Family and Sabbath

The creation of our world happened according to the Deity's plan, in strict sequence - from lower forms of life to higher. After creating the plant world, God gave command to the water to produce fish and birds, and on the sixth day at the Lord's word the earth produced cattle, creeping things, and beasts of the earth. When this God's order was also fulfilled, the Creator began to create man from the dust of the earth in His image and likeness. Every cell of Adam's organism was carefully thought out and created from available material, and when the body was ready, the Majesty of Heaven breathed into His creation the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Woman was already conceived in God's plan and until a certain time was part of man, awaiting that moment when the Lord would extract her from Adam's depths. And soon this time came. God separated woman from man to give her to him as a helper and life companion. Thus the Creator created the family and blessed it for multiplication and dominion over the earth. It would not have been difficult for God to immediately create millions of people and populate the entire earth with them, but He decided to produce the entire human race from one blood, so that our world would be one big family born from their own kind.

The seal of creation became the seventh day - the Sabbath. For man this was the second day of his life, which he spent in communion with his Creator, sharing with the Lord His rest from all works. "And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God created and made" Gen. 2:3.

Family and Sabbath formed the foundation of human existence, on which communication was built horizontally and vertically.

And then the unplanned fall of man occurred, as a result of which the first people were expelled from the Garden of Eden, where they met with their Creator and communicated with Him. But the family was not destroyed as a consequence of sin, and the Sabbath did not cease to be the Sabbath. These two monuments of God's power and authority were inherited by people and preserved to our days. The entire world exists thanks to the family, and the Sabbath remains the Sabbath and sounds almost the same in all languages.

The enemy of the soul hates God and His creation, and everything that God does. Family and Sabbath have always been the subject of special attacks by the evil one, and now we see how the world relates to these God's institutions. To protect the family, the Lord commanded married people not to divorce (1Cor. 7:10), and the observance of the Sabbath He clothed with His mouth in a commandment (Ex. 20:8-11), mandatory for observance by all people and even working animals.

A happy family is God's dream for the last time. In the message to Laodicea He precisely affirms that we don't know how unhappy we are (Rev. 3:17). Modern people have stopped believing that the family can be happy, because there is no example of this and there is no knowledge about how this happiness can be built and then maintained among the sea of temptations of this world.

People are offered and imposed with all kinds of sinful models of relationships, and even in unions between men and women there is no place for obligations to society and to each other. Families can be created and destroyed with particular ease.

And what has the world turned the Sabbath into? It has become a park-and-household day in which everyone prepares for Sunday rest, not thinking about the fact that God has not canceled His commandment and comes to meet with His creation precisely at the time that He Himself established - from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday (Lev. 23:32).

Happiness and obedience to God's statutes and commandments are one whole. God does not give happiness in sin and is not interested in a sinful person living forever. The enemy cannot harm that soul who lives in agreement with God's plans and in obedience to God's commandments, but he has the opportunity to offer people to sin for the sake of temporary pleasure or accepted lifestyle. And he enchants those who enter his territory out of curiosity.

A happy family is what all God's children should strive for and in which they should live. And the Faithful Witness from Rev. 3:18 offers to buy from Him precisely what will make any family happy and righteous, if both its members follow this plan.

If you hear that somewhere there are people who do everything possible to create a happy family on God's principles and teach this to you too, then show interest in this science and support these people with your attention and desire to build such happiness in your own life.

And it will come to your home. It will get used to you and will, like a shadow, follow at your heels and offer you new ways to experience it.

The Sabbath is a part of time that belongs not to me, but to God. And He desires to bless me on this day and sanctify me. If one begins to study the meaning of the Sabbath, then any sensible person will understand that this statute includes much more than just rest. Meeting with the invisible God, obedient children receive special blessings of God's presence not only for this time, but also for all spheres of their vital activity and for the remaining days of the week. The world can create difficult conditions and times for Sabbath observance, replacing it with its counterfeits, but nothing can shake the soul faithful to the commandments, in whose heart God's law is written.

Unfortunately, among Christians there were those who decided to replace God's time with another day or declare it an everyday holiday, but there is no Biblical basis for this. Even now I can boldly offer the largest sum of money for one Biblical verse about the holiness of Sunday, and no one will be able to present what is not in the Bible. Then the question arises: "Why observe what God did not command, and violate what is so clearly stated?" But unfortunately, people don't hear such questions and don't think about what consequences sin and law-breaking bring.

Sabbath keepers are not saved through this obedience. Their salvation happens by faith in Christ and through personal relationships with Him. A happy family also won't save anyone, but it will become a consequence of obedience to God and observance of all God's commandments, including the commandment about love for one another.

I must choose now whom to be faithful and obedient to and whom to serve, and happiness will come as a consequence and as inevitability of my devotion to God.

Interesting times and tests of our faithfulness to each other and to the Lord await us. Don't think that if you decide to live in a happy family and in complete obedience to the Creator, then the enemy will leave you in peace. He will attack God's statutes in your life in every way and disappoint you in them. However, God has already won in this war and will not leave us alone in this confrontation.

Nothing gladdens the Lord so much as children faithful to Him, ready to be unshakeable and happy in any trials. And the enemy is powerless before such a union.

Although a believing person doesn't feel God's presence, but knows God by faith, not by sight, this doesn't mean that God is not in the life of this faithful servant. The time will come - feelings will come too, and God will reveal Himself in all glory, and then everyone will see the difference between the righteous and the wicked and the holy and the unclean. But for now let us believe and love, and do what the Lord advises to fulfill.

1. Please read Gen. 1:26-29; 2:18,22-25; 1Tim. 3:2-5; 5:8; Eph. 5:22-25,33; Mark 2:27-28; Ex. 31:13; Lev. 26:12; Isa. 58:13-14; 66:23 in light of this lesson.

2. What other verses from the Bible came to your mind?

3. What did you understand from this topic?

4. What attacks on the family are familiar to you?

5. Why is it so important to preserve the family union?

6. Why does the enemy of the soul hate happy families and wish to destroy them?

7. How can one resist Satan in his destructive work of destroying family happiness?

8. What is the Sabbath for you?

9. Has God somewhere canceled His commandment about observance and holiness of the Sabbath day?

10. Do you know Biblical verses about the holiness of Sunday?

11. Why does the entire Christian world sanctify the day about which nothing is written in the Bible?

12. Does God accept worship to Himself on the day that He did not establish for worship?

13. Should I remain faithful to God in Sabbath observance if members of my family decided to violate this commandment and call me under threat of divorce to do the same?

14. What is more important: obedience to God, even if the family is destroyed in the process, or preservation of the family, even if God's commandments have to be violated in the process?

15. Will the Lord honor those families that honor Him?