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GOD’S ALMOST FORGOTTEN DAY
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the
seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work” (Ex 20:8-10).
There is one Supreme creator under Heaven whose mighty words brought forth into existence
everything in the universe. So mighty and powerful, that when these myriads of heavenly bodies where
summoned to appear not one of them failed to come!
"By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His
mouth. For He spake, and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast" (Psalm 33:6, 9). " Lift up your
eyes on high, and behold who hath created all these things, that bringeth out their host by number, He
calleth them all by names, by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power, not one faileth"
(Isaiah 40:26).
This is the same God whose anger and fury caused the great flood and killed all but eight to start
life anew. The same God who made possible one of the most spectacular events in Old Testament history,
the parting of the Red Sea as He lead the children of Israel out of Pharaoh’s reach. A Mighty God who
fed His people with manna for forty years as they wandered about in a strange land before they were
allowed to enter the promised land. He is the Lawgiver who gave us the Ten Commandments – His
spiritual law (Romans 7:14) that defines what sin is (1 John 3:4) and regulates our relationship and
conduct to our Creator and to one another.
This is the God of the Bible. Our God who can bring the dead back to life, the lame to walk
and the blind to see. Our God whose voice even the wind and the water gladly obey and listen to
whenever He commands (Mark 4:41). Our God can cast out demons and perform such other supernatural
feats and miracles far beyond the realm of human reason. What a Mighty and Powerful God our God is!
Do you believe in that God? Good! "The devil also believes and trembles" (James 2: 19).
I have taken the time to introduce an impressive portrait of the kind of God that the Bible speaks
of. I just cannot understand how the world could be so stubborn as to rebel against this mighty Creator. If
indeed we truly believe in that God as we profess we do, then He should become the center of our lives.
We should fear Him and shudder at the thought of His holy presence. More than anything else, we should
obey whatever He commands, knowing that with all His inherent awesome power, capable of performing
all these tremendous miracles and wonders, He alone determines our fate for all eternity.
But no! God is not real to most. He remains an illusion, a fantasy too good to be true. God was
real on Day One when the curtain of human civilization was raised in the Garden of Eden and later when
the Word took human form and dwelt among us - entering the arena of human affairs to deal once and for
all the issue of sin, " …despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,
wounded for our transgression and bruised for our iniquities" (Isaiah 53:3,5). Eventually, Christ offered
His sinless life and suffered the most horrible of deaths by crucifixion. The same spirit of disobedience is
still prevalent among His people even in to this so called modern day because many just do not believe
Him--man has never learned his lesson.
Of all the commandments of God, the fourth commandment is the only sign that identifies the true
God and who His people really are! It is also the most shunned, abhorred and scorned of Commandments.
Incredibly, this law when followed would bring us indescribable joy, happiness and fulfillment. Man,
even though he received simple instruction from the Author of light, has by his inherent rebellious nature
tuned into the broadcast system of Satan’s wave link. Nowhere in the Holy Scripture did God hallow the
first day of the week. Sad to say, but Sunday worship is of pagan origin. It is nothing more than the
worship of the Sun god. Sunday is the day of the sun!
The 7th day, is the only day "set aside" by God with special blessings, sanctified and made holy.
Many say we can have a day of rest any day we like and most worship God on the first day of the week –
the day He never sanctified or made holy. The first day of the week is an ordinary day like the second
day to the sixth. But the 7th day, God said, " Remember…", but man, despite his God-given gift to
decide what is right and what is wrong, allowed himself to be held captive by the god of this world and
clung to his rebellious nature in utter disregard to God’s hollowed command.
Most do not realize that the Sabbath is an integral part of the re-creation week. It could not be
done away with as some have been made to believe. If we do, we are doing away with all other creations
of God from Day One to Day Six, which is in itself an impossible thing to do. The Sabbath is as much a
part of creation as the sun and the moon. If we can not do away with the sun and the moon created by
God, then by the same token, we cannot do away with the Sabbath created by God on Day Seven. That
is why God said, it will remain with us forever. "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" (Exo 20:8).
To remember means to put it always in our mind. It means it has always been there and we are just
reminded to keep it that way: Holy! And no man can make anything holy, only God can. And the day that
was set apart and made holy was not just any day of seven but specifically the seventh day and the
seventh day alone, no other.
A lengthy explanation on this subject was given by the late Herbert W. Armstrong, Pastor General
of the Worldwide Church of God in his booklet entitled, "Which day is the Christian Sabbath." He said:
"So God took the most enduring, lasting, imperishable thing that man can know – the recurring space of
time – the only day that is a memorial of the act of creating. He took the only day which points constantly,
every seventh day of the week to the existence of the Almighty God."
All the days of our lives, as we look up at the skies and a host of other heavenly bodies, the sun,
the moon and the stars, we are reminded of how a mighty and powerful God created all these things,
including man. Apostle Paul puts it well when he said, that creation is proof of the existence of the
Almighty God. He said: "For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen
being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are
without excuse" (Rom 1:20).
The whole professing Christian world admits that except for the fourth commandment, all the rest
are good principles in life. It is only the Sabbath command that they do not like. What a pity! It is the
command that is meant for our physical rest after six long hard days work. It is a time to renew our
special bond with our Creator and time to rejoice in the knowledge that He is with us week after week.
Yet, people still insist in worshiping a counterfeit god on a counterfeit day of rest instead of worshiping
the true God on His true Sabbath day!
The Sabbath was created for a very special reason. It was purposely made for man – for you and
me. It is a command that will prove whether we will submit to God’s authority or not. Jesus said, "If you
love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15). Our obedience to God’s law reflects the love we have
for Him. It is therefore imperative that we must know how we can effectively keep God’s Sabbath day.
How do we spend our time leading up to this holy part of the week? Do we truly understand God’s
Sabbath command and really keep this time holy? Are we aware that we may be a devoted observer of
this particular command yet, still suffer the consequence of eternal punishment ?
The Creator God worked for six days and on the seventh day, He rested. Just as God worked so
man must do the same. If we did not work for six days but rested on the seventh day we still in principle
have broken the 4th commandment. One of the reasons the Sabbath is such a delight is because God
allows us to rest and recover from our work. If we have not worked at all during the week, then we would
not be resting from work on the Sabbath, we simply remained at rest contrary to the basic spiritual
principle of the fourth point of the law.
How do we keep holy what God has made holy? In Exodus 3:5, God commanded Moses, "Draw
not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."
Moses had to behave in a special way because the ground was set apart for holy use by God. The Sabbath
was also set apart for holy use and we must act and follow His instructions accordingly. "Where two or
three are gathered in My name, there will I be also." The presence of God would have been enough to
have made the place holy, for God alone is holy. In attending the annual feasts of God, in the place
where He had chosen to put His name, we wholeheartedly obliged- knowing that He had also set apart the
place for holy use. It is in this place where God’s presence will surely be and certainly it will be a place
we long to be.
Time and again, the Sabbath is a lifelong invitation to His people to gather themselves in holy
convocation. It is a commanded assembly where all people of like minds can fellowship with one another,
exhort one another, help one another and love one another. What an opportune time for God’s people to
sing songs of praises, to speak of the things God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ have done for us,
the things They are doing now for us and of what They have in stored for us in the future!
In Isaiah 58:13, God tells us that we are not to do our own ways, or find our own pleasure or speak
our own words on His Holy Sabbath. Of course He expects us to find pleasure in His Sabbaths – He calls
it a delight ! We will find joy in keeping the Sabbath God’s way, doing His pleasure and speaking His
words. It is not a time to watch sitcoms, surf the Internet and pursue our own desires. It is a time to pray,
study God’s words and reflect on His incredible plan. We are given a fantastic opportunity one full day in
every week, week after week, to draw closer to Him-to thank Him for all the things He has done. On this
special day, we have to present ourselves at our best – dressed in our best attire, for we are to meet our
Creator who is far beyond the conception of a finite mind. On this day nothing else should matter but God
… and who He is.
God’s weekly Sabbath plays a vital role in His awesome redemptive plan. Week after week, God
is extending to us His invitation to share the blessings He had bestowed on His Sabbath day. Every time
we attend the Sabbath service we allow God to instill in us His own loving and caring attributes. Praying
for instance, for others, even for people we do not even know, especially for their health and financial
burdens develops in us that sense of belonging. We know that God cares for these people. He knows what
is happening to them. He loves them more than we do, more than they even love themselves. Through our
sufferings, we allow God, as the greatest Master potter of all, to mold and shape our lives in His own
way. One day soon, all of our financial problems and worries will be gone. One day soon, at the
appointed time, we will share all the glorious riches with the Owner of this universe. Those who are
bedridden, those who are in wheelchairs, and those who have passed away in their infirmities will one day
leap wildly and dance jubilantly on heavenly clouds. One day soon, all human sufferings will end. In the
meantime, God is working in us through all the hardships, the challenges and sufferings we experience in
life.
God calls His people in a number of ways, the Sabbath being prominent among them. In my case,
attending the Sabbath was my first step in the journey. As time passes by, in the process of growing in
grace and knowledge, new vistas of understanding came to the forefront. I came to realize that there is a
need for us to sail through oceans, climb peaks, cross valleys and explore caves in order to know Him
more. In more ways than one, we have to pray without ceasing, study God’s words without let-up, even
when alone. We need to practice what we have learned and give our heart to the work without any
reservation at all. Our presence in God’s Sabbath day is vital to our survival because God will never give
us new truths unless we submit ourselves to the compelling force of this test command.
The Sabbath is one of the provisions embodied in the Ten Commandments. It is a perpetual
covenant-an Eternal law, binding to all people irrespective of race and color. It was observed by the
patriarchs of old. It was observed by no less than Christ Himself and the New Testament apostles. It will
surely be one of the salient features of the Decalogue that will determine the outcome of our eternal
future. In fact, the prophet Isaiah gives us good reason to believe that the Sabbath covenant will be in
force in the millennium and onward. "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another
[month to month], and from one Sabbath to another [week to week], shall all flesh come to worship
before Me, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 66:23).
Above all, we must not forget that the Sabbath is God’s appointment time He set aside to train
our children to understand the deep meaning of God’s Sabbath day so, that they too will appreciate and
realize the dependency of their own lives to this hallowed command. "And thou shall teach them
diligently unto thy children and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest
by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up" (Deut.6:7).
All our time belongs to God. Everything belongs to Him. We are to honor Him every day in all
that we do, but He established the seven day week and commands that we devote the seventh day of every
week as a day of rest and time for special worship. Breaking this command could mean death for all
eternity. The Apostle James writes: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point,
he is guilty of all" (James 2:10). " “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have
tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit. And have tasted the good word of
God, and the powers of the world to come. If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance;
seeing they crucify to themselves the son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame" (Hebrews 6: 4-6). No other alternative is acceptable because the wages of sin is death and sin is nothing more but the
transgression of the law.
After being persuaded to severe my membership with the WCG as the prophesied "great falling
away" took place, I have been hopping from one church to another. It was only lately that I realized the
importance of the "preparation day" as a vital component of God’s Sabbath day. It could only mean that
God means serious business with regards to His proclaimed day of rest. It is so precious, that before His
holy time comes, everything must be taken care of, to the last minute detail, so that when the Sabbath
comes we can observe it to the fullest.
Recall to mind Numbers 15:32,35-36, "And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness,
they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. And the Lord said unto Moses. The man
shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the
congregation brought him without of the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died, as the Lord
commanded Moses." Did it really matter that the man failed to obey God and was careless enough to have
done what appeared to be a seemingly minor infraction? It mattered to God. Clearly, even on such little
things our eternal future hangs in the balance.
Over time, men have contrived every conceivable argument to get rid of the Sabbath. They have
even attempted to “nail it to the cross,” label it “Mosaic” and exchange it for another day. They also
regarded it a burden or yoke of bondage. But how could a day of rest and relaxation, blessed and
sanctified by a loving Creator be considered as such?
It is man’s duty, his destiny, to obey God, and in so doing he will find supreme happiness!
"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8). It would certainly be a costly mistake to
forget! ✍ Romeo Samudio