A Day to be Remembered
It’s not hard to loose the significance in our world with regard to past experiences, events, and people. Cultures have designated special days, monuments, and customs to commemorate their experiences. The reason certain cultures do this is to serve as a reminder for future generations of the struggles, victories, and inventions that may have been contributing factors to the enhancement or development of their civilization. The peoples who designate these customs, traditions, holidays, and monuments do it primarily because they don’t want their posterity to ever forget.
Memorial Day is such a day. Originally called Decoration Day, Major General John A. Logan, leader of an organization of Union veterans called Grand Army of the Republic, declared that graves of fallen Civil War soldiers should be decorated. May 30, was chosen because it was believed that flowers would be in bloom throughout the whole country. Here we have a perfect example of a day set aside to commemorate not just our dead who have fallen in American wars, but the principle for which they were fighting—our freedom. Many have taken Memorial Day and used it to honor departed loved ones. Decorating graves, remembering the dead, what a very melancholic experience, yet we are able to celebrate the departed by remembering their lives, their sacrifices, and their love.
You know God has a Memorial Day. His Memorial Day is not so melancholic. As a matter of fact he called it honorable and a delight. And He not only said that it was His memorial but He did not want us to ever forget it. It was a day to be remembered. People often remember the people associated with the event but not the event itself, or the event and not the people. God understands this about us. He knows we are creatures subject to forgetting. That is why He has given us the Sabbath.
[Give Title & Pray]
Turn with me into your Bibles to the book of Psalms 135:13. We shall begin our study of God’s Memorial Day:
Thy name, O Lord, endureth for ever; and Thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations.
God gave us a memorial to remember His name forever. People do a lot of things to get their names remembered. Bonnie and Clyde robbed banks in West Dallas to get their names remembered. Charles Manson is known for his “Helter Skelter” acts of murdering the innocent. I know of girls in high school who have earned a name for themselves for their promiscuous behavior with the boys’ athletic teams. People have done some terrible things to get their names remembered. And on the converse we have people who have not tried to do anything but better society and mankind and their names are enshrined in the pages of history. Columbus was going to reach India sailing west and ended up in Cuba and is credited for having discovered the Americas. Galileo pointed his telescope into the heavens and said that the earth was not the center of the universe but was one of billions of planetary objects. Einstein couldn’t be taught in school but discovered the basic structure of matter and schooled us on the theory of relativity, but what about God? What has he done to get his name remembered?
It baffles me beloved how we are able to take a day that has been designated as a memorial of a person or event and not celebrate either on that particular day. MLK Day is not always on his birthday but it is celebrated. Juneteenth is only celebrated in Texas, 2 and a half years after the formal Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Lincoln. When God gave us the Sabbath, he did not intend on us moving it around like these other holidays that we observe. It is consistent. It occurs every week. It serves as a reminder of what He has done for us. People like Juneteenth would have you believe that the Sabbath is for Jews only. Although Juneteenth is for slaves in Texas, the Sabbath was given to Adam first which is a man and Jesus recalls this in Mark 2:27,
And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath:
The Sabbath was made for man. That means white men, black men, Hispanic men, Asian men, African men, European men. The Sabbath was not just made for the Jews and furthermore Adam wasn’t a Jew he was a man. In fact beloved the Sabbath was given 2000 years before the first Jew. Abraham was the first Jew. Why did God setup the Sabbath as His memorial? God gave us the Sabbath to remind us of Him first of all. Second to remember His authority and that He alone is the one true God, and finally to remind us that He is the one that sanctifies us through the regeneration or recreation of our lives.
First the Sabbath helps us to identify God. In Exodus 20:8-11, we cannot expect people to know Jesus, our Creator without first knowing what He created. In John 1:1-3, and Colossians 1:16, 17 states:
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 were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made… For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him: And He is before all things, and by him all things consist.
God gave us the Sabbath to remember the day that He finished all of His work. When God finished creating the world in six days He rested. He blessed the Sabbath and sanctified it. He did on the seventh day what He did not do on one through six. Thereby making a distinction Himself of which day that He prefers to serve as a day to be remembered.
We cannot begin to think that we are not Jews. “That covenant was entered into with the Jews,” some would argue. Yes initially the Sabbath was given to the Jews to distinguish them from all other peoples by their worship of the one true God. But brothers and sisters we are Jews. Romans 2:28-29 [READ]. People argue and argue that the Sabbath was made for the Jews when Jesus was hanging on the cross; Pilate had a sign hanging above Jesus’ head with the inscription Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews. You don’t hear people arguing that we aren’t going to worship Christ because He is only King to the Jews. Jesus kept the Sabbath. (Luke 4:16) Some would say that because He was Jewish. My Bible says that I am Jewish too. (I John 4:17, Galatians 3:29, Ephesians 2:11-13, 19) When we become God’s people we become Jews and if we become Jews then the perpetual covenant of keeping the Sabbath is extended to us. Thus we who observe the Sabbath recognize that we are God’s people, and that He alone is our God. If all of mankind observed the Sabbath there would not be such a thing as an idolater or atheist.
Moreover the Sabbath serves as a covenant to the people of God. It is the authority that God has placed on its observance that shows allegiance to His sovereignty. He says in the observance of the Sabbath is how we know Him. Exodus 31:12-17 [READ]. We enter a covenant relationship with God when we keep the Sabbath. Not only is it an agreement but a sign, a memorial of our relationship with Him forever. The Bible said a perpetual covenant. This means as in the Hebrew, “owlam” time without end, indefinite, eternity. That means the Sabbath would stand as a day to be remembered as long as there is a thing called existence. Isaiah 66:22, 23 confirms our observing of the Sabbath when time as we know it ceases.
We often hear fellow saints utter these infamous words, “I am a New Testament Christian,” or “We are under the New Covenant,” however when asked what is the New Covenant, many of them don’t know what the New Covenant is. The responses are varied. “It’s the blood of Christ,” some say. “It is the grace dispensation,” yet others say it is the cross of Calvary over the sacrificial system. Yes the blood of Jesus, the cross of Calvary, and grace are parts of the covenant. The blood of Jesus ratifies or implements the New Covenant, the cross of Calvary provides the death of the testator, and grace is the result of an active Covenant with the people of God, but they do not express what the New Covenant is. The Bible informs us of what the New Covenant is in plain language:
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Jeremiah 31:31-34
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; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Hebrews 10:16, 17
God’s laws would be written in our hearts, and in our minds, this is the New Covenant. So when people say to me that the Law was nailed to the cross, I have to scratch my head and say now that doesn’t make any sense. When they tell me that all of the commandments are relevant to the Christian today except the Fourth Commandment which commands the observance of the Sabbath, I look baffled. God is immutable. (Malachi 3:6) His law is immutable (Matthew 5:18), and guess what brothers and sisters, His Covenant is immutable. (Hebrews 6:17, 18) This shouldn’t surprise any of us. For it is impossible for God to lie. (Numbers 23:19)
A quick history lesson will show us that when God promises, it lasts forever. After the flood he made a covenant with the earth and the inhabitants thereof that he would not destroy the world again by a flood and as a token of that promise or covenant He made the rainbow to appear from time to time in the cloud to remind us of this covenant. (Genesis 9:8-17) He promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and that his seed would be as innumerable as the stars of heaven. (Genesis 17:4; 22:17, 18) He fulfilled this promise in Christ calling Him seed (singular), all those who come to Christ become Abraham’s seed. (Galatians 3:16, 29) The token of this covenant is circumcision. We still have to be circumcised today not the cutting away of the foreskin which is outward of the flesh, but circumcision is of the heart the cutting away of the carnal nature. (Romans 2:28, 29) And how can we forget the covenant that God made with David? (Psalm 89:29, 34-37) God promised that David’s seed would rule forever over His people. This is fulfilled in Christ, who is the son of David, and His kingdom according to Daniel and John the Revelator is an everlasting kingdom which shall never be destroyed.
And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all the se kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Daniel 2:44
And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become [the kingdoms] of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. Revelation 11:15
So the Sabbath is the seal, sign, or token of this covenant relationship with God through Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus said it this way, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) He that saith he knoweth him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.
Finally our God created us and has made provision for us to be recreated again by entering into His rest. We receive our redemption and sanctification through Christ who is the Sabbath of rest to the people of God (Matthew 11:27, 28; I Corinthians 1:30). We receive sanctity when we fellowship with God. There can be no relationship without fellowship. God Himself established this when He instituted the Sabbath. (Hebrews 4:1-11)
Jesus is waiting for you to enter into His rest. There is a physical rest and a spiritual rest that He has provided for you and I. Isn’t it good to know that we can rest by his blood from adultery, fornication, idolatry, hatred, strife, envyings, murder, drunkenness, backbiting, covenant-breaking. Jesus wants us to enjoy the benefits and blessings of resting physically from our daily toil, the cares of the life, and be refreshed through communion with Him. The appeal is stated here in Hebrews 4:10, 11 let us labour therefore to enter into that rest? Who wants to rest in Jesus today and keep all of His commandments including the one to rest?
