Ezekiel 20:12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them. I. HOW PROPERLY THE SABBATH IS A SIGN OF THE TRUE GOD. II. THE INSTITUTION OF IT IS OF THE GREATEST USE AND ADVANTAGE TO MAN, CONSIDERED UNDER WHAT RESPECT AND CIRCUMSTANCES SOEVER. III. WHAT IS MEANT BY "HALLOWING THE SABBATH," or in what manner we are to observe it, so as to answer the end of its institution, so as to reap the advantages which were proposed by it. 1. To hallow the Sabbath is to set it apart to God's honour and service; and, of course, implies that we should abstain from all the ordinary employments of life, from all such things as would be apt to debase our minds, and hinder them from fixing upon heavenly objects. 2. We should, this day above all, make Him the constant subject of our thoughts and our desires, of our prayers and of our praises. We should meditate upon His nature and His attributes, His Word and His works; and particularly upon those two grand instances of the Divine power and goodness which the institution itself, more especially, directs us to commemorate — the creation of the world, and the redemption of mankind. IV. TO NEGLECT PAYING GOD SO EASY A TRIBUTE AS ONE DAY OUT OF SEVEN MUST AT LEAST IMPLY A FORGETFULNESS OF OUR OBLIGATIONS; as that must, necessarily, imply ingratitude. Shall we grudge the seventh day to His use, when He hath, so freely, allowed us the other six for our own? Shall we refuse so small a part of our time to Him, who had so just a right to the whole? (D. Lloyd.) Parallel Verses KJV: Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them. |
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