The First Message of the Saviour after His Resurrection.
By John Nevins Andrews
THE first day of the week is said to be the Lord's day because that Christ arose from the dead on that day. But no such reason for the use of the term is given in the Bible. It is not even said that the Lord's day is the first day of the week, and only once in the New Testament can the term Lord's day be found. Rev. 1:10. But there are six passages written before John was sent to Patmos (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2), and two which were written after his return (John 20:1, 19) in which the term first day of the week is found. In not one of these passages is there a hint that the Lord has chosen the day as his. John wrote his gospel after his return from Patmos, but when he mentions the first day of the week he gives it no sacred title, which shows that he had no idea that it merited to be called the Lord's day. There is therefore no authority in the Bible for calling the first day the Lord's day, for in every instance in which we know the first day to be intended, it is called by no sacred title, and no claim to sacredness is put forth for it. Nor can the title of Lord's day as the name of the first day of the week be established from ecclesiastical history, for the period of nearly 100 years elapses after John had his vision upon Patmos before any genuine instance can be found in which the name is thus applied, though there are several instances during this period in which the first day is mentioned. The Bible however speaks of the seventh day as having been set apart to the Lord from the beginning (Gen. 2:2, 3; Ex. 20:8–12), and as the day consecrated to him (Isa. 58:13), and as the day of which the Son of man is even the Lord, Mark 2:27, 28. We cannot deny that the seventh day is the day consecrated to the Lord; and which he claims as his day, unless we can find in the Bible that the Lord has put away this day and given its name and its place to the first day of the week, which no one has yet succeeded in doing. If, however, the first day became the Lord's day by the resurrection of Christ, it certainly became such as soon as he had risen from the dead. There never has been, and there never can be, a more sacred first day of the week than the one on which Christ first showed himself to the women at the sepulcher. If any first day was ever worthy to be honored by devotion to religious assemblies, the one on which he sent a message to his disciples, by the women, was in the highest degree worthy. In fact that was the day in which the foundation of319first-day sacredness was laid, if it ever was laid. It is supposed to be the duty of every pastor, in our days, to teach the people to celebrate the first day, by calling them together in religious assemblies, and by preaching to them the word of God, and in particular by telling them that this is the Lord's day because he arose from the dead this day. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is the first and most eminent of all the ministers of the New Testament. It fell to his lot to set the first example of convening assemblies on this day and of celebrating the day of his resurrection. We know that no man can make improvement on his example by acting more wisely than he did. What then did our Lord do by way of honoring the day on which he showed himself to the women, and by way of teaching his disciples that it was the Lord's day, on which they must hereafter hold their assemblies? He sent a message to his disciples by the women, that they should meet him at a certain place. Matt. 28:10. The angel had previously sent the same message. Verse 7. Did he say, "Tell my brethren to assemble this morning and I will meet with them, for this day has become my holy day by my resurrection"? No; he did not say this. Did he say, "Tell my brethren that I will meet with them this afternoon"? He did not even say this. Did he say "Tell my brethren that I will meet with them this evening at the close of the day"? He did not; for if he had, two of the disciples would not have gone that afternoon to Emmaus to spend the night. Luke 24:13, 29. What did Christ say in this message concerning the first day? Nothing. He did not even mention the day. What then was the message? "Go, tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me." Matt. 28:10. Did they go that day? The distance was so great that this was not possible, and we know that they were in Jerusalem that evening when the two returned from Emmaus. Luke 24:33. The meeting appointed by Christ was held upon a mountain in Galilee (Matt. 28:16), and could not have been till after Christ met the disciples at the Sea of Galilee, for that was his third appearance to them. John 21:1–14 compared with John 20:19, 26. What day of the week was this meeting which Christ appointed to hold with his disciples on the mountain in Galilee? The Holy Spirit has not thought it important to tell us. Why not? Because Christ did not design to establish a new day for divine worship.