These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. (14:4)

And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless. (14:5)

And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. (20:12)

and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. (21:27)

If we take these verses at face value, we come to the conclusion that Elohim places much value on the obedience to his Ten Commandments.  Those who obey them find eternal life.  Those who refuse to repent of their habit of breaking them find judgment and condemnation.

Worship of Elohim in Revelation

Next, let's consider what the book of Revelation says about the breaking of the first Four Commandments in the last days.  These four commandments are a summary of the laws regulating fellowship with and worship of our Maker.  How we respond to these four commandments is a window into our relationship with Yahuwah because these Four Commandments define and clarify what worship of Him in truth is.  One of the significant threads of the Revelation is that of choosing whom you will worship.  Will you remain loyal to Yahuwah, the maker of heaven and earth?  Or will you worship the Beast and the false prophet?  Your choice about what you do with the first Four Commandments of Elohim are a primary indicator of whom you choose to worship.  These four commands are like a barometer measuring our allegiance to the Creator of heaven and earth.

The theme of Yah's call to worship Him according to the regulations as revealed in the first four of the Ten Commandments is a major theme of Revelation.  But, unfortunately, most commentators have completed missed this point.  The reason that most Christian theologians and Bible teachers and preachers have missed this point is because they don't really believe that the first Four Commandments are relevant today.  They would be the first to admit that the last Six Commandments are applicable in the Christian Church, but they tend to explain away the applicability of a literal obedience to the first Four.  As such, they don't practice obedience to these four fundamental commands which regulate spiritual worship.  Neither do they teach obedience to the first Four Commandments as truth for today.

But Yahuwah Elohim regards the keeping of the first four commandments as essential to proper worship of Him.  The breaking of any one of these four commandments by his people constitutes apostasy and rebellion.  Shockingly, the Christian Church of the 21st century is routinely breaking all four of the commandments regulating true worship of the Creator.  It is by their own choice that they blatantly and stubbornly resist Elohim's will for them in worship by refusing to comply with His wishes to be worshipped in the way that the first four commandments describe.

The First Commandment

Commandment 1: I am Yahuwah your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  You shall have no other gods before Me.

The first commandment which describes worship of Elohim in truth stipulates that He is to have first place in our lives.  Yahuwah is a jealous Elohim.  He wants us to worship Him as supreme.  And as such, worship of Him must be done the way He dictates, not the way in which we choose to worship Him.  Furthermore, giving Elohim first place includes the setting aside of all other gods.

Yahusha sent his message about the breaking of this command to his people in the city of Ephesus:

But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. (2:4)

In what way did the Ephesians leave their first love, and how has the 21st century Christian Church left its first love?  Let's see what else the Scriptures have to say.  Therein we will find the answers to these questions.

The First Commandment is further elaborated upon in the Torah, where the concept of setting aside of other gods is expanded and explained:

Yahuwah your Elohim is the one you must fear, him alone you must serve, his is the name by which you must swear.'Do not follow other gods, gods of the peoples round you, for Yahuwah your Elohim among you is a jealous Elohim; the wrath of Yahuwah your Elohim would blaze out against you, and he would wipe you off the face of the earth.  Do not put Yahuwah your Elohim to the test as you tested him at Massah.  Keep the commandments of Yahuwah your Elohim, and his instructions and laws which he has laid down for you, and do what Yahuwah regards as right and good.... (Deuteronomy 5:13-18, NJB)

In this text, following other gods is sharply contrasted with keeping "the commandments of Yahuwah your Elohim, and his instructions and laws which he has laid down for you" and with doing "what Yahuwah regards as right and good."  This clearly implies that to follow other gods is to worship those gods in ways contrary to the commandments of Yahuwah. 

The text above also implies that "following other gods" can be defined as attempting to worship Yahuwah in the way that others worship their pagan gods.  Yahuwah expressly forbids such worship of Him.  He hates and rejects attempts to worship Him in the way and manner in which pagans worship their idol gods.  This point is explicitly made in another place in the Torah:

Now, these are the laws and customs which you must keep in the country which Yahuwah, Elohim of your ancestors, is giving you as yours, and which you must observe every day that you live in that country.  You must completely destroy all the places where the nations you dispossess have served their gods, on high mountains, on hills, under any spreading tree; you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, burn their sacred poles, hack to bits the statues of their gods and obliterate their name from that place.  Not so must you behave towards Yahuwah your Elohim. (Deuteronomy 12:1-4, NJB)

Yahuwah does not want worship of Him to have anything to do with the worship of pagan idols.  The places where the other gods were worshiped were to be completely obliterated.  Nothing was to remain of the place or manner of worship of pagan gods.  Thus, worship of Him must be completely void of any hint or semblance of pagan gods.

This point is even made more plainly later on in that same chapter quoted above.  Not just the place, but the very manner in which the pagans worshipped their gods is intolerable before Yahuwah.  He must not be worshipped in the same manner the pagan gods are worshipped: 

Faithfully keep and obey all these orders which I am giving you, so that you and your children after you may prosper for ever, doing what is good and right in the eyes of Yahuwah your Elohim.  When Yahuwah your Elohim has annihilated the nations confronting you, whom you are going to dispossess, and when you have dispossessed them and made your home in their country, beware of being entrapped into copying them, after they have been destroyed to make way for you, and do not enquire about their gods, saying, "How did these nations worship their gods? I am going to do the same too."  This is not the way to treat Yahuwah your Elohim. For in honour of their gods they have done everything detestable that Yahuwah hates; yes, in honour of their gods, they even burn their own sons and daughters as sacrifices!' (Deuteronomy 12:28-31, NJB)

The manner in which we worship Yahuwah is very important.  We are not to copy the pagans in the way they worship.  We are not to inquire into the way they worship.  Everything about the way they worship their idols is detestable to Elohim.  True worship of Yahuwah can never be after the manner of the worship of the pagans.

So, the book of Revelation describes the worship of the beast which, like the passages above imply, is very different from the true worship of Yahuwah:

I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?" (13:3,4, NJB)

In what way does the world now worship the beast, and how is the Christian Church presently worshipping the beast?  Granted, the system which is called "the Beast" in Revelation is not currently in its final form.  But we can look at the world and the present state of the Christian Church and we can see the Beast system and the Harlot taking shape in the Church.

We have already identified the Beast and the Woman riding the Beast.  It is the institution which has its home base in Rome.  The Roman Catholic Church and her daughters, the Protestant Churches, constitute the "Woman."  They, along with the rest of the world, are worshipping after the manner of the Beast.  How is this possible?  How can we make such a claim?  Precisely by applying the truths about worship which we have just discovered above.

Yahuwah is not being worshipped "in spirit and in truth" when people who call themselves by His name practice worship of Him the way the pagans worship their gods.  The entire Christian world - Roman Catholics and Protestants, alike - worship Elohim in a manner which is detestable to Him.  The entire Christian world worships Elohim on Sunday, the venerable day of the Sun, like the pagans worship their gods, in stark contrast to the manner in which He has expressly commanded His people to worship.  At creation, Elohim established the Sabbath day, and sanctified it as the day He is to be worshipped.  But the whole Christian world rejects this way of worshipping Him and wants to worship Him on Sunday instead - which is the time and manner that the pagans worshipped their idol gods

And, the entire Christian world - Roman Catholics and Protestants, alike - celebrate the birthday of Jesus in a manner contrary to how Yahuwah has expressly commanded in His word.  They - along with the rest of the world -celebrate the birth of Christ on the 25th of December, which is the birthday of pagan Nimrod and the birthday of the invincible Sun and the birthday of numerous other pagan deities.  This kind of worship is completely detestable to Elohim.  He hates it.  And He rejects it.  Why won't the Christian world celebrate the incarnation (birth of Christ) on the anniversary of when it actually happened?  In the fall of the year at the time of the Festival of Tabernacles, which Elohim commanded to be the appointed time and manner to worship the Living Elohim, is when Yahusha the Messiah was born.

And, the entire Christian world - Roman Catholics and Protestants, alike - commemorate the death and resurrection of Christ at a time and in a manner which is detestable to Elohim.  The Christian Church and the entire world with them, celebrate Easter, even though everyone knows this is the pagan celebration of Ishtar, the pagan goddess of fertility, whose origins are ancient Babylon.  And Elohim abhors this "worship" of Him, too.  Yahusha the Savior told his disciples to remember His death at the time of the eating of the Unleavened Bread and the wine - a celebration of Yahuwah's Passover which He shared with His disciples.  Passover is the appointed time and manner which Yahuwah has established for His people to remember and worship Him.

It's no wonder that Yahuwah describes the institution which claims to house his people in the last days an Harlot!  The Christian Church truly has played the harlot by attempting to worship the living Elohim by practicing many detestable pagan practices year after year after year - and claiming that they are doing it for Him!  Thus, the Christian Church is guilty of practicing the breaking of the First Commandment continually before Elohim.

The Second Commandment

But, there's more.  The Christian Church is also guilty of breaking the Second Commandment in the book of Revelation and in our day.

Commandment 2:  You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.  You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, Yahuwah your Elohim, am a jealous Elohim, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

While the First Commandment expressly forbids the worshipping of anyone or anything other than Elohim, the Second Commandment expressly forbids the manufacture of objects or images of any kind to be used in worship.  These two commands are closely linked.  Yet they are distinct.  

In Revelation we find worship of two different entities.  There is the true worship of Elohim, and there is the worship of the Beast.  The call of Elohim is for His people to come out of Babylon and worship Him  But most people are worshipping the image to the Beast:

And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. (13:14-15, NAS)

So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image. (16:2, NAS)

This worshipping of the image of the Beast is clearly a reference to worship in a way contrary to the Commandments of Elohim.  Worshipping the image of the Beast is simply breaking the Second Commandment, which forbids worship of manufactured objects or images.  Such worship which is contrary to the Commandments of Elohim indicates an allegiance to the Beast system.  But worship of the Living Elohim is always done in compliance with His Ten Commandments:

Elohim warns mankind not to worship in ways contrary to his commandments.  He states the consequences of breaking the Second Commandment:

Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of Elohim, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. (14:9,10, NAS)

So, those who worship the image of the Beast are those who will be lost to eternity.  But Elohim's faithful ones are identified as those who have not worshipped the image of the Beast, because they know better than to be worshipping images.

And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Yahusha and because of the word of Elohim, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. (20:4, NAS)

But how is the Christian Church today breaking the second commandment?  Have they "made an image to the Beast" and "worshipped his image"?  Indeed they have!  But first, a little history....  The ancient Babylonians began the mother\child cult worship which is still alive and well today.  Nimrod of the Bible was the founder of this false religion.  He is known as Ninus in historical documentation.  Scripture says that Nimrod "was a mighty hunter before Yahuwah" (Genesis 10:9, Mine)  The Histori Romani Scriptorium states that

Ninus strengthened the greatness of his acquired dominion by continued possession. Having subdued, therefore, his neighbors, when, by an accession of forces, being still further strengthened, he went forth against other tribes, and every new victory paved the way for another, he subdued all the peoples of the east.

Thus, Nimrod was feared in his day.  The city he built was named after him.  Nineveh means "the habitation of Ninus."

Semiramis was married to Ninus (the Nimrod of the Bible).  After Nimrod died, Semiramis continued the pagan worship he had inspired and declared that Ninus had become the Sun god and was to be worshipped.  She had an illegitimate son and named him Tammuz.  To cover her adultery, she claimed that Tammuz was supernaturally conceived and that Tammuz was actually the reincarnated Ninus.  This Tammuz is the same one spoken of by the prophet Jeremiah, who sees women in the temple of Yahuwah facing east and weeping for Tammuz.  The pagan practices begun in ancient Babylon by Nimrod had still been practiced by the Israelites in Jeremiah's day!

Thus, the Babylonian counterfeit religion featured the mother, Semiramis, and her son who was also her reincarnated husband.  Thus, her son was both from his father and he was the father (cf. John 1:1 where the Word was with Elohim and the Word was Elohim )!!  This counterfeit of the relationship between the true heavenly Father and His Son is both clever and perverse.

This Babylonian mother-child cult worship was mimicked in all the major cultures of the world, and thus found its way through history all the way to Jeremiah's day and beyond.  In Egypt, the mother and child were known as Isis and Osiris.  In India, as Isi and Iswara.  In Asia, as Cybele and Deoius.  In ancient Rome as Fortuna and Jupiter.  In Greece, as Ceres and Plutus.  Even in Tibet, China and Japan, the mother and child have their counterpart as Shing Moo and her son, and they too are depicted as a mother with a child in her arms with a ring of glory around her - just as the Roman Catholics depict Mary and the infant Jesus!

In Persia and afterward in Rome, Mithraism was the renamed Babylonian mother-child worship.  Just as Ninus (Nimrod) was the sun god of the Babylonians, Mithras was the sun god of the Persian Empire, whose rebirth (birthday) was celebrated at the winter solstice around December 25th.  Like the mother-child religions of the other cultures which were copied and renamed from the Babylonian mother-child cult, Mithraism had its mother and child:

Mithras was born of Anahita, an immaculate virgin mother once worshipped as a fertility goddess before the hierarchical reformation. Anahita was said to have conceived the Saviour from the seed of Zarathustra preserved in the waters of Lake Hamun in the Persian province of Sistan. Mithra's ascension to heaven was said to have occurred in 208 B.C., 64 years after his birth. This birth took place in a cave or grotto, where shepherds attended him and regaled him with gifts, at the winter solstice. (Payam Nabaraz, Mithras and Mithraism, www.taivaansusi.net/historia/mithraism.html)

The religion of Mithraism outlasted the Persian Empire and was adopted by the Roman Empire as the dominant faith of the Romans.  Mithraism remained in place until the fourth century of the common era when it "mysteriously" disappeared - about the same time that Christianity was declared by Constantine to be the new official religion of the Roman Empire.  But it didn't really disappear.  You see, Mithraism merely got renamed.  It came to be called Christianity, with Mary and Jesus as the mother and child!

The apostle Sha'ul (Paul) warns his readers about worshipping a different Jesus other than the one he proclaimed:

For if someone comes to you and preaches a Yahusha other than the Yahusha we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. (2 Corinthians 11:4, NIV)

Who might Sha'ul have been speaking of?  Was there actually another "Jesus" who was the object of worship in the first century of the common era?  Indeed there was.  He was also known as Mithras, and the pictures of him are identical to the images which purport to depict Yahusha of Nazareth!

Now, getting back to the breaking of the 2nd Commandment....  How is the Christian Church breaking the commandment which forbids the manufacture and adoration (worship) of idols and images?  During the amalgamation of Mithraism and the biblical faith, Christianity accepted many of the worship practices of Mithraism, which are still present in the church today.  Even the images of Christianity are the same images found in Mithraism and in ancient Babylon.

The Roman Catholic Church features statues and images of saints in their worship, and these statues line the walls of their churches.  The most popular of these statues and images is that of the virgin Mary, who is usually depicted with the child in her arms.  Catholics everywhere have these statues and images in their churches, in their yards and in their homes.  Protestants have their version of these images.  They have "pictures of Jesus" in their churches and in their homes.  But the picture of "Jesus" is usually one of a Jesus that fits into their culture.  The Caucasians depict a light-skinned Jesus.  The Blacks display a black-skinned Jesus.  Hispanics portray Jesus as an Hispanic.  American Indians have pictures of an "Indian Jesus."  And so on....  Sadly, Christian people want to make Jesus in their own image - which insults the Creator.  He rebuffs this kind of activity:

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal Elohim for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1:22,23, NAS)

It is wrong to have statues and images of Jesus and of Mary or of any other man or animal.  Yet many Christians have these images anyway - to adore them and to "bring us closer to God."  Many such images sit in the yard of the worshipper to "bring good luck."  But Yahuwah does not permit this kind of worship of Him:

Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Yahuwah your Elohim. (Leviticus 26:1, NIV with Hebrew names restored, emphasis mine)

Not only is it wrong to have these images, but the images they adore are not even images of people in the Bible!  They are replicas of the worship of Tammuz, Semiramis, Nimrod, Mithras, Ra and the like.  The statues and images of the mother and child are NOT Mary and Yahusha!  They are Semiramis and Tammuz.  The images depicting the mother and the child, which are usually thought to be Mary and Yahusha, are actually images depicting Semiramis and Tammuz, the reincarnated the sun god.  Semiramis received the title "mother of god" and "queen of heaven" - titles which, as we all know, are attached to Mary, the Virgin mother of Yahusha!

On some of the statues and images of saints and especially of the Virgin Mother and child is a halo which encircles the head.  Christians believe that this is a depiction of the glory of Elohim.  But it is not.  It is called a nimbus and it encircles the head of the Sun god and of worshippers of the Sun god.  The nimbus, or radiant light, represents the radiating light of the sun. 

The nimbus is found on many images and statues of the sun god of ancient times.  And, many Catholic images, statues and pictures of Jesus, Mary and the other saints depict that person with a "glow" around his or her head.  Again, this is NOT the glory of Elohim being depicted, as Christians are led to believe.  It is the radiating light of the SUN god of Babylonian origin.

Pictures and images of Jesus which are found in the churches and homes of Catholic and Protestant Christians often feature this nimbus around his head.  Furthermore, they usually do not depict him the way he really appeared as he walked through the Promised land.  The typical Torah-observant Jew of his day (and of our day, for that matter) is one who is wearing a four cornered garment with tassels (tzit-tzit) hanging from the four corners.  The images of Jesus  which are so popular in Christian churches never portray him in this Torah-observant manner.  This is probably due to the utter disdain most Christians have for the Torah.  Anyway, Jesus is usually depicted as wearing a long white robe without tzit-tzit (tassles) at the four corners of his garment, which is clearly taught by the Torah, which we know he observed perfectly!

The pictures and images used by Christians of all denominations to "adore," "worship," or merely "remind them of Jesus" is a present evidence that the people who congregate in Christian churches are guilty of breaking the second commandment.  For Elohim clearly forbids any manufactured statues, idols, depictions or images to be used in the true worship of Him.  And given that many of those images and statues used by Christians in their worship or adoration of Jesus, Mary and the saints are replicas of images, statues and idols used in ancient Babylon and in many other pagan worship systems is the evidence that the Christian Church has, indeed, been guilty of worshipping the Beast.  For, in worshipping Elohim by using the images, figures and statues made popular in the modern day Christian religion, Christians have been breaking Elohim's second commandment and have been unwittingly worshipping "the Beast and his image" (cf. Revelation 14:9).

The Third Commandment

Furthermore, the Christian Church is guilty of constantly breaking the Third Commandment.  They do this as a matter of regular practice and they don't even realize it!

Commandment 3:  You shall not take the name of Yahuwah your Elohim in vain, for Yahuwah will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

The New International Version renders the third commandment in this way:

You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. (Exodus 20:7)

Most other English Bible translations render the verse much like the NIV has - with disdain and disrespect for the actual name of Elohim.

Note carefully the stark difference in how the Bible versions translate the name of Elohim.  The sacred name versions, including the one above, render Elohim's name "Yahuwah" or the like.  However, most English Bible translations render Elohim's sacred name "the LORD."  Therein is the problem.  Elohim's sacred, personal name is Yahuwah, not "the LORD."  Even in the very verse in which Elohim expressly forbids misuse of His sacred name, translators have misused it!

The Christian Church, from very early in her history, has adopted the same doctrine and practice as the Jews in regard to Elohim's sacred name.  The Creator placed his sacred name into the Hebrew Scriptures over 6000 times, because he wants to be identified and known by his unique, personal name Yahuwah.  Yet the Jews and now the Christians have covered up, hidden and buried His sacred name and have placed a substitute designation in its place!  And, ironically, this is exactly what Elohim said NOT to do in the Third Commandment.

Elohim expressed to Moses that his personal name, Yahuwah, is the name by which he is to be called by all generations of people:

Elohim also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'Yahuwah, the Elohim of your fathers-- the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac and the Elohim of Jacob-- has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. (Exodus 3:15, NIV with some Hebrew names restored)

Yet, the Jews, after the time of the persecution by Antiochus Epiphanies, decided that the best way to protect the sacred name from misuse would be to forbid its use!!  And the Christian Church leaders and theologians have concurred with this sincere, but misguided, attempt to "honor" Elohim's sacred name.

Elohim has made it abundantly clear that He wants all people to know and (properly) use His sacred name, Yahuwah.  Most of his might miracles were done with the expressed purpose of bringing attention to His name:

They will know that I am Yahuwah their Elohim, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am Yahuwah their Elohim. (Exodus 29:46, NIV with sacred name restored)

Therefore my people will know my name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I." (Isaiah 52:6, NIV)

Elohim fights for his people and routs the enemy in order to make everyone see that he is Yahuwah.

I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save.  I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, Yahuwah, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." (Isaiah 49:25-26, NIV, with sacred name restored)

The prophet Ezekiel reiterates dozens of times the phrase, "they will know that I am Yahuwah."

And they will know that I am Yahuwah, when their people lie slain among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy oak-- places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols. And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste from the desert to Diblah--wherever they live. Then they will know that I am Yahuwah. (Ezekiel 6:13,14, NIV, with sacred name restored)

While the Scriptures are numerous which express Elohim's thoughts that He wants his personal name to be known by all the world, most Christians, who claim to know him, don't even know his personal name.  We have been fed a lie for centuries by our fathers, who have told us through their translations that "the LORD" is his name.  And most Christians have not given it another thought.  Jeremiah speaks of this lie which he wants to straighten out:

Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.  Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is Yahuwah. (Yirmeyahu 16:19-21, king jimmy version with sacred name restored)

The designation, "the LORD," is a substitution for Elohim's personal name, which must be repugnant to Him.  The Third Commandment stipulates that his personal name Yahuwah is not to be "used in vain" or "taken lightly" or "emptied" or "misused."  And yet, isn't this precisely what we do when we replace his name with another designation.  We do, in fact, empty his name when we remove it and replace it with "the LORD."

For the Jew in Antiochus' time, and up to and beyond the time of Yahusha's life on earth, merely speaking the sacred name was considered blasphemy and was punishable by death. (For the details of this, see About God's Holy Name)  Similarly, the book of Revelation foresees men in the last days blaspheming Elohim and His holy name:

And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against Elohim, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. (13:6)

Their punishment is also described:

Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of Elohim who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory. (16:9)

But those who know and regard His name and receive the reward given by Elohim are figuratively pictured as having the sacred name written on their foreheads:

Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. (14:1)

There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of Elohim and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. (22:3,4)

This symbolic representation of Elohim's people having his sacred name Yahuwah written on their foreheads calls to mind, in contrast, those who worship the Beast:  Worshippers of the Beast are seen as blaspheming Elohim's name (breaking the third commandment) and as having the Beast's name on their foreheads:

He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. (Revelation 13:16-17, NIV)

Evidently, this subtle contrast between the worshippers of Yahuwah, who have His name on their foreheads, with the worshippers of the Beast, who have the mark or name of the Beast on their foreheads, is meant to underline the important of obedience to Elohim's Third Commandment.  Indeed, worshipping Him and honoring His sacred name go hand in hand:

"Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED." (15:4)

Those who worship Him in truth will glorify His name by properly using it!

The Fourth Commandment

As the reader might have guessed by now, we are presently going to offer evidence from Revelation that the Fourth Commandment is also being continuously broken by the Christian Church along with all who worship the Beast.

Commandment 4:  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of Yahuwah your Elohim; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.  For in six days Yahuwah made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Yahuwah blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

The proof of this one is simple.  On what day of the week do most Christians worship the living Elohim?  Do they not worship on Sunday, the first day of the week?  Indeed, the Sabbath day of the Scriptures has become just another work day in the eyes of the Christian churches in the world today.  And Elohim's sacred day is dishonored every week.  Christianity has not remembered the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Fourth Commandment directs.  To be sure, they utterly forget, ignore and violate the Fourth Commandment.

The Christian Church mistakenly believes that the Sabbath has been done away with.  But several prophesies of the book of Revelation suggest, hint and imply that obedience to the seventh day Sabbath is an important characteristic of Elohim's remnant in the last days.  Someone may object: if the Sabbath is so important to Elohim then why doesn't the book of Revelation just plainly say it?  To answer this we must refer back to what Yahusha once said to his disciples when they asked him why he spoke to the people in parables:

The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?"  He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.  This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.  In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.  For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' (Matthew 13:10-15, NIV)

Yahusha spoke to the crowds in parables so that those who did not believe would not be able to understand.  Only those who were intimately familiar with the Torah and the Prophets because of their personal interest in the living Elohim would be able to understand.

This same principle can (and should) be applied to the prophesies of Revelation.  Much of what is written about in Revelation is done so in figures of speech, parables, "hidden" illustrations and allusions to Scriptures, which, if the reader is not familiar with, he will completely miss the point and misinterpret what is being communicated.  This is so that most people will NOT understand it.  But, for those who are living the Torah, the Prophets and the Scriptures, the message of Revelation will become clear.

The Fourth Commandment calls for remembering the Sabbath day because Elohim established the Sabbath rest at creation for the benefit of ALL mankind (not just for the "Old Testament" Jews).  And in the issuing of the Sabbath commandment in Shemot (Exodus) 20, Yahuwah identifies himself as the one who "made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them."  This reference calls to mind the fact that the Sabbath was instituted by the Creator at creation.  For this reason, the Sabbath commandment points to creation as its source and to the Creator as its authority.  And obedience to the Sabbath commandment uniquely identifies those who wish to serve and worship the Creator.

This phrase which identifies the Creator - the one who "made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them" - is echoed in several other Scriptures which make the point that Yahuwah is the Creator of the universe:

May you be blessed by Yahuwah, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 115:15, NIV with sacred name restored)

Blessed is he whose help is the Elohim of Jacob, whose hope is in Yahuwah his Elohim, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them-- Yahuwah, who remains faithful forever. (Psalm 146:5,6, NIV, with Hebrew names restored)

And in the Brit Hadashah, the apostle Sha'ul identifies Yahusha as the one who was with the Father during creation:

He is the image of the invisible Elohim, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. (Colossians 1:15-16, NIV)

"Things in heaven and on earth" brings to remembrance the way the Creator is identified in the Sabbath commandment as the one who "made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them."  Therefore, the phrase - "made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them" - is associated with the Sabbath day and the Lord of the Sabbath.

So, when we come to the book of Revelation, it is natural for the writer to associate this phrase with the Sabbath:

Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, WHO CREATED HEAVEN AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE EARTH AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE SEA AND THE THINGS IN IT, that there will be delay no longer, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of Elohim is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets. (10:5-7)

This hint at the Sabbath commandment may appear, at this point, to be merely coincidental until we note that the phrase, "who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters," is the one the writer of Revelation choose to utilize later on in his invitation to all people of the last days to worship Elohim:

And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; and he said with a loud voice, "Fear Elohim, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters." (14:6,7)

This phrase is intended to bring the understanding reader to a remembrance of the Sabbath commandment.  Worship of the one who made heaven, earth and sea is textually linked to Sabbath worship.  So, the proper worship of Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters is grounded in the remembering of the Sabbath day which the Creator so instituted at creation.

This conclusion is confirmed and supported a few verses later in this same call to worship, where worship of the Creator is associated with the term "rest":