LORD'S DAYA Foretaste of HeavenThe Lord's Day is a phrase found in Revelation 1:10. It refers to the first day of the week, the day of Christ's resurrection (cf. Matt 28:l; Mk 16:2; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1). Calvary Bible-Presbyterian Church (BPC) regards every first day of the week as the day where the children of God come with hearts filled with joy and gladness, praising and giving thanks to their mighty Redeemer and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a day not only of "lip" service but also a day where we bring our tithes, gifts and offerings to God. We express our love for Him by giving, out of grateful and cheerful hearts, a portion of our substance, for all that He has blessed us with. In short, the gathering of God's people every Lord's day is a "foretaste of heaven". For in heaven, all believers from the time of Adam and Eve till the creation of the New Heaven and New Earth will be in the presence of God, glorifying and enjoying Him forever. Sabbath Day in Relation to the Lord's Day In the Old Testament, the equivalent of the Lord's Day is the Sabbath Day. The Sabbath Day is not an invention of man. It was instituted by God. God gave the command to set aside one day out of seven to worship Him. This command is found in Exodus 20:8-11 and is known as the FOURTH COMMANDMENT: 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,.... For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, ... and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it (Exo 20:8-11). The basis of this command is that God Himself rested on the seventh day, having created the world in six. The people of God must follow God's example. The Sabbath Day was kept on the seventh day of the week (Friday 6:00 p.m. to Saturday 6:00 p.m.) up to and including the days when Christ walked on the earth. After the resurrection, one of the greatest changes to the application of the law of the Sabbath was the day in which the Sabbath was kept. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism clearly states :
This switch is evident from the New Testament usage. An example of the Christians meeting on the first day of the week is Acts 20:7, "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them." Paul had sailed from Philippi, came to Troas and stayed there seven days. On the first day of the week the Christians from Troas met for the breaking of bread and Paul preached that day. This is the first occurrence of the phrase "first day". Another clear example of the first day of the week being the Lord's Day is found in the apostle Paul's exhortation to the believers in Corinth, when he wrote : Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come (1 Cor 16:1-2). This means that the Corinthian Christians met every first day of the week (i.e. the Lord's Day) as part of their regular Christian assembly (Heb l0:25). This allows Paul to ask them to collect an offering so that he has no need to ask for one when he comes. This message was not for the Church at Corinth alone but also for the churches in the province of Galatia which were required to do likewise. Hence the churches in the days of the apostle Paul must have assembled and worshipped God on the Lord's Day. The change from the seventh to the first day was in accordance with the principle that the old Testament ceremonies were "a shadow of things to come" (Col 2:17) : Let no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath day: Which are a shadow of things to come;… (Col 2:16-17a). As Buswell rightly observes, Just as the Lord's supper takes the place and has all the values of the Passover (1 Cor 5:7-8) and the sacrifices which involved the shedding of blood and the eating of unleaven bread, and just as Christian baptism takes the place of circumcision (Col 2:11-12) and the whole complex of initiatory rites prescribed in Leviticus 12; so the Lord's day takes the place and has all the value of the Old Testament Sabbath… The Old Testament Sabbath anticipated the resurrection of Christ. The Christian Sabbath celebrates the resurrection as an accomplished fact. If one should today literally celebrate the Passover, with the sprinkling of the blood, the act would logically imply a denial that the atonement has already been accomplished in history. Similarly the keeping of the seventh day Sabbath logically implies the denial of the resurrection of Christ from the dead as an established fact. Principles and Practice of Keeping the Lord's Day The day of keeping the Sabbath has changed but the principles and practice of keeping the Sabbath Day remain the same. Just as the Sabbath Day was a holy-day, so too must the Lord's Day be a holy-day. The two extremes we need to be wary of in keeping the Lord's Day holy are: a) Keeping the form but denying the essence of the Lord's Day. Under this scheme of thinking, all acts of mercy and essential duties are prohibited. b) Keeping the Lord's Day holy is an outmoded Old Testament law that has been dispensed with when Jesus rose from the dead. The Lord's Day is like any other day. The Christian goes to church when and if he feels like it. And when he goes, it is with an ill or unprepared heart. He goes there for every kind of reason other than to worship God. Both these perceptions of the Lord's Day are wrong. Jesus says that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath (Matt 2:27). God first gave the Sabbath law to Adam and renewed it for Israel in the days of Moses. It was given for the whole family of Adam, and not for the Jews only. As J. C. Ryle rightly observes : It was made for man's benefit and happiness. It was for the good of his body, the good of his mind, and the good of his soul. It was given to him as a boon and a blessing, and not as a burden. This was the original institution… The observance of the day of God was never meant to be so enforced as to be an injury to his health, or to interfere with his necessary wants. The original command to "keep holy the Sabbath Day", was not intended to be so interpreted as to do harm to his body, or to prevent acts of mercy to his fellow-creatures. This was the point that the Pharisees had forgotten, or buried under their traditions.
As children of God who have the Holy Spirit living in our hearts, we must observe the Lord's Day as a holy-day unto our God. It must not and cannot end at lunch time. In Calvary BPC, the Sunset Gospel Hour Service was founded that believers might also end the day in the Lord's house worshipping God. The Sunset Gospel Hour is the ministry of every Calvary BPC member. "BEGIN and END the Lord's Day in God's house with God's children", must be the cry from grateful hearts. For our soul's sake, we must not be calculative with God. The entire day is the Lord's Day, as the title "Lord's Day" suggests. Conclusion The Lord's Day belongs to God. It is not our day. God gives us six days to work hard and make a living to keep our body and soul together. The Lord's Day is the day we gather together with our brethren to thank and worship God.
It is a special day when we set aside our "worldly" affairs and thoughts and occupy our minds by remembering God's goodness and the salvation He has wrought in our hearts. It is a day we observe not out of compulsion but joyfully and willingly. We love Him so we gather in His Name for a day of rejoicing, praying, singing, and hearing of God's Word. The Lord's Day is the best day of the week because it is HIS DAY. In this way, the Lord's Day becomes "a foretaste of heaven" to every believer who loves the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
|