The 4th Commandment
Keeping the Lord's Day Holy
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Early in my Christian walk, I realized that a lot of what was being taught by Christians, was just the latest religious theories, the current trend, the latest fad, the latest catch phrases or Pop-Christianity. And it was necessary to separate what was coming from man, and what was coming from God. This was also true in biblical times, there have always been many different religious teachings that did not come from God.

One current theory says,
     "We no longer need to obey the 4th commandment anymore; with the New Testament it has a whole new meaning than in the Old Testament!"
This religious teaching came from man, not God.  In truth, the 4th commandment is still a commandment, like the others, Don't Murder, Don't Steal, etc.

It is true that the Lord's day does have new meaning; it's more than just rules of what not to do.

We need to be reminded that the 10 Commandments are NOT 10 suggestions. The commandments bring blessings to those who obey.  This doesn't mean that someone is righteous because they obey commandments, but it does mean that there is judgment for those who break them.

Which of the 10 commandments were abolished with the coming of Jesus Christ? NONE! We are still to follow all of them.  Just because the Pharisees, over applied the commandment of the Sabbath, adding 100's of man made rules, doesn't justify the fact that we now pretty much neglect the 4th commandment, seldom even mentioning it in Sermons. Let's be reminded that the 4th commandment was not some little Levitical law, buried in scripture, mentioned only once.  No, it was written on stone, along with the other Major commandments, and consistently held important throughout scripture; in the Law, the Prophets, in the days of Jesus, and in the early Church.

Foolishly, I always assumed that it was no longer required to keep the Sabbath Day Holy (or Sundays). Just go to Church and rest, and that’s enough. In fact, after Church, I would spend the rest of the Lord's Day pretty much the same as any other week day.

I've heard Christians say that "Every Day is Holy", "Jesus is the Sabbath", "We are entering a new rest", "The Lord's day has new meaning with Jesus".  And I can agree with these, but that doesn't mean we neglect what the bible teaches us NOT to do regarding the Sabbath. Can you image is some Christian used the same logic and said that "Jesus is our Lord, and Paul declares that Idols are nothing, therefore bowing down before a statue is no longer an offense to God." You would thing they were crazy.

We know how passionate Jesus was against those who desecrated the Lord Temple (aggressively driving them out with a whip), but I never guessed that He would also be passionate against those who violate the Lord's Day.

The popular Christian catch phrase, for someone who follows the 4th Commandment regarding Sabbath, is that they are being too “Legalistic.” But in comparison, if someone obeys the 6th commandment, and does not kill, we never say they are being “Legalistic.”

We must remember that every blessing of God is in jeopardy, for someone who does not fear the Lord, or obey His Word. And now, it has been shown by revelation and scripture, that violating the 4th commandment is very serious, and can even bring eternal condemnation.

Exodus 20:8-12
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

The text of the 4th commandment, basically says,
      - Dedicate the day to the Lord,
      - Don't do your business, or work
      - Don't have others do your business, don't hire others to work for you.

Most Christians follow the first part of the commandment, not to work. But they neglect the 2nd part of the commandment, not to have others work for us. (Not conducting business.)

Look carefully at Nehemiah 13:15-22 regarding Working, Buying and Selling on the Sabbath, even for the non-jews.

In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah. I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.” When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. But I warned them and said, “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you.” From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath.  Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

When you are spending money on the Lord's Day, somebody is doing business; someone is being hired, your are making someone to work for you.

There are some decisions every Christian needs to make.
     1) either God's day is to be kept Holy, or Not. It's either a commandment or Not.
     2) And if you believe it is a commandment, and to be kept Holy, are you going to follow how the bible tells us to keep it Holy. Or do we get to decide ourselves how to keep it holy.
I've come to the conclusion, just do what the bible says, regarding it, nothing more.

There is another question Christians need to answer. "Why did Jesus drive people out of temple?"
   1) Was it just because their prices were TOO high?  And if someone had reasonable prices, then Jesus would have let them continue?
   2) Or was it because they were doing their business, on Holy Ground; not keeping the Temple Holy?
It's clearly answer #2, they should NOT have been doing their business in the Temple. As Jesus said, they turned to temple into a Market.

Look at Mark 11:15
On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there...

Is it unreasonable to say that the very thing that Jesus stopped them from doing, what they should NOT have been doing in the Holy Temple, we also should also NOT be doing on God's Holy Day. (Our business, buying & selling)  For Jews who observe the 4th commandment, this is very obvious, but for Christians, not many understand.  Remember the Jews spent 40 years in the Wilderness learning to abide by this law. They can't imagine that it's now a meaningless rule and that the messiah will someday come and toss it out.

I've heard Christians say, "Well if you want to get technical about the Sabbath, then you need to do precisely in this way, A, B, C, and at this time..."  But if you read the Prophetical Books like Nehemiah, Jeremiah, and how Jesus cleaned the temple, they did NOT get technical, they just didn't want man's business to be done in the Temple or on the Lord's Day.

I've heard it said that "as Christian's we no longer need to honor Biblical days."  If that is true, then this End-Times verse from Zechariah 14:16-19 must be false.

Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. (How could the Lord expect nations the Honor His Festivals in the End days, if these festivals have been abolished?)

As I studied many divine revelations from God regarding Heaven and Hell, there was one thing that was very consistent. The things God warned His people about, would come true, if they ignored His warning. So it’s useless to hope that God might break His Word, just because someone is a Christian.  For example, when Jesus warned us, ‘unless you forgive your brother when he sins against you, your Heavenly Father will NOT forgive your sins.’ This is true, even if you’re the pastor of a 10,000 member church. So His warnings must be taken seriously, by everyone.

This is why, in several revelations of Hell, there are many Christians that wound up in hell, because they falsely assumed that God would NOT carry out His Word.  We know that by the shed blood of Jesus we are able to get forgiveness for our sins, but it doesn’t allow us to flippantly and continually violate God’s commandments. And Christians that do continually break God’s commandments, without repentance, their salvation IS in jeopardy.  This is consistent with scripture.

I have now seen 4 documented cases of Face to Face Encounters with Jesus, where Jesus stresses the importance of the 4th Commandment. Here is one...

The following excerpts were taken from the revelation Baptize by Blazing Fire (book #3) by Pastor Yong-Doo Kim. His congregation was given many face to face visitations with Jesus Christ and were shown the magnitude of how serious it is to keep the Lord's Day Holy.

(Pastor Kim Speaking)    Video Testimony
I decided to ask the Lord about Sundays, how we should keep them Holy. As soon as I asked Jesus, His expression changed to anger. The Lord wanted me to reference certain scriptures…

“But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.' (Jeremiah 17:27)  ('Carrying any load', refers to a load of goods to sell, a selling cart)

"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, then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." The mouth of the LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 58:13-14)

“For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:8)

“…Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."(Matthew 12:12)

The Lord had commanded us to keep Sundays Holy in every way. He rebuked watching television, dining out with family, and other secular activities. Furthermore, the Lord did not permit Christians to run any business of any kind for profit on Sundays. He also did not allow Saints to do any shopping on Sundays.

Jesus showed me a group of souls in a specific part of hell, and said, “Among these souls are some who participated in a cult. There are some who were alcoholics and some who treated the Sabbath or Sunday carelessly. On Sundays they would spend money for their pleasure. Most of these people are here for not keeping Sundays Holy. There are some who ran businesses and assumed that the Lord would forgive them. They were deceived.” I saw countless numbers of deacons, deaconesses, and pastors from all races.

As a matter of fact, only a few saints made it to heaven that did not keep Sundays properly. And on the contrary, there was an over flowing number of saints in hell for not keeping Sundays holy. The Lord commanded, “Look at those souls! Those souls did not consider My Day with much relevance. They made My Day unclean. Look very closely.” We were in total shock from what we saw. Christians were in hell, shouting in anguish and being tormented. After witnessing this scene, I concentrated on repenting for not keeping Sundays Holy in every way.

There are many saints who think that spending money on Sundays is justified, IF it is for the sake of the gospel.  Jesus clarified the church’s deception, “People obfuscate, misuse, and abuse the commandment of Sunday, 'for the sake of the gospel'. They do it consistently. Do not spend money on Sundays! Once men have decided to do what is in their hearts, they present their reasons or justifications to break the commandment at any cost.” The Lord looked very serious. His majesty was overflowing.

Currently, the churches cry out for revival, but they must first be changed. They must fearfully repent. Churches are not properly teaching members to keep Sunday’s Holy. In fact, they treat this matter with negligence. The Lord was giving us a stern warning.

Any kind of events held in the house of God, must be free of charge. Many churches sell meal tickets, since they have numerous attendants. Purchasing meal tickets is not keeping Sundays Holy. The Lord meticulously showed me how many Korean Churches are not approved by God because they do not keep Sundays Holy.

The Lord also wanted the church to feed any guest speakers at either the Pastor’s house or a saint’s house, if the special event is held on Sundays. The Lord did not want the church to take the guest speakers out to a restaurant on Sundays. If the church had a kitchen, the guests could be feed there.

Jesus made it very clear, by stating that He forbids us to spend money on Sundays.

In another revelation given to Bro. Augusto Maquengo, Jesus said, "I will not rapture those who buy, sell and play games on My holy day of worship. Sunday or Saturday, whichever day your leaders have set for you to worship Me, should be for Me alone, I AM your Lord. This day must be sanctified to Me alone."

The Lord's wrath against those who desecrate His Holy Day was also shown in Pastor Park's Revelation about Heaven and Hell.

Please take this warning serious,
Keep the LORD's Day HOLY!

Critical Questions and Concerns:

Is this a NEW teaching, adding to God's Word, with a bunch of new man made rules?
     - NO, this is consistent with the actual text of the 4th Commandment, 'Don't do your business on the Lord's Day & don't have other's do their business for you.'
But, is a severe warning like this really consistent with scripture?
     - This warning is almost exactly the same as the warning in Jeremiah 17:27 where God said, if you break My Sabbaths, I will start an unquenchable fire.
Keeping God's Sabbath Holy has nothing to do with spending money.
     - Not true, read Nehemiah 10:31, when the Jews were recommitting themselves to God, they promised "When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath..."
Maybe Pastor Kim is a false prophet?
     - Biblically, false prophets were NOT the ones trying to get God's people to obey His commandments, false prophets tried to get God's people to ignore God's commandments.
But this message is trying to get Christian's back under the Law.
     - The 10 commandments, YES. If a message was trying to get us to stop stealing, we would never say it's trying to get us back under the Law.
What if someone disagrees with this?
     - The proper response is to get on your knees, and ask God if this is true. Don't just assume we know everything, but be ready to repent. Remembering that most warnings that God sent His people in the Bible, were ignored.
So if my car runs out of gas on Sunday, and I buy Gas, now I'm going to hell. This is so ridiculous.
     - This is NOT what this revelation said! In this revelation, the people who were in hell were those who 'did not consider My Day with much relevance' or 'ran businesses on Sunday.'   So if you do NOT take His Day with much relevance, then yes, you are in danger.
But Jesus said it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.
     - This is true, and important to do good on the Lord's day. And as you're doing good, keep the Lord's Day Holy. Jesus and His disciples kept the Lord's Day Holy, they weren't conducting their personal business or soliciting others, why shouldn't we follow their example.
But Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, NOT man for the Sabbath.
     - This is true, and it was true not only in Jesus' day but also in the Old Testament.  Yet God still held Israel accountable for desecrating it. So let's not desecrate it.
The 4th Commandment was NOT an important issue that was stressed in the New Testament, so why is God trying to stress it now?
     - That's because the people of the early Church already did take the Lord's Day serious, no where did they say that they abolished it.  It is now that we are neglecting it.  In all the sermons that I've heard, I can't recall one message regarding HOW to Keep the Lord's Day Holy.
     - Look at Luke 23:56 "Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment." This verse refers to the people that were with Jesus, and preparing spices to bring to His tomb. They heard the very words of Jesus, and yet they took the commandment serious enough not to break it.  If these people who heard His teaching, took the commandment serious, don't you think we should?
     - We know how furious Jesus was against those who were doing their business in the Temple area, let's not do anything that even comes close to that. Look at Leviticus 19:30 "'Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD." Why would we think that Jesus would be zealous for the 2nd part of this verse (regarding the Sanctuary), but would not the first part regarding the Sabbaths?
But the Bible says that we should honor God all days, not just the Sabbath/Sunday.
     - That's good advice, we should do this. Honor God on all days, but also obey the 4th Commandment. There is no contradiction here.
Are there any exceptions?
     - There may be, but remember what Jesus warned us about, 'presenting reasons or justifications to break the commandment at any cost.' I may take a taxi or bus to Church.
Where is the Grace? The Jesus of this revelation is not the Jesus of the Bible, because He does not show grace!
     - Ok, let's look at Acts 5:1-11. In the days of the New Church, God struck dead Ananias and Sapphira, for just 1 lie. Not a lifetime of lies, but just one. They were not scolded and told to repent, but received instant judgment. And they were even willing to give 50% of their money to God, few today could claim that. The reason some people don't believe this revelation, is because they do not understand God's judgments. And in their understanding of God, they would never consider that He would ever strike down Ananias and Sapphira in such a way. But it did happen, as scripture states.
If this is so important, then why is Pastor Kim the only one talking about this?
     -He's not, It was also shown to Choo Thomas, and other prophets.  Choo was shown that those who break this commandment, will not be ready for the Lord's return.
But Colossians 2:16-17 says "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day"
     - Yes, let's not go around judging people, or pointing the accusing finger, this is true. But be careful how you interpret this, because interpreting this wrongly can result in these conclusions.
        a. "Sabbath day"------The 4th Commandment has been abolished.
        b. "drink"---------------Any warning or commandment not to get drunk, has been abolished.
        c. "drink"---------------Any warning or commandment not to drink blood, has been abolished.
        d. "eat"-----------------Any commandment regarding cannibalism, communion, or foods sacrificed to idols, has been abolished.
      All these interpretation are HORRIBLE.  Remember, it's not people who warned others to keep the Lord's Day Holy, it's God who told us to do this. He is the Judge, not us.
But in Galatians 4:10 Paul warned people about trying to observe special days, and months and seasons and years.
     - Yes, by obeying God's commandments it does NOT make you righteous, it does NOT earn your way to heaven, and it does NOT bring you the Holy Spirit. Those whom Paul was warning, may have foolishly believed this things. Therefore, as you're keeping the Lord's Day Holy, don't think that it earns you the Holy Spirit, or earns your way into Heaven.
In Romans 14:5 Paul said, "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind."
     - Yes, someone may believe their birthday is sacred, or thanksgiving is sacred, fine, I don't think it our job to tell them otherwise.  But regarding the Lord's Day, it was NOT 'someone' who considered that day sacred, it was God who told us it was sacred in His Word. Therefore He put in the the 10 commandments, and throughout scripture.  God held Israel responsible for defiling His Day, it was one of the sins that led Israel into Babylonian captivity.  How can any biblical scholar think that it would NOT be important today?
Salvation is NOT based on what YOU DO, it is ONLY dependant on the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
     - There is truth in this, but it can be grossly misapplied. The first word of the Gospel message is 'Repent' which is a verb, something WE must do.
     Here are other biblical examples...
          - The 5 foolish virgins were shut out of the banquet, because of what THEY did.
          - The unmerciful servant was not shown mercy, because of what HE did.
          - The goats on the Lord's left were cast into hell, because of what THEY did.
          - The fruitless branch was cut off, because of what IT did.
          - The one who perseveres to the end, is saved, because HE did not give up on Jesus.
          - The foolish servant with 1 talent, was cast out, because of what HE did.
          - The unprepared servant who was getting drunk, was thrown out, because of what HE did.
        The correct application of this truth is this, 'those who wisely did pass all these tests, did NOT earn their salvation, it was still given by Grace.' thank God! :) But if you fail these tests, as the parables show, there are harsh consequences.

Many people strictly believe that the Sabbath is Saturday, and I can respect them. But I can find no place in scripture that the Lord said, “You are doing the Right Thing, but on the Wrong Day.”

There is also a puzzle that I have not been able to figure out, pay close attention to it and see if you can answer the question.

Once there was a community of Jews living happily in Jerusalem. But because of God's judgments, they were scattered to different nations. Some were scattered to the East, some to the North, and some to the West. After many years, those who were scattered West went very far west, and those who were scattered East, went very far east, until eventually they reunited in a country in the other side of the world from Jerusalem. They were so happy to see each other, that they decide to settle down, build a synagogue and live there permanently. But a problem arose after the Synagogue was finished. One group's Sabbath was 24 hours different than the others group's Sabbath. And they both insisted that their Sabbath was strictly kept, as was commanded in Scripture. (This obviously happened because they travelled in different directions.) So because neither group could agree on what day was the Sabbath.  And the Jews who were scattered to the North told them that way up North, the days and nights can last for 6 months, because the sun doesn't go down very often near the poles. So their Sabbath needed to last for many months, not just 1 day.

So the Puzzle is this, which group's Sabbath was correct?
1. The group that travelled West.
2. The group that travelled East.
3. The group that remained in Jerusalem.
4. Or the group near the North Pole.
5. Is the 7th day of the week in respect to the Jewish Calendar, or to the Calendar of the country you are in?
      (i.e. China's week starts on a Monday)

The point is that Time is relative in every way you look at it. So trying to set an exact time of the Sabbath is impossible.