"Remember" means what?

If I started out a sentance with the word "remember"....does that mean that I am asking you to think back about an event? Sure it does. So when God asks us all to "remember" the Sabbath day it would be to remember an event that cannot change.

We cannot change the past. Can we? The fourth commandment asks us to "remember" an original and unaltered event. So we know that God cannot be asking us to remember "sunday" if Saturday is the true Sabbath, the historical and unchangeable event!

In the Garden of Eden, God gave Adam and Eve laws to live by. He loved them and cared for their moral development. We see that after they took the fruit they were told not to and lied to God they became sinners. They knew God's commandments.

We see that God's fourth commandment, the Holy Sabbath, was given in Genesis chapter two.We see Cain and Abel practicing sacrificial laws in Genesis but the sacrificial laws were not yet written out. Why was there already the shedding of blood in Genesis? Because the Moral Law had been broken.

Sin is the transgression of the Ten Commandments and without the shedding of blood [sacrificial law] there is no atonement.We see that even before all the commandments were written on stone after the Egyptian exile that God chose Abraham “Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, [God said] and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” [Genesis 26:5]

We see that even before the Ten Commandments were written out on stone God was reminding Israel after pulling them out of bondage of the Sacred Law. God said to them before they reached mount Sinai; "How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?" [Exodus 16:28] How could God charge them thus had they not known beforehand? "And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord; bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seeth that ye will seeth; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until morning." [Exodus 16:23]

Here we notice God telling them, or reminding them, of His Holy Sabbath before mount Sinai. Why did God ultimately have to remind them and re-write the commandments out for them on stone? Because during their bondage and 40 year wandering in the wilderness a generation had been lost.
"And the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until allthe generation, that had done evil in the sight of the Lord, was consumed." [Numbers 32:13]

So here we are in the Church Age and a generation or so has again forgotten the Ten Commandments of our Lord. Let us learn from history!Remember, Jesus only promised to build one church, therefore, the rest of the churches that are here today were started by men, not by God.

The way we can be sure the church we are in is the church Jesus built is to look at the characteristics. We find the last-day characteristics of God's church listed in His word, the Holy Bible.

Look at these two important and foundational characteristics:Rev. 12:17: "And the dragon [the Devil] was wroth [angry] with the woman [church], and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."Rev. 19:10 "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit [gift] of prophecy."

Written by Eric W. King [Written on February 8th,2008] Some material from this article taken from and early article of Eric's

Posted by Ewk at 8:03 PM

Dear Eric W. King,

Here is a statement regarding this article, "Remember" means it already happened":

The book of Genisis was written by Moses, well after creation. Biblical patriarchs tell when God made a covenent THe testimony of Moses in Deuteronomy 5:2-3 says "The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today."

Ans the testimony of Nihemiah in Nehemiah 9:13-14 says: "You came down on Mount Sinai; you spoke to them from heaven. You gave them regulations and laws that are just and right, and decrees and commands that are good. You made known to them your holy sabbath and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses." (NIV).

Can you please respond?

______________________

Sure, and thank you for your post. If we read just the Scriptures you qouted you could have an arguement. The problem lies in the fact that you are wanting these Scriptures to free you from obediance to the Eternal Moral law. So you have drawn a "window" around them without considering context and the Bible as a whole on the topic. My brother and friend in Jesus Christ, Edwin Cotto can give you a good response perhaps a better one than I did in my article. Edwin points out:

RESPONSE:

Deut. 5:3
The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.

Some think that when this verse says "our fathers" it is speaking about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yet, knowing that this will not contradict 1 Chronicles 16:15-17, for God's word does not contradict itself, we must realized that Moses was not here talking about Abraham, but about the fathers of those Israelites that were slaves in Egypt! Remember, they were in Egyptian bondage for 400 years (Genesis 15:13). That means that if a bible generation in those days was 100 years long, that's at least four generations of "fathers" that did not experience this covenant! That is why Moses said that the Lord did not make this covenant of 10 Commandments with "our fathers," because the Israelites there present were the children of those Israelites that died while slaves in Egypt. -http://adventist-defense-league.blogspot.com/2008/02/sabbath-in-genesis.html

And the testimony of Nehemiah in Nehemiah 9:13-14 says: "You came down on Mount Sinai; you spoke to them from heaven. You gave them regulations and laws that are just and right, and decrees and commands that are good. You made known to them your holy sabbath and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses." (NIV).

RESPONSE:

Neh 9:14 "And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant."

This seemed like a desperate attempt to try and prove a point not found in this verse. To much evidence is here lacking to back up your idea that the Sabbath is not a creation odinance, and the reason is simple, this verse does not say that it was "not" a creation ordinance, it says God made "known" unto them His sabbath. This in no way limits the Sabbath to not having been already existing before it was made known to them. A good example is a "mole" I noticed recently under my wife's foot. I had no idea she had that mole under her foot, until she made it "known" unto me. However, that mole was there since before I married her, indeed, it's been there since she was born! God made "known" unto them the Sabbath, but the Sabbath existed before it was made known unto them (as will be shown below). Even if you argue the Sabbath did not exist before them, this verse is not good enough to prove it appeared when they appeared, the language does not allow for such an idea. You'll have to try a different verse.
______________________________

Please continue to study God's Word.....ALL OF IT!

Here are some more thoughts for you regarding this topic from another contact;

God first made a covenant with Abraham when he believed God, but before he was circumcised. But that covenant, given before Sinai included circumcision for him and his house and descendants. It is written,

"Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." Gen. 26:5. Which commandments, statues, and laws?

He also paid tithes. That covenant included a blessing to all nations because Christ was to come from his seed. So, the new covenant is but the fulfillment, the outworking of the old covenant.

The Sabbath was also sanctified from the creation. Theweekly cycle was known world-wide before the Israelites came to Sinai. The Babylonians and Sumerians are on record of keeping the weekly cycle before the Israelites came to Sinai. The week was known in Jacob's time, well before Sinai - Gen. 29:28 "And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also."

The problem most so-called Bible students have is their misunderstanding of the verse which says that the law was "added because of transgressions." Gal. 3:19. The Greek word translated "added" is the same one which in the Septuagint is translated, "And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speaks with us, lest we die." Ex. 20:19. If you look at the preceding verses, you will find that those comments were made right after God spoke the ten Commandments directly to the Israelites at Sinai. Thus, that verse in Gal. 3:19, should read, "spoken because of transgressions." Why was the law then "spoken?" Because the Israelites had lost sight of the commandments while in captivity in Egypt.

___________

And I will end with some words from my article, the one in question:

We see that God's fourth commandment, the Holy Sabbath, was given in Genesis chapter two.We see Cain and Abel practicing sacrificial laws in Genesis but the sacrificial laws were not yet written out. Why was there already the shedding of blood in Genesis? Because the Moral Law had been broken.

Sin is the transgression of the Ten Commandments and without the shedding of blood [sacrificial law] there is no atonement.We see that even before all the commandments were written on stone after the Egyptian exile that God chose Abraham “Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, [God said] and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” [Genesis 26:5]

We see that even before the Ten Commandments were written out on stone God was reminding Israel after pulling them out of bondage of the Sacred Law. God said to them before they reached mount Sinai; "How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?" [Exodus 16:28] How could God charge them thus had they not known beforehand? "And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord; bake thatwhich ye will bake to-day, and seeth that ye will seeth; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until morning." [Exodus 16:23]

And...here is the verse that speaks of at least one generation passing:

Numbers 32:13

"The LORD's anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the desert forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone."

Well, I hope that this helps to more fully answer your question from God's Word,

E.W.King

Here is a link to yet another one of E.W.King's articles that will better help you understand this very important topic: Traces of God's morality

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"Remember" means what?