The LORD’s Day

The Importance of the First Day of the Week, The Lord’s Day

It’s after midnight as I reflect upon the day just past. It’s Monday now, the 2nd day of the week. When dawn arrives it will be another day of school and housework, possibly groceries. 

 

The day that is just ended was the first day of the week. The Lord’s Day. On this day in history, God created… He said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” Genesis 1:3. That’s it, He just said it and it happened. What an amazing thought… that was the first day of all, the first Sunday. It was truly the LORD’s Day because there was no one else on this world, the day belonged to Him. 

Also on this day, The Day of the Lord, the waters dried up following the flood. Genesis 8:13 says, “By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth.” Being that the book of Genesis was written by Moses, the first day of the first month would have been a Sunday, Why? you ask. Because we know that the 14th day of the first month, the Jews observed Passover which was celebrated on the Sabbath, which is a Saturday. Now there are seven days in a week and there always have been, so if you count backward from 14 you can see that the 1st day would have been a Sunday, the Lord’s Day.

Speaking of Passover, the Passover week, Exodus 12, began on a Saturday, the Sabbath, the 14th day of the 1st month. The Passover was a feast to be celebrated in remembrance of when the angel of the Lord passed over the Israelites while the first born of the Egyptians were destroyed.

The next day, the first day of the week, a Sunday, the Feast of Unleavened Bread began. It was a feast of remembrance of the day after the Passover when the Lord delivered the Israelites out of the land of Egypt and slavery. It began and the Jews were to eat no bread that had any yeast only unleavened bread for seven days, beginning with a holy convocation on the 1st day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a Sunday. Then continuing on for seven days and ending with another holy convocation upon the 7th day, a Sabbath. 

“On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover.  And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it. But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.’” Leviticus 3:5-6.

“Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you. So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.  In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’” Exodus 12:15-20.

 

This was the first of 3 Holy Feasts that the Israelite nation was to observe, see Exodus 23:14-19. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of Harvest also known as the Feast of Weeks and The Feast of In-gathering also known as the Feast of Tabernacles. These are detailed in Leviticus 23.

The 2nd of the 3 Holy Feasts, The Feast of Weeks is found in Leviticus 23:15-22. Here it says “From the day after the Sabbath…” (That’s a Sunday) Vs. 16 “Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD.” Since we have already established that the Sabbath was a Saturday, The day after would be a Sunday. So from the time that the Lord gave the law to Moses, the Hebrews observed the Feast of Weeks every year on the first day of the week, a Sunday.

Looking on down in the same chapter. Verses 33-43 describe the Feast of Tabernacles. It says that on the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord’s Feast of Tabernacles begins, and last for seven days. So let’s do some math here. If the 14th day of the month is a Sabbath (Saturday) that would mean that the 15th day of a month was Sunday. Remember we are dealing with a Hebrew Calendar, not a modern one.

It goes on to say in verses 35-36, “The first day is a sacred assembly, do no regular work. For seven days present offerings made to the LORD by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering to the LORD by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work.” So if they began the Feast of Tabernacles on the 15th day, a Sunday, the seventh day would have been a Sabbath (Saturday), that means the eighth day would have been… You guessed it a Sunday, The LORD’s Day. In which they were to hold a sacred assembly and an offering to the LORD.

Now let’s fast forward about 1400 years. It is a Feast week in the City of Jerusalem, The Son of God is there, can you see Him? He’s the one who is hanging on the cross, the day is a Friday, just before the sun set, He is removed from the cross, having died. Because the next day was a Holy Day, A Sabbath Day, they rushed to get Him buried in a nearby tomb, As the sun sets, the Passover begins, the lamb is slain, the feast is ready. He waits… Three days, Friday, Saturday, then… Sunday morning arrives with an earthquake, the tomb is found empty, He has risen, The LORD’S DAY, is here. The day of Deliverance, the Feast of Unleavened Bread has begun, Praise Be unto God, for His ways are perfect.

But He isn’t done, oh no, my friends. Fast Forward to the day of Pentecost. Why? you ask. Pentecost is a  Greek word, Pente means 50. It happened fifty days after the Passover, in the Hebrew text this day is the same as the Feast of Weeks. The 2nd Holy Feast. This was the day after the seven Sabbaths of Sabbaths, this was the day after the Sabbath, this was a Sunday, this was the LORD’s Day.

And what you might ask, happened on that day? Acts 2:1-4 “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them, all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Beginning in verse 14, Peter and the other 11 stood up and addressed the crowd that formed, He preached the prophecy of Joel, he preached the prophecy of David, he preached unto them Jesus the Christ, and in verse 37, the people heard and were cut to the heart and said “Brothers, what shall we do to be saved?”

Peter answered and said, “Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Then down in verse 41, “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3000 souls were added to their number that day.“

This day, the day of Pentecost, the day when the promised Comforter, the Holy Spirit,  arrived. This day, the day that Peter and the other apostles preached Jesus. This day, the day that 3000 souls believed and were baptized. This day, in history was a Sunday, the first day of the week, the LORD’s day.

In Acts 20:7 we are told “On the first day of the week, the disciples came together to break bread.” They observed the Supper of Our Lord, On the first day of the week, the LORD’s Day.
Beautifully, God created light on the first day of the week. Noah was saved from the flood, the waters dried up, on the first day of the week. The 3 Holy Feasts of the Hebrews was observed on the first day of the week.  Our Lord, Jesus Christ, rose from the dead on the first day of the week. The Holy Spirit came on the first day of the week. The church was established upon the first day of the week. We observe the Supper of the Lord upon the first day of the week. 

Praise be unto God My Father and My Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit, for all they have done for me on the First Day of the Week, The LORD’S Day.