Rev. 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Here in John's testimony we have the one and only reference in all of scripture to the "Lord's day." Is it prime evidence that Sunday was the "Lord's day"? Is there any indication anywhere in scripture that this name is to be applied to any particular day of the week? Certainly not in Revelation. That exact phrase is not found anywhere else in scripture, but we can find the following:
Matt. 12:8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
Mark 2:28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
Luke 6:5 And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
Here it is quite clear that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath day, referring to the seventh day sabbath, the one instituted at creation and written on tables of stone by the finger of God.
However, the phrase the "Lord's day" has another probable meaning in Revelation. In the Old and New Testament there are 25 specific occurences of the phrase "day of the Lord". I will quote only the last:
2 Pet 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
The "day of the Lord" is plainly a reference to the second advent of Christ, a day yet future. Is it not probable that when John says "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day" that he was taken in the spirit (mentally) to witness the events surrounding the second coming? This is set out for us as the very purpose of the book of Revelation:
Rev. 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
While Sunday has become known through Tradition as the Lord's day, scripture does not designate it as such. There is no scriptural evidence to be found that supports the claim that the apostles of Jesus Christ knew anything about sanctifying Sunday and observing it as a holy day of worship.
Now, does any of the New Testament give further evidence that Sunday worship was unknown to the apostles?
Paul preaches in Antioch:
In Acts 13, Paul arrives in Antioch (v. 14) and on the Sabbath day he goes to the synagogue to preach (vs. 16-41). Now note what happens after Paul concludes his sermon about Jesus, the Christ:
Acts 13:42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synogogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
Acts 13:43 Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
Now at this point, I must ask, if Paul was keeping Sunday, and preaching during services on Sunday, how is it that he does not invite the Gentiles to attend services the very next day, on Sunday, to hear him preach again?
Acts 13:44 And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
Why did the Gentiles have to wait until the NEXT SABBATH to hear Paul preach? This is a quesiton for which the promoters of Sunday worship cannot give a useful answer.
Acts 13:45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.
Acts 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
Acts 13:47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.
The Jews in Antioch did not receive the Gospel message on the first sabbath that Paul preached to them. On the following sabbath Paul did not enter the synagogue, the crowd of eager Gentiles being so large that only the outdoors could accommodate the multitude. The envious Jews were angered at Paul's preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles. And what was the response of the Gentiles to the Gospel?
Acts 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Acts 13:49 And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.
Here Paul has preached to a multitude of Gentiles, not on a Sunday which was his first opportunity, but on the following Sabbath, a Saturday. There can only be one reason for this . . .
Paul was not keeping Sunday.
Sunday had not been instituted as a day of worship, and none of the apostles were observing it as a holy day.
Was the seventh day Sabbath still to be observed?
At this point it might be asked, is there any evidence from the NT that indicates the seventh day Sabbath was to be observed even AFTER the crucifixion?
Matt 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand
Matt 24:16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Matt 24:17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Matt 24:18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
Matt 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give such in those days!
Matt 24:20 but pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
There are two possible applications of the above text. The first is the destruciton of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the armies of Rome. Note the parallel text in Luke to verse 15:
Luke 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
This verse makes clear that Jesus is warning of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, and that the people should pray that they will not need to flee on the Sabbath. Why would that matter? Because Jesus as God intended the sabbath day to be one of rest and spiritual growth, not a day of panic; fleeing from an invading army of persecutors. Jesus is affirming here, that 40 years after His death on the cross, the Sabbath would still be observed by the people of God. If Jesus intended for Sunday to be observed as a replacement for the Sabbath, then why doesn't He tell the people to pary that their flight not be on the first day of the week?
Many Christians today, while they might acknowledge an initial application of Matthew 24:15-20 to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, will also maintain that this passage applies most fully to an event yet future. They believe that the antichrist will descrate the temple at some future date, and that this will signal the nearness of the second coming. If one subscribes to this future timing, then Jesus is speaking of His people observing the Saturday seventh day Sabbath all the way into a time that is even now still in the future!
Not only was the Sabbath never rescinded, but scripture even makes clear that in the future, all of mankind (those who are saved) will observe the Sabbath when worshipping the Lord:
Isa 66:23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
Conclusion
Note the following comments from a Catholic viewpoint by the Reverend John A. O'Brien:
. . . the Bible does not contain all the teachings of the Christian religion, nor does it formulate all the duties of its members. Take, for example, the matter of Sunday observance, the attendance at divine services and the abstention from unnecessary servile work on that day, a matter upon which our Protestant neighbors have for many years laid great emphasis. Let me address myself in a friendly spirit to my dear Protestant reader: You believe that the Bible alone is a safe guide in religious matters. You also believe that one of the fundamental duties enjoined upon you by your Christian faith is that of Sunday observance. But where does the Bible speak of such an obligation? I have read the Bible from the first verse of Genesis to the last verse of Revelation, and have found no reference to the duty of sanctifying the Sunday. The day mentioned in the Bible is not the Sunday, the first day of the week, but the Saturday, the last day of the week. It was the Apostolic Church (Catholic Church) which, acting by virture of that authority conferred upon her by Christ, changed the observance to the Sunday in honor of the day on which Christ rose from the dead, and to signify that now we are no longer under the Old Law of the Jews, but under the New Law of Christ. In observing the Sunday as you do, it is not apparent that you are really acknowledging the insufficiency of the bible alone as a rule of faith and religious conduct, and proclaiming the need of a divinely established teaching authority which in theory you deny?
Source: The Faith of Millions, by the Reverend John A. O'Brien, Ph.D., 4th Ed., copyright 1938, pub. by Our Sunday Visitor, Huntingon, Ind., p. 147.
As the Bible does not testify of Sunday sacredness, it was clearly unknown to the apostles and was neither observed or commanded by them. Sunday sacredness is really nothing more than a Catholic Tradition. If you are going to follow the precepts of the word of God in the Bible and observe the day it enjoins, then there is really only one choice: the keeping of the seventh day (Saturday) Sabbath as found in the commandments of God.
"And the dragon was wroth with the woman (God's people/church), and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of JesusChrist." Revelation 12:17
Your Friend in Christ,
Ya'nar
Heaven is a ceaseless approaching to God through Jesus Christ.
Here in John's testimony we have the one and only reference in all of scripture to the "Lord's day." Is it prime evidence that Sunday was the "Lord's day"? Is there any indication anywhere in scripture that this name is to be applied to any particular day of the week? Certainly not in Revelation. That exact phrase is not found anywhere else in scripture, but we can find the following:
Matt. 12:8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
Mark 2:28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
Luke 6:5 And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
Here it is quite clear that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath day, referring to the seventh day sabbath, the one instituted at creation and written on tables of stone by the finger of God.
However, the phrase the "Lord's day" has another probable meaning in Revelation. In the Old and New Testament there are 25 specific occurences of the phrase "day of the Lord". I will quote only the last:
2 Pet 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
The "day of the Lord" is plainly a reference to the second advent of Christ, a day yet future. Is it not probable that when John says "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day" that he was taken in the spirit (mentally) to witness the events surrounding the second coming? This is set out for us as the very purpose of the book of Revelation:
Rev. 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
While Sunday has become known through Tradition as the Lord's day, scripture does not designate it as such. There is no scriptural evidence to be found that supports the claim that the apostles of Jesus Christ knew anything about sanctifying Sunday and observing it as a holy day of worship.
Now, does any of the New Testament give further evidence that Sunday worship was unknown to the apostles?
Paul preaches in Antioch:
In Acts 13, Paul arrives in Antioch (v. 14) and on the Sabbath day he goes to the synagogue to preach (vs. 16-41). Now note what happens after Paul concludes his sermon about Jesus, the Christ:
Acts 13:42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synogogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
Acts 13:43 Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
Now at this point, I must ask, if Paul was keeping Sunday, and preaching during services on Sunday, how is it that he does not invite the Gentiles to attend services the very next day, on Sunday, to hear him preach again?
Acts 13:44 And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
Why did the Gentiles have to wait until the NEXT SABBATH to hear Paul preach? This is a quesiton for which the promoters of Sunday worship cannot give a useful answer.
Acts 13:45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.
Acts 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
Acts 13:47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.
The Jews in Antioch did not receive the Gospel message on the first sabbath that Paul preached to them. On the following sabbath Paul did not enter the synagogue, the crowd of eager Gentiles being so large that only the outdoors could accommodate the multitude. The envious Jews were angered at Paul's preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles. And what was the response of the Gentiles to the Gospel?
Acts 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Acts 13:49 And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.
Here Paul has preached to a multitude of Gentiles, not on a Sunday which was his first opportunity, but on the following Sabbath, a Saturday. There can only be one reason for this . . .
Paul was not keeping Sunday.
Sunday had not been instituted as a day of worship, and none of the apostles were observing it as a holy day.
Was the seventh day Sabbath still to be observed?
At this point it might be asked, is there any evidence from the NT that indicates the seventh day Sabbath was to be observed even AFTER the crucifixion?
Matt 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand
Matt 24:16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Matt 24:17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Matt 24:18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
Matt 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give such in those days!
Matt 24:20 but pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
There are two possible applications of the above text. The first is the destruciton of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the armies of Rome. Note the parallel text in Luke to verse 15:
Luke 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
This verse makes clear that Jesus is warning of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, and that the people should pray that they will not need to flee on the Sabbath. Why would that matter? Because Jesus as God intended the sabbath day to be one of rest and spiritual growth, not a day of panic; fleeing from an invading army of persecutors. Jesus is affirming here, that 40 years after His death on the cross, the Sabbath would still be observed by the people of God. If Jesus intended for Sunday to be observed as a replacement for the Sabbath, then why doesn't He tell the people to pary that their flight not be on the first day of the week?
Many Christians today, while they might acknowledge an initial application of Matthew 24:15-20 to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, will also maintain that this passage applies most fully to an event yet future. They believe that the antichrist will descrate the temple at some future date, and that this will signal the nearness of the second coming. If one subscribes to this future timing, then Jesus is speaking of His people observing the Saturday seventh day Sabbath all the way into a time that is even now still in the future!
Not only was the Sabbath never rescinded, but scripture even makes clear that in the future, all of mankind (those who are saved) will observe the Sabbath when worshipping the Lord:
Isa 66:23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
Conclusion
Note the following comments from a Catholic viewpoint by the Reverend John A. O'Brien:
. . . the Bible does not contain all the teachings of the Christian religion, nor does it formulate all the duties of its members. Take, for example, the matter of Sunday observance, the attendance at divine services and the abstention from unnecessary servile work on that day, a matter upon which our Protestant neighbors have for many years laid great emphasis. Let me address myself in a friendly spirit to my dear Protestant reader: You believe that the Bible alone is a safe guide in religious matters. You also believe that one of the fundamental duties enjoined upon you by your Christian faith is that of Sunday observance. But where does the Bible speak of such an obligation? I have read the Bible from the first verse of Genesis to the last verse of Revelation, and have found no reference to the duty of sanctifying the Sunday. The day mentioned in the Bible is not the Sunday, the first day of the week, but the Saturday, the last day of the week. It was the Apostolic Church (Catholic Church) which, acting by virture of that authority conferred upon her by Christ, changed the observance to the Sunday in honor of the day on which Christ rose from the dead, and to signify that now we are no longer under the Old Law of the Jews, but under the New Law of Christ. In observing the Sunday as you do, it is not apparent that you are really acknowledging the insufficiency of the bible alone as a rule of faith and religious conduct, and proclaiming the need of a divinely established teaching authority which in theory you deny?
Source: The Faith of Millions, by the Reverend John A. O'Brien, Ph.D., 4th Ed., copyright 1938, pub. by Our Sunday Visitor, Huntingon, Ind., p. 147.
As the Bible does not testify of Sunday sacredness, it was clearly unknown to the apostles and was neither observed or commanded by them. Sunday sacredness is really nothing more than a Catholic Tradition. If you are going to follow the precepts of the word of God in the Bible and observe the day it enjoins, then there is really only one choice: the keeping of the seventh day (Saturday) Sabbath as found in the commandments of God.
"And the dragon was wroth with the woman (God's people/church), and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of JesusChrist." Revelation 12:17
Your Friend in Christ,
Ya'nar
Heaven is a ceaseless approaching to God through Jesus Christ.