Part 1 by Jay Scher
The Sabbath was made for man, Mark 2:27. The Creator in His wisdom knew that all men desperately need a regular time of rest and renewal each week. Observing the Sabbath–especially with others in fellowship–provides great spiritual and moral strength to enable one to remain in the proper relationship with the Heavenly Father* the other six days of the week. Just as necessary as regular sleep at night, the Sabbath is a natural law without which man spiritually deteriorates.*The true names of the Heavenly Father, Father יהוה and His Son, יYeshua/Yehoshua the Messiah, are restored in these pages. Superstitious scribes and misguided Bible translators took away these true names and substituted the titles God, Lord and Adonai. The sacred Name is easily proved in good encyclopedias and dictionaries under the headings "Father יהוה," "Jehovah," "God," or "Tetragrammaton." Request our free booklets or read online, "The Heavenly Father’s Great Name" and/or "The Missing J," which prove the Names conclusively from secular and religious authorities, as well as Scripture.Father יהוה's Sanctified Sabbath Day
Salvation has always been "by grace through faith." In the Old Testament, men were saved by grace through faith. It was Father יהוה's grace that gave man the sacrificial system so that their transgressions of His moral law could be covered. But grace was not fully revealed until the death of the Messiah.Just as the moral law leads us to the Messiah by showing us our sin and our need for a Savior, the ceremonial law through sacrifices is intended to teach us of the coming Messiah and His atoning work. What is thought to be יYeshua/Yehoshua's doing away with the entire law is merely replacing the ceremonial ordinances with His own sacrifice. The moral and civil laws still remain in effect. These principles were not changed.The Sabbath Is Necessary in Spiritual DevelopmentיYeshua/Yehoshua said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive...neither knows," John 14:15-17. The Holy Spirit is quenched by Sabbath desecration just as it is quenched by murder or any other disobedience.The principle is not, "Give us the Comforter and then we will keep the commandments." You must first keep the commandments and then the Holy Spirit will do its work in you. יYeshua/Yehoshua commanded the lepers to go and show themselves to the priest, and they were fully healed—after they obeyed, not before.Proper Sabbath observance means religious training of our children. Neglecting the Sabbath in the home means that the children are not trained. When the Sabbath is ignored, so is Bible reading and study, as well as prayer and spiritual instruction. Sabbath keeping is Father יהוה's will. Man has devised many substitute activities for obedience to Sabbath keeping, but substitutes are unacceptable.Clearly those who use the Sabbath as a holiday, by putting themselves before Father יהוה in search of pleasure or profit, are not developing righteous character. Other attractions such as baseball games, movies, and television have no relationship with the sacred uses of the Sabbath day. They contain essentially nothing for moral or religious training. When the Fourth Commandment is violated by such pastimes, the Holy Spirit is quenched and interest in religious matters dies out. Can we wonder that those who use the Sabbath as a day for personal gratification or gain do not develop righteous character?No Sabbath, No Spiritual GrowthUsually, the Sabbath is rejected after one turns from Father יהוה. Just as breaking a law of physics can have adverse results, when the Sabbath is violated, worship is perverted and peculiar beliefs are sure to follow. Personal drives overtake biblical direction as intellectual reasoning supersedes spiritual drive.Note the spiritual derailment that resulted in Israel, following the righteous reign of King David, when one sin led to another. David's son, Solomon, married the princess of Egypt to secure the influence of the Egyptians. He then married other wives. Next, he built places of worship, not in harmony with Father יהוה's commandments, but to meet seemingly necessary conditions. Then Jeroboam thought it was necessary to set up golden calves in Dan and Bethel to meet a specific condition, and to be popular with the people.It was not long until Israel was found worshipping idols with the surrounding heathen people. It was not such a large step between the sincere worship of Israel in the days of David and the idol worship of Jeroboam and Ahab. Ezekiel tells us that the degeneracy of Israel was "...because they despised My judgments, and walked not in My statutes, but polluted My Sabbaths," Ezekiel 20:16. Any individual, family, community or nation that does not keep the Sabbath will soon degenerate.There is no growth in spiritual life where there is no Sabbath that brings the mind and heart to reflect upon the sacred truths of Scripture. Human nature is prone to follow the baser thoughts and motives even on the Sabbath day. "...not finding our own pleasure, nor speaking our own words," referred to in Isaiah 58:13, means that on His holy day, we are to turn aside from pleasures, profit-seeking, and conversations that we would naturally choose.For those who continue to reject the Sabbath, listen to John's assessment: "And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that says, 'I know him,' and keeps not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him," 1 John 2:3-4. . . to be continued
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