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people Israel were the
only
people on earth with whom
God then dealt personally as HIS PEOPLE.
Remember, Adam and Eve had rejected the symbolic
tree that represented God's Holy Spirit, and a Father–
and-son relationship with Him. Their descendants, cut off
from God, strayed so far from His ways that by the time
of Noah the earth was filled with corruption and vio–
lence.
After the Flood, within two generations the world as a
whole was following the apostate ways of Nimrod (Gen.
10:8-12; 11: 1-9), and his mother-wife founded the apos–
tate pagan religion that has engulfed and deceived the
world ever since. This apostate religious system, started by
Semiramis, fiowed into all nations. ln its perversions of
truth, it evolved into different
varieties
and appeared
under different national
names
in different nations. But it
was the same basic system of apostasy.
lt
cut the world off
from God! And it grips a deceived world TODAY-in its
various forms, called by the names of various religions.
God selected these children of Israel because of the
OBEDIENCE of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. While they
were in servitude and slavery He called them as H1s
people, to whom Hls TRUTH- His true religion and way of
life and intended DESTINY for mankind-should be re–
vcaled.
God's TRUTH and God's WAY revealed to the-se l srael–
ites is simply God's TRUTH and His WAY for all peoples in
all times and ages! Israel, had they followed God's ways,
was intended to be a living EXAMPLE to all nations.
Jesus carne, not todo away with God's TRUTH or God's
WAY, notto bring a new religion, but to reveal additional
truth about the coming Kingdom of God and how we may
be born into it.
True, Old Testament Israel was given certain sacrificial
riles and rituals which served mere!y as
a reminder
of sin
(Heb. 10: 1-4; 9:1 0), only as a tcmporary
substitute
for
Christ- until
He should come. When the reality carne,
the substitute was dropped. But God's TRUTH and WAY
remain eternally! Therefore God was revealing to Israel
what H1s WAY is for all people of all time-including
TODAY!
This special identifying covENANT, then, ordained FOR–
EVER, applies to all Christians today-to all wbo are rec–
onciled to God as H1s PEOPLE!
This special eternally binding COVENANT is found in
Exodus 31: 12-17. l t has to do with one of those two
test
commandments,
which, we saw in the last installment,
Israel was driven out and deprived of the birthr ight for
violating.
The ldentltying Sign
"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou
also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sab–
baths ye shall keep ..."(Ex. 31:12-13).
Notice
which
day is "the Lord's day." The Eterna! calis
the Sabbatbs
"my
sabbaths." The Sabbaths are His-
8
BABYLON/AN MOTHERS
bowing before Nimrod, high priest
of the sun god, present their babies to be purified by being
sacrificed in fire. Nimrod founded an apostate pagan religious
system that has engu/fed and deceived the world.
they did not belong to Israel- they are not
our
days, but
the Lord's. They are not "the Jewish Sabbaths" or "the
Gentile Sabbaths." The Sabbath is a space of time. That
time, whenever it arrives, is
not ours,
but God's.
And it applies the same lo us today asto our forefathers
then.
lf
we appropriate it for ourselves-for our own use,
whether work, pleasure, or whatever-we a re stealing that
time from God!
Notice again! He said: " My sabbaths ye
sha/1 keep."
1
n
Exodus 20:8 He commanded us to "keep [the Sabbath]
HOLY"-God
made
it 1-IOLV TIME and commanded us to
keep
it holy-not to profane what is holy to God.
Now study this special covenant a little further:
" ... for it is a sign between me and you throughout your
generations; that ye may know that
1
am the LORD that
doth sanctify you" (Ex. 31:13). What
tremendous
mcan–
ing is packed in that portion of this sentence! Yet most
people read right past it, failing to get the vital TRUTH it
contains!
Notice! Here is tbe pu rpose of the Sabbath:" ..
.jor it
is a
SIGN...." What is a
sign?
You walk down a main strcet in the business section of
a city. Everywhere you see
signs
identifying stores, officcs,
factories.
lf
you want to know what a
sign
is, just turn to
the word in the Yellow Pages ( the classified business
listings of your telephone directory). You will find such
names as " J ones Neon Sign Company" or "Smith Broth–
ers Signs." lf you call one of them on the telephone and
The
PLAIN TRUTH May 1979