Exodus 19:10,11

Exo. 19:10, 11. "Sanctify them to-day and to-morrow," etc. The third day here spoken of, or the day on which God came down on Mount Sinai, was the first day of the week, as is evident, because the feast of Pentecost, which was appointed in commemoration of this, was appointed to be always on the first day of the week, as appears by Leviticus 23:15, etc., so that the days wherein the Jews were to sanctify themselves in order to this day were the sixth and seventh days of the week; but chiefly the seventh, for there was only a part of the sixth remaining when God gave the order; and probably but a little part, considering the antecedent transactions of the day which we have here account of. So that the Jewish sabbath was to be spent in preparing themselves for the day following - viz., the first day of the week, the day on which God descended and gave the Law on Mount Sinai in honor to this day, being the day on which Christ was to rise from the dead and on which God would descend more gloriously on His Apostles, to reveal the glorious gospel. Thus this day is, by God's own direction, set above the day of their sabbath; the day of the Christian is honored above the Jewish sabbath by God's appointing the Jewish sabbath to be a day of preparation for it, as the Jewish Dispensation was a preparation for the Christian. The Law is a handmaid to the Gospel, and is "our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ," (Galatians 3:24).