Since that time when the seventh day Sabbath was instituted on the earth at the end of creation week, it has remained unchanged by God, and even in our day it is meant to be kept holy. However, during the antediluvian era, men became more averse to God, and as a result, the effect and purpose of the 7th day Sabbath was to a large extent lost upon them. But it is still binding upon all people, for it was given to all, not only to the Jews. Let’s read:
Genesis 2:1 Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
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.
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.
Mark 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.
28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
Then, after the flood, God decided to take a people unto Himself through whom He purposed to have a knowledge of Himself and His law, preserved in the earth. Then the Jewish nation was born, and it was the purpose of God that they should be the shining example on a hill, for other nations to observe, and emulate, as those nations beheld both the wisdom and beneficence of The Creator.
The Jewish nation was therefore established as a theocracy, with God at the head of the nation, and His servants under Him, carrying out His revealed will. Thus, the Sabbath became integral part of Jewish life and culture, and other nations came to view the nation as peculiar, even though at times, idolatry took a fearful toll on the fabric of Judaism.
However, the fact that they were peculiar in their principles, laws and judgments was well established in the minds of the nations who could not but admit that something about them was quite different, and this is just as God would have it, for as stated before Israel was to be a specimen nation, leading others to love and obey the God of heaven. Let’s read:
Deuteronomy 4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.
5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely, this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?
8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
Esther 3:8 And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king's laws: therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them.
1st Samuel 4:5 And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.
6 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp.
7 And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.
8 Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.
9 Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.
The Jewish nation was formerly incorporated as a theocracy when at Sinai, the people entered into a solemn covenant with God to be His peculiar people and to obey His commandments. After stating what part each party would play, the covenant was then ratified through the sprinkling of blood, and Israel became the first nation with God as their official Head. Let’s read:
Exodus 19:3 And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.
5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine.
6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him.
8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.
Exodus 24:7 And he took the book of the covenant and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.
8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.
It is worthy of note that as a nation, the U.S.A has never officially entered into any such covenant with God, for even though we often use the phrase “One nation under God” it doesn’t carry the same weight nor the same meaning as that which took place at Mt. Sinai. It is critically important then, for persons who enter into a covenant relationship with Christ, to understand that it is something personal, and not national.
Therefore, the remnant church of God in the 21st century consists of individuals who have made a personal commitment to Christ, and as such they congregate with others who have made a similar commitment. But as far as nationally goes, it is not, and will never happen, for the Bible outlines in no uncertain terms what the primary characteristics are, of the true church in our day. Let’s read:
Rev. 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
As a nation we uphold some of the commandments, and others we leave on the back-burner. The taking of human life in a wanton, or premeditated manner is illegal in every state across the land and it is now a crime for individuals to lie to congress, as some unfortunate persons have been discovering lately.
However, in America, same-sex marriage is legal, and a married man who has one or more mistresses isn’t viewed as being a criminal per se. The drinking of alcohol is also legal at certain ages, and unclean meats that have been proscribed by God are now fair game across the land. Therefore, the notion of one nation under God is a misnomer.
When God commanded the Jews to keep holy the Sabbath, it was not only on a personal level, but on a national level as well, for it was the entire nation collectively that had entered into the covenant relationship. This is certified by the words spoken by God through His servant Moses, as He explained some of the details of proper Sabbath-keeping. Let’s read:
Exodus 16:22 And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.
23 And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.
25 And Moses said, Eat that today; for today is a sabbath unto the Lord: today ye shall not find it in the field.
26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.
27 And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.
28 And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
A deeper study of the passages above and the other texts pertaining to Sabbath observance, reveal that as a theocracy, God is the one who put the national systems in place, and as such, He promised to take care of those systems miraculously over the sacred hours of the Sabbath, so that all could keep it holy.
For instance, He put the food systems in place on a national level, so that every issue pertaining to food was managed by God during the year, and over the Sabbath hours. This is very important as we lay the foundation for questions pertaining to 21st century Sabbath observance. Let’s read:
Israel’s Food Systems
Exodus 16:23 And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.
Leviticus 26:3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;
4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
Deuteronomy 7:14 Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.
Exodus 34:21 Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
The food industry is huge in America, but God did not promise to manage it the same way He did with Israel, even though, as stated in the Bible He still provides for man and beast. But micromanagement, which included the miraculous preservation of food, and the micromanagement of the weather, to bring the right amount of rain at the right time, is not part of any treaty now for we have no national covenant with God.
Hence the reason why nature seems to be turning out of its course so often, for when rain comes, as it did with hurricanes Maria, Harvey, and Michael, it’s often an overwhelming amount of torrential rain, which in many cases, does more harm than good. These occurrences are scheduled to become much more frequent and devastating, as we drift further, and further away from God. Let’s read:
Isaiah 24:4 The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
Israel’s National Security Systems
Deuteronomy 7:17 If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?
18 Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt;
19 The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched-out arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out: so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid.
20 Moreover the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.
21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.
23 But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed.
For example:
Joshua 10: 6 And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us: for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us.
7 So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor.
8 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.
9 Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly and went up from Gilgal all night.
10 And the Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Bethhoron, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.
11 And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.
Exodus 34:23 Thrice in the year shall all your men-children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel.
24 For I will cast out the nations before thee and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year.
Even though in His mercy, God still, to some extent protects us, yet as a nation we don’t have a national security agreement with The Lord, and as such, we will at times become vulnerable to our internal and external foes. Case in point was 9/11, when out of the blue, terrorists descended upon the nation, and three thousand souls were lost. Again, these things are scheduled to become more disastrous, as we drift further away from God. Let’s read:
Matthew 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
2nd Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.
Israel’s Healthcare Systems
Deuteronomy 7:15 And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee.
Exodus 23:25 And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
26 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.
Psalms 103:2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Psalms 105:37 He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.
Nehemiah 9:21 Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
As a nation we have no health care system that has God as the provider for we have put our own health care systems in place, we have substituted natural remedies with drugs of all sorts, we are eating any and everything, with little regard to God’s laws and principles, and we have introduced eastern modes of thought and action, including transcendental meditation, hypnosis, and ayurvedic medicine.
False prophets have also taken up the slack, for in too many cases, where conventional medicine has failed, multitudes are turning to spiritualistic, and professed faith healers, while transgressing the laws of health given by God for our own good. In fact, to a large extent, our healthcare systems health have greatly diminished God’s input.
Thus, as we have delineated previously, the systems of earth are essentially stacked against God, and as a result it has become quite difficult, or impossible for our nation to keep the Sabbath. As a matter of fact, it is even impossible to keep Sunday, since the various systems of earth call for continuous work to manage and protect the systems we have in place.
Yet God still has a people upon the face of the earth who keep all of His commandments, including the Sabbath, and He is now calling as many as would be willing, to identify themselves with His people, lest they be consumed in the cataclysmic events soon to unfold. God’s purpose and His appeal in this matter are specifically stated in both the old and the new testaments. Let’s read
Isaiah 56:2 Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
4 For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of
the Lord, to be his servants, everyone that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Revelation 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.
11 And they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Very few Christians the world over have even a faint glimpse of the grave issues before us. We have read of them over and over again but very few of us have captured the magnitude, and the dangers which lie ahead. The mark of the beast is scheduled to split the planet in two, thus making a clear distinction between those who serve God, and those who only profess to serve Him in words.
The mark of the beast, which undoubtedly centers around the issue of worship, will call for a radical departure from the easy-going Christianity of the day, because those who decide to keep the Sabbath in the 21st century will at some point be called upon to disconnect themselves entirely from all earthly systems, and trust in God for everything.
Therefore, Sabbath-keeping is not a national issue anymore, but is a personal issue between a person and his/her God. In the gospels Christ demonstrated and stated in His own words that it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath. But because we all have been inundated, and become accustomed to man-made systems, the word “Well” has taken on a life of its own and can now be construed to include almost every type of work.
In our man-made systems of the 21st century the “Essential services” are not restricted to nursing or caring for the sick anymore. Security services are essential, water-management is essential, garbage disposal is essential, fire rescue is essential, and the management and monitoring of the electrical grid is essential.
And it does not stop there, for all of the supporting elements which ensure these important services are also deemed essential. This will include the banking sector, and insurance companies, because persons and hospitals will need to pay for services; the fuel industry will also fall under the banner of Essential because ambulances, fire trucks, security vehicles, and aircraft involved in the essential services will need fuel to operate.
And mechanics will need to be on the job, in case of the failure of an engine. Thus Sabbath-keeping in the 21st century will need to be done by a personal decision, which will undoubtedly put folks at odds with the systems that are arrayed against the God of heaven, and as such it will require faith in God to keep the Sabbath Holy.
These are just some of the issues before us, and they will intensify until they culminate in either the seal of God, or the mark of the beast. Let no one be deluded about the serious nature of the issues, for the Bible, as well as the prophet for our day have stated that the issue of worship will soon engulf the entire world, with commandment-keepers facing the ire of the dragon, and the rest facing the 7 last plagues. Let’s read:
Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
[The Great Controversy pp 622] It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation than in reality; but this is not true of the crisis before us. The most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude of the ordeal. In that time of trial, every soul must stand for himself before God.
In closing, let us not hesitate in aligning ourselves with the kingdom of Christ, for no one is promised tomorrow, and the decisions we make today, can make a difference for eternity. We end with an appeal from the Lord Himself. Let’s read:
Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
God Bless!