Messages to the Shepherds of the LORD JESUS’ Flocks Part IV

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Ezekiel 33:6 (KJV):

But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.

Vital Messages (PART IV) to the

Shepherds of the LORD JESUS’ Flocks

Dear Church Leader:

This is a series of important messages to the Shepherds of JESUS’ flocks inspired and given by the HOLY SPIRIT in these, the last days.  If you were not aware, we are in the last days and your flocks need to be prepared for the LORD’s wrath now coming to the earth, HIS soon return and that is the purpose of these messages.  The world is growing darker and further away from the LORD’s standard of holiness.  Now is the time for everyone to be ready and to lean into the LORD.

Part I can be found at this link: http://end-times-prophecy.com/blog/?page_id=1889

Part II can be found at this link: http://end-times-prophecy.com/blog/?page_id=1892

Part III can be found at this link: http://end-times-prophecy.com/blog/?page_id=1912

Ezekiel 3:19 (KJV): Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

To Keep the Sabbath HOLY or Not?—That is the Question

So many people write us about the Sabbath and whether to keep it HOLY—and what do we think about it?  Many Christians believe that it is alright to work, buy, sell on the Sabbath and if you think otherwise then you are being legalistic about it.  Well let’s look at this together and see what conclusion we can draw:

First, Remembering and Keeping the Sabbath day holy is one of the Ten Commandments:

Exodus 20:8-11: (KJV): ⁸Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  ⁹Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:  ¹⁰But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: ¹¹For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

It is a Commandment in Exodus that is among other Commandments of GOD including these:

Exodus 20:3: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:12-17: (KJV) Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

¹³Thou shalt not kill.

¹⁴Thou shalt not commit adultery.

¹⁵Thou shalt not steal.

¹⁶Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

¹⁷Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

There are no sensible Christians that I know of who have ever said a little killing is okay or a little adultery is fine or a little stealing is no problem.  I don’t hear pastors anywhere saying that it is okay after going to church and then to close the day with a little thieving.

Exodus 20:8: (KJV) says: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

So if we remember the Sabbath day and keep it HOLY, just what does “HOLY” mean?

Ephesians 5:27: (KJV) That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Ephesians 5:27 here combines the word “HOLY” with not having spot, wrinkle or blemish.  Other words related to “HOLY” can be separate, sacred, and the opposite of common.

Something HOLY would be venerated as not associated with the common.  Exodus 20:8-11 implies that working is “commonly” done the other six days of the week but not to be done on the HOLY Sabbath.

So the next question would be—are the Commandments still the standard to live by today, including Keeping the Sabbath HOLY?

The last Word written in the Bible was the NEW TESTAMENT.  So were the Commandments of GOD discarded in the era of JESUS’ time on earth and after HE was resurrected according to the NEW TESTAMENT?

Here are some NEW TESTAMENT verses about the Commandments of GOD:

JESUS said these words:

Matthew 5:17-19: ¹⁷Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.  ¹⁸For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.  ¹⁹Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Then in Mark, JESUS says men reject the Commandments of GOD in favor of the tradition of men:

Mark 7:8-9: ⁸For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.

⁹And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

The closing book of the NEW TESTAMENT, Revelations very clearly speaks of those who have the testimony of JESUS CHRIST in the last days, also KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.

Revelation 12:17:  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Now let’s go back into the OLD TESTAMENT and ask the question what do these verses mean?

Leviticus 16:31: (KJV) It is a day of sabbath rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance.

Leviticus says the Sabbath rest is a lasting ordinance—lasting until when?

Exodus 31:16: (KJV) The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant.

Looking at Exodus 31:16 about the observation of the Sabbath it refers to a lasting covenant.  So which generation did this lasting covenant get cut off?

Exodus 31:13: (KJV): “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.

Again, the question here is which “generation to come” did GOD shut down the observation of this particular Commandment?

Now let’s take a look at Isaiah.  It mentions in Isaiah 56:6-8 once again that it is important to preserve the Sabbath and this verse is speaking of those who will be brought to the LORD’s Holy Mountain in the “last days.”  We know this because we see it stated so in Isaiah 2:2 and Jeremiah 3:17.  GOD is stating here very clearly that the keeping of the Sabbath and maintaining it as “set apart from the common” or “HOLY” is for even those in the LAST DAYS and not just for those who lived in the past!

Isaiah 56:6-8 (KJV): ⁶Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; ⁷Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.

Isaiah 2:2 (KJV):  And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it and also Jeremiah 3:17 (KJV): At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

This is what the LORD showed me regarding this particular Commandment—Keeping the Sabbath HOLY when I asked HIM about it (and so this is my testimony of a vision the LORD gave me and the teaching of the HOLY SPIRIT regarding this vision):

The LORD gave me a vision: I saw JESUS in the temple like a scene from a movie—I saw the back of HIM and HE was busy in the temple area throwing out the buyers and sellers and HE was really creating a scene.  Then the HOLY SPIRIT REVEALED this to me:

This is NEW TESTAMENT truth: JESUS was showing the people of HIS time to keep the TEMPLE/SANCTUARY of GOD HOLY and not to desecrate it with buying, selling, trading—BECAUSE IT WAS A HOLY PHYSICAL SPACE.

Then the HOLY SPIRIT revealed to me that likewise the Sabbath to GOD is a HOLY SPACE OF TIME.  And, like the HOLY Sanctuary it was not to contain buying, selling, trading.

Then to drive the point home—right after this teaching, the next day I came to this verse:

Leviticus 19:30: (KJV) Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.

So there the two were combined together in Leviticus 19:30 the Sabbath with the Sanctuary, equal in weight—both to be kept and reverenced as the HOLY SPIRIT showed me and as JESUS demonstrated in HIS NEW TESTAMENT teaching when HE threw the buyers, sellers, and trading out of the sanctuary of GOD in disgust—so the HOLY SPIRIT has shown me that the buying, selling, trading is to be thrown out of the HOLY SPACE OF TIME—the Sabbath.

This is what GOD, HIMSELF, says in Isaiah 58:13-14: (KJV)

¹³ “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

In closing, many will still insist that buying, selling, trading, working and making the Sabbath just another day that you do the things you would commonly do all the rest of the week is okay, then I ask you this question:

If you have a shred of doubt that you see the importance of keeping all the other Commandments of GOD such as not stealing, not committing adultery, or not killing but not by keeping the Sabbath HOLY—then why would you lean to the direction of the secular and not to the divine and to the preference of reverencing GOD?  This may be the question you want to ask yourself.

Addendum: I wanted to add this piece since I had written this article to further support the position that the church should be honoring the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy.  Let us observe this scripture:

Luke 23:55-56 (KJV): ⁵⁵And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. ⁵⁶And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.

According to the New Testament, the women who were planning to prepare JESUS’ body first rested instead to observe the Sabbath.  So many say that was a different time and we are not of that time.  But, the reason this is so significant to show you this verse, these women were true followers and close to JESUS no doubt. So they also had to be familiar with HIS teachings.  So the teachings of CHRIST that these same women would have heard, was not contrary to the keeping of the Sabbath Holy as this passage of Scripture describes.  Then also let us consider these words from the NEW TESTAMENT passage in Hebrews 4:

Hebrews 4 (KJV): ¹Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. ²For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. ³For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. ⁵And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. ⁶Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: ⁷Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. ⁸For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. ⁹There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. ¹⁰For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. ¹¹Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. ¹²For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.¹³Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. ¹⁴Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. ¹⁵For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Let me close with this verse from the New Testament: Hebrews 10:16 (KJV): This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

The new covenant is a matter of the heart and not just stone tablets with the law.  Now we long to keep to the law because of the love we have for JESUS and what HE has done for us.  The law is not eliminated, but the law has moved from the tablets to the heart.

Article written and vision received by Susan Davis