Introduction
     There are many things that we can claim are important in Scripture, some more so than others. Two things Scripture implies are of extreme importance: the Sign and the Seal. What are the Sign and the Seal? What is the importance behind these, and how do they apply to our walk in the Faith?

The Seal
     Let us examine them from Scripture one at a time, starting with the Seal. The Seal is defined in the Book of Revelation. Revelation 7:3 reads, Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our Elohim on their foreheads. (New American Standard Bible, used throughout unless otherwise noted.)
    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, Revelation 14:1. These two Scripture verses reveal that the Seal is Yahweh’s Name. Yahweh’s Name is important. We appreciate the significance of Yahweh’s Name, from an exchange He had with Moses at the burning bush.
    Then Moses said to Elohim, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The Elohim of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His Name?’ What shall I say to them?” And Elohim said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you, Exodus 3:13-14.
    The Hebrew word for I AM is Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, H.1961, hayah, pronounced, haw-yaw, and literally means to be or to exist, by extension, the self-existent one. The fact that Yahweh’s Name means to exist tells us much about His most important property. He has always existed and He will always exist, and all existence is sourced in Him. We find confirmation of this throughout scripture. Following are three examples:
        • Genesis 1:1: In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.
        • Isaiah 41:4: Who has performed and accomplished [it], summoning the generations from the beginning? I, Yahweh, am the first, and with the last. I am He.
        • Isaiah 44:6: This is what Yahweh says, “He who is the King of Israel and his Redeemer, Yahweh of armies: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no El besides Me.”
    A person’s name is the first thing we should know about a person. It is no different with our Heavenly Father. After all, how can one say that they are acquainted with someone if they don’t know the persons’ name?
    Consider the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac. They called upon Yahweh by Name and Yahweh called Abraham His friend.
Abraham called upon the Name of Yahweh in Genesis 12:8: Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to Yahweh and called upon the Name of Yahweh.
    Genesis 21:33: And [Abraham] planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the Name of Yahweh, the Everlasting Elohim.
    Isaac built an altar at Beersheba (the well of the oath) where he called on the Name of Yahweh (Gen. 26:25).
Jehoshaphat, a king in Judah, makes mention even, that Yahweh called Abraham, His friend.
    Did You not, our Elohim, drive out the inhabitants of this land from Your people Israel, and give it to the descendants of Your friend Abraham forever? 2 Chronicles 20:7.
    And Isaiah records Yahweh’s attestation to this, saying, But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend, Isaiah 41:8.
    Even James the brother of our Master confirms this: And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed Elohim, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of Elohim, James 2:23.
    Friends know each other by Name! Some will say the Patriarchs did not know Yahweh by Name and they appropriate Exodus 6:3 – and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as Elohim Almighty, but [by] My Name, Yahweh, I did not make Myself known to them – to try and establish their conjecture … suggesting therefore, that we do not need to use (Yahweh’s) Name.
    However, in the face of other Scriptures which acknowledge the use of His Name in worship, interpretation from but one verse is become subject to scrutiny – especially seeing that Yahweh’s Name was called upon even before it was revealed to the patriarchs.
    Yahweh’s Name was known anciently and, apparently, appropriated. Genesis 4:26 discloses that men began to call upon the Name of Yahweh as early as the third generation of the human species.
    Yahweh’s Name is so important, that He literally commands us to use It! Where? among the Ten Commandments, we read in Exodus 20:7: You shall not take the Name of Yahweh your Elohim in vain, for Yahweh will not leave him unpunished who takes His Name in vain. “in vain?” This Hebrew word, shav, is H.7723 in Strong’s, which literally means make useless, desolate or void. The unused root for the word Shav is H.7722 which is the Hebrew word shoah meaning to devastate, destroy, or make waste. This means that Yahweh is commanding us not to make His Name worthless or useless. There is nothing we can do to make His Name more worthless, than not using it. This is something the Jews have done and excuse it as reverence, employing Adonai and haShem as substitutes for His Holy and Reverend Name.
    Moreover, six-thousand, eight-hundred, and twenty-three times, in most English Bible translations/versions, Yahweh’s Name is covered up by employing LORD and one-hundred, thirty-four more times, GOD or at times, Jehovah a presumed sacred name, is used though interestingly, its last two syllables, hovah, Strong’s H.1943, and pronounced, ho-vaw’, means ruin and appears as “mischief” in the Old Testament text, which is not very complimentary to Yahweh, the Creator of heaven and earth.

Pagan Titles, a Big NO
     In Exodus 23:13, Yahweh commands us not to use pagan deities’ names in worship: Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let [them] be heard from your mouth.
    Later, Joshua, advanced in years, exhorted the elders of Israel, saying,
    Be very firm, then, to keep and do all that is written in the book of laws of Moses, so that you may not turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, in order that you may not associate with these nations, these which remain among you, or mention the name of their gods, or make [anyone] swear [by them], or serve them, or bow down to them. But you are to cling to Yahweh your Elohim, as you have done to this day, Joshua 23:6-8.
    Yet despite these warnings, people use pagan deities’ names to call upon Yahweh. Some even, upon learning they are doing this, refuse to cease doing so.
    Some may ask how they are calling on the names of pagan deities in worship of Yahweh? Well, Christians have replaced the Name Yahweh with titles of Lord and God, both of which have pagan etymologies.
    There are two etymological roots for the word Lord: one biblical, the other more modern. However, neither gives our Heavenly Father His due honor. The more modern word for Lord comes from the Old English Hlaford which comes from the earlier word Hlafweard which literally means one who guards the loaves. Hlaf meaning Bread or loaf and Weard, meaning keeper or guardian.
    This term does our Heavenly Father great disservice as a lord in the English hierarchy was subservient to a king. Yahweh is King of kings. In the English hierarchy, lords were men who cared for and tended land on behalf of the king. They oversaw the tasks of peasantry on behalf of the king, including guarding the wheat stores that the peasants or slaves gathered for the kingdom. So, as we can see the term ‘lord’ falls very short of the kingly honor our Father deserves.
    The other root of the word lord is actually Hebrew, Strong’s H. 1167. Bah’-al – from H1166; a master; hence a husband, or (figuratively) owner (often used with another noun in modifications of this latter sense: + archer, + babbler, + bird, captain, chief man, + confederate, + have to do, + dreamer, those to whom it is due, + furious, those that are given to it, great, + hairy, he that hath it, have, + horseman, husband, lord, man, + married, master, person, + sworn, they of.

    The name Baal translated to English is Lord, examples:
        • Baalzebub – Lord of the flies (reference to Satan)
        • Baal-peor – Lord of the open holes – dung god – carries a very nasty meaning according to Jewish sources).

    Judges 2:13 says Israel abandoned Yahweh and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. Also, we read in Jeremiah 23:26-27, the false prophets who prophesied “the deception of their own heart” intended “to make My people forget My Name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My Name for Baal.”
    Thus, calling on the Name of Yahweh by replacing it with lord is no different from calling Him Baal. Nevertheless, it is prophesied “And it will come about on that day,” declares Yahweh, that you will call Me Ishi (my husband) and no longer call Me my Baali (my Baal), Hosea 2:16.
    There is another title that people call Yahweh that finds its root in paganism – the word, god which has a rather complex etymology. From Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, H.1410, we learn Gad, pronounced gawd, comes from H.1464, guwd, pronounced goode. A primary root [akin to 1413]: to crowd upon, i.e., attack and is rendered in the Scriptures as invade, overcome. H.1413, gadad, pronounced gaw-dad’, is also a primary root, to crowd; also to gash (as if by pressing into (think, hand-to-hand combat), and is rendered in the Scriptures severally as assemble themselves by troops, gather themselves together in troops, cut themselves.
    Gad was born to Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid, Leah so named him, of whom she said, “How fortunate” (Gen. 30:11), literally, “with fortune.” (Other English versions read, “Fortune has come.”) This is a link to the pan-semitic Canaanite deity of ‘fortune’ called Gad which in Hebrew has the same root meaning as the son of Israel and tribe of Gad. This is further confirmed by the same root word for the tribe of Gad being mentioned in reference to the pagan deity Gad in Isaiah 65:11: But as for you who abandon Yahweh, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune, and fill a jug of mixed wine for Destiny.
    Considering that Leah was raised in a family of pagan worshipers (Gen. 31:19), it comes as no surprise that she should attribute the birth of a son to the deity of fortune.
    A second, more modern etymological root for god comes from the Germanic/German word Gott. Gott’s roots are found in the gothic word, Gaut – the name of national and ancestral deity of the Goth’s/Swedes and turns out to be a reference and alternate name to the Norse chief deity, Odin, the father of Thor after which the fifth day of our week, Thursday, is named. Unintentionally, and without realizing it, people call upon, and use these pagan names when they say the words, the Lord God … technically saying, “Baal Odin” or “Baal Gad,” but names of the baalim.
    From all of this we can see that people have been taking the Name of Yahweh in vain by calling on the names of other mighty ones. The 3rd commandment may just be, perhaps, the most transgressed commandment and people don’t even realize it!

His Name is Salvation
     One of the sad realities is that so many people have forgotten or refuse to use His Name, despite the fact that in His Name is salvation, as it is written:
    “And it will come about that everyone who calls on the Name of Yahweh will be saved …” (Joel 2:32a) and reiterated again,
    “And it shall be that everyone who calls on the Name of Yahweh will be saved” (Acts 2:21).
    Yahshua our Master and Savior came in the Name of Yahweh! I have come in My Father’s Name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him, John 5:43. This is not just figurative, it is a literal statement as the Hebrew Name of Yahshua literally means Yahweh is Salvation!
    This is confirmed even further by the testimony of the Apostles in Acts 4:10-12:
    Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the Name of Yahshua Messiah the Nazarene, whom you impaled, whom Elohim raised from the dead – by this [Name] this man stands here before you in good health. He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, [but] which became the chief corner [stone]. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other Name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved. Yahshua’s Name saves us because Yahweh’s Name is in Him. The Name of Yahweh is essential, not only because salvation is wrought in His Name, but by His Name we are also called – Everyone who is called by My Name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made, Isaiah 43:7.
    So, it’s clear Scripturally that Yahweh’s Name sets us apart as His people, much like the Sabbath day sets us apart as His people.
    Yahweh’s Name is a Seal – a seal of authority, which in conventional terms, typically contains the name, title, and domain of the official, e.g., president or governor, who authorizes a decree or document to show its validity and the source of its authority and their jurisdiction or territory as in, President of the United States. With respect to Yahweh, His seal could represent authority, as in Name; His title, “Creator;” His territory, the “heavens and earth.” Indeed, Yahweh’s full Seal may very well read, “Yahweh Creator of Heaven and Earth” and may include His Sign between Himself and His people – namely, the Sabbath.

The Sabbath, an Identifying Sign
     Sabbath is a Sign, between Yahweh and His people that He has ordained from creation.
    And so the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their heavenly lights. By the seventh day Elohim completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then Elohim blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which Elohim had created and made, Genesis 2:1-3.
    The seventh day serves as a memorial of Yahweh’s creation. Later, at Sinai, He commands His people to observe and keep the seventh day holy.
    Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. For six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of Yahweh your Elohim; [in it] you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your cattle, or your resident who stays with you. For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; for that reason Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy, Exodus 20:8-11.
    But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, “You shall surely observe My Sabbaths; for [this] is a Sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am Yahweh Who sanctifies you. Therefore you are to observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes It shall surely be put to death; for whosever does any work on It, that person shall be cut off from among his people. For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to Yahweh; whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. So the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to celebrate the Sabbath through their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a Sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased [from labor], and was refreshed,” Exodus 31:13-17.
    Two times in the aforementioned verses, Yahweh calls the Sabbath a Sign! This Sign, when observed, shows the world Whom we worship! We worship Yahweh the Creator of the heavens and the earth!
    The Sabbath is extremely important to Yahweh, and may just be the most repeated command in Scripture. This also supports our contention that Yahweh made the world in six literal days, otherwise we could not observe the weekly Sabbath.
    In many languages among the peoples of the world, the word for Saturday is a derivative of the Hebrew shabbat, proving that Saturday, and not Sunday, is shabbat and debunks the notion of ‘a lunar sabbath’.
    Following are a list of some language/cultures which illustrate derivations of the Hebrew, Shabbat: Arabic, Sabet; Armenian, Shabat; Bosnian, Subota; Bulgarian, Sabota; Corsican, Sàbatu; Croatian, Subota; Czech, Sobota; Georgian, Sabati; Greek, Savvato; Indonesian, Sabtu; Italian, Sabato; Latin, Sabbatum; Polish, Sobota; Portuguese, Sábado; Romanian, Sambata; Romanian,  Sambata; Russian, Subbota; Serbian, Subota; Slovak, Sobota; Slovene, Sobota; Somali, Sabti; Spanish, Sabado; Sudanese, Saptu; Ukranian: Subota.
    Yahweh’s cares so much about Sabbath that He even tested the Israelites to make sure they would obey it using the manna He provided as a training ground for Sabbath observance.
    In Exodus 16:4-7, 22-29, we read:
    Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, so that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “At evening you will know that Yahweh has brought you out of the land of Egypt; and in the morning you will see the glory of Yahweh, for He hears your grumblings against Yahweh; and what are we, that you grumble against us? … Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, then he said to them, “This is what Yahweh meant: Tomorrow is a Sabbath observance, a holy Sabbath to Yahweh. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.” So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not stink nor was there a maggot in it. Then Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to Yahweh; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, [the] Sabbath, there will be none.” Yet it came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. Then Yahweh said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions? See, Yahweh has given you the Sabbath; for that reason, He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain, everyone, in his place; no one is to leave his place on the seventh day.
    In this narrative, Yahweh was both training His people to observe the Sign of the Sabbath and testing them to see if they would obey. They sadly failed that test. But we don’t have to. The Sabbath, after all is for our benefit, as It was made for man (Mark 2:27). The Sabbath was not meant to be a burden, but a help to us and it is so sad, that this is the command Yahweh says to remember. Yet, it is also the command the world has forgotten and by extension, their Creator.

Proper Observance
     So, if the Sabbath is a Sign between us and Yahweh and It sets us apart, how do we properly keep It? This answer is much simpler than either the world or the Jews would have you believe. Some would call you Jewish for observing Sabbath, but remember that Yahshua said the Sabbath was made for man, and not specifically for the Jews. The idea the Sabbath is difficult to keep may stem from misunderstandings of the Scripture, like for example, certain of the Jews challenging one whom Yahshua healed on the Sabbath for his following the Master’s instruction, “Take up your pallet and walk” (John 5:10-12). Many were such of man-made traditions the Jews added to protect the Sabbath from being violated, but with the outcome that made the Sabbath a burden. (Read Acts 15:10.)
    Little wonder, Yahshua upbraided Pharisees and scribes, charging them with transgressing the commandment of Yahweh and teaching as doctrine the precepts of men for the sake of their traditions (Matt. 15, 6, 9) and even, elevating these above the Law of Yahweh.
    Yahshua further said, in Mark 7:9-13,
    He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of Elohim in order to keep your tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to be put to death’; but you say, ‘If a man says to [his] father or [his] mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given [to Elohim]),’ you no longer permit him to do anything for [his] father or [his] mother; [thus] invalidating the word of Elohim by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.
    If Yahshua took issue with this, so should we. So, how then do we properly observe Sabbath? It is quite easy to understand. We are to abstain from labor/work and to focus on Yahweh and congregate with like-minded brethren. It is important for us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together on the Sabbath (Heb. 10:24-25).
    Yet, is it not unlawful to do good on the Sabbath?
    And a man [was there] whose hand was withered. And they questioned Yahshua, asking, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? so that they might accuse Him. And He said to them, “What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath,” Matthew 12:10-12.
    Sometimes, an ox will fall into a ditch … yes, on the Sabbath. Emergencies happen, as when a lady may need help when her car is parked on the side of road, with the hood up and she, stand peering down into the engine compartment, with her hands on her hips wondering, What do I do now? Helping in these moments actually fulfills the spirit of the Sabbath of breaking the yoke of that burden. Perhaps, the Apostle Paul may have even had this in mind when he wrote, So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith, Galatians 6:10.
    Briefly comprehended, a prescription for properly keeping the Sabbath is found in Isaiah 58: 13-14:
    If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your [own] pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy [day] of Yahweh honorable, and honor It, desisting from your [own] pleasure and speaking [your own] word, then you will take delight in Yahweh, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed you [with] the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.
    Yahweh shows us the Spirit of Sabbath observance in this verse. It is to be a day of complete focus on the spiritual, a day to spend with Yahweh and the other brethren; a day abandoning the cares of the world and the affairs of this life. After all, our time spent in this life should be but preparatory toward experiencing the coming Kingdom, and a Sabbath that shall never end (Heb. 4:9-11); that time when we shall rest from our labors, our works then testifying to our profession (Rev. 15:13).

Conclusion
     Regarding the Sabbath, a man once posed a question concerning Its proper observance amongst the saints. He asked, “If Yahweh can’t trust you for twenty-four hours to serve Him properly, how can He trust you for eternity?” For sure, if one can’t be faithful in little, why should he be thought able to be faithful in much, Luke 16:10? And concerning the Seal, we reiterate, there is no other Name (but Yahshua) under heaven that has been given among men by Whom we must be saved, for there is no salvation in anyone else (Acts 4:12).
    Admittedly, there are some who have the Sign, but not the Seal or otherwise, the Seal but not the Sign. But from Scripture, we understand that the Sign and the Seal of Yahweh are His Sabbath and His Name, respectively, and Both are become the Means by which they who are obedient to the second, third and fourth commandments (Exod. 20:3-5a, 7-11) are identified as His peculiar people.
    The Name and the Sabbath – these two, the easiest to acknowledge and observe and yet, the hardest for most people to receive and accept. People make excuses for refusing to observe and keep these statutes, not appreciating that in disregarding the third and fourth commandments, they are transgressing the first and second and, moreover, are assuming to themselves that place of making themselves some mighty one – even thinking and acting as if Yahweh is altogether such as they (Psa. 50:21) – in a sense, making Yahweh into their image or, in a word, becoming idolatrous.
    Yahweh through His prophets has declared who He is. In fact, no fewer than eleven times, He has asserted in Isaiah, chapter 45-47, that beside Himself, there is none other.
    Yahshua, too, and has told us what is required of us: Obedience – it’s how we manifest our love toward Yahweh.
    In John 14:15, Yahshua said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
    Again in 1 John 5:3, we read, For this is the love of Yahweh, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
    In Luke 6:46, Yahshua asks the question, “Why do you call Me, ‘Master, Master,’ and do not do what I say?” Indeed, how can any presume to call himself His, if he doesn’t obey Him? This is a question people need to ask themselves, because His Name is salvational and His Sabbath is given as a blessing to benefit man and one needs Both.
    But one needs Both – for the Seal contains His Name and expresses His dominion or jurisdiction, and the Sign testifies to the creation. By embracing Both, we are set apart by Yahweh and if we hold steadfast in these until the end, we shall be Sealed in our foreheads and enter into His kingdom – the kingdom of Yahweh, the Creator of the heavens and the earth! He who has ears to hear, let him hear.