THE LORD'S DAY

Another Latin hymn dating back to the sixth century begins,

"Welcome, happy morning!" age to age shall say; Hell today is vanquished; Heaven is won today.

Lo! The Dead is living, God for evermore! Him, their true Creator, all His works adore.

This sets forth the theological reason behind the joy of Easter. Christ was dead, but His death was not an accident; neither was it the result of sickness or age. He died to vanquish hell and win heaven for men. Christ was dead, but He is not dead now. Lo! the Dead is living!

And how can believing men keep silent? No Bible-taught Christian can allow himself to live in bondage to days and times and seasons (Colossians 2:16–17; Romans 14:4–10; 2 Corinthians 3:5–18). He knows he is free from the Law, and the Judaizing brethren who seek to rivet a yoke on his neck will not have much success.

But he nevertheless appreciates the value of one day in seven to devote to prayer and praise. And since Christ arose from the dead on the first day, the Bible-loving man will see the spiritual appropriateness of the first day as the Christian’s voluntary sabbath day.

VERSE

On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

— First Corinthians 16:2

THOUGHT

It was on the first day of the week that Christ arose and so the first day, Sunday, came to be designated as the Lord's Day. On that day the early Christians gathered to worship (Acts 20:7; Revelation 1:10) as do we, and in doing so we celebrate Christ's resurrection.

PRAYER

Because You rose from the dead, Lord, I worship and serve a risen Savior!

https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/