Rising like a prince among the peaks in that mountain chain of days, the Lord’s Day has a distinctive and towering glory all its very own. In order that we might evaluate and properly use this “first day of the week”, we need to consider some of these special characteristics found in the New Testament. (Rev. 1:10; Acts 20:7; Mark 16:9).
1. It was the first day of the week, as distinguished from the last day of the week (Mark 16:1-2). The body of our Lord rested in the tomb that Sabbath day of long ago. Gloom and fear, uncertainty and defeat seemed to grasp and hold the disciples with talons of tyranny. O how tears must have been flowing, hearts aching, chests heaving, speech fearful and faltering those days Jesus was in the grave over what his followers thought was a lost cause! But look! It is beginning to get light in the east. The first day of the week is dawning to chase away the shadows. O the newness of this new day! Announced by aurora promises of a rising sun, how dew-bedecked lilies must have grown refreshingly beautiful with the first jeweled tints of dawn’s wonderland. The last day of the week was gone. The first day of the week was come!
2. It was a day of beginnings, as distinguished from a day of conclusions (Luke 23:56; 24:1). God finished his work, and rested on the seventh. To Israel he sanctified this day, and gave it to that nation as a day of rest (Exodus 20:8). Devoted women who had seen how Jesus’ body was laid, returned and prepared spices and ointments, “and on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment” (Luke 23:55-56). But the Lord’s Day, this day of beginnings, brought new and refreshing assurance, “He is risen.” Jesus appeared to astonished witnesses. “Infallible proofs” that he had risen were as new and fresh as the day that had dawned. What triumphant beginnings on that notable day of the week!
3. It was the resurrection day, as distinguished from the Sabbath day. This was the day the prophets said Jesus would rise (Luke 24:46). We are not given the day, the day of Jesus’ birth. But we are given the exact day of his resurrection. It was “the third day” which according to Luke was “the first day of the week,” that very day (Luke 24:1; 13; 21). And this was the day Jesus himself had said he would rise. He declared he would raise up the destroyed temple (his body) in three days (John 2:19-21). The first day of the week is the day the NT writers said Jesus did rise. The biographers of Jesus are a unit in placing the day of Jesus’ resurrection on “the first day of the week”: So prophets, Jesus’ own words, and the testimony of “chosen witnesses” point with one finger to the time when our Lord arose. All the quibbling of quibblers in the field of philosophy, “False science, skeptics, modernists, materialists, cannot withstand!
4. It is a memorial day for all Christians, as distinguished from a Sabbath rest day for a special nation (Acts 20:7; Deut. 4:1; 8; 5:3-33). This day itself renews our memory that Jesus rose on this day. Its triumph never loses its power in the lives of the faithful. And on this day the Lord’s Supper, the memorial of Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins, is to be regularly, faithfully observed. In every sense it is the Lord’s day – Christ day (Rev. 1:10). On this day he was declared to be God’s son “with power by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). On this day the first gospel sermon was proclaimed (Acts 2). On this day men asked what to do to be saved. On this day men were given the merciful terms of pardon and peace (Acts 2:36-38). On that day the church of our Lord was established, and began her mighty mission of truth and love.
O the distinctive grandeur of this day, the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day! Let us use it for the glory of our Master, the salvation of soul, and the beauty and service of that kingdom which is not of this world!
It most definitely, not at any given Lord’s Day, to be celebrated with a few bunnies and colorful eggs!
Onward Rejoicing,
John B. Daniels, Associate Minister
