Dear Family,

Today is Friday, May 9, 2025. This is Day 6 of Week 4 in our Counting toward Pentecost. It is our 27th day of Counting. This is the preparation day for the Sabbath.

In Exodus 16 the LORD went to quite an extensive explanation of which day He had set apart as the Sabbath. There is obvious importance God placed on the weekly cycle and especially the seventh day. Throughout the Bible we see the Sabbath emphasized over and over. However, today we realize that many who say they teach the “whole” gospel and believe themselves to be followers of God’s Messiah have not paid close attention to the details God provides for us in the Bible regarding the Sabbath.

Here are a few common erroneous approaches and explanations regarding the Sabbath.

1. The Sabbath was changed to Sunday to honor the resurrection of Jesus Christ
2. The Sabbath was “nailed to the cross”
3. Just keep any day as the Sabbath. Just keep one in seven
4. Just give God the glory for everything and don’t worry about keeping the Sabbath
5. Keeping the Sabbath is pure “legalism”
6. Jesus is our Rest so we no longer need the weekly Sabbath rest

There are other incorrect approaches, of course, yet they all have in common one thing: ignoring the Word of God. Israel ran into trouble time after time for Sabbath breaking. Not only was Israel to recognize the Sabbath day God had so carefully pointed out in Exodus 16, but their deeds, their thoughts, and their emotions were also to be aligned with God. They were to PREPARE (deeds) for the Sabbath. Preparation took THOUGHT. And, they were to count the Sabbath as a DELIGHT (emotion/heart).

Isaiah 58:13 If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on My Holy Day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s Holy Day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

As we approach the Sabbath that arrives at sunset this evening, let us be thankful that God has opened our minds and hearts to understand and appreciate the beauty and holiness of the Sabbath. It is a day of special communion with God. It is a day to be in God’s presence and in the presence of others He has called to the same fellowship.

1 John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

May God bless us in this preparation day and in the Holy Sabbath.

Ben Faulkner, Pastor
© Copyright 2025, Church of the Sovereign God

PS If you would like a Biblical explanation addressing the incorrect approaches to the Sabbath mentioned above, please return an email requesting it.