Delight in the Lord's Day

If you turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD, honourable, and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 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 has spoken it. –Isaiah 58:13–14

 

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. –Exodus 20:8–11

 

Revelation 1:10 states, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” John was speaking of the first day of the week, the day we know as Sunday when we gather in our local churches to worship the Lord just as the apostles did on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). But the Lord’s Day is so much more than going to church. The Lord’s Day is that day when our souls are nourished by the pure milk of the Word of God. Jesus speaks directly to us! 

 

In the twenty-first century, there seems to be widespread thought that the command to keep the Lord’s Day holy is a heavy burden (Ex. 20:8–11). To some it has become the forgotten commandment and is perceived as simply another legalistic regulation. Happily, the Lord created the Lord’s Day to bless man, not to oppress him (Mark 2:27). This day is a blessed day, a happy day, a joyful day, a glad day; not one of oppression but one of freedom in the Lord, for He has said, “Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” If the church and our own souls are to flourish unto holiness, then we must actively learn to delight in the Lord's Day. 

You can find the rest of this article here. 

This article first appeared in Puritan Reformed Journal. Volume 3, Number 2. July 2011. Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. Grand Rapids, page 341-350 and is used with their permission.

The Golden Ephod

Again, as I have been reading through Exodus along the Read the Bible in a Year: Calendar of Daily Readings by Robert Murray M'Cheyne (You can buy it here), I came to Exodus 28.  There it describes the priests and especially the garments of the high priest.  It states in verse 6-14, 

They shall also make the ephod of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen, the work of the skillful workman. It shall have two shoulder pieces joined to its two ends, that it may be joined. The skillfully woven band, which is on it, shall be like its workmanship, of the same material: of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen. You shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on the one stone and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, according to their birth. As a jeweler engraves a signet, you shall engrave the two stones according to the names of the sons of Israel; you shall set them in filigree settings of gold. You shall put the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of memorial for the sons of Israel, and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders for a memorial. You shall make filigree settings of gold, and two chains of pure gold; you shall make them of twisted cordage work, and you shall put the corded chains on the filigree settings.

You see this ephod taken up in many different places throughout the Old Testament, so I went on my e-sword program to get quickly to Matthew Henry's commentary on this and this is what it said (I hope you are encouraged by it):

Directions are here given concerning the ephod, which was the outmost garment of the high priest. Linen ephods were worn by the inferior priests, 1Sa. 22:18. Samuel wore one when he was a child (1Sa. 2:18), and David when he danced before the ark (2Sa. 6:14); but this which the high priest only wore was called a golden ephod, because there was a great deal of gold woven into it. It was a short coat without sleeves, buttoned closely to him, with a curious girdle of the same stuff (Exo. 28:6-8); the shoulder-pieces were buttoned together with two precious stones set in gold, one on each shoulder, on which were engraven the names of the children of Israel, Exo. 28:9-12. In allusion to this, 1. Christ our high priest appeared to John girt about the breast with a golden girdle, such as was the curious girdle of the ephod, Rev. 1:13. Righteousness is the girdle of his loins (Isa. 11:6), and should be of ours, Eph_6:14. He is girt with strength for the work of our salvation, and is ready for it. 2. The government is said to be upon his shoulders (Isa. 9:6), as Aaron had the names of all Israel upon his shoulders in precious stone. He presents to himself and to his Father a glorious church, Eph. 5:27. He has power to support them, interest to recommend them, and it is in him that they are remembered with honour and favour. He bears them before the Lord for a memorial (Exo. 28:12), in token of his appearing before God as the representative of all Israel and an advocate for them.