A version of this was published by Creation Science Movement as Pamphlet 318 (1998) and it is based on chapters 4, 5 and 6 of the book “Genesis for Today” by Andy McIntosh, published by Day One Publications, Epsom, Surrey.
The change in the British law is already putting pressure on Christians to work on this day as on any other. Why is this day important? How is it connected to the creation/evolution debate?
The body clock
In each one of us is a seven day clock which medical experts acknowledge is deeply ingrained in our make up.*[i] There are other clocks, such as the need for rest every 24 hours and other daily rhythms concerning the natural functions of the human body, but one which is just as vital is the weekly cycle. Atheistic-led societies have tried to extend the working week and failed. Notably the French Revolutionaries tried to make a ten day week. This could not work because the body just cannot cope without a rest every seven days. This is a testimony to the truth of Genesis that our human bodies, as at creation, need to have the weekly rest. This is why the Lord said “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath” (Mk. 2:27) not to in any way remove the Sabbath rest, but to remove ungodly additions.
The day of rest at creation
God’s original plans for the whole of the human race are all in Genesis. Many Christians do not realise that the law concerning the Sabbath day (which simply means “cessation”) did not begin with the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, but was in fact the very first command ever given to all of mankind (not just the Israelites). In Gen. 2:3 “...God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it....”. This means the day was “set apart” as a special day by God right at the beginning for all the human race. In Ex. 20 it is explained further. Ex. 20:10 states “...the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant ...” The principle of the Sabbath is laid down in the Ten Commandments. It is important to recognise that the actual day of the week is not explicitly referred to at Sinai. Rather it is simply laid down that every seventh day there is to be a day of rest. Thus the Christian Sabbath and change of day is allowed for in the fourth commandment. What is more is that the reason for the Sabbath law is that “in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day...”. This verse is rightly used in our debates with theistic evolutionists (those who believe in long ages for the six days of creation) to show that the Bible clearly teaches that the days of creation are six 24 hour days. The Sabbath command would have no sense if we were being required to keep every seventh millennium! The “day” in the fourth commandment is the word “yom” in Hebrew and clearly has to mean a 24 hour period for the Sabbath law to make sense. Since the reason given for the Sabbath in Exodus 20 is that God made the world in six days with one day of rest, there is no way round the clear implication that the six days of creation have to be six 24 hour periods for the argument to have meaning. But if it is right to use this verse to show that the creation ‘days’ were 24 hour periods, we should acknowledge the authority that the Sabbath holds over us as a creation ordinance.
How Christians should keep the Lord’s day.
The fact that the Sabbath is a creation command has far reaching consequences. It means that we as Christians should keep a day of rest as (1) a testimony to our Creator and (2) a testimony to the Saviour. For the believer it should be :
(a) A day of rest.
The meaning of the word “sabbath” is “ceasing”. Each week, we should stop. It is good medically for our bodies, but it is vital for our souls. Neh. 13:15-22 teaches it is not a day for buying or selling, for commerce and trading. We are legitimately to take part in such things during the week, but this day is to be set apart.
(b) A day of holy rest.
Ex. 20:10 teaches that the one day in seven is “the Sabbath of the Lord your God”. The day is God’s day, a day to meet Him, a day to meet His people. This is a day for reading, meditating on the Saviour and all that He has done - notably the glorious salvation He purchased for us at Calvary. This is why in Dt. 5:15 in the second statement of the Ten Commandments, the Lord bids His people to remember that He brought them out of Egypt “by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm”. Thus on this day we are to remember particularly how Christ died for us and with his crucified arms and feet made Himself a once-for-all sacrifice for sin. We should use Sunday particularly to remind ourselves of this glorious truth.
(c) A day for the Lord.
Is. 58:13 speaks of calling the Sabbath a delight, honouring Him, not finding our own pleasure and not speaking our own words. This may seem an onerous task to some, but in fact the opposite is true in the experience of the author. In my work, I quite often have to travel to other countries and as a general rule I avoid travelling on the Sunday, for the very positive reason that there is immense strength obtained by meeting with His people and worshipping the Lord, particularly when away from home. Recently I visited Indonesia and benefited enormously from the fellowship with the believers in Jakarta before venturing into the business of the week. Indirectly you also pass on a great blessing to others as you testify to them of God’s grace in your soul.
It is notable that the recently published book by Weir*[ii] on Christian sportsmen and sportswomen, which seeks to justify sport on Sunday, makes no reference to this verse in Isaiah. They argued that the stand of Liddell and others not to dishonour the Lord’s Day was outdated. We would do well, however to recognise that a principle is at stake, and a principle which directly affects the growth of our spiritual lives.
(d) A day with consequences.
Is. 58:14 goes on to tell of the glorious effect to a believer who honours God’s day. (i) By keeping God’s day and calling that day a delight (verse 13), He enables you to delight in Him. It is all of grace, we cannot do it ourselves. Do you have problems drawing close to the Lord? Is it because you need to repent of misuse of His day? Maybe you are attending only one meeting of worship and are using the rest of the day for sport? This surely will bring spiritual poverty. (ii) He causes us to ride upon the high places of the earth. This is a wonderful promise. God will feeds with the heritage of Jacob, Jacob, the man who was far from perfect! A twister who by God’s grace came the hard way to trust alone in God. This speaks of us. Conscious of our much sin, we feel we have no right to God’s blessing. But God says, repent, keep my day and you will know great inner resources. You will have strength for all the week, of which the world will be envious. If we humble ourselves bachelor under God’s mighty hand in this matter (1 Pet. 5:6-10), He will settle and establish us in our family life, our work life and our church life.
[i] Wright, V., “The Lord’s Day - A medical point of view”, LDOS, U.K.
[ii] Weir, S., “More than champions” - sportstars’ secrets of success. Marshall Pickering, 1993.
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