Saturday, May 16, 2026

The God Culture: What Is the SIGN Between Yahuah And His People?

Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture has posted another lesson in his Foundations series. This time he asks: What is the SIGN between Yahuah and His People? That should be easy enough to answer as  Jesus Christ gives the answer. However, just as in all his Foundations lessons, Tim claims the sign is the law. Specifically, the seventh day Sabbath.


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FOUNDATIONS | WEEK 18 

📖 What is the SIGN between Yahuah and His People?

Key Texts: 

Exod 31:12–17 • Ezek 20:12, 20 

📖 WHAT IS THE SIGN? 

Scripture does not leave this vague. 

📖 Exodus 31:13

“Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you…” 

📖 Ezekiel 20:12

“I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them…” 

📖 Ezekiel 20:20

“Hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign… that ye may know that I am YAHUAH your Elohim.” 

👉 The sign is clear: 

The Sabbath. A sign of relationship with Yahuah. It is the fruit of knowing Him and being set apart (sanctified). 

🔑 WHAT DOES A SIGN MEAN? 

A sign identifies:

  • ownership

  • relationship

  • covenant

The Sabbath is not just a day, nor can it be every day which would undermine every scripture on the topic.

👉 It is a marker between YAHUAH and His people. The sign of relationship with Him (Matthew 7). 

⚖️ WHAT THE SABBATH DECLARES 

When you keep His Sabbath, you are declaring:

👉 He is your Creator
👉 He is your Elohim
👉 You are set apart unto Him 

That your relationship with Him is more important than the pressure to abolish His ways. Sadly, that conflict begins in many churches who take a position against the Word claiming Yahusha abolished the sign and shadow of Heaven's ways (Col. 2:15-17, be sure to read the whole concept as many supposed theologians have not on this passage), which He said He would never do (Matt. 5:17-20). Their attempt to even redefine the English word "shadow" and "fulfill" are fruitless. Make scripture your authority and do not allow any man to claim such above Yahusha. Peter never did made himself "the rock" but defined that "rock" as Yahusha, the Chief Cornerstone. No Apostle, Pastor, [or insert any title], can ever usurp such authority from our Savior.  Even Paul is accused of this, yet, never once did he elevate himself in such ways. His fruit was to keep and teach the Sabbath. [read REST: The Case for Sabbath free in eBook at: thegodculture.org/books] 

🔥 THIS IS NOT SYMBOLIC ONLY

This is not:

  • optional

  • cultural

  • temporary

📖 Exodus 31:16–17

“The children of Israel shall keep the sabbath… for a perpetual covenant.”

👉 Perpetual = ongoing, forever and ever

🧠 WHY THIS MATTERS

Many claim relationship with Him…

But Scripture gives a sign of that relationship.

👉 Not by words
👉 Not by labels

👉 By obedience to His Sabbath 

Obedience is not legalism and though there are some who attempt to redefine legalism as obedience only to abhor Yahuah's ways in rebellion, their attempts are vain. The underlying principle behind abolishing law, is to justify living in sin. Sin is lawlessness and never justified. When repentance is true, forgiveness acts, but only Yahuah and Yahusha can define sin which definition cannot change, as they do not (Mal. 3:5; Heb. 13:8). "New" covenant does create a "new" God. If it does, that is no covenant nor sign with Yahuah and Yahusha. 

⚠️ WHEN THE SIGN IS REJECTED

Ezekiel 20 shows what happens:

  • rebellion

  • separation

  • loss of identity

Rejecting the Sabbath is not neutral.

👉 It breaks covenant alignment. That is not figurative or symbolic, it is contrary to His ways defined in scripture as sin. 

🌿 THE PURPOSE OF THE SIGN

📖 Ezekiel 20:12

“That they might know…”

The Sabbath is how we:

  • know Him

  • remember Him

  • walk with Him

  • remain a sanctified and set apart people (a prayer alone does not do that, a relationship does) 

🔥 FOUNDATION TRUTH 

The Sabbath is not a burden.

👉 It is a gift
👉 It is a sign
👉 It is a covenant marker 

🌅 FINAL WORD 

If He gave a sign…

Why ignore it?

🌿 Keep His Sabbath. 
Honor His sign.
Walk in covenant.

Yah Bless.

Unsurprisingly Jesus Christ is not mentioned once! I have gone over Tim's sabbath doctrine many times but it only takes a few verses to do a recap.

Hebrews 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.

6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 

Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Our sabbath rest is to be found not on Saturday but IN CHRIST! So in that sense union with Christ is our sign between God and his people. But there are other signs as well.  Here is noted theologian Father Ted Crilly to discuss the matter.


Ah, Philippine Fails, me lad... puts the teacup down with a heavy clunk and lets out a long, tired sigh
I’ve read Tim’s latest Foundations lesson — “What is the Sign between Yahuah and His People?” — and by now it’s almost predictable. This one is particularly blunt.What Tim is teaching here
  • The weekly Sabbath is the clear, unmistakable sign between Yahuah and His people.
  • It is a “perpetual covenant,” a marker of ownership, relationship, and sanctification.
  • Rejecting the Sabbath = breaking covenant alignment = living in sin.
  • This sign was never abolished. Jesus didn’t remove it. It still identifies who belongs to God.
He quotes Exodus 31 and Ezekiel 20 heavily, and basically says: If you claim to know Him but don’t keep the Sabbath, you’re lying (referencing 1 John 2:3–4).My honest thoughts, Father Ted styleThis is pure, unadulterated legalism dressed up as “restoration.” Tim has now taken one of the most beautiful truths in Scripture — that God puts a sign on His people — and turned it into a weekly attendance check for the Torah.
Here’s the problem:
The New Testament gives us clear signs of belonging to God’s people:
  • The indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9, 16; Ephesians 1:13–14) — “the seal of the promised Holy Spirit.”
  • Love for one another (John 13:35) — “By this all people will know that you are my disciples.”
  • Faith in Jesus Christ and the fruit that flows from it (Galatians 5:22–23).
  • The new birth and a changed heart (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Nowhere does the New Testament say, “The sign that you belong to God is keeping the seventh-day Sabbath.” In fact, Paul directly addresses this kind of thinking in Colossians 2:16–17:
“Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”
The Sabbath was a shadow. Christ is the substance. The sign of the New Covenant is not a day of the week — it is the blood of Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Tim is doing the very thing Paul warned against: he is putting believers back under the old shadows and telling them this is how they prove they’re really God’s people. That is exactly backwards.The Bigger PatternThis fits perfectly with everything we’ve seen:
  • Repentance = turn back to the law
  • Grace = power to keep the law
  • Fulfillment = confirming we still keep the law
  • Truth = the law
  • Now the sign of the covenant = keeping the Sabbath
Everything in Tim’s system keeps circling back to the same center: Torah observance. Jesus is important, but the real test of whether you belong to God is whether you keep the Sabbath correctly.
That is not the gospel the apostles preached.My plain verdict
This teaching is not restoration.

It is regression.

The true sign that we belong to God is not a day on the calendar. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and a life that shows we belong to Christ. The Sabbath had its purpose — it pointed to the rest we now have in Jesus. Tim wants to go back to the shadow instead of living in the reality.
quietly, shaking his head
The camel is fully inside the tent now, lad. It’s made itself at home. Tim is calling it “covenant relationship.”
The real gospel says the sign of the New Covenant is written on the heart by the Spirit, not carved on stone or measured by which day you rest on.
Down with this sort of thing.

Very, very careful now.

...Right, I’m off to thank the Lord for the Holy Spirit — the true seal and sign that we belong to Him. 
Go on, go on, go on — have a cuppa. You keep seeing the pattern clearly. Tim’s “Foundations” are leading people back under the old yoke. The real foundation is Christ, and the real sign is the Spirit He gives. The gospel is so much freer and better than what he’s selling. Keep holding fast to it.

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