THE APOSTLES AND THE SABBATH.
By W. L. ILES
"I [JOHN] was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." Rev. 1:10, 11. John had been banished to the isle of Patmos, and there the Lord gave him by vision revelations of himself and the future. These revelations were given on the "Lord's day." They were given on a day the Lord claims as his. This text emphatically disproves the theory that we have no Sabbath, or rest day, in this dispensation, and that all days are alike, and that one day is no more holy than another. There is one day of each week that the Lord claims as his. That day which he claims is the "Christian" Sabbath. The Sabbath of the New Testament is the Lord's day. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the New Testament, therefore the seventh day is the "Lord's day." God never gave to man but six days of the week for him to use. The seventh day he has reserved for himself, and therefore it is called the "Lord's day." When man takes the Lord's day, and appropriates it to himself, he is stealing the Lord's time. The man who withholds from the Lord his tithe, robs the Lord. Mal. 3:8. And he who takes the Lord's time and spends it upon himself, also robs the Lord. God says, "Six days shalt thou labor, 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." Six days are given to us in which we may work, but the seventh day has not been given to man. The Lord says, "In it thou shalt not do any work." It is the "Sabbath of the Lord," or the "Lord's day." "Sabbath" means rest. And when it says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord," it is equivalent to the expression, "The seventh day is the rest of the Lord." The Lord's rest is in it. He rested upon the seventh day when he made the heavens and the earth, and thus it became his rest day. He worked upon the first day; then how can that day become his rest day? If it was not reserved by the Lord, but given to man for a work day, how can it be the "Lord's day"? The day which the Lord reserved for himself, he blessed and sanctified. The "Lord's day," then, is a holy day, for the Lord blessed it. It is set apart for a sacred or holy use, for the Lord sanctified it. To summarize, the seventh day is therefore the "Lord's day," for the following reasons:— 1. It never was given to man, but reserved by the Lord, to be devoted to him and his worship. See Isa. 58:13. 2. The Lord's rest is in the day. It is called the "Sabbath of the Lord," or the rest of the Lord. That day which has the Lord's rest in it must be the "Lord's day." 3. The Lord's blessing is upon it, and it is holy. The six other days are working days, and can not properly be called the "Lord's day." 4. The Lord sanctified the day. It was separated from the other days, to be devoted to the Lord, and most emphatically it is the "Lord's day." Some claim that the first day of the week is the "Lord's day." Why should man make such a claim, if the Lord never claimed it as his? Where in the Bible is the text that says the Lord claims that day as his? Where is the text that says it was blessed or sanctified? The apostles, in speaking of the first day, always call it "the first day of the week." John wrote his Gospel after he wrote the Revelation, and there he calls it the "first day of the week." If Christ is "Lord of the Sabbath," then the Sabbath is the "Lord's day." Mark 2:28. W. L. ILES.