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Transcript 539A — Sunday is Our Day of Worship
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Yes. Good evening, Brother Camping. I have a question that is rather upsetting me quite a bit, so I was going to ask you to try to get me out of it. In Genesis 2:2 & 3 God said He rested on the seventh day, and He sanctified it, and He blessed it. Now I'm a Christian, I'm a child of God. And it does concern and upset me sometimes, and I wonder if I'm worshipping on the right day. Was the day changed, and why do some people worship on Saturday and others on Sunday?
HC: All right. I'll try to answer that question for you. The question is, in view of the fact that God rested from His labors on the seventh day, in view of the fact that in the Ten Commandments God commands us to work six days and rest the seventh day, shouldn't we be worshipping on Saturday? And there are a few who say, yes, indeed, we ought to be worshipping on Saturday. There has been no change in this commandment.
However, when we study everything that the Bible has to say about the question, then we come up with some different conclusions. You see, the Bible is its own interpreter, and we can't just take a statement as it stands and say now, this is it and anybody ought to be able to read it, it's as plain as the big nose on my face, so what else is new? We have to examine anything and everything the Bible might offer that might relate to that particular question.
Now we find, for example, that in the account of the Ten Commandments as it's given in Exodus 20, God gives as a reason for honoring the seventh day the fact that God in six days made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that in them is. That ties back to Genesis 2. But amazingly and significantly certainly, in Deuteronomy 5, where God a second time gives the Law, we find that God does not give this as the reason for observing the Sabbath Day. He says in verse 15 of Deuteronomy 5, "And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm. Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath Day." Well, that's an entirely different reason, isn't it?
Actually, when we look at the going out of Israel from Egypt, we find that that was a picture of us leaving bondage to sin and going into the blessedness which is the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll remember that they went out of the land of Egypt at the time the Passover was instituted. The land of Egypt is called the house of bondage. It's a figure of the sin that we're into when we are unsaved And to leave Egypt, spiritually speaking, means that we have left the bondage of sin and have entered into the freedom of being with the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Israelites did when they went into the wilderness. They were no longer slaves of Egypt.
And that is pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ, even as the Passover, which was instituted at the time they went out of Egypt points to the Lord Jesus Christ, so therefore God is indicating that the seventh day is pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ, to the fact that we are saved in Him. Now this is reinforced for example, in Ezekiel 20, where God says in verse 12: "Moreover, also I gave them My Sabbath, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." In other words, the Sabbath, the seventh day
Sabbath, as well as the other Sabbaths that God gave, were signs or ceremonial laws that pointed to the fact that Christ would be the Redeemer. In Leviticus 23, when God is outlining the various feast days, we're not surprised to find that the first feast day that is emphasized is the seventh day Sabbath. And then from there He goes to the other feast days.
Therefore we're beginning to see that while the Fourth Commandment is part of the moral law, that we are to have one day set aside when we are not to work, one day out of the seven, nevertheless it has very distinct ceremonial implications. And so to make sure that we don't miss this point, in Colossians 2, in the New Testament, God declares in verse 16, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day..." This language is totally related to the ceremonial laws that were given in the Old Testament. "...or of the new moon or of the Sabbath, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ."
Now if all the other feast days – the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Passover – if all of these feast days had been completed in Christ and we're not to observe them any longer, then certainly it means that we are not to observe the seventh day Sabbath of the Old Testament any longer. It would be a refutation, it would be a negation of the fact that Christ has gone to the cross to pay for our sins.
Now the New Testament church was faced with this problem. They lived, first of all, on the Old Testament side of the cross, and then Christ went to the cross. While on the Old Testament side we find that Jesus went to the temple on the Sabbath day and the Jews all worshipped on the seventh day Sabbath, that was proper. That was ordained by God. But now what is the New Testament Christian to do? We find of course that the apostle Paul, when he's bringing the Gospel, visits the synagogues. That's where the Jews are. These are the ones who have the first knowledge of the Word of God. And so he goes there in order to preach to them.
But what about the church? When does it begin to meet? We're not surprised that in Acts 20:7 we find that the church at Troas is meeting together on the first day of the week. And it was at that time they broke bread. It was at that time that Paul preached to them until midnight.
We also find in I Corinthians 16:1 that God makes reference to the first day of the week, that we are to lay aside what we plan to give to the Lord on the first day of the week, "that there might not be a gathering when I shall come." Now we bring our offerings to the Lord when we worship. And here again the offering to the Lord is related to the first day of the week.
Now we can see why the New Testament church began to observe the moral implications of the Fourth Commandment by worshipping on the first day of the week. In so doing they set up the same rhythm that had been established in the moral law, six days of work and one day that is set aside when they are not to work. Secondly, by worshipping on the first day instead of the seventh day, they did not come under the ceremonial implications of the Fourth Commandment of the Ten Commandments. And thirdly, of course, the first day of the week was given special significance by God, because it was on the first day that Christ rose from the grave. It was on the first day that the Holy Spirit was poured out. It was on the first day that God began His creation.
And so beginning already before the Bible was completed, we find the New Testament church beginning to worship on the first day of the week. Now if you'd like to see this in greater detail, I have written a paper on the Sabbath question. And if you would write me at Family Radio, Oakland, CA. 94621, 1 would be very happy to send you a copy of this paper, if this would be of any help to you.