While John was on the Isle of Patmos he testified, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day” (Rev. 1:10). This is the first place in the Bible that we have the expression “Lord’s Day.” John wrote this language sixty-six years after the Jewish Sabbath was abolished; hence he must have referred to some memorial day peculiar to the new dispensation. Never once was the seventh day ever termed the “Lord’s Day”; “Sabbath” was the term always applied to that day. In not one single instance in the Bible or in history can a passage be found where the term “Lord’s Day” is applied to the Jewish Sabbath. Sabbatarians themselves never call the seventh day the “Lord’s Day” (except when they attempt to explain away “the Lord’s Day” in Rev. 1:10); but in all their teachings, writings, and conversations, they say “Sabbath Day.” The word “sabbath” is not used in Rev. 1:10. The Sabbath Day was abolished at the cross (Col. 2:14-16; Gal. 4:10; Rom. 14:5), more than sixty years before John wrote on Patmos; therefore, he could not have referred to that day. Another fact worthy of note here is that immediately after John’s time whenever the term “Lord’s Day” was used by the early church it was always applied to Sunday, and never once to the Sabbath.
In the New Testament we have “the blood of the Lord,” “this cup of the Lord,” “the disciples of the Lord,” “the Lord’s table,” “the Lord’s death,” “the Lord’s body,” “the Lord’s Supper,” and “the Lord’s Day.” All these expressions refer to something that belongs to Christ exclusively under the gospel. Every intelligent person can at a glance comprehend this fact.
The Lord’s Day is a memorial day, a day of commemoration. People keep days because of what occurred on them. For example: We in the United States celebrate the fourth day of each July to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence. So has every nation its memorial days. Religion as well as nations has erected certain memorials to commemorate great events in her history. In the old dispensation the seventh day of the week was a holy sabbath for Israel and was also a memorial day to them, commemorating their deliverance from Egypt. Pentecost and the Passover were also memorial days. Would it not be strange, then, that the grandest of all institutions, the gospel, should have no memorials?
The two greatest events that ever occurred on earth we have in the gospel. They are the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The salvation of all mankind centers in Christ’s death and resurrection. All other events fade into mere insignificance when compared with these. Two monuments have been erected in the Christian age to commemorate these events. They are “the Lord’s Supper” and “the Lord’s Day.” The first is in “remembrance” of his death; the last commemorates his resurrection. The Lord’s Supper is to show his death “till he come”; the Lord’s Day is a day of holy convocation, a day of rejoicing and spiritual devotion, because “he is risen.” Tertullian, one of the early Christian writers, says, “We celebrate Sunday as a joyful day.”
All chapters from The Sabbath and the Lord’s Day.
The Sabbath and the Lord’s Day. By H. M. Riggle, 1922. Life Assurance Ministries, Inc.
- The Sabbath and the Lord’s Day - October 2, 2021
- 27. Sunday-Keeping is Not the Mark of the Beast - July 8, 2020
- 26. The Pope and the Sabbath - July 2, 2020