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Five Essential Bible Truths – Part 4
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What Happened to the Lord’s Day?

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Principle 4

The seventh day belongs to God. It is called the Lord’s Day because He rested on the seventh day and made it holy. A wonderful experience awaits those individuals who are willing to take God at His word and honor Him by keeping the Lord’s Day. Here is how it works:

To properly observe the Lord’s Day is a challenge and according to the prophecies of Revelation, it will become increasingly difficult as time draws to an end. For some people, the commitment to keep the Lord’s Day holy has meant the loss of income, job or career. Other people have faced rejection and ridicule by family members and friends. Keeping the Lord’s Day always puts a person at odds with the pace or activities of the world. When you experience this kind of conflict, it is often difficult to believe that God has a purpose behind all the struggles you face regarding His holy day. Yet, from the very beginning of time, God’s purpose for creating a day for Himself, included a PLAN that is far more encompassing than most people realize. Not only does it bring rest to the faith-full who are weary from their weekly labors, but the Lord’s Day will also become a definitive test of faith to determine who trusts God implicitly during the Great Tribulation. The command to rest sounds so easy, but in fact, it becomes hard because it is a test of faith. The devil has made sure that the seventh day, the Lord’s Day, has been forgotten by most of the world. In its place, he has developed two spurious days – one for the East (Friday) and the West (Sunday). However, there is still no rest on this planet! Nevertheless, there is a wonderful experience behind the command to keep the Lord’s

Day holy: If wee rest according to the commandment of God on His holy day, He sustains all that we laid down for 24 hours so that when we resume our activities, not one thing will be lost or hurt. If it is the charge of every faithful steward to see that the King suffers no loss when He arrives, what can be said of the Faithful King who personally sees to it that every faithful steward is rewarded for his faithfulness?

The people who honor the Lord’s Day honor God. Regardless of your background, when you honor God, you are considered a descendant of Abraham. (Galatians 3:28,29) This is why He said: “The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.” (Exodus 31:16,17)

Summary

The obligation to observe the Lord’s Day is both timeless and universal. Many individuals do not regard the Lord’s Day, as they should. The race to make more money and capture market share is a powerful economic force that pushes God out of the weekly cycle. Overextended people use what available free time they have for pleasure and entertainment. This leaves very little time for God. A nation without God is a nation in moral darkness. Further, most people are not aware of the requirements in the Ten Commandments. They do not concern themselves with the law of Almighty God. This point is self-evident each time we hear the news. We have become a lawless society. Why? “If I were called upon to identify the principle trait of the entire 20th century, I would be unable to find anything more precise than to reflect once again on how we have lost touch with our Creator…Men have forgotten God” (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Readers Digest, September 1896).

Think about this: If a man is caught breaking the law, even though he innocently thinks that he is “within the law” the arresting officer will tell him that ignorance of the law is no excuse. If this is true of man-made laws, what can be said of the law of God? When the Great Tribulation begins, billions of people will be surprised at God’s response to our world’s corporate ignorance and disobedience. So, why not begin exercising your faith and honor the Lord on His holy day. Enter into an experiment with God and watch what He will do to honor your faith!

What Happened To The Lord’s Day

Most Christians believe Sunday is the Lord’s Day. They believe that Jesus transferred the sacredness of the seventh day Sabbath to Sunday, the first day of the week, when He was resurrected. If Jesus did indeed make this change, there should be sufficient evidence in the Bible to prove or disprove the claim. Because the topic of the Lord’s Day is highly important (as written earlier), is important that we know which day of the week is The Lord’s Day.

New Testament Review

There are only eight texts in the New Testament that mention the first day of the week. Biblical support for the sacredness of Sunday, if it exists, would have to come exclusively from these verses. Here are the texts:

  1. Matthew 28:1
  1. Mark 16:2
  1. Mark 16:9
  1. Luke 24:1
  1. John 20:1
  1. John 20:19
  1. Acts 29:7
  1. 1 Corinthians 16:2

The first six texts refer to the resurrection of Jesus on the first day of the week – a well-known fact. However, none of these texts says anything about the sacredness of Sunday. In fact, Luke 23:56 points out that a group of women did not prepare Jesus’ body for burial on Friday (the day called Preparation), but instead, rested on the Sabbath “according to the commandment.” Obviously, by the time of His death, Jesus had not informed His followers that the fourth commandment was going to be made void because of His resurrection.

Since the first six texts simply discuss the resurrection of Jesus, we will investigate the remaining two verses and note the absence of any command to observe Sunday as the Lord’s day.

Acts 20:7

Some Bible students refer to Acts 20 as evidence that Sunday worship was practiced by the apostles. Notice, “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people, and because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.” (Acts 20:7) Let us consider the details within this verse.

In Bible times, a day began at sunset and ended the following evening. Since creation, the rotation of the earth has produced this unchanging process. (See Genesis 1.) The Jews in Christ’s time regarded a day form evening to evening and kept the Sabbath from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown. (Compare Luke 23:50-56 with Leviticus 23:32) Therefore, the actual timing described in Acts 20:7 is as follows: Paul stayed with the believers at Troas for seven days. (Acts 20:6) At the beginning of the first day of the week, at suppertime, the believers came together to eat supper with Paul and to say goodbye to their friend. Remember, the first day of the week in Paul’s time began Sabbath evening at sundown, or what we call Saturday evening. After supper, Paul preached until midnight (Saturday midnight). A few hours later on Sunday morning, the first day of the week, he left Troas for Assos.

Therefore, Paul met with believers for supper and preached until midnight, Saturday night. Does a farewell supper and Saturday night meeting change or abrogate the fourth commandment of God? No. Even if Paul chose to worship on Tuesday night, would this make void the law of God? No. Only God can void His own law.

Some students claim that the term “breaking of bread” indicates Paul’s visit was a communion or worship service. Not so. In Luke 24:13-31 Jesus “broke bread” at supper time with two companions after He walked more than seven miles to Emmaus with them. Even to this day, the breaking of bread remains a custom in the Orient since bread is baked firm and is literally “broken” before it can be eaten. We also know that Jesus broke bread on Thursday night with His disciples at Passover. If “breaking bread” means a worship service was conducted, why would Jesus conduct a worship service at sundown in Emmaus, just when the second day of the week was beginning? If Paul’s meeting was supposed to be a worship service, Acts 20:7 gives no indication that this occurred.

I call Acts 20:7 a mystery text because Paul did not conduct a Sunday service in Troas. Actually, he held a meeting on Saturday night – the first part of the week in Bible times – but today is considered the last part of the seventh day. (Jews still reckon a day from sundown to sundown. Today, we “Gentiles” reckon a day from midnight to midnight.) So, if early Christians really followed Paul’s example as authority for the time of worship, they would worship on Saturday night (between sundown and midnight). Again, an honest, objective look at this text indicates that God gave no authority for Sunday observance.

1 Corinthians 16: 2

Some Christians use the following text to demonstrate how Paul insisted that the first day of the week be used to collect offerings for the poor. Notice: “Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of the week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem.” (1 Corinthians 16:1-3)

In Paul’s day, money was not a common medium of exchange as it is today. Most trading was done through bartering. For example, a person might trade a chicken for cloth or pottery. Paul instructed the church in Corinth to begin each week with selling or trading so they might obtain a sum of currency. He preferred to take money with him to give to the persecuted believers in Jerusalem, since travel with roosters, goats, pottery and other things of value, was nearly impossible. Consequently, he asked that they take care of this matter, “first thing after the Sabbath.” (Compare with Nehemiah 13:15.) Again, the appropriate question is, “Does Paul’s instruction change or make void the fourth commandment that God gave?” Not at all.

Thoughts on Romans 6

Currently, the most common reason Christians use to defend Sunday worship is Jesus’ resurrection on Sunday morning, the first day of the week. Yes, the resurrection is important and the Bible does provide a celebration of the resurrection! It is called baptism. Notice what Paul says, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized in to Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:1-4)

However, does baptism change or abrogate the fourth commandment? Not at all. In fact, not one of the eight New Testament texts says that the holiness of the seventh day was transferred to Sunday!



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