Memorable days.
Ezekiel was to take note of the day on which he received a message concerning the approaching ruin of Jerusalem, as it was to be on the anniversary of that day that the King of Babylon would besiege Jerusalem. Thus it would be seen that the prediction was strikingly fulfilled. This is one instance of the marking of memorable days.
I. THE OCCURRENCE OF MEMORABLE DAYS. In themselves all days may be equally sacred (Romans 14:5). Nevertheless, a difference of character, history, and associations will divide our days out into very various classes, and will mark some for especial interest. There are days that stand out in history like great promontories along the coast. We must all have lived through days the memory of which is burnt into our souls. There are the red-letter days, days of honor and gladness; and there are the black-letter days of calamity. Note some of the kinds of memorable days.
1. Days of warning. Such was the day of our text. We cannot afford to forget such days. They may occur but rarely; yet their influence should be permanent.
2. Days of blessing. If we have had times of exceptional prosperity, or occasions when we have been surprised with new and unexpected good, surely such happy seasons deserves to be chronicled. It is ungrateful to leave a blank in our diaries for those days.
3. Days of sorrow. These, too, may be days of blessing, though of blessing in disguise. It is not easy to forget such days, nor is it altogether desirable. The softened memory of past grief has a wholesome, subduing influence over the soul.
4. Days of revelation. The day to be noted by Ezekiel was of this character. We have no prophetic visions. But there may be days when God has seemed to draw especially near to us. Truth has then been most clear and faith most strong. The memory of such days is a help for the darker seasons of doubt and dreary solitude.
II. THE USE OF MEMORABLE DAYS.
1. To chronicle them. A diary of sentiments is not always a wholesome production; but a journal of events should be full of instruction. An almanac marked with anniversary dates is a constant reminder of the lessons of the past.
2. To study them. Dates are but sign-pests. They indicate events which require separate consideration. It is good sometimes to turn aside from the noisy scenes of the present and walk in the dim cloisters of the sweet, sad past, communing with bygone days and musing over the deeds of olden times. Our own rushing, heedless age would be the better for such meditations among the tombs, not to grow melancholy in the thought of death, but to learn wisdom in the lessons of the ages.
3. To avoid their errors. There are bad past days. Antiquity does not consecrate sin and folly.
4. To follow their good example. We have the whole roll of the world's history from which to select instances of inspiring lives. The Christian year is sacred to the memory of a holy past, and its anniversaries revive the lessons of good examples; chiefly it repeatedly reminds us of the great events in the life of our Lord.
5. To be prepared for their recurrence. The day of prophecy was anticipatory of the Day of Judgment. Past days of judgment point to the future judgment. "Of that day and of that hour knoweth no one," but the fulfillment of prophecy in the destruction of Jerusalem is a solemn warning of the sure fulfillment of predictions concerning the judgment on the whole world.