Exodus 31:13 Speak thou also"... "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. 14 Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you"...
[Manuscript Releases Vol. 19 pp. 243>244] In the warfare to be waged in the last days there will be united, in opposition to God's people, all the corrupt powers that have apostatized from allegiance to the law of Jehovah. In this warfare the Sabbath of the fourth commandment will be the great point at issue; for in the Sabbath commandment the great Law-giver identifies Himself as the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Satan tempted Christ with bribes, promising that if He would worship him, He should have the kingdoms of the world. The enemy well knew that if the Saviour should worship him, the kingdoms of the world could never become the kingdoms of our God and of His Son, Christ Jesus.
Likewise, in the last great issue between Christ's followers and the powers of darkness, Satan offers his bribes to men and women. Some sell themselves for naught; for what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? In the place of the bribes he offered Christ, Satan comes to God's people in this age of the world with the laws of nations in his hands, declaring: “I now have matters arranged. You must worship me, or else your rights of protection from the world will be withdrawn from you.”
By many, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is made void, being treated as a thing of naught; while the spurious Sabbath, the child of the papacy, is exalted. In the place of God's laws, are elevated the laws of the man of sin—laws that are to be received and regarded as the wonderful golden image of Nebuchadnezzar was by the Babylonians. Forming this great image, Nebuchadnezzar commanded that it should receive universal homage from all, both great and small, high and low, rich and poor.
Alike in heaven and on the earth Satan has always claimed homage from Christ. That which he had failed to gain in heaven he was determined to gain on the earth, from the human family. But Christ came to this earth as a man, here to meet and overcome the enemy. And when Satan presented a bribe to induce the Savior to worship him, the Son of God repulsed him and came out of the conflict victoriously. This victory was won for us. We, too, may repulse the enemy at every step.
The Sabbath of the fourth commandment, sanctified by God, was given to man as the memorial of the creation of the world and all things therein. Ever since the institution of the Sabbath in Eden, Satan has made a determined effort to destroy this memorial, and in its stead to institute a spurious Sabbath, in order that the memorial of God's great and wonderful works might be lost from the mind, and there be brought about a worldwide apostasy against God's law. He well knows that by leading men and women to disregard the fourth commandment, he has placed them on his side of the controversy; for God says: “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”
Isaiah 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
May God add His blessing to the study and practice of His word. "Good night" and God bless!