SET ME AS A SEAL UPON YOUR HEART
(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)
Moses and God are still out there on the mountain
talking about the ten best ways to live.
There is a lot to say, and it is taking quite a while to discuss things! Amidst the thunder and lightning and smoke
God is now bellowing out the fourth commandment:
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it
holy. Six days you shall labor and do
all of your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither
you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your
animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and
the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh
day. Therefore the LORD blessed the
Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus
20:8-11)
Do you realize that the Sabbath commandment is a
commandment that confirms God’s mark and seal upon His people?
A “seal” is an official stamp that claims
something for a specifically described owner.
In ancient times whenever a ruler made a law it was written down by an
official on paper, and it was placed inside an envelope with the seal of the
ruler melted and waxed over the edge of the envelope. The seal would usually be made by the use of
a signet ring dipped in hot wax and stamped over the flap sealing the envelope. It would dry and harden and that way no one
but the intended person would be able to open the message. The wax would make a distinctive impression
on the outside of the envelope that portrayed something unique to the owner of
the message in the envelope. Seals were
completely original and they were always unique and very descriptive of their
owners so there was no doubt who wrote the message within the envelope.
When the wax dried it sealed the message up until
it was put safely into the hands of the proper receiver. The seal was then broken and opened and read
aloud to the person or people who would be listening for instructions from
their king and/or ruler. The ruler’s
seal was the way that everyone had of knowing that these words within the
envelope were the EXACT words and wishes of their leader. The seal assured that the words belonged to
no one else, but came directly from the ruler in charge of the kingdom.
The seal (made from a signet ring) usually
contained three things: The name of the owner of the seal, the title or description of the owner of
the seal, and a description of the domain of the
Owner of the seal.
As one begins to read the exact words God gave to
Moses, you begin to see that it is a clear statement containing the name of
God, His official title, and a description of His dominion over the universe. All of these things are spelled out in the
words of Exodus 20: 10-11. We hear His
name; “The LORD.” (Yahweh) We hear his
title: The Maker of The Heavens and The
Earth, The Sea and All That Is In it. (Creator.) We hear of the description of God’s domain in
the same words that describe who He is as Creator. He is LORD over the Heavens and earth, the
sea and all that is in it. These are the
three things we need to know that describe the fact that God has put His seal
and signet upon the words of the fourth commandment. It is as if He is highlighting this commandment
saying; “draw close to me and listen to this; it is VERY important!”
Why not
pull out your own bible and read Exodus 20:10-11 with your own eyes. Is this not plain to you?
Think about the exact words of the holy scriptures
that are given to us by God as He speaks to us about keeping Sabbath.
Someone’s “seal” could also be called their
“mark.” The “seal” worked about the same
way as a legal signature that we might use on important documents today. It legally set the terms that made certain things
official.
It is said in the scriptures that during end times
people will be “marked” either for God or for the enemy of God. The Antichrist will have an identifying mark placed
on his people; and God too will have an identifying mark placed over His people. The way you live out your life will determine
the mark that is placed over your heart.
This brings to mind the words of The Song
of Solomon, verse 6:8 that says: “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your
arm, for love is a strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.” These words of a passionate lover describe God’s
love for Israel. It is a jealous love;
and He has come to tell Israel how to live before Him.
God used
the nation of Israel to show people how to live before Him and how best to love
Him. If you belong to God you will honor
him by keeping the fourth commandment and observing Sabbath faithfully. That was God’s passionate commandment sealed
with his signet to Israel.
Keeping Sabbath on the 7th Day was
important to God. It was sacred time
that He made holy and set aside for His people.
The act of Israel keeping Sabbath meant the faithfulness of His bride to
Him.
Please don’t misunderstand or misinterpret any of
my further comments and personal thoughts regarding the aspects of keeping
Sabbath. Keeping Sabbath is not
something to be done “legally” but something to be done out of love and
faithfulness.
There are relationships that thrive out of duty,
and there are relationships that thrive out of a deep, passionate love. God’s love is not out of duty; it comes from
a passionate, heart-felt love. He
expects the same passion and love in return.
A passionate lover always knows how to communicate what it takes to make
them feel happy and well loved. God is
communicating something to Israel that truly matters, to the depths of His
heart. He wants Israel to know His
deepest desire from them. He desires
that they keep Sabbath with Him.
As I have already expressed; don’t misunderstand. I’m not implying you must always go to a certain
building and worship a certain way, like other certain groups of people are
worshiping (though sometimes this is the thing you SHOULD do.) The ancients often kept Sabbath right inside
their own homes with their own immediate families. They could not always get to the Temple. They went to the temple on sacred holy days
and whenever else it was possible, several times a year; but not every
Sabbath. Still, they kept Sabbath
wherever they were at the time.
For today’s people, I am saying in order to
observe this commandment, you should be keeping the seventh day Sabbath that
God has commanded inside your heart in a respectful way that will honor and
worship God wherever you are. God DOES
state in these scriptures that this worship should be done in a holy
convocation; which would mean that you should be open to worshiping with other
believers. This could happen right inside
your own home, with your own family; or inside a church full of a million people. A convocation is simply a group of people;
not a specific number – it could be a number of between two to one million or
more. Where ever two or more are
gathered in His Name; God is always there.
You can form a convocation anywhere; in a house,
in a prison, in a hotel, in a crowd walking down the street – it doesn’t HAVE
to be inside any building; but it is also JUST as appropriate to do this
worship inside a building with many other believers. God will be looking at the intentions of your
heart, your honest desire to worship and serve Him, and your love for your
fellowman that reflects this.
It is the addition of God into the crowd that makes the
convocation real and holy. God inhabits
the prayers and praises of His people; so I would say anywhere there is prayer
and praise to God being lifted up, that is a holy convocation.
The place isn’t important; but the day IS
important. The scriptures clearly say
the “seventh” day. Following the ancient
calendar back to the days of Moses; the seventh day was always on the day we
now call Saturday. It was the day after
the sixth day that the manna rained down from heaven in which NO manna could be
gathered. God had already shown this day
to the people, even before he called Moses up to the mountain. He was already raining down the manna and
expecting them to gather up enough to last through the seventh day in which God
rested and expected the people to rest also.
They were to gather ahead of this time before the Sabbath so that they
would not be working on the Sabbath.
God set the calendar by the way the manna fell
from heaven. The people always knew the
day in which they gathered twice as much was their “preparation day” for the
Sabbath, and the next day, the 7th day, was the Sabbath.
This “seventh day” was the day of worship that was
observed by the early churches even during a long period of time after the
death and resurrection of Christ. The
observance wasn’t changed by the actions of people, or in the writings of the
church congregations until A.D. 321 when an edict from the ruler known as Constantine
was declared and this edict was accepted 16 years later by the Catholic Church
through the Council of Laodicea.
Here; I have to argue with the right of the
Catholic Church to change the decree of God.
It doesn’t matter to me how many councils meet. This signed, sealed and delivered commandment
was still the recorded words of God to His people as He drew up their wedding
vows. God never changes. He is the same today as He was yesterday and
He will be the same forever into the future.
I have to question an emperor’s right or a council’s right to change the
word of God, especially after all of the Apostles who walked and talked with
Jesus were dead and gone and not there to defend the scriptures that proclaimed
otherwise.
Think about this:
why would God go down to a mountain top to proclaim the best ways for us
to live before Him and then change the wording later? I think not.
There were no changes made to the understanding of
this commandment during the lives and times that Jesus walked the earth, or
even during the time and the lives of the Apostles. It was after the death of every Apostle that
this day’s observance evolved into the time of another day called Sunday. I think that is because the Apostles would
not have approved. I highly suspect this
change was more about the government of mankind than the spiritual growth of
mankind. I also think it was made in
order to change the thinking of the people from their very Jewish roots into a
more Roman/Greek way of thinking. It
seemed to also be very helpful in uniting people and forming a world empire
from which Constantine would rule the world.
On hindsight; it seems very self serving for the still highly revered
ruler.
In other words, I suspect this changing of the day
of worship was more about Constantine’s rule than God’s direction for the
church. However, it did happen and the
seventh day Sabbath has not been observed by many of the faithful since that
time. Perhaps God will consider those
who changed his dates on judgment day instead of blaming the blind sheep who
followed them without question. I would
rather not have to find out.
Over the years I have listened patiently to many
who believe other than what I am stating here, and I have heard them defend
Sunday worship in a million different ways.
Satan has used this tool over and over for dividing and conquering God’s
faithful. I have tried to keep an open
mind; but my heart and spirit will not let me accept that what God uttered on
the mountain to Moses wasn’t the whole truth that will last throughout
eternity. All of the other laws seem to
be playing out to be true in the universe.
Why would this one be different?
I do not feel that Sunday worship is wrong; quite
the contrary. EVERY day is fine and
acceptable for worship. We must worship
with every breath we take. That doesn’t
change the fact that God set aside one special day of the week and called it
the Sabbath. This day was the seventh
day.
None of the other commandments were changed over
time; why would we think it would be acceptable for this one to change?
Please don’t think I’m a Seventh Day
Adventist. I disagree with many of their
teachings as being not scriptural; but the keeping of the Sabbath day is one
point in which I DO agree with them.
There is no denying the scriptural evidence portrayed both in the new
and the old testaments for this argument.
As in all things, I look to Jesus for an example
of accuracy. All of his life Jesus kept
the seventh day Sabbath. If he intended
for this to change after his resurrection; don’t you think He would have discussed
it with at least one Apostle? There is
no evidence of this ever happening.
I have many friends which I highly respect that
are Catholic and Presbyterian and other forms of Protestant. They strongly disagree with me. I can agree with them on almost every other
issue but this one. This saddens me; but
my first allegiance is to God. It would
be even sadder for me to find that I deliberately and defiantly disobeyed God
knowing what He has taught me personally and through the scriptures. Perhaps that is why I do not believe in
denominations any more. Every little
splintered group, including even the Catholics who splintered off from the
original church (though they don’t seem to recall this) have some issue with
which I cannot claim complete loyalty because I find scriptural discrepancies.
However; I do accept that we are now living under
grace, and I do believe these people all to be faithful and sincere Christians
and I realize it is not my place to judge them anymore than it is their place
to judge me.
On the other hand; it is my job to proclaim what I
consider to be the unflawed theology of the scriptures as humbly as possible,
never thinking for one moment that I too cannot fall into the traps of the
enemy of God. I too am human and very
capable of making huge mistakes. Hence;
it all boils down to the fact that we all have to answer for our own decisions.
No thing, interpretation or organization will ever
be completely perfect until Christ returns; but as for me; I chose to stand
outside of most of these highly structured organizations and simply claim to be
a Christian following God’s word as closely as I know how from the power and
guidance of God’s Holy Spirit living within me.
That is why I often proclaim that I belong to no other group other than
those who are saved by Christ and covered in His blood. This would include people from all
denominations and all walks of life; and it would also release me from any doctrines
that I consider wrong in practice. It
would make me simply an imperfect sinner within a sea of other imperfect sinners
who have faith in the perfect blood of Jesus to save them from their sins. We all live humbly under the grace of
God. It is the blood of Jesus that makes
us all brothers, and it is out of love for him that I speak out of what I know
as truth.
Getting back to the subject; some hold that Sunday
is The Lord’s Day and the first day of the week and the day of the Resurrection
of Christ; so they find Sunday an acceptable day of worship for those reasons. With reverence and respect to them as
brothers and followers of Christ, I have to speak the truth in love and say
that I think every point in that statement is flawed.
I will start by saying I don’t think the
resurrection was on Sunday, but late on Saturday evening. Do the research; I dare you. I’m not going too far into that here – but I
will try to give a brief description of what I have come to believe:
After growing up in the Baptist church and
observing and loving the celebration of Good Friday, and Easter Sunday for
years; I discovered the significance of the Jewish Holy Days in relation to
Messiah. In my early twenties I began
celebrating Passover and Unleavened Bread and Early First Fruits, which relates
to the Jewish festivals and Holy Day celebrations; but with the significance of
Christ being our Messiah. I have done
this now for forty years of my life.
Through celebrating the holy days, careful and prayerful reading of the
scriptures and thinking about how God laid out the Holy Days and considering
the various ways mankind has changed the Sabbath from Saturdays to Sundays on
their own accord after the Apostles and Christ walked the earth, I have come to
accept the following scenario as to how the resurrection must have really
happened:
I believe that on the year Christ was crucified
for my sins and yours, the Passover occurred on a Tuesday evening through a
Wednesday evening. On Tuesday evening
Jesus celebrated the Passover Seder meal with his disciples. This was on a Tuesday night. He then prayed at Gethsemane, and was later
arrested and led away to be crucified.
He was crucified at 9 a.m. on Wednesday (the traditional time of the
Passover lambs being slain) and died at 3 p.m. that same day and was hastily
buried at 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening (Nissan 14 on the Hebrew calendar.) At sunset (after 6 p.m.) on Wednesday began
the high Sabbath of Passover which lasted until sunset (after 6 p.m. on
Thursday). Wednesday night and Wednesday
day would have been the first night and day in which Jesus lay in the tomb. (Nissan 15.)
From sunset on Wednesday to sunset on Thursday was also the First Day of
the Seven days of Unleavened Bread. The
First Day of Unleavened Bread is considered a holy day on God’s calendar. The Second Day of Unleavened Bread would have
been from sunset Thursday till sunset Friday.
This would have been Jesus’ second night and day in the tomb. (Nissan
16.) From Friday at sunset till
Saturday at sunset would have been Jesus’ third night and day in the tomb. (Nissan 17)
This day, as well as being the WEEKLY SABBATH, is known also in the seven days of Unleavened Bread as the day
of Early First Fruits. It is the THIRD
DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD DURING PASSOVER WEEK.
It was the day Jesus rose from the tomb.
Three nights and three days in the tomb on that particular week would
have ended at 3 p.m. on Saturday evening, so I believe Jesus rose from the dead between 3 p.m. and sunset on that Saturday (the 7th Day Sabbath and
the Third Day of Unleavened Bread – often called The Day of Early First Fruits,
which is symbolic of the first fruits of the harvest, both physically and
spiritually. Jesus is the First Fruit of
the harvest of God’s Kingdom. He was the
first One to rise from the dead in Resurrection.
I’ve looked carefully through the scriptures with
this scenario in mind, and I do not find any contradictions, especially if you
look at things from a Messianic/Hebraic perspective. So I do not believe that the “First Day of
the Week” or “Sunday” could be considered the day of the Resurrection, which
takes away all logic for calling Sunday the Day of The Lord.
The Day of The Lord is actually described in
Revelation 1:10 in a vision of John, and it is far from a Sabbath. It actually relates to the Apocalypse and it
is a day of God’s wrath, not a weekly day of worship. It is one day at the end of time that should
be seen for, what it truly stands for. Calling Sunday The Day of The Lord seems to
create confusion here; which again; I attribute to being a major trick of
Satan.
I’m sure I’ve lost many of you at this point; it
always happens.
We are all like little robots programmed to
believe whatever others have fed us all of our lives. All I can ask is that you sincerely pray and
study the scriptures and ask God to reveal the truth of His Sabbath to you,
because the experience of keeping Sabbath is one that is unbelievably awesome
and one of the best practices you will ever put into your days.
Search the scriptures and see if you can make
Friday evening through Sunday morning into three 24 hour periods; or if you can
take the Holy Days of Passover and Unleavened Bread into consideration where
these days are also called “Sabbaths” in the scriptures and not make another
assumption about when the resurrection actually took place. There are about a million arguments for the
late Saturday resurrection; but I will not belabor the point; I’ll just say in
relation to it making Sunday become The Lord’s Day; that it doesn’t hold water
with me.
Another big argument presented for Sunday Sabbath is that the
resurrection of Christ was the beginning of all new things. Long before the death, burial and
resurrection of Christ we hear him say:
“I make all things new.” I ‘ve always
loved that truth. He DOES make us new. He transforms us into something better. I have to say I think of this and the
Resurrection as the “fulfillment” of all things, not the “changing” of the old
but the “transformation” of the old. We
do not actually have an old thing changed to a completely new thing, but an old
thing transformed, improved and made better.
Even with this point given, it isn’t the DAY that
is changed, or fulfilled; it is the PEOPLE that Jesus died for that are
changed. The day is still the same
sacred, holy point of time that God created from the beginning of creation. From the beginning God set aside the seventh
day.
So not only do I think the Resurrection of Christ
happened on the Sabbath (the 7th day) but I also think it brought
about a “transformation” of God’s people’s hearts; not a change of a date on
the calendar.
One commentary I read gave words like this as
logic for Sunday Sabbath:
“In this light we can see the significance of the
practice of the New Testament church in its meeting on the first day of the
week, beginning with the disciples and Jesus (John 20:1,19,26) and continuing
on in the life of the church (Acts 2:1, 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). The first
day of the week is observed as the continuing Sabbath because it is, by virtue
of the Lord's rising on that day, "the Lord's Day."
I have already addressed my thoughts on the resurrection on Sunday theory
being wrong. Now I will examine the above scriptures quoted as logical reasons for Sunday worship:
(John 20:1) Early on the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, while it
was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been
removed from the entrance.
It is highly possible and probable that Jesus could have risen from the
grave and left the tomb late on Saturday (the 7th day of the week)
right before Mary rose early and went to the tomb on Sunday (the 1st
day of the week). Exactly what is the
argument here for the resurrection being on Sunday? The tomb could have been just as empty toward
the end of the Sabbath as it was on Sunday morning. It is simply not good logic to use this
scripture as a reason for Sunday.
(Acts 2:1) When the day of Pentecost came, they were all
together in one place.
The Resurrection and Pentecost were two separate occasions. The Resurrection made Pentecost possible and
both days are to be celebrated; but this isn’t comparing apples to apples. It says nothing about the resurrection of
Christ being on a Sunday. It is saying that PENTECOST occured on a Sunday. They are two different times and two different subjects, though. It doesn’t
seem logical to use this scripture reference as proof for a Sunday Sabbath either.
(Acts 20:7) On the first day of the week we came
together to break bread. Paul spoke to
the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking
until midnight. This passage is neither about the resurrection nor Sunday or the Sabbath
either. It is simply naming the day of
the week that they met with Paul while he was visiting in the area. It doesn’t seem logical to use this scripture
in reference to calling Sunday the Lord’s Day.
(1 Corinthians 16:2) On the first
day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping
with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will not have
to be made. Some have suggested this
verse was Paul telling the church who had started worshiping on Sunday to take
an offering on that day. I don’t think
that is what it means at all. I simply think Paul was reminding the people to start on the first day of their labor to set
aside a portion of money for the offering all during the week. By the Sabbath (the seventh day) they would
have a weeks worth of money set aside and would not have to calculate it or go
find it when he arrived. It seems just
that simple; and nothing about this suggests a logical way to say Sunday is the
day of worship to me.
We all have our own opinions. I
have given you mine. I hope and pray
that I am right; but that should not matter to you. Everyone should offer their time up to God
and allow God to direct how it is spent.
Pray for God to reveal the truth of the Sabbath to you and follow
exactly what God says to you. Search the
scriptures to these things even further.
This lesson has been the basic foundation for thoughts on keeping Sabbath according to God's commandments. Next week we will dig deeper into this and expand these thoughts into two parts. The next part will explore all the joy that comes to one who decides to follow God's specific instructions and set aside the seventh day to keep it holy. This can truly change your life in an amazing and powerful way.
This lesson has been the basic foundation for thoughts on keeping Sabbath according to God's commandments. Next week we will dig deeper into this and expand these thoughts into two parts. The next part will explore all the joy that comes to one who decides to follow God's specific instructions and set aside the seventh day to keep it holy. This can truly change your life in an amazing and powerful way.
The Church is the Bride of Christ.
We should be found keeping Sabbath when He returns. This is the very thing that God has put His
seal upon for us to know to do. Let us
be found worthy; and let us be following this commandment straight from the passion of
our hearts.
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