Sabbath Lord's Day Explained

Why celebrate the Sabbath? Lord’s Day scriptures can be found within the New Testament and thus clearly should be followed. Right?

I would agree. Good thing since I’m writing this.

But the question remains, when is the Lord’s Day verse the Sabbath Day? Bible scholars have been debating this for some reason for a very long time. Let’s see what Scripture itself says.

The Sabbath Day Truth

I did a search from one of my favorite online Bible’s for the word “Lord’s Day” and surprisingly only found one verse.

Revelation 1:10
On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.

Unfortunately, this verse doesn’t even help in identifying when this day is but rather names the day and leaves it there.

One could surmise, as many do that the Lord’s Day is the day he rose from the dead. After all, this is the day that He defeated death and finished the purchasing of our souls. Seems reasonable that Sunday would therefore be the Lord’s Day.

PUZZLE
Jesus was crucified late on Friday. He also rose early in the morning on Sunday. Yet He was in the ground for 3 days. How does this make sense? Shouldn’t He have risen on Monday or Tuesday to accomplish the 3 days?

Did you know that the Bible specifically identifies how we are to recognize the resurrection of our precious Lord and Savior?

Romans 6:3-5
Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
Baptism is how we are to recognize and link with his resurrection.
This too makes sense as this event was called capital punishment and a loving Father wouldn’t want to point back to His Son’s lowest day on earth each week.

Sabbath Day New Testament

Fact is, Jesus Himself taught us to keep the Sabbath day truth within His own life. Even when He challenged the leaders of those days it was never in a sense of saying that the day had somehow been altered but rather altering the way they were legalizing His special day.
This is the most amazing example of all, and it is the answer to the puzzle I presented above.
ANSWER
In Jewish culture any part of a day is the entire day in and of itself. Thus Jesus was buried late on Friday before the Sabbath Day. Bible writings will identify this as the preparation day. Jesus rose early on Sunday morning, even before they could arrive to finish embalming Him. The only day He rested for the full 24 hours was indeed the Sabbath. If the Sabbath Day truth is good enough for Jesus to honor in His death shouldn’t it be good enough for us to honor in our life?
However, this leaves us still without an answer to when the Lord’s Day is.

Sabbath Lord’s Day

Genesis 2:2-3
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

The Lord’s Day is not Sunday but rather the seventh day which He created special for His people to be able to rest.

Exodus 20:8-11
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

When it comes to the Sabbath Day, bible scholars can debate all they like.

I choose to read the 10 Commandments for exactly what they say and follow them accordingly. Given that the Sabbath Lord’s Day is directly identified within the fourth commandment, I am left confident within my position. Are you?