The Lord's Day
On what Day does the Bible say to Worship God?Revelation 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day… Which day is John talking about? Matthew 12:8 says “The son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.” So what is the Sabbath day, which is also the Lord’s day?
God’s holy law (the ten Commandments) says:
Exodus 20:8-11
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
Here God said to the children of Israel that they should worship God on the Seventh day of the week, the reason being that He had blessed this day and hallow it or made it sacred.
Genesis chapter 1 verse 31 and Chapter 2 verses 1 & 2 says:
1:31 “And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
Chapter 2
2:1 “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.”
2:2 “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.”
God resting on the seventh day marked this day as a special day of rest, for this was the day when God had finished His work. God’s rest day cannot be changed to a day when He didn’t rest! Throughout the Bible the Sabbath is called “the Sabbath of the Lord your God” not the Jew’s Sabbath or only applicable to a certain group of people.
Jesus kept the Sabbath day and went to the synagogue (The place of worship) on that day: “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Luke 4:16.
Mathew 28:1 says “In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.” This Bible verse clearly states that the seventh day was still the Sabbath after the death of Jesus because the Sabbath was the day before first day of the week, - the seventh day.
Paul still called it the Sabbath day many years after the death of Christ: “ For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him.” Acts 13:27
In the New Testament there is never any dispute as to wether or not the seventh day is the Sabbath. Indeed there is not one reference to any other day of the week being holy.
Overall the Sabbath is directly mentioned 55 times in the New Testament,
It bears the same title as in the Old testament ‘the Sabbath day’
Saturday is the seventh day of the week this is the holy ‘day of the Lord’. Why should we worship God and rest on this day? Because He has hallow and sanctified this day and a special blessing will be upon all people who worship on this day. Although there may be some dispute as to wether or not the Saturday is the seventh day of the week because there are calendars out now with Monday as the first day of the week and Saturday as the 6th day of the week. But this is not true. For centuries calendars have had Saturday as the seventh day of the week. These original calendars are still available.
Remember sin is the transgression of God’s law, the ten commandments. We certainly do not want to be found transgressing God’s holy law in that great day when Jesus comes back to this earth and we will be judged according to our deeds.
The Sabbath was not meant to be a burden but to be a blessing and to bring peace and happiness to man. “the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath” Mark 2:27
The seventh day has been the Sabbath day from the Garden of Eden till the present day.
So what activities should we do on the Sabbath? Isaiah 58 explains the activities of the Sabbath clearly:
58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
On the Sabbath day we should be giving glory to God, not doing what we want to do but to lay aside our weekly work (for we have six days to do that) and honouring Him. Also not speaking our own words but only speaking the words of Jesus or what Jesus would speak. The duty that rests on this day is very sacred.
Exodus 31:13 says: “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.”
The Sabbath is a sign between us and God. If we don’t keep the true Sabbath, there will not be, that vital connection between us and God.
In summary:
1. The Lords day is the Sabbath (Mathew 12:8)
2. The Sabbath is the Seventh day of the week (Exodus 20:8-11)
3. God rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:1-2)
4. Jesus and his disciples kept the Sabbath holy.
5. There is no mention in the entire bible about keeping another day of the week holy.
6. The Sabbath was made for our enjoyment, for us to come close with God and to gain needed strength for the coming week.
7. We should not seek after our own pleasure or speak our own words on this sacred day but instead seek the will of God.
8. The Sabbath is a sign between us and God.
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