Remember the Sabbath

 Remember the Sabbath

What is most important in life? 

Is there a single person or thing that is most important?

Our lives are so busy that we do not have time to stop and reflect. If you have a smartwatch, like a Fitbit or Apple Watch, you will have an option to build “mindfulness” into your day. Mindfulness is simply making time to reflect during the day. 

We get so busy living that we forget to live. We make our beds, brush our teeth, prepare our meals, wash and dress our bodies, do our jobs, teach our children, pay our bills, watch the news, talk to friends, communicate with spouses, and stay so busy that we have to build in reminders to stop, take a breath, and listen to our busy minds. We are like hamsters on a wheel— our days fly by, and we wonder where they have gone. Things that we do not prioritize do not get done.

God understands us. For this reason, He intentionally built something into our lives that will make a difference, something that we cannot neglect without serious consequences. God commanded us to reserve one day a week for Him. The commandment is:

Exodus 20:6-11 (NKJV) Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

How important is this commandment? Why is this commandment given before “Thou shalt not kill,” or “Thou shalt not commit adultery?”

The reason this commandment is so important is where I began. Namely, what is most important in your life?

Jesus taught that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God. The first of the 10 commandments is to have no other god besides the Lord God.

How are we doing? 

We do not intentionally ignore God, but like everything else, we neglect what we do not prioritize.

At this point, we are going to take a quick look at the history given in the Old Testament. 1 Corinthians 10 tells us that the things that are recorded in the Old Testament were recorded as examples for us.  

I did not make this chart. It is from Truthnet.org.

Notice first that men did not seek God from creation to the Flood. After the Flood, men did not seek God. Before the Flood, God chose Noah. After the Flood, God chose Abraham and his descendants. Men did not seek God—they served idols. God chose Moses, and the generation that Moses led out of Egypt did not seek God because of idols. 

God chose Joshua.

With Joshua, we enter into the history of Israel as a nation. For 400 years, God was the ruler of Israel and used judges to correct the people, who had sworn they would follow God. This is where we get the stories of people like Gideon, Deborah, Samson, and Samuel. And the stories all share a common theme: The people always turned away from God to serve idols.

After the 400 years of judges, Israel demanded a king, and God gave them a king. The first king was Saul, the second was David, the and the third king was Solomon. And as the years went by, things fell apart. The problem was the same old story—the people turned away from God to serve idols.

From the birth of the nation at Mount Sinai, God had an agreement (a treaty or a covenant) with Israel. The first part of that agreement was “Thou shalt not have any other gods before Me.” The consequences of breaking that agreement are listed in detail in Deuteronomy 31-33.

Here is what God said the future would look like in summary.

Deuteronomy 31:16-18 (NKJV) ¹⁶ And the LORD said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go [to be] among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. ¹⁷ “Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God [is] not among us?’ ¹⁸ “And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.

This summary is precisely what the world has seen happen with Israel throughout history.

Now, look again at the chart. Do you see the period called the 70 years of captivity? Do you know why God specifically declared 70 years? Look at these verses with me. 

Leviticus 26:32-35 (NKJV) ³² I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it. ³³ I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. ³⁴ Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you [are] in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths. ³⁵ As long as [it] lies desolate it shall rest-- for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it.

The people did not observe the Sabbath, so God gave the land its Sabbaths.

Why was this so important? Why the Sabbaths?

Do you remember where we started? What is most important to you?

The answer is “you are.” The reason is simple. You get yourself up. You put yourself to bed. You feel your feelings and you think your thoughts. (You are never alone because you are with yourself.)

God tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves because if we are going to think of others at all, we have to be very deliberate about it. Now, since we love ourselves so much, what do you think our idol is? What are idols about, anyway?

Idols are about desires, wants, and even needs. Who do we look to for our needs and wants? We look to ourselves, others, spirits, deities, fate, the universe, karma, and God. Any of these besides God is an idol.

How are we to solve this problem?

It is not simple, but God has given us the first step. At the time of creation, before there were any laws, God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. Holy means “set apart.” All of creation, and especially people, need a Sabbath day. A sabbath is one day out of seven for rest, and it is so much more. It is one day out of seven to slow down, reset our priorities, and focus on God, who we are supposed to love with our whole heart, with all of our all—everything we are. 

We are so busy. People have always been busy, and in these last days, we have gotten busier than ever before in history. And, people forget God. They serve idols. This is universal. The Bible tells us, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

The Law has been done away with in Jesus Christ. He has fulfilled the Law. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So, do not be legalistic about the Sabbath. Do not condemn yourself because you have not observed it correctly. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You are not condemned. If you have asked God to forgive you, in Christ Jesus, you are sinless—not that you have not sinned, but you have been cleansed.

However, you need a Sabbath. You desperately need a Sabbath. You need one day in seven to reset your priorities and focus on God. How will you hear His voice if you do not take time to listen? How will you enjoy friendship with Him if you never take time to talk with Him? How will you love Him with all your heart if you never spend time with Him?

Before God gave any laws, at the time of creation, God set apart one day out of seven and made it holy. Why do we think we can live without something so essential and so fundamental? Why do we not listen to our tired minds, aching bodies, and troubled hearts? You are not a bad person because you have not got this right. You are human. You are a busy human being. For your own sake, please set aside one day in seven to talk with God, listen to God, and rest from your business.

Please realize that this is hard to do. We still have to brush our teeth, bathe, dress, eat, and take care of the necessities of life. Like anything worthwhile, it takes planning and effort to make a Sabbath happen. But we need a Sabbath—we desperately need a Sabbath. So, it is worth the effort.

To the Unknown God

 Please read Acts 17:16-31

Taking portions from Acts 17, verses 26 and 27, we see two things: First, that God made of one flesh every nation, and Second, that God did this so that perchance they might grope for Him and find Him.

These two things beg two questions: First, how could they have a statue or an altar to an unknown God, and second, how can God be unknown?

After all, God created the heavens and the Earth. Without him, nothing would exist. Nothing would even exist apart from God, and yet He is an unknown God?

Romans chapter 1, verses 19 through 22, explains why humanity does not know God.

Abraham - God’s Man

Abraham - God’s Man

Genesis 12:1-9  

Genesis 10 lists the descendants of Noah’s three sons and the nations that came from them. Genesis 11 doubles back in the account and provides the background behind why Noah’s family became many separate nations. In this account, we discover that mankind quickly abandoned the knowledge of God. The time between Noah’s family getting off the Ark and the Tower of Babel is amazingly short.  

After giving the account of Babel, Genesis 11 turns the focus to the descendants of Noah’s son Shem. There is nothing unusual about this family, but God focuses on them. As the generations progress, the family of Terah, descended from Shem, comes into focus. We meet Terah’s family in Genesis 11:27-28.

  

Babel: The Beginning of Nations

A brief history of the beginning of nations is given in Genesis 11:1-9.

Genesis 11:1-9 (NKJV) 1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” 5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the LORD said, “Indeed the people [are] one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

After the Flood, a few generations after Noah, Genesis 10 tells us of a man named Nimrod. Nimrod was the son of Cush, who was the son of Ham, Noah’s third son. Genesis 10 tells us more about Nimrod than about the other descendants of Noah that are listed. This is what we read of Nimrod. 

Genesis 10:8-12 (NKJV) 8 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.” 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city).

Geographically, the land being spoken of is in the area of modern-day Iraq. The map below shows the area. The area around Babylon was known as “Shinar.” Notice the large size of the area where Nimrod established cities.

 

When Genesis 10 speaks of a “mighty hunter before the LORD,” one might think this man and God were friends, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

Here is what Strong’s Lexicon of the Hebrew language says about the name Nimrod: “Derived from the Hebrew root מָרַד (marad), meaning ‘to rebel.’”

Translation is a tricky business. When God moved Moses to write this, Moses wrote it in Hebrew. So, where our English translations say “before the Lord,” the Hebrew uses the word “face” and a word meaning “to” (as in the direction being toward). The commentaries of the ancient Hebrews took this to mean that Nimrod opposed God. In addition, they interpreted “mighty” as “giant.” 

The historian Josephus, writing in about 93AD, describes Nimrod as a ruler who sought to turn people away from God and establish himself as ruler. He also says that it was Nimrod who started construction of the Tower of Babel. (Josephus, Antiquities 1.4.2) His writings reflect the Jewish traditions of the day.

The Bible also suggests that Nimrod was the instigator of the Tower of Babel when it says, “And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel.” (Genesis 10:10)

Nimrod was no ordinary man. The word translated as “mighty” is used in Genesis 6 to describe the “giants” who resulted from the intermingling of the sons of God with the daughters of men. Genesis 6:4 says:

Genesis 6:4 (NKJV) There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore [children] to them. Those were the mighty men who [were] of old, men of renown.

Although the Flood wiped out all the giants that were alive before the Flood, fallen angels (the devil and his helpers), with the cooperation of some people, tried the same trick again after the Flood. There are some who think that the myths of the Titans rebelling against the great god Zeus probably come from the actual events recorded in the Bible concerning the Tower of Babel. Additionally, there is some speculation that the Epic of Gilgamesh comes from the same time frame. The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient story of a warrior-king with divine connections. 

When Genesis 6:4 mentions giants “afterward,” and uses the same word for “giant” or “mighty,” along with the hints of hybrid “demigods” in history, it might suggest that Nimrod was one of these.

However, whatever one believes about Nimrod, he was no ordinary man. God made a point of introducing him in Genesis 10 and God also made a point of telling us that Babel was the beginning of his kingdom. From these facts, we can assume that Nimrod’s role in history is significant.

Genesis 11 introduces us to the largest, most impressive project of the kingdom of Babel, the Tower. This was a symbol of rebellion against God. This audacious stance was a declaration of war against God. Nimrod wanted to be THE RULER, and so he led humanity in declaring war against God.

God’s response to this declaration of war was to delay the inevitable outcome by confusing the languages of the people. This war is still going on and the Bible tells us how it will end.

The fact that everyone spoke the same language facilitated Nimrod’s quest for dominance. Genesis 11:1 tells us:

Genesis 11:1 (NKJV) Now the whole earth had one language and one speech.

Before the Flood, the people also had only one language, and the unity of language and absence of nations or “race” did not keep the earth from being filled with violence. So, humanity cannot say that one language and one speech for everyone would bring understanding and peace. Nimrod’s plan was to unite all of humanity under him. Perhaps he convinced people to follow him by promising peace and prosperity. Whatever he used to convince others, under Nimrod, ambition and arrogance found full expression. So, God blocked Nimrod’s ambition to be ruler of the entire world. God did this by confusing language, thus spreading humanity around the globe. 

When people suddenly found themselves speaking different languages, they were immediately divided according to families, resulting in the many nations that have characterized humanity throughout the ages. God could have instantly wiped out the whole crowd, but He chose to call out a people for Himself instead. The Bible tells us that God is patient and wants everyone to repent; in other words, lay down the weapons of their warfare against Him. He did not and does not destroy all humanity because He is calling out a people for Himself.

However, and this is a very important, foundational fact, the kingdom that Nimrod started has never ceased to exist. Nimrod’s descendants are still at war with God. Babel became known as Babylon. In 605 BC, Babylon defeated Egypt and her allies at the Battle of Cachemesh and Babylon became the dominate world power, until the Medes and Persians conquered it, and it became the Persian Empire. The Persians expanded the Empire and eventually fell to the Greeks when Alexander the Great took over. Alexander the Great expanded the Empire and established the foundations that became the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire expanded the Empire and established the foundation of what has become our modern world.

All of this history was foretold in the book of Daniel, who was an official in the Babylonian Empire. The king of Babylon at the time, Nebuchadnezzar, had a dream, and in that dream, he saw a huge statue. Daniel was able to explain that dream to Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel’s explanation foretold the Persian, Greek, and Roman Empires. It also foretells the kingdom that Jesus will set up when He returns. As one goes through the Bible, it becomes clear that Babylon is the devil’s kingdom. Ephesians 2:2 says:

Ephesians 2:2 (NKJV) in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

In the context of this verse, “prince” means ruler or king. Throughout the Bible, Babylon is used to reference the world system. In Isaiah 14, the king of Babylon is equated with Satan. In Revelation, Satan is spoken of as the dragon (serpent), and it is Satan who empowers the Beast. The fall of the kingdom of the Antichrist is announced as “The kingdom of Babylon has fallen!”

It is essential that we not forget that as part of God’s kingdom, people are not our enemy. Ephesians 6 tells us:

Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

The problem is that the devil has deceived billions of people into following him. Being under the control of the evil one, they become tools to do his bidding. As Christians we have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18ff explains that on behalf of Jesus Christ, we plead with people to be reconciled to God.

When a person is reconciled to God, God gives that person His Holy Spirit and that person is changed. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says:

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) Therefore, if anyone [is] in Christ, [he is] a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

The kingdom of Babylon that Nimrod established to oppose God is still in operation; it is the system that the world operates under. The world opposes God. This is why, in the book of James, the Scriptures says:

James 4:4 (NKJV) Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

From ancient Hebrew writings, it appears that demons empowered Nimrod. We also know that this world lies under the power of the evil one, and that, in the last days, the Antichrist, also known as “the Beast,” will be demonically empowered. 

As followers of Christ and citizens of His kingdom, we must not forget that the spirit of antichrist is already in the world. 1 John 4:3 says:

1 John 4:3 (NKJV) and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

God includes Nimrod and Babel in the account of Genesis because understanding what happened at that time is essential in understanding the world as it operates today. Much of the Bible is devoted to prophecy and the history of Nimrod and Babel are crucial in understanding the Bible’s prophecies. 

There are two kingdoms at war. God’s kingdom and the devil’s kingdom. When Jesus returns, He will destroy the devil’s kingdom (The Kingdom of Babylon) and establish His kingdom.

For each of us, it is crucial that we choose which side we are on. It is also urgent that we make our choice now. The things given to us by God in the Bible VERY CLEARLY indicate that the end of Nimrod’s kingdom is near and this time God has promised He will not use a flood.