THE LORD’S DAY by William Covert

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 18, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 45.

THE LORD’S DAY.

By William Covert

BY ELDER WILLIAM COVERT.

WHEN John was upon the Isle of Patmos, he wrote, saying, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” Rev. 1:10. The inquiry will naturally arise, What day was that? Every true Protestant will be willing to let the Bible tell what day it was. The expression “the Lord’s day” must without doubt refer to some particular day which the Lord claimed as his. As nothing is said in the connection in which the term is found which tells the reader what particular day is meant, we conclude that what had previously been written in the Scriptures upon the subject of the Lord’s day was sufficiently full, and because it was, no further definition was needed.

The history given of creation so fully described the week and specified the days which belong to it that it would have been a superfluous work for John to have entered into any explanation of the matter in the last book of the Bible. All who read the Scriptures know that in the beginning the Lord reserved a day for himself and set it apart as his day. “God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Gen. 2:3. “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Ex. 20:10. This text shows that the Sabbath day belongs to the Lord, and, putting it in the possessive, “the Sabbath is the Lord’s day.” The Lord, in speaking through his prophet, emphasizes this thought and uses the possessive pronoun, “my holy day.” Isa. 58:13.

As the Sabbath is the Lord’s holy day, there can be no further controversy regarding what is meant by the term “the Lord’s day.” It is the Lord’s holy day,—the seventh day. Jesus, being one with the Father, also claims the day as his. “Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:28. As the Father is Lord of the Sabbath, so is the Son also Lord of the Sabbath. As expressed by the pen of another, “The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.” Matt. 12:8.

But the Sabbath day is the rest day of the Lord,—the seventh day. Man was given the first six days of the week; but the Lord says: You must recognize my right to the rest day. Do not profane the time that I have made holy. I call upon you to refrain from secular business on my holy day and commune with me. If you do, you will call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord. Then you will delight yourself in the Lord.

Having proven that the seventh day is the Lord’s day, and as no other day is claimed by the Lord as his in any specific sense, we regard the matter as fully settled and easily understood. It is the Sabbath which the Lord has blessed. That day the Lord still claims. The text quoted (Rev. 1:10) is a reminder to Christians that they are required to observe the Sabbath day, and that the Lord had never relinquished his claim to it. Is the reader willing to grant God’s claim?

Burlington, Vt.