Chapel by Thomas Kinkade
American, 1958-2012
Some Facts about the First Day of the Week:
*Christ arose from the dead on the first day of the week.
*The first gospel sermon, recorded in Acts chapter 2 was preached on the first day of the week.
*The first conversions took place as a result of that sermon, on the first day of the week.
*The Lord's church, His kingdom, was established on the first day of the week. Acts 2.
*The disciples broke bread together on the first day of the week and celebrated the Lord's supper.
*The disciples were commanded to gather on the first day of the week to "lay by in store."
* Acts, chapter 20 records the apostle Paul having to wait until the first day of the week to meet with some of his fellow Christians.
Sunrise
by Thomas Kinkade
Between His resurrection and ascension, for forty days he appeared several times:
First, to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary - Matthew 28: 1-89.
The Way to Emmaus
by Robert Zund
from Allposters
Second, to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus - Luke 24:15
Third, to Simon Peter - Luke 24:34
Fourth, to ten of the apostles - Luke 24:36
The above four appearances took place on Sunday, the first day of the week, the day of the resurrection.
Fifth, to the eleven disciples - John 20:26
Sixth, to the seven apostles in Galilee - John 21:4
Seventh, to James - Ist Corinthians 15:7
Eighth, when they were assembled together and at Bethany when he ascended - Luke 24:50
Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
After the resurrection, things changed for the believers. Jesus was the first to rise from the dead to live again, and He established his kingdom, which is his body of believers, who meet on the first day of the week to partake of the memorial he established on the night he was betrayed. He takes it with us, in that He is spiritually present. The last will and testament of Christ went into effect, and that will is the New Testament, which contains instructions on how to become a Christian and live the Christian life. The curtain of the temple was torn, to symbolize the completion and fulfillment of the Old Law, which culminated in the sacrificing of the lamb of God, the purest lamb, for the removal of sins of all those who would obey and follow Him.
For further reading on the subject of the first day of the week, see more comments at the end of this post, and read carefully the time sequence recorded in Mark, chapters 15 and 16.
I've added "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth" from the second part of Handel's Messiah, to my playlist, but you can hear it right now by clicking on the video below. Most people are familiar with the Hallelujah chorus, but there are many more pieces in this wonderful composition, which contains not one man-made word, but all from scripture.
For further reading on the subject of the first day of the week, see more comments at the end of this post, and read carefully the time sequence recorded in Mark, chapters 15 and 16.
I've added "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth" from the second part of Handel's Messiah, to my playlist, but you can hear it right now by clicking on the video below. Most people are familiar with the Hallelujah chorus, but there are many more pieces in this wonderful composition, which contains not one man-made word, but all from scripture.
I love this post! I have heard SO many times.."When did Christians abandon the true Sabbath for Sunday worship." The truth is, we have always observed Sunday as our day of worship..clearly!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this! God Bless!
Dear Lady Lydia,
ReplyDeleteA happy and blessed Easter to you, sweet lady! Thank you for bringing hope to the keepers of the home.
Love,
Marqueta
Marqueta, I love the femininity on your blog and the lovely photos of your family, a tribute to happy families.
ReplyDeleteSara Santos,
ReplyDeleteI was unable to find a link or email for you. Thank you for your comment. I prefer to talk privately with you first, before publishing it. You can email me any time at ladylydiaspeaks@comcast.net.
Some of these issues can be easily cleared up in Acts, Hebrews and Galations. However I prefer to exchange personal emails rather than discuss it online.
Blesses Easter to you, Lady Lydia. It was a wonderful weekend here for our family....I pray the same for yours.
ReplyDeleteIt's so odd (coincidental, really) that you should be posting about the First Day of the Week. So help me, just before I had left another blog I was visiting, & decided to come here to see if you had anything new posted, the thought came into my mind regarding the disagreement about Saturday (7th day) & Sunday (1st day) worship practices. Really! And we have a hymn in one of our older hymnals called the First Day of the Week....& I started humming it to myself. WHAT a surprise to come here & see the subject you had chosen for today's post!
Brenda
God Bless and Happy Easter!
ReplyDeleteGood post. Most people don't realize that the word "sabbath" simply means "rest" or "intermission," not "seventh," or "Saturday." Christians have always kept a first day sabbath (rest) because of the verses you quoted. The O.T. people, under the Law, worked, and then they rested; N.T. people, because of the finished work of Christ, rest first, then out of that rest, they work.
ReplyDeleteITs still okay to rest on the sabbath or the 7th day. However I do not see in the scripture where it was ever proclaimed a day of assembly or worship, in the NT especially. And Christians can rest on Saturday if they are convicted to do so, and worship still on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, thanks for the definition. I didn't know that either. It does mean "rest," and Jesus, in the New Testament is called "our rest".
ReplyDeleteJesus represents the New Covenant, and is called Rest. He arose on the first day of the week, and many other things in the NT happened symbolically on that day, to emphasise a new worship, a new covenant, a new name, a new life, a new law, a new high priest, a new age (the Christian age) a new life, a new covenant, and many other things new.
ReplyDeleteAlso, remember that the Sabbath was never given to those outside the Jewish faith. It was given only to the Jews, and the Gentiles were left out. So when Jesus instituted his New Covenant, he included everyone.
ReplyDeleteAndrea, Christians never abandoned the old law. They never were given it in the first place.It was given to the Jews only. The Jews, who observed the Sabbath, were the ones who had a hard time accepting the change. The book of Romans and the book of Hebrews and also Galations address this problem, because they were written to correct those who would be putting people back into the old law.
ReplyDeleteLydia,
ReplyDeleteI became free of the bondage of Seventh Day Adventism over six years ago now and thank God every day that I have truly found my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in my current walk of Christian faith. Whole denominations fettishise the seventh day, making it our point of salvation, even going so far as to state in their official doctrine that it will be the test between the true believers and false in the 'last days' rather than remembering that Christ, not Saturday, is the centre and encompassment of our salvation!! for twenty one years I never understood the Gospel, what it was, what it meant, until I was released from the shackles of this pernitious teaching and same on dietary laws...Thank God I have found Him!! As a Marounite Christian, my walk may be different than that of many here, but I will give thanks every day for knowing Christ, and being able to trust in Him, free of petrifying fear that I have lost my salvation because of saturday... This is a timely and necessary post as judaising is rife in counter-revolutionary Christian circles at the moment, especially in the US. Keep teaching the truth!!
I think I am addressing Mrs. Eliot in Australia, the one who uses the braille keyboard. On this issue, I was wanting to show the verses and the events that happened on the first day of the week. His kingdom was established on the first day of the week. He said he would not drink the fruit of the vine with his disciples until he drank it with them new, in his kingdom.that kingdom was established when He rose, on the first day of the week. The Christians take that emblem on the first day of the week. Historians like Polycarp and Josephus who lived among the first century Christians and knew the disciples, record that they met on the first day of the week.
ReplyDelete