And more importantly,
WHAT LEADER IS HE FOLLOWING?
The Christian God
Let’s start at the beginning
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:1-5).
Two Gods are mentioned here, and one is described as the word who made all things, including life but was misunderstood by man who stood in the darkness and could not see that light. Of necessity, the word had to be born of the flesh as the Son of the Father to bring light to those who stood in darkness.
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14).
More information is given in 1 Corinthians 8:5:
“For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” (1Cor. 8:5-6 NASU)
Here we are told that the Father is God, and Jesus Christ is Lord, also that all things exist for the Father and our very existence is through Christ. But who is this “one God,” the Father that the Lord Jesus serves?
John gives more information about the Father:
If we are to follow Jesus, certainly we want to know this Father that He is following, so let’s dig deeper.
“Then said Jesus unto them, when ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. 29 And He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him” (John 8:28).
So Jesus was sent by the Father and does as He instructs him. Obviously, this “one God,” the Father, is the originator, designer, source, and administrator of all things, therefore worthy of our praise and worship.
A word picture of the Father
“…God said; Let us make man in our image, after our likeness….” (Gen. 1:26).
So we are made in the likeness of gods, but Philip is not convinced.
8 “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father” (John 14:8-9)?
Jesus looked like any other man, so the Father must look like a man. Yet, in John 4:24, Jesus tells us God is spirit and gives us a description of spiritual beings in John 3:8, where He explains that we can’t see spiritual beings unless manifested. Therefore, we can deduce that even though spirit, the Father has attributes like physical beings.
John gives more information about the Father:
“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love” (1 John 4:8).
Plainly love is an important aspect of knowing God, and John also tells us how to acquire that Godly love.
“Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:15).
Then we learn:
“The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand” (John 3:35).
As Jesus did the will of His Father, we must do the will of Jesus again. John helps:
“And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:3)
His commandments are important to Him and, therefore, important to us. But we have a problem, as we have been warned that there are many false Christs and that they will even increase in the latter days and will deceive many.
Consider Matthew 24:3, Jesus was asked when He was coming back, about the end of the age, and what signs there would be. The very first sign Jesus gave was that there would be much deception about His very person. In verse 4, we read
“And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”
Then in verse 11, Jesus warns that false prophets shall arise and again deceive many; and in verse 24, He reiterates the same warning cautioning the very elect to take special care.
“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Then He says: “behold I have told you before!”
Therefore, it is imperative that we be well-founded in His word and in His truth. We are told of many ways how we can recognize imposters; for instance, in 1 John 2:4,
“He that says, I know him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoso keeps his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”
So hypocrites take notice.
Isaiah 8:20 tells us how we can detect phonies even if they are standing behind the pulpit:
“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”
Most agree with the ten commandments except for the 4th. That seems to be the main point of contention. And, of course, those old Jewish Holy Days have all (supposedly) come to pass and therefore are to be ignored, as we are under the New Covenant. But the only change that God made in the covenants is where He placed His laws. (Jer. 31:31-33, Heb. 8:10). He put them in man’s heart so that the desire of man’s heart is to obey His law and thereby receive the benefits as expressed in Psalm 119.
The book we embrace as sacred explains a six-day creation, after which a very extraordinary seventh day is described, in which the Lord rested, blessed, hallowed, and was refreshed. This day was miraculously reintroduced as God’s Sabbath and commanded to be observed in Exodus 16. We find a consistency of this creation account in Exodus 20:11,
“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
The Lord has given us a sign of identification whereby the sincere Christian would be able to distinguish Him from those “God’s many.” This one sign can help us eliminate a great many phony and/or unwitting Christian denominations, sects, and cults. We find this sign in Exodus 31:12-13:
“And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, 13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.”
The “it” referred to is the sign, and the sign is the Sabbath. But is the Sabbath a Synagogue, temple, church, or an idol? It is a space in time, the Seventh-day after God’s work was done. A sanctuary in our consciousness that we may enter anywhere we are, under any conditions, and know that God will be there. And since it is a space in time designated by the creator of time, it could only be changed by Him, and He has not done so for
“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).
Logically we chose Christ as our leader because the leader He is following is the Father. We can be confident we are worshiping the true Father and the true Lord and not following one of the many “so-called” gods, but there is still much to learn. Such as: Did John say he was in the spirit on Sunday? Absolutely not! If he was referring to a day, wouldn’t it have been Saturday? (Mark 2:28, Isa. 58:13). Also, there is no proof that Jesus rose at sunrise as it was dark when Mary got there, and the tomb was empty (Mark 20:1-2). Neither can you get three days and three nights from Friday PM to Sunday morning (Matt. 12:38-40). Think about it.
We should take notice that:
The Sabbath was created by God, not by man; therefore, it belongs to God, not man.
It was not the first day, the eighth day, or every day. It was the seventh day!
It was not one day in seven, nor was it a day of our choosing.
It was after His work was finished that God rested, not before.
It was blessed by God, and His presence will always be accessible there for us.
It was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).
It was sanctified by God and set aside for a Holy purpose.
It is the same seventh day that Christ, the Apostles, and the first-century church kept.
It will be kept in the millennium (Isa. 66:23, Zec. 24:16).
Thus, we have God’s Sabbath: a space in time that cycles every week throughout eternity.
Psalms 111:7-8 “The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. 8 They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.”
There is not one word in the entire Bible that would indicate or even suggest a change in the Sabbath that God Himself established.
Most Importantly, God has given His people a way to recognize and verify their true God from the world’s many gods and the way that God identifies His chosen ones.
© Del Leger 2020