The days of the week are numbered, but many people fail to understand that Sunday is “the first day of the week.” The reason for this is easy to understand. Our thinking is centered around the work week and Monday is the first day of the week for most people; therefore, it is easy to think of it as the first day of the week. However, for the spiritually minded “the first day of the week” has an entirely different meaning. It is the start of the new week!
This is the day Jesus was resurrected; as Mark wrote: “Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, …” (Mark 16:9). It is the day of victory; victory over the grave, victory over death, and it is the evidence of victory over sin, for Paul wrote: “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (I Cor. 15:17). “The first day of the week” is the day Christians assembled to worship God “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24); under the oversight of the apostles of Christ: “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, …” (Acts 20:7). It appears that John, the apostle, called “the days of the week” “the Lord’s day” in “The Apokalupsis of Jesus Christ,” (Rev. 1:1) for he wrote: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, …” (verse 9). Though some may desire to debate what day John has reference too, what other day is more identified with Jesus than “the first day of the week?” It is the day those who have been purchased by “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:19) come together in local assemblies to worship the heavenly Father through Christ! Yes, “the first day of the week” is the Lord’s day!
It may seem unusual to some, but for others it is not unusual at all, for they have assembled with the saints on “the first day of the week” so long and so many times, it has become a natural part of life. It does not even require any thinking, for just as surely as Sunday follows Saturday, these saints have prepared and gone to worship on “the first day of the week” it is a natural part of life! Long ago, as they grew out of childhood these saints left behind such words, “do I have to go;” and it has become a blessed honor, a natural act of life to worship the One True God on “the first day of the week!” To these adult saints, the words have changed from, “do I have to go,” to “do I have to miss?”
You see, worshiping the Heavenly Father on “the first day of the week” has become the first important act of the new week: “the first of the week!” The whole week is out of order, Monday is not Monday; the event of the week is missing and cannot be made up, and it cannot be replaced! The words of the Psalms “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD” (Psa. 122:1). If we put these words into New Testament language, it might read like this: “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go to the assembly on the first day of the week and worship God!” These words express the heart and spirit of the saint, who is preparing himself for a new week! Life is missing a life-giving spirit when for some reason, not an excuse, for missing the assembly of worship; but a reason which requires that he miss “the first day of the week” assembly of worship; the time when the spirit is refreshed and he is ready to face the world for another week!
It sounds strange to most of the world and some members of the Lord’s church, to write about how negatively it affects one’s life to be forced to miss “the first day of the week” assembly of worship. When this day has been the beginning of a new week for nearly fifty years; when one has enjoyed seeing the faces of brothers and sisters in Christ, rain or shine; when one has added his voice (though some question the quality) to fellow saints in singing praises in spiritual songs and adding his amen to the prayers spoken to the Heavenly Father through Christ; yes, it is not easy to get used to missing!
Some of the more common words are: “What day is this?” Is this Monday or Tuesday?” You see, “the first day of the week” is just that, “the first day of the week” and to the Christian other days follow it in a natural order. But miss “the first day of the week” worship assembly and the whole week is out of order and so is a lot of other things!
Frank R. Williams