Truth Be Told..
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
The fourth Commandment - "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Has anyone ever noticed that this is the only commandment God specifically tells us to "remember"? Why do you think that is? Is it because that is the only commandment that we should remember? The only one that we should never break? Certainly not! Could it be because He was telling us something that we need to pay attention to? warning us of something specific? Maybe,,,
When I started to look into this topic it became very evident that I have been very neglectful to this commandment; I realized that I knew so very little about this very special day!
Looking around at the world today, it is obvious that not many people remember or observe this special day either! When you ask others why they do not observe a weekly Sabbath, you will commonly get the same three answers back: 1) do not have the time, or 2) because they work all week and need to have at least one day off, or 3) because their job requires that they work on the weekends. All three of those reasons I myself have used for most of my life. I was either working, or needing to find extra work, or, and I hate to say it; most of the time - I never even gave it a thought! It was only about 2 years ago(?) when the Sabbath became something to look into a bit deeper and we started to research into this day..
If we start with what we KNOW it would help. So, we know that it is hallowed, sanctified, and that it is special. We know it was on this day that God finished His work of creation and He took a rest. We also know this is not one of the 613 of Moses Law that was fulfilled at the completion of our Lord Jesus' crucifixion because we still have this commandment on the books under the new covenant.
Anyway, starting at the main source (the Bible) for clarity, different verses about the Sabbath are found everywhere! and I found this prophecy made by Daniel regarding the changing of times and the laws of God; Daniel had a night vision where he encounters 4 beasts, but of the 4 - one was different and stood out; so Daniel wanted to know a bit more about this 4th beast and he asked about it and in Daniel 7:23, we get the answer:
23. "The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth which will be different from all the other kingdoms, and will devour the whole earth and trample it down and crush it. 24. As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will humble three kings. 25. And he will speak against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time. 26. But the court will convene for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. 27. Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the empires will serve and obey Him."
After this his revelation ended, but Daniel was very pale and out of sorts over this matter! Goodness! this beast will try to make alterations in times AND in law! Maybe this has something to do with the fact that even the mature Christians are arguing amongst themselves if the true Sabbath is on saturday or on sunday! It is on this note where I urge you to take a look at what has taken place over this special day and what led to the change of Gods Times and law....
Finding an answer to who changed the Sabbath and why is very easy to do as there is a whole lot of evidence on this subject but more than this - it makes our job really easy when the very same group who did this come right out and publicly claim responsibility, anyway, it didn't take me long to find the white papers and documentation on this and you can read that document here
So now that we know Gods times and laws were manipulated we have to ask on what authority did the Roman church make this change? The noted Catholic theologian, James Cardinal Gibbons; 'The faith of our Fathers' wrote this bold statement: "But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify."
What Gibbons and other Catholic authorities state is that the authority of the Catholic church, not the New Testament Scriptures, changed observance in the Christian world from Saturday to Sunday — an event that did not occur until the Council of Laodicea, in the middle of the fourth century. What an amazing admission! And yet Gibbons is not alone. There are also documents that make similar admissions from Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and other religious leaders, all agreeing that the Bible nowhere authorizes Sunday as a "new" Sabbath day. So now that we know why God says to "remember" the question begs to be asked; Why would they be so bold as to change the very laws of our God?
Enters Pagan Sun Worship..
It is amazing how history has a way of showing the truth. I guess that is why the "powers that be" are so busy trying to erase or twist our history right now, because they know it will show the truth of things and they do not want to do that! Anyway, I digress.
Sun worship has been around for a very very long time and it is most obvious in the sciences. According to the sciences ( astrology and astronomy ) the sun is the center of the universe. However, proof of our cosmology as well as the Genesis account tells us that we, the created world is at the center and the sun and the moon revolves around us. So, why did they change this and put the sun at the center and then tell us that we revolve around the sun? It is because the sun to these beings is a god and as a god, it should be front and center; a form of worship. Anyway, as much as I would like to go into this deeper right now, I wont! I will say that this is so obvious a deception by the ruler of this "beast system"; the one who would love to have us believe that we are not important and that we are nothing more than little specks of happenstance luck.
Okay, so after all of the verses in our Bibles and all of the world history that was found, I can only say that this special day needs to be remembered and observed. I feel ashamed that over 1/2 my life I never really even gave it much thought. I do understand the cost of living and how it is all set up to distract us from our God and if there was ever a better example of that statement I do not know what it would be. Jesus tells us in Mark 2:23 "And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees were saying to Him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" 25 And He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; 26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?" 27 Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of man is Lord, even of the Sabbath."
My understanding on the Mark 2 verse, is that we try to adhere to the ways laid out for us in the Bible, knowing that life is not always going to cooperate with our plans and sometimes things will arise that may cause us to briefly break our Sabbath, such as someone gets hurt or some disaster strikes..ect. but to break the Sabbath because we were too wrapped up in the things of the world and did not prepare or did not observe is just not an option for our house anymore. I sometimes think about what we as humans go through in a day..in a week...in a year; and it is absolutely astronomical what our brains take in. My brothers and sisters, step out of the Bible for a minute and think about this: following this one commandment our mental health would improve, our phyical health will improve, our family life would improve and most assuredly, because God likes when we are being obedient; and we will form a stronger bond that way
There are some people who say that Jesus "invalidated" the Sabbath and they will commonly base this statement on Colossians 2:14–17. For simplicity sake I will boil my rebuttal down a bit and say that it is still a commandment to this day. We as children of God adhere to these Ten Commandments (really 11..) and we teach others to do the same. If God did not want us to keep this commandment then He would not have used His own FINGER to etch it into the tablets, and not just an old stone tablet; but tablets that were important enough to our Heavenly Father to make sure they made it onto the Ark of the Covenant. The Sabbath was given to us as a blessing and not a burden! How can we, as Christians, tell the world that we hold fast to "thou shalt not murder" or "thou shalt not bear false witness" because they are the commandments of our God, the ones He wrote on our hearts - and then out of the other side of our mouths claim the weekly Sabbath was under the old covenant and does not need to be followed?
God says in Ezekial 20:20 "Sanctify My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, so that you may know that I am the LORD your God." What He tells us here is so very important because we live in a time where counterfeit christianity has never been more transparent. And while some may find fault with what I am about to say, again - you do not have to take my word for it; research this yourself, this is just the way I have came to my own understanding about this topic. Anyway God gave us His Sabbath as a sign of His power to create and His power to sanctify us. In the Bible, the words "seal", "sign", and "mark", are used interchangeably. God's sign, the Sabbath, represents His holy power to rule as Creator and Savior. Revelation 7:1–3 says it will be written upon the foreheads (Hebrews 10:16 uses the the word "minds") of His people. It will signify that they are owned by Him and have His character. Hebrews 4:4–10 confirms this by saying that when we enter His rest, we should keep His seventh-day Sabbath holy as a symbol, or mark a sign between us and Him. True Sabbath keeping signifies that a person has surrendered his life to Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath and is willing to follow wherever Jesus leads, keeping the fourth commandment is obedience to God. Think about this for a minute; Since the symbol, sign or mark of God's authority and power is His holy Sabbath day, then does it not seem likely that the symbol or mark of satan — might also involve a holy day? - I believe it does, thus the SUNDAY Sabbath; changing the times of our God from the last day of the week to the first day of the week. Shameful of Satan to do such a thing!
The Believer's Rest
I mentioned the "rest" above, and in Hebrews 4:1-16 , we find a treasure trove on this topic: "Therefore, we must fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also did; but the word they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united with those who listened with faith. 3. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "As I swore in My anger, They certainly shall not enter My rest,"
"although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4. For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works"; 5. and again in this passage, "They certainly shall not enter My rest." 6. Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who previously had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, 7. He again sets a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, "Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts." 8. For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. 9. Consequently, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11. Therefore let's make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience. 12. For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we must answer. 14. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let's hold firmly to our confession. 15. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin. 16. Therefore let's approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help at the time of our need.
Wrapping Up
I have had some tell me that they do not observe the Sabbath because God and Jesus work everyday. Brothers and sisters, please remember: Sabbath was made for mankind, our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus do indeed work everyday, but God did not make the commandment for Himself - He made it for us, for mankind as a blessing. Thing of it is, we do not receive the blessing of it until we start to observe it! After going through all of this (and more), the fourth commandment all of a sudden became so very important to us. In closing, I also want to say that in the beginning, it was not easy for me to transition into obeying this commandment as it does require a bit of preparation in order to observe it correctly. So at first it was a bit messy, but we did get it down after a the first couple of attempts and now this special day, the Sabbath is a joy and a blessing to us! I hope that maybe some of our brothers and sisters that have also somehow got wrapped up in the distractions of this world will come to observe and love the weekly Sabbath as much as we are!