Good morning, ladies! Hope you all are well this morning!!

Today we will look at some thoughts on the Manner of sanctifying the Sabbath, Preparation for the Sabbath, and Distractions from Thomas Watson.

Isa 58:13 If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words,

14 Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Manner of sanctifying the Sabbath:

 We must do no work on it. This is the commandment. “On it you shall not do any work.” God has set apart this day for himself; therefore, we are not to use it for common things, such as by doing any civil work.

The Lord’s Day is a day of holy rest. All secular work must be forborne and suspended, as it is a profanation of the day.

The Lord forbade manna to be gathered on the Sabbath. Exo 16:26.

To do servile work on the Sabbath shows an impious heart, and greatly offends God. To do secular work on this day is to follow the devil’s plough; it is to debase the soul. God made this day on purpose to raise the heart to heaven, to converse with him, to do angels’ work; and to be employed in earthly work is to degrade the soul of its honor. God will not have his day entrenched upon or defiled in the least thing.

Works of necessity and charity however may be done on this day. In these cases, God will have mercy, and not sacrifice.

(1) It is lawful to take the necessary supplies of nature. Food is to the body as oil to the lamp.

(2) It is lawful to do works of mercy, as helping a neighbor when either life or estate are in danger. Herein the Jews were too precise, who would not allow works of charity to be done on the Sabbath. If a man was sick, they would not on this day, use means for his recovery. They were angry because Christ had wrought a cure on the Sabbath. John 7:23.

We keep the Sabbath-day holy, by “consecrating and dedicating” this day to the “service of the high God.” It is good to rest on the Sabbath-day from the works of our vocation; but if we rest from labor and do no more—the ox and the donkey keep the Sabbath as well as we; for they rest from labor. We must dedicate the day to God.

Preparation and Observation of the Sabbath:

When Saturday evening approaches, sound a retreat; call your minds off from the world and summon your thoughts together, to think of the great work of the approaching day. Purge out all unclean affections, which may indispose you for the work of the Sabbath. Evening preparation will be like the tuning of an instrument, it will fit the heart better for the duties of the ensuing Sabbath.

Rejoice at the approach of the day, as a day wherein we have a prize for our souls, and may enjoy much of God’s presence. John 8:56. “Abraham rejoiced to see my day.” So, when we see the light of a Sabbath shine, we should rejoice, and “call the Sabbath a delight”—this is the queen of days, which God has crowned with a blessing. Isa 58:13. As there was one day in the week on which God rained manna twice as much as upon any other day, so he rains down the manna of heavenly blessings twice as much on the Sabbath as on any other. This is the day wherein Christ carries the soul into the house of wine, and DISPLAYS THE BANNER OF LOVE OVER IT. The dew of the Spirit now falls on the soul, whereby it is revived and comforted. How many may write the Lord’s day, the day of their new birth! This day of rest is a pledge of the eternal rest in heaven. Shall we not then rejoice at its approach? The day on which the Sun of Righteousness shines, should be a day of gladness.

Get up early on the Sabbath morning. Christ rose early on this day, before the sun was up. John 20:1. Did he rise early to save us, and shall not we rise early to worship and glorify him? “Early will I seek you.” Psalm 63:1. Can we be up early on other days? The farmer is early at his plough, the traveler rises early to go his journey—and shall not we, who on this day are traveling to heaven? Certainly, if we loved God as we should, we would rise on this day early, that we may meet with him whom our souls love. Such as sit up late at work on the night before, are so buried in sleep, that they will hardly be up early on a Sabbath morning.

“Having dressed your bodies, you must dress your souls for hearing the Word. As the people of Israel were to wash themselves before the law was delivered to them, so we must wash and cleanse our souls; and that is done by reading, meditation, and prayer.” Exod 19:10.

We will take up reading, meditation, and prayer tomorrow.

Distractions:

Whence do these roving and distracting thoughts in hearing come?

(1) Partly from Satan. The devil is sure to be present in our assemblies. If he cannot hinder us from hearing, he will hinder us in hearing. “When the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan came also among them.” Job 1:6.

(2) These wandering thoughts in hearing come partly from ourselves. We must not lay all the blame upon Satan. They come from the eye. A wandering eye—causes wandering thoughts. As a thief may come into the house at a window, so vain thoughts may come in at the eye. As we are bid to keep our feet when we enter into the house of God (Eccl 5:1), so we had need make a covenant with our eyes, that we be not distracted by beholding other objects. Job 31:1.[1]

We will take up distractions beginning tomorrow.

I hope you find this as helpful for your soul as I have for mine!

May we together learn to make the best use of the Lord’s Day for the benefit of our souls and for greater communion with the Trinity and each other.

May we together learn to trust in the LORD and do good, may we learn to live on His faithfulness and find ourselves experiencing exquisite delight in Him. May we learn to say with the Psalmist “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You!”

I love you all and I am praying for you!

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[1] Thomas Watson, The Ten Commandments, (PA: Banner of Truth Trust, Reprint 2021), 93 – 122.