Work and Worship

Ezekiel 46:1

Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened.

Ezekiel, along with most of the Jews, were in captivity. They were there for their own disobedience, but this was no time for them to mope about. The Lord led Ezekiel to encourage them by speaking of the future. These are the things they were to do when they returned to the Promised Land. As a piece of those instructions, God told Israel, "The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened."

Access to the Temple grounds would be given to the people on the sabbath days and on the day of the new moon but not during the working days.

John Gill applies this instruction to the Christian age and writes,

"...the six working days are the six days of the week in which men should labour, and do all the work and business of their callings, that they may thereby provide for themselves and families, and have wherewith to give to the poor; during which time the public ministry of the word is intermitted, that men may not be taken off of their necessary and lawful employments; and that the ministers of the word may have sufficient time to prepare in their studies for their ministerial service: …

"it ought to be kept by abstinence from all civil, corporeal, and servile works, as well as from dead works or sins, and in the exercise of all religious duties, private and public; and particularly in attendance on the ministry of the word, the gate now opened; and which is sometimes expressed by opening the door of faith, and is called an open door; and may be said to be so when ministers have an opportunity without, and great freedom within themselves, to preach it; and when the doors of men's hearts are opened to attend to it, and many souls are gathered to Christ, and into his churches..."

The two ethics Ezekiel prophesies about are in need of reviving today:

The ethic of work

A man uses his time to produce. It is by that production that he earns income both to feed his family and to care for the poor and afflicted.

The ethic of worship

A man (and his family) live not just to work and eat, but:

·       For the cause of

·       To the glory of and

·       In obedience to

the Lord.