The decline of that day was also reflected in the people’s indifference to the Sabbath. This was one of the very things that they had vowed to keep (Neh. 10:31). Men carried on their commerce on the Sabbath as if it were no different from any other day of the week (Neh. 13:15-16). Once again, Nehemiah had to contend with the nobles of Judah, “What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day?” (Neh. 13:17). The Sabbath was given to Israel as a sign; they were to know that it was Jehovah who had chosen them and had separated them unto Himself. “Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you” (Ex. 31:13). Without practical sanctification in the lives of these merchants, the outward sign of it held no special significance.
Nehemiah put an end to the Sabbath day abuses by shutting the city gates on Friday evening. There was, however, no change in the hearts of the merchants and sellers; they sat outside the city waiting for the gates to open. It was only when threatened by Nehemiah that they departed. Such is the heart of man — law can enforce an outward behavior but cannot change the inner man. Truly, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). It is impossible for a covenant to be established between God and man after the flesh; man can not enjoy God’s rest. The Sabbath of the first creation was for man, and the only One who ever enjoyed all the rights of man according to God’s counsels was Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28).
Nehemiah also commanded the Levites to cleanse themselves and keep the gates: “to sanctify the Sabbath day” (Neh. 13:22). The Sabbath was again to be a day holy unto Jehovah. There was an individual state commensurate with the enforcing of the Sabbath. There must be that practical sanctification in our lives, before we can give that which is God’s its due place and character in our lives.
The Sabbath has not moved to the Lord’s Day. We are not under a law binding us to a legal observance of a day of rest. However, the first day of the week — the resurrection day, the beginning of the new creation — is the Lord’s Day. It was upon the first day of the week, “when the disciples came together to break bread” (Acts 20:7). The Apostle John “was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” (Rev. 1:10). Might it not be our desire to be found in like condition?
Mr. Darby wrote:
The Lord’s day is a most precious gift from Him, and the true Christian enjoys it with all his heart; and, if he is faithful, he finds himself in the Spirit to enjoy God, happy to be freed from material labor to adore God as his Father, and to enjoy communion with the Lord. It is always a bad sign when a Christian talks of his liberty and makes use of it to neglect the Lord, in order to give himself to the material work of the world. However free a Christian may be, he is free from the world and from the law, in order to serve the Lord.
Paul in writing to the Romans speaks of our liberty in a rather remarkable way: “being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Rom. 6:22). The bonds that hold us to Christ are stronger than any legal binding; they are the bonds of love.
Surely the merchandising of the Lord’s Day is no less an indication of the complete indifference of Christians to the place the Lord should hold in our hearts. If it’s the Lord’s Day, then let it be His day.