Remember the Lord’s Day

MEMORY VERSE: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.” —Revelation 1:10

EXODUS 20:8-11; LUKE 6:6-11; JOHN 5:16-18

THE Fourth Commandment has to do with the observance of the Sabbath Day, an observance which was enjoined upon the nation of Israel at Sinai. In giving this commandment it is explained that God rested on the seventh day from his work of creation.

It is held by some that the days of creation were twenty-four-hour periods. It is claimed that the seven-day cycles continued in an unbroken chain right down to Sinai, and that the seventh day enjoined upon the Israelites as one of rest corresponded exactly with the seventh day on which God rested. The seventh day is made holy, they claim, because God continues to rest on this day, and that Christians should rest at the same time that he is resting.

But this presents a difficulty, for the biblical day is from sunset to sunset and, as we know, this varies greatly in different parts of the earth. We think that this is too literal an interpretation of the law of the sabbath. While we will not go into detail here, we believe that there is much evidence to prove that the days of creation were long periods, or epochs of time, and that God’s rest during the seventh epoch has not been from all activity, but from his work of creation here on earth, and that in this sense he is still resting.

Soon after man was created he fell into sin and death, and the work of redemption and recovery of man from death was given into the hands of Jesus, the Creator’s beloved Son. Paul wrote that those who now believe in Jesus cease from their own works as God did from his. (Heb. 4:10) This, then, is the sabbath, or rest of the Christian. It does not involve refraining from labor one day a week, but a resting in the finished work of Christ seven days a week. Just as the Creator is resting, or trusting in Jesus to carry out his plan for the recovery of man from sin and death, so we too rest in Jesus, sharing the confidence the Heavenly Father places in him.

The scribes and Pharisees distorted the true meaning of essentially every feature of the Law, and this was true of the Fourth Commandment. They severely condemned Jesus for doing good on the Sabbath Day. The real purpose of the Sabbath was to benefit man physically through needed rest, and surely to heal the sick on this day was not breaking the comment.

Jesus explained, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” (John 5:17) The reference here is to work on the Sabbath Day. This agrees with the thought we have already expressed; namely, that God’s rest during the seventh great era of creation is not a refraining from all activity, but merely from those aspects of his plan and work which he has entrusted to Jesus. Actually, the great Creator has no need to rest for the purpose of recuperating from weariness. Isaiah wrote, “The Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary.” (Isa. 40:28) How glad we are that this is so!

Neither Jesus nor the apostles enjoined the keeping of the seventh day upon the church. It became the custom with at least some in the Early Church to commemorate the first day of the week as the day on which Jesus was raised from the dead. They gathered together and broke bread on that day, but the Bible says nothing about it being observed as a day of rest. As through the years this custom became more widespread, the general impression developed that to the Christian the first day of the week supplanted the seventh day sabbath of the Jews. But there is no scriptural authority for this.

The original Sabbath Day was not designed for religious worship, but for rest. However, we think it appropriate that one day each week be set aside as a special time to worship the Lord and sing praises to him. The expression, “Lord’s Day,” is a fitting one to designate this special day of worship, although this expression is not used in the Bible with respect to either the seventh or the first day of the week. But the true Christian worships the Lord every day of the week.

The reference to “the Lord’s day” in our memory verse has nothing to do with a special day of the week. Here it refers to the end of the present age, when the Lord’s time would come to establish his kingdom. John’s vision on the Isle of Patmos was given to him from this vantage point in the outworking of the divine plan, and in this vision he finally sees that there “shall be no more death.”—Rev. 21:4

QUESTIONS

What is the true Sabbath of the Christian?

What is “the Lord’s day” referred to in our memory verse?

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