THE SABBATH A SIGN OF SANCTIFICATION

Now read 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.” Or, as another translation reads, “I am Jehovah, their sanctifier.” And in connection with that read Exodus 31:13: “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.” Another translation gives that clause in this way: “I, Jehovah, am sanctifying you.” Now, of what is the Sabbath to be a sign to us as it comes week after week?-It is to be a sign that “I, Jehovah, am sanctifying you,” and every succeeding Sabbath marks the progress of that work of sanctification. We receive the blessing of God on one Sabbath; the next one comes, and if we have been growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the blessing of the next Sabbath is an added blessing. It teaches us more and more of the power of God in creation and in redemption. We add to our experience, and it is a sign continually, “I, Jehovah, am sanctifying you,” making you holy. Thus it appears again that the blessing of the Sabbath is the blessing of sanctification.CAS 21.1