W. Robert Godfrey

It's the dominical day.

It's an adjectival form.

And the only other place the word Lord is used adjectivally in the New Testament is in 1 Corinthians 11 about the Lord's Supper.

There are many suppers, but there's only one Lord's Supper.

And so there are many days, but the Lord's Day has a specificity to it.

And we see from apostolic practice, they meet for worship on the first day of the week.

And so I think the church has always rightly taught that in the resurrection of Christ, the Sabbath, instead of coming at the end of time, comes at the beginning of our week.

because we already rest in the fulfillment of Christ's resurrection.

Well, that's a long Sabbath argument in a very brief amount of time, but that's what we find in Exodus chapter 20.

A day is set aside by God as Creator, and what He means by that is not only do we need that time to fellowship with Him, but we need that time to rest.

A culture that has no time for rest is in a lot of trouble, and a culture that has no time for God is in a lot of trouble.

And that's increasingly where we find ourselves.

It's curious to me as a historian how many churches that 50, 60 years ago were very strict about Sunday have sort of given up on Sunday altogether.

And I don't think the church is any better off for it in any case.

Sabbath because of creation in Exodus 20, but here in Deuteronomy chapter 5, the reason given is because of God's redemptive work.

Deuteronomy 5, verse 13.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.

On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or your livestock or the sojourner who is within your gates.

So far the same as Exodus 20.

That your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.