The Sabbath
Many of you, as I once did, assume we can cut corners on the Sabbath and get away with it.
Let me refresh you with Yehovah’s commandment:
Exodus 20:8-11 MKJV
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
(9) Six days you shall labor and do all your work.
(10) But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah your God. You shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger within your gates.
(11) For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and sanctified it.
We also have the Sabbath mentioned in Leviticus 23.
Leviticus 23:1-3 MKJV
And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
(2) Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, The feasts of Jehovah, which you shall proclaim, holy convocations, even these are My appointed feasts.
(3) Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work. It is a sabbath to Jehovah in all your dwellings.
Here, Yehovah is declaring that these Holy times, that are all listed here, are His APPOINTED FEASTS.
His, not yours to do with as you want, but His convocations in which he tells you what to do on each one.
Leviticus 23 tells you that all of these listed here are His Feasts, His Holy Convocations.
These are His Sabbaths.
Leviticus 23:1-3 MKJV
And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
(2) Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, The feasts H4150 of Jehovah, which you shall proclaim, holy convocations H4744, even these are My appointed feastsH4150.
Let’s look at the words and define them even more.
The first word I am going to look at is Convocations, which the MKJV translates as “appointed.”
H4744 מקרא miqrâ’ BDB Definition: 1) convocation, convoking, reading, a calling together, 1a) convocation, sacred assembly, 1b) convoking, 1c) reading
Strongs: H4744 מקרא miqrâ’ (mik-raw’) From H7121; something called out, that is, a public meeting (the act, the persons, or the palce); also a rehearsal: – assembly, calling, convocation, reading.
These are His convocations in which we are to assemble together, publicly, for reading and rehearsals.
Let’s look at the word translated, Feast:
H4150 מועדה / מעד / מועד mô‛êd / mô‛êd / mô‛âdâh BDB Definition: 1) appointed place, appointed time, meeting, 1a) appointed time, 1a1) appointed time (general), 1a2) sacred season, set feast, appointed season, 1b) appointed meeting, 1c) appointed place, 1d) appointed sign or signal, 1e) tent of meeting
Strongs: H4150 מוֹעָדָה מֹעֵד מוֹעֵד mô‛êd mô‛êd mô‛âdâh mo-ade’, mo-ade’, mo-aw-daw’ From H3259; properly an appointment, that is, a fixed time or season; specifically a festival; conventionally a year; by implication, an assembly (as convened for a definite purpose); technically the congregation; by extension, the place of meeting; also a signal (as appointed beforehand): – appointed (sign, time), (place of, solemn) assembly, congregation, (set, solemn) feast, (appointed, due) season, solemn (-ity), synagogue, (set) time (appointed).
Yehovah tells us to assemble at a fixed time to read and rehearse something on the seventh day, Sabbath, and each of the seven annual Holy Days.
Let me now share with you the ancient meaning of the Paleo for the Hebrew word, mô‛êd:
Strongs #4150: AHLB#: 1349-L (a)
1349) Do% (עד AhD) ac: Repeat co: ? ab: Witness: The pictograph o is a picture of the eye, the d is a picture of the door. Combined these mean “see the door”. As coming to a tent a tent of meeting and entering in. A place, time or event that is repeated again and again.
L) Doi% (יעד YAhD) ac: Meet co: Appointment ab: ?: An appointed place, time or event that is repeated such as the monthly and yearly feasts. The word Moed, translated in English as Feasts, means to be a repeated witness.
am) Dofm% (מןעד MW-AhD) – I. Appointment: A time that is repeated time after time. II. Company: A group that meet at specific times. [freq. 224] |kjv: congregation, feast, season, appointed, time, assembly, solemnity, solemn, days, sign, synagogue| {str: 4150, 4151}
af1) Edofm% (מןעדח MW-Ah-DH) – Appointed: A place appointed for as a witness. [freq. 1] |kjv: appointed| {str: 4152}
Yehovah is telling us to convocate, or assemble, on these Holy times of meeting to witness what He is going to do on them and to be His witness to some event He will bring about. But we must be there on those proper days in order to witness these events. If we are not there, or keeping the wrong days, we will not see them, and we will not be witnesses.
I am the door. If anyone enters in by Me, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9 MKJV)
Something else I see from the Paleo letters is:
The pictograph o is a picture of the eye,
the D is a picture of the door.
Combined these mean “see the door”.”
The Tent where the Door is, is the Sheepfold. We who are His sheep are to be found assembled in that sheepfold. The only way in or out of the sheepfold is to go through the door.
John 10:1-18 MKJV
Truly, truly, I say to you, He who does not enter into the sheepfold by the door, but going up by another way, that one is a thief and a robber.
(2) But he who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
(3) The doorkeeper opens to him, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
(4) And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him. For they know his voice.
(5) And they will not follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.
(6) Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they did not understand what it was which He spoke to them.
(7) Then Jesus said to them again, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
(8) All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
(9) I am the door. If anyone enters in by Me, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.
(10) The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
(11) I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
(12) But he who is a hireling and not the shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away. And the wolf catches them and scatters the sheep.
(13) The hireling flees, because he is a hireling and does not care for the sheep.
(14) I am the Good Shepherd, and I know those that are Mine, and I am known by those who are Mine.
(15) Even as the Father knows Me, I also know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep.
(16) And I have other sheep who are not of this fold. I must also lead those, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one Shepherd.
(17) Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I might take it again.
(18) No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down from Myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again. I have received this commandment from My Father.
The Door, the Dalet (Dד), is Yeshua (Jesus). A threshold covenant is made at the door. This is where the sin offerings are killed, outside the Tabernacle at the entrance to the Temple. Yeshua was killed at the threshold, the door to the Temple. He was our sin offering, witnessed by the Apostles, being killed on the 14th of Nissan.
Had Israel not assembled at this time for this rehearsal, they would not have witnessed Yeshua perform this event.
Each and every Sabbath is important to keep Holy, so you can be His witnesses and tell His story. But you have to be there in order to be a witness. You have to be there to see it.
In Matthew, we read of a takkanot set in place by the Pharisees. A takkanot is a law, created by men. You are allowed to eat on the Sabbath. Some of you are not to cook and others you can. Each one is explained when you read them.
Matthew 12:1-8 MKJV
At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the sabbath day. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck the heads of grain and to eat.
(2) But when the Pharisees saw, they said to Him, Behold, your disciples do that which it is not lawful to do on the sabbath day.
(3) But He said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him,
(4) how he entered into the house of God and ate the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
(5) Or have you not read in the Law that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath and are blameless?
(6) But I say to you that One greater than the temple is in this place.
(7) But if you had known what this is, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” you would not have condemned those who are not guilty.
(8) For the Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath.
Yeshua had just told them that one greater than the Temple was before them and that He was also Lord of the Sabbath; after all, He created it by resting on the seventh day.
Genesis 2:1-3 MKJV
And 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 in it He had rested from all His work which God created to make.
Isaiah 12:2 tells us Yehovah became our Yeshua; He became our salvation.
Isaiah 12:2 MKJV
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation.
The word translated, salvation, is:
Strongs #3444 AHLB#: 1476-L (d1) 1476) Os% (שע ShAh) ac: Watch co: Shepherd ab: Delight: The pictograph s is a picture of the teeth used for devouring or destruction, the o is a picture of the eye. Combined these mean “destroyer watches”. The shepherd carefully watches over the flock and the surrounding area always on the lookout for danger. When a predator comes to attack, the shepherd destroys the enemy.
Strongs H3444 יְשׁוּעָה yeshû‛âh (yesh-oo’-aw) Feminine passive participle of H3467; something saved, that is, (abstractly) deliverance; hence aid, victory, prosperity: – deliverance, health, help (-ing), salvation, save, saving (health), welfare.
Yeshua, our shepherd. Yehovah, our Saviour, is our shepherd who watches over us. He is the door through whom we find our salvation and He is the one and the same who is Lord of the Sabbath and of the Moedim. You are called to meet Him at this set apart times to be instructed and taught about Him and to witness to the events He does at these times from the past and to witness those ones He will do in the future. This is why they are also called rehearsals.
When we are new to this walk we learn as a child, but we are expected to grow in the faith and to mature. As Paul said we look at these Holy Days and do not always understand what we are seeing but we should as we mature.
1 Corinthians 13:11-12 MKJV
When I was an infant, I spoke as an infant, I thought as an infant, I reasoned as an infant. But when I became a man, I did away with the things of an infant.
(12) For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall fully know even as I also am fully known.
When we come to Ezekiel, we are told the sad history of Israel, who would not keep these Sabbaths Holy.
Ezekiel 20:1-12 MKJV
And it happened in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth of the month, some of the elders of Israel came to ask of Jehovah, and sat before me.
(2) And came the Word of Jehovah to me, saying,
(3) Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Have you come to ask of Me? As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, I will not be inquired of by you.
(4) Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers.
(5) And say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: In the day that I chose Israel, and lifted up My hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt; when I lifted up My hand to them, saying, I am Jehovah your God;
(6) in the day that I lifted up My hand to them, to bring them out from the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;
(7) then I said to them, Let each man throw away the abominations of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God.
(8) But they rebelled against Me and would not listen to Me. They did not each man throw away the abominations of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. And I said, I will pour out My fury against them to fulfill My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
(9) But I worked for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned before the nations among whom they were, for I made Myself known to them in their eyes, by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
(10) And I caused them to go out from the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.
(11) And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.
(12) And also I gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am Jehovah who sets them apart.
Yehovah, gave us the Sabbath as His sign, His mark to identify us as His. How many of you are wearing this mark on you, by not working on the Sabbath or doing your business on the Sabbath? How many of you continue to rebel as Israel did by not keeping this day Holy? Let’s keep reading.
Ezekiel 20:13 MKJV
But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes, and they despised My judgments, which if a man does, he shall even live in them. And they greatly profaned My sabbaths. And I said, I will pour out My fury on them in the wilderness to destroy them.
Yeshua is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Hebrews 13:8 MKJV
Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever.
Yehovah said:
Malachi 3:6a MKJV
For I am Jehovah, I change not.
So, who changed the Sabbath?
Who said we do not have to keep them any longer?
What scripture verse tells you by the authority of Yehovah that the Sabbath and Holy Days are done away with? I cannot find one.
Ezekiel 20:14-16 MKJV
But I worked for My name’s sake, so that it should not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I brought them out.
(15) And also I lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey; it is the glory of all lands;
(16) because they despised My judgments and walked not in My sabbaths; and they profaned My sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.
Is your idol, Friday night football, or are you involved in sports on Saturday? Is that your idol?
Is going out to eat on the Sabbath and having others serve you in direct opposition to the 4th commandment your idol?
Is working on the Sabbath and earning that money your idol?
Paul tells us these idols you have set up are demons to whom you worship.
1 Corinthians 10:19-20 MKJV
What then do I say? That the idol is anything, or that an idolatrous sacrifice is anything?
(20) But I say that the things which the nations sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. And I do not desire that you should have fellowship with demons.
Many come up with a myriad of excuses to profane the weekly Sabbath and the Holy Days. What excuses do you have to justify not keeping the Sabbath Holy? Sure, in Winter it is getting darker earlier, and you have to work into the Sabbath on Friday nights because…
Will the excuses save you when you stand before the judge? It won’t, and now you know. There is no justifiable excuse for working on the Sabbath unless you are a priest serving in that capacity.
If you have a legitimate ox in the ditch (like emergency staff rostered on), then yes you have a good reason. But if you have the same ox in the ditch every Sabbath, then it is time to slaughter that Ox once and for all. Just by raising it with your boss, you may find your employer able to accommodate you – you never know unless you ask. Find excuses why you must obey the Sabbath and stop with excuses why you won’t.
Ezekiel 20:17-21 MKJV
But My eye spared them from destroying them, nor did I make an end of them in the wilderness.
(18) But I said to their sons in the wilderness, Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols.
(19) I am Jehovah your God. Walk in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them,
(20) and keep My sabbaths holy; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am Jehovah your God.
(21) But the sons rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes, nor kept My judgments to do them; the judgments which, if a man do, he shall even live in them; they profaned My sabbaths and I said I would pour out My fury on them, to fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness.
Ever considered why you are having all kinds of problems in your life? Why do all these things keep happening to poor old you? You pray and pray, but your prayers do not get past the ceiling of your house. Why does Yehovah not hear your crying? Bad things keep coming. Have you ever considered that maybe you’re cheating on the Sabbath – you watch the sports channel, you work on the Sabbath, you duck out to fix another emergency on the Sabbath, you’re out of milk and need some more on the Sabbath, so you pop out to buy some, and whatever other excuse you use to miss the Sabbath. Maybe, just maybe, this might be the reason you are having the problems that seem to never to end.
Ezekiel 20:22-38 MKJV
But I withdrew My hand and worked for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the eyes of the nations, from whom I brought them out in their eyes.
(23) I also lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations and scatter them through the lands,
(24) because they had not done My judgments, but had despised My sabbaths and had profaned My sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols.
(25) Also I gave them statutes not good, and judgments by which they should not live.
(26) And I defiled them in their own gifts, in that they caused all that open the womb to pass through the fire, that I might waste them, to the end that they might know that I am Jehovah.
(27) Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel and say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed Me, in that they have committed a sin against Me.
(28) When I had brought them into the land for which I lifted up My hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered their sacrifices there. And there they offered their provoking gifts. There also they made their sweet aroma, and poured out their drink offerings there.
(29) And I said to them, What is the high place to which you go? And the name of it is called High Place to this day.
(30) Therefore say to the house of Israel, So says the Lord Jehovah: Are you defiled in the same way as your fathers? And do you go whoring after their abominations?
(31) For when you offer your gifts, when you make your sons to pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I Live, says the Lord Jehovah, I will not be inquired of by you.
(32) And what comes up on your spirit shall not happen at all, that you say, We will be like the nations, like the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.
(33) As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, I will reign over you.
(34) And I will bring you out from the people, and I will gather you out of the lands in which you are scattered among them, with a mighty hand and with a stretched out arm and with fury poured out.
(35) And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.
(36) Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, says the Lord Jehovah.
(37) And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.
(38) And I will purge out from among you the rebels and those who sin against Me. I will bring them out from the land where they reside, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am Jehovah.
Yehovah is going to gather all of us and speak to us face to face during the final 3 1/2 years of judgment of this world. He will make us all pass under the rod of Assyria and every 10th one will be Holy but the rest will not. Those who rebel will not be saved. He is going to bring them all out of their homes, but those who do not want to keep the Sabbath or Holy Days will be cut off and they will not enter the Land of Israel. Keep this in mind when we read Hebrews, a little further below.
Ezekiel 20:39-40 MKJV
And you, O house of Israel, so says the Lord Jehovah: Every man go and serve his idols, and do so from now on if you will not listen to Me. But never again defile My holy name with your gifts and with your idols.
(40) For in My holy mountain, in the mountain height of Israel, says the Lord Jehovah, there all the house of Israel, all of those in the land, shall serve Me. There will I receive them, and there will I ask for your offerings and the firstfruits of your offerings, with all your holy things.
Again, the first fruits of your offerings refer to keeping the Moedim, the Holy Days. In the very last chapter of the Book of Revelation, we are told that those who keep the commandments will be there, but those who don’t, will not be there. Keeping the commandments includes the fourth commandment of keeping the Sabbath Holy and not profaning it by doing your works, your business, or your sins, on the Sabbath.
Revelation 22:14-21 MKJV
Blessed are they who do His commandments, that their authority will be over the Tree of Life, and they may enter in by the gates into the city.
(15) But outside are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and makes a lie.
(16) I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify these things to you over the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and Morning Star.
(17) And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let the one hearing say, Come! And let the one who is thirsty come. And he willing, let him take of the Water of Life freely.
(18) For I testify together to everyone who hears the Words of the prophecy of this Book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add on him the plagues that have been written in this Book.
(19) And if anyone takes away from the Words of the Book of this prophecy, God will take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which have been written in this Book.
(20) He who testifies these things says, Yes, I am coming quickly, Amen. Yes, come, Lord Jesus.
(21) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. Amen.
Ezekiel 20:41-44 MKJV
I will receive you with your sweet aroma when I bring you out from the people and gather you out of the lands into which you have been scattered among them. And I will be sanctified in you in the eyes of the nations.
(42) And you shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the land for which I lifted up My hand, to give it to your fathers.
(43) And there you shall remember your ways and all your doings in which you have been defiled. And you shall despise yourselves in your own sight for all your evils which you have committed.
(44) And you shall know that I am Jehovah when I have worked with you for My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel, says the Lord Jehovah.
It is only by obeying the Sabbath each week that we can learn how to prepare for the 7th millennium. The Sabbath and Holy Days are a rehearsal of what is to come. The seventh Day Sabbath is showing us the 7th millennium of rest to which everyone wants to be a part of.
Micah 4:2-4 MKJV
And many nations shall come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for the Law shall go forth out of Zion, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.
(3) And He shall judge between many peoples, and will decide for strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, And they shall not still learn war.
(4) But they shall sit each one under his vine and under his fig tree; and there shall be no trembling; for the mouth of Jehovah of Hosts has spoken,
Isaiah 32:15-18 MKJV
until the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is thought to be a forest.
(16) Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
(17) And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the service of righteousness shall be quietness and hope forever.
(18) And my people shall dwell in a peaceable home, and in secure dwellings and quiet resting places.
Isaiah 61:1-11 MKJV
The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is on Me; because Jehovah has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
(2) to preach the acceptable year of Jehovah and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
(3) to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness; so that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that He might be glorified.
(4) And they will build the old wastes, they will raise up the ruins of former times. And they will repair the waste cities, the ruins of many generations.
(5) And strangers will stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the stranger will be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
(6) But you will be named the priests of Jehovah; it will be said of you, Ministers of our God; you will eat the riches of the nations, and you will revel in their glory.
(7) For your shame you will have double; and for disgrace they will rejoice in their portion; therefore in their own land they will possess double; everlasting joy will be theirs.
(8) For I Jehovah love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
(9) And their seed will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the seed Jehovah has blessed.
(10) I will greatly rejoice in Jehovah, my soul will be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the robes of salvation, He covered me with the robe of righteousness like a bridegroom adorns himself with ornaments, and like a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
(11) For as the earth comes out with its bud, and as the garden causes that which is sown to grow; so the Lord Jehovah will cause righteousness and praise to grow before all the nations.
Isaiah 40:1-5 MKJV
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
(2) Speak lovingly to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is done, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received of Jehovah’s hand double for all her sins.
(3) The voice of him who cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of Jehovah, make straight a highway in the desert for our God.
(4) Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked places shall be made level, and the rough places smooth;
(5) and the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 MKJV
Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah,
(32) not according to the covenant that I cut with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant of Mine they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Jehovah;
(33) but this shall be the covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel: After those days, says Jehovah, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
(34) And they shall no more teach each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Jehovah. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more.
Isaiah 11:1-16 MKJV
And a Shoot goes out from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
(2) And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah.
(3) And He is made to breathe in the fear of Jehovah. And He shall not judge according to the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears.
(4) But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and shall decide with uprightness for the meek of the earth. And He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
(5) And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His heart.
(6) Also the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the cub lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
(7) And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
(8) And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
(9) They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.
(10) And in that day there shall be the Root of Jesse standing for a banner of the people; to Him the nations shall seek; and His resting place shall be glorious.
(11) And it shall be in that day, the Lord shall again set His hand, the second time, to recover the remnant of His people that remains, from Assyria and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Ethiopia, and from Persia, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the coasts of the sea.
(12) And He shall lift up a banner for the nations, and shall gather the outcasts of Israel and gather together the scattered ones of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
(13) And the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the foes of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not trouble Ephraim.
(14) But they shall fly on the shoulders of the Philistines to the west; they shall spoil the sons of the east together; they shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab; and the sons of Ammon shall obey them.
(15) And Jehovah shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with His scorching wind He shall shake His hand over the River, and shall strike it into seven streams, and make one tread it with shoes.
(16) And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people, those left from Assyria; as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
Habakkuk 2:14 MKJV
For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.
Zechariah 8:3-9 MKJV
So says Jehovah: I have returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a City of Truth, and the mountain of Jehovah of Hosts, the Holy Mountain.
(4) So says Jehovah of Hosts: There shall yet be old men and old women living in the streets of Jerusalem, and each man with his staff in his hand because of their many days.
(5) And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.
(6) So says Jehovah of Hosts: If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be marvelous in My eyes, says Jehovah of Hosts?
(7) So says Jehovah of Hosts: Behold, I will save My people from the east country, and from the land of the setting sun.
(8) And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be My people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.
(9) So says Jehovah of Hosts: Let your hands be strong, you who hear in these days these Words by the mouth of the prophets, that in the day the house of Jehovah of Hosts is founded, the temple is to be built.
By rejecting the Sabbath, you are saying that you don’t want to be a part of all this. By compromising the Sabbath, you roll the dice as to whether or not you are going to be a part of it.
A Rest for the People of God
Hebrews 3:7-19 MKJV
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear His voice,
(8) do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness,
(9) when your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years.
(10) Therefore I was grieved with that generation and said, They always err in their heart, and they have not known My ways.
(11) So I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest.”
(12) Take heed, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
(13) But exhort one another daily, while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
(14) For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
(15) while it is said, “Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.”
(16) For some, when they had heard, did provoke; however, not all who came out of Egypt by Moses.
(17) But with whom was He grieved forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?
(18) And to whom did He swear that they should not enter into His rest, but to those who did not believe?
(19) So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Hebrews 4:1-13 MKJV
Therefore, a promise being left to enter into His rest, let us fear lest any of you should seem to come short of it.
(2) For also we have had the gospel preached, as well as them. But the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
(3) For we who have believed do enter into the rest, as He said, “I have sworn in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest;” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
(4) For He spoke in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested the seventh day from all His works.”
(5) And in this place again, “They shall not enter into My rest.”
(6) Since then it remains that some must enter into it, and since they to whom it was first preached did not enter in because of unbelief,
(7) He again marks out a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” (after so long a time). Even as it is said, “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”
(8) For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.
(9) So then there remains a rest to the people of God.
(10) For he who has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His.
(11) Therefore let us labor to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of unbelief.
(12) For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
(13) Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
King David thought he could have sex with another man’s wife. Then she got pregnant and David thought he could have him killed in a war by the enemy and not be guilty of his murder.
2 Samuel 11:1-27 MKJV
And it happened at the turn of the year, at the time kings go forth, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they destroyed the sons of Ammon and circled Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
(2) And it happened one evening, David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing. And the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
(3) And David sent and asked about the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
(4) And David sent messengers and took her. And she came in to him, and he lay with her. And she had purified herself from her uncleanness. And she returned to her house.
(5) And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
(6) And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.
(7) And when Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war went.
(8) And David said to Uriah, Go down to your house and wash your feet. And Uriah left the king’s house. And a gift from the king went out after him.
(9) But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.
(10) And they told David, saying, Uriah did not go to his house. And David said to Uriah, Did you not come from a journey? Why have you not gone down to your house?
(11) And Uriah said to David, The ark and Israel and Judah abide in tents. And my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are camped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.
(12) And David said to Uriah, Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go. And Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next day.
(13) And when David had called him, he ate and drank before him. And he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.
(14) And it happened in the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
(15) And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and draw back from him so that he may be stricken and die.
(16) And it happened when Joab observed the city, he sent Uriah to a place where he knew brave men were.
(17) And the men of the city went out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell. And Uriah the Hittite also died.
(18) Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war.
(19) And he commanded the messenger saying, When you have made an end of telling the matters of the war to the king,
(20) and if it be so that the king’s wrath arise, and he say to you, Why did you approach so near to the city when you fought? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?
(21) Who struck Abimelech the son of Jerub-besheth? Did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall? And you shall say, Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
(22) And the messenger departed, and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell.
(23) And the messenger said to David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out to us to the field, and we were upon them even to the entering of the gate.
(24) And the shooters shot from off the wall upon your servants, and some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
(25) Then David said to the messenger, So you shall say to Joab, Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Make your battle stronger against the city and overthrow it. And you encourage him.
(26) And the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, and mourned for her husband.
(27) And when her mourning was past, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the eyes of Jehovah.
Then, Nathan Rebukes David
2 Samuel 12:1-23 MKJV
And Jehovah sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said to him, There were two men in one city, one rich and one poor.
(2) The rich one had exceeding many flocks and herds,
(3) but the poor one had nothing except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished up. And it grew up together with him and with his sons. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was to him like a daughter.
(4) And there came a traveler to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the traveler that had come to him. But he took the poor man’s lamb and dressed it for the man who had come to him.
(5) And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die.
(6) And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.
(7) And Nathan said to David, You are the man! So says Jehovah, the God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.
(8) And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if that was too little, I would have given to you such and such things besides.
(9) Why have you despised the Word of Jehovah, to do evil in His sight? You have stricken Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.
(10) And therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.
(11) So says Jehovah, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. And he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.
(12) For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.
(13) And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against Jehovah. And Nathan said to David, Jehovah also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
(14) Only, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of Jehovah to blaspheme, this child born to you shall surely die.
(15) And Nathan left to go to his house. And Jehovah struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it was very sick.
(16) And David prayed to God for the child. And David fasted, and went in and lay all night upon the earth.
(17) And the elders of his house rose up toward him, to raise him up from the earth. But he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.
(18) And it happened on the seventh day, the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, Behold, while the child was still alive we spoke to him, and he would not listen to our voice. How then will he trouble himself if we tell him that the child is dead?
(19) But David saw that his servants whispered. And David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, Is the boy dead? And they said, He is dead.
(20) And David arose from the earth and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his clothing, and came into the house of Jehovah and worshiped. And he came to his house, and commanded, and they brought bread before him and he ate.
(21) Then his servants said to him, What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the living boy, but when the child was dead you arose and ate bread!
(22) And he said, While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, Who can tell if God will be gracious to me so that the child may live?
(23) But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.
We cheat on the Sabbath. We compromised with Yehovah in order to do our own thing. Yehovah knows our well deduced reasoning and yet laughs at us. He was about to kill King David, until David repented. It is very clear that Yehovah does not change His laws.
The very thing you wanted by cheating on the Sabbath, may well be the very thing that is taken away for your disobedience.
You keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days for your own sake. Do not cut corners and do not go looking for as many oxen as you can find in the ditch. It does not matter if it is the footy finals. Keep the Sabbath and Holy Days Holy, with no excuses.
I wonder how many of the problems we face will disappear once we repent and begin to obey. But like David, he received a family curse for his sin that was passed down to every generation. You can break this curse by obeying. It begins with you, and it begins right now, today.
Our Messiah, the Door, who is Lord of the Sabbath, is the one who guards the entrance by which the sheep enter the fold. He is also the guard by which you will enter the Kingdom. In order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you must keep the commandments which include the Sabbath and Holy Days.
It is His blood on the Door that paid for your sins. But only if you repent and accept that He has paid your penalty for you.
The Death Angel is coming in the final 10 Years of Awe (which commenced in 2024 C.E.). If you continue to cheat and break the commandments, you get to pay the price with your own blood. To be kept safe inside, like at Passover from the death angel, you need to be guarded by the Door.
You must repent and obey.
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