SABBATH REST

SABBATH REST

                In my article yesterday I spoke about a kind of divine rest of which the Sabbath day is but a symbol. It is the rest that we have in Christ as we trust in His works and not our own. And while the Sabbath is a symbol of that greater rest that was provided for us by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is nevertheless a formidable symbol. Instituted at creation and reiterated on Mt. Sinai, by the same Creator God who created everything in the first place, the Sabbath is a very part of the fabric of reality.

                Think of a wall that is infinitely high and deep and wide and thick. How do you get around it? Well, reality is just one of those things that you can’t get around and no matter how much you try to change truth, your changes will not in fact change the truth. Truth is reality and reality is truth and the more we align ourselves with it, the more sane and stable and well- founded our lives will be.

                In a recent post to my Facebook site by Debi, we find that Pope Francis is now saying that his word overrules the Bible. It is almost laughable if it wasn’t so sad. It reminds me of an old German fable about a frog that tried to become a lion by inflating himself bigger and bigger. He kept asking his friends “Do I look like a lion yet?” and they kept replying “No not yet.” Well the frog finally exploded and made a grand mess.

                Paul talks about this puffing up in 1 Cor. 8:1 saying: “Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes us arrogant (puffs us up) but love edifies. “         (Builds us up)

                On a more serious note, what Pope Francis is saying reminds me of the Bible’s description of the antichrist. Daniel in describing this seven headed ten horned beast of the end times (that we now know to be the global government of the beast), says that he will think to change times and laws. But the court will sit for judgment and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. Daniel 7:25, 26. 

                There was an old advertisement about margarine that said that it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature. Well, the same goes for reality. You can try to change it all you want to, but in the end you will have built a house of cards that will not stand.

                The Bible is a book of reality. Everyone seems to try to get around it. Scientists, philosophers and rebels are constantly trying to deny the truth of the Bible. Higher critics begin their approach to the bible by laying ground rules in which there isn’t really a God and therefore there are no miracles of a supernatural nature. But if you take miracles and prophecy out of the Bible it is no longer the Bible. Miracles and prophecies are God’s calling cards. They verify His claims.

                Archeologists keep saying that the Bible is not accurate, although they routinely use it as a field guide. They build a case against the bible because they can’t find artifacts to substantiate certain locations. They keep making wild claims that there weren’t any such people in history as King David or Solomon and no city of Ninevah no Sodom and Gomorrah. The list goes on and on, but their claims are constantly biting the dust as they dig up the evidence they were looking for. It wasn’t the bible that was wrong… it was them.

                Nowadays the facts of reality are coming home to roost as intrepid researchers go out and find overwhelming confirmation of all of the bible’s stories. The ruins of Noah’s Ark, the real crossing of the Red Sea including chariots and body parts on the sea floor, the real Mt. Sinai in Arabia jut as the Bible said it was, the Ark of the Covenant, the anchors from Paul’s shipwreck and countless other things have been found to corroborate the Biblical narrative. And if these finds don’t get trumpeted on the daily news, it is because they have a satanic agenda to cover up God’s Truth.

                The return of Israel to its land is one of the greatest miracles of all time. It has never happened  that a nation has been destroyed and its people scattered among many nations and cultures, to suddenly come back into their own land with their culture and language still intact…NEVER!

                The Bible contains about 2500 prophecies of which about two thirds have been fulfilled with complete accuracy. Therefore there is no logical reason to believe that the remainder of the prophecies dealing with end time events will not come to pass exactly as stated.

                Today we stand on the precipice of final events; in fact we are swimming in them as we watch the global kingdom of the antichrist being formed along with the great falling away that will make way for his arrival. (Mt. 24:10, 2 Thess. 2:3, 4) It is beyond my imagination to answer why Christian leaders are travelling to Rome to meet with this puffed up frog. Have they lost minds… their spiritual discernment? Have they fallen away? Is this not the great falling away or apostasy spoken of in 2 Thess. 2:3, 4? Is the pope not exalting himself above every so called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God?” It’s not hard to see these things coming to pass right before our very eyes.

                It was popes of the past who took it upon themselves to change God’s times (Feast Days) and laws and I can’t help but feel that God’s true Sabbath will be an issue in these last days. After all, the tribulation is a short period of time when God’s reality and Satan’s lies will meet head to head on the battle field. And while our faithfulness to Yeshua will be at the core of all issues, will not truth (reality) be on trial as well? Jesus warns that it will be a time like no other time since there was a nation, even since creation itself. (Mt 24:21, Mark 13:19)

                “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life and the life was the light of men, and the light shined in the darkness, but the darkness did not comprehend it. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to be called the children of God, even to those who believed in His name. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1-5, 12- 14.

                Jesus said: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me. John 14:6. Here we have a statement that forms three pillars of reality. There is no way off of this dark prison planet but through Jesus simply because He is both our Creator and our Savior. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, so then how could there be any other access to the Father but through Him? That truth is an infinite wall that you can’t get around. Likewise Jesus said that He is the truth. Truth is reality. So people say that there is no absolute truth or that we can each make up our own truth, well they are sort of like the frog that tried to be a lion. Truth is reality and reality is the truth and in spite of the many layers of fabrication and lies that make up our society today, there is an absolute truth that can be found and that truth is God’s Word.

                Jesus also said, “I am the Life.” Well, who could possibly qualify to be called the “Life” other than the one that created life in the first place? Life is a miracle. It is an absolute miracle that anything is alive, or conscious, or able to move of its own free will. Life is another one of those realities for which there is only one Source… the Life Giver Himself, the Creator of all that exists. “In Him was life and the life was the light of man and the light shined in the darkness, but the darkness did not comprehend it.” John 1:4, 5. The scientists, the Philosophers and the archeologists are really without excuse. They keep digging up the truth and the truth always verifies God’s Word… and yet they call it chance.

                In these last days God’s Truth and Satan’s lies will come into direct confrontation in a final showdown.  Satan, through His antichrist system will try to bully us with persecution, deceive us with lies, inforce times and laws upon us that are not from God. And yet Jesus said: ”But the one who endures to the end, it is he who shall be saved. Mt. 24:13

                Truth is not always the most popular thing, but those who align themselves with it will be called the Remnant people of God, who keep His commandments and who hold to the testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of prophecy. To be aligned with Jesus, we must be aligned with His Way, His Truth and His Life.

                This is not about dead laws and rituals and traditions. This is about a love relationship with our Creator and our Savior. To be in love with Him is to likewise be in love with reality. We are preparing as a Bride adorned for her Husband and like all marriages, the question is asked, “How can two walk together unless they be agreed?” We cannot serve both God and the world.

                Like we have said so many times; being born again is the most radical thing that can be done on this planet. In it we die to Satan’s kingdom and we are born into the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We step from darkness into light… from lies into the truth… from flesh into spirit. We literally change kingdoms. There can be no greater change than that. In this heavenly realm God’s Word is our only reality. His will is our only command and in exchange for our surrender, He gives us His life.

                The people of this world are trying to rationalize their way around these things, but some of us are facing them square on and making a decision to go all the way with Yeshua, our soon coming King. For us, He is our ultimate reality and His truth, His Word is our only foundation.

                So Pope Francis, you can blow yourself up as big as you want to but you will never be a lion… and the world will yet see it and turn against you in the end. Rev. 17:16-18