Ezekiel 20:14
But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.
After God brought Israel out of Egypt in the sight of the nations, Israel in the wilderness rebelled against Him, disobeyed His commands and polluted His Sabbaths. Those Sabbaths He had given as a sign between Him and them, with the call to keep His statutes and judgments, so that Sabbath-keeping would express loyalty to Him and His government. Though the people thus broke His law and desecrated His holy day, He did not consume them.
He spared rebellious Israel from destruction in the wilderness and restrained judgment for the sake of His name and its holiness. He wrought for His name's sake so that it should not be polluted, dishonored, or brought into disrepute before the heathen who had witnessed the deliverance from Egypt. His deliverance of Israel and His restraint in not destroying them were acts for His name's honor, lest His name be dishonored in the very people He had brought out.
During the forty years in the wilderness Israel greatly polluted God's Sabbaths, and this Sabbath-breaking was counted among the reasons the first generation was shut out of the promised land. Their children did not learn the lesson but continued the same neglect of the Sabbath through the wandering. Yet for His name's sake before the heathen He let that second generation enter Canaan, while declaring that because of their disobedience they would afterward be scattered among the heathen after settlement in the land.
The Sabbath is the sign of God's government stamped on the soul who keeps it, the King's mark that the keeper is chosen and set apart to honor God and keep His name from being polluted before the heathen. To keep it is loyalty to God and His government, and to dishonor the Sabbath is to dishonor its sign. Whoever bears this sign must not dishonor it by any dishonest transaction, robbery, extortion, or fraudulent dealing in marketplace, store, court, lawyer's office, or medical work, but must do tender, compassionate medical missionary work after Christ's example.