Musing – What is the “Lord’s Day”?

Hebraic Musing – What is the “Lord’s Day”?

Christianity has argued incessantly as to how to honor the “Sabbath”, or “Sunday”, or the “Lord’s Day”.  And Sunday has been called “The Lord’s Day” to explain or justify changing the Sabbath to Sunday.  Where did the “Lord’s Day” term come from?  Probably from Rev. 1:10, the only place I find it in the Bible.

In context – “I, John, … was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.  On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches…”   Rev 1:9-11  NIV

In the book of Revelation John is addressing Jewish believers in a first century letter written from an anti-Roman perspective.  In his vision the Jewish Christ or Messiah is the High Priest of the Heavenly Temple, walking amidst seven golden lampstands speaking a message of warning and encouragement to seven real assemblies.  These churches were struggling to be loyal to Israel’s God by following the Jewish Christ while they are residents of an unapologetically pagan Roman empire. 

When John said “on the Lord’s Day” many readers now wonder whether John had in mind the seventh day (the Hebrew Sabbath) or the first day of the week (Sunday, the day of Jesus’ resurrection).  And that is still a head-scratcher in today’s Christian theology.  But both possibilities are problematic because neither the Sabbath day nor Sunday was ever called “the Lord’s day” prior to this point.  

However, another possibility exists that seems to make more sense.  Scripture often referred to “the day of the LORD”; 20 X in the OT and 5X in the NT (NIV).  Was that the context John may have had in mind?

Isaiah 13:6-9, for example, warns of a cruel day coming –  “Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.  …. they will writhe like a woman in labor.  …  See, the day of the Lord is coming — a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger — to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.”  According to Isaiah, this is the day when justice will finally prevail, as the God of Israel judges His enemies and rewards His faithful children.    Joel said something similar – “For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.”  Joel 1:15

In the NT, John’s colleague, Peter, used the same expression – ”But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.  The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.”  2 Peter 3:10

So when John speaks of “the Lord’s day,” he was probably referring to this same “day of the LORD.”  That interpretation makes sense linguistically and it fits the context in the rest of John’s account.  After all, he wanted to warn and prepare the seven churches of the dreadful “Day of the Lord” coming “to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.”

So did John, a first-century Jew who wrote Revelation, mean Saturday or Sunday when he wrote of the “Lord’s day”?  OR was he intending to remind us and help us to understand the LORD’s day of judgment and justice foretold centuries earlier by the OT prophets?

Should we continue to meet on Saturday or Sunday?   Hebrews 10:25 warns us “ Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, …”   Does it really matter which day as long as we meet regularly?    Is meeting once a week enough?

Points to ponder

Maybe we should follow the early church…
 and meet and receive our “Daily Bread” daily?

♫  Shabbat shalom, Shabbat shalom, Shabbat, Shabbat shalom ♫

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                          March 19, 2019  

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage (by Yosef)”   Weekly “Hebraic Musings”   insightsbyyosef.blogspot.com

Note – Inspired by and excerpted from Dr. Eliyahu Lizorkin-Eyzenberg’s  “Jewish Insights into Scripture” Pg.43.