The basic principle of setting aside one day
of the week, to rest from labor and to worship God, is as
old as Creation. It precedes even the Mosaic Law. During
the time of Moses, God gave specific rules to the Children
of Israel concerning that holy day. The word Sabbath comes
from the Hebrew words shabbath , which means “rest,”
and shabath , meaning “to rest from labor.” The
Sabbath Day, our Saturday, is still observed by the Jewish
nation as their day of rest.
Since the time of Christ, Christians around
the world have marked Sunday as their day to rest and to honor
the Lord Jesus Christ. In our day, however, Sunday has become
a day used for pleasure and personal gain instead of being
set aside for the Lord. Businesses which, at one time, would
never have considered opening on the Lord's Day, now swing
their doors wide for monetary gain. Many people fill that
day with worldly amusement rather than reserving it as a day
of worship and praise in the House of the Lord, as their ancestors
did.
In view of this, it is important for Christians
to acquaint themselves with what the Bible says in reference
to Sunday as the Lord's Day. The Sabbath Day is not to be
confused with the Lord's Day. There are those who would place
Christians under the bondage of the Law, and have them keep
the Jewish Sabbath as the day of worship. The Word of God
makes it very clear that believers after the time of Christ
were no longer under the bondage of the Jewish Law given by
God through Moses. Paul asked the Galatians why they were
still following the old Law (Galatians 3:19). He told them,
“Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you
are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace” (Galatians
5:4). What, then, was the purpose of the Law? “Wherefore the
law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we
might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). The Jewish
people knew that the old Law, or covenant, would one day pass
away, for Jeremiah the prophet told them this. (Jeremiah 31:31-33).
Those who urge the necessity of keeping the
Jewish Sabbath, distort the Scriptures by making a distinction
between the Ten Commandments and the rest of the laws given
by Moses. The Bible never makes such a distinction. Instead,
it teaches that the entire law passed away when Jesus ushered
in the New Covenant, which is the Christian dispensation.
“But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in
stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could
not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his
countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not
the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? . . . For
if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which
remaineth is glorious” (2 Corinthians 3:7,8,11).
When Jesus arose from the grave on the first
day of the week, a new era began—not that the Law was destroyed
but, rather, it was fulfilled. The precepts contained in the
Ten Commandments were not discarded under the new dispensation.
In fact, throughout the New Testament, the Commandments are
amplified and often made more stringent by indicating that
even the thoughts and intents of the heart are brought into
consideration. The only one of the Commandments which is not
mentioned as being binding for Christians is the fourth, which
concerns the Sabbath. By doing acts of mercy on the Jewish
Sabbath, Jesus repeatedly showed the religious leaders of
that day that they did not rightly understand the intended
use of the Sabbath. On one such occasion He said, “For the
Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day” (Matthew 12:8).
By that statement, we know that Christ exercised control over
the Sabbath and would guide His followers into the proper
observance of it.
In reading Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:2,
we find that the Early Church gathered on the first day of
the week to worship. Why would these followers suddenly begin
to observe Sunday as their day of worship when many of them
had been accustomed to worshipping on Saturday? Consider some
important events which led to Sunday's becoming the Christian
Sabbath.
• On the first day of the week, Christ
arose from the dead, triumphant over death and Hell.
• Before His ascension, the Lord
appeared to His disciples on the first day of the week.
• The outpouring of the Holy Ghost
on the Day of Pentecost fell on the first day of the week.
• John tells us he was “in the Spirit
on the Lord's Day” when he received the Revelation.
The tremendous importance of the Resurrection
alone would seem sufficient to explain the change from Saturday
to Sunday as a day of worship. The Gospel emphases upon the
“first day of the week,” as the day of Resurrection, stresses
its distinctiveness. The victory on that day made it sacred
to the Christian Church. As the Jewish Sabbath referred back
to the creation of the world, the Lord's Day celebrates the
new creation which each born-again soul has experienced.
From the time of the Early Church to the present
day, history has provided ample record of the practice of
observing Sunday as the Christian day of worship. Men of God
such as John Wesley, Charles Finney, and Dwight L. Moody,
all affirmed the importance of setting aside the Lord's Day
for spiritual purposes.
The legalistic burdens of the Sabbath Day have
been removed by Jesus, but are we guilty of removing the blessing
from our day of worship? Many benefits will be received by
those who honor the Lord's Day. From the physical perspective,
the importance of using one day in seven to rest from our
daily labors is obvious. From the spiritual standpoint, the
children of God find that as they set aside worldly concerns
and take full advantage of the Lord's Day, to wait upon God
in prayer, to delight in His Word, and to fellowship with
other Christians, they will reap His promised blessings.
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