The Lord’s Day as defined by God and revealed in His sanctuary
The Pope in his apostolic letter Dies Domini assumes that the Lord’s Day in Revelation 1:10 is the first day of the week, i.e. Sunday. This belief is supported by many evangelical and Protestant groups, they are one on this.
They use Bible verses to prove their stand, but unfortunately, not a single verse supported them. The only possible testimony they can get to prove that the Lord’s Day is allegedly Sunday is from the tradition, meaning sources outside the Bible.
In other words, they’re using extra-biblical references as their primary evidence to support their claim.
But what does the Bible says about which day is God’s holy day?
In this article, we will use God’s own words to define which day is His. We will also use the sanctuary (a contextual study of Revelation 1:10) to prove that “Lord’s Day” pertains to a different day than Sunday.
Why is this important?
Because God specifically mentioned a day that is holy for Him, and by setting a different definition of that day without His permission is stepping into God’s authority. It’s a blasphemous act.
This holy day will actually be the main issue in the last days as prophesied in the Bible. This will also help us easily find out the false prophets and teachers in our time.
The Lord’s Day as defined by God Himself
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, If you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord,”
Isaiah 58:13 NIV
We let God speaks about which day is His through His Holy Book, and that is the Sabbath. Not only that the phrase “Lord’s day” was written, but God also added the adjective “holy” to describe the uniqueness and importance of His day. Yes, Sabbath is indeed the Lord’s holy day!
“‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.” Exodus 31:13 NIV
Again, God used the possessive determiner ‘my’ to tell that the Sabbath is His.
But what day is the Sabbath? Is it Sunday?
Let’s continue reading to verse 15.
“For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. ”
Nothing is clearer than that. The Lord’s day is the seventh-day Sabbath (Saturday) not the first day of the week (Sunday). Amen!
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The Lord’s Day as revealed in the sanctuary
“Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?”
Psalm 77:13 KJV
The visions in the book of Revelation tour us around God’s heavenly sanctuary, and thus its interpretation must be associated with the study of the sanctuary as well.
One of the articles of furniture in the sanctuary is the Table of Showbread. This table has 12 loaves, piled into two. Six pieces on each pile. The 12 loaves should stay on the table all week long signifying that God’s spiritual food for His church is sufficient all day long, all week long.
However, at the end of the week, that is the Sabbath day, the loaves should be changed with newly baked ones.
“And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the Lord. And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the Lord. Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly…” Leviticus 24:5-8 ESV
The changing to fresh loaves every Sabbath signifies that God’s word to be preached in every church each Sabbath should be well-prepared.
The visions and messages that God gave to John the Revelator in the island of Patmos (Revelation 1:10) are part of God’s bread for His people.
God intentionally gave this spiritual food on a Sabbath day, that is on the Lord’s Day, to be consistent with His teaching on ‘changing the bread’ in the earthly sanctuary at the end of each week.
God knows that someday false teachers will confuse people regarding the “Lord’s Day”. Many will be deceived with the false teachers’ new definition of it.
And so as we learned today, God provided the antidote to this deception even before we realized that we need it. Praise God for His love, mercy, and guidance to His church!