didn't have to say "remember the Sabbath" because at that time they were keeping the Sabbath as the LORD had commanded Deu 5:12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. Deu 5:13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: Deu 5:14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. KJV I have explained when the Sabbath was created, why it was created, and the blessings and benefits of observing it. I suppose the reader could still be wondering, is Saturday really the Sabbath of God, not Sunday? The answer of course is the Sabbath of God is definitely Saturday. Gen 2:2 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. KJV God rested on the seventh day, and made the seventh day His Holy Sabbath. So why do most of Christendom believe Sunday is the Sabbath? The main reason of course is because they don't read the Bible for themselves and those few who do, don't understand it very well so they rely on the clergy, to tell them about the Bible, and they, the ministers, the Bishops, the Archbishops etc., preach lies. All of the clergy know that Saturday is the Sabbath, they all know the Sabbath is part of God's Ten Commandments, which has never, and can never, be annulled . It was a complete document signed with the finger of God. The Sabbath was never done away with, and was never changed to Sunday by God, no matter which verses people THINK they can quote to prove otherwise, no matter how people THINK they can prove that it was, the Bible proves otherwise as I will disclose later. Why do ministers, who profess to worship God, teach and preach lies? The truth is the Sabbath was changed to Sunday by the Roman Catholic Church. If you study any history book of the period or any encyclopedia, Bible Encyclopedia or dictionary, you will learn that it was the Roman Emperor Constantine, a pagan

who became a Christian on his deathbed, who in 321 AD made Sunday a legal holiday. It is also written in the Catholic Encyclopedia. Later a synod at Laodicea 381 AD declared that Christians were not to observe the Saturday Sabbath, but to work on that day and rest, if possible, on the Sunday, and to treat Sunday as the Sabbath. So you see it was man who changed the Sabbath day from the seventh day Saturday which Almighty God decreed, to Sunday. What followed was nothing short of horrific, the Catholic Church burned alive many many Christians because they refused to give up their observance of the true Sabbath. In the book "Foxe's Christian Martyrs of the World." such cases are described in detail, and many wonderful God fearing Christian people died in such a horrible way. There will be people who will say why did God allow man to change the Sabbath. The answer to that of course is, as with everything, God guides us He does not manipulate us or use us like puppets. We all have freedom of choice, we can all do what we want to, we can all study the Bible for ourselves but most people don't do that. As I wrote earlier, people are either too lazy to read the Bible for themselves or they believe that all of the clergy must know the truth because they supposedly studied the Bible and they simply swallow all the lies that ministers teach. What a mistake that has been, and is, -the blind leading the blind. God did not stop the teachings of evolution either, a teaching which is an affront to reasoning and intelligence, by foolish egotistical teachers and scientists. A case of the blind and foolish leading the blind and foolish. Each of us must decide for ourselves whether we really believe in God and what is truth, and I'm not talking about man's so-called truth. 'Man' has only been able to do the things he has because of what God has done for, and created in him. God gave us intelligence, He gave us everything there is in the ground and in the atmosphere. He gave us the dexterity, skills, and materials to be able to design and build the many wonderful things we have. So anything that is discovered by man is because God created it in the first place. Don't be fooled by statements such as, "Scientists have discovered so and so and as a result such and such.....", they could never have made anything but for God, nor could they have found anything unless it was there waiting to be discovered in the first place, thanks to God. The only reason the lies have lasted as long as they have is because the twisting of Bible truth and peoples minds has been, and is, aided and abetted by Satan. If one believes in God then one must believe in Satan. Jesus had to overcome him face to face, one on one. We don't have to do that but we do have to overcome him. He is a very powerful evil spiritual being. We have churches which are based on corruption and lies which have perpetrated and added to the lies throughout the centuries and of course are accepted by millions of people throughout the world. The question must be asked of most of the clergy, why do they do it? Why do they teach and preach lies, because they most certainly do. It's not as if they have only their own instincts to rely on and guide them, they all have the word of God, and it's truth. Was the Sabbath created for the Jews? No it most definitely was not! It was created for everyone, but applied and applies especially to the Israelites, the physical nation of Israelites in the Old Testament, and the spiritual nation of Israelites in the New Testament. I've lost count of the number of times, people who are ignorant of the Bible, have said to me, "Oh, you mean the Jewish Sabbath." when referring to the Saturday Sabbath, or oh, you mean the Jewish passover, when discussing that topic. It's surprising the number of people who don't even understand the Bible but think they have the right to spread lies and twist Bible truths.

Exo 31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. Exo 31:17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, rested, and was refreshed. KJV

and on the seventh day he

The Sabbath was created at Creation, it was a part of the Ten Commandments written with the finger of God not once but twice, at Mt Sinai, and given to Moses. The people who were gathered at Mt Sinai were Israelites, at that time there was no such nation as the Jews. The first mention of Jews in the Bible is in 2KI 16:6 almost 600 years after the Ten Commandments were written. The Jews were only a part of the nation of Israel, only two tribes in fact, Judah and Benjamin. They were not, and are not, the nation of Israel, and neither was the nation of Israel Jewish. So was the Sabbath created for the Jews? Only a fool could say so. Is the Sabbath Jewish? Only a person who doesn't understand the Bible or a fool could say yes to that. The Sabbath is for all people who are spiritual Israelites through the seed of Abraham. In Hebrews 2:16 it says that Jesus Himself took on the seed of Abraham. Have we entered into His rest? There are many churches and people who believe that they have entered once for all into a Sabbath rest and therefore the weekly Saturday Sabbath is done away with. That belief is wrong, and has come about because of one of two teachings, or a combination of both. The first belief is that the seventh day in Gen 2:2-3 does not end with, "And the evening and the morning were the seventh day", and so some people believe that day is continuous. A wrong understanding of Hebrews 3 and 4 is the second reason. Those chapters tell us that Paul is talking about the relationship of unbelievers and believers to Jesus and the Sabbath rest. In order to understand what Paul is saying we really need to read all of Hebrews. In chapter 3 he says we are part of Jesus' house, a house which Jesus built Himself. Then he quotes David from Psalm 95, speaking by the Holy Spirit in verses 3:7-10, and says, "To day if ye will hear his voice," -hear the voice of Jesus. Heb 3:7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Heb 3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the temptation in the wilderness: Heb 3:9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Heb 3:10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. Heb 3:11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) KJV vocation, in the day of

The "rest" spoken of in verse 11 refers to the rest that God gave the Israelites when they entered the promised land, and is a parallel to the Sabbath rest. See Deu 3:20. Deu 3:20 Until the LORD have given rest unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and until they also possess the land

which the LORD your God hath given them beyond Jordan: man unto his possession, which I have given you. KJV

and then shall ye return every

Paul, in Heb 3:12-19 says in effect, 'Be careful in case you depart from your belief in God, help each other daily, do not harden your hearts as they did during the Exodus. Help each other to keep faith while it is still called "To day". For we are partakers with Christ if we keep our faith to the end. The same words are still being said today, "To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.", like some of them did during the exodus. He goes on, 'But who was Jesus grieved with for forty years? Those who had sinned, and those to whom He, Jesus said, would not enter into His rest because of unbelief, and who died in the wilderness'. In chapter 4:1-11 he writes, Verse 1: Since the same promise of rest is still available to us today we should take care, because of what we have learned, in case a pledge, of entering into God's rest, we might, because of falling away or hardening of our hearts, fall short of it. Verse 2: The gospel was preached to them as to us but because of a lack of faith on the part of some of them it did them no good, they heard but didn't believe. Verse 3: We who believe do enter into His rest, because He said, "As I sware in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest:", those who do hear and believe, will enter into a rest which was prepared since Creation. Verse 4: And He spoke of a certain past time when God rested on the seventh day from all His works. Verses 5 and 6 should be read together. Verse 5: And in the same place again, if they will enter my rest. Verse 6: Because it remains, -some will enter in, even though some of them to whom the truth of the Sabbath was preached failed to grasp it because of unbelief, there still remains the Sabbath. Verse 7: Again Jesus specified a certain day, (referring to Psalms 95:7) as David said "to day", and now some time later "To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." If you hear the voice of Jesus calling you today do not turn away as some of them did during the exodus. Verse 8: If Jesus had given them rest, then wouldn't He afterwards have spoken of another day. If He had allowed those who were faithless at the time of the exodus to enter into a rest, then He would afterwards have mentioned another day, the special day, the Sabbath. Verse 9: There remains therefore a Sabbath rest to God's people, the spiritual Israelites. Verse10: Anyone who has entered God's rest has ceased from his work as God did from His at Creation. Verse 11: Let us all work hard to enter into and observe the Sabbath in case we fail like those who failed because of unbelief. Read those chapters in Hebrews for yourself, are we in a permanent rest ,or should we be in a permanent rest? Those chapters do not say that. What sort of Sabbath do those people who believe they have entered a permanent rest, or Sabbath, think they are celebrating? They do whatever they want to do on any and every day of the week under the pretext of being permanently in God's rest. That's foolish and in no way is observing or doing the things one should do on the Sabbath as God commands us to, and is certainly not resting. Those people who think that when God rested on the seventh day from all His work, that He entered into a permanent rest, are wrong. Those people who believe the seventh day continued and is continuing are wrong. If I was to say I rested on Saturday, the Sabbath, and because I haven't felt well, I am still resting 72 hours later, that doesn't mean it's still Saturday, does it? The Seventh day of Creation was created a day, exactly the same as the other days, if it wasn't then we would not have the weeks, and months, and years that we have. Why would God even bother numbering the days if there was to be no finite ending? And as far as Hebrews is concerned, those chapters and some

specific verses say exactly the opposite of an eternal rest. Hebrews 4:10-11 says that if we mortals enter into the Sabbath we will be the same as God when He rested at the end of Creation week. That means if God was permanently resting and 'man' did the same as God, from Creation, there would have been no development of any kind because Adam and Eve and any offspring would have done nothing but rest, an ongoing Sabbath rest. Nothing would have been done. Does that not contradict what God says we must all do, and that is -work? Does that not contradict the fourth commandment? Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: The Lord Jesus tells us in JOH 5:17 that God the Father still works and let me say if He didn't still work then it would be goodbye to the world and the universe. It's only because God works continually that everything remains in place and continues to function properly. He maintains and sustains us. And answer this, could you as a human stop doing everything? Could you simply stop doing anything and everything? Of course you couldn't. Then if we can't do that how do you suppose Almighty God who is all wise all knowing and can create, and does create, miracles, could ever stop working? What do these people suppose about Jesus after His resurrection, do they think that He ascended to heaven and just sits at the right hand of God the Father, doing nothing? How foolish. The answer is, God the Father and Jesus couldn't just sit and do nothing, and they haven't, they only rested and rest on the seventh day Sabbath which was created for us. That is why the Sabbath is so special, it's because we Sabbath keepers know, we are entering into and sharing the same special time and space as God the Father and the Lord Jesus do on that special day. I believe everyone should read chapters 3 and 4 of Hebrews it will help to clarify the points raised. There is something I would say about Hebrews 4:8. The word translated as "Jesus" in the KJV, is translated as Joshua in most Bibles, Bible dictionaries, Bible histories etc. The KJV is correct in it's translation of the word used in that verse. The Greek text of HEB 4:8 uses the word Iesous and in Strong's Concordance, KJV version, is No. 2424 which is the same word translated "Jesus" 942 other times throughout the whole of the New Testament. 2424. Iesous, ee-ay-sooce'; of Heb. or. [H3091]; Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua), the name of our Lord and two (three) other Isr.:-Jesus. As I explained earlier, in HEB 3:7-10 Paul speaks as Jesus through the Holy Spirit when he quotes David, and says in verse 11, "So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest." In chapter 4:8 Paul is referring to that earlier statement when he says, "For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day." So the problem lies not with the Greek text or with the KJV Bible translators, it is because of a wrong understanding and translation by ALL other Bible translators who substitute Joshua, instead of Jehoshua, or Jesus. It wasn't Joshua or any man giving rest to the Israelites spoken of in that chapter, he could not give that type of rest, it was the Lord Jesus, as it quite clearly says in Deu 3:20. Deu 3:20 Until the LORD have given rest unto your brethren,

as well as unto you, and until they also possess the land which the LORD your God hath given them beyond Jordan: man unto his possession, which I have given you. KJV Heb 4:8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. KJV

and then shall ye return every

Is the Sabbath done away with? NO! It most definitely is not, it is still in force and has been since Creation. An article I once read said the Sabbath was no longer in force because it applied only to the Israelites and they were no longer in existence. That's not true, anyone who believes in God, as Abraham did, with faith in God, who has repented and been baptized, full immersion, and observes all of His Ten Commandments and laws is a spiritual Israelite. Rom 4:13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Rom 4:14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: Rom 4:15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. Rom 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, KJV I wrote earlier that I would disclose why the Sabbath is still in existence, has never been done away with by God, and that the Bible proves that fact. First of all I would think that all people who profess to be Christian believe that the Lord Jesus could never and would never tell lies. That's the truth, He couldn't and wouldn't. Although Jesus sometimes spoke in parables He always explained things to His disciples and followers. So what we find written written in Luke after the Lord Jesus had been crucified is very informative. Luke 23:54 And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. Luke 23:55 And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. Luke 23:56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. KJV Do you see what it says? "....and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment." They rested according to the fourth commandment which started at sunset on Friday. If the women hadn't rested Luke wouldn't have written what he did, because the Bible writers didn't tell lies either. If there had been any objection to the women resting, not only Luke but the other gospel writers would have written about it, they didn't, which proves there was no discord amongst them because they had rested on the Sabbath. What Luke wrote is very important and is the truth of God. It was written in the Bible so that we might know for certain the Sabbath remained in force after the death our Lord Jesus. Now you know the Sabbath was never done away with by God. His Sabbath is still in force and is to be observed by all Christians.

To further explain the statement about the women resting, according to MAR 16:1, the women had bought sweet spices after the High Day Sabbath, was past. MAR 16:1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the {mother} of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. KJV JOH 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. KJV So briefly to help to show how all of the days and verses fit here is a graphic illustration. WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY Nisan 14 Nisan 15 Nisan 16 Nisan 17 ------------------------------------------------------------------PASSOVER HIGH DAY Preparation WEEKLY Jesus SABBATH day SABBATH crucified on the The women Preparation bought spices day 1st Day of and rested JOH 19:31 Unleavened according to Bread the commandment Entombed MAR 16:1 Resurrected Just before sunset Just before sunset ------------------------------------------------------------------Sunset --------------Sunset-------------Sunset-------------Sunset Notice also using God's way of reckoning time, a day starts at sunset and ends the following sunset, Jesus was three days and three nights in the tomb as He said He would be. The only way to understand the Bible is to use God's method of reckoning time, using man's 12 till 12 hour time will cause you problems. It was "man" who changed the Sabbath, this very important day, this holy time and space, for his own corrupt and deviant reasons, and those people who have observed the Sunday as the rest day and as a substitute for the Sabbath have all been, and are all, deceived. Let me say here categorically, -with regard to something as important as the Sabbath, created by God during the week of Creation, written by God with His finger, not once but twice, on tablets of stone , as part of the Ten Commandments, a document which cannot be annulled, was re-introduced by God during Exodus, and which was observed by Jesus all His life. Jesus would not have left His disciples and followers in the dark. He didn't. He obviously taught, right up to His death, that all ten of the Ten Commandments always have been, and always will be in force. He taught that the Sabbath was still in force, and left his followers in no doubt about that.

There is no evidence in the New Testament that Jesus, His disciples, apostles, or followers, ever celebrated the Sabbath on Sunday. For those people who wonder if we are celebrating the Sabbath correctly, and I don't mean is it Saturday or Sunday, I've explained that. I mean is it the correct Saturday, because of calendar changes etc., is the Saturday that was, now a Tuesday or some other day today? We know that Jesus observed the Sabbath and it is preposterous to believe He would have celebrated it on the wrong day. I say preposterous because God went to great lengths in order to show the Israelites which day was the Sabbath, during the Exodus, so He wouldn't have allowed His son on earth to celebrate it on the wrong day. Since then the Jews have had the responsibility for keeping God's calendar. If you do some research re the calendar in any good encyclopedia you will find something similar to the following. When the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar in 1582 AD, ten days were deleted in order to correct error which had crept in and help synchronize seasonal changes. But when the ten days were removed the days were kept in order. So OCT 4th of 1582 (a Thursday) was followed by OCT 15th 1582 (a Friday), and the Sabbath of OCT 16th 1582 happened exactly 7 days after the previous Sabbath of OCT 9th 1582. I have shown from the Bible that the Sabbath was an important part of God's overall plan, it was significant enough to be included in His Creation. When Moses broke the first set of stone tablets at Mt Sinai because of the Israelites sinning, God had him prepare another two tablets and He re-wrote the Ten Commandments once again with His finger. EXO 32:19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. EXO 34:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. KJV of stone like unto the

And because the Israelites had forgotten which day was the Sabbath, God showed them miraculously at the beginning of the Exodus, which was the correct day. The Ten Commandments and the Sabbath were that important. All of that was done by Almighty God FOR US, for all people, for our benefit, that we might draw closer to God as a result, but also that our lives might be enriched. If the Sabbath was important to God, and it was, then it should be just as important to us. One final point I must mention. It says the following in the Ten Commandments. Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: Strong's number and word for 'gate' is: H8179 sha'ar, door or gate. It is taken from a primitive root number H8176 and part of the meaning of that word is, "To estimate, to think."

8176. sha'ar, shaw-ar'; a prim. root; to split or open, i.e. (lit., but only as denom. from H8179) to act as gate-keeper (see H7778); (fig.) to estimate:--think. The stranger that is within thy gates, means anyone who you bring within your jurisdiction, or condition over which you have control. I say that because in Old Testament times the whole of God's people observed the Sabbath and any stranger who entered a village, town or city would have had to comply with God's command, they all knew of it. They didn't do any travelling on the Sabbath, it was observed within their homesteads, and shared with like minded people. Today churchgoers may have to travel many miles in order to attend a Sabbath keeping church and that is where things have changed. If people choose to travel to church by train or bus, THEY HAVE BROKEN THE SABBATH. Why? Because they have chosen to bring that stranger, the train or bus driver, who is working and earning his/her living, within their gates. If, as I know, a number of church members do, they go out for a meal to a restaurant after Sabbath church while it is still the Sabbath, or even when the Sabbath has ended, THEY HAVE BROKEN THE SABBATH. Why? Because the chefs, cooks, waiters etc., have all been, and are, working on the Sabbath, and they have chosen to bring them within their gates. Sabbath keepers should not go shopping or conduct business of any sort in any way, for the same reasons. Some people are bound to ask, what about using water or electricity etc. In those cases one has no control over those people who are working to produce or maintain the electricity or water works, and we are not directly involved with them. We have not gone out of our homes and deliberately brought them within our gates, and they will continue to generate their commodities whether we use them or not, they do not come within our jurisdiction. There will be times when visitors arrive on the Sabbath who are not religious or non Sabbath keeping. All we can do under those circumstances is tell them of our beliefs, and why we observe the Sabbath, and ask them to respect those beliefs while they are our guests. We can not, and nor would God want us to, force our beliefs on anyone. We can only hope that because of what we teach, and that by our example, it helps to open their eyes and minds. I really believe God is saying to us, in order to observe the Sabbath and enjoy the benefits; we need to be with, and meet with, people who are like minded. Only then will we steer clear of the ways of the world, the swearing, the suggestiveness, the dirty jokes, some music with it's crudity, and the blaspheming, which is so prevalent today. If we choose to mix with or make use of people who work on the Sabbath then we know, those people do not think and believe as Sabbath keepers do. As such some of them will speak and behave the way so many do who are in ignorance of God. It's bad enough that we have to tolerate people who behave crudely and offensively at work or with who we mix during the week, we should never invite that kind of behaviour by bringing those people within our gates on the Sabbath. We really shouldn't waste the chance that God has given us. He knows better than we do what is best for us. Read your Bibles for yourselves and if you really want to worship God then do so according to what He says and reap the benefits.

Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Isa 58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Isa 58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Isa 58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. KJV Almighty God who has poured out, and does pour out, His wonderful blessings upon us, has blessed us with this holy and sanctified day, His Sabbath. May He bless you and open up your understanding of His truth.

Written by Richard W Hayes. August 20th 1999. 3, Christie Avenue, Christies Beach. South Australia 5165 email rikhayes@picknowl.com.