Sunday Thoughts

No, today’s not Sunday – but I made some notes yesterday and want to go over them this morning.

First – we were in church on a Sunday, the first day of the week – not Saturday, the seventh, Sabbath. Yes, I believe the Bible and the Bible says:

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. (Exodus 20:8-11 KJV)

However, things changed that first day of a week. Before that Sunday, a new covenant was given:

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. (Matthew 26:26-29 KJV)

Wait – I wrote new covenant and English translators used testament – which is correct? Take a look at:

Strong's G1242, the Greek διαθήκη (diathēkē) dee-ath-ay'-kay
properly a disposition, that is, (specifically) a contract (especially a devisory will): - covenant, testament.

We read that it was the first day of the week the disciples discovered the empty tomb (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1). They did not come to see an empty tomb, but to do a belated burial preparation. Each one who came to the tomb expected to find His body there. He was not to be found – although they had been told what to expect. And, God’s third day of creation brought forth life. 

It was that first day of the week that the resurrected Jesus was seen by His disciples:

Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. (John 20:19 KJV)

The disciples continued to attend synagogue on the Sabbath, but they also met each first day of the week (Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2), the Lord’s day.  Justin Martyr is said to have written:

"On the day which is called Sunday, all (Christians) who dwell either in town or country come together to one place. The memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the prophets are read for a certain time, and then the president of the meeting, when the reader has stopped, makes a discourse, in which he instructs and exhorts the people to the imitation of the good deeds of which they have just heard."

It is this desire to remember the new testament, our Lord’s resurrection and to gather with His followers that has me in our congregation each Sunday morning worshipping the Lord of the Sabbath:

And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.(Mark 2:27-28 KJV)

(Yes – these thoughts were prompted by questions from a loved one as well as genealogy research prompted by an ancestral member of the Seventh Day Baptist Church.)