The Lord’s Day

     Let’s first determine who is “The Lord”. In the New Testament, the Lord mostly referred to Jesus, the Christ and other times "Lord" is referring to the Father, because in the Old Testament, the “Lord” in the common Bibles, is God Almighty, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but this is confusing, with the same title given to both God Almighty and the Son of God. How can any Bible student have a clear understanding of who is being written of or spoken of, both possessing the same title with no name clarification? The Son of God had two names, first "Michael" was the Son's name, then, when He became the "Son of man" His given name was Jesus and remains Jesus.       Does the Father, God Almighty, have a personal name? He certainly does, and a temple was built to bear His name, "And Jehovah said to him, I have heard your prayer and your supplication before Me; I have hallowed this house that you have built to put My name there forever; And My eyes and My heart shall be there forever." (I Kings 9:3). Let’s look deeper into what has been an accepted change in God's word: In the Old Testament of the current Bibles, “Lord” was a substitution for the “Tetragrammaton”, which is the term given to the four Hebrew letters that made up the personal name of God, "Jehovah". At some point God’s personal name was declared to be too sacred to pronounce, consequently, His name was replaced by two titles, "Lord" or "God" but i haven't been able to confirm when this took place. “Adon” (Strong’s #113) or "Adonay" (Strong's #136), are two Hebrew word for "Lord", but in most all the current Bible's "Lord" is used for Strong’s #3068 "Yehovah" and the definition is: self existent; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God, the Lord, the common Bibles use “Lord”, but “Jehovah” is God's personal name, knowing that "Lord" is a title and He, Jehovah, is the original, the first "Lord", meaning, sovereign, controller, master owner (according to Strong's #113). Jehovah is the most widely accepted English translation of His name and Jehovah is what the KJV Bibles used, but it is only translated as "Jehovah" four times. In the original (Old Testament) Hebrew text, the Tetragrammaton (God’s name) was rendered 6747 times, but only 4 was not replaced with “Lord” or "God" and it remains that way with most all, current Bibles. The original usage can easily be seen in an Interlinear Bible that contains the Old Testament Hebrew text, and the American Standard Version, which is now out of print, but is still available as a download from the Internet, and the Jehovah's Witness Bible, plus the Young's Literal Translation Bible. In the New Testament, God Almighty "Jehovah" gave all authority of the heavens and the earth to His Son Jesus, "And coming up Jesus talked with them saying, All authority in heaven and earth was given to Me." (Matthew 28:18), so Jesus now having authority on earth, He is also given the title "Lord" but God Jehovah is not able to pass on all His sovereign authority of Heaven, His kingdom, because He sustains our existence and all of His other created beings, plus Jehovah must maintain supreme control because Jesus was sent to die as the "Lamb of God" which must be a complete death for the price of sins is be paid in full. We were given to Jesus, "that the word might be fulfilled which He said, 'Of those whom You gave to Me, I lost not one of them." (John 18:9), for Him to prepare and bring the select ones to His Father's kingdom.

    We now need to consider when the Lord’s Day was established: using God's Book, this would be at the very beginning of time, when time started its count, after the first six consecutive evenings and mornings, God set aside the seventh day as a day of rest. We read about this in Genesis: God (Jehovah) rested on the seventh day, after He finished His work of creation, and He hollowed the seventh day, and sanctified this as a unique (holy) day of rest, "And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because He rested from all His work on it, which God had created to make." (Genesis 2:3). This day of rest was probably shared and kept by Adam but there is no record of this, however, the Sabbath was established before sin ever entered the world, then Jehovah again emphasized this rest day when He sent a rain of “manna” every morning, a source of nourishment for the Israelites while they wondered in the wilderness. This happened six days a week and on the sixth day, twice the amount of manna fell because no manna was supplied on the seventh day (read Exodus 16:14-35). This confirmed by example that God wanted His people to honor the Sabbath day of rest that He established at creation. Furthermore, God again confirmed this, both with His voice and written on stone with God Jehovah's own finger, by a clear declaration in His fourth Commandment, "For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all which is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; on account of this Jehovah blessed the seventh day and sanctified it." Exodus 20:11).

      In Jehovah's instruction through Moses, an additional conformation of the Sabbath day was given, by asking us to give rest to the fields in the seventh year, “And in the seventh year shall be a sabbath rest to the land, a sabbath to Jehovah. You shall not sow your field, and you shall not prune your vineyard.” (Leviticus 25:4). There is also a 1000-year rest of the entire earth when Satan will be bound, right after Christ's second advent, "And He laid hold of the dragon, the old serpent who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years…” (Revelation 20:2). Jesus Christ, the Son of God honored the seventh day, as did the Jews that honored God. God again gave for us an example when Jehovah waited to resurrect Jesus until the Sabbath day had ended, raising Him on Sunday; this confirms that Sunday is a regular day, not holy. Jesus not only honored the Sabbath and His Father, but He declared that He only did His Fathers will, “Nothing I am able to do from Myself: just as I hear I judge; and My judgment is just, for I do not seek My will but the will of the one sending Me, the Father.” (John 5:30), and He asked us to do as He did, to follow His example and keep His Father, Jehovah’s Commandments as He kept them, "And He said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good except One, God! But if you desire to enter into life, keep the commandments." (Matthew 19:17). All throughout the Bible, the Lord’s Day was the one established after six day of creation, and both Jews and Christians kept the very same day in the Old and in the New Testaments, "And he reasoned in the synagogue on every sabbath, persuading both Jews and Greeks." (Acts 18:4), this was Paul speaking. This raises a serious question: Why does the majority of the Christian community attend their respective churches on the first day of the week and do their own pleasure (even work) on the seventh day, God's declared Sabbath? I cannot answer this with any logic or Biblical instruction, because it doesn’t exist. God is a God of order and He doesn’t change. I can take a good guess, and say that the church in the fourth century changed the day from Saturday to Sunday, under their own expressed authority and they freely claim this change as their doing. I reason that the new churches that came out of the Reformation period simply carried that tradition, and other traditions, with them when they formed new denominations. I’m sure every church will give some explanation for keeping Sunday, but can they be valid, can it be Biblical or strong enough to erase a Commandment of God? The majority of the Christian community worships on the first day of the week, and this is perfectly acceptable, we are called to worship God any day, since the forth Commandment doesn't mention worship. But all the Sunday worshipers do not keep the Sabbath day of rest, which is a day set aside from working and from our secular interest, a day given to us to study God's word, which we all need to do in order to understand God way, necessary to know how to walk and prepare oneself for the kingdom of God.

      To confirm that the Sabbath day is still valid according to God, Isaiah quotes Jehovah when speaking of God’s Kingdom to come, “For as in the new heavens and the new earth which I will make stand before Me, states Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name stand. And it will be from new moon to its new moon and from sabbath to its sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says Jehovah.” (Isaiah 66:22,23). Christ also said (recorded by Matthew 12:8, Mark 2:28 and Luke 6:5) “For the Son of man is also Lord of the sabbath.” Another New Testament verse: "So there remains a rest to the people of God. For He entered into His rest, He Himself also rested from His works, as God had done from His works." (Hebrews 4:9,10). Christ is the "He" in this verse and God is "Jehovah" who rested and sanctified the seventh day at creation. Worshiping God on the first day of the week does not transgress the fourth Commandment, one can and should worship God any day of the week, but not keeping the Sabbath day, as it is described in Almighty Jehovah’s fourth Commandment, is a transgression of God's Law, just as any transgression of God's other nine Commandments are considered unrighteousness. Can we continually do this and claim that we love God? "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15), that was Christ speaking and the Son of God's commandments are the ones His Father gave, and He kept them perfectly, qualifying Himself, Jesus, as the "Lamb of God" as an example for us, "And Jesus said to His disciples, if anyone desires to follow Me, let him deny himself, and let him bear his cross, and let him follow Me." (Matthew 16:24). And Jehovah said, "And I also give them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am Jehovah who sets them apart." (Ezekiel 20:12), Almighty God distinguishes His people apart from those who aren't His people by His Sabbaths, by those who keep all of His Commandments. With all these verses of keeping the fourth Commandment and no verses, not even one, promoting the first day or declaring any change from the seventh day to any other day, can we safely avoid keeping God's proclaimed day of rest and expect God to believe that we are ready to spend eternity in His presence? Remember, "For narrow is the gate, and constricted is the way that lead to life, and few are the ones who find it." (Matthew 7:14).