Traces of a division of time into periods of seven days appear in the history of the deluge (Gen. 7:4, 10; 8:10, 124For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. (Genesis 7:4)
10And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. (Genesis 7:10)
10And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; (Genesis 8:10)
12And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. (Genesis 8:12)). These are sufficient to indicate that the knowledge of the seventh day, was handed down from the beginning. So we also find that in Ex. 16, before the promulgation of the law, Jehovah marked the seventh day from the others, in that no manna descended on that day, a double quantity being given on the sixth. The seventh day was to be the rest of the holy sabbath, and every man was to abide in his place.
The day is there regarded as a known institution, not then sanctified for the first time. And in its character as a day of rest which is specially insisted on (Ex. 16), it corresponds with that which distinguished the seventh day historically at the first (Gen. 2), and which indeed is ever its inseparable character, as doctrinally stated in Heb. 4.
But we find in Ex. 16 that this day, so carefully guarded by Jehovah, was dishonored by some of the people, who, ignoring the word of the Lord, went out as usual to gather manna. Consequently, the observance of the sabbath was immediately afterward embodied in the ten words of the law, and fenced about with its curse upon the breaker. It became also, as we have already seen, the sign of the covenant relationship of the people of Israel with God (Ex. 31:1313Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, 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. (Exodus 31:13)). That which was connected in its origin with a sinless creation was subsequently made the mark of God's earthly people, though as a matter of fact they never entered into His rest (Psa. 95:1111Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. (Psalm 95:11); Heb. 4:33For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. (Hebrews 4:3)). The reason they did not enter in was their sin of unbelief and hardness of heart. For where sin and its effects are, there can be no sabbath.
Therefore it is not till the Lord Jesus, as Jehovah's Anointed one, undertakes the judgment and extirpation of sin from the world that the sabbath in its essential character will be kept. Then in the millennium, the land of Israel shall enjoy her sabbaths, as saith the prophet.
Let it therefore be allowed that the sabbath is connected by way of distinction with God's earthly people. We will now examine the New Testament with a view of learning in what light the first of the week and the sabbath are to be regarded.
The point of our inquiry then is to be whether or not the first of the week is brought into special prominence by the facts and teaching given by Christ and His apostles. We at once find that it is so distinguished by a fact of transcendent import, inasmuch as upon the first of the week the Lord Jesus rose from the dead.
When we reflect ever so slightly upon the immense significance of the resurrection of Christ, we shall be driven to conclude that the great importance of the event must stamp a character upon the day by which it becomes unique. The Lord's resurrection is by the apostle (1 Cor. 15) made the chief basis on which he rests his comprehensive arguments in demonstration, not alone of the truth of resurrection generally, but also of our present deliverance from sins. “If Christ be not raised,” the apostle says to the Corinthian saints, “your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:1717And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17)).
It was plainly the very substratum on which the edifice of the Christian faith was reared. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the prominent feature of the preaching of the apostles as narrated in the Acts. Nor is it difficult to see why it should be so. For was it not the great act by which the accomplishment of the work of the atonement was divinely attested? He Who was “crucified through weakness” yet liveth by the power of God (2 Cor. 13:44For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. (2 Corinthians 13:4)). He Who was delivered for our offenses was raised again for our justification (Rom. 4:2525Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25)). It spake aloud therefore to the believer as the guarantee of all that is given him in the gospel. Nor was its voice less distinct to the unbeliever, being the assurance that God gives unto all that He will judge the habitable world by the Man, Christ Jesus (Acts 17:3131Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31)).
Besides, this day of supreme eventfulness was, in point of fact, the inauguration of a new era. The Jews ate their passover and observed their sabbath with the greater unctuousness as they remembered that the body of Jesus of Nazareth was lying in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, watched by a guard of Roman soldiers. Resurrection was furthest from their expectations. So it seems to have been from those of the disciples even. It was indeed so far removed from their hopes as godly Jews that the One Whom they believed to be the Messiah of Israel should terminate His earthly career in disaster and apparent failure, that they appear to have abandoned themselves to despair. Two of them we know had such little faith in the resurrection that they were going to Emmaus in an utterly forlorn and downcast mood, even after they heard from certain women that they had seen a vision of angels, who told them Jesus was alive (Luke 24:2323And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. (Luke 24:23)).
But when they lifted up their eyes at the breaking of the bread, and beheld the Risen Jesus in the Stranger Who had drawn out their hearts till they burned within them, they became like new men. Their heaviness and sorrow vanished. They immediately retraced their steps to Jerusalem in exuberant joy.
These two men do but form in themselves an illustration of what is grandly true in a universal aspect. The resurrection changed entirely the color of man's history. It stands between the guilt of man and the grace of God. It is the terminus ad quem of the record of man's hostility against God, culminating as it does in the highest pinnacle of human enormity—the crucifixion of Christ; and, on the other hand, it is the terminus a quo of the magnificent outflow of divine grace and righteousness to the guilty Jew and debased Gentile alike.
Now it was on the first of the week that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus took place. Has this fact no significance? Apparently none whatever in the eyes of C. W.; for we cannot discover a single reference to the event in his tract. And yet we might well ask ourselves, If the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt was worthy of being memorialized throughout all their generations, how much more the day of the Lord's resurrection!
But we also learn that He not only rose from the dead but that most of His recorded appearances to His disciples took place on that day of the week. First, the Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:99Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. (Mark 16:9)); then to her again with the other Mary (Matt. 28:1, 91In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. (Matthew 28:1)
9And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. (Matthew 28:9)); to Cleopas and his companion on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:1515And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. (Luke 24:15)); to Peter alone (Luke 24:3434Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. (Luke 24:34)); to the disciples gathered together (John 20:1919Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. (John 20:19)). These all learned on the first of the week the joyful news of the Master's resurrection: Individually and collectively, the fact was, on that day, impressed upon them with all its gladsome associations.
It was also when the disciples were gathered together on that memorable day that the Lord, appearing in their midst, breathed upon them and imparted the Holy Ghost as the Spirit of life. This was a direct consequence of His own resurrection and a fulfillment of His promise that they should have life more abundantly (John 10:1010The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)).
Moreover, He then commissioned them as His earthly representatives: “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained” (John 20:2323Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. (John 20:23)). The Lord did not wait until the day of His ascension to do this; but duly installed them thus on the first of the week.
But C. W. might say, “Yes, but all this happened on the actual day on which the Lord rose. What reference or application has it to every first day of the week?” In reply we point to the verses that succeed those just referred to in John 20.
Thomas Didymus was not present when Jesus first came. And we find that on the succeeding first of the week (the seventh, or sabbath, day is passed over in silence) the disciples are similarly gathered together, Thomas now being with them, stubborn in his refusal to believe until he saw for himself. The other disciples had told him, apparently at once (John 20:2525The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. (John 20:25)); but Thomas remained a whole week in unbelief until he was privileged to see the Lord.
But on the first, again they are together and Thomas with them. Does it not show they expected to see the Lord on that day? Else why were they together as before and Thomas as well? Nor were they disappointed: the Lord appeared, and Thomas believed.
From this we gather two important facts. (1) The disciples had reason to believe that the Lord would appear on the second “first of the week” as He had done on the first; hence they gathered together with Thomas. (2) This was not mere imagination on the part of the disciples, for the Lord honors their expectations and appears among them, thus sanctioning by His own presence the prominence they gave to this day.
(To be continued, D.V.)