Episode Transcript
Welcome to Countdown. Back to the future. I'm really glad that you've joined us for this presentation. What are we looking at? Omens of allegiance. Rest for our human restlessness. Have you noticed that we live in an age of the tyranny of the urgent? We're all on the go big time today in our world. Think of the stress that comes to us at the workplace today. You know, people have to take work home because of the pressures in some places at the workplace. I would hate to be one of those guys who works on the stock market. You know, you often see them, they're just stressed out of their mind with all the pressure that comes on them at the stock market. Then we have mortgage pressure, many people watching carefully to see how their finances are going because they could lose their home today because of the pressure of the finances. Then we go home and what do we watch? We watch tense movies that sort of nail biting movies. We've been stressed all day. Away we go again. Well, if it's not that we're going to watch our favorite sporting event and it's nail biting because the sports event's so close and you know you're not. So we continue our tense moments. We're high wired, so to speak. Well, if that's not your thing, then people go to do the party life and that stresses them out more because you know, you go all night and you get home to bed at night, two o' clock in the morning. It has its effect on us psychologically, physically, leaves us empty inside all the pressure that we're feeling today. Many people today suffer stress from another thing and that is unresolved guilt. Because of their lifestyle, because of the way they're living, they have this guilt, nagging guilt. And so many people today are stressed beyond belief. We live in that sort of a world, hard paced, fast wired. We wonder how on earth we can manage things. Well, many people, sadly, they have to go back to things like antidepressants. In fact, we're awash in antidepressants today. Much of it caused by the stress in people's lives, by the various things that we're into today. A lot of it comes from the pressures and the stresses of life. Have you ever thought your life is like a merry go round, Just keep going, keep going. And sometimes you and me want to cry out, stop the world. I want to get off. Have you ever felt like that? Well, thank God. God has a solution for the pressures and the stresses of life today. God has a solution. He has rest for our Human restlessness. Well, we'll come to see that in a moment. But I want us to go back to the seven seals and the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. We were there in our last presentation, you'll recall, under the sixth seal, John saw the climactic end time events of planet Earth. We looked at them. Remember what he said then? He said the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. Every slave and every free man. In other words, all people hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Why? For the great day of his wrath has come. And who is able to stand? Do you notice that haunting question? We've noticed it before. Who can stand? Who is able to stand before the throne and the Lamb on the day when Jesus comes as King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Well John, in the next chapter he gives us the answer to that question. Really shouldn't be a chapter division there put in later on after so we could find the place. But it just continues on and the answer is given. John sees four angels pushing back the winds of strife from beating up this planet because not everybody's yet ready for Jesus to come. So he's told, hold, have those angels hold things back. Notice what he saw. Revelation 7. These four angels. I saw another angel ascend from the east having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying with a loud voice, don't hurt the earth, don't hurt the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. Then I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. What was the answer to that question? Who can stand before the throne of God and the Lamb? In other words, who can be saved when Jesus returns? That's the question, the answer given the 144,000 Israelites with God's end times seal or mark in their forehead. What's all this about? Well, fortunately we've seen that revelation is full of symbols. We've understood who the Israelites are. Remember the Israelites, they represent Jews and non Jews is in Christ Jesus. We took some time out of that on the presentation on Israel today. The Bible says if you are Christ's, you belong to Jesus. You've accepted Jesus, then you are Abraham's seed. That's Israel and heirs according to the promise. What we need to look at now is the End Times seal. What does that mean? We'll come to the 144,000 thing later on in our presentations. And I've got mighty good news for you and I when we look at that. An amazing thing that John is trying to show us in Revelation there plenty of hope for you, plenty of hope for me, plenty of hope for the world if we'll just turn to Jesus Christ, God's end time seal. What does that mean? Notice what John heard. Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we've sealed the servants of our God and in their foreheads. Now, servants means Israelites, because the Israelites were called the servants of God. Notice what the Bible Sundays in Isaiah 41. But you, Israel, are my servant. They were the servant to take the good news of God's love to the world. Sadly, they didn't in the Old Testament times. But that's why they were called his servants, Israelites. God's servants. They must have this seal. In other words, genuine Christians must have this seal. Hold back till we've sealed the servants of our God, those who already love us, they must have this seal. So now we need to ask this question. So what is this end time seal of God that God's friends must have in the end of time? Well, John gives us two portraits, two pictures of this seal of God found in two chapters of Revelation, chapter seven and chapter 14. Portrait number one is this. Seven seals and four horsemen. That's where this first portrait is found. You will notice what the Bible says. Many symbols, first of all, and they're interpreted by the Bible itself. We've seen that a number of times already. It's the Bible that interprets it, not a friend or some magazine. What does the Bible say? We can get from the Bible what the seal, the sign symbol means in Revelation. So what is the End Time seal of God? That's a symbol of something. What is it a sign of? Well, let's notice what the Bible says. First of all, let's talk of ancient seals. Because ancient seals were part of the world in the Bible times. These seals, ancient seals in the Bible times, these were outward signs of a truth or a reality. Something outward that stood for something, stood for a reality or a truth. For example, here is Abraham. Paul is talking of Abraham in the book of Romans. Notice what the Bible says. And he, Abraham, received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of, of the faith. In other words, a seal is a sign of a truth or a reality. In Abraham's case, circumcision in the flesh was an outward sign, something outward of something that was true inside. He was right with God by putting his trust in God. So circumcision an outward sign of a truth. Abraham was right with God. So then what is God's end time seal a sign of? Well, in actual fact, it's a sign of three things we're going to discover as we go to Revelation chapter 13 and 14. Because this is portrait number two of the seal of God. John sees something interesting when we have this battle for global worship with these three beasts, the land beast, the sea beast, and the dragon against the three angels. Remember, notice he sees that the seal of God is a sign of worshiping God as creator, the Lord God as creator of all. You see, John sees that almost everybody follows the beast. Remember, all the world follows the beast. But not quite. There are some who listen to the three angels. And what does the three angels, the first of the three angels say? Notice I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, worship him. Don't worship the beast, don't worship the dragon, don't worship Satan. Worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water. So those people in the end of time with the seal of God, they worship God as the creator of the world, but it's also a sign of cleansing by the Lord God's redeeming love in the book of Revelation. Notice John sees these people. He says, these are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb. They don't follow the beast, they don't follow the dragon, they follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed. You see these people? They have the death of Christ. The Lamb has redeemed them. They are redeemed by the death of the Lamb of God. Jesus Christ, crucified. The Bible says these words, you, the Lamb were slain, you were sacrificed, and you have redeemed us. You have purchased us to God by your blood. That was the price. Out of every tribe, tongue and people and nation. God is a global lover. I love those words, John. John can't help himself. He always says to every nation, tribe, tongue and people, because God loves us all. No matter where we come from, where we've been, how bad we've been, he loves us, wants us to come and be part of his last empire. So what does he mean they're not defiled with women? Well, he's not talking about the fact that, hey, a husband hasn't slept with his wife or something. He's talking about they haven't mixed up with this prostitute lady and her daughters. We're going to talk about this one program Babylon, the great prostitute. She's riding on a scarlet colored beast. You mustn't miss the presentation when we talk about Babylon. Rising night cry, demonic dimensions. We're going to talk about this. This lady. Well, they're not defiled by this Christ. Redeeming death has cleaned up their life, has sanctified them, is the Word has changed them. They are set apart because of the death of Jesus. Notice what Paul mentioned when he wrote to his friends in Ephesus. Husbands, love your wives. Just as Christ loved the church and gave himself, sacrificed himself for her, why? So that he might sanctify and cleanse her. So he might clean up her life, that he might present her to Himself, holy and without blemish. You see, Jesus loves us so. All so much. He likens his people to the bride, a wife. And he says, I gave myself for you. The Bible puts it this way. In his love and in his pity, he redeemed them. And he bore them and carried them all the days of old. Maybe you feel that your life has gone too far for God to help. Maybe you feel that you've just blown it too much and that God could never accept you. No, you were wrong if you think that way. God loves you. He has a plan for your life. He loves you. He died for you. He wants you to be in his forever kingdom. He wants you to be as Paul saw, his wife, his bride, so to speak. He loves us with an undying love. He gave everything so that he could redeem us. So this is a sign of people who have been redeemed. Been. Been cleaned up. Their life has been cleaned. Not by themselves, not by their own effort. But when they put their trust in Christ, he began to change their life for the better. Thank God for that. It's a third thing. It's a sign of belonging to the Lord God. Sign that we belong to Him. Notice what the Bible says of these people. John says, as a sign, the seal is a sign of belonging. When he wrote to his friend Timothy, Paul gave us a little more information on what seals mean. Notice the Bible says, nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands this firm platform having this seal. The Lord knows those who are his, that is, who belong to Him. A seal is a mark of belonging, a sign of belonging. John saw this in Revelation. He said, then I looked, and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion. And with him 144,000 having his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. Notice it said the seal in that other chapter. But it's God's name in this chapter because God's name is in his seal, so to speak. Wow. In other words, they belong to me. We even use this idea today. What about when farmers brand their cattle? They are really saying, this seal, this cow belongs to me. It's mine. We put a mark of ownership. Well, that's what this seal, this End Time seal stands for. We belong to him, he is ours and we are his. Why is it that they are said to belong to him with God's name? Because they belong by creation and by redemption. He made us in the first place. And when we went astray, he paid a price for us. That's why these people belong to God. He created them and he redeemed them. What a tremendous picture. So this leads us now to the question, so what is the outward sign of God's seal? What's the outward sign that these things are true for these people? That is, they worship God as creator, that they've been redeemed by the Lord God's redeeming love, that they belong to God. What's the outward sign for all this? Well, in other words, what's the sign of worshiping the Lord God as Creator? What's the sign, the outward sign of cleansing by the Lord God's redeeming love? What is the outward sign that we belong to God? The outward sign of God's seal in the Bible is called God's Sabbath day. Let me show you what the Bible says about those three things when it comes to the Sabbath. The Sabbath day is called a sign of worshipping the Lord God as Creator. Notice what the Bible says, keep the Sabbath. It is a sign that means a mark, an omen in the Hebrew between me and the children of Israel forever. And who is Israel? We've seen Israel. Is anybody Jew or non Jew in Jesus Christ? That's why it says forever. For in six days, because in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested. So it's a sign of creation by God. The Sabbath is a sign, the Bible says, of cleansing by the Lord God's redeeming love. We go to the Book of Ezekiel. Now, sadly, the Israelites turned away from keeping God's Sabbath in Bible times. And Ezekiel is told by God to bring them back to the Sabbath of God. The Bible says, moreover, I also gave them my Sabbaths. What for? To be a sign. There's that word again. A mark or an omen between them and me that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. Listen, my friend, the Sabbath reminds people, you didn't clean up your life. You didn't get rid of your sin. It was God in Christ who did that. The Sabbath is an outward sign that God cleans up our life because of his love for each one of us. It finally is a sign of belonging to the Lord God in the Bible. That's what the Sabbath is, a sign of. Something outward that God, we belong to Him. The Bible says, hallow my Sabbaths, they will be a sign. There's that word again. A mark, an omen between me and you that you may know that I am the Lord your God. You belong to me, and you are to be loyal to me because you belong to me. Now this leads us to a question, doesn't it? Which day is the Sabbath of the Lord God? Which day of the week is the Sabbath of God? Well, it's not too hard to understand that if we go to other parts of the Bible now because John is drawing on passages from elsewhere to help us understand. The Bible tells us it says these words, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work. Now, this is written by the finger of God. Remember, God wrote these ten commandments, and this is the fourth commandment. And it tells us very clearly this seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. But which day of the week is the seventh day? That's the next question, isn't it? How would we know? Very easy. We need to go to the cross of Calvary because Calvary reveals which day of the week is the seventh day. So let's go to that event that took place 2,000 years ago. I want to bring you here to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is a very famous site in Jerusalem. It was outside the walls in Jesus time, but the walls have been added through the ages, and so it's inside the walls of today. But archaeologists know exactly where the walls went in the time of Jesus. This was outside the walls. And a very famous site that we have Orthodox Armenians and Roman Catholics who look after this site as a very important site of Christianity where it's believed Jesus was crucified. You remember on the Day that Jesus died, he cried out as he died. It is finished. It's finished. Now, the Bible says the day he cried out that day was the preparation. And the Sabbath drew near. And the women who had come with him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils, and they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment that is the Sabbath commandment. Now, on the first day of the week, the next day, very early in the morning, they and certain other women with them came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. Do you see what the Bible is telling us here? The order of events that took place? It tells us. First of all, we call it Good Friday, right? The day Jesus died. The Bible calls it the sixth day or the preparation day. That is the day before the Sabbath. That's the day on which he died. Good Friday. We all know that. Then the next day, the Bible calls the seventh day, or the Sabbath. We call it Saturday in most countries. The next day, the seventh day. And then comes the day of the resurrection. We call it Easter Sunday, don't we? The Bible simply calls it the first day of the week. It's very easy to see in the Bible which day is the Sabbath. It's the day between the sixth day and the first day. That's the seventh day, what we call in this country the Saturday. Let me show you something fascinating that archeologists have discovered in ancient civilizations. I want to take you to the land of the Hittites. The Hittites came from what we would call sort of central Turkey. You can visit the Hittite countries today. We were here a few weeks ago at Hattusa. This is the capital of the ancient Hittite civilization. The Hittites had, if they conquered a nation, they had treaties. Covenant treaties, they're called, with those they had conquered. Now, what they did was they made two copies of their treaties or covenants on clay tablets. Two copies of it. One copy went inside the palace of the king. And you can see this is the palace of the king here in Hattusa. So one copy in there, the other copy that they made of the two copies of this covenant treaty. It went into the temple of his God. And this is one of the temple areas of the Hittites. Now, I want you to remember the Ten Commandments. The Bible says they were written on two tablets of stone. Two tablets. Then they were put, remember, into the Ark of the Covenant. And that ark or box with the Ten Commandments in it. Went into the temple and the palace of God. This is where God lived. God said, let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. This was his palace for the Israelites and this was his temple. Just like those two copies went into one the palace and one into the temple of the God. So here in Israel they went into the one place. Cause that's the palace and that's the temple. Now something interesting that archeologists have noticed. The Hittite treatise, the king's seal was in the center of the covenant. Right there in the center. And scholars have noticed that that's exactly where the Sabbath. It's in the center of God's law. It's in what we call the hinge, that part of the covenant of God, the ten Commandments. The same place as the king of the Hittites put his seal. This is where we find the Sabbath is in God's covenant. Now one more thing. In the seal of the Hittite covenants, they had the king's name on the covenant treaty there. And not only his name, but his title. Interestingly, those two things appear in the Sabbath commandment. Both of them, his name. He's called the Lord, Yahweh, the I. I am the one who's never had a beginning, never have an end. The Alpha and the Omega is the idea. The I. I am the self existent one. That's his name and also his title. He's called in the fourth commandment, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Notice what the Bible says in that fourth commandment. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord Jehovah, God your God. For in six days the Lord Jehovah, your God made the heavens and, and the earth. So in other words, the Sabbath is the outward sign of God's seal. It's the seal of God's law. We could say the seventh day, Sabbath. That's the seal of God. The outward sign of those three things created by God. We worship him as Creator. We've been redeemed by his redeeming love, changed lives, and we belong to Him. The Sabbath reminds us of those things. There they are created by God in his image. That's how the Bible puts it. We're made in the image of God. Not only that, we're redeemed by this God. And then of course, we belong to this God. And so he cares for us because we belong to Him. Do you know what that does, my friend? To a person when they realize this? When they realize that the Sabbath reminds them that they were made in the image of God. Their roots go back not to the monkey, not to the slime pit, but to God himself. When they realize that God's redeeming love has changed their life, that they belong to God. They're not a nobody. They're his children. Do you know what that does to the human mind? It brings rest of mind. And that's why the Sabbath is called the Sabbath. Because it means rest. Notice what the Bible says in the New Testament, in the Book of Hebrews. For he has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way. And God rested on the seventh day from all his works. Since, therefore it remains that some must enter it. That is God's Sabbath rest. There remains, therefore, a rest that is a keeping of the Sabbath. A Sabbath rest, Paul says, for the people of God. For he who has entered his rest, God's rest. He has himself also ceased from his work, his own endeavors, as God did from his. The Sabbath brings rest when we realize what it reminds us of. Those three beautiful things. That's why Jesus said these words on the Sabbath. He said, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Are your nerves frayed by life, the tyranny of the urgent? Are you stressed out because of the guilt that you carry? Do you find that life is like a merry go round that you can't get off? God has a solution. Every week, every Sabbath, God says, you can jump off and find rest in me. As you think about what I've done for you, what I'm doing for you. I'll care for you. This is God's solution to our frayed nerves. Today, the seventh day Sabbath in the Bible is kept from Genesis right through to Revelation, right through the whole Bible. The first Sabbath keeper is God. You know, the Sabbath existed before Mount Sinai. Many people think the Sabbath came at Mount Sinai for the Jews. But let me tell you, the Sabbath way predates that at least some 2,000 years. Almost before that, 2,500, perhaps. Notice the Ten Commandments were written on stone at Sinai. But that didn't mean the Commandments didn't exist before that. You see, Jesus was the creator of the world, right? Because Paul says, by him all things were created. Christ Jesus. On the sixth day, God made man. God made human beings. Notice what the Bible says about the creation of human beings. Our first parents. Then God said, let us make man in our image. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God. He created him. Male and female. He created them. Do you See, someone wants us to know we're made in his image. And then the Bible says, after he created Adam and Eve, our first parents, God rested on day seven. He took the day off with Adam and Eve. The first thing they first full day they had was a day at rest with God. Notice what the Bible says. Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished. And on the seventh day, God ended his work which he had done. And he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. Why? Because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and had made. Three things God does with the Sabbath right back there at creation, way before there was any Jews they don't come to till Abraham's time, some 2,000 years later. Notice what God did. He blessed it. That means he made it for a joy. You remember Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount? He said, blessed are the people who like this. Blessed are the people pure in heart. Blessed are those who suffer for righteousness sake, and so on. What he meant was, all the happiness of those people. That's what blessing means. Oh, the blessing that he made it for a joy, man's happiness. He did a second thing. He sanctified it. That means he set it apart from the other days. It's different. It's different. We call this a holy book, right? This Bible I have in my hand because it's different from all other books. It's set apart from the other books. We call a church, a holy building because it's different than any other building. Well, the Sabbath is holy because it's set apart from all the other days of the week. God sanctified it. He set it apart. Why is it sanctified? Why is it different? Not because of us, but because God rested on it. God uses this day, takes this day off, the seventh day. That's why it's different than the other days. And so God rested to spend time with his children, Adam and Eve, and all of us down through the ages. Every seventh day Sabbath, God says, hey, I'm taking the day off for you. I want you to spend time with me. I want us to build up our relationship. That's why God said, remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Evidently God could see down the future that man would forget. So this commandment of all commandments begins with remember, don't forget, don't forget the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Why did he say remember? Why did he want us to Remember. Because you see, our God wants us to remember our roots, where we came from. What happens when a child discovers that they're an orphan, they're adopted? The first thing, who's mum, who's dad? They'll go on a search to find out they're real mom and dad, right? Well, God wants us to know our roots go back to him because there's something psychologically healing and helpful for us to know that our roots go back to God. We didn't come from the slime pit. We're not an accident of a product of time and chance like we've been taught lately in the last two or 300 years. No, no, no. Our roots go back to God were his children. The Sabbath reminds us that God is creator. That's why he wants us to remember our roots. Sabbath was never exclusively for the Jews, not at all. Because the Sabbath predates the Jewish people when they came onto this, became the Jewish people through Abraham. In fact, Jesus made a strong point of that. Jesus talking to the people in his dale, said the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. That word man there in both of those occurrences, that's the word anthropos in the Greek, from which we get the word anthropology, the study of human beings, humankind. It's not talking about males. If Jesus had said, you know, the Sabbath was just for the Jews, he would have said so. The Sabbath was made for the Jews, but he said, it's made for man, humanity, all men. Because we're all the product, the child, the children of God. Let me come with you or bring you to the wilderness of Sinai, called the wilderness of Sin in the Bible. This is where Mount Sinai is in this area. The wilderness of sin. Now, got nothing to do with sin itself, just that's what it's called, the wilderness of sin. Now they came here to this desert and they were very hungry on some occasions and ran out of food. So God promised to send them bread from heaven. You may have heard of it. Now this is found in Exodus chapter 16 in the Bible, and it talks about the manna or the bread that came down from heaven. Now this is before Moses was given the Ten Commandments to write, or God wrote them on stone, because this is Exodus 16, they don't come till a few weeks later in Exodus chapter 20. So this is predates the writing of the commandments in stone. Notice what the Bible says in the morning. God says, you shall be filled with bread and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. So how Would they know that the Lord was their God from this bread that came down from heaven? How would they know that. That they belong to Him? How would they know that that was the case? That they belong to the Lord God? Well, let's look at the instructions that Moses received from God about how to handle this manna, this bread from heaven. The Bible says God said, don't keep it overnight or it will be full of maggots. How many like maggots for breakfast had a bowl of maggots lately? None of us like maggots. But God said, if you keep this bread overnight, it's going to be full of maggots or worms. Number two, gather twice the amount on the sixth day. Get twice the amount on day six. And then he said these words, prepare on the sixth day the food for the Sabbath. Let's notice what God said. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in. And it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. That's why in the Bible, the sixth day is called the day of preparation. Because they were to get the manna twice the amount, and they were to cook it and do whatever it was so that when the Sabbath came, they wouldn't have to do that stuff. They could spend the whole day with their God and not have to worry about all the fuss and so on. That goes with having to put the food together, so to speak. And then God said, keep it overnight on the Sabbath. Notice what the Bible says. So they laid it up till the morning as Moses commanded. And it did not stink, nor were there any worms or maggots in it. Question. How does a maggot know one day from another day? He doesn't. What God is saying is, this is miracle. This is a miracle. Our Creator cares and provides for those who belong to Him. That's the situation. We belong to God. He's not going to leave us to flounder. No, he'll care for his kids. And that's what God was trying to tell these people. You don't have to work on the Sabbath. You may think, hey, if I don't go to work on Sabbath, I'll lose. No, God will look after you. When we do whatever God says, he's going to come in behind and care for us and make sure he looks after us. That's his promise. So these people realize, hey, this is miracle. God is caring for us. And you see, that's how they know that he's the Lord, their God, because of what he would do. This manna God had said, you will know that I am the Lord your God. But in typical human fashion, like all of us, some of the people said, well, notice what they did do. Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day together, but they found none. These people said, God's not particular. One day is as good as another. It doesn't matter. Well, I can tell you those people didn't do that the next week, did they? They made sure they got their food in the right way and got twice as much on the next week, on the 6th day and prepared it for the Sabbath so they didn't have to go hungry. They just said, one day is as good as another. It doesn't matter. Notice what God said to Moses. He chastised Moses for what these people did. The Bible says, and the Lord said to Moses, how long do you refuse to keep my comm and my laws? This is before they were written down in stone. God's laws predated. They were already his laws, but they were in oral form. But now he wrote them down on stone when they get to Mount Sinai. And the Sabbath was already before God wrote it down. Now you know Jesus kept the Sabbath. And we would expect that. Cause he was always obedient to his father. Jesus attended church on the Sabbath. The Bible tells us it was called the synagogue in his day. Here we are at the synagogue church of Nazareth. Now this is not the same one of Jesus day. It's a very old one, but it comes a little bit after his time. But anyway, he came to the synagogue on the Sabbath, the Bible says. So he came to Nazareth and as his custom, his habit was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read because they asked him to. Jesus did good. He healed people on the Sabbath. And some people accused him of breaking the Sabbath. He doesn't keep the Sabbath because he heals on the Sabbath. But Jesus challenged that. He was telling them, I do keep the Sabbath. Notice the way he spoke to them. Then he said to them, what man is there among you who has one sheep? And if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not lay hold of it and lift it out of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore Jesus said, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. I'm keeping God's commandments by healing people on the Sabbath. That's within the sphere of obeying God. So while they challenged him of breaking the Sabbath, he said, I'm not. I'm doing what should be done because I'm helping people in this way. Now, John kept the Sabbath on the island of Patmos. You know, John was exiled to that little lonely island. His friends were over there in what we call Turkey today. He must have been lonely. But he received a visit from Jesus on the Sabbath. The Bible says I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day. That's when Jesus came. What a Jesus. I guess John might have thought, I'm an old man. No use for me anymore as far as God's concerned. God said, no, John, you're going to do your biggest work on this island, in actual fact, and I'm going to give it to you on the Sabbath. I'm coming to meet with you myself. Well, what day is the Lord's day in the Bible? Not what humans call the Lord's day, but what does the Bible call the Lord's Day? What does scripture call the Lord's day? The Bible is plain, the seventh day is the Sabbath. Of who? The Lord, Your God? Jesus said the same thing. Jesus said, therefore the Son of man, he is the Lord of the Sabbath. I'm that Jehovah, God of the Sabbath. That's my day. In other words. Now, even language today, over 140 languages. In our world today, the word for the seventh day is Sabbath in over 140 languages. Look at it up to the top. Greek, Sabbat. On, let's go down to the middle German, Samstag. Come down to Hindi, Zombat. All of those words for the seventh day is the Sabbath in those 140 languages. Now, here's a question that some people have, and it's a good question. Haven't we lost track of time through the ages so that we don't really know which day is the Sabbath today? That's a good question. Let me tell you. I travel around the world and I can tell you we have not lost track of time. The reason I say that is when you go to any city, you go to Sydney here, you go to Moscow, you go to London, you go to New York. This is what's going to happen with these three groups of people. On the Friday the 6th day, the Muslims are going to spend more time in the mosque than they usually do. They haven't lost track of the time the day through the ages. Then the next day, the Jewish people in that same city, they will go into the synagogue on the seventh day and spend a lot of time there. The Sabbath. Then on the next day, most Christians will go to the church. Nobody has lost Track of time. Not the Jews, not the Christians, not the Muslims. We all know very clearly, it's well been documented. While the Sabbath runs from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday in the Bible, notice what the Bible says. From evening to evening, you shall celebrate your Sabbath. It's a joyous day. God says you celebrate it well. When's evening? In the story of Jesus, we're told very clearly. The Bible says at evening, when the sun had set, when the sun went down, that's sunset. So the Sabbath goes from sunset on the sixth day, which is the Friday, to the sunset of the seventh day, which in most countries is called Saturday. Now, here's a question that some people have. Shouldn't we keep Sunday in honour of the resurrection? That's a good question. Let me tell you. There are eight verses in the New Testament that talk about Sunday or the first day, what we call Sunday. But none of them, not even a single one of them, tells us to worship on Sunday in honour of the resurrection. People introduced that idea after the Bible was written, but it's not in the Scriptures. Here's another good question. Can't I worship God every day? Well, I hope you do. I certainly worship God every day. But I want you to notice what the Bible says about this seventh day and the other six days. The Bible puts a distinction between them six days you shall labor. God is saying, we work on those six days and do all your work. But the seventh day, it is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work. So of course, worship every day. But the seventh day is different than the rest. We are to worship God and not do any work. One more question that people have, and that is this one. Can't I keep any of the seven days holy? Won't any day do? Well, what does the Bible say again about this? The Bible says the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. It doesn't say a seventh day specifically. The seventh day is mentioned as the Sabbath of God. You imagine if my wife, she's one of seven daughters of her dad, Jeff, and I want to marry Marilyn, the seventh one. So I go to him before we're married. I said, Mr. Walker, I'd like to marry your seventh daughter, Marilyn. He says, listen, give me a break. He Sundays, I've got six other daughters and most of them are older than her. I want to. I want them to get married before this one. Won't any seven of the do? Any one of the seven. Give me a break. No way. Not one in seven it's got to be the seventh one, right? Absolutely. And then imagine too, if I say to my wife, sweetheart, our anniversary's coming up. Why don't we have an anniversary in Niagara Falls? Because that's a place for everybody to, you know, have their honeymoon. We never got there. So we decide we're going to meet on the 7th of August and. But we can't go together because I'm going to take a tour into the Middle east and I'm going to have to leave and go over from Sydney to Perth and around that way over to. Over to the Middle East. So she's going to have to fly the other way from Sydney to Los Angeles and out to Niagara Falls that way. But after a while, after I've gone, she says, look, I think I should meet him on the 8th of August. So she doesn't show up on the 7th. Is she going to meet me? No, because I have no idea where she is. It's got to be the same day. God's resting on the seventh day. And that's when he wants to meet us because he wants to build his relationship with us in a special way. So John says, the battle for global worship. The three beasts and the three angels. What is true worship? I want you to notice what Jesus said. True worship was. Jesus said and in vain. They worship me. Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men for laying aside disobedience, disobeying the commandments of God. You hold the tradition of men. Do you see what true worship is? True worship is obeying God's commandments, not pushing them aside. Sadly, most will worship or give their allegiance to Satan. The Bible says in the end of time, most people will, in other words, worship Satan by not obeying God. And sadly, the result is destruction. And that's why God sends this final warning message. And what does the first angel say? Worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water. That is taken straight out of the fourth commandment. That statement, notice it. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them. God's end time people, my friend, they do just that. They keep his Sabbath because the Bible says so. John saw God's end time. People, here is the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God, which includes the Sabbath. And they have faith in Jesus. They are followers of Jesus. My friend, the Sabbath, the Sabbath brings to us the fact that Jesus is our great God, our Creator. It brings the faith of Jesus, brings loving obedience to all God's commandments. The Sabbath says to each of us, your Creator is your Redeemer, and He is the one to whom you belong, and he looks after and provides all your needs. Thank God for the Sabbath. Let's bow together in prayer. Father, thank you for the Sabbath. Thank you for the wonderful truth that we belong to God through creation and redemption, and you care for us. May we decide to follow you in this matter. In Jesus name, Amen. We're glad you've been with us in this presentation. Whatever you do, don't miss our next presentation. We're going to be looking at Antichrist Unmasked. You want to invite a friend to watch that presentation with you, send them a link. May God bless you. We look forward to seeing you in our next presentation.
