The Sabbath Day 1. hebrewrootsgroup.com

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1 The Sabbath Day 1 Two messages ago I spoke about critical thinking and how to deal with the flood of information we receive when we hear the call to adjust our lives to a true Biblical footing. It is a miracle in itself that so many people are coming to the faith once delivered spontaneously all over the planet. Oftentimes people are drawn to the faith because they are looking for signs of the apocalypse. They are drawn because of the concept behind the phrase if it bleeds it leads. We look for patterns of destruction, whether it be natural disasters or the fall of nations, as a sign of the end. But there is another sign of the end that we are witnessing in plain sight that is actually a very positive sign. Slide 2 I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities., (Revelation 18:4-5) The her here is the Babylonian system that has corrupted earth since the waters of the flood receded. The many, many people who are spontaneously hearing this call don t even know they are in Babylon to begin with, let alone that they are coming out of something like this. It s our job to inform and help them along. Slide 3 Geneva Bible Rome When I came out of Babylon, I was convinced that the Roman Catholic Church was the Babylon being referenced in Revelation. This was a very big teaching of the church that Yahweh used to help me in my path. In the Reformation, it was a very big deal to identify Rome as the Whore of Babylon. The first complete English Bible that was made for people to own was the Geneva Bible. This was THE Bible of the Reformation, being made in The Geneva Bible was made specifically inexpensive and small so that individual families could possess a Bible. This Bible identified the RCC as the Whore of Babylon in its margins or footnotes. Protestantism viewed the RCC as this all powerful and evil being or system because, well, it actually was. The Dark Ages, from about 330 AD until the 1500s, were dark because of this globally powerful church that was made by Emperor Constantine. Catholic means universal. The literal name of the RCC is the Roman Church of the Universe. The goal of Constantine was to make one world religion that could fit all the earth s pagan religions and thus unify the known world, or at least his empire. Thus, the RCC was born. When the Reformation came, the people who

2 The Sabbath Day 2 heard the book of Revelation could know of no other power on earth that could fit the definition of these evil characters in the Book of Revelation. Thus, the Protestant Bible, the Geneva Bible, recorded their reality. It is very important to realize that this Bible was primarily what our forefathers brought to this continent and this is the bible of the Reformation, not the KJV. The KJV was made as an alternative to the Geneva Bible by the Church of England so they could have their own version that complied with that church s beliefs. One of the mandates for making the KJV was to omit footnotes or marginal notes like you see on the screen. But this is a little bit of a digression with some church history mixed in. It s a long story, but the RCC represented the beast system at the time of the reformation and it still does to a degree. The Reformers broke away from a lot of the bad stuff but not all. One problem they had that those who believe like us have broken from is perspective. The Reformers thought their faith started at the cross, that Yeshua brought forth a new religion. Keep in mind that I am taking in general terms here. I am certain there were some who did think like us at the Reformation and this is when the Seventh Day Baptist church was started. But Protestantism is largely based on a new faith being created in the first century. We know that is not the case at all. Yeshua came to do His Father s will, not His own. This means that He came to continue the work started long ago, at the beginning even. While the Reformers were correct in breaking from the RCC and most of its apostasies, they didn t look at the WORD with the complete proper context. Yes, the RCC fit the description of the Whore of Babylon in its day. Today the RCC is still powerful but it s a shadow of its former power. It is part of the cycles I was speaking of last time I spoke. Slide 4 YHVH spoke to Moses, saying, "But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am YHVH who sanctifies you. 'Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 'For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to YHVH; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death. 'So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath

3 The Sabbath Day 3 throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.' "It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days YHVH made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed." (Exodus 31:12-17) The main sign of the beast system, the Babylonian system, the Whore of Babylon, etc. is to make absolutely certain to be opposite of YHVH s will. This cycle continues to repeat. There is a sign between the sons of Israel and the Almighty and it is the Sabbath. This verse starts with the plural of Sabbath and I will address this next time, but the 7 th day Sabbath is the sign between God and His people. Side 5 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:26-29) In case there is any doubt about who we are or why these things apply to us, we look to this verse and others like it. Those who accept Yeshua as Messiah become part of Israel. We do not become part of a new thing, we become part of an old thing. The plan of salvation was laid out at the foundation of the world. This plan includes people being grafted into Israel and joining in the covenants made with them. As such, we are now Abraham s adopted descendants through the blood of our Messiah and this is why these things apply to us. More on this at another time. To return to the topic at hand, no other religion has or has had an affinity for Shabbat, particularly during Constantine s time. This means to have a day of rest marked by the sun going down on Friday, the 6 th day, and then the sun going down on Saturday, the 7 th day. Most of the other religions on earth at the time worshiped some variation of a false god represented by the sun. That s-u-n. As is recorded in Romans 1, they worshiped the created rather than the Creator. Keep this in mind as we move along because the sign of the Creator is embedded in the Sabbath. So, in order to make a universal religion, Constantine and his Bishops decided to mandate worship on the day of the sun. Constantine had two titles: he was Caesar but he was also the Pontifex Maximus, the spiritual leader of the empire a

4 The Sabbath Day 4 religious title. At the council of Nicea, he transferred his religious title, Pontifex Maximus, to the Bishop of Rome. At this point, the Bishop of Rome became the Bishop of Bishops, i.e. the Pope. Slide 6 sol invictus The picture on the screen is of a coin from Constantine s day. On one side, you have Constantine s image. On the other, it shows Constantine as a god with the inscription sol invictus the invicible s-u-n. Worshiping on the day of the sun, that s s-u-n, gives honor to a sun god. But what it really does is give honor to the one that consecrated that day. YHVH, the real Creator of the Universe, set apart a day that even He respected. He created the universe and then he rested as our example. As the sovereign, only He has the power to determine the difference between holy and profane, between work and rest. Constantine and the Roman emperors thought they were the representatives of the sun gods on earth. Does this sound familiar? It should. So by mandating the world worship on this day, they are mandating the world worship them as well as the created. This should sound very familiar because it is a cycle. YHVH set up the world to have cycles that honor His benevolence. So Satan, coupled with man s sinful desires, sets up a cycle opposite of this. Tammuz was deified and thought to represent the sun back during the days of Babel but, more clearly, the Pharaohs thought they represented or actually were gods as well. They even had themselves entombed with their wealth so they could take their power with them. Strangely enough, the popes are entombed in elaborate fashion as well. I entertained the idea of putting up a picture of JPII s tomb at this point but the images are too blasphemous to have in the holy assembly. A few of them even have a 6 candle candelabra on top of the tomb with a place for people to take a knee and pray to the dead guy s tomb. Again, more digression. However, once the universal church was established, most of the Roman Empire residents complied. But one group, or rather two, didn t.

5 The Sabbath Day 5 Approximately 15 years after the Council of Nicea, where the RCC was founded, there was another council at Laodicea. This council made the following dictate: Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ. You see, there is a specific group of people who refused to switch. Rather, there are two. One are the Jews, those who accept Torah but not Yeshua. The other are people like us, who do accept Yeshua as Messiah but also keep the commandments. What s very, very interesting about this dictate in the middle of the 4 th century is that there were still believers in Yeshua who were still worshiping like we do today they were keeping Shabbat and, by extension, the Torah as well. This is what I believe is meant by Judaizing. At this point in history, it s really important to know that the recently convened Church of the Universe had to make an official rule saying the Christians, believers in Messiah, were not allowed to observe Shabbat. This is where the real break of making Christianity a new religion took place, three hundred years after Yeshua ascended, and it was done by men wielding the earthly power of Pharaoh, who was going by the name of Pontiff at this point in time. Slide 7 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of YHVH your Elohim; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. "For in six days YHVH made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore YHVH blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11) Who blessed which day? That s right, YHVH blessed the Sabbath day. He made it Holy. There is a phrase is included in most of the wedding vows in the history of Christianity. In Mark 10: 5-9 Yeshua cites Genesis for a man and a woman becoming one flesh then He adds what God has joined together let no man separate. This applies to much more than marriage. What YHVH has sanctified, what YHVH has made holy, what YHVH has declared CANNOT be broken by man. This would make men gods and is the very sin that brought about the fall of mankind.

6 The Sabbath Day 6 So the commandment goes on: the Sabbath is not just for believers. It is not just for the Jews or just for Israel of just for anyone. It s for everyone and everything. You don t work, you don t have your children work, you don t have servants work, you don t have animals work, and you don t have strangers work on the Sabbath day. YHVH rested the ENTIRE creation on the Sabbath so He provided our ultimate example. Slide 8 "And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me," says the LORD. (Isaiah 66:23) The last time I spoke was on cycles. The Sabbath is the beginning of the cycles. From week to week we are to keep this cycle. There are blessings that come from doing this, but that s not why we do it. We do it because we believe YHVH and we love YHVH. If you love Him, you will do what He says. This cycle was established at creation week and is to be carried on until at least the end of the 1000 year reign of Messiah. As we can see, it will be observed by all mankind at some point in the future. Satan is determined to break this cycle and get people to deny our Creator. This is why the weekly cycle is constantly broken. Throughout the history of Israel, the enemies of YHVH have determined to force people to stop observing the Sabbath in order to forcibly prevent people from acknowledging the true Elohim, YHVH. We are blessed to live in a time when YHVH is calling people out of the evil cycle of honoring men or the created and returning us to the faith once delivered. We are blessed to be called out and are witnesses and participants in a large end-time revival, where Yah s people are being called out of Babylon in remarkable numbers. Let us bless YHVH in the name of His Son that we are considered worthy of this calling.